My New Home

I finally found a place to live, and am really happy with it. Its living with a mother and her three daughters, seems like the mother is separated from their father. The girls range in age from 12-17, and the house is well-lit, large, and very comfortable. My room is about the same size as my dorm room was at school, but without the need for as many things here, it feels like I've got a lot more space! The neighborhood is quiet and residential, but there are enough small shops and little restaurants nearby that I'm quite happy.

I'm glad to be living in an Italian home, as it is really forcing me to use my language skills. They invited me to join them for dinner last night, which ended up being them grilling me with lots of questions about my past (I haven't learned past tense yet, so that was a little tough!) and eating delicious food. Thank goodness they noticed when I was worn out and unable to speak anymore--I had just moved in a few hours previous to it.

While this definitely isn't as difficult as adjusting to China, there is definitely some adjustment to be had. For one, there was a mosquito feasting in my room last night, and it even managed to bite me on the tip of my  nose, which has been driving me a little crazy all day. I haven't figured out how I'm supposed to use the shower. Its set up to just have one of those hand-held nozzles, and while there is  a  place on the wall for it, there isn't a curtain. I'm terrified of shooting water off to every part of the bathroom if I lose focus!

I also haven't yet figured out how to get the internet to work. They have wireless, and while my computer is picking up that the wireless exists, it refuses to connect (or they can't figure out the password), or maybe doesn't recognize that there is signal. I'm going to be posting and using their computer to connect to the internet for now, until I can figure out exactly what is going on. It might take a while for me to discover whether they got the password right or not (we've tried several ones, to no avail), as I haven't gotten the language part down yet.

Tonight at sundown Yom Kippur begins, and I plan on going to temple for a little bit tonight, since I'll be missing most of tomorrow. Of course, in this grand world of irony, I'm missing temple because its the first day of classes, and while I would be happy to miss class in general for something like this, I feel like I really need to attend the first day. So I will be going to culinary school while fasting, and then change into more appropriate clothes for the afternoon services. I'm just hoping that someone will invite me over for break-fast, as I can't imagine walking home (20-25 minutes) on such an empty stomach. There wouldn't be much point anyway, as on Sundays all the shops are closed, meaning that I have no food in the refrigerator. Oh well, we'll see what happens. Anyway, next post will be all about my big day tomorrow! I hope I have enough sharp pencils for class!