Tired

Italians have too much energy.
they go to bed late, wake up early, go to school, come home and study, then go out till late and do it all over again the next day. i dont know how i am going to keep up!!
Where do i start? well it has been a busy first 2 weeks. the first week went unbelievably slow but this week has just flown by and i am beginning to get used to all of the customs, foods and routines here. my spoken italian is still not very good but i am surprised at how much i understand now when somebody actually speaks slowly enough and with enough hand gestures. my parents have come up with a special vocabulary for me too. they use very simple words to describe what we are doing or what we are eating etc. my little brother is the same and though he has the most limited english of my siblings, we communicate more effectively then i expected. his words are simplier so they are easier for me to understand. viky, mamma and i use the dictionary ALL the time but we are getting really good at flicking through to find what we want to say.
We had the first afs meeting since ive been here yesterday and it was fantastic to see the 4 other students from the chapter giuseppe and i belong to. 2 of the girls (one from paraguay and one from holland) are in gravina with me but at the school next door to mine. the 2 schools are connected by a common gym but they dont have pe when i do. it was the first time id spoken to someone who wasnt italian since ive been here and it was great to hear different accents. gave me a little bit of a break.
School. its boring at the moment because i dont understand alot but i do work for french and english (i do italian in these periods - my class translates things in to english and i do them in to italian). the french teacher is so great. i dont think the class is too much better at french than i am so she has started with the basics and you would not believe how easy it is to understand her when shes talking about verbs (etc) because the italian, french and english words are all very similar. in my other classes (german, tourism and economics, religion, law, italian language and history, and art history) i pretty much do nothing but read or teach my self italian using my handy dandy little dictionary (thanks douglas).
Today (sunday) we cut and squashed grapes in to wine. it took most of the morning but it was good. it was at the family farm (pappas family) and it was really nice to have all the family there just relaxed with each other. then we had a massive lunch with lasagne (it was fantastic!!).
this week will be pretty cruisy again. we have only 2 hours of school tomorrow then we have some big assembly thing. then on tuesday and wednesday we dont have to go to school because the town celebrate saint michael, the saint of gravina. then next week, Giuseppe, Viky and i are going to Milan for a wedding of one of their cousins so that should be good but im really not looking forward to another plane flight. i am so sick of them it is unbelieveable!
I think thats about it for now. will update u all after milan!
CIAO!!

ps hi paige.
pss does anyone else want shout outs??

First week, Rome and VERY long flights and bus rides

hi all
sorry if i havent been keeping in touch as regularly as u would all like but i havent got that much free time. paige u can stop worrying about them eating me now :P
well what can i say. italy is great. im jetlagged and some of the food i have to wonder about what i am eating but its good none the less.
my family are great and extremely patient with my italian which is now slightly better then non exsistent. I am living on the third floor of a three sorty apartment building and my nonna lives on the first floor with an aunt and her family on the 2nd. also some of the surrounding apartments are filled with family. i start school tomorrow (wednesday) and im quite nervous about that. the town is cute and quite generic i guess and i will put some photos up here and on facebook when i get some good ones.
the language barrier is hard. if anyone wants to see me be really quiet, now would be the opportune moment. the only people i hold conversations with are my cousin leo and giuseppe. but my mamma tries very hard (we use my dictionary alot) and my pappa laughs at the way i eat things (spagetti especially) and they both say that i dont eat enough (dont worry mum im eating plenty). when i turn down food they all think its because i dont want to get fat but really its just because ive eaten the amount i would usually eat in 2 meals. the other day for lunch we had (be ready to cringe) horse. it tasted just like beef and sheep but it was different for me none the less.
the flights here were long and i am dreading the flight to singapore from frankfurt with lufthanser on the way home. lets just say my low expectations were easily met. singapore airport was good though and it was hot as. the bus ride to gravina didnt seem as bad as i was expecting after the flights but it was still long and the jet lag had started to kick in by then. i loved orientation and i became really good friends with the 3 aussie girls that are spread around the country. it was tons of fun mocking each other and we were often in fits of laughter and none of the nationalities got any of it. i think they may have thought that we were a little bit crazy.
italy is very different to home though but some of the things are good different and just plain scary different. the driving is one of those things and the not wearing seat belts is something i will never get used to. it not too hot here but i guess that may be because it is the end if summer. its still just as hot as we get in the middle of summer. it rains different here too. the drops are heavier and bigger (if that makes any sense) and the roads seem to fill with water very fast. and all those pictures with the skinny roads - very accurate. our roads are like double the size and we have extra curbs and footpaths.
on sunday afternoon we went to the beach. it was great to see the sea (tehe). made things feel a bit less different for the moment anyway. we went to a seaside town to drop giuseppe at camp so we stopped at the beach while we were there.
not much else has been happening. just sleeping, eating, driving around. mamma and i went to the supermarket on monday and i was surprised at how many familiar brand names there were, they were just in italian.
any questions leave some comments ( i know u want to paige - something sarcastic please haha im missing it :P). and it would be good to get comments too. would show me that this is actually getting read by people and its not a waste of time

love u heaps
ciao!

ITS HERE!!

Well the time has finally arrived!!!

On Wednesday I will leave the green land of Naki for Mediterranean Italy. So for the next fews days its packing, packing and more packing for me. I'm putting it off by writing this even. I used to look forward to packing but have since changed my mind. Its a much bigger task then anticipated but I will obviously have to do it eventually.

I had my leaving thing yesterday too. A surprise picnic that my friends had organised at Brooklands park. Then we drove to back beach for the afternoon. The day was absolutely perfect and the weather matched. It was even nice enough that a few of us got burnt. Yes thats right, burnt at the start of September. Also have a leaving dinner for Doug and I tonight with the family, which Mum and I have been slaving away for all morning. About 25 people coming so our small lounge and dining room is going to be packed!

I finished school on Friday. I think a few of the teachers (cough Robourgh) were pleased to get rid of me because of the distraction that I was becoming but it was pretty sad to think that it was my last day of high school education in NZ. Of course I'll have a whole year in Italy but its not the same. Not the last I'll see of it though. Back there on Monday to say goodbye to everyone and pick up some stuff. I'm sure it's gonna be a pretty sad visit.

This is the last post I will do before I leave and I don't know when I'll be back on but we'll see.

Ciao!

PS. Hi Paige!!