4 More Weeks in Italy

Can you believe that I only have four more weeks in this beautiful place?!  This summer has gone by at a supersonic speed! I'll be sad to leave this place and these people, but I am so excited to go home!  I miss my family!  :)

For the last couple of weeks Elia and I have been home alone until Gioele gets back in the afternoon.  It's been good...and challenging.  I take Gioele to school, then Elia and I have breakfast.  I have my quiet time after everything is cleaned up and then we hang out/play for a bit.  We do an english lesson late morning and that is a trying time for me.  It isn't Elia's favorite thing in the world...meaning he often fights it and wants to do other things.  So it's a good thing I have my quiet time before - I need it to make it through the lesson!  But then after the lesson we play for a bit and then have lunch.  By the time lunch is over and everything is cleaned up, we are both tired and are happy to take it easy.  After picking Gioele up from school, we usually have time to play cards for a bit or watch TV (it's too hot to play outside now), before we leave for swim lessons.  It's a nice hour of sitting outside and reading my book.  :)  But we are now done with swim lessons!  By the time we get home, it is close to dinner time.  This is the last week of this routine because Rosanna will be done with work and Gioele will be done with school.  I am excited to see what next week brings and the change in schedules.  My days will definitely change drastically.  I am excited for the change, I get kind of bored with repetition, so the change is most welcome!  Plus I am excited to go to the beach more!  I am pretty sure I've never been this tan in my life, and I still have a month of the beach!  My own parents probably won't even recognize me!  ;)


So that is my daily goings on during the week.  The weekend is always different.  I love the weekends!  They are so exciting!  Friday night was Gioele's school dinner.  We don't do this in the States, apparently everyone does it here...but the whole class (and teachers) get together right before school gets out and they all have dinner together.  It's so fun!  The kids loved it and the parents did as well.  We went to a pizzeria right on the beach, it was gorgeous!  I took a few pictures, I will add them at the end.


On Saturday night, I went out with my friend Marianna and we had a great time.  We met up with two of her friends, one of which, she told me, is a famous Italian athlete!  She plays sand tennis, and is very good!  We wanted to just have a laid back night and have dinner, so we went to this little place that was right on the beach in San Vincenzo (google it!  It's gorgeous!).  It was definitely a local place, we practically drove through the woods to get to it, and you would not be able to find it unless you knew where you were going.  It was so fun!  We stayed there for hours.  The guys who ran the place were very nice and the service was excellent.  We ended up staying late and all of the workers ended up coming and sitting with us and bringing us more and more food.  We each ordered only a pizza and a drink and ended up with appetizers, 5 pizzas, a dessert pizza, bowls of fruit, and dancing lessons!  Some of the guys even knew a little bit of english!  So they all tried to show me everything that they could say, it was really funny.  Overall, it was a fun night!


Sunday was another day at the beach!  Marianna took me so that we could see our famous sand tennis friend play a match!  It was a very nice and relaxing afternoon!  On Sunday night we went to Daniele's family for a big dinner and to watch the UK/Italy fooball game (match?).  It was at the Calidario, which is owned by his cousins.  It was really funny, because before I came here, I googled Venturina.  The Calidario was the main thing that came up, with it's natural spring and fancy restaurant.  So imagine my surprise when we got there and I saw what used to be the image I pictured when I thought of Venturina.  I was even more surprised to learn that his family had built and owned the beautiful place!  It was a really fun night, which started out with the owner, discovering that there was an American in his restaurant (me) and wanting to trick his father (the builder) into thinking that I was his niece from America!  I had no idea what was going on, my only job was to say "zio" when I saw him (zio is the Italian word for uncle).  It was a pretty funny beginning to a great night!  I even met a young girl who spoke english really well!  She had me sit next to her and we talked throughout the whole dinner.  It was great to talk with someone closer to my age and just goof off.  We exchanged numbers, so hopefully I will get to see her again soon!  


Monday night was a very exciting one as well!  Rosanna, Elia, and Gioele all performed at their music school's performance night.  Rosanna sang the song from Top Gun, "Take My Breath Away", which she has been practicing for months.  Right when I got here in May she had me sing it so that she could hear how to pronounce the words.  Elia played "Chariots of Fire" on the piano, and Gioele played a little drum in the intro song to the event.  It was the 20th Century Fox intro bit, and he was so cute!  There were a bunch of students up on stage, but he was the youngest one and at the very front!  I laughed so hard because it was just too precious.  It was a fun night with the fam.  :)


On a more embarrassing note, I am sunburned again.  For the third time.  I promise I put sunscreen on!  My skin just isn't used to this much sun exposure...but it isn't too bad.  I'm practically all better.  :)


Well, I think that is all for now.  I wasn't really sure what to write for this post, so I figured I would just go through my days.  I hope it wasn't boring!  Oh!  And I just love the comments being left on my posts.  So thank you to all who have posted them.  Papa Rex, you are so encouraging and I love reading your comments on every post - thank you!!!  I love you! :)  Lauren, I miss you too!  I can't wait to get back and come hang out with you and your precious kiddos!  Aunt Cindy, I just love hearing from you and the girls.  I was really encouraged and thankful for what you wrote - I love you!  Love you too Claire and Ellie!! :)
Lastly, I love you dad and miss you more than I can say.  You are such an inspiration to me and a great example for us kids.  You have taught me so much and continue to teach me in ways you probably don't even know.  You are the greatest man I know!  Love you so much!

Me and Gio

Elia (this is where we had Gio's school dinner)

Sunset

Right before their performances!

Thanks for reading all!
Maddy