Ciao!
Yesterday my host mom took me to a festival in her home town. She told me I would be meeting all of her friends that she has known since she was a little kid. I asked if her friends spoke any english. She said no. So naturally I start freaking out a little bit. Her hometown is about 20 minutes outside of Siena and we took her car to get there. Driving in Italy makes you slightly scared for your life since nobody drives in an actual lane. It's pretty much a free for all over every lane. But she knew how to do it. We got to the festival and it started with mass at 6:00. Hundreds of people, I think probably every single person in the entire town, were packed into this tiny church. Mass lasted about an hour and was entirely dedicated to Madonna, or The Virgin Mary, or at least thats what I understand it as. After Mass, we walked around stands that we selling homemade jewelry and candy and food. My host mom bought me candied hazelnuts, and they were amazing. At 7:30, the parade started. In the United States, people associate parades with floats and cars going down the road with people watching on the streets. In Italy, a parade is people walking down the street behind a band. It's mostly just for the people in the parade to celebrate by walking down the streets together. The beginning of the parade was a lady holding a huge banner with the Virgin Mary on it and behind her, a band followed playing really sad sounding music. To me, it seemed more like a funeral march than a parade. But the people of the city loved it, loved seeing each other, and loved their festival so I had a great time.
After the parade, we walked up to her brother's house for dinner. I sat on the couch watching soccer while Marina (my host mom) and her brother, Mario, argued with each other about everything. I think Italians just sound angry when they talk to each other, but they don't really mean it. They just get really passionate about things. After a while, 5 more people came to Mario's house. Mario's son and his wife, Marina's daughter and her husband and Marina's grandson. Mario's son and wife brought their puppy too. His name was Poochie. The grandson was my age and spoke very limited Italian but enough that I could understand the main idea of conversation at dinner. Speaking of dinner… I think it was the best food I've ever eaten. It started with meat, cheese and fruit. After that, homemade Ravioli. After that was Chicken, peas, potatoes, and rabbit. I've never eaten rabbit before but it tasted a lot like chicken and was made in this red wine sauce. They couldn't believe that I had never had rabbit before since it is so common here. Throughout dinner, they had 4 different types of wine to drink with each course that was served. I couldn't taste a difference, but I suppose that's just because I'm not Italian. After dinner, we had dessert. Fruit was brought out; figs, pears, peaches and bananas. Then the best part… Cannolis. It was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. If you haven't had an authentic Italian cannoli, you have never truly lived. After dinner came the Italian tradition of Limoncello, an after dinner drink. Mario poured me a small amount into my glass and I sniffed it. It smelled super sweet and like a lemon syrup. I took a huge sip of it, not knowing it was liquor. My lesson was learned that Limoncello is not, in fact, a sugary syrup but a strong after dinner drink that tastes slightly like lemon.
The night ended by watching fireworks from Mario's patio, because is a festival really a festival without fireworks? After the fireworks, I was talking to everyone and Mario's son, Fabio. He asked me about America and if I had ever seen the movie "The Godfather". He then began to tell me that he was best friends with Al Pacino and was in the mafia. Obviously this was a joke because everyone laughed at me when I believed him. It was a strange experience not knowing anything that was being said, but still feeling like part of their family. Everyone was so welcoming and kind, that even though I couldn't really talk to them… They understood me. Or at least pretended to. And even though it was a late night and I'm extremely tired this morning, last night was so much fun. I'll definitely remember last night for the rest of my life.
Yesterday my host mom took me to a festival in her home town. She told me I would be meeting all of her friends that she has known since she was a little kid. I asked if her friends spoke any english. She said no. So naturally I start freaking out a little bit. Her hometown is about 20 minutes outside of Siena and we took her car to get there. Driving in Italy makes you slightly scared for your life since nobody drives in an actual lane. It's pretty much a free for all over every lane. But she knew how to do it. We got to the festival and it started with mass at 6:00. Hundreds of people, I think probably every single person in the entire town, were packed into this tiny church. Mass lasted about an hour and was entirely dedicated to Madonna, or The Virgin Mary, or at least thats what I understand it as. After Mass, we walked around stands that we selling homemade jewelry and candy and food. My host mom bought me candied hazelnuts, and they were amazing. At 7:30, the parade started. In the United States, people associate parades with floats and cars going down the road with people watching on the streets. In Italy, a parade is people walking down the street behind a band. It's mostly just for the people in the parade to celebrate by walking down the streets together. The beginning of the parade was a lady holding a huge banner with the Virgin Mary on it and behind her, a band followed playing really sad sounding music. To me, it seemed more like a funeral march than a parade. But the people of the city loved it, loved seeing each other, and loved their festival so I had a great time.
After the parade, we walked up to her brother's house for dinner. I sat on the couch watching soccer while Marina (my host mom) and her brother, Mario, argued with each other about everything. I think Italians just sound angry when they talk to each other, but they don't really mean it. They just get really passionate about things. After a while, 5 more people came to Mario's house. Mario's son and his wife, Marina's daughter and her husband and Marina's grandson. Mario's son and wife brought their puppy too. His name was Poochie. The grandson was my age and spoke very limited Italian but enough that I could understand the main idea of conversation at dinner. Speaking of dinner… I think it was the best food I've ever eaten. It started with meat, cheese and fruit. After that, homemade Ravioli. After that was Chicken, peas, potatoes, and rabbit. I've never eaten rabbit before but it tasted a lot like chicken and was made in this red wine sauce. They couldn't believe that I had never had rabbit before since it is so common here. Throughout dinner, they had 4 different types of wine to drink with each course that was served. I couldn't taste a difference, but I suppose that's just because I'm not Italian. After dinner, we had dessert. Fruit was brought out; figs, pears, peaches and bananas. Then the best part… Cannolis. It was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. If you haven't had an authentic Italian cannoli, you have never truly lived. After dinner came the Italian tradition of Limoncello, an after dinner drink. Mario poured me a small amount into my glass and I sniffed it. It smelled super sweet and like a lemon syrup. I took a huge sip of it, not knowing it was liquor. My lesson was learned that Limoncello is not, in fact, a sugary syrup but a strong after dinner drink that tastes slightly like lemon.
The night ended by watching fireworks from Mario's patio, because is a festival really a festival without fireworks? After the fireworks, I was talking to everyone and Mario's son, Fabio. He asked me about America and if I had ever seen the movie "The Godfather". He then began to tell me that he was best friends with Al Pacino and was in the mafia. Obviously this was a joke because everyone laughed at me when I believed him. It was a strange experience not knowing anything that was being said, but still feeling like part of their family. Everyone was so welcoming and kind, that even though I couldn't really talk to them… They understood me. Or at least pretended to. And even though it was a late night and I'm extremely tired this morning, last night was so much fun. I'll definitely remember last night for the rest of my life.