On people: (Sara Ziscardi questa e' per te!)
When I arrived here, all the differences stood out, loud and clear. But after a few months, it kind of became my normal. And well, i guess i thought about it even more when the Spanish kids arrived. Before I came here, I had all these stereotypes, I thought everyone would have dark dark brown hair, say "mamma mia" like Mario all the time, no one takes showers, they eat meatballs and spaghetti and pizza all the time, all people wear is scarves...when in reality very little of that is true, and the part that is, is not the whole story. I mean like in my class, yeah there are people with brown hair, but not like what we think. Almost all of them could pass as Americans.. dress a bit different than us, but you know....
Then when we first got in contact with the Spanish kids, I was kind of expecting them to have dark skin and hair...haha like Mexicans...gosh I'm so bad. But I have realized all of Europe is pretty mixed in appearance, there were super tall kids, people with straight hair or curly hair, red, blond different shades of brown hair...but in the end we are very similar on the inside. The language barrier was a bit difficult at first, I mean i am so used to introducing myself in Italian now that when I did, I am glad I was not blind because their faces told me I was using the wrong language...which the "right" language I am not really sure...a mix of English and Spanish I guess. Although I only spent a few hours with the Spanish kids, they all are some of the nicest people I have ever met, we laughed together, danced (to Portuguese line dances...which no one understood why I had never heard of any of them.) together, ate together, they took funny pictures together, I mean I guess I have learned that no matter where you are from, teenagers are teenagers who like to have fun.
Piselli
Nonna Carmen is the best. I have talked about her a lot on here...she comes up and gives me random hugs/kisses, sings and does little dances while she walks through the house, and above all, she makes the best food. Peas. Little balls of green that don't seem like you could change them in any way, besides add a bit of butter. YOU ARE WRONG. So...I will try and give you her recipe but its a bit difficult you know because she uses "just enough" there's no real measurement.
Put a bag of peas in a pot, turn the burner on.
+tomato sauce (about what we would call a cup)
+ onion...if its small take about 1/4-1/2...if its on the big side 1/4 or less. and chop that up and dump it in
+ parsley...ours was frozen because it's still sort of winter..she put about a handful and a half in
+ spoonfull of sugar (to take off the little bit of acidity of the tomatoes)
+ a bit of oil
put the lid on and let that get warm and happy...probably about 15 minutes...but just watch it...some of the liquid should evaporate.
Agrigento
So, if you don't know where that is...
I recommend you search it on google maps yourself because I can't seem to get the link to go to the map rather than just google maps...ah well...YOU CAN DO IT! :D Anyway, hint, its in Sicily!!!! And I am going there Sunday march 10th (this weekend :) ) to next Sunday the 17th!!! I am riding the airplane and bus with Trine. There are a lot of people there and around there from AFS, at least 30...3 girls from the USA whew! Go USA! Hehe! I have gotten in contact with my host family...my host mom works at the school I will go to -_- school...I have two host sisters but will only live with one of them. Morena will be in my class, and Monica goes to the university in Milan. I also have a dad...good story right? :)
Anyway, some of you will be receiving postcards! :D Next post will either be from AG or after it...Ciao!
