Friday, June 8, 2012

Dinner With My Students in Rome





My first maritozzo 


My cooperating teacher and I went to a pizzeria with two of our year five classes. It was totally not what I was expecting and the complete opposite of the nature of the dinners with my students in L’Aquila. This dinner with my Rome students was loud and hysterical, and I wish I could relive even just a segment of it. My cooperating teacher, Laura, told me that we would all meet at the pizzeria at “around” 8:30. At this point in the year, I have learned that according to Italian time, 8:30 really means 9:00 (sometimes later). At 8:45 I turned the corner onto the dead-end street that the pizzeria was on. In the distance I saw all of my students and Laura. They all made the effort to arrive before me and as I was walking towards them, they were all cheering, clapping, and yelling my name. I immediately realized what type of night it was going to be. My students did not allow my glass to be empty for even a second for the entire night and after pizza, the lights went down, the volume of the music went up (Barry White was playing), and the waitress came out from the back with a bottle of limoncello and two huge party sparklers. Some after dinner drinks came and all the while we’re laughing and chatting, and the boys are breaking out with these sudden outbursts and then all toasting glasses. A man selling roses walked into the pizzeria and the boys rushed over to him, did their exchange, and then came over to me each with a rose in hand. Six of my Italian students across the table with their outstretched arms giving me flowers...so sweet. Then the comedy skit started, as one of the students did imitations of the teachers...including me and Laura. After dinner two of the boys ran to a pasticceria and bought me and Laura each a maritozzo, a traditional Roman pastry. They told me I couldn’t leave Rome without trying one. To top off the already amazing night, Laura drove me home and I got my very first ride on a motorino. The perfect Roman ending to an already perfect Roman night. 
Cultural Note: There is a cultural disregard for line formation. If there are no specific line-forming bars, Italians don’t have the faintest idea on how to form a line. Pizza and coffee bars can be a complete mess. But hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em: at a forno not too long ago, I “cut” in front of the entire blob of people to order my pizza. Sooner or later I had to surrender to the idea of what I thought was being impolite and just become one of the locals.  
Highlights: 1. 2:00am. Sitting outside on a bench in Piazza Navona. Eating gelato. Looking at the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. Pretty amazing.
                  2. Buying cantaloupe, kiwi, and cherry tomatoes from a fruttivendolo that was the absolute best cantaloupe, kiwi, and cherry tomatoes I’ve ever had in my life. 
                  3. Being offered a job teaching English to kids at a summer camp down south for two weeks. 
Impara con me! un grandché- a big deal