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!