House-Stuffed Italian Thanksgiving

Last night was our bug Thanksgiving dinner.  We invited all of our students to the Bible School for a real American Thanksgiving and they were eager to accept.  On Friday we had almost 70 people signed up to come. In all I think we had about 80 people here last night.  It was tricky figuring out a way to find space for everyone, but the guys did a great job clearing out  space in our classroom.  We were able to fit enough tables and chairs for everyone to have a seat.  Then, under the direction of Jessica - our resident artist - we decorated the classroom and it looked great.  The classroom normally has a very cold feel to it, white walls, fluorescent lights and tile floors, but it ended up looking really fun and welcoming. We had brown paper-bag table cloths, festive Thanksgiving centerpieces, and a huge "Happy Thanksgiving" sign.  Jessica had the idea to spread colorful leaves (both dried leaves and paper leaves) on the tables and it looked so great.  Then there was the food... We started cooking on Thursday night, cooked all afternoon on Friday and then got up on Saturday morning and cooked all day.

On the menu:
2 turkeys, 1 ham and cranberry glaze, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, vegetable casserole, corn casserole, peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed berry Jello salad, cranberry sauce, rolls, clam dip, cheese ball, mixed veggies with dip, wassail and iced tea
and dessert:
2 pecan pies, 4 pumpkin pies, 1 chocolate pie, 2 chocolate chip pies, apple crisp - all with homemade whipped cream

Debbie did an amazing job of planning all the food and working out the timing.  Using three kitchens, with three ovens over three days we were able to make enough food for 80 people (and at least three days of leftovers).
The party started at 7:30 and even though Italians are supposed to be late people started getting here about 10 minutes early.  We were still trying to carve the turkeys and get all the food out on the tables (each with little labels so that people knew what everything was) as more and more people came in.  I kept squeezing my way through the crowd back and forth through the kitchen at it grew denser and denser.  Two of my individual students came and there were quite a few people from our 9 o-clock beginner class.  Before we ate we gave a short explanation of Thanksgiving.  Jessica had written a short story describing the meaning of Thanksgiving complete with Pilgrims, Indians and references to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and football.  I read it in my best teacher voice. After that David explained that there would be two lines around the buffet table and everyone literally laughed and said 'Italians don't make lines'.  And they didn't!  People got plates and just worked their way around the table, everyone going every which way and bumping into each other.  It was fabulous.
The final verdict is that Italians love Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving food.  People really seemed to have a great time and they really loved the food. I asked people which was their favorite and the top answers were the turkey, the sweet potato casserole, and the corn casserole.  (It's interesting trying to explain a 'casserole' to non-native English speakers by the way.)  People said the flavors are all very different and unusual, but they really enjoyed it.  In Italian, squash and pumpkins are both called 'zucca' and I had to explain that pumpkin pie was made with the big orange kind and that we have different names for all the different kinds.  They really seemed to like it though.  In general, American desserts are a lot sweeter than Italian desserts and there's really nothing here that resembles pie.  The people I talked to liked the pumpkin pie and the chocolate pie.  The pecan pie was really interesting to them because pecans were another food they had never had before.  Describing nuts is surprisingly difficult.  Pecan pie is one of my favorites and the pecan pie was great, but I'm not sure how many Italians really like that much sugar.
At some point during the night I made the mistake of looking in the kitchen to see the giant mound of dishes waiting for us.  Maybe in some form of self-preservation it did not occur to me until that moment that we would have to wash all of the dishes used by the 80 people in the house.  In the end I think the last group left here after midnight and we finished cleaning at about 1:30.  It was an amazing night and I know everyone had a great time and really appreciated what we did.  Also, people brought donated food for the church and we took bags and bags full to church this morning.

Pop Goes My Brain

Everyday during our Italian class we have a 20 min coffee break. There is a cafe in the school just down the hall from the classroom. Everyday they play music videos on this little TV and unfortunately it is MTV Italy and most of the songs are American pop songs. I have never watched so many music videos in my life and I am more in touch with the subject here than I was in America. Once they played Katy Perry's video about short shorts and I think part of my brain died.

Full House

So there are a lot of people living in this house.  All of the new Avanti Italia workers live here (7 people), as well as the old ones (2 people) and the directors (2 more people).  There are also two other guys who live here; one is the assistant to the director of the Harding program (HUF) and the other is a guy whose family is here with HUF and he is going to school in Florence this semester.  Whenever I say "we" did this or that, it is usually some combination of the following people...

Eric, Ryan, Allen, me, Emily, Laura, Jessica, Angela, Debbie and David at the Grape Harvest

New Avanti Italia workers:
These are the people I go to school with everyday.  We all also teach English classes and do many other things together.

Me, Jessica, Eric, Angela, Peter and Laura at
the church lunch in Prato

Angela Withrow - Angela graduated from Harding in December and is originally from Garland, TX.  She got here just a couple of days before me and she is my roommate :)  It's a good think I like her as much as I do because we are together all of the time.


Eric and Jessica Smith - Eric and Jessica are one of the married couples.  Eric graduated from Ohio State and Jessica graduated from Harding.  They have been living in Cabot, Arkansas for the past few years.  Eric was working as a surveyor and Jessica as an artist (a very, very good artist).  


Ryan and Laura Stephens - Ryan and Laura are the other married couple.  They both graduated from Harding a couple of years ago and had been working as nurses in Memphis, TN before they came here.  Laura really enjoys cooking and I really enjoy eating the food she cooks.


Peter McGraw - Peter also graduated from Harding within the past couple of years.  He was working in Memphis before coming here as well. Peter was not able to be here until the beginning of October, which was difficult since we had been here for a month (and a lot happens in a month).  But he's been working really hard to catch up with Italian and I think he's started feeling less overwhelmed. 



Other Avanti Italia Workers:

David and Debbie Woodroof - David and Debbie are the directors of Avanti Italia.  They do a really amazing job of managing our time and using our resources to help whoever we can.   They are also like backup parents and do a great job of making everyone feel at home here.

Laura, Jessica, Debbie, me and Angela at the church in Prato

Emily Woodroof - Emily is David a Debbie's daughter.  She graduated from Harding a couple of years ago and has been an Avanti Italia worker here in Florence for a year already. She has one year left and then she will be finished with Avanti :(  I will be sad when she leaves.  She has done a GREAT job of helping us all get accustomed to the way things work here and helping us with our Italian.  Before I got here people warned me that I would love Emily and her parents and those people were correct.

Jessica, Angela, Ryan, Ermenita, Eric, me, and Emily at Ermenita's graduation

Ermenita Zyka - Ermenita is from Albania but has lived in Florence for 6 years.  She just finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Florence (we went to her "American style" graduation yesterday).  She has been going to the church here in Florence for about 5 years (I think) and recently started working as an Avanti Italia worker.  She doesn't teach English classes, but she does many other things for the Bible School and for the church.  She speaks both English and Italian fluently so she is also going to star helping us with our Italian.  She is wonderful.  

Other people who live here:
Allen Cochran - Allen is a student at Harding but is taking the semester off to study Italian here in Florence.  His parents are the guest professors at HUF this semester and his younger sister is here with them also.  The Cochrans are great and it's been fun having Allen here (I like to give him a hard time about his crazy hair).  He's been here the whole time that I have so it will be strange when he's gone next semester.

Zoey with Ryan and Allen

Kyle Thompson - Kyle is the assistant to the director of HUF.  He has his own apartment here at the Bible School.  He is usually at the Harding villa or out with the students so we don't really seem him here very often.  But, he's a lot of fun also.  

Zoey!

Zoey - Zoey is Emily's puppy.  She is awesome.  She is also going to be the most spoiled dog in the world because she lives in a house where there are always at least 12 people seeking here affection at all times.

My schedule

Some of you may be wondering what I do everyday... let me tell you.
For the first few months we focus on learning Italian.  So (quindi), I'm learning a lot.  I got to school at Lorenzo de'Medici in downtown Florence.  It is just several yards from the San Lorenzo Market and the Medici Chapel and a few blocks away from the Duomo.   We (me and the other Avanti workers who came this month) go to school Monday - Friday from 9:00 to 1:00.  On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we come back to the Bible School for lunch and a meeting.  On those days Rosa comes and cooks for us.  This week we started the policy that we are not allowed to speak English during lunch on those days.  Anyone who says anything in English has to pay 10 cents - we'll all go out for pizza with that money once we have enough money.  I haven't had to pay anything yet; that doesn't mean I'm saying things correctly, but I guess it counts as Italian.  All of that lasts until about 4:00.
We teach individual English classes Monday-Wednesday.  The new workers have fewer students right now because we are in school.  On Mondays I have two students for one hour each (4:00 and 5:00).  After that we have a ladies Bible study and dinner with everyone.  It's in English right now, but as soon as we get someone who doesn't speak English we will switch to Italian.  On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights (9:00-10:00) I also help teach a beginner class.  We have about 10 people in this class right now.  This year we started a group English class for people who need to learn basic English (our first lesson was the alphabet and saying your name).  It's a fun class, but this means that Mondays are pretty crazy.
On Tuesdays I have a bit of a break because I don't have any individual English classes.  After school I have the rest of the day off until the beginner class at 9:00.  The past two weeks I've gotten to go up to the Harding villa to play the piano for a little while.  It's also a good chance for me to plan my English lessons.
Wednesdays are basically the same as Mondays (school, lunch with Rosa, meeting) but I only have one student at 6:00 and there's no Bible study before the beginners class.
Thursday and Friday we don't teach individual English classes.  After school we have the afternoon to do different things that David (David Woodroof, the director) plans for us, supporting the church or the community somehow or other Avanti-related business.  This Thursday was the Vendemmia (grape harvest), which I'll write about later.  The two Thursdays before that we had to go to government offices to do paperwork for our health insurance and permesso di soggiorno.  Then at 6:30 we go to the church building where we have a conversation class (another group class).  Then we have dinner and a church Bible study - that means it's all in Italian.
Fridays are called "physical Friday" and we are supposed to do work around the Bible school after our meeting.  It's an old building and has been lived in by tons of people, so there are tons of things that need to be done.  So far we haven't actually had a "physical" Friday because there have been other things going on.  A few weeks ago we had the youth retreat here so we had guests and last week I got to go to the Uffizi with the Harding students.  Yesterday we visited one of David's students, Andrea, at his art studio. He's a really talented painter and he's also designed machines that he can program to carve and paint by computer.  He can scan an image and the computer will literally paint it (with a paint brush).  It was really interesting.  After that I went with Emily (Emily Woodfroof, she's an Avanti worker who has been here for a year and is David's daughter) to the library here in Scandicci.  We (Avanti workers and some of the Harding students) are doing a story time there in English every Friday in October and the first one was yesterday.
Saturday and Sunday are my days off.  Things always come up on the weekend, but the only planned activities are on Sunday.  We all go to church together at the Chiesa di Cristo (Florence Church of Christ) and then at 6:30 we go to a dinner and Bible study at the Harding villa.
So, that's my week.  I feel like I'm constantly doing things.  This is the first chance I've had to even write this blog.  It's great work though and I'm loving it.

I live here (and coffee).

So I've been in Florence for two weeks now and I finally  found time to start my blog.  I can't believe I live here. This city is so beautiful I feel stupid describing it in words.  Every day I get to go into 'centro', downtown Florence and I already feel moderately competent in navigating my way through the narrow streets.  Our language school, Lorenzo De Medici, is less than a block away from the Lorenzo Market and just a few blocks from the Duomo.  Every time I see the Duomo I feel like I need to take a picture of it.  I've been inside twice already, but every time you see it you notice something you've never seen before.  My favorite view is from Piazzale Michaelangelo.  It's a large square on a hill overlooking the Arno River, including the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio.  To me it's the perfect view of the city.
There is a cafe (un bar) near the school where we go for cappuccino in the morning.  The men who work in the cafe (they're called bartenders or baristas - hello Starbucks) recognize us when we come in.  We muster up courage to try our very best Italian and they respond in English.  This week I learned how to ask for my cappuccino to-go, which has been very helpful.  Believe it or not coffee is actually a bit cheaper here (or maybe I just got used to expensive coffee).  At home I never got anything stronger than a flavored latte, but in the two weeks I've been in Italy I've had several cappuccinos and more espressos than I can remember.  They also make something called 'caffe shakerato', which is espresso with milk and sugar shaken (shakerato).  I have a feeling I will be thoroughly addicted before I leave.