Day 7: Piacenza

Apricot yoghurt was on today's breakfast menu. Alongside bread, cake and cereal. After breakfast I got ready for church.

There are two nearby units of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Rovescala. In Pavia and Piacenza. Because both Rovescala and Pavia are in Lombardia I should attend the ward at Pavia as Piacenza is in the region of Emilia-Romanga. However Rovescala falls on the border between Lombardia and E-R and it is actually easier to get to Piacenza. 

In Piacenza it is only a small branch, but luckily for me they have a set of American sister missionaries. So one of them translated the sacrament meeting for me. As it turns out many of the other members can also speak English so it was a very nice meeting. This week the family drove me down, but from next week I will get the train from either San Giovanni or Stradella. It was funny because the church is in Italy the hymns were sung in Italian. Which I did sing along to as I recognised the music, but I spent most of the hmms trying not to laugh because the words were so funny and I kept mispronouncing them!

In the afternoon the family had some friends round and we spent the time round the pool. It got very hot this afternoon, so the pool was a nice way to cool off. After which we all sat in the sun/shade and chatted. And I am managing to successfully tan, though I am also burning a little which is not so good. But it's so hot you don't need to sit in the sun to tan, just walking around will do it. 

After dinner we packed up to drive back to Milan. It's about a forty minute drive. When we arrived back I google hangouted my family again. They have no wifi in the hills as the signal is so temperamental. But the hills are lovely, the breeze makes it seem less hot, and the views are great.

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. 

Day 5: Move to the Hills

Today is very warm again going up to highs of 28-29 degrees.

This morning Alessandra went out for an appointment. So at home I helped the children with their English homework, getting them to read out the English to practice their pronunciation. 

After that I helped Bea tidy dust and hoover the house. Then Bea went out to see a friend, so me and Fede went out to see the mercado (market). 

It happens every Friday in the morning. There are several in Milan but one is very close to the house. It is huge and they shut the roads off to have. It takes up maybe 3/4 long streets and they sell everything. Clothes (I saw some Levi's going for €5 but I was unsure of their genuineness) also fruit and vegetables and cleaning supplies, shoes, cheese. 

We walked up and down labelling things in English and Italian. I found out the difference between pesche and pesce! (Peach and fish). It was very hot though so we didn't stay for too long. 

When we returned, Bea was still out so me and Fede built some Lego models with his Lego bricks. He had instructions for lots of models. We built first an ambulance, a mini castle and cannon and then a transformer dog thing. Which was fun!

Then Fede did his guitar practice the songs are very nice, he can play jingle bells and also Frere Jaques but it is known by a different name. After that we went on the wii again. Then lunch - Austrian gnocchi which is spinach and flour it was very nice! 

After lunch we packed to move to the hill for the weekend. The drive wasn't too long but it is hotter here 32 degrees but it's pleasant. The house is much bigger and the air is nicer to breathe. I have the whole top floor to myself a huge bedroom with an en suite and balcolny. 

Outside they have a basketball court, table tennis and a swimming pool in. The huge garden. The pool is not in the ground and it is deep, it comes up to my waist. The water is very nice and warm because the sun heats it up although in comparison to the external temperature the water does feel cold! 

Me and Fede

I was squinting because the sun was so bright!

In the children's room they also have a football table so we spent a lot of time playing on that. 

For tea we had lamb and polenta. Polenta is cornflour and water I think it makes a kind of potato mash thing but it tastes nice. In ancient times it was a staple of the poorer peoples diet. The Southern Italians call the northern Italians polentini - polenta eaters. 

After dinner I watched some Italian television. I could understand some things they said but it was very hard to translate. But the pictures helped me understand what they would be saying. 

Buonanotte. 

Day 4: Technology

I slept in a little later this morning, the long days and warm weather make me more tired but I am coping well with it.

This morning we went out to the big supermarket. The local one is called 'Pam' the big one was about the size of the Asda in Wakefield/Tesco in Leicester. They have smaller frozen sections and larger fruit and vegetable bits. Also, they have very large meat, fish, bread and dairy counters. The meat is huge!! 

At the supermarket there is a holder on the top of the trolley to place a machine you can pick up as you go in. This machine scans the barcodes of the items in your trolley and keeps a running total of the cost. I think they should do that in England it's a clever idea especially if you are shopping on a budget. 

We drove to the supermarket and it was very strange sitting on the right seat of the front of the car without a steering week being there! But Alessandra says that when we go to the hills there is a empty parking lot where Stefano can help me practice driving the left hand drives on the road. 

After the shopping me and the boy went to the larger park. It has a jogging circuit and play area and lots of green open space. It's not far from the flat so it's possible for me to jog there on a morning with Bea. We didn't stay long because none of Fede's friends were there, and a pre natal class were using the play area for young children. 

On the walk home we practiced speaking sentences in English. For example 'io mangio pane' (ee-o man-gee-o pan-e) is 'I eat bread' and 'Loro sono donne' (lo-row sonn-oh donn-e) is 'they are women'. 

At home we practiced more English/Italian with the phrase book and the learning app. Fede is getting better at pronunciation which is great! I keep forgetting how to pronounce January in Italian - gennaio (je-nye-o) instead I say jan-ee-o oops! 

For lunch it was penne and pesto it was very nice. Also salad with a vegetable called focchacio which is a root vegetable and tastes like aniseed, also cherries and chocolate salami (doesn't contain meat is just the shape of a salami). 

After lunch Alessadra had her Arabian language class again. Bea had a friend round so whilst they had fun me and Fede went on the wii again. Still learning English - Livello = level. We unlocked ninja and dinosaur level on the shooting game. 

When Alessadra came back we went to Massimo's patisserie again for ice cream. It is so nice! They make it all themselves. €2,50 for a two scoop ice cream, this time I had mandarino (mandarin) and crema (cream) it was very tasty. However they melted quickly because of the heat - about 28 degrees. 

After the gelati (ice creams) myself, Bea and her friend - Matilde, went back to Matilde's house, she had to pack for a church holiday camp. After that we watched a movie in English with Italian subtitles. The Alessandra and Fede went to the park. 

Then we came back about 7:15pm for dinner. We had chicken, courgette and beans (pollo, zucchini e fagioli). And after that fruit (frutta) cherries and watermelon. It's such nice weather we get to eat outside on the balcony. 

 Bea, me and Fede

After dinner I google hangouted my family  and when I called my dad I saw some of my friends too! It was nice to speak to them and for them to meet the family I'm staying with and them to meet my family. 

Ciao. 

Day 3: Parlo Italiano

Another great day! Jam and bread and milk for breakfast.

After Alessadra went out to work we did a lot of things at home. Yesterday we bought an English to Italian phrase book so me and Fede used that to teach me Italian and him English whilst the Bea practiced at the piano. Then when she'd finished we all made labels to tape to furniture with the English and Italian words e.g armadio is a wardrobe. 

We also played on the wii, it's very hard when you can't understand the instructions for the game as they are in Italian. It was wii play motion plus, the have some very fun games on it. On one ice cream fell from the sky and you had to catch it on your cone and not let it unbalance, then in another you had to hit moles on the head with a hammer when they popped out of the ground and on another one you had to pick up stones and skim them across the lake as far as possible! I played it with Fede and we had a great time!

We also went on the 'duolingo' app which is great for learning other languages. I use it for Italian and now Bea has it on her phone and Fede on his tablet for learning English. It's a fun app and they are enjoying it. 

Alessadra came back for lunch and cooked us breadcrumbed chicken and salad. After that she had an Arabian language course so we stayed at home and learnt some more English/Italian. Then we went to meet her at the library where it was held, they have English books there in English. Also DVD's which are free to take out! So we borrowed Aladdin and Open Season which is called Boog and Elliot in Italian. 

For tea we had cous cous with tomatoes and cheese it was lovely. Then this orange melon thing which I've never seen before but which was nice. 

A patisserie nearby the flat called Massimo's had a happy hour on for a new cocktail/champagne thing which we all went to - they were serving water as well. And also little pastries and mini pizza things they were nice. I met a lot more people. 

My Italian is slowly improving. I can count in numbers to a hundred and sort of know the days of the week and months of the year! 

Buonanotte! 

Day 2: Milan

It was raining this morning, but not heavily, it was nice and refreshing.

After a jam on bread breakfast I went with the children - Bea and Fede - and their mother Alessandra to the dentist for their appointment. After that Alessandra went off to work and so I returned home with the children. 

We stayed for about half an hour then decided to go to the library which was not far away. It had a children's section and mature readers but also some English books. Unfortunately when we got there it was closed as something had gone wrong with the checking out system. So we went back home. 

Alessandra was coming back at about noon so we had a few hours and practiced some English. We used the letter tiles from their board game scarabeo, which is like scrabble, to make words in Italian to translate into English and vice versa. E.g 'orso' is 'bear' 'piatto' is 'dish'. It was fun trying to see who remembered the most! We also used the children's box of paints and crafts to label Italian objects they use in English e.g 'matita' is 'pencil'. 

For lunch we had pasta pomodoro - tomato pasta which was delicious. They drink a lot of sparkling water do the Italians, I don't like it so they got some natural water for me. They have incredible fruit. A funny variety of plum which are small like cherries and taste lovely. Also the watermelons are €0,39 per kilogram!! And the smallest you can buy is 10 kilogram they are humongous! England has extremely small extremely expensive watermelons. 

After lunch we took the tram into the centre of Milan. The tickets you buy from the tobacconist shop and it's €1,50 for a ticket valid for an hour and a half and you can use it on the buses or trams or subway. If you travel with a relative and are under 14 you don't have to pay! I like this system better than England's! 

We went to see the Duomo which is the big church/cathedral in the middle of Milan. It was so big and beautiful! They started building it in the 13th century and it took 50-60 years to complete. And they are always working on it because it is so big. It's made of white marble so they are always cleaning it, once they do one bit they move onto something else. 

They had a big statue of Napoleon Bonalarte opposite the Duomo also. 

We also went to see the Castello. Which was the home of the Sforza dukes. It's also huge and very old. And now a feature of art exhibits, there were giant plastic swallows all over the place. 

After that we went to a shop called 'Tiger' it's like a miniature Ikea. It is so random and sells so much stuff but I really liked it! It's also not too expensive. I wish they has that in England. 

We got the tram back after that. I was going to take the children home whilst Alessandra went to the supermarket but then her husband Stefano called to say that I had to go to the police station with him. 

In Italy when you move to the country if you stay over one month you have to declare yourself to the police. There are forms to be filled and signed. However they had already filled the forms and got the necessary documents but the police weren't happy with it. So I had to go to the station too so they knew who I was and that I matched my passport. Police stations in Italy are different, when you go in a booth to talk to the police the door stays open and people just walk in and out and chat to the officer whilst they are working. It's very strange. To get to the station the father took me on his motorbike. It was fun but very windy and a little tiring. Because of all the tram rails the bike vibrates a lot and so my legs turned to jelly. But it was fun I'd never been on one before and they can go very fast! 

For tea we had hamburgers and green beans which actually went quite nice together though it did remind me of when I went to France and they served pizza with green beans. They make really nice salad dressings! 

We went to the park. Alessandra bought us ice creams from a partisserie shop where they make it themselves. Proper ice cream cones that don't crumble and really nice proper Italia ice cream. I had mandarin and lemon I've never had a better one! At the park I met some of the children's friends. One of their friends mother asked if I would come and help her son with his English for an hour everyday and she would pay me. The family I'm with gave permission, so now I have another job! 

Buonanotte! 

Day 1: Arrival

Milan is fantastic. It's such a beautiful city full of amazing buildings.

The family I'm staying with are so nice and kind and friendly. I feel so welcome already! 

The weather is great nice and warm - warm enough to eat dinner outside at 9pm and not be cold! 

The flight was really good, two hours trouble free, no turbulence hooray! The views were amazing from the window seat where I was sat. When we flew over the Alps it was so beautiful. Even though we were so high up the mountains were still huge and you could see all the snow. 

Up in the air you realise how crowded England is and how lovely and rural Europe is the contrast was huge. Fun point England's large greeny hilly areas look like the polystyrene florist blocks from an airplane! 

The good is fantastic! Carbonara for lunch and a chicken courgette potato meal for dinner. The seasoning was so good, it was delicious. 

Really enjoying my first day here. I was took all around the city to see the children's schools, the library and other places of interest and treated to an Italian sim. 

One brilliant day down and luckily so many more amazing days to go!

Ciao.