It's been a while. I'm going to give you the same answer I gave my mom... school is requiring more time, we actually have friends now, and I found a website that lets me watch Mad Men. Moreover, I tend to write when I'm upset (my seventh grade diaries will totally back me up), and we've been pretty great lately.
A lot has happened, so I'll attempt to catch you up. First, we got to really see family over Thanksgiving (this is opposed to sort of seeing them through Skype, which is very helpful, but not the same). We met Mom, Bill, Bizzy, Jon and Lisa first in Sienna and then traveled with them to Rome. I'm going to quote my sister from Facebook here and say that "it was ah may zing."
I had the best meal of my life in Rome. It was also the craziest meal experience I've had to date. Hopefully the pictures help you understand. Lisa found this restaurant in a New York Times travel article two years ago, and decided to hold on to it. I'm not sure we would have ever found a place like this if not for her efforts. There was no sign out front - nothing telling you they might actually make food. The room was only big enough to hold 4 or 5 tables. The kitchen was right behind our table. It consisted of one big stove with a propane tank out front. Bugs were everywhere. And not just the flying kind that might be attracted to the inside lights when a door gets opened. I'm talking roaches, but smaller. I'm not good at eating around bugs. In fact, they typically force me to stop eating all together. So the fact that I not only ate this meal, but loved it, says a lot. If I saw a bug on the wall I'd just look away. By that point I had already eaten an appetizer and I wanted nothing to stop me from trying more. There were two people cooking, one with a cigarette in her mouth. About halfway through the meal a dog walked in off the street. I thought it was an accident until the lady (with the cigarette) called it by name - Aldo. While we were eating, Aldo walked right up and put his head on my lap. That got him a piece of chicken. He stayed, without much protest from the cooks, and continued to beg.
Aside from the bugs, cigarettes, dog on lap, and stove top behind Mom's head, the food was unbelievable. There was no menu. Instead, they had a fixed meal for the night that included bruschetta, mashed potatoes (that had tomatoes, beans, olive oil, garlic and spices - this is what made me stop looking at the bugs), beans, 3 kinds of pasta, chicken, and pork. For dessert, they brought out grappa and limoncello. The picture's a little dark, but Bill's face says it all. We were blown away.
We did lots of other things, but eating was definitely the highlight. We saw the Colosseum, lots of churches, and Nero's palace that had been converted to a dog park. It's crazy how many ruins can fit in one city. We had a guided tour of the Vatican, which was helpful. In Sienna, I learned that I loved Brunello wine. When I returned to Lugano, I learned that it was the most expensive. It was a great trip.
Since we've been back we've gone to dinner with friends and met friends in Como. Friends! There was a moment at lunch one day when I realized something had shifted. I was giggling with someone who wasn't Ryan. Not just laughing appropriately as a response - giggling. The other day, I actually took part in an inside joke. These things are slowly seeping back into my life, and it's nice.
The making of friends has been interesting. There's a girl Laura that I've gotten close to. I was sitting next to her today when we were told to form groups. I didn't even question it - I was with her. I also knew there would be a few others who were givens as well. One boy came and asked us if he could join. Laura gave him some push back... we were already four people, but eventually told him that if he got approval from the teacher, that yes, he could join our group. I just watched, noticing how I was in, and this boy wasn't. Total role reversal from just one month ago.
One thing I've learned, just in case anyone's interested, is not to be weird. Weird is a hindrance to making friends. I was probably a
little weird in the beginning. I wanted to put myself out there, let people know I was up for going out after school, grabbing lunch, that sort of thing. I thought if I didn't explicitly say so, they'd just go along with their normal groups and assume I was fine. But that's not the weird I'm talking about. I look around the classroom and there are still people who haven't found friends. I can't explain this except for the weird factor. They're too negative, too awkward, can't seem to follow normal conversations. I hate it, and in fact, I make it a point to try hard with them. But the group as a whole doesn't. They leave the outliers alone. Because they're weird. So, just in case you move to Switzerland, the "take away" is to be patient, and fight the weirdness. Eventually, friends will come.
I had a class today that was taught by an American. Even though all my classes are taught in English, being American someone makes it different. He spoke quickly (English being his mother tongue), made jokes no one else understood, and single handedly made me the resident interpretive expert. I often get strange requests. People want to know what some word is in English, and even if we've never met, they somehow know I'm American, so they ask. Some are easier than others. One time they wanted to know what the "red points" were called. You know, on your skin, after the bugs? The word they were looking for was "bites." Anyway, at every break today I had a line of people at my desk... did I know the date of the assignment, how many people will present on Friday, did I understand the lesson? It was all pretty funny.
Speaking of school, I have a paper to write. Early America - Spoils System vs Merit System. I'll leave you with a picture of some olives we bought from an outdoor market on Saturday. Ryan wanted me to take the other picture... we see produce here we've never seen before. Anyone know what this is??? In person, it seems like spiky cauliflower, but that's just our best guess.
