Its already been a week!

This journal entry marks the completion of my first week. I cannot really believe its only been a week and I have progressed so far. I am now really starting to get the hang of speaking Italian. Everyday I am able to practice with some of the monks and of course Matt. I can actually understand some of the customers who enter the store. I just have to keep up with writing down at least two pages of words so that I can get a better grasp of the language. After I am comfortable with the customers, my next goal is to tackle the phone. Saying that now makes me cringe. I hate answering the phone, even when I know the person on the other line speaks English. It is on my list of things I really try to avoid doing. I hate not knowing answers to questions, so that's why I avoid the phone. Just to think I have made it this far avoiding the phones and will be answering them in about a week or two. I guess I should be excited, but something about answering the phone makes me regret my progress a little. Anyway I am learning a lot and everyone here has been really patient with me. It is hard for me to communicate or just get a point across when I just don't know the words. That's why I am in such a rush to learn more words. My overall goal is to be able to have a conversation in Italian within two months without consulting a dictionary or someone else for help. Lets see if I can accomplish the difficult goal. Now onto more important things, food!

I had the most interesting lunch experience the other day. The first course was a pasta dish that sounds relatively normal except the pasta was green. Literally green pasta with some kind of fish bits in it. When I saw it, I could only ask what in the word was it. Apparently the pasta was treated with some squid oil or something like that which turned it green. Surprisingly it still tasted like normal pasta. It was just that it looked like something out of a swamp. I thought I was finished with strange dishes until I saw the next course. It was some kind of fish that I have never seen before, but that isn't actually the weird part though. The heads were still attached to the body of the fish. I was curious as to how it would taste so I decided to be a little adventurous. I put two on my plate and began to dig in. Let me tell you that it is weird eating something with the eyes still there. It was almost as if the fish was watching me devour its body. When I finished with the body I asked one of the monks what I should do with the head. He said I could either eat it or leave it alone. I tried a little bit of it, but it got too weird because now I was forced to look it in the eye while picking it apart. I think the fish were good, but my stomach seems to disagree. Ever since that day my stomach has been bubbling and rumbling. I guess I shouldn't have taken bites out of the head. Well I learned my lesson now and will be more cautious about what I decide to eat. Oh and as a little side note, I will be making my first trip to Rome next week. Be on  the lookout for a post of my adventures along with some pictures. I guess these pictures of the crazy weather will have to hold you off until then.