Giorni di famiglia, montagne innevate e Superbowl campioni

The first month in Italy came to a close last week, and I thought I'd share a few more short(ish) stories and observations about the country and my time within it.  Only 6 and a half more weeks until I am back in Australia... Let that sink in...

12 Years away

Several weekends ago (the weekend prior to Australia Day) I headed up to see one of the branches of the family tree.  This involved catching a train up to Colico.

The previous night I had gone out with some friends from my school near Porta Venezia, and despite being lucky enough to get the last metro home I only got to sleep at about 1-1:30 AM.

The following morning was something of a rush as I needed to get to Milano Centrale to get the train I said I would, even though sleeping was my preferred option.  I got on the train, worked out I hadn't validated my ticket (after some text message input from my cousin) and exited the train, validated my ticket and then re-entered the train, thankfully with the same seat available to me.

The train was cheap and it was also a beautiful ride up to Colico where I was being picked up.  The train snaked in and out of tunnels and next to the beautiful Lago di Como, which on this fine Saturday was a picturesque postcard of a place.  The week before it was grey and overcast and dour, but still good, this time it was a wonderful view.

Lake Como out the train window

Beautiful scenery

Amazing part of the world

I arrived in Colico about 90 minutes after leaving Milan, and was met by Loretta, my cousin who I had not seen in 12 years.  I hopped in the car with her and her father, and we drove a few kilometres to Mantello.  I was very happy that Loretta spoke some English, because after only 3-4 weeks in Italy it occurred to me that I really only had grammar and had very little else.  We still had not learned the past tense and I was stuck saying the Italian equivalent of 'I go to America I watch sport', as opposed to 'I went to America and watched sports' (this is not what I said, just an example of not being able to speak in the past tense).

I arrived at their house, again, for the first time in 12 years and went upstairs for lunch.  Polenta.  The conversation was slow and stilted, entirely due to my limited Italian and Loretta being required to translate using her English skills, but the food was good and the desert was a winner.  The afternoon was then spent hanging around on the couch watching TV in Italian, and then I took a nap, which was well required, because I was very tired after the night before... Who knew how important that nap would be though... Before I nodded off this was what I was looking at:

What a view!

After my nap I woke up and continued to watch the TV.  Perhaps it is because I don't watch many game shows, perhaps it is because on Australian TV we have too much Eddie McGuire, perhaps I've just been starved of TV since I got to Italy, but it was really interesting to see the differences and acceptable standards of TV.  The game show I was watching I couldn't name, I couldn't tell you how it worked, I couldn't even tell you the prizes, but I could tell you when the guy playing lost the game... And that was when this annoying blonde with gigantic cans on display trotted out in heels too high for her own good and began caressing his back...

"The 90s"

I mean, seriously, her only purpose was to sabotage poor Luca there...

After watching some others flounder beneath the mammoth rack and awful, piercing laugh of the blonde and lose their shot at whatever money on offer I got ready to go out and headed out with Loretta and two of her friends.  I met Giovanni and Raffaella, who along with Loretta and I, jumped in a car and drove around the small Northern Italian towns to go to a few places.  We began with going to a bar (not like a bar in Australia, more like a cafe) where the others bought some smokes and had a drink and watched some football on the TV (Milan were playing Lazio in Roma), then we headed to a restaurant, which was full, so we ended up in another restaurant (which was a bit more like a pub than a restaurant I thought, but it was pretty much all Italian food as far as I could tell).  Whilst in the bathroom at the pub I was shocked to find that there was no actual toilet, just a hole in the ground... Europe... Just when I was getting comfortable you throw that curveball at me...

Lucky I was only going No. 1

At dinner I had a pizza, which unlike pizzas in restaurants in Australia, are not pre-sliced for you, so you spend the meal with knife and fork cutting your own slices and then choosing to use your hands or your cutlery... I did wash my hands for the record...

We then headed to a local gelateria ("Igloo"), which is owned by another member of the family, Sonya, and whose daughters work there also... They are either in their late teens or early 20s, so with 12 years since I last visited I did not recognise them at all.  There was a birthday shindig going on at the gelateria (which was also something of a restaurant/bar) and there were a number of 18-early 20-somethings tottering around in short skirts and heels which made for a very interesting sight... I stepped outside with the others when they went for their cigarettes and got called Fidel by some random drunkard, and my broken Italian was not helping me, and he didn't get my Simpsons references, so I took the compliment regarding my now sizable beard and we eventually left. 

We drove for close to a half hour over to Sondrio where at close to midnight we entered a club where Loretta appeared to know the bouncer and DJ, so we skipped the line, didn't have to pay, and even got a reference from the DJ during the evening... Even though dancing is in no way, shape, or form, my thing, we were there for close to 3 hours and left.... I am not a fan of dance clubs, so at some point my spirit broke and I got really annoyed by every person bumping into me and I kind of wanted a little more personal space... But that's all part of the experience I suppose...

Raffaella, Giovanni, myself and Loretta

During our drive to the restaurant, to the gelateria, to Sondrio and back to Mantello, I heard this song about 5 times, so it got stuck in my head... I have NO IDEA what they're saying... I don't think I ever will... But I hope you enjoy Italian pop music... "Magnifico" by Fedez f. Francesca Michielin.

We got home and I hopped into bed between 3:30 and 4 AM... After the late night the night before I was out within moments...

I woke up at about 11:15 AM, needing to be up, showered, and arrived at a 90th birthday party by midday.  This was one crazy part of the weekend... I decided to go up and visit a week before I actually went, and it just so happened that it was the weekend of a massive family birthday shindig.

This was as close to the full on Italian experience as you could hope for... 50-odd people, speaking Italian and 'dialetto', 7 full courses, a massive decadent cake... Buon compleanno! 

I walked in and was quite lucky that a few people spoke small amounts of English, and I tried to speak Italian to them and resort to English only when absolutely necessary.  This worked well in large parts and I walked away after the day with a greater appreciation and understanding for the language, even though I had a lot more to learn (including past tense which had not been explained to me yet!).  Not many people really knew who I was or spoke to me, but those who did were wonderfully polite and welcoming... It was a really enjoyable day and I am so happy I was able to go to this birthday party

But, back to the meal... 7 courses... Cold meats, octopus, calamari, chicken, roast beef, something else I can't remember, and dessert.  Dessert was amazing... It was a vanilla cake, with cream (not like, whipped cream, I don't think it was anyway...) inside the cake, then thick icing on top, and cream-puffs on top of that! I had two slices... My god... The best... I want this at my next birthday (though by the time my next birthday rolls around I'll probably settle for ice-cream cake and Port kicking the absolute shit out of West Coast at Adelaide Oval... Be there or be square...)

Here are some photos from the event...

What a cake!

Family photo

I loved this cake...

After the lunch, which spanned 7 courses and 4 hours, we headed back to Mantello where we sat around for about an hour or so, saw Inter Milan allow a 90th minute winner to Torino, and I collected my gear, my clean clothes and was taken back to the train station in Colico, where I got the train back to Milan.  The train was full of students returning to Milan after spending the weekend in their home towns, so I was lucky to find a seat, but did so and slept all the way back to Centrale.  Getting home on the Metro was a pain in the backside because I had set out with one bag but was coming home with 3... Though, just in time... The following day was January 26th...

Just in time for Giorno dell'Australia

Australia Day & Week

This was the second time I have spent Australia Day on foreign shores, the previous was in Vienna whilst on Contiki in 2008 (where I ate kangaroo steak... In Vienna, who knew?!?).

I had a spring in my step all day, and can recall feeling really proud of home and in many ways homesick... I got up and put on my best clothes (see: Port Adelaide jumper), packed the Tim Tams and a tube of Vegemite and headed to class.

Class was class, and everyone enjoyed trying Tim Tams... Not everyone enjoyed the Vegemite.  Those of you with access to my Facebook, I put up a video of my American friend Denisse trying Vegemite for the first time with a very mixed (see: funny) reaction.  Apparently the description given by Steve in Charleston's Not So Hostel back in the post "The History of Not Sounding English" of 'like chewing on a B vitamin followed by an aftertaste consisting of salt and ass' might not be so far from the truth for Americans trying it for the first time.  My other American friend in school, Emma, made sure she didn't try any after a bad experience with Vegemite at a previous point in her life.

Tim Tams, Vegemite and my workbook

While everyone at home was voting for Taylor Swift's "Shake it off" (I was so hoping she got up just purely for the joke) I was sitting in Milan listening to needlessly Australian songs (Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly, Cold Chisel, INXS... Though the weirdest song I ended up with on YouTube was that old Qantas advert with the children's choir), and honestly, it was the most homesick I've felt since leaving Australia back at the end of October.  There was some irony in the dichotomy of my feelings, I was feeling super proud and patriotic and happy because it was Australia Day and I was sharing my culture and my joy with others, but these feelings brought on a desire to be at home, with friends, family, comfort and celebrating our national day among Australians.

It occurred to me that perhaps 3 months alone overseas was the point where I could no longer handle travelling. 

I don't think that this is necessarily true, I mean, I have been having issues in where I am staying due to a broken oven (so, no Mac & Cheese for me), housemate differences (I will touch on this later) and a cramped living space, so there are some circumstances that make being here difficult in some ways but if I were to move overseas I don't believe these would be the issues they are here.  I have been legitimately travelling alone for 3 months, I had Dad for the first two weeks, I saw Ella for 4 days, and in between I have only made new friends and met new people, and due to the nature of my time in America I would meet a new friend and then move on to a new city and thus the human contact would go back to only being from strangers as I am no longer with that new friend. 

I am thoroughly enjoying my time in Milan, I am enjoying the challenge of learning a language and I am happy that I am in Italy learning, but I certainly had the feeling that I would love a week at home to spend time with my family, and my friends, and have a few of those Australian comforts that I do not have access to here.  Next time I will probably go away with a travel buddy, at least for a period of time on the next trip if it is for a comparable length to the 5 months I am spending away from home.

So, to cut a long story short, Australia Day was a bit of a mixed bag for me...

The rest of the week would be a bit of a nightmare...

Tuesday morning I woke up at normal time, I had my shower, I had breakfast, and I went to the Metro... Which was not running for some reason... So, at 8:20 AM I got on a bus, in the middle of peak hour traffic in Milan and waited for it to slowly work its way 4 total stops from Inganni to Gambara... This took the best part of 30-40 minutes... Class began at 9 AM... So, I was late by the time I got onto a train at Gambara... We waited there for what felt like a half hour, but was realistically only 5 minutes, and then the train took off.  I changed at Cadorna and eventually made it to Romolo... I walked briskly and made it to class at 9:25 AM... I was royally pissed off... Just, royally, pissed... And I think I was probably a little bit rude but I think everyone understood my frustration, and everyone was cool about it, so I guess that is a good thing.  I apologised at the end of class and the teacher was very understanding and it made me feel a lot better.

Though physically I was beginning to get sick... A bug or something had gone through the school the week before and I was the last person in the class to succumb to the illness... I had a ticket to the Coppa D'Italia Quarter Final between AC Milan and Lazio on the Tuesday night at San Siro, so I spent most of the day taking it easy and debating whether or not to go to the game.  I eventually decided that I would go.

The beauty of Tuesday night Cup football is that every seat in the arena was 20 Euro, and we had seats on the sideline in the bottom deck, but, the 'expensive' seats of the bottom deck, front row... This was brilliant on paper... But in practice, we were sitting on a walkway, and those who came late or left early walked in front of us and it was impossible to see anything. 

The huge turnout from the travelling Lazio fans on a cold Tuesday night

The teams enter San Siro

The teams thank the fans for turning up on a cold Tuesday night

The Lazio player adjusts himself prior to kick-off

Milan cross the ball in

Figjam over a free kick

Lazio cross it in

A fortuitous handball (completely there) results in a Lazio penalty

And they made no mistake

Though not without controversy, this is how it would remain

Milan tried to gift Lazio opportunities early in the game and honestly were lucky not to be down 2-0 or 3-0 but for the good work of the goal keeper, however a very unlucky handball in the penalty area resulted in a Lazio penalty which was converted into a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute.

The second half was frustrating for Milan, and for us as supporters (I've gone and bought a cheap scarfe from a vendor on the street), as two goals were disallowed for offside... The first one I could live with, it was probably offside... But the second one, in the 90th minute no less, was no way offside from where I was sitting... And I was pretty close to the penalty area in which it was called... Needless to say, this final offside decision set the largely Italian speaking (see: entirely Italian speaking) supporters around us into a frenzy of naughty words and gestures towards the referee/linesman, and at times towards Milan's own players (one or two awful passes spring to mind).  We all went up in celebration only to see the flag raised... A 90th minute equaliser isn't a winner, but extra time or a replay is a darn side better than a loss.  It was actually quite warm inside the stadium for most of the game (which was somewhat surprising given the cold and wind outside the arena) and the hot chocolate inside the arena (thick and rich again) helped, but upon exiting the cold hit hard.  I got home at 11:30 PM (the game kicked off after 8 PM on a school night) and was in bed shortly after, though I wish I had gotten more sleep.

I was sick for the rest of the week but did not miss class.  I even topped my class in a test, though, I think everyone aced it, so me topping it isn't really a huge achievement but I was still proud of myself.

Superbowl Weekend

Wow...

Just wow...

The weekend of the Superbowl I slept and studied on the Saturday, just trying to feel better.  On the Sunday for lunch I went and had lunch with an extended family member, who invited others in her wing of the family tree and I had an afternoon speaking broken Italian and having an 8 year old Italian child speak better English than I could speak Italian... This was a good day out, I ate well and even got to have some rabbit... Which tasted just like chicken, but dryer...  I left there at about 6 PM, got home near 6:30-7 PM, made myself dinner, and then waited the 5 remaining hours until kickoff.  Kickoff was at 12:30 AM Central European Time, 6:30 PM American Eastern Time.

I was a little bit gun shy about this game.  Those who know my sport watching habits know that I am overly superstitious and have a tendency to read into things way too much... The last time I was in Europe for the Superbowl it was 2008.  The New England Patriots were playing in a Superbowl that year, playing at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, going in surrounded by media attention (i.e. the potential 19-0 perfect season)... The Patriots were playing in a Superbowl in 2015 as well, in Glendale, Arizona, going in surrounded by media attention (the much over-hyped "Deflate-gate"), and I was in Europe... The Patriots, of course, lost Superbowl 42 to the New York Giants, following one of the luckiest catches in Superbowl/NFL history, the David Tyree 'helmet catch'... To say that I didn't consider this all week would be foolish if you know how my mind works with sports, and especially when it comes to teams that I care about...

I had settled in to my room, computer on streaming NFL Network (I found out that I could watch this with Game Pass, and not just the game, though frankly I'd have preferred the NBC coverage).  This was a "Fuck You" game for New England and the fans, very much an "Us vs Them" attitude... The "Deflategate" rubbish was only big because it was New England (who are still tarred with the "Spygate" brush despite being to the Superbowl 3 times since that happened), and it was poorly reported on from the beginning; Robert Kraft threw down the gauntlet to the NFL by declaring innocence and basically said 'if you want us come after us' (and he subsequently snubbed the Commissioner on the podium post-game)... It really was a big game for Patriot fans, even bigger than a Superbowl normally would be.  The Championship was on the line, winning despite all the haters hating, and most of all Tom Brady solidifying himself as the Greatest Of All Time (if he wasn't already).

Game ready!

The game kicked off and the first quarter belonged to New England... This was true despite the scoreboard read 0-0 and Tom Brady throwing a horrible interception in the redzone (which would prove decisive as the Seahawk defender who picked it broke his wrist on the play and would be out of the remainder of the game); but the Patriot offence was moving the ball on the best defence in the league, and the Patriot defence was stopping the Seahawk offence brilliantly...

The second quarter belonged to New England as well... Brady threw a touchdown to Brandon LaFell and it was 7-0 New England, I clapped, but tried to be respectful to my (presumably) sleeping housemates in the rooms either side of me.  The offence was continuing to click; and the defence did its job, that was, until Seattle identified a mismatch in the secondary and began throwing to a 6'5 receiver named Chris Matthews who'd never caught a pass in the NFL before, let alone jumping high over his 6'1 cornerback opponent Kyle Arrington all night for 4 catches and 109 receiving yards.  The defence finally allowed some big plays, and this set up Seattle to tie the game at 7-7. 

Two minutes left in the first half... Tom Brady ran a wonderful 2 minute drill which ended up resulting in a touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski, which I would have celebrated had I seen it... I was streaming the game, and right before this play occurred my worst nightmare happened (aside from a Seattle blowout just like they did to Peyton last year), the stream froze to buffer... When the live feed returned I saw the Patriot players cavorting around on the screen in front of me in celebration... 14-7 New England... 36 seconds for Seattle to do something... I had expected them to try to get a field goal at best... This did not happen, as in 36 seconds Russell Wilson marched Seattle down the field for a tying score... Pete Carroll gambled and it paid off... Half time was 14-14, and for all of New England's dominance they had nothing to show for it at the long break.

To me this game had all the feeling of the 2014 Preliminary Final between Port Adelaide and Hawthorn, as in that game Port dominated the first half but kicked terribly at goal, resulting in a Hawthorn half time lead.  Hawthorn kicked away in the 3rd, before Port game back with a flurry at the end, falling a bad holding the ball decision, bad kicking, 30 seconds, and 3 points short of a Grand Final berth (and based on how Sydney played the following week, you could argue a Premiership... But I won't, because I know that isn't how this sliding doors notion works)... That loss still burns and still hurts... To have the Superbowl panning out the same way worried me deeply.

The Pepsi Half Time Show featured Katy Perry... And whilst all her songs and her performance was fine, I was completely let down by it... There was not nearly enough cleavage on show to make this 10 minutes worthwhile... Next time I'll just watch "California Gurls", "Waking Up in Vegas" and "Roar" on YouTube and be done with it...

The 3rd quarter was as feared (based on the Hawthorn-Port Adelaide model described above), Seattle took a 10 point lead, with a field goal on their opening possession and then, after another horrible Brady pick, a touchdown... 24-14 Seattle.

Then came the last quarter, and if there was ever a signature quarter for the greatest Quarterback of all time, this was it.  In the last quarter Brady went 13-15, for 124 yards, and 2 TDs, all this against the best defence in the NFL, and arguably the best pass defence in any of the recent years... Remember what they did to Peyton Manning in last year's Superbowl.  In Brady's final drive he was a perfect 8-8... Clutch!

If Tom Brady's defence could hold on in the last 2 minutes, in a Superbowl being held in Glendale, Arizona, he would be the Greatest of All Time... The parallels to the 18-1 season were living large in my mind...

2:02 on the clock, New England 28, Seattle 24... Russell Wilson hits Marshawn Lynch on a wheel route and Seattle now have the clock stopped, with 3 timeouts, and the ball near midfield... Shitting myself at this point... A few defensive plays came and went, good defence by a rookie cornerback named Malcolm Butler... Who is Malcolm Butler?... And then with 1:14 left on the clock, and a 1st & 10 on the NE 38 the unthinkable happened, and the heart of every Patriot fan in the world sank all at the same time... Wilson throws the ball deep to Kearse down the sideline, and the ball is tipped by Malcolm Butler... What a play Malcolm!... But the ball hits Kearse's leg, and then his other leg, and then his arm, and then his leg again, and somehow it falls into his lap and the Patriot defenders hand to scramble to tackle him before he gets up and scores... WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED? Not this Tyree shit again?!? Fuck!! There is goes, another Superbowl lost in the last 2 minutes in Glendale, they oughtta burn this stadium down...

To quote Bill Simmons in his Superbowl Recap Column: "It’s like God decided, “What could be worse than the Helmet Catch? What if I created a catch under the exact same circumstances, with the exact same stakes, in the exact same building, with the exact same defense out there, only this time, the football hits seven body parts before it’s caught? Would that clinch Tyree 2.0 status? Should I throw in a couple more body parts, or are we good with seven?”

The ball was on the NE 5 yard line with 1:06 on the clock... We aren't winning from here; they give the ball to Beast Mode, they score and go up 31-28, and Brady has less than a minute to get us into field goal range by throwing against the best pass D in the league when they know he is throwing before we go to Overtime with no guarantees... Wilson hands off to Lynch, shoestring (season saving) tackle by Dont'a Hightower, down at the 1 yard line... 2nd and Goal, 30-odd seconds remain... Wilson in the shotgun, gets the snap, and passes... Passes?... And it is PICKED OFF BY MALCOLM BUTLER!!!... PICKED OFF BY MALCOLM BUTLER!! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, I think I might have woken my housemates... What the fuck were they doing passing the ball on the 1 yard line with Marshawn Lynch in the backfield?

Madden Problems

I was astounded... I could not believe it... I don't care how it happened, but it happened... An undrafted rookie free agent from a small school, in the biggest moment of the season, knew the play was coming, trusted himself and made one of the biggest single plays, if not the biggest, in Superbowl history.  And after an encroachment penalty (which was just stupid on Seattle's part) and a scuffle and two kneel downs, New England were champions of the NFL world, and Tom Brady was unquestionably the greatest of all time...

I stayed up watching all the celebrations, got maybe 2 hours sleep after going to bed at about 5 AM, went to school sleep deprived and with my nose running like a tap (a side effect of the lack of sleep), went through class, watched the last quarter replay, and then slept at about 7 PM all the way through until Tuesday morning...

One of the best days ever, one of the best games ever, and the greatest quarterback ever... I was jubilant... (Praying for this feeling in September)

I'll just leave these here...

The Greatest of All Time

3 time Superbowl MVP

Champions

This is one of my favourite photos: Richard Sherman directly after the Butler interception... U SAD BRO?

And I'll leave these here for my own amusement...

To be fair, Papa John's is pretty good pizza

True...

That's 4

Turns out I know a lot of Seattle fans...

Enough sports talk though... I know that isn't why people are here...


Shopping in Italy

Shopping in Italy, much like driving and parking in Italy, is a different experience in many ways... Not so much because there is a major difference in the premise... You're still exchanging legal tender for goods, but the kind of goods you can purchase are at times confusing and/or very different to the Australian norm.

For example:

Horse meat

Yep, horse meat... I never thought in my life that I would see horse meat for sale in the supermarket... Remember that episode of Futurama where the guy offers them horse meat at the race track and Hermes makes a Horse Pepsi/Horse Coke pun by saying "neigh" instead of "no"? Yeah? Well, it turns out that vision of the future is actually on the cards...

I have promised myself that before the end of my time in Italy I will make myself a horse burger...

The really odd thing for me though, in Italy, the land of beautiful food (don't start on me, I know all the nice food in the world is wasted on me), pizza, pasta, dolce, etc... The frozen food section stocks this:

Yes, thats hotdog and french fry pizza

Frozen pizza topped with cheese, french fries and pieces of hotdog... Delicious sounding, sure... But what the fuck Italy? What the fuck? I would have thought Australia would have this before you guys? (I would later discover this same thing is available in the local pizza bar near my house, so it may not be as uncommon as I had first thought)...

My oven doesn't work in my house anyway, so I couldn't get the frozen pizza to try even if I wanted to, but it is a good segue into my next discussion point...

Troubles at home

No, not at home in Australia... At home in Milan...

My oven doesn't work... Discussed briefly above (and if memory serves, in the last blog post)...

My housemate  (the male one) I reckon has it in for me... A few days back I was cooking pasta and he entered the kitchen... He noticed me cooking pasta...

Housemate Exchange:
Housemate: "So you're the one who has been cooking pasta?"
Sam: 'Yep'
Housemate: "So, those would be yours?" *points to 4 empty, but cleaned, pasta sauce jars stacked near the microwave*
Sam: 'Yeah, look, I'll deal with it... It'll be fine... I wouldn't worry...'
Housemate (snidely): "Buon appetito"

Now, I concede, I should have cleaned up (i.e. moved the empty jars) but I have to put all the clean dishes away (the ones that aren't mine) and I always clean the dishes and pots and cutlery that I use directly after using them... I am not his slave, just like he isn't mine, enough with the attitude, I'll deal with it man...

A few days after this happened (yesterday) I tried to do washing... There is a washing machine in the bathroom which is coin operated, so, I spent several days collecting the required 5 Euro in 1 and 2 Euro coins... On Monday I finally had the coins I needed... So, I put my dirty clothes and towels into the machine, poured some detergent in with them, and then began inputting coins into the machine... The coin box spat each and every one of them out... So, I began swearing at the machine quite loudly in English, and this brought out my housemate from his room (I thought he was at school), he looked at me with this look like I should have known better, but thankfully he was nice enough to help me and let me know that I needed to buy coins from our landlady at the price of 3 Euro.  So, essentially, I entered Euro Itchy & Scratchy Land without any Itchy & Scratchy Land money, and all that Euro Itchy & Scratchy Land accepts is Itchy & Scratchy Land money... It would've been nice if there was a sign on the machine, or I was told in advance... Anyway... I took the detergent covered clothes out of the machine, and texted my landlady (who I think lives upstairs) to try to get the coins at the time... She said she would come in the evening... So, no washing got done during the day... I studied, I had dinner, and I got ready for bed, no sign of the landlady... She turned up at 10:15 PM, gave me the coins and the detergent she wanted used, and left... 10:15 PM? I would have thought that was night time rather than evening... I was taught that you don't call a home phone or turn up at someone's house unannounced unless it is an emergency or a loved one has died... I don't know, I don't understand the system here... 6 weeks until Australia!

The following day (today), I did the washing... I put the clothes back in the machine, I put the detergent in, I put the coin in, and fiddled with the machine (as the timer was counting down but the machine wasn't working... I guess it is a coin operated power box) and eventually it started, but the settings I wanted were not what the machine picked up, and so, after 43 minutes the machine stopped, about half way through the cycle... My clothes came out saturated (my machine at home, and the machines I used in laundromats throughout the United States all spun before the end and removed a lot of water from the clothes), and not wanting to spend another coin to repeat the cycle with a proper ending, I hung the clothes out at various places in the house (smaller items on a small clothes rack, larger items above the bath) and honestly, I reckon they'll take 3 days to dry...


Train Days

I'll end with this... I have been catching the train every morning to school, and then again in the early afternoon.  There are a few repeat faces, but mostly I don't recognise anyone, so if I am recognising you, then you are either really good, or really deplorable...

About a week and a half ago I jumped on the train at Inganni and stood in the middle of a seated area (the basic layout of the train cars is 4 seats on both sides, then a standing area in front of the door, and this repeats countless times... The reason I stand here is because I am at the start of the Metro line, and I'd rather avoid having people push past me because I am standing at the door), but as soon as I stood there I was hit by this awful smell, which I worked out was the kids sitting in front of me and behind me.  I think they were Gypsy kids, so I immediately zipped all my pockets and began edging away to the middle of the doorway and the comparatively clean air.  The kids were in the mid to late teens and we loudly talking to each other, playing songs on their phones and just generally being a loud nuisance, plus they looked like they'd all slept outside and smelled like it as well.

(Italian streets, in my limited experience, are not clean places.  Many have dog shit every 50m or so, and a large number have spit on the ground, like, fresh spit on the ground... It is a little bit disgusting, I'm not going to lie)

One of the kids stood up to go annoy their friend/brother on the other side of the carriage, at the next stop an old lady walked on and saw the vacated seat, but before she got there one of the girls put her hand on it and loudly yelled 'SCUSA' (which is the informal way to say 'Excuse me', but in this case it was taken to mean 'Fuck off this seat is taken'... Though I'm not sure the lady would have wanted to sit next to them after being there for more than 5 seconds)... What was really telling is that the entire section of the subway car was empty and people were packed into the other sections to uncomfortable levels just to avoid these kids... They alighted 4 stops later...

I've seen these kids twice since... Now I know better than to go stand in front of them though... Lesson learned.

Finally, last week I was on my trip into school one day and this old guy came and stood next to me.  When I say next to me, it was more, between me and the guy behind me, and the guy was about half my height... So, as you can imagine, he was not a tall man... I am blessed in that I am able to easily reach above my head and reach a handle... This old man did not have this same ability, and jumped as the train began moving, causing him to struggle to maintain verticality and grab onto me and the guy next to me to stay up... He eventually held onto the handle using his fingertips and standing on tippy toes... He was speaking directly to me, but like, speaking aggressively, clearly unhappy with me, but I just focused on not hearing him... I'd done nothing wrong, in fact, I'd caught the man, and he was having a go at me because I was tall? Fuck that guy... He got chippy with a woman sitting down, and I was happy to leave the train at Cadorna...

The Milan Metropolitana... Brings out all sorts!