Monday I had another lesson with Anna-Lisa. Before our lesson, I remembered that I had homework that I had to do. So after mass, I ran back to my room and skipped breakfast. Luckily thanks to Don Carlo giving us so many biscotti packets, I was able to hold out until lunch. My stomach did not like the fact that I had eaten two packets because it has been grumbling all day. Or maybe it's because he made us lunch and dinner today. Italia and Pinnucia were not here so Don Carlo filled in to be the chef. His food was a little bland for my taste and Matt agreed with me.
Breakfast wasn't the only thing that I missed today. The barber, who only comes once every six weeks, was here to cut hair. I knew he was going to come today, but I did not know when he would get here and how long he would stay. I knew that Anna-Lisa would want to start our lesson at 9 so I had to get her first. I also wouldn't feel right to waste her time by trying to explain to a barber how he should approach my hair. Don Luigi said that I might have to go to Roma or Subiaco and have either Cecilia or Matt translate for me. I still don't think that it will make a difference, because my experience with barbers has never turned out well. The two times I went experimenting in Minnesota were a disaster. I had to shave my head twice just to cow out even. The sad thing is that those barbers speak fluent English. Imagine what would happen if I had to explain that in Italian. I would have to go bald all over again. I decided that I will wait until our next trip to Roma, which is actually this Thursday.
I am really excited to go because it feels like its been awhile since I got to stretch my legs outside of the monastery. What's even more exciting is that Matt and I get to go alone, so the places and things we could see are limitless. So for my fans out there I will definitely post some awesome photos to make up for the lack of pictures in the past few journals. You just have to understand that I am busy and there isn't much to see here at Sacro Speco other than the mountains and the church. We are not really supposed to take pictures of the frescoes, but I will make an exception for you. So take a look at this amazing place that I now know backwards and forwards when giving a tour.
The other thing worth mentioning is that Mattia has done another ridiculous thing again. Matt went to go get his hair cut while I was with Anna-Lisa. When he was sitting in the chair, Mattia walked in with Matt helplessly sitting in the chair, reached out, and poked him right in the nose with his finger and then left the room. As to why he did this, Matt and I said it's simply Mattia. There is no real thought that goes into anything he does. He is one of those people who acts first and then thinks later once someone explains his actions. But Mattia isn't the only strange monk here. The Abbot also has some strange tendencies. For instance today in the shop when he was about to leave and saw me standing there, he took his hand and slapped me in the face kind of hard. Now normally I would have lost it, but I managed to just let this one slip. I try to follow a certain rule: You get two warnings from me until I will retaliate, so the Abbot has used up one. The reason why I mention this is because in the past, he slapped one of the volunteers in the face pretty hard and the volunteer lost it. The Abbot didn't come around the shop for at least two weeks. I guess he felt really embarrassed.
There was a slight change in Mass this morning when Mattia decided to join Matt and I in the upper part of the church. I already knew this would be a long day for me. Mattia was trying to turn on the mic without having feedback from the mic, but it didn't work, so he just turned it off. I told him all you have to do is move the other mic back and it would fix the problem. With Mattia's thought process, he somehow concluded that I meant to say grab the tip of the mic to make a lot of noise. I don't know how you could possibly think that would fix it. Mattia looked at me as if to say what I told him didn't work. Don Luigi came out and explained it to him again. That time he got it correct.
So Tuesday started off just like any other day until Sacro Speco was overrun with kids. I was expecting a tour at 11:30 today and knew that these children would just get in my way. I did mention this to Clara who told me that my tour had to be short because she wanted to get home. Of course the group arrived late, around 11:50, and the 100 children had already gone inside. I had to skip some of the frescoes thinking that I would have enough time left over to explain them, but those children got in the way. Right when you walk in and see the frescoes of Jesus, they were there, loud as ever. My group could barely hear me when I spoke and there were 35 people in my group. The worst part of the tour had to have been at the scala santa (the holy stairs). The teacher had the idea of having all of these children sit on it while she talked, blocking the only way in or out downstairs. I apologized to my group several times during the tour for the crowd of children. If you cannot already tell or have forgotten, I really don't like kids. They seem to always get in the way. When I finished my tour, it was almost one. I got back to the shop and told Clara and Cecilia that there were too many children. They were everywhere and got in my way at every single point during the tour. Cecilia and Clara had other questions in mind though. They wanted to know what I thought of the girls in my tour. Now this group was of 17 and 18 year old kids. When I told them that the girls were too young and said that they were around 18, Cecilia and Clara both said so what. I told them that dating younger girls was never my style. I always liked girls who were a year or two older than me. I don't like younger girls because I feel that they are too immature, even though we know they mature quicker than boys. Cecilia then tried to play match-maker betraying to leave the shop when all of these girls came in asking questions. Later that day she pointed out in the sign-in log that one of the girls left me a message. Again she is trying to set me up with these younger girls. I don't think she will ever give it a rest.
Today at lunch Matt and I were surprised with two shirts that Say Venice, Italy on them from Pinnucia. She was on a vacation last week and decided to bring back some souvenirs for us. I will definitely have to bring back something for everyone here when I go out on my little adventures. They have all definitely been a huge help. I also was quizzed today during lunch. Don Luigi asked when to say something in Italian. I told him about my tour, since that was the only fresh thing in my mind. They were all impressed on how far I have come in the last few weeks. I can speak a little more now, but I understand a lot more.
When I got back to the shop, Anna-Lisa walked in and asked me if I had been doing my homework. I showed here what I had so far. We were supposed to write down what we had for lunch and dinner, but I was unsure of what this fried thing was that we had for lunch. All I knew was that it wasn't meat and it was some kind of vegetable. I tried explaining this to both Anna-Lisa and Clara, but they didn't understand. Clara called Pinnucia in the kitchen to find out and then told me it wasn't meat. I knew that because that's what I said. It was just a very long day. The only thing I could look forward to was coming back to my room and getting some good photos of Subiaco at night.
Matt and I decided to head out of the gate after dinner on this clear night to get some good photos. We were out there for at least 15 minutes taking shots, until We both heard something. I was in another location taking a photo when I heard this rustling in the woods. I figured it was some deer or something just passing by. Matt was still taking photos of Subiaco when he too heard this rustling. Shortly after that he heard what he thought was a growl. He first passed it off as me burping, but once he saw that I wasn't behind him and heard it again, he called me over and said that there's something else here. I told him that I heard something too, but thought it was harmless. We decided not to take our chances and headed back to the monastery. We asked Don Carlo when we got back what kind of wildlife lives in the area. Apparently there are a lot of wild boars here. That's what we believe made that loud growl. I think if we had stayed a little longer, it would have made a charge at us. We both agreed never to go out there without any weapons if we ever decide to take photos at night.
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