Friday, December 23, 2016

#22 Christmas summary

Allora, 4 mesi sono passati in un batter d'occhio, davvero mi sembra ieri di essere arivata qua e il tempo scivola via proprio come sabbia tra le mani.
Si lo so, davvero filosofico come pensiero. Comunque ho deciso di fare una specie di lista riassuntiva o chiamatela come volete. Un po' sono domande che in tanti mi hanno fatto, altre sono cose che io avrei voluto sapere prima di partire da altri exchange altre ancora mi sono venute in mente e basta. Ovviamente non mancano le perle americane.

-Primo pensiero scesa dall'aereo?
> "Dov'e' la mia valigia?", e' abbastanza strano ma e' la verita', in Italia prima di poter vedere chi ti viene a prendere all'aereoporto devi andare a ritirare il bagaglio sul nastro, invece qua la gente puo' entrare nel ritiro bagagli. Quindi ho incontrato la famiglia subito e proprio non me lo aspettavo.

-Primo pensiero sulla famiglia ospitante?
> "Mamma quanti" C'erano proprio tutti all'aereoporto, quindi i bambini mi sono saltati tutti in braccio.

-Prima espressione nuova?
> "Pick me up!" che vuol dire appunto "prendimi in braccio", diciamo che non avevo avuto modo di sperimentala prima.
Poi finalmente dopo mesi mi ricordo come si dice cassetto "drawer" e paletta per la polvere "dustpan", piccole gioie.

-Prima impressione a casa?
> "Ossignur, ma dove sono finita", perche' per quante foto possiate aver visto dalla presentazine della famiglia un po' doverso e a sorpresa sara' di sicuro. Beh per me e' stato abbastanza sorprendente, diciamo solo che con 6 figli un po' di casino c'e'.

-Primo sogno in inglese?
> Notte tra il 5 e il 6 novembre mi sembra, ero ad un pigiama party e quando finalmente mi sono addomentata ho sognato di essere in costa azzurra, Francia, con la mia famiglia ospitante e la mia famiglia italiana. Eravamo in un hotel vicino alla spiaggia e io facevo un giorno con una famiglia e un giorno con l'altra, parlando in inglese con i miei genitori italiani e italiano con la famiglia ospitante. Strano ma emozionante.

-Cosa piu' strana che mi hanno chiesto?
> Da dove comincio... sicuramente quella ragazza che mi ha chiesto se sono nata con i capelli blu non me la dimentichero' mai...Poi l'altro giorno sono in macchina con altre exchange e un'americana e non so come siamo arrivate  a parlare di quello ma se ne esce con "Ah ma la Spagna non e' in Sudamerica?" emm veramente no. Era convintissima perche' in Sudamerica e Spagna si parla spagnolo quindi dovrebbero stare tutte insieme no?

-Cosa piu' emozionante fatta?
> La senior night a pallavolo a scuola. Ho fatto un post su quello, se volete andate a leggerlo.

-Cosa piu' divertente fatta?
> Ci sono tante piccole cose che ho fatto che sono state divertentissime, come buttarsi sui mucchi di foglie secche, fare un pupazzo di neve, andare a scegliere l'albero di natale, andare a vedere l'oceano, spaventare persone a caso ad Halloween a casa di una mia amica tutta addobbata...

-Ma la scuola com'e'?
> Diversa, probabilmente in tutto. Dal fatto che si cambia classe tutte le ore, agli armadietti, al fatto che ti puoi praticamente scegliere i corsi che vuoi fare, dal fatto che ti aiutano come non mai a capire cosa vuoi fare dopo la high school, da come i professori si rapportano con gli studenti e dai programmi svolti.
Per molti aspetti la preferisco, pero' non puoi uscire dalle medie senza sapere dov'e' la Spagna o dpve sia lo stato americano in cui vivi.

-Ti manca l'Italia?
> All'inizio no non mi mancava piu' di tanto ma ora sogno panettoni con le ali che mi dicono vieni da me. Mi manca praticamente tutto tranne la scuola.

-Come gestisci il rapporto con i tuoi amici e genitori italiani?
> Non e' facile perche' ci sono 9 cavolo di ore di differenza e quindi quando qua e' sera tardi la' e' mattina presto e quando qua e' mattina la' e' pomeriggio, quindi quando vado a scuola e' un po' un casino. Chiamo i miei prevalenteente durante il weekend e sento i miei amici per wathsapp o messenger e anche skype. Tra l'altro ho pure avuto casino su wathsapp con il mio numero italiano e americano ma ora credo di aver risolto. C'e' stato un momento in cui con i miei era tesa perche' non ero abituata a raccontare tutto quello che  mi succedeva e loro ci rimanevano male; credo che avere un blog mi aiuti molto a far capire cosa faccio qui; poi ovviamente e' andata meglio, capisco che neanche per loro deve essere facile avermi cosi' lontana.

-Ma e' vero che li costa tutto meno?
> Absolutely not, non e' vero, ci sono cose che cotano di meno ma sono poche, tipo le scarpe nike, ma solo perche' la nike ha la sede qua in Oregon. Le cose quotidiane costano abbastanza e risparmi davvero solo se vai a ccomprare nei grandi magazzini dove tutto e' in porzioni e pacchi giganti.

-Cosa farai a Natale?
> Il 24 sera andremo a feteggiare con la famiglia della hmom e il 25 a Portland con quella dell'hdad. Per il rwsto non ho ancora fatto niente di che in queste vacanze...a parte spendere un sacco in regali di natale perche' ho 4 fratelli e due sorelle.

-Ma quindi il bide' non ce l'hanno?
> Ebbene no, ci si arrangia un po' come si puo', ma di quel bellissimo lavandino per nani vicino al water non se parla neanche. Fortunatamente nesuno mi ha ancora chiesto di spiegare che cos'e', come lo spiego a cosa serve?

P.S. Se avete qualsiasi altra domanda commentate o scrivetemi :)

Buon Natale a tutti quandi, prometto di pubblicare ancora un post prima dell'anno nuovo, o mamma e' gia' Natale! Voglio il pandorinooooooo.
I miei mi hanno spedito un pacco ma non e' ancora arrivato, mia mamma mi fa:"Non ti aspettare niente di che, ci sono solo un po' di biscotti e panettone" ... ma io solo quello voglio mammaaa.



Wednesday, December 14, 2016

#21 Let it snow

Let it snow let it snow let it snooooooow!
Yep, the snow is here. Last Thursday snowed a bit and they closed the school. CLOSED. I wake up in the morning and I looked out but there awns't any snow, so I started preparing for school and at 6:36am my local coordinator sent me a text saying that there was no school...so back to sleep!
Today again the forecasts told that there would have been snow from noon, and so it was. We went to school this morning but then we had a early release at 12:20. Unbelievable for me, in Italy even if it,s pouring cats and dogs and it's snowing school are open, we don't even know what does it mean early release ahahah. By the way now there are several inches of snow outside and the view is beautiful. I went out for a walk with the whole family to go to the grocery store and even if it was really cold I enjoyed a lot. Coming back the children built also a snowman :)

When they said me that I was going in Oregon I wasn't thinking about this weather at all, it's not like the cold in Turin, it's freezing cold that goes into your bones and you feel it more. That's also one of the reason why they close school, as soon as there's a bit of snow it freezes on the roads and they turn icy and slippery.

Saturday morning I went with all the other exchange at the Fundraising Pancake Breakfast, soo much fun, we actually really served the food, took orders, cleaned the tables aaaaand had breakfast too. We made a lot of money that will be used for helping foster and homeless children here and in Louisiana. In the afternoon we drove up to Portland for Christmas shopping! I found some presents for the children and for my hmom, I promise you that I entered every single children shop in the mall. In the Disney store I was singing "Do you want to build a snowman" watching the karaoke video on a screen and in the baby clothing shop I was like "Awwwww so pretty, aaawww look at this". Hahahah
In the evening I went with my hmom, Chiara and the children at the Christmas Parade here in Salem.

On Sunday evening I went at the Zoo Light in Portlad with Chiara's family, it was really nice. They put all kind of lights in the zoo.

I leave you some pictures :) Hope tomorrow school is closed!

P.S. if you can't see the videos that I uploaded it's because you are visiting my blog on a smartphone. On the computer you can see them all.

P.S. Little spoiler on next post: it's gonna be in Italian and it's gonna be a Christmas summary.


Thursday, December 8, 2016

#20 Let the Christmas time begin

The day after thanksgiving, at least for my family, Christmas time begin. Sunday after thanksgiving we went to a Christmas parade and Christmas tree lightening, wooow. I let you watch the video that my friend Chiara made.


This Sunday we went to chose the Christmas tree, a real one, sssso exciting. We went at a farm around 20 minutes far from home were they sell all kind of Christmas trees. Obviously during the research for the perfect one it starts raining, or better pouring, and so I went in the car with the kids while Nancy and Robby kept looking around. I was sad cause I wanted to choose the tree too (since it'a kinda of a once in a life thing) and I was stuck in the car instead. Fortunately the rain stopped and so we unbuckled once again and went outside. We found a really pretty middle size tree to bring home and decorate.
Now at home it's all Christmas songs and Christmas movies.



This Saturday the 3rd I went to Snoball Dance, a winter party, it was much bigger than the Homecoming because it involved all the High Schools in Salem. So much fun. obviously noone invited me, but I went with some friends and it was memorable. The only annoying (but funny) thing was the music... Americans are so far more advanced than europe in some fields...and then at the school party they dance the Macarena ...something is wrong...
Chiara did a great video and I am the best appearance ever. Please no judgements.




P.S. In addition to cut my hair myself last week I had the insane idea of going redyeing them. Disaster. I ended uo in the worst place for hairdressing ever (of course!) . I stayed in the saloon for 5 hours and at the end (10 pm) my hair were almost green. I was mad, I almost yelled at the incompetent lady yhat treated me, who by the way told me that she had the color blue and then I found out she made it with blue and yellow!!! I said that I was absolutely coming back and they'd better fix the color and so I did. Friday I went there again (obviously without paying any extra), they had ought the blue and so other three hours to apply it. Just to explain better the situation:
1. the lady was drying my air with plastic gloves and she asked me if I felt that the hair were dried. As far as I know she should be the one who knows better...
2. she told me to went home and rinse the hair out because the sink in the saloon was too small...
3. the second time I went there for fixing she asked me the tip, I was like: "You gotta be kidding me"
Conclusion number 1: DON'T go to Supercut Saloon if you are in the US.
Conclusion number 2: my hair are blue night and I wanted them light blue as before.

After this episode I was so mad and than I started thinking about my beloved hair dresser in Italy who always does my hair so well. And then I became sad for everything and all the four months I've been far from home just fell on me all at once. I know it had to happen sooner or later, before leaving they told you that it's gonna happen (they also give you a curve of adaptation), han it's normal, but you would never been truly ready for it. It was kinda of relieving in a certain way, because it's like you realize better what you are doing...I don't know how to explain it better.

P.P.S. I am doing a fundraising with all the other exchange, organize from CHI. We are selling tickets for a breakfast at Applebees on next Saturday morning and we exchange are actually going to take orders and serve the people. After that we are going Christmas shopping in Portland. Can't wait :)

Bye Bye from the land where they still dance the Macarena

New post cooming soon, I promise.


Wednesday, December 7, 2016

#19 Thanksgiving Break

Welcome back!

I wanted to wait for the new computer before writing again, so that I can try to use it for writing. Yes I know it's a pathetic excuse for 1 month of no posts, but now I am blogging so let's get over it.
We had a week of Thanksgiving break from, a week, because there were also some grades days and they just put them together with the holiday.
On Sunday the 21 we went to my hmom sister to take picture family, we were all dressed up nicely, all color and clothes matching. I have to admit that I was really impressed by the amount of picture that we took, I've never done family picture like this before and it was so cool, I felt like part of this family. In the evening I went with Robby (my hdad) and Chiara (a friend) to the cinema to see...Fantastic Beasts and were to find them! It was amazing, not just because I'm a hpotter fan and I could watch hpotter all day long, but because it was really really great. I wanted to buy some popcorn but then I saw price and calories and I change my mind :) I also though about buy a water bottle, well it was 4$...they can keep it. Here the cinema is more expensive compared to how much I usually pay in Italy; I payed 13$ for a 2D movie! In Torino Usually it's like 6/8 euros!
Finally during Thanksgiving week I slept in a bit, I will never be a morning person, never ever.
Thursday was the day, the day when people give randomly thanks to whatever they want, the day of the TURKEY. You can imagine my disappointment when we arrived at Nancy's sister in law to celebrate and there was no turkey. Well ok there was turkey but it wasn't the whole big golden turkey that you would think about when you hear the word Thanksgiving. it was just a piece of white turkey meat to slice. Anyway it was really good, like all the other typical food: smashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, beans casserole...and obviously pumpkin pie and other ten different kinds of pies. I did my best but I didn't taste them all.
By the way my hmom told me that she is gonna made a "real" turkey, so I'm good ahahah.

Friday right after thanksgiving was Black Friday, a big sale day, but i din,t buy anything and I didn't see people fighting for stuff at the grocery store. There we long long line at the cash desks though. Monday was Cyber Monday, day of sales on the net and I found an asus laptop at a very very good price, it arrived yesterday.

I tried out for a Volleyball Club and it went sooo well, they said they wanted me and they would have done whatever it takes to have me playing. I was a bit worried about the fee because they are waaaay too expensive; I didn't wanna ask my parents for a lot of money knowing how much they paid for me to be here right now, so I asked for some scholarships and guess what? I got one!
The clubs here are weird, they practice twice or trice a week and then they don't have championships like volleyball at school but they have a lots of tournament instead. Aaaand guess where a tournament is gonna be? In Las Vegas. When they told me I couldn't stop smiling like an idiot.

Let's keep playing <3





Reminds me of my cousin's dog Luna