I mean really. Now I have to remember what has actually gone on for the past 2 weeks and put them in a cutesy little story for all of you. I don't know if you realize how much of a struggle this is for a lazy 16 year old girl whose only two statuses are bored out of her mind or so busy she can't stop to breathe. Since I remember exactly what happened the night I posted the last entry, let us start from there, and go on with all of the things my brain permits me to remember.
LA FESTA DELLA LUCE
December 18th-22nd, my school was holding a festival for Christmas. This festival was called La Festa Della Luce (The Festival of Light). This is an annual event in Catania where every year, a man chooses a school to hold the festival. This year, my school Boggio Lera was selected and we had the 4 day festival of light. The reason it is in December and more importantly just before Christmas actually has no relation to Christmas itself. It's focus is on the winter solstice, when the dark becomes light. The first two days of FDL were the dark days, in the midst was the solstice, and the last two days were light.
In the school, there was no artificial light (even though this festival only took place from 6:30 to 10 after it was already dark). Everything was illuminated by candles. The decorations, all made by people from the school or who had the invitation by the FDL people, were all white, clear, reflectant, you get the picture. For Intercultura, we had a room which I was volunteered to work in for 2 nights along with two other kids. The first night was with Vincent, the boy from Hong Kong in my chapter, and the second night was with Marie from Greenland. In our room, we decorated it with our international languages and the word "light" written in each of them. From the ceiling we suspended a few hundred slips of paper with our languages (okay there were more than 7 because some of the kids in our chapter are bilingual/trilingual so there were: Chinese (the word was written the same in Mandarin and Cantonese), Thai, Serbian, Greenlandic, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Guaraní (an indigenous language from Paraguay), Italian, and English. Through the night(s) in our room, we read poetry in these languages and some of us even sang. I crossed something off my bucketlist and sang "Oh Holy Night" (thankfully not the Mariah Carey version) both nights. Probably, I sang that same song at least 40 to 50 times in the course of those two nights.
I'm sorry I don't have a video or photos of me (when do I ever in all honesty.... you all are used to my disorganized blog already!), but I know there are A LOT floating around this city somewhere. I saw you all and I would kind of really like to see them.
CHRISTMAS
The end of this festival brings me eagerly to the beginning of one of the biggest (if not the biggest) event of the year: CHRISTMAS.
Coming up to Christmas this year, I wasn't in the normal ugly-sweaters-while-listening-to-carols-non-stop mood. Because my body still thinks it's September due to the weather and it's so weird being away from home for Christmas. I didn't have my favorite artificial Christmas tree with the colored lights, I didn't have my comfort food, I didn't have my youth group ugly sweater contest (which I am a two-time award winner of), I didn't have my school countdown until we were unleashed, I didn't have that Christmas feel. So that "omg it's Christmas" feeling didn't kick me in the butt until December 24th.
The morning of Christmas Eve, it was only us kids at home. So we all slept ungodly late and woke up to sit in our pajamas and watch television. My host dad came home around 11 or 12, and basically said "we gotta get crap done!" So we immediately changed and started organizing the house. Mattia started making a playlist of Christmas music, Gianluca (I'm pretty sure) took the dog out and did grocery store runs, and I was put on the hunt of chairs, because we were having 14 people at our house for Christmas dinner.
For lunch, my mom, aunt, and grandpa came and we just threw together some sandwiches because we were going to cook so much later. After my mom and aunt returned to shopping, my grandfather left, and then it was back to business. Cooking, setting the table in a nice manner, etc.
At about 7 was when it became game time for real. Everyone gradually changed into their nicer clothing, my aunt and great grandmother (she's almost 94 but will always ask you how old she looks because she doesn't want to be as old as she really is. She will also corner you if you're under the age of 30 because she feels younger when she talks to young people. I am always cornered, and I can only understand about 30% of what the woman says, so it's always nice) showed up early because my aunt had to finish constructing a massive dish of tiramisu, Celeste (my 8 year old sister) and I started constructing little things that I guess ended up being like, appetizers (but we ate a lot more than we should have), and my aunt also brought her desserts to finish constructing.
At about 9, we started what I was the most excited for. DINNER. We started off with a lot of toasts with champagne and then sat down to eat. Dinner was tortellini for la prima, then onto meat and sausage with something delectable called "green sauce" which had a load of garlic in it (amen). On our white table cloth, we only spilled wine and Coca Cola 3 times. My grandma definitely got the award for biggest spill. When alcohol spills, an Italian tradition is to dip your hand in it and put it behind the ear of the people around you. Once we cleared off dinner (it took longer than you are getting from this entry), we had dessert. Tiramisu, cookies, pudding, the whole nine yards. That night, I actually caught myself thinking in Italian. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED. But, it was slowly murdered away because I skyped with my American family at 11. It really wasn't successful for the first 10 minutes because my family also wanted to skype from our loud dining room so I heard nothing, and I also was translating so I would speak the wrong language to the wrong side of the world. I ended up in my room to finish the skype call, but then was summoned by my brother to open gifts 10 minutes before midnight. Yep. Midnight.
For Christmas, I honestly wasn't expecting anything. I was thankful enough that they let me stay with them and treat me like a daughter/sister and that was enough of a gift for me. But since these are the sweetest, kindest people on the planet that I live with, Mattia got me a keychain from a Sicilian store called Siculamente, which says "Futtitinni", meaning "I don't give a crap" in Sicilian. It's actually really awesome. My aunts got me a makeup bag (which was needed because up until then I was using a Ziploc gallon bag for my toiletries I got the morning I left my house in America) and a really nice hand lotion, and my family got me a beautiful floral shirt from a store called Mango. I also gave my family their presents. Mattia and my dad put their shirts I got for them right away, plus my mom was intrigued by the book I got her of Amish recipes (which I'm going to steal for a day and make some comfort food in the near future). And at 1:30, everyone finally left and we could all go to bed. I'm still pretty sure this was one of the best Christmases ever.
Our tree, pre-unwrapping madness.
Me, my Aunt Roberta (sister of my mother), and my sister, Celeste.
Since we are the best older siblings ever, we put Celeste on a leash and attached her to the door in the kitchen.
Christmas day, we woke up and I attended my very first Catholic Mass! This was actually very exciting for me. I am not Catholic, so I have never been to a mass in America, let alone in Italy, the literal birthplace of the Catholic religion. My mom, sister, and I all walked down to the plaza a few blocks from our house to a small cathedral/church that was a couple centuries old. We sat at the very back because it was packed to the brim, but gradually worked our way up to the fourth row if we dispersed amongst the pew. I understood the sermon but I can't remember what it was about. It was confusing for me, being not fluent in Italian and not Catholic, because there was a lot of stand-up/sit-down action and reciting phrases that I had no clue what they were. So I just kind of stood there trying not to make eye contact with anyone as I didn't say these things. At the end was communion, when the priest took out a goblet of wine and little wafer-like pieces of bread, dipped the bread into the wine, and ate it. A line formed in front of the alter while we sang some Christmas hymn that I knew in English but it was in Italian/Latin, "Come All Ye Faithful". We had to leave slightly early because we were going to lunch at my grandmother's, so we walked to our car where my dad and Mattia was. On the way to the car, I explained that we don't actually use wine for our communion but more of a juice that looks like wine, and we take a hunk of bread and take little pinches off of it. They thought the fact that we don't use wine was hilarious, and I'm still hearing them tell people about it to this day.
Lunch at my nonna's house consisted of all the people under the age of 30 being outsourced to a smaller table, along with my Aunt Roberta (who is amazing). We basically got the seconds of all the food, which didn't take away from it's quality at all. We spent the rest of the night doing random tasks, I watched my brothers play soccer for a while (I couldn't participate because I chose to wear a stupid dress that day), sat with my grandmother for a while and talked, and we all ended up watching some National Geographic show about anteaters and their evolution (I don't know either).
To top off our Christmas Day, we went over to my great grandmother's for about an hour and a half to have tea, ran home to change, then went to the movies in the city center. We saw an American movie called "The Secret Dreams of Walter Mitty", but it was all in Italian, so I technically saw "I Sogni Segretti di Walter Mitty". It was a particularly beautiful film with Ben Stiller, and the best part is I actually understood 95% of it!
The next day (getting sick of this yet?) we celebrated Christmas at my uncle's house with my 3 cousins. More food of course was provided. We played Sicilian Cards and Tombola, the Italian version of bingo that's actually easier to win yet more frustrating to play! And of course, Fifa was played. Fifa is my religion. Or maybe Juventus (the strongest and #1 soccer team in Italy from Turin) is my religion. One of those two. I also made the first huge sexual innuendo while trying to speak Italian while asking how to say "goalie".
"What's the man with the big, long, white thing called?"
MINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIAMINCHIA.
I fell into the couch and laughed profusely after that one. *sings* OHHHHH THE PERKS OF BEING AN EXCHANGE STUDENT....
The night was filled with me at home with only Gianluca and his friend, so I kindly quarantined myself in my room and Skyped with some friends.
THAT SWISS KID
Okay. If you are Italian and took offense or now think I am a foulmouthed, uncultured coglione because of the title of this post, it's not actually my fault. It's a quote from the Swiss boy my host family hosted last year named Hektor. It's one of the best exchange student quotes of all time. I'm not explaining it though.
Anyways, he actually came back to visit for almost a week. He arrived early on the 27th and of course I slept in too late to meet him as soon as he arrived, so I caught him during the small party that was thrown by his friends in the morning at 10ish. Also the time when a third package from America arrived, filled with 2 pounds of peanut butter, 2 pounds of Hershey's chocolate (to share with friends), a bag of Goldfish, and cards from my cousins and church friends. It made me so happy. (Note: the two pound jar of Jif is still unpenetrated. I'm waiting for the proper moment to break out the bad boy because I don't know if I will be able to stop after I start).
The day was spent with too much GTA5, watching 6 boys play soccer in the parking lot under our apartment because I was too afraid of dying to play (if you think American soccer is intense you haven't seen squat), a walk around the city center with my brothers, Hektor, and our friend Fabrizio, and at the end of the day, Mattia, Hektor and I went over to our neighbors house to play cards. I learned very quickly a basic rundown of poker, but I couldn't play without continuously showing my cards to the others....whaaaat do I doooo?
The next day, Hektor's volunteer from last year, Gabriele came to our house and picked Mattia, Hektor and I up to take a little 2 hour trip to Acicastello, a small town about 15 minutes north of Catania. Acicastello is on the sea side with a little marina and a whole bunch of rock formations in the water. From a sign on the side of the wall, it says that the rocks were formed by underwater volcanoes, which is easily visible if you look at the walk. We climbed them, which was only a little bit life-risking, and then went home. At home was already my cousins (the same ones from the day of the sexual innuendo), my aunts, and my nonno and my nonna. There were again 14 people at our table, just like Christmas. We had 2 different types of pasta, 2 different types of meat, and so much dessert that I don't even know how many types. Somehow, I ended up hauling my laptop out of my room because my aunt was really intrigued in what my house looked like and what my town looked like, so did the magic google earth routine again. I love it when people are so fascinated by a couple of townhouses and a few fields. Everything is special to someone else. Like I said in a previous entry, it only sucks because you make it that way yourself.
The day was spent with too much GTA5, watching 6 boys play soccer in the parking lot under our apartment because I was too afraid of dying to play (if you think American soccer is intense you haven't seen squat), a walk around the city center with my brothers, Hektor, and our friend Fabrizio, and at the end of the day, Mattia, Hektor and I went over to our neighbors house to play cards. I learned very quickly a basic rundown of poker, but I couldn't play without continuously showing my cards to the others....whaaaat do I doooo?
The next day, Hektor's volunteer from last year, Gabriele came to our house and picked Mattia, Hektor and I up to take a little 2 hour trip to Acicastello, a small town about 15 minutes north of Catania. Acicastello is on the sea side with a little marina and a whole bunch of rock formations in the water. From a sign on the side of the wall, it says that the rocks were formed by underwater volcanoes, which is easily visible if you look at the walk. We climbed them, which was only a little bit life-risking, and then went home. At home was already my cousins (the same ones from the day of the sexual innuendo), my aunts, and my nonno and my nonna. There were again 14 people at our table, just like Christmas. We had 2 different types of pasta, 2 different types of meat, and so much dessert that I don't even know how many types. Somehow, I ended up hauling my laptop out of my room because my aunt was really intrigued in what my house looked like and what my town looked like, so did the magic google earth routine again. I love it when people are so fascinated by a couple of townhouses and a few fields. Everything is special to someone else. Like I said in a previous entry, it only sucks because you make it that way yourself.
Since this entry is ungodly long and there's still MORE to go, plus blogger is being a lil crap and isn't loading any of my pictures, I will have to just combine the rest into a different entry. Sorry but that's the truth. Maybe it's blogger screaming "THIS ENTRY IS ALREADY TOO LONG KARA PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO MAKE THEIR EYES BLEED". So, until I can get the time and motivation to make another equally long entry of my life.
Ci vediamo a presto!
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