Navigli Canali

I visited the famous Navigli canals last Sunday, with my Danish friend from school!  This is one of the main spots where all the young Italians gather in the evenings.  The canals once surrounded Milan to protect the city from Barbarians, and that is also how the marble was transported from the Northern mountains to create Il Duomo (Milan's grand cathedral).  Leonardi DaVinci perfected the canals so they're pretty important!..I am interested in Italian history. :)

We happened to be so fortunate to discover that a Christmas antique market takes place on the last Sunday of every month along the canals.  Navigli has such a romantic atmosphere.  It reminded me of Firenze (Florence).  Here are my pictures!

Cooking magazines dating back to 1929.

Meet Kathrine, my Danish classmate!

I got to see Il Duomo at night, on my way back home. :)

Buona Festa del Ringraziamento!

Although Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, I have this list of things I am grateful for, that I look at every so often, to remind myself just how blessed I am.

I am grateful for:

-Dominic (who I miss with all my heart <3)

-A mom and dad who brought me into this world, loved me, raised me in the Catholic faith, & made me who I am today.

-A welcoming home and healthy family that will always be there for me when I need; supporting me.

-The bond between us Spinelli kids, that even distance can't change.

-My best friends who have given me such special moments to remember each of them by, who inspire me, and who encourage me to be the best I can be. They really are the BEST friends. :)

And lastly I am thankful for getting the chance to travel the world, experiencing different cultures, as I live out my dream.  Buona festa del ringraziamento a tutti!  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Casuale

This is a random post!  I'll do these every so often when there's not much to go into depth about and I have just small things to share.

1) Italians are OBSESSED with coffee if you didn't already know.  There are cafes around every corner, even in the middle of Saturn (their version of Best Buy).  They also have vending machines in the metro, just in case you want to grab a cup of coffee while you wait 5 minutes for your train (..I will have to see how that works one day).

2) I tried Spontini pizza for the first time!  It's a famous, thick, cheesy pizza that is slightly fried underneath.
*Cool fact: The parents of a friend I met over the summer here, helped to create this new kind of pizza!

3) Italians are good at saving energy.  Their cars either turn off automatically at stop lights to preserve the environment (and gas) or they turn them off themselves.  Also everyone recycles, no matter where you are (post office, street, bathroom..there are so many different bins)!

4) I downloaded alot new Italian songs onto my ipod, mostly from Andrea Boccelli. Now I can get some listening practice in, while I walk around all day.  As I was going through Boccelli's songs I became nostalgic, remembering all those Sundays in my house listening to his entrancing "Romanza" album.
 

5) All Italian families live close together.  The furthest immediate family member lives 10 minutes away from my host family.......I WISH I could always be that close to my family! Italy is just small so there's no room for you to move away.  :P

6) Lastly, looking at the pictures of me that Mary and my mom hid in my bag before leaving for Turkey...

 

(How cute are they?!)

...I was brought back to when the pictures were taken.  My very first visit to Italy, 8 years ago, with the whole Spinelli fam.  Certaldo, Tuscany. Where I fell in love with Italy and decided I would come back one day.  <3

I went out with my new friend that I met at the church youth group, Marta, on a nice sunny Sunday.  We had lunch in Moscova (one of the nicest parts of Milan), then rode bikes all throughout the city.  There was a market in Parco Sempione, where local farmers were selling their products.  I tried "Sangue di Giuda" wine, freshly picked apples, a poison ivy drink, and I bought some lavendar-infused biscotti (cookies) to share with the Davini's for breakfast.

One of my favorite memories from Certaldo was the città alta (high city) that crowned the tiny town, that could only be reached by funicular.  This is where everyone would gather in the evening.  All of us little Spinellis would try a different kind of gelato every night, and I specifically remember the aroma of lavendar lingering throughout the night, being sold at the same stand by the same man consistently.  Now guess what my favorite flower is?  :)  What an unforgettable trip and how lucky are we, that my parents were willing to take all seven of us!

La Campagna

Two weekends ago we went to the countryside to visit Simone's brother-in-law's parent's house!  They only use it in the summer really but it was a beautiful, warm day so they made an exception and I am sure glad they did!

My new second favorite nut after hazelnuts; roasted chestnuts!

Can you believe the beauty of the Italian countryside?  It was just fascinating to be able to drive 20 minutes outside of Italy's "big" city and arrive here.  Love it!

Ho Dimenticato Le Fotografie!

I forgot to post the Halloween pictures! Here they are :)

 

Buon.... Halloween??

Halloween in Italy.  Hilarious.  E basta. That's all.

The kids nowadays are understanding how Americans celebrate the holiday, from movies and tv shows, but the elderly Italians just DO NOT get it.


Alina, the Polish nanny, has never celebrated it either so it was everyone's first time except me.  I helped the kids dress up into their spontaneous princess dress and vampire cloak, did Matteo's makeup, and we all left.  We live at the top of an apartment so we just made our way down through the complex.  The children started out timidly whispering "dolcetto o scherzetto" until they got their first couple candies, then they grew more confident and ended up having such a good time!

It was too funny to see how uncertain everyone was, since they were just mimicking what they had seen on tv!  Our neighbors would look at Alina and I for guidance on what they were expected to treat the kids and wandered around their house trying to find something...

These poor kids ended up with cough drops and pastries.

Today, All Saint's Day, is the holiday they acknowledge.  They have no school or work and everyone leaves town at least for the day, if not the weekend.

We went to Il Parco di Monza with Simone's former coworkers and their family.  It took about a half an hour due to the traffic after Mass, but we played "I spy" and the sign game to pass the time.  It is a huge park, the largest in Lombardia.  We went to a dinosaur museum and outdoor park then got coffee while the kids played.

Bocce ball is a game dating back to 5000 BC making it possibly the oldest in history.  It's simple but fun, and as you can see the Italian veterans still love it.  Daria actually let me know that this specific court is reserved only for vets.

Il Mio Posto

So much has happened I haven't found time to write about it!

I found out the youth group, I mentioned before, is not connected to Comunione e Liberazione (CL).  (Although I am meeting a girl next week to find out about CL!)  This youth group is just like the ones back home except it's for college-aged kids.  What a good idea!  Why stop offering fun get-togethers with other young parishioners, simply because you are not in high school anymore?  I am loving them!  I got lost on the way to the first meeting (as usual whenever I go to a new area) and ended up being escorted to the door of the Carmelite suonerie (nuns) convent.  Good thing I love adventures.

We meet every other Sunday and last week we visited the Villapizzone community.  What is this community, you ask?  Well they explained it to us for an hour and half..in Italian.  They are a group of families with three Jesuit priests, who all live in the same gated neighborhood together, share all of their income, and do whatever they can to help each other.  They attend public school and do everything else normally though.  It is just like one big Catholic family.

I've met both of my host parents' parents now.  Simone's parents are very gentle and amiable.  His father used to work with computers and he printed me out a bunch of maps of the Milan area the first day we met, so I would never get lost.  His mother was a French teacher so she is very friendly and cheerful, but only knows random English words (which she calls out every so often whenever I'm around haha).  She helps explain my Italian homework to me so I understand it better.  Simone's sister, Serena, is a fashion designer.  Her website is www.pupigia.it.  She is very talented! I hope I get to visit her shop soon.  She has a girl and a boy of nearly the same ages of Sara and Matteo!  Their names are Diletta and Philipo.  I love the name Diletta.  It is derived from an old Italian word "diligo",  meaning "the one who you love the most".

Daria's father knows the most English out of the grandparents and her mother is a typical Italian.  She cooks, talks alot/loudly, and tries to feed you 'til you burst.  Her signature dish is her amazing homemade pizza.  She doesn't make an effort to speak English and thinks I understand more Italian then I do..maybe because I don't have room to say much so I just smile and nod.  Haha no!  She helps me practice speaking and pronouncing every time I ask.  She took me to apply for my Permesso di Soggiorno (permit to stay) last Monday and was so helpful.  Not to mention it made me look better being accompanied by an elderly Italian woman.  I love the family though!  Can't wait for the holidays.

My host parents are both lawyers and work very hard.  Daria has had to make two trips to Madrid, Spain for three days since I've been here.  Luckily between Alina and I, we can handle everything so when we're told she's leaving the night before nobody freaks out.  I do all I can here to help out.  I go on grocery store runs all the time and entertain the kids to let Alina cook in peace.  (BTW, I did cook dinner one night but I need a little more practice..)  The other night Daria told me a funny story of Sara writing "My mommy writes down the dinner for Alina to cook", during a school exercise, instead of "My mommy makes dinner".  I could never be a working mother!