Mirandola Pt. 2

Forgive the horribly long post, but its been a while…

I never really thought of myself as a teacher, but that is certainly what I am becoming! I still teach the boys everyday, but Stefano asked me to teach a class to the people in his office, which consists of 10 – 12 adults. They are a mixed group of different skill levels. Of course I agreed, and so last week was one the most stressful weeks ever! I was fully thrown into the fire here. My first class was introductory and short, but the second did not go well at all: I was not nearly as prepared as I should’ve been and things were very rocky. However, I took this opportunity to learn from my mistake and made some significant changes to my approach- I divided the class into two: beginner and intermediate. I then prepared an outline of each class and took time to demonstrate what each course would be like. This time, I came fully prepared with lesson plans and copies of grammar exercises using the materials Stefano leant me. Both styles turned out to be fantastic and people signed up accordingly. And now, this week I’ve begun my classes and things are working out really well. This is definitely a challenge and needless to say, I have a new respect for teaching!

The food here is SO good. I love homemade Italian food (forget England, Italy kicks all the ass). Everyday, I have lunch and dinner with the Borghese family and we eat all kinds of pasta, tortellini (actually it’s tortellini, tortelloni and tortello for- small, med and large), meats, sweets, vino… you name it. This last weekend, I splurged and bought a bottle of ’03 Barolo and ’01 Brunello. I’ve also had some ’99 Merlot reserve, Cabernet, Syrah- I won’t say anymore… if you know, then damn you know… like candy, maaan. Today, I had some homemade Crespelle (which is like french crepes but Italian), Lasagna, and Parmesan cheese with homemade balsamic vinegar. Actually, the region I am in, Emilio-Romagna is also where Parmesan cheese comes from. Maaaaan, it is soooo goooood! Jebus, I could write freakin’ pages just on the food, but I’ll stop here.

There is a really cool Leonardo da Vinci exhibit in the castle here in Mirandola, where they reproduced many of da Vinci’s drawings and models. I went with a friend named Francesca to this exhibit and we had a really good time. My favorite was one model of da Vinci’s proving the impossibility of perpetual motion. I don’t fully understand how it works, but I dig the idea and I looked it up on Wikipedia and damn it’s so cool; he totally rebuked all the other inventors and scholars of his time with this specific piece.

Last night, I went to a big-band swing concert in the local theatre with the Benatti family and then was introduced to what felt like a majority of the community. Everyone is so polite and cordial. And man, there are a LOT more beautiful girls here, way more than I originally thought. Where do they all come from for such a small town?! They are very proper though, almost regal- not a chance for a foreigner like me who doesn’t speak nearly enough Italian.

I spoke with the family about having visitors come and stay with me here at the flat and they gave me ‘the okay.’ I will be here until February 10th so if anybody wants to take a vacation out here in Italy you have place to stay here with me for a bit in Mirandola, just know that I work Mon – Fri in the afternoons until the evening. Mirandola is in the middle of everything: Florence, Milan, Venice are just 2 hours away by bus and then train. There are so many things to do and I can show you the ropes- just let me know.

I have some more pics of the town, the concert and the church with the sword stuck in the spire below~

Out.