Trevi

'Some people look down on me, but I don't give a rip/ I stand barefooted in my own front yard with a baby on my hip'
Thought I'd throw that in there because it pretty well describes my host mom here in Trevi. When she picked me up from the camp director's office (I'm not lying when I say it was at a dj academy) she seemed a little standoffish, but nice. She drove me to the family home, and I'm staying in a little guestroom off the garage, so it's not connected to the rest of the house. It's pretty nice, but there's no internet in there, and I've killed 4 bugs (plus I've got my eye on a couple of spiders up on the ceiling).
My host sisters are super nice, but they fight like, well, my sisters and me. Dalila's the oldest (18 I think?), then there's Alba (13), and little Asia (7).
Saturday night, we went out to a medieval festival thing in Bevagna (ren fests here are way more legit, I think, because the renaissance actually happened here) because my host dad is a chef and he was cooking there.
Sunday I met with the five other tutors and our director at the dj academy to plan the camp. I learned that I was assigned to a group of 11-16 year olds. Wonderful. We stuck around, learning how to use the turntables, until our host parents showed up.
Did I mention I'm living on a farm?! I look out my window, and I see a chicken coop, a few rows of vegetables, a couple fields of sunflowers (represent!), some hay bales, and, you know, A MOUNTAIN RANGE. If you're not jealous of me, you simply haven't been paying attention.
So Sunday we just sat around outside, tanning our shoulders and whatnot. The setup of this place sort of reminds me of a lot of homes where I come from. You've got a little garage, big gravel driveway, some farm equipment sitting around in the yard, the neighbor's tractor is there, and there's a Bobcat across the street to do some heavy lifting.
They've also got a lot of random stuff just sitting around outside. There are dismembered Barbies, a baby doll with eyes that open and close, a whole bunch of soccer balls- that kind of thing. It's mildly creepy. Basically, what I've decided is that if this were the States, I'd be living with rednecks (thus the song choice at the top). But because it's Italy, and everything's automatically classier, they've got a guesthouse, and satellite, and whatnot. I mean, the mom has had a beer with pretty much every non-breakfast meal I've eaten with her. Wait, that's not weird? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, she's pregnant again. Overall, though, I like the family. We just have some difficulty communicating (Josephine calls the parents antisocial), and I don't agree with all of their lifestyle choices.
The students have been hellions thus far. When I heard we'd be out in the country, I was expecting Modigliana again. Instead, I got Dangerous Minds. These kids will steal anything not nailed down, and I know they swear at me in Italian. To say that working with them has been a challenge would qualify as an understatement. I know I can do it though- I just have to keep them interested and somehow convince them that what they're doing isn't work.
I went running before school the other day all the way up into the mountains. I actually ended up missing my turn back, and nearly had to ask for directions before successfully backtracking. Probably going to try that again tomorrow (minus the getting lost part).
Katsy, I know your birthday is coming up. I have a video to post that I think you'll laugh at, and I have things to send home, but I seriously doubt they'll make it on time. Just know that I love you and I'm thinking about you.
I love and miss all of you. Hopefully I'll get to post pictures soon. I've got some really brilliant ones, and some great videos.
Oh and I'll probably be in Rome on the 4th! Rome=almost too classy for Independence Day, so I'm going to try and bring the classiness down a few notches by finding a karaoke bar to sing bad country songs and possibly streaking (totally joking, Mom). Anyway. . .