Ho Mangiato come una Principessa

Our group returned to San Polo D’enza recently, to a hotel we’ve stayed in several times before. The hotel was nice enough, but having had a mediocre meal at the train station on a previous trip and doing several loads of laundry, we felt sure we’d seen about all there was to see of San Polo D’enza. On Sunday night, Jason did a Google search to find a restaurant nearby that might be open (Italy is closed on Sundays). He found a restaurant called Mamma Rosa, and we called. In an effort to ask if they were open, I made a reservation and we were on our way. Upon arrival, we were greeted on the street by a very small chef in a very big hat. He led us upstairs and inside to the swankiest little restaurant. We looked around and noticed we were the only guests (they basically opened just for us), and also assumed we couldn’t even begin to pay for a meal at this place. We sit down and are presented with a menu that has a 70 euro fixed price dinner (MAMMAMIA). However, the chef comes to explain Sunday prices are different, and then says, “This is not a restaurant, this is my home. I’m happy to have you here in my home. If you want to order just a pasta, that is no problem.” So, feeling relieved, we did. After a small wait, Antonio (the chef) comes out to present us with appetizers. We each got what might be described as a fish mouse, containing marinated sardines and mint. Sounds gross, eh? I thought so. But it was delectable. Oh it was good. I almost cried. Then he brought us smoked salmon, from Aberdeen (home of the infamous Kay Brown) and cured by Antonio himself. Delicious. Next he brought us the only part of the meal we actually ordered—a delicious fish pasta course. THEN he brought us each roasted tuna fillets! The tuna was absolutely amazing, and Kerry-Lea, who hates fish, both ate and enjoyed it. Antonio was pleased. Following dinner, Antonio brought us each a delicious crème brulee, along with a dessert menu. We of course needed no dessert, but when he told us he had some fresh homemade strawberry gelato, we ordered that. It came out with spun sugar and pastry and oh it was good. Then his son brought us a tray of homemade chocolates with exotic and delicious fillings. With every new dish presented to us, Antonio reminded us that this was his passion, and he doesn’t do it for the money. Some people don’t understand, he says, and it makes him sad. But a person should do what he loves. We loved him. He made us cry. Also, I had some local wine and Jay had the best beer in the world. It’s called Noel du Sanglier. It’s brewed in Fidenza (where we scored a 150 euro parking ticket. We hate Fidenza. Who knew it could produce such a treasure?).

We’re expecting to pay quite a bit for this amazing meal, and are quite happy to do so. Antonio brings us the check, and basically only charges for the very few things we ordered. Looking at the bill, he writes at the bottom, 25 x 3, and won’t accept a penny more. We had maybe the most extravagant meal of our lives for 25 euros a person. Unreal. Luckily for us, Mamma Rosa is closed on Monday and Tuesday, so Antonio was cleaning out the kitchen….

If you ever have the misfortune of finding yourself in San Polo D’enza for a weekend, do yourself a favor and visit Antonio at Mamma Rosa on Sunday night. It might just change your life :)

Generosity

Caroline and I went to Lake Como one Sunday when we were staying in the Milan flat. Faye told us to go to this brewery and ask for “Brava” which apparently is the best beer in the world. So we went to Lake Como, and it was gorgeous! It was a bit of a rainy day, so it was quiet there and a bit eerie. We could imagine how nice it would be on a sunny day! Along the lake front there was a little market going on with some delicious cheeses, meats, and sweets. Each booth was from a different area in northern Italy, and they were giving out SO many samples. Every booth we went to had the nicest people, and they were all so eager to tell us about their homes and share their food with us. They didn’t really care whether or not we bought anything—they were happy to share the best foods from their home towns! We just walked by a booth and someone would say, ahh try these olives!! Have another! Isn’t this apple strudel great! Try it! This cheese is delicious!! And here it is smoked! You have to try it with the salami! Seriously, I ate my weight in cheese.

Later we went in search of the brewery. It was nowhere to be found. We did, however, find one in Milan (thanks Garmin). When we got there, it was closed! This was no great surprise…everything in Italy is usually closed, especially on a Sunday. But there were a couple of men outside. We asked if the brewery was open at all on Sunday, and one man said, ah, wait one second. So we did. And then the owner of the brewery comes out and invites us in! We asked if we could just buy some beer to take with us, and he asked us what kind of beer we liked. Then he comes with this huge bottle of beer, and we’re thinking, hm, how much is this going to cost? We didn’t really want to spend a ton of money on beer…so he says, no, take it—it’s free! Then he takes us outside to a cooler, and gives us another huge bottle, and tells us all about the different beers they make and breweries in Italy. Then he gave us these really cool beer mugs (mugs?) with the name of the brewery, and invited us back for aperitivo that night. So we went with our group, and the food was excellent. It was super crowded, but the owner kept coming with beer samples because he wanted us to taste all of the beers he told us about. It was such a cool day. I just kept thinking how amazing it was that people were so happy to give us things and were less worried about making money. It was more like, “look at this thing I made with my hands! Try it! I know it’s good, and I want you to have it because I know you’ll love it!” And they were right, because it all was really, really good.

Update.

So, obviously I haven’t written anything in a while. In fact, I’m going to be hard pressed to remember the names of the towns we’ve been to recently. I’ll do my best. After Rome, we went to Milan… We were NOT excited to go there, but I’m so glad we did! We gave Milan a second chance and it did not disappoint. The duomo there is really amazing, and we found a fun little English Pub were Jay and Kay spent most of their time…they showed soccer and rugby games, like England v. Scotland. Jay is from England and Kay is from Scotland, so you see, it was a good rivalry. Caroline and I also took the train to fair Verona and had an excellent day! We heard about this pass on the train that costs 10 euros, and then you can get into tons of museums and attractions for free. We went to the arena, to Juliet’s house (she’s a fictional character. I still don’t quite understand why she has a house, but we took some great pics on her balcony! I also sent her an email. Ha.), some ruins with an amphitheater. Then we went on Sunday to Lake Como (see below) and then north of Milan to a small town I can’t remember. But we stayed in a B&B called Magnolie. It had the BEST beds, and the most hilarious owner. She actually had a OCD problem I think. She was really upset when we were moving in, and kept telling us where to put our bags, etc. We were there for 4 days, and the first day we came back and found she’d gone through Kay’s bag to find what she thought were better PJs for her to wear, and folded them on the bed for her. She picked throght our dirty laundry and folded it for us. Weird. Which is why, on the last night we were there, it was particularly bad that I spilled RED WINE on my white sheets. Ugh. But we found a magical bleach product that took the stains right out. Dried and ready to go in the morning before checkout! Then I’m not entirely sure where we went…Maybe back to Milan for a few days…Then eventually we went to this amazing B&B also called Magnolie in Civitanova. It was on a hill overlooking the sea! We were there for the weekend, and it was about a 5 minute walk to the beach. The owner was a young, super friendly woman who was so helpful and cool! Then we went to a place somewhere near Bologna maybe…can’t remember. But then we had a longgg drive to Rome because it was time for SPRING BREAK! Which should probably be it’s own post.

Tommy

Sorry no updates in a while...we've had no internet! So sad to us. I'll post the cities we were in once I remember them :-)

I've had a bit of a cold this past week, and one afternoon dreaded my workshop because I wasn't feeling that great vocally. But my class ended up being SO cool. I played a game with my kids called Bang. There was a boy named Tommy who is autistic in the class who had a special aide. It's cool in Italy because most kids with physical and mental disabilities are in the classrooms with everyone else. I've seen that go poorly in the States, but here it's great because the other kids really do want to see the kids with difficulties succeed. They help explain things and cheer them on and their aides are usually very involved. Anyway, we were playing Bang and Tommy had to be eliminated. I looked at his aide, and he acted like it would be fine, but Tommy freaked out and had to be taken out of the classroom. I was bummed because I thought he wouldn't come back. But he did come back once he calmed down, right before I started explaining the rules to the more complicated version of Bang. So I made sure he understood the rules and let him get the hang of the game and he got pretty good at it! In fact, he ended up being in the final round--the big shoot out between him and this other kid. I was so nervous. I have never wanted anyone to win a game like I wanted Tommy to win Bang. The whole classroom was cheering him on! So it's the last round, and I say, GO! and they were so close...in most cases I might call it a tie. But the whole class, even the kid playing against Tommy are pointing at Tommy, saying he was faster. So I say, Tommy, you are the CHAMPION!!! And I have never seen more excitement come from a child. He's screaming and jumping and his face looks like Jon's on Christmas morning when he got his first electric guitar and the whole classroom is cheering and piling on Tommy and the teacher runs to the middle of the circle and picks Tommy up and spins him around and kisses him a zillion times (these things are fine in Italy). It was so cool. It was amazing to see how happy he was, but just as cool to see how encouraging and excited his classmates were.

So then we all pulled ourselves together and carried on with the workshop. It was awesome because Tommy was really engaged for the rest of the workshop and really good at the games we played! Such a bright spot in my week!!

ROMA

Quick story I forgot to mention about Rimini…After the conference we did in Rimini, a teacher came up to me and asked if I could sing the first song I taught them (it’s from Robin Hood). I said, sure, and she pulled out her cell phone to record it! Ha. She said she wanted to let her daughter listen to it. So, I’m officially a recording artist now :-)

So last week in Rome was supposed to be pretty easy. No sketches, a half day on Thursday and Friday, etc. The English days we did were hilarious. We usually don’t do English days with young kids, and we had Wednesday and Thursday booked for English days with 1-3 Primaria (Kindergarten through 2^nd grade). The first class I was in was 3^rd Primaria, and I expected it to be fine. I was even with another girl in my group. However, our kids were INSANE. I physically had to pull them off of each other because they were in full on brawls. And our teacher left as soon as we showed up. So after that we convinced the teacher to let us do Three Little Pigs for the youngest classes. But the next day we had more English days. So we show up to the classrooms Thursday morning, and they’re THE SAME classes we had the day before! Not only were they crazy classes, but we had only prepared one 2 hour workshop for their age. We had to just improvise a 2 hour workshop. Interesting day…

We also found out Wednesday night that Caroline (one of my tourmates) has vocal nodules. She may not be able to finish out the tour! Since last Wednesday we’ve been performing in 3 instead of 4. It’s been fine, but challenging and sometimes hysterical. Challenging because, for example, in the show Three Little Pigs I have to play pig #1 and #3. I have to do about a million quick changes. Literally for the whole show I’m either on stage or quick changing while also doing music cues or set cues. We did that show twice today, and I was also the storyteller both times because now Kay has laryngitis. AND I had to give a workshop to 45 5 year olds in a gym. Now I’m chugging tea and honey like it’s my job.

Hysterical because, for example, we do an opening song for all the fairy tales that introduces each of us. Usually the song goes, “Jason, Kay, Caroline, too, I’m Rebecca, how do you do?” In three, we’re supposed to sing, “Jason Kay, Rebecca, too. Theatrino, how do you do?” Well, the first time we did it, it went, “Jason, Kay” and then I sang, “Caroline, too!” I don’t know if that’s clear. But basically I introduced myself as Caroline because that’s how I’m used to hearing the song…

I’ve been getting to see Rome a bit in the afternoons and on weekends, which is SO fun. I’ve been to the Vatican City a couple of times now (even went for Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday! It was cool because I got to go into the main dome of the church where you usually can’t go if you’re just sightseeing. I didn’t really understand much of what was being said—just the occasional catch phrase—but it was still nice to go to church!) I’ve tried to go to the Sistine Chapel 3 times now, but it’s always closed when I go! Hopefully I’ll make it sometime this week…I also went to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, Coliseum and Forum (but not inside…saving that for when Michael comes!), and general shopping and gelato eating :-) I’m hoping to go to the Villa Borghese before we leave, too! Last weekend we were going to try to scalp tickets for the Rome v. Milan soccer game. How fun would that have been? Turns out tickets sold out in an hour, and would have been mad expensive. Furthermore, then game ended at 0-0 (how does that work?). So I bought a 3 euro Roma tee on the street instead.

I also went to see Alice in Wonderland (in English) last night. So good! See it! We met up with another Theatrino group that is in Rome now, which was really cool. We hadn’t seen anyone else since January, so it was fun to get back in touch! We head out from Rome on Friday (we’re depressed) and to Milan (we’re depressed). We’re not sure how long we’re going to be North, but we’re trying to get over ourselves and promise to do lots of sightseeing there, too!

When In Rome...

Some facts: 1. We have a kitchen in our Rome flat. 2. They don't do real cookies in Italy. 3. Cookies are one of my favorite foods. 4. I am one facebook message away from the recipe for the famous Beth Bridge cookies (the melt-in-your-mouth-cry-your-eyes-out-they're-so-good chocolate chip cookies).

So what do I do? Make cookies of course!

Exhibit A: COOKIE FAIL.

Why? I don't know. But I'm SAD about it. For starters, along with cookies, here in Italy they don't do brown sugar (a key ingredient to the above mentioned cookies). When I asked for it, I was shown brown cane sugar, which is basically just regular sugar that looks dingy. However, in glorious Rome I found a specialty shop selling special English foods--for a very special price. In that shop I found brown sugar! Hooray! So I bought it, and all the other ingredients I needed for the cookies. However, in our kitchen we don't have important tools like measuring cups or hand mixers. But I made an educated guess about a cup of this and that...and beat 4 sticks of butter with a wooden spoon until my arm almost fell off. The resulting "dough" looked, and tasted like chocolate chip cookie dough! Tragically, baking the dough produced Exhibit A, the crispy cookie pancake.

Moral of the story? Eat more gelato.

One thing I've noticed about Romans is that they like big hair. This makes me feel right at home. Just like the sign in Tracy's Hair on Main says, "The bigger the hair, the closer to God." Well, there must be a lot of saints in Rome. I got my haircut near our flat the other day, and post styling I fit right in there with the best of them. The stylist blow dried my hair upside down, and made it enormous. It was hilariously big, and strangely square shaped, and everyone in the salon went BELLISSIMA and sent me on my way. Good news is, post wash I look less like Carrot Top and more like me again.

So Long Emilia Romagna

Week 5--our last on the road for a while! I'm in Rome in the ACLE flat right now. I've unpacked my bags and bought some groceries. I did some laundry. Jay's making dinner and Kay is ironing. And we're all so happy about it! We're also all sleeping in the same room. And we're not complaining. There's a running/bike path that runs right outside the flat with a park and farms and horses on one side and a river on the other. I went for a run this morning! In shorts! Ahh spring is coming friends.

So last week: Monday was hard. We did three back to back sketch shows and workshops, with only 5 minute breaks in between. We were also set in a corridor, and in the middle of our last sketch the janitor opened the double doors behind us, allowing cold air to blow in and almost knock our curtain over, and students and parents started exiting the school, right through our curtain! Yikes. Not our best day. The school closed early and wanted to squeeze 3 shows in, but it was just difficult. Tuesday we also did three sketch shows (guh) BUT they went so well! The kids loved them and the workshops just flew by because the kids were totally into it. Wednesday morning we had sketch in the morning, then a 1.5 transfer to Bologna for the Oxford Conference. It was a conference about, well, I'm not sure. But Theatrino had a booth there, and we were supposed to do 2 sketches. We got there at 12:30 even though the show wasn't supposed to start until 2. And the guy in charge said they were running behind and said we'd have to start late. Which we did. And halfway through our performance, he walks on stage and motions for us to wrap it up! So ridiculous. We finished our show, but as soon as we were off stage they started introducing the next speaker and we just collected our props and speaker and slipped away. So bizarre. We were annoyed. Which is why we LEFT OUR SPEAKER IN THE PARKING LOT. Idiots. We got to our school on Thursday morning, started unloading our stuff, and said, who has the speaker? No one. Because we left it in the parking lot. In Bologna (an hour away). Luckily the school had an amazing sound system. Backing up--after the Oxford Conference we went to Bologna for some sight seeing. It was really beautiful. We were only there for a few hours, but had a nice walk around, did some window shopping, and had a nice dinner. Lasagna alla bolognese. In Bologna. Mmm. It's known as the Fat City. Good thing I didn't stay for long :-) After Bologna we drove to Cesena to our favorite B&B Mama Ro!! We were so excited to see Lucky they dog, but on arrival learned he'd been poisoned just the day before. SO sad. But we had a glass of wine with Carlo and Mama Ro made us our favorite cake. Mm. We were in a really nice school on Thursday and Friday, doing fairy tales! Hooray! We did three Wizards on Thursday. Caroline and I switched roles in the last show because we couldn't handle doing the same thing 3 times in a row. I was Dorothy and she was scarecrow. We decided right before we went on. Ha. Then we did 3 Robin Hoods on Friday. So many Robin Hoods. But it is our favorite. We also got free lunch in the school cafeteria. On Thursday we had the best pesto pasta I've had since being in Italy, followed by some amazing beef dish of sorts. Friday we had pasta, followed by calamari. That's right. Calamari. In the school caf. And it was GOOD. It was also served on real plates. To 7 year olds. And they all waited patiently for their tables to be served before they ate. So civilized.

Friday night we drove to Rimini, which is a beach town! Right on the sea! We performed for an ACLE conference on Saturday. We went out Friday night in the center. There were so many cute little bars! Then we had a great breakfast in our posh hotel on Saturday morning, followed about 2 hours later by an AMAZING and ridiculously heavy lunch. Then we had to perform. Ha. The conference was full of teachers and we did some warmups with them. We performed a scene from Robin Hood and a sketch called Dr. Doolittle and they went really well! The teachers loved us! Which was good because Arigo, the creator of ACLE was there. Also between lunch and the performance we went to the beach to play frisbee. It was warm enough to take off my shoes. Mmmm. SO nice. It was just so fun to be barefoot on a sandy beach playing frisbee. Then after the conference we set off on our 4 hour drive to ROMA. Yippee. We have no sketches this week, which we're so excited about. But a lot of English Days. Wednesday I get to be locked in a room with 5 year olds who barely speak Italian, teaching them English for 2 hours. Yeahhhhhh.

By Request...

Tryin' to keep the customer satisfied...

Broncosulfur

So, I started to get a bit of a chest cold and decided to go to a pharmacist to get medicine before it got to serious...Pharmacies here are funny. You go in and tell the pharmacist your symptoms and they can give you prescriptions! Caroline had a similar cold thing going on the week before, and SHE got this lovely, natural cough syrup that tasted just like honey. Mmmm. She asked the pharmacist if I could have that, and he said he had something that was better. So I got that. Later in the car, I open it up to take it, and IT SMELLS LIKE POO. Like, actual poo. I made everyone smell it and they agreed. They said I should taste a drop just to see if it tasted as bad as it smells. It didn't! It tasted sweet. So I took my dose. And when I exhaled, my mouth tasted like rotten eggs. I thought I might die. But I had to take it 3 times a day! Every time I had to take it I had a different chaser. It was never good. I tried: Medicine, followed by Fanta, followed by Pocket Coffee (Pocket Coffee is this Italian chocolate candy filled with a shot of espresso. We use them in one of our sketches). That was awful. I tried: Medicine, followed by a spoonful of honey, followed by red wine. Better. But still awful. Then I looked at the ingredients, and realized the Medicine is called BRONCOSULFUR. Why. Why would anyone put sulfur into a cough syrup that you drink? I've since stopped taking it. I just don't understand.

Ahh Toscana

Week 4--an easy week! We were in Salsomaggiore for Monday and Tuesday (in the same school). We stayed literally one minute from the school, and it managed to take us 25 minutes to get there on Monday morning. How? We have no idea. Our navigator is the worst. The maps are over a year old--the one way streets now go different ways, there are new roundabouts....We also did Bugsy Malone for the first time. It's a musical that the kids get to be in....we just sort of facilitate it. One of the actual lines in the show (after Bugsy says his girls are sexy) is "They won't be sexy if we hit them!" We think this is hilarious. We went to Parma on Sunday and Monday. Parma is basically the home of proscuitto. We had dinner on Valentine's day in this EXCELLENT restaurant. A totally typical Parma dinner with prosciutto, pasta, and a red wine called Lambrusco. It's fizzy and sweet. All you white wine drinkers might just like it! We also happened upon a CHOCOLATE festival in the main piazza. Dangerous. And delicious. We went in again on Monday for some general shopping and wandering around. It was basically dark for most of the time, but it was nice to just have a walk around. So beautiful there!

Then on Tuesday night, we drove to Arezzo! Hooray! We stayed about 10 minutes from the center in a real apartment. We had a kitchen and living room, and three bedrooms. So nice to have some space! We had a nice dinner of SALAD on Tuesday night (mmm vegetables), which we discovered was the last night of Carnevale. So Caroline and I walked into the center to check it out. The streets were flooded with people in costumes (think Halloween). On the way into the center we saw this guy in a costume and asked where we should go to see some of Carnevale (we didn't know it was going to be all in the street)--we ended up meeting up with his friends in a cafe. It was actually pretty awkward because there was a table full of guys, mostly dressed up as girls, one old man from Verona having dinner alone but occasionally joining in the conversation, Caroline, and me. But we stayed for some wine because it was funny, and then had a stroll through the piazza.

We were working about 30 minutes outside Arezzo in Castiglion Fiorentino on Wednesday and Thursday morning. BUT the drive was GORGEOUS. Both times I forgot to take my camera (dumb). It's a struggle to get myself dressed and out the door in the morning...Anyway, the mornings were sunny and it was just SO nice to see so much green everywhere! I actually walked around with a t-shirt on! The town we were working in was very cute and surrounded by beautiful hills. Actually, we performed in a gym that was once a church! So funny. Imagine an old, beautiful church with decorative walls, and basketball hoops. So strange. I did my workshops on the 4th floor (so many stairs to climb!) with STUNNING views. What a nice life those kids have.

On Wednesday afternoon, I went on a walk through Arezzo. It was so nice! It felt really comfortable and easy being there, because I knew people and places. I went for gelato at my favorite gelateria, visited Antonio the leather man and bought a present for Pres's bday, and went to the Accademia dell'Arte! Unfortunately, no one I really knew was there, but I got to see the school and use the internet which was so good. I left my number for my friend Dory--who invited me Thursday for dinner and cabaret at ADA. BUT her dog died on Thursday evening so it all got cancelled. What luck! Thursday afternoon I did a lot of laundry at the laundrette which was actually nice because it only to 1 hour to wash and dry. We went for a light dinner and then went to Mr. Bloom's (a bar) in the center where I used to go at ADA. Also, the school we worked in on Thursday was so close to ADA! I literally could see it from the window of my classroom. How strange to end up in that little school...

So on Friday night we were supposed to head to Rome to stay in the ACLE flat for the weekend, but then we realized we were working not at all near Rome on Monday and called the office to make sure that was intentional. They ended up letting us stay in Florence for the weekend!! We stayed right outside the city in the nicest agriturismo. They made us the best breakfast! They cooked beans in the fire in this huge pit all night long, and dumped them on homemade bread with olive oil. Then we had a huge sampling of homemade jams and fresh blackberry juice and cakes. Mmmmm. All with stunning views. So good. Had a really great sightseeing day in Florence on Saturday. We took the bus into the center, went to the galleria l'accademia, where the David is (knocks me out), the Duomo (knocks me out). We also had a delicious dinner. There's this soup Florence is know for called Ribollita. It's hearty vegetable soup with bread in it and I ate it every day we were in Florence. So good after a cold day outside!

Sunday we went back into the center to have lunch and pick up Caroline (who studied in Florence for a year and spent the weekend with friends). Her friends made us coffee and then we hit the road!

Now we've started on a difficult week 5...We had three shows and workshops back to back this morning--5 minute breaks between. In the middle of the last show kids and parents were literally walking through our show to exit because we were set up in a corridor--such a mess. My kids in the last workshop were rowdy to boot. So an afternoon nap was in order! We have full days for most of this week with lots of driving, but we are looking so forward to next week when we start our residence in Rome!! We are not quite sure how long we will be there, but at LEAST a week. We were supposed to be in residence the last 2.5 weeks before Easter break, but we've now been put in early. We hope we get to stay until Easter! We get to buy groceries and unpack our bags. So excited for that. And we have internet in the flat! Every day!

Have some great pics that I'll post soon!! Got to upload them first, but have to rehearse NOW.

Much love to all--I miss you guys!

Where We're Going

Week 4

Salsomaggioreterme (PR)

Castiglion Fiorentino (AR)

Arezzo (AR)

Week 5

Imola (BO)

Faenza (RM)

Bologna (BO)

Gambettola (FC)

Rimini (RN)

Where We've Been

Week 1

Bareggio (MI)

Pavia (PV)

San Donato Milanese (MI)

Week 2

Corsico (MI)

Castelvetro di Modena (MO)

Campagnola (RE)

San Mauro Pascoli (FC)

Concordia Sulla Secchia (MO)

Week 3

Calendasco (PC)

San Mauro Pascoli (FC)

Botticino (BS)

Desenzano del Garda (BS)

Castel Mella (BS)

Rivergaro (PC)

On the Road!

So…it’s difficult to blog on the road because we RARELY have internet, and when we do, I’m usually tired and want sleep :-) So this is going to be a big update. Feel free to pace yourselves as another one might not come for a while…

Week 1

Our first week on the road! We started at a new Theatrino school, and we did all 5 fairy tales there in our first 2 days! There were some hilarious mishaps…Our first show, Three Little Pigs, was a technical disaster. All 3 of the little pigs’ houses fell! Good. But the teachers were so nice—they made us cookies and gave us lots of coffee, which we definitely needed. The kids were also really great. We signed SO many autographs. One class gave me a bunch of drawings with “Thanks, you’re beatiful” written on them. I didn’t realize they said beatiful until after I left…but that’s what the teacher had written on the board for them to copy. Whoops. We did our first sketch show on Wednesday at a super strict Catholic school that didn’t have toilet paper! Yikes. But they did give us a free lunch and a nun offered us wine! I went back to Sanremo on Wednesday night by train for my meeting to officially present myself. I had dinner with the group still in Sanremo and had a nice sleep, while my group was left in 3…They had to do Peter Pan on Thursday without me, and I’m Peter Pan! So…they had a less relaxing Wednesday night. But they did get to stay in the hotel with an AMAZING bath for an extra night. It had jets. Luxury! So Thursday I got fingerprinted and filled out a lot of paper work and now I’m legal. Hooray. Then back on the train to meet up with my group in Milan. We had an English day on Friday which is a 2 hour workshop (without a show). We planned to do a fashion theme, but right before we went in the classrooms, Faye, a senior actor, said it was to easy for them so we changed the whole day at the last minute. It ended up being great though. It was nice to be able to talk to the kids and get to know them a bit! In a 30 minute workshop, which is what we usually do, there’s just enough time to play a couple of games and you’re out. We got Saturday and Sunday off which was nice. We stayed in the Milan flat (owned by ACLE) which was good because we got to do laundry, but it’s kind of gross there. There are 2 rooms for 2 groups in the flat, so there is usually 8 people there at once. Plus a lot of random stuff that groups past have left behind. We did take a guitar we found though, to use in the goodbye song in our sketch shows. Then we transferred back to the B&B we called “Mom and Dad’s” because it was literally an apartment that belonged to this older couple that had 2 guest rooms where we slept. We had a bunch of wet laundry (the flat doesn’t have a dryer) and they helped us hang it. They were really funny. Dad hung our socks and underwear on the radiator. And Mom did another load of laundry for us. She also made us these really delicious lemon shots we called “magic medicine.” They are these tiny shots of the juice from an entire lemon, honey, and a bit of hot water. Mmmm. So good for all of our voices,which we were all in various states of losing. We do three shows a day and three workshops, and sometimes we’re performing in a gym with rowdy kids and it’s so hard to preserve your voice! We went into Milan Saturday night for dinner and a night out. We ended up going to a funny bar with couch beds but didn’t stay long because we didn’t want to miss the train back to our B&B.

Week 2

This was a hard week because we had a lot of sickness in the group! Kay had a flu like thing, and Caroline had a throat thing and basically lost her voice, so we had a lot of last minute roll switching. I story told for Wizard of Oz having never looked at the story cards, because Kay was sick right before it was time for her to go on…The worst day Kay was actually throwing up into a trashcan backstage, right as she was supposed to go on. So I went out and taught a song to stall, and then we carried on. It was actually kind of funny because when I was on stage I wasn’t sure who might come out next…In one sketch Kay is supposed to come out as an old lady, and I turned around to find Jason instead of Kay. Hilariously, the teacher told us she had had Theatrino for several years, and this was by far the best show she had seen! The show must go on…So anyway, Kay went to the hospital the next day and was in bed the next, so we had a few days of 3 instead of 4 performers. On a good note, we stayed in some great B&Bs.

Near Modena we stayed in this very off the path place. There was a little kitchenette and a table in our room, and they brought us a huge cauldron of lentil soup for dinner to our room! They also had lots of great homemade jams for breakfast. We took a couple of jars for the road! In Cesena, we stayed in a B&B called Mama Ro. They had a washer AND dryer they let us use, and a kitchen. The owners are SO nice, and Roberta (Mama Ro) made us this excellent cake. It was so delicious. I tried to get the recipe, but no luck. Sad. She made another cake the second day we were there called Torta della Nonna

(Nana’s cake) that I took a picture of…it was also good, but not as great as the first. We talked about that cake for days. We also met a really cool couple that was also staying at the B&B. They made us mulled wine with a wine that the guy’s uncle had made. It was so good! We actually got a lot of great free stuff in Week 2. In one hotel the owner gave us free espresso and pastries and wine. Everyone we meet is SO welcoming! Even in restaurants…when we ask for some local or typical cuisine, and explain our story, they usually make us something fantastic and give it to us for free. Yesssss. We stayed the weekend in a very cute B&B run by an English lady. We had an incredible pasta dinner (with handmade pasta filled with fresh/local ingredients) by a nice fire. It was a nice relaxing time following a hard week! Also, Caroline went to the doctor on Sunday, and Kay and I went into town with her. While we were waiting, we saw Avatar. In 3D. In Italian. And we shared a can of Heineken with 2 straws. Hilarious. We think it was great, although we actually only saw about an hour of it because we had to go pick up Caroline.

Week 3

A week with LOADS of driving. We had 3 show days followed by 3 hours drives…so exhausting. We had 2 English days (so 4 hours of workshops back to back) on Monday, followed by a show in the afternoon. Caroline was feeling really sick that day, too. But we got to go back to Mama Ro’s and the school in San Mauro Pascoli. It was a new Theatrino school, and the teacher, Claudia, was really nice and she loved us. We asked her where we should go for dinner, and she said, Claudia’s house! She made us a great lunch that we had with her, two of the other English teachers who were sooo nice, and her daughter. The other 2 English teachers were from Napoli, and they told us about how great the pizza is and we all want to go :) Have you noticed how much I talk about food? Basically all I do is perform shows and eat good food. I’m expanding. Kay and I made a No Pizza No Pasta rule for Week 3 on Monday night. We thought it would be a good experiment to see if we could still find something to eat (basically assuming only one major food group—Panini—was left). But we qualified it: we could eat pizza or pasta if it was free because, well, no one turns down free food. So Tuesday Claudia made us free pasta, and Wednesday and Friday we had free pizza at the schools. So much for No Pizza No Pasta. Thursday night we stayed in a SKETCHY hotel. They didn’t have any record of our reservation when we arrived, but the woman said it wouldn’t be a problem. However, when we get our rooms, Jason and Caroline are staying in someone else’s room.

towels in the bathroom, and the toilet didn’t have a seat! So of course they complained, and the woman said there is a guy who stays in the room a couple of days a week and the cleaner would come at 7 to clean it…She ended up giving them a new room, and the ACLE office said they would give us a discount in the hotel restaurant for our trouble…So we had dinner, and then they didn’t give us a discount! They said we had to pay for dinner (sans discount) and rooms that night because their credit card machine didn’t work in the morning, and then the wouldn’t take our card. We got into a huge argument, and the woman told us to pay our $60 for dinner and go sleep under a bridge. Pleasant lady. We ended up paying and going to bed, but Jason and Caroline’s room didn’t lock, so they put their dresser in front of the door…We’re pretty sure the “hotel” is actually just for the Mafia. It’s basically in the middle of no where and on a highway, but has a huge “restaurant” with lots of tables. Two floors of tables. We can’t imagine they ever have that many people for dinner. But they need those tables for their Mafioso meetings. Anyway, we survived and ACLE will never send anyone there again! Friday night we stayed in the most amazing B&B, which we really needed.

The owners were so nice and made us a delicious dinner. The B&B itself was on top of this mountain and the views were just gorgeous. We took so many pictures on the way out on Saturday morning as the sun was rising. SO nice. We had really good shows on Saturday—the kids were really great and totally got all the sketches. They were very bright and also nice. My class bought me a coffee at the end of my workshop and one kid played guitar! They were really great. Oh, and apparently we were on the local news there last night. In the middle of the show, the teacher comes around the curtain and motions to me. So I go over and talk to her, hanging off the stage while Jason, Kay, and Caroline are mid-scene, and she says, “Is it okay to do an interview?” I told her that would be fine, and she said, okay, come on…I explained that we were mid-show, and now might not be the best time…but maybe after the show. She ended up doing the interview, which I thought was for the newspaper, but then I saw a man filming some of our show.

She said it would be on the local news and she would try to send a copy of if to the office. Celebrities! Now we are in a B&B (for 3 nights! Luxury!) run by a German couple. They made us EGGS for breakfast (love). In Italy, they eat cake for breakfast. This is not a joke. They literally serve the leftovers from dessert the night before. So we miss things like eggs and cereal. But the Germans understand. They also have the most adorable little girl named Aurelia with curly hair. She sat with us a breakfast. Most importantly of all, we have internet! Week 4 promises to be pretty great. No one is sick, we have several 2 show days, we don’t have many long drives, we have Saturday off, and Friday we are going to be in Arezzo!!! Yay. Oh, and Friday night we are staying in ACLE’s flat (laundry! kitchen!) in ROME. Ahhh.

I’m including a list of cities we’ve performed in, for those of you who care. You can see where I’ll be up to the 27^th :-) Then, who knows!

Also, for those of you who care, I’m playing: Little Pig #2 in 3 Little Pigs, Peter Pan in Peter Pan, Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, Poor Woman and Lady Marion in Robin Hood, and Arthur in Excalibur. I also play a bunch of random things in the sketches, like an old woman, a bank teller, a stuttering woman, a sporty girl, etc. So far we haven’t had a lot of time for sight seeing, but we’re hoping for some of that this week! We’re going to go to Florence (hopefully) this week, so that will be greatttt.

italian bureaucracy. oh bother.

work news:

we have just started getting the plays we're going to be doing up on their feet. it's nice to finally be doing some action (not just sitting/reading)! we won't know until next week who will be in our tour groups, so this week we are playing around with different people so the director can see who works well together, etc. There will be either 3 or 4 people in each tour group. The shows are written for 3, but having 4 in a group means we don't have to double as many characters.

The fairy tales we are working on are really cute! They all have sweet little songs that are constantly in my head. The director wrote all the songs and made the backing tracks, and she's teaching everything to us which is really nice. She also helped write most of the material we're performing. It's nice because the plays we do are for a very specific need. For example, Italian doesn't have an "h" sound, so it's difficult for kids to be able to say things like "thirty" or "hate." So while we might be performing a fairy tale, the characters have names like Dorothy and Theodore and have songs that force kids to say and hear phrases or sounds that are difficult for them. We do a lot of spitting "thhhh" gags.

culture news:

Because I'm American, I have to present myself to the Italian government and get a permit to stay. This is a very difficult process. I had to go to the post office today to get a form to start the whole thing, and it took 2.5 hours! Giuseppe came to get 2 Americans, but then decided after much discussion to take 4 of us. We got to the Theatrino office and had to fill out and sign several forms. We were seated in the kitchen and people kept running in and out with different things for us, and asking us if we had certain papers. We didn't, of course, because no one told us which papers to bring. So they would say, ah, where is it, can you get it? And we'd say, oh sure, it's in the room, can I give it to you tomorrow? And then they'd reply, no, no, we don't need it.

What?

Then we went to the post office to wait in line forever, only to pick up a packet. Now the packet must be filled out, returned to the post office for more stamps and signatures, and then I have to get an appointment to sign more things in front of different people a month or so from now. Which means I'll have to leave my tour to come back to San Remo. Silly. All to prove that I'm here. Tadaaaa.

Italia Italia Italia!

Ciao Ragazzi! I'm here in rainy (apparently it's usually quite sunny) San Remo! I'm staying in a room with one roommate at the Hotel Festival, after a fairly eventful time in London. More on that later--hopefully there will be a good long London post in the near future. They usually have internet in the places I've been staying, but the connection is never very strong (as those of you who have tried to Skype have already discovered), so I haven't been a very good blogger. :-/

Today was our first day of rehearsal (!) and also a day of figuring out just what it is we will be doing. We did a lot of talking through logistics and a read through of the 5 fairy tales we'll be performing. There are different levels of difficulty (in terms of sentence structure, grammar, etc.) for various grade levels. The fairy tales are: Three Little Pigs, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood, and Excalibur. They are meant to last about an hour, but include a lot of physical humor/movement/songs to take up most of the time. The dialogue is very simple, especially in the Three Little Pigs, as that is a show performed for 4-5 year olds. They are just learning Italian! There is a lot of repetition (it's pretty comical, actually...) and hand motions, etc.

We started the day with a couple of fun warm up games, and then the director/creator of Theatrino spoke with us. It was really cool because he explained how strict the Italian school system is, and why what we are doing is so special (and even REVOLUTIONARY. yeahh).

Italian students never really have practical experience in anything, but do a lot of book work and sitting in stark classrooms looking at books. For example, if you are studying Chemistry, you would never actually do any experiments. Just read about them. Sad. So the kids get really excited about pushing their desks to the side and jumping around and singing.

There are a couple of girls from South Africa here, and they speak Afrikaans. As an exercise, Lindi (from South Africa) came out to do a "workshop" in Afrikaans (a language none of us understand). She told what is probably a very simple story, and she was very animated and engaging, but we had NO idea what she was saying! She ended up teaching us a very simple song with hand gestures and facial expressions and we eventually figured out what was going on, and it was fun. So it was good to understand what it's like to be on the receiving end of what we're getting ready to be doing!

So we'll be doing a fairy tale of sketch (haven't learned those yet) at each school, as well as a workshop with games, etc. I also found out we'll be moving around through different regions, so I won't be in just one place for the whole time.

Also, I have to do a bit of learning how to speak English myself. Italian textbooks use British English instead of American, so I have to say things like "cahhhstle" instead of castle, and write favourite on the board. Ha.

Annnnd...I'm going to be an Italian driver! Yesss. A lot of people in London don't drive. I guess because the public transportation is great, and you have to take driving lessons to get a license. So there aren't a lot of drivers here. But that means I won't be doing other things, like accounting stuff for example. We're going out for test drives next week when the weather is nicer.

On a non-tour related note, I'm eating very well here! They feed us so much! Every hour! For dinner last night, we were served a huge plate of risotto. I was very full after that, and then saw salads being prepared...followed by veal and chips (aka french fries), and dessert! And there are breaks for fruit and pastries and coffee throughout the day. And big lunches too. Going to have to learn to pace myself...

Okay so that's a pretty newsy post...More later~!! Miss you all and wish I had room in my bag to buy you great Italian presents. As it is, I'll be coming home in search of a chiropractor. Meh.

OH! A funny story to leave you with...Today I got stuck in the bathroom. The public restroom is sort of in the the basement of the hotel, and I went after lunch. The door was a bit hard to close, but I did it. However, I couldn't unlock it in the end! I was hoping someone would come discover me...but they didn't. So I climbed on the toilet, ripped the air freshener out of it's hole, and started yelling through the pipe...HELLOOOO! HELLOOOO!!! Nothing. Then I hear "andiamo ragazzi!" let's go guys! And I heard everyone leaving to go back to rehearsal. So then I start yelling CIAOOOOOO!! CIAOOO!!!! and banging on the door. All the while laughing a lot, because, I mean, I'm stuck in a bathroom. Then I hear the staff calling, "Ciao Ciao, haha!" And I'm yelling, no, Scusa, Auitami!! And finally someone sounds sort of near. So I'm trying to explain in Italian that I'm locked in the bathroom. And someone says, "Are you in the bathroom!? Hold on!!" So Guiseppe, who helps with Theatrino, comes down to the bathroom, I slip him the key under the door (only about an inch) and after a lot of people, noise, and time, the door is finally open! Good. So lessons learned today--don't lock the bathroom door!