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Edo my oldest host brother plays basketball and I was invited to attend his game. (We won. See score above). I quickly learned the Italian phrases for “foul” and “off sides” and things of that nature. My family is so cute. It tickles me pink that every Sunday the whole family has lunch together and then walks together to this basketball court to cheer on Edoardo. Everything this family does, they do it together, and the parents are so nurturing. On the weekends the father or the mother goes into the study with the children to help with the homework. They will be in there for hours. Or the mother will sit with Adriano as he practices the piano. Everyone comes home from work or school to eat for lunch and every Sunday the whole family watches a movie and orders pizza in the downstairs living room. I don’t know when the parents work, cause they always seem to be with the kids doing something.
The other funny thing about living with kids (and a dog) are the Italian phrases I’ve quickly picked up. “Down!” “Give that to me!” “Stop that!” “Sit down!” “Come here!” The mother has so much patience. I love watching her interact. My language barrier really allows to me to be so much more attuned to what’s going on with body language. The kids are pretty well-behaved, but even when she needs them to do something and they won’t stop, she never looses her cool. Even when she has to give eyes (you know those mother – do what I say eyes) it happens for a moment and then the moment has passed. If you had only witness the moment after, you wouldn’t even know that the mother and the son had just had a tussle. I also love watching both the parents with the youngest. I think he may be autistic. His mom told me recently that although he does well in school at the level of kids his age, he didn’t speak until he was about four. Just watched. He requires a lot of extra attention. The parents are always playing these little games with him with sounds and touches. In fact, I used this technique at the basketball game to have a break through with the kid. I’ve noticed that he makes different noises depending on his actions. So I tapped him on the shoulder twice and made a beep beep sound to see what he would do. He did it right back to me. And thus began our little game. We continued tapping each other in patterns. Then he threw his leg on my foot and when I kicked it off I would make a wooshing sound. It became a rhythm. If I was ever off beat in throwing his foot off he would either make the sound himself and move his foot or he would pull my arm as in, hey, you missed a beat! Then one time instead of moving his foot I grabbed it and made him jump a bit. He actually smiled. I adore this kid. You can tell by interacting with him that he is so smart and so perceptive. He is a master of body language. I’d love to spend a day looking at the world through his eyes.
In other news, I finally had non Italian food. (THANK YOU) My friends and I went to a Chinese restaurant. We ordered a lot of food and in the end they gave us free grappa. We also gained a friend for a week. Last night I was with some girls in the piazza and we said goodbye in English. A guy overheard us apparently and after we left went over to our friend Jess. He is a college student from Niagra Falls but is teaching English in France and we traveling alone for a few days in Italy and we relieved to here a language he understood. Jess invited him to join her and some others to the chocolate festival and then she brought him to the restaurant. We are all meeting up with him tomorrow and probably hanging out with him the rest of the week. He’s really chill and very friendly. And now, if I want to go to the south of France I have a friend to crash with. It’s one of the coolest things about being abroad and a student. You belong to this network of traveling students and everywhere you go you meet people. Everyone is friendly and inviting, cause were all in the same situation. It kinda restores my hope and faith in humanity to meet people who are culturally open to everyone and so friendly to even strangers. We’re all so different and yet even sometimes when we can hardly communicate in the other’s language we are still able to find common ground.