Friday was my first practice session learning Italian with Anna-Lisa. She is one of the tour guides they call on when we have German groups visiting. It really does amaze me how everyone here knows two languages almost fluently. Cecilia can speak Spanish and is of course fluent in Italian; Clara can read Spanish, knows a good amount of English, and of course is fluent in Italian. Don Luigi can give tours in Spanish, along with two other monks. I one day would like to be able to say the same for myself.
In these sessions I will learn how to say Italian words while also learning more vocabulary. I guess I am killing two birds with one stone, as they say. Maybe within the next two weeks I will be able to understand almost everything that is said to me and will not have to revert back to speaking English. I try to speak as little English as possible. I also attempt to speak some Italian phrases and words that I learn in my free time, but the Abbot suggested that I have a tutor. I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for him and I would agree. I think this is a great idea and will definitely try to take advantage of this.
Other than having my study session, today was another slow day for Matt and I. We sat in the store and learned some new words. Before leaving, however, Anna-Lisa gave us homework to do. I guess this will keep me busy until my next session, which is Monday. I am actually really excited, because now with her help I will be able to learn at an exceptional rate.
Today was another fun-filled day here at Sacro Speco. To start things off, I had to deal with crazy impatient Italians in the shop as they throw money at me and I try to get some order. At least this time I wasn't alone. Don Antonio was there to pick up some of the slack. Every time is started to slow down, another large group would come in and create chaos all over again. The weird thing is that no of this was on the schedule for today. Since we have other tour guides who give tours of both Santa Scholastica and Sacro Speco, there is really no way of telling when we will have a huge group. We had to work all the way until about lunch time for us. We also had to rush to set up for a wedding that was in the afternoon. Cecilia had me run to the kitchen maybe four different times for things they need. The reason I had to run back and forth was because this wedding was different from the others. It wasn't only a wedding but also a baptism as well.
In the afternoon, we started off working in the shop. The one thing that was really popular today in the shop was a alcohol named gocce. It is this 80 percent alcohol that is said to cure headaches, colds; just about everything that you can imagine. Italians have thoughts about alcohol curing certain pains. I think its actually pretty funny seeing these people buy it. Don Antonio would give them a sample of the alcohol and their eyes would light up. Everyone who tasted it today said it was delicious and bottle a few bottles of it. The last ones I saw buy the bottles were some Koreans who came to visit Mattia, the monk who everyone believes isn't right in the head.
When Mattia saw that there were Koreans here, he left his post of watching the video cameras to give them a personal tour that lasted 2 hours. Of course he didn't tell anyone that he was leaving and Cecilia happened to walk by the Sacrestia and saw no one there. Guess who she had sit there. If you guessed Matt (aka John), then you are correct. The one guy who speaks very little Italian. In the Sacrestia you can have anything from phone calls to visitors with questions. Luckily Matt came to help me out. At this point I really started not to like Mattia. He seems to always mess things up no matter what he does. Of course Cecilia did scold Mattia when he returned about leaving the desk without telling anyone. I guess he got so excited to see Koreans that he just wasn't thinking.
I spent most of the afternoon inside the Sacrestia with Matt, Cecilia, and Don Heriberto practicing Italian. We had to wait for the wedding to end so we could clean up. It seemed like it took them forever to finally leave the church because we weren't able to clean until 6:00, which is 30 minutes from closing time. To top it off, some more people decided to walk through Sacro Speco to check out some of the frescoes. Cecilia had turned off some of the lights not thinking that people were still down there, but luckily I told her to wait awhile. Three girls were wandering around down there taking flash photos. I had to get on the speak and tell them "No Foto!" They looked around trying to figure out where the voice came from. I always wanted to do that. One of the girls had gone upstairs to where St. Francis' fresco is and didn't watch her step. Matt and I watched her tumble down a few stairs and we just laughed. I know that makes me a horrible person, but you had to be there to see. You will be happy to hear that she did not hurt herself.
There is one thing I failed to mention in my journal. Don Carlo has been handing Matt and I a pack of biscotti almost every night. Right now I have six saved up in my room for a rainy day. I try to eat one a day, but after being filled up from lunch and dinner, there is no more room. Tonight I think was the last night since Don Luigi comes back tomorrow. Don Carlo is alright in my book, even though he does things his own way. Tonight after we cleaned the dishes, Matt and I set up the table for breakfast tomorrow. Don Carlo stopped us before we could push the cart out. He rearranged everything, basically turning everything backwards, and then said it was perfect and set it out. That's just one of the many moments Don Carlo has taken control of something that really doesn't matter. I guess that's his simple pleasure.
Also mike if your reading this, happy birthday. I did manage to send a text but I still want to wish you one here on my blog. Have a good 25th.
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