My Voice

I thought I just had a sore throat/cold and so powered on to the Hull YSA convention over the weekend anyway. As it went on my voice gradually left me to the point where I could barely be heard and it was easier to decipher my whispers than when I spoke normally. 

I went to the doctors and they told me I had tonsillitis. Noooo. It's one of those illnesses where it affects so small a part of you that I expect to still be able to get on and do things. Not the case, I don't know if it's the tonsillitis itself or the medicine they gave me but I feel so tired and drained all the time. I've spent the last two days watching tv, movies and sleeping. A pretty nice way to spend days but not when you still have an essay to be written. I need so badly to be better so I can get my motivation back.

The doctor gave me a course of penicillin, which was what I expected. It is however the most VILE medicine I have ever had to take. Paracetamol tastes bad, this tastes so much worse. Unfortunately I have to take two four times a day. EIGHT A DAY. All I can taste is its horrible powdery chemically flavour yuck. I am looking forward to next Monday when they will all be done and hopefully my voice will be back.

I'm supposed to be teaching a primary lesson on Sunday and giving a talk - second speaker 15 minutes. I've had to let them all know I may not be able to do it. My voice isn't totally gone but it's squeaky.

It was an interesting weekend with my voice, my first YSA convention and I literally began every conversation with "sorry I've lost my voice" what an impression I must have made. As you can imagine it made it a little more difficult to make friends and talk to people.

It sounds hilarious though and every time I spoke I just wanted to laugh at myself and I couldn't understand how everyone managed to keep a straight face. 

Whilst at the GP's yesterday I got her to check out my foot as well. I hurt it playing hockey a few weeks back, I already got my aunt to check it and the GP pretty much confirmed everything she said. That I'd just bruised it, probably some tendons/ligaments got bruised and I should rest it. How delicate are feet? She told me I can't play sports for 4-6 weeks. Nooo that pretty much means I miss the rest of the hockey season and have to wait until next one. It also swipes off running from my time wasting list. Not good. 

On the plus side I'm now properly signed up for the doctors, I know where it is, I also know where the chemist is.

One minor annoyance as I'm now older than eighteen I have to pay for my prescriptions. £8.05 for some nasty tasting medicine is not my idea of joyful spending. If it cures me quickly though I'll consider it worthwhile!

For the summer I've been looking at Au Pairing again. I'd really love to go back to Italy it is such a beautiful country. I've had lots of interest from families as well, however none of them seem to hit me as the right ones to go with which is a shame because some of them sounded fantastic! So I feel like I might be sticking around this summer. Got to find a job. Fingers crossed it wont be impossible!

Day 17: Bambina

Today was a busy day!

This morning Alessandra had to leave early for court. So after clearing up breakfast I spent some time with Bea helping her with her English book. Her English grammar homework book is like 400 pages long. Big pages like A4 size but not quite, the weird textbook size pages. Luckily not all 400 pages are required to be completed by September but she still has so much to do. Today we looked at adjectives, comparatives and superlatives and negative comparisons. Studying English Language for two years put me in a really good position to help her!

One exercise was quite hard to fill in though. Differences between elder/older eldest/oldest and further/farther furthest/farthest? After thinking long and hard I came to the conclusion that if there ever was a difference between older and elder and further and furthest noone cares about it now because I hear and use them interchangeably. Though I did some research and found that 'farther' refers to physical distance like miles or feet and 'further' refers to non physical difference like effort or time. Like I said I think they are now pretty much interchangeable although I hear further a lot more than farther. With elder and older, elder apparantly refers to differences between two people e.g Hannah is Lucy's elder sister whereas older refers to age only e.g John is older than me by two years. I think elder just drops from use too archaic and old fashioned sounding. Plus I think the religious connotations scare people from using it.

After that, me and Fede went to Elga's house 10.30 till 12.30. I tutored Francesco and Federico first today, well Fede mostly sits there and does his Italian work because he has finished his English book and Elga is paying for France (pronounced Franky) not Fede. So I practiced with him the trouble words we identified yesterday and then we did some more exercises in his book. We also looked at labelling the body or il corpo in English with a rather badly illustrated child that I drew. Then we finished off reading Peter Rabbit and made a start on Hansel and Gretel. Same process for Alessandro. Ale had made a huge improvement on his words although he still pronounces find with a shorter I sound so it rhymes with tinned. We were looking at telling the time in his book and then we started reading Hansel and Gretel.

We came back for lunch, and then after that went to visit Alessandra's friend Laura at the hospital. She had given birth to a little girl a few days ago. The baby was so sweet and tiny only 3500g (3.5kg) she was very small! But so cute. Italian hopsitals are quite like English ones though less plasticised they actually have real walls. Though the floors are covered with the weird lino stuff, and yes they smell the same I don't really know how to describe it except for it being a sickly hospitally smell. We stayed about three quarters of an hour Fede wanted to go to the park and Bea had a friend she wanted to see.

Bea went off to see her friend, and me Fede and Alessandra took a little tour of the surrounding area. We walked through a large green park area, past the public university which was orignially a hospital built by Duke Sforza. After it was bombed it was remodelled into a university. The architecture was lovely I like all the white marbly stone they use everything looks so fresh.

We carried on walking, saw some more old Romanesque style churches and went into the usual park. Luckily lots of Fede's friends were there to play with. I sat on a bench and carried on reading 1984, I think it is a book I am going to have to read over once I have finished as I am not entirely understanding what is going on. Ironically about twenty minutes in Fede complained wanting to go home! He who had begged so hard to come to the park. We left journeying home past Massimo's and of course went in to get ice cream. I usually get Mandarin but they didn't have any so today I had passionfruit. It was so lovely. They make it all from the actual natural fruit and the flavour was strong and sweet. It's a pity I can't bring the ice cream back with me because it really is something.

For tea we had PIZZA. I think I have had pizza every week since I have been here but I am not complaining Alessandra makes a very nice pizza.

I also taught Alessandra how to use google hangouts. She has an aunt who lives far away and only contacts by email so now she can hangout her which will be better!

Ciao.

Day 16: Naviglie - or The Canals

This morning we "took a trip on a boat down the seine" just kidding though points to you if you got the song reference! No what we actually did was go look at the boats on Milan's naviglie. One naviglia (canal) two naviglie (canals).

They are quite a way from the aparmtent, so we used publics transport. You used to be able to get a tram the whole way their, but roadworks meant we had to swap to a bus when the tram route ended early. 

There used to be a lot of water in Milan but now it's all pushed to the south east side into two canals. They are very long and if you cycle down the path alongside it you would arrive at Piacenza. They had lots of boats on and also a floating football pitch. One of the boats was a restaurant which I thought was pretty cool. 

It's like triple decker!

Alongside the canals are the old painters quarters and the houses are in old traditional style with long internal balconies providing access to different flats. 

All the buildings are highly decorative and in different colours. 

The old painters quarters was very nice. Smaller houses in a reddy pink with external balconies and hanging plants. 

The sun makes me look like I have no hair!

For some bizarre reason their was a fake cow with a bicycle seat on it's back?

After looking at the painters quarters Alessandra showed us a really old bit of Milan. Some stones where women used to wash their clothes. The stones she said were from like the 800s and used up until the 1950s but the timber frame will be newer and replaced often. Still it was very cool. They would scrub the clothes on the stone then dunk it in the river and re scrub. 

The stones are set at 45 degrees

Timber roof structure 

Close up of one of the many stones

Covered and uncovered areas 

As we carried on the down the street we came across a church. We thought it was really old as the architecture hinted that it was quite ancient. However we discovered dorm what disappointingly that it was dedicated 1909. We also discovered that a wedding was about to take place so we hurried on quickly. 

Face of church above the doorway

Doorway

We also saw anther church. The church of Saint Eustorgio. 

Doorway

One thing have noticed is that the churches are all very wide. 

When the weather gets very warm the pavement melts slightly. Anyone someone had clearly taken advantage of it in that state and spelt a word out in bottle tops. I can't remember what it was MEZZ*N** something like that. 

The new street art!

We came back for lunch and then after that went to tutor Alessandro and Francesco. We finished Snow White with Alessandro and began Peter Rabbit with Francesco. 

Once home me and Fede finished watching Puss and Boots. It's an okay movie one worth watching but not buying it's not one I'd watch over and over. Then we played chess - I won check mate. My queen, king, castle, bishop and pawn against Fede's king! 

This evening I laughed and cringed myself through 'Meet the Mormons'. Nice to see some familiar faces but the woman who narrated needs to stop making her voice sound so biased. Her whole tone was 'oh these poor young men forbidden any cultural activity and contact with the normal world how are we letting people do this to them? However I'd like you all to note I'm half speaking in a professional voice so as not to appear out rightly disgusted' with another tone of 'and because they are in pairs they have no privacy they must only pretend to like serving a mission'. Yeah okay, just because you don't understand something doesn't mean that the people who do can't enjoy doing it. I hate watching football mainly because I don't have a clue what's going on yet if I bothered to educate myself I'd probably find it very interesting. If you haven't watched it yet take it with a pinch of salt. If you have watched it and have some weird ideas about Mormons take it with a pinch of salt and please ask someone (preferably a Mormon) about it - ask me! 

Important fact about Mormons: We are normal people, just like you. 

Ciao. 

Day 15: Bibliotecha

The sun was certainly shining on us today. It was not a promising start with the overcast greyness present this morning, but it soon brightened up.

After waking up and getting ready for the day I took myself and Federico to Elga's house where I spent two hours tutoring her two children. First I tutored Alessandro, we spent half the lesson doing some exercises in his English book, and then the other part of the lesson, we looked at practising pronouncing the words we identifed last week and then read some more of Snow White (Biancanieve). His pronunciation is getting better although he often pronounces the english letters with italian sounds. It gets confusing because Italian E is said Ay and Italian I is pronounced Ee. 

After Alessandro, I tutored Francesco. We did the same pattern. Exercises in his book and then practicing the words and then reading aloud. He has also improved in pronunciation.

When we finished, Alessandra came and all of us went to the park. Both Elga and Alessandra had planned to go to see a friend of theirs who might be moving to Saudi Arabia but she wasn't there. The boys (Alessandro, Francesco and Federico) played basketball. On an afternoon and evening the basketball court and football pitch all full of the older lads, but on a morning it's empty so they could have the run of it.

I had brought  Alessandra's Italian copy of Pride and Prejudice with me so I sat reading it whilst they chatted. It's lucky I have read it so much in English and know the first chapter pretty much by heart so I could translate the meaning of all the words. Alessandra also got me to read aloud to Elga and her to practice my pronunciation.

We had carbonara for lunch and after that Alessandra took Bea to her piano lesson. Interestingly in Italian the piano is the piano forte and the english piano forte is the piano fortissimo. While they were out Fede continued writing a story about motorcross, I then had to persuade him to do some guitar practice. Point of difference in Spanish toca is you play, in Italian it is you touch. So I accidently told Fede to touch his guitar for fifteen minutes instead of play it! He did however correct me and I will not be making that mistake again.

After guitar practice we played on the wii unlocked some new levels and then played scarabeo. By the time we finished scarabeo Alessandra came back. Bea had gone to see a friend who had just come back off holiday. Me Alessandra and Fede then went out to the library, we returned the DVDs from last week and took out some new ones: Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda, Mirror Mirror and Aladdin King of Thieves as well as some Naples comedy thing that Fede wanted to see. I also got out some English books, Jane Eyre, 1984 and Mirror Mirror.

We tried to watch Kung Fu Panda when we got back but the disc was so scratched it wouldn't play so we swapped to Puss in Boots instead. This time we watched it in Italian with English subtitles but the next movie we will watch will be English with Italian subtitles.

Thanks to everyone who is reading this it's gratifying to know my life is somewhat interesting! I have had sniggers directed to me about my poor spelling and grammar despite the fact I have just completed two a levels in English Literature and English Language. My apologies! However let me explain why:

1. I am writing from an Italian computer where the keys are in different places
2. Also spell check is in Italian and every word is underlined and I do not have the time or patience to check them
3. The punctuation keys are deceptive. It says it's an apostrophe but it's actually a an: à the apostrophe is actually located on the dash key.

So please please please read it with a little lenience for my poor brain clouded with Italian that I don't understand!

Buonanotte!

Day 14: Two Weeks

Today was long and long and long and long and long and involved some crying.

I got up at 7.15 to get reay for church. Then at 8 Alessadra drove me to Castel San Giovanni's train station so I could catch a train to Piacenza where the branch I attend is. It all went fine on the way, I got on the right train and got off at the right stop. 

The American sister missionaries met me at the train station and walked me to the chapel. Sister Gross and Sister Beaumont. It was about a ten minute walk. It was fifth Sunday so we had a combined on missionary work more specifically their branch mission plan. 

One of the sisters translated it into English for me. 

Throughout the meeting Sister Gross translated what they were saying. 

After the combined we had Sunday school. Sister Gross skipped gospel principles to translate for me which was great. It was supposed to be on love, but  it seemed to be a lesson on dissing King Solomon. 

In the break between Sunday school and sacrament I got introduced to lots more people and also got roped into saying the closing prayer of sacrament - fortunately I was allowed to say it in English. The guy that introduced me called Stefano during his introduction also told everyone that at some point I would be giving a talk. Hooray. Better learn some Italian very very fast. 

Afterwards, I got introduced to the two Elders they were also from America. Four Americans it is brilliant so many people tha understand EVERYTHING I say. Then the sisters walked me to the train station again. Here is where the crying starts. 

We got there in plenty of time, stood waiting at the correct platform - platform one. No train. 12.30 no train. It was supposed to leave at 12.35. 12.33 no train. As I scanned the platform to search for it I saw a side platform also called platform 1 slightly hidden by the main building with a train waiting. So I ran but the doors wouldn't open and it drove off. I felt so awful the train I needed came only every hour and the family I was staying with were having guests for dinner. I wanted to cry so badly and would have except the sisters had waited to see if I got the train and I wasn't going to cry in front of them. 

So I had to wait and hour for the next train. The Sisters offered to stay but I told the to go as it was already past lunchtime it would be a long wait and I had a book with me so I would be fine. When the train pulled in I triple checked it was the right one and when I sat down I burst into tears. I was so upset with myself. 

Luckily for me it had started to rain. This meant that the dinner guests cancelled due to the bad weather and so it wasn't such a problem. The only side effect seemed to be everyone ate a lot more at dinner because they'd waited so long for it. 

After lunch I read a lot more of The Book Thief and then me and Bea went on a bike ride. It was a bit of a go slow day. It didn't brighten up until later afternoon so we stayed inside most of the day. After the bike ride I finished my book. 

I cried again. 

I cried a lot at that book. 

It's a great book. 

Now I need to see the movie. 

Of course they all found it funny that I had cried at the book but it was moving. I can't wait to read it again. I also have a new favourite name - Max. I'll add that to my collection.

After I finished we all packed up and moved back to Milan. I prefer it here in Milan. Yesterday night and tonight are One Direction concerts. More tears because Bea really wanted to go but couldn't. She was almost able to as her friend got hold of some tickets but she sold them to someone else so that made it a lot worse. 

However this week me and Bea are going shopping and I discovered she likes baking so we are also going to make cheesecake! 

Ciao. 

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 11: Museum

It was raining again this morning, how delightful! It makes it hard to go out to do anything.

This morning Alessandra had to go out to the office, but afterwards we were going to go to the Museum of Natural History about an ten minute drive away. However, once at the office things came up that meant she would be engaged the whole morning. So, we shuffled plans, Alessandra rang Elga and we arranged that I would come and tutor in the morning for an hour so we would have the afternoon free to visit the museum.

I took to the tutoring an English Fairytale book for the children to read aloud to practice their pronunciation. It worked really well and we made a lsist of all the words they struggled on to be practiced for the next day with pronunciation guides written next to them. However, I forgot to bring the book back with me so I will have to pick it up next week.

After lunch (which was hamburgers, gherkins and cheese and salad), myself, Alessandra and Federico went out to the Museum. Bea does not like museums, or anything really that is not a shop so she stayed at home. It was about a ten minute drive. It is strange because usually we walk everywhere or get public transport as there is very little parking in Milan, and also there are not many areas cars can drive in. The internal city is split up into zones.

The Museum was huge and in a lovely 19th century building with arched windows and coloured stones. It had a large exhibition inside, however they do not keep good care of the displays, the glass was very dirty and in need of a good clean. They had displays on insects, dinosaurs, animals also a mineral section but it was closed.

The museum

It's name

Fossil that looked like flowers 

Colourful shell 

Dinosaur

Giant clam

Ceiling above the stairs

Part of a huge whale skeleton

The museum is set in the grounds of a large parkland, so we explored it after. In it was a dodgems, carousel, pond-lake thing with ducks and playpark areas.

After we got back from the museum, Alessandra and Beatrice went out to see a friend of Alessandras who is near her pregnancy due date. Whilst they did that, me and Federico walked to Massimo's to get ice cream (Fede got chocolate and cream and I got mandarin  and cream) big plus I ordered correctly in Italian!

Massimo's 

When we got back to the house, we watched the other DVD we borrowed from the library - Aladdin. We watched it in English with Italian subtitles so he can get used to hearing English spoken and some new words.

I also called my family again on google hangouts, as tonight we go to the hills and there is not any wifi up there and internet connection is poor and slow. We will probably be at the hills until sunday, hopefully the weather will be good like last week and we can go in the pool again and on a bike ride.

I have all my train times sorted for Sunday as well! So everything is prepared.

Fino a domani.

Day 10: Buses, Trains and Trams

Last night it was throwing it down with rain and this morning it still was. It was so heavy and thick it was like a wall. We had planned to explore Milan in the morning but it was too wet and thundery and lightningy so it wasn't very safe.

Instead we spent the morning inside. I plaed chess with Fede and read English books with both Fede and Bea to help with their pronunciation. I taught Fede how to tell the time in English and quizzed him on it throughout the day also. 

After lunch it had brightnened up, we went to tutor Elga's boys but only Alessandro today. After the tutoring we went into the centre of Milan to sight see. 

We took a bus to San Androgomo which is a Romanesque style church from the 900's. Parts of it are much newer though. They expanded it during the renaissance and their are baroque side chapels and tombs in other styles.

You can use the tickets for bus, train and tram. When you get on transport your ticket is dated and timed by a machine and it is valid for use an hour and a half after your first use. 

San Androgomo

I couldn't decide if this ceiling was painted or stone worked?

Mosaic behind the altar

Medieval fresco

In the church you could go down into the crypt. They have the skeletons of three saints buried there it was a little freaky they were in a glass coffin so you could see all their bones. 

After the church Alessandra took us to the university she studied law it, it was opposite. Also nearby was the Milano monument for the dead unknown soldiers of World War II there are about 5 thousand soldiers buried in it.

We arrived there too late because sometimes it is open and you can go in and look round it.

After that we walked into the centre of Milan. They have a huge shopping centre full of extremely posh shops. I saw Louis Vuitton, Versace, Cartier, Prada etc. they also have Abercrombie and Fitch and more high street shops like H and M. 

The buildings of the shopping centre were very big and beautiful. There were frescoes above the shops and huge mosaic floors. 

Glass roof and a fresco

The crest of Milan as a mosaic on the floor.

After looking at the shops we went to see the remains of a Roman Imperial Palace that was once here. The diagrams show it to be huge but all that is left is pretty much rubble. 

Also, like at the castle we visited last week there were lots of the protected cats around enjoying the sun.

We went into a bookshop to pick up something for Bea to read. They had an English section! After much deliberation I chose to get the Book Thief over the Fault in our Stars. It promises to be a good read! My first purchase in Milan. 

After the bookshop they took me to see a famous theatre and opera house called the Scala. It's well known for it's ballets and orchestra but it has been clasped for two years or so for renovations to the inside. Opposite the Scala there was a statue of Leonardo da Vinci who helped design and build it. 

Leo

The Scala. 

In the evening lots of Mosquitos come out, so they put out boxes with candles I to keep them away they also look very pretty. 

Buonanotte