A test of knowledge

Monday was a very interesting day for us here in Subiaco. For starters we got to give a tour to Americans from Nebraska of all places. I was a little shocked by how they all decided to just pick up and go on this two week adventure to Italy. One of the guys told us that his flight cost only 45 bucks! He said he had frequent flyer miles saved up and saw that they would expire so he decide why not and booked the flight. Thats how I would like to be someday. Just to be able to book a flight without a second thought and go somewhere new. Their tour guide was a interesting character herself. She kept telling us that time was short for them to see what they wanted to see and would tell us at every break that we needed to hurry. The group wanted to have a mass as well at the end of the tour, so of course she rushed them through that too somehow. All she really every did was complain to us in italian and english about how she hates groups that want to do all the above in a short period of time. I do understand where she is coming from, but at some point you just have to realize that life doesn't always go the way you plan it. She even had to tell the group that there wasn't enough time for them to see Santa Scholastica and all she could do was allow them to take a picture of the outside building. I was laughing internally so hard at this, but I could not change her mind. Matt and I told her that there would be a good arial view from Sacro Speco if she would let them walk a different way down to the parking lot, but she refused. I guess she just didn't want to walk that distance. After that tour was done, we spent the rest of the morning sitting in the shop studying. 

The afternoon was slower than the morning. We did not see any large groups until about closing time, but we did keep ourselves entertained. First Cecilia had us go up on top of the shop to pick some kind of fruit from this cactus that was up there. Apparently it is good fruit, but I dare not try it. Something about being pricked by the cactus even though wearing gloves to eat some weird purple fruit just doesn't do it for me. Once we collected enough fruit, we went back down into the shop to just waste time. 

Here at Sacro Speco there are two stray cats that wander the grounds. One is named Mizoto while the other is named Piccolo. Piccolo is the one who doesn't really like to be seen by people so he hides most of the time, while Mizoto comes into the shop everyday looking for Cecilia to feed him. She is a huge cat person and this cat only likes her. Everyone else it sees along with Matt and myself it will hiss at. Sometimes you don't even know it is there until you hear this weird sound and sure enough, its Mizoto hissing at you. I really don't like that cat and I tell Cecilia that it is evil. Anyway a few days ago Mizoto came into the shop limping because Piccolo got the best of him. Even though this is a huge space for them to wander around, they somehow run into each other and fight. Today was a big showdown. Piccolo came out from hiding and Mizoto happened to be sitting outside the shop. Piccolo slowly approached Mizoto trying to sneak up on him, while Mizoto was making this weird purring sound I guess telling Piccolo to go away. Matt, Cecilia, and I were watching outside waiting for Piccolo to strike. When Mizoto turned his back for a second, Piccolo made a mad dash for him, but unfortunately Cecilia stepped in and scared Mizoto into the shop. Matt and I were of course cheering for Piccolo to get Mizoto. About an hour later when Cecilia was on that late tour, Matt and I heard this loud meow. We darted outside, but didn't see either cat until Piccolo emerged out of this locked shed. He was walking fine so I guess he won. We didn't see Mizoto come out though. I guess he could show his face or got badly injured again, but we will see tomorrow.

Micotto

Piccolo

Today was the first day that I gave a tour of the monastery. I will admit that I was very nervous before hand trying to quickly cram all of the facts before they showed up. Luckily Matt tagged along with me on the tour, because at every break point I would have him refresh my mind with some more facts just in case I happened to forget them. I think my tour was from Manchester, but I am not too sure. I was more concerned with giving proper and full details on all the frescos. 

Giving a tour here and at SJU have two very different feelings to them. I guess since I had a year to get to know SJU before giving my first tour is a huge factor, but I think there is more to it than that. I didn't really feel like myself giving this tour. I am usually able to draw the crowd into my stories, but this time it felt like they just wanted to get it over with. I sensed this overwhelming pressure from the visitors as they listened and watched. I would repedeatly ask if there where any questions, but I always got the same response. I guess some things just wont change no matter where you are. But when I would turn around I would hear whispering in the group. I makes me think of two things. Either I said something incorrectly and they don't have the courage to correct me, or they had a question but were afraid to ask. I guess with time I will develop a certain "style" that's appropriate for the monastery tour. It just will be a difficult task, but I guess that's part of the experience.