1. Because the Arezzo camp was a first-year camp, our usual Sunday meeting with the camp director to discuss how we want the camp to run was mediated by one of the high-up ACLE administrators. Obviously, I wanted to be on my best behavior… but leave it to me to make a complete ass of myself at the worst moments. When we were saying our goodbyes and thank-you’s to her, we did the traditional Italian kissing on the cheeks. Well, the problem is that there’s not a set rule for which cheek to kiss first, so sometimes both persons involve move their heads in the same direction. It’s a little awkward, but no major faux-pas yet. Then, as I swerve to aim for her other cheek, she does the same, and my lips end up kissing her lips… whoops! Then, in case she wasn’t quite convinced that I’m an idiot yet, I was trying to hold back my laughter as I finally made it to her cheek. But trying to kiss her cheek and holding back laughter at the same time resulted in me snorting really loudly right in her ear. That moment definitely makes my “Top 10 most embarrassing moments” list. Graciously, though, she acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.
2. Fact of life: Most Italians don’t have trashcans in their bathrooms. What is a guy supposed to do with dirty q-tips? Tissues? Fingernails?... I’m still unable to answer this question. I have a little plastic bag that I put my q-tips and stuff in each morning and then I take them with me and throw them away at the school. Ridiculous, I know, but I can’t figure out an appropriate/discrete alternative. And when I need to clip my nails, I take my nail-clippers to school with me and clip them outside during lunch. (Furthermore, I don’t know how my female colleagues manage their periods!)
3. I spent hours trying to get my class not to skip “thirteen” when they count. It’s mission impossible. Italians have trouble saying [th], so it ends up sounding a lot like fourteen, so they think it’s the same number… And it doesn’t matter how many times you have them repeat it or write it. When they count, it is always skipped until they’re about age 12.
4. Friday is high stress for the tutors because of the final show. For some kids, it’s also very nerve-wracking because they are performing for their parents in a foreign language and they have to walk up to receive their English Camp diplomas/certificates as we call their names. One of the older boys in the camp (about 11) got too anxious waiting for his name to be called and he started peeing his pants on stage, in front of everyone. He stayed calm and his friend standing next to him said “va bene” (it’s fine), and he proceeded to walk up and take his certificate when called… but then his mom started freaking out a bit and pulled him out of the room, leaving a little trail of pee behind him. I felt bad for the kid, but it definitely made the show memorable!
The rest of these are all food-related.
5. Refrigerators here are so cool. Almost all of them are made to look like part of the cabinetry. When you open the cabinet door, the fridge door is attached to it and also opens. I think it makes the kitchen look much less industrial-like… and more inviting. (By the way, why does the word “fridge” have a [d] in it, but “refrigerator” doesn’t??)
6. Apparently, Italians are taught that the English (British) word for eggplant is obourgine (I don’t even know how it’s spelled.), which is in quite a few dishes here. So last week, my host-family asked if I like it. I responded by saying “I don’t know that Italian word.” They looked at me like I was really stupid and said “That’s the English word for it.” Then they held one up, and I said “Oh, eggplant!” They said “No… the Italian word is eggplant. Aren’t you supposed to be teaching our kids English?” Me: “Well, umm… we also call it zucchini in America.” Boy: “Well, that’s not what our dictionary says.” Me: “…uh… well, sorry.”
7. Aperativo is the best invention ever. You go to a bar before dinner and get a cocktail and huge appetizer buffet all for 5 euro. It became a routine last week, but my limited knowledge of alcohol (especially cocktails) got the best of me. I was the last to order, so I was trying to decide quickly what drink I wanted. All the drinks had pictures in the menu. I saw ‘Manhattan’ on the menu and thought, “Oh, I love Manhattan, so surely I’ll like the drink too. It’s a modern and fun city, so it’s probably going to be a really tasty and fruity cocktail.” WRONG!!! It was horrible… I actually could not get it to go down. Apparently it’s like pure whiskey or something… who knew?! Luckily, the cameraman really likes them, so I traded for his wine.
8. My host-mom in Arezzo wanted to be sure that I tasted the most unique delicacies of Tuscany, so every day we had something completely amazing or strange for dinner. One night, she made eggplant (obourgine?) parmesan that actually melted in my mouth. The next night she prepared a traditional Tuscan favorite: fried zucchini flowers, along with fried sage leaves. The zucchini flower is stuffed with small amounts of cheese, and then fried. Two of the sage leaves are stuck together with a bit of anchovies in the middle, and then fried. It was all so good!! Another night, she prepared stuffed zucchini (it’s stuffed with some kind of meatloaf-type of thing). It was great… it tasted like you were eating an entrée and a side-dish at the same time. Another night, we had squid and pea salad. The squid was the least chewy I’d ever eaten—I enjoyed it way more than I expected. Then we ate fresh mussels right out of the shell (which I had never had before). Predictably, they were delicious! And perhaps the most peculiar thing I ate was cheese-and-pear gelato. Apparently, eating cheese with pears is popular here, so they made it a gelato flavor. It was weird… I could taste a little cheese flavor, but it was still very sweet and delicious.
No comments:
Post a Comment