burn.

Today, March 18, 2010 was a breath of fresh air. I had become super homesick over the past few days. It seemed like everything was going wrong. I haven’t updated in awhile, so I will give you the down low. It started last week. Last Saturday, my host sister’s great grandma, who had been in the hospital for the past 2 days after falling while in the bathroom, grew suddenly very ill. She wasn’t eating or talking. That Saturday, I had a great day planned out. First I was going to school then after, Monique, my Australian friend with an amazing accent, was going to come to my house. We were going to go to the post office to pick up my package that my lovely mother sent to me (it included the socks, an adapter, and candy…best package ever!!). Then we would go to the store so I could get some hair dye and make-up and other little girly necessities. After that, Monique and I would get ready and go to a volleyball game and watch her friend from school play. Once that was finished we would head off to another one of her friend’s birthday party. And then stay the night at her house after. Well once we found out that la bisnonna de Giada was sick, it all went south. Instead of my host mom, Laura, driving us to the post office and store and volleyball game, she drove to the hospital. I had to text Monique and tell her the plans were off. I felt so bad. I felt like I was this huge burden to the family. Even though all our plans were canceled, I decided it would be best for me to stay at Monique’s house for the night. I went straight to Monique’s house after school. I wanted to give the family a little space. Of course not wanting to mention death at all, I just asked Giada how she was; she said finalmente…the end pretty much. Her bisnonna is 86 years old so we both knew that that was a definite possibility. I went back to Monique’s house and we had lunch with her huge family. We ended up still going to the game and party, but the party ended up being kind of lame. There was only like 15 people there instead of the supposed 40 that were invited. I am pretty sure Monique and I were just as much the life of the party as the 2 birthday boys. But we made sure to keep as much attention on them as we could. I spent the night at her house and then went home in the morning. Giada’s bisnonna somehow pulled through and had gotten better…that definitely relieved the whole family of a lot of stress. I found out later that Sunday afternoon that we had gotten letters from the Italian customs that we were supposed to fill out and send back. We had just gotten them, but apparently they were past due and I could no longer get my package. Even though it was only socks candy and an adapter, I felt like someone had just taken a package with precious belongings away. I was so frustrated. When I first came to Italy, I had brought with me a bag of different, typical American candies; laffy taffy, pop rocks, bublicious, candy necklaces & fun dip. My family liked them, even though I ended up eating most because I was so homesick and wanted a little taste of home, but the real winner were the pop rocks. They have mainly chocolate here, so the pop rocks were completely different. I had told my mom that I wanted more pop rocks so I could bring them to my class and take a video of them all trying it for the first time. I was so excited. So when I found out that I wasn’t able to get the package, I was really bummed. But my problems weren’t over yet, after using Monique’s make-up for the party and sleeping with it on, I got a sty…I don’t know if that’s how you spell it, but a freakin sty. I was homesick, candyless, and looked like poo because one of my eyes only opened half way. All day Sunday and Monday I had hot water and towels on my eyes so that it would go away. Sunday afternoon there was a parade in Buia. I still have no idea what it was for, but there were floats and people walking in costumes kinda like Halloween. It was pretty funny and I was excited just to take some pictures and get my mind off of all the other stuff going on…my camera battery died. Lucky me right?!?! It was about time, I had been using my two camera batteries the whole time without charging them, since I got to Italy. Another reason why I wanted the package so bad was for the adapter. I had no way to charge my camera batteries. Also if I don’t have my laptop, I couldn’t charge my phone battery. This is when the homesickness really hit. I kept thinking about home where everything is within reach. If I didn’t have something at home, I could just drive to go get it. In Italy, you can’t drive until you’re 18, even if I were 18, AFS won’t let you drive while abroad. I realize now how fortunate I was to be able to drive and have my own car at that. So this week I have been sitting in my room bored, listening to music from 2008 and playing solitaire. And if I didn’t mention before, I got songs on my ipod after they were all deleted. But the music is really behind here, so my ipod has only about 120 songs that I know. The other 100 are Italian and of those, they are mainly beyonce…old beyonce, Britney spears, Madonna, and cascada…FABULOUS!!! On Saturday I am going with Monique to Sicily for a week. I have been so excited for this and now suddenly I wished it wasn’t so soon. Since I am not talking as much and just doing a lot of thinking, I have been thinking nonstop about everything that’s going to happen when I get home. Senior year, hosting, prom, graduation, college!!! Figuring I want to be a photographer, I have been thinking about how important this trip is for taking pictures for college and school. When my battery finally died, I got upset because I couldn’t help but think of all the photos I would miss out on and I got really stressed out. On Tuesday night, I decided I would give my mom a call hoping that would help my homesickness. Soon after the conversation began, I was in tears. I could see I was a lot more homesick than I realized before. After only a few minutes of talking, my phone was broke and the call cut off. I cried even harder. I was just thinking, “are you serious right now? That’s so not even funny.” I was able to receive a call from her but only talk for a few seconds. That definitely didn’t help the homesickness. Like the package, so close but then snatched away. Ugh…annoying. About a week ago I went with my host mom, Laura, to buy my plane ticket for Sicily. When I went to get money out of the bank, it said I had no credit. I called my mom and found out that, even though I called in January and gave them the dates of when I would be in Italy, they still thought my card was stolen and froze it. Well they called my mom and everything got figured out. On Tuesday, I tried to get money out for Sicily…it was frozen again. Love that feeling! I just left it. I didn’t call home or anything. Apparently they don’t write down the dates or something. Yesterday, Wednesday, I went to school like normal. I just mainly sat and thought about Arizona. During 2nd hour, my Italian tutor came in and took me to another class for tutoring. I went and she left to go make copies like she normally does. Only this time, she stayed and talked for about 20 minutes. I could hear her walking to the room, but then she just stood outside the door and talked some more. I just sat there and stared at the black board. About 10 minutes later, she walked in with 1 paper and told me to do it and then walked back out and talked some more. I would have been fine with that, had the instructions been in English and I knew what to do. I guessed and quickly finished. She continued talking and talking and talking. I was so beyond annoyed. When she finally came in, she looked over my paper and just shook her head and said no. Instead of her telling me what I had done wrong and teaching me the right way, she just scribbled over my writing, wrote the right answer in her hard to read chicken scratch and flipped it over and again began scribbling. I don’t understand how she didn’t realize that I was mad. When she told me I was wrong, I tried to fake a surprised and a “help me” expression on my face. Guess it worked. After only about 5 minutes with the tutor talking to me and not other teachers, the bell rang and she told me to go back to class. She told me after that class, we would meet again. So after sitting through Italian, I went back to where the teachers all go and where she normally is. I waited there for about 15 minutes and she didn’t show. Like really? I didn’t want anything to do with Italian lessons at that time. I went back to class and just listened to my ipod. Finally about 30 minutes later, she came into my class. After I had put my ipod away and gotten up with my stuff and headed to the back of the class, she told me after this class…I don’t know how she didn’t see the “are you kidding me” look I had written all over my face. I just went and sat back down. After that class ended she came back in and presented stuff to our class. I didn’t unplug my ipod or put my stuff away. I just kept doing what I was doing and when she finished presenting, she just left. Thank goodness. The day finally ended and I had no idea how the day could be salvaged. When I got home, I asked if we could go to Media World…the Best Buy of Italy…and get a battery charger for my phone and camera. Luckily I asked early enough and we went right then. We went to a smaller store and I was a little skeptical that we were going to find what I needed there, but somehow the salesclerk understood and found an adapter that I could use with my American plugs. I think I actually jumped around a little. I didn’t even think about the day I had. I just thought about Sicily and taking pictures. I was so excited. I sent my mom a text, “I’m so excited. I just can’t hide it. I’m about to lose control and I think I like it. I bought an adapter so I can charge my phone and camera and use my straightener and curling iron all! Ah feelin great. Just and update. Love you. Leaving for Sicily on Saturday yay! <3 lizzie.lou”…yah it felt good to just have pure joy when it’s been lacking recently. Even though it wasn’t some big moment, when I paid for the adapter, I had no cash so I had to use my card. I totally forgot about it being frozen…luckily they got it figured out. It seemed just like everything was working out. Finally!!! I don’t remember the day now, but this week I also received the Easter cards from my mom. I got the nasty man one first. It actually made me laugh out loud. Not just LOL but ahahahaha. The second one with the little chick made me smile and miss home, but nevertheless, I smiled. I took a picture of the chick and made it my background on my phone. Now that you’re caught up…today was nice. Every morning, my “hey soul sister” alarm goes off and then about 2 minutes later, Giada’s vibrating alarm goes off. This morning I heard hers first. I figured mine just didn’t go off since I had been messing with it during class yesterday. I did my hair and make-up and brushed my teeth and went back into my room to get dressed when I saw Giada still in her bed. When I looked at watch, it said 6:30 and wondered why she wasn’t up and ready yet. She leaned over the bed and said, “No sleep?” I looked a little closer at my watch…it was 5:30. so I went back to bed for an hour and then got up and was ready for school. Even though I was tired, I was so happy still, that I was pretty bubbly on the bus. One of my friends, Andrea, was funny, he didn’t understand how I was so bright and awake even though I had woken up at 5. I just laughed…I didn’t really understand either. School was okay. I sat through math and understood it this time. I came home made both the fires…without help this time and both actually became real fires. I was pretty proud. I watched Indiana Jones and then let Daniel watch cartoons. The fire in the living room was looking a little dull so I went to put a new piece of wood inside. I grabbed the handle which has rubber on it so it doesn’t get too hot, well I grabbed to high and my hand touched to the scorching metal. Even though I have a burn right where the pointer finger connects to my actual hand and it is already blistering, I am still happy. I just can’t wait for Sicily and I keep thinking about what’s to come.

…well that ended up being longer than planned. Sorry it’s so long. I tend to vent here since I can’t do that very well with people here without getting a very confused look. I have a lot going on in the next few weeks.

March 20-27 I go to Sicily.
March 30th I have a meeting with AFS so I get to have lunch and hang with them.
April 1-7 we have no school for the Easter holiday. One day, I will go with Giada to Tarvisio (a city almost in Austria very cold, very popular, very beautiful) to see her work.
April 16-17 I will go with Giada and Laura to Cavalino to get the house there all cleaned for when we go.
April 21-26 we get to go to Cavalino and enjoy some time in the sun.


That’s just what’s coming up right away. Hope there is more though. I love you all and hope you like the update.

Ciao.

Sarah.



super long. i know. :)