Week 11: Settimana Penultima

Sunday:

Went to church as normal, got assigned a talk to do next week. How fun that will be to write in Italian and also pronounce. Having had gone to bed past midnight and then having got up at 7am I was absolutely shattered especially as I hadn't slept well the night before either. So in the afternoon I had a nap...turned out to be five hours long but I needed it! Luckily Sunday is my day off!! 

Monday:

Today was a weird day. Right from the word go Bea and Fede were at each other's throats...for the whole day. We cleaned the house. Then I did English and reading with Bea tried to with Fede but he refused. He managed to calm down as we read some English. Then the girls came over and we went on a bike ride around Scazzolino as they had just got new bikes. All was fine until one of the girls left then it was two girls via Fede and they teased him unceasingly he did not have a good time. The girls asked to go in my room bad decision later I found out they had gone through everything. All my drawers, my wardrobe, my books as notepad, my bag and even my purse also my surcease and shoe boxes. Nothing was missing but I couldn't help feeling upset as they had disrespected my privacy. Next time they ask the answer is no. In the evening we went to Rovescala for the last night of the festival. The music was better tonight and some of it was English so it was nicer to hear. They had a firework show at the end. It was the best I have ever been to. They were huge and loud and so colourful!

Two mishaps today. 

1 - we went to see the field that the family own which is more like a mini forest and I got a random nosebleed in the middle of nowhere luckily they had tissue in the pick up

2 - after dinner when I took the tab cloth out to shake I didn't realise it had rained and I slipped on the marble steps and fell about halfway down. It was very painful I hit my arm, hip and shoulder. They were all very sore and I had ice on them.  Bruises tomorrow I think. 

Tuesday: 

As predicted lots of bruise all over me from yesterday's fall and dull aches. Fede was on a homework spree today after being threatened with not being able to compete in the motor cross race on Sunday. He summarised a chapter of Italian and did eleven English units. A record. He never gets past three usually. Did some English with Bea also. She had a horse riding lesson in the afternoon Sofia and Alice came to watch and I went to McDonalds to steal wifi again! Watched Cobra 11 it's a German show but they do Italian voice overs. It is very dramatic in the car crash department. Every episode at least five cars die in dramatic over exaggerated ways! 

Wednesday:

Read two chapters of a English book with Bea. Fede a huge contrast from yesterday he managed to only do two units of duolingo and very badly. Today should be called 'hate on Maria day'. If I ever I wanted to cry today was the day. If ever I felt homesick today was the day. The girls came over and stayed for lunch. After lunch all four of them sat on the swings and pretty much covered everything they dislike about me. Clearly none of them realised I could hear it all through the open windows and door...or maybe they knew it. It happened they moved so I went outside to read, they didn't want me to join in play with them. Then they came back...invented a 'code name' it wasn't hard to realise they were still talking about me. Then surprise surprise they want me to take them to Rovescala oh boy I did not want to but we went. Guess who had to carry all the water? Guess whose instructions of stop, slower and move inside away from the cars were ignored? Guess who got mimicked, laughed at and whispered about the whole way there and back. But I didn't answer back, I wasn't mean I remained as pleasant as possible. Maybe one slip up they wanted to play on my phone and I said no. Though they had the gall to ask why. I'm not a total sucker, my patience has limits and they were close to breaking them. Then on the way back they found an injured butterfly on the road Sofia picked it up and they took photos and she was. carrying it away, of course they all know I dislike butterflies and of course Bea wants to put it on my head luckily it decides to fly away.

Thursday:

Another bad day, should have known when I woke up and the weather was bad. Both treating me badly. Hooray. Managed to do some English with Fede none with Bea oh well it's her choice at least I try. Afternoon was a nightmare. To make matters worse it was Alessandra and Stefano's 17th wedding anniversary not such a lovely day for them! Although they went out for dinner while I looked after the kids we had all calmed down and managed to be civil the later the evening rolled on the better we were. Hope this good feeling carries onto tomorrow. 

Friday:
The day Bea goes on protest, avoiding all possible contact. Stefano and Alessandra went out to shop pick up more water etc. she glued herself to her room for the majority of the morning coming out only to pick up her homework books or use her phone. She refused to eat dinner with us. After lunch we went to Bobbio to see where Fede would be racing on Sunday, again Bea did not come. The pitch was big and nice and lined with blackberry bushes so we picked some. I saw a Ramarro, green lizard but it ran off pretty quick. Everyone cheered up after that Bea and Fede went down to Rovescala to play with Sofia and Alice and their cousins for most of the afternoon. One of the cousins Giacamo is so sweet Alessandra said he looks like the little prince and I agree he was very cute. So we all had a quiet afternoon up at the house. Stefano was jet cleaning the motorbike and pick up for the race apparently its a ritual though I am pretty sure they are going to come back covered in dust but oh well. Alessandra was busy washing linen for the appartment downstairs that they are preparing to rent out to people. I caught up on duolingo and helped Alessandra. Also they fixed the shower! The bathroom kept flooding with water, they have a weird draaning system the drain in the shower links to another on the floor outside of it and the one outside kept spewing the water out inside of keeping it down but yesterday they managed to fix it so we were able to have proper showers!

Saturday:
Penultimate day in Rovescala. Bea had a horseriding lesson at 11am and they dropped me off at McDonalds on the way where I now write this. Today is the ultimate day the postman comes to Rovescala before I leave. I'm waiting on a letter from New Zealand and I hope it comes today because otherwise I will be back in England :( Fingers are crossed. This afternoon I have to pack, no time tomorrow as we will be in Bobbio for most of the day and then after dinner we will leave so I will have to do it today.

Day 13: Relax, take it e-easy

Mika is quite popular over here his songs are on the radio a lot which are great because I really like them. Today it was Grace Kelly. It's in all the supermarkets too.

Lied in until 9am today I was up so late last night. Watching a program on Italian TV that didn't finish until midnight!! 

Had apricot pastries for breakfast they were very sweet and tasty. 

After breakfast we took Bea to her horse riding lesson. Normally she rides Cisco but he had a sore leg so she was on Loulou instead. Loulou seemed okay but was a very small horse. Hopefully Cisco will be rideable next week. 

After we got, I continued reading the book thief. I got through quite a bit I like it a lot more the more I read it. It's a very good book. I was reading in the living room but then the boys came in to watch motorcross on the TV and it was hard to concentrate. 

We had lunch skewer kebab things. They were nice but had cubes of fat skewered on them which I found bizarre and couldn't eat they were too slimy. 

After lunch I sat outside to continue reading the book their. I fell asleep but luckily it wasn't very sunny just warm so I avoided sunburn. However I got woken up because the house next door were spraying their grapes with pesticides and Alessandra called me to come in as it is poisonous. It smells horrible and they did it last week as well. 

After they had stopped, me and Fede went on a bike ride again. He always rides so fast so we get back really quick.

When we got back Stefano took me Fede and Bea out in the car for a drive to see the surroundings. We went up a very steep gravel hill I thought the car might begin to roll backwards because it was hard to get up. Luckily we didn't. There were some nice views at the top though. 

We picked up pizza for tea from a pizzaria. They make the base differently, it's very thin almost like pancake and very crunchy. It was okay but I prefer the thicker bases. You can get one called 'Americano' which has chips and bacon on. I had Margherita. 

Buonanotte. 

Day 12: The hills are alive with the warmth of sunshine

Last night got quite cold, the fog came down just after we arrived it was very thick. By morning though it had completely disappeared and it has been a warm and lovey day!

Fog last night

Same place this morning 

In the morning we just chilled out. It was warm but still quite breezy. We drove into Santa Maria della Versa to buy some garden canes. Alessandra has a vegetable garden and needed them to prop up her tomatoes which were taking over the ground. After that, we went to the town hall in Rovescala to drop off the details of the water consumption for the water meter so if they have paid too much they get money back or too little and they will get a further bill. 

Fede likes drawing and writing his own stories. Currently he's writing one about motorbikes. He designed his own circuit. 

Fede

The circuit 

After that we had lunch. It brightened Up afterwards, so me Fede and Bea went on a bike ride around Rovescala. It only took 15 minutes though it was quite far. There were lots of downward hills though where you don't need to pedal so that took off a lot of time and effort. 

Mine and Fede's bike

Bea

When we got back me and Bea sunbathed it was gloriously warm! Fede was going to go in the pool but the flies kept attacking him so he didn't in the end. It was nice just relaxing in the sun and listening to music. I've been to busy to listen to music these past weeks so it was great to hear it. 

At about four we all drove into Stradella and some of the smaller villages to pick up various supplies. Paint, groceries, electric wires and plug heads. We also got ice creams, I had raspberry and cream. The raspberry was a very strong flavour and very nice. 

These are the giant watermelons. 17kg for €8 which is 0,49€ per kg. They are huge!

We stayed out till about 7 and when we got back we had tea. I played Fede at chess and checkers. I won the chess game! But he beat me at checkers. 

Alessandra has a different way of cooking courgettes. She cooks them like chips in the batter/oil thing sliced up in long rectangles. They tasted really nice. She also did the flowers which were okay but I wasn't fond of them. 

I started reading the Book Thief. It's a different book and it ist making much sense at the moment. Hopefully it will in a bit. I think Death is narrating the book? But I can't be sure. 

No tragic sunburn so far just a little redness which I think is more from being hot than burnt. Success I am tanning. 

My legs hurt so much from cycling. As well as going down the hills you had to go up them too. Wow my muscles are sore! 

Oh and whilst we were in town we bought my train tickets for Sunday for getting to church. 

You buy them from an automatic machine in the station. They are printed out with the date of travel and the stations too and from but not the time. This is because on Sunday I'll take my ticket to Piacenza and place it in machine which will activate it and make it usuable for five hours after. Same on the way back, so it's valid for that day but any time. It's very clever. 

Ciao. 

Day 6: Caldo - (Hot)

It was even warmer today when I woke up. Heat is nice, but when you are sweating as you walk it becomes very unpleasant!

The weekend days are the chill out days. Alessandra and Stefano were working on repairing/modernising various bits of the house. They plan to run a section of it into a rental flat for tourists to stay in. 

In the morning I went with Bea to her horse riding lesson, she normally rides a horse called Cisco (Francisco) but today it was Parcifal (Percival). Interestingly they don't have canter in Italian. They just walk, trot and gallop - I guess they would consider a canter to be a very fast gallop. 

When we got back I played basketball with Fede luckily the court was in the shade today so it wasn't so hot. 

I also studied some Italian, the alphabet and the cardinal and ordinal numbers. I get so confused with Spanish and French! Whilst I was studying the builders who were working on the house found a ramarro (green lizard) in the garden it looked plastic. 

After lunch, me, Bea and Fede went on a bike ride to the middle of Rovescala (the village) and back again. There were so many hills we got so hot from riding the bikes. 

When we got back we went straight in the pool for a while to cool off. We had races and contests to see who could do a handstand the longest it was fun. We also climbed up the steps and jumped in. After the pool me and Bea sun bathed for a bit. I think I may have caught the sun on my face it begins to feel sore, my arms have tanned up though which is nice! 

For tea we had pizza!! The mozzarella is so much nicer in Italy than the plasticy stuff in England. After dinner we drove into Stradella to get ice creams. We walked through Stradella eating them, even at 9/10pm the shops are still open! And even in the evening the weather is still very warm, at night too it is warm which can make it difficult to sleep. 

Ciao.