Italia vs Guatemala

So even though I updated up until yesterday at about 6.00 pm, some interesting stuff has happened!

I brought some Guatemala Coffee and some Guatemalan Rum-filled truffles for my host mom. She was very excited about both of them (especially the truffles) and said that we could drink both Guatemalan and Italian coffee, which is really nice since Italian coffee is so much stronger.

Our fist Italian meal was amazing. We had Spagetti al Pesto as our Primi Piatti, Chicken with something (lorocco, maybe?) that was delicious, zuccinni as secondi piatti and a salad. Then we had some of what our host family deemed as the best gelato in Firenze for dessert. Great meal. So filling. And amazing. Through out the conversation many differences (that i never imagined) between Guatemala (and even the US) and Italia came to light that I thought were very interesting. So here they go!

Italia - Guatemala
1. Strikes
The day most people were arriving in Italy there was a worker's protest. I don't know why I thought it was a local thing, but it turns out that it was a nationwide protest. Guatemalan protest definitely happen more often and sometimes they are organized across different parts of the country (like when public school teachers go on strike) but they can also be very local and well, pointless. Granted Claudio also thought that Italian protest are completely pointless but I just thought it was interesting how different they were.

2. Queen/King beds
I was obviously NOT expecting a queen bed but when Silvanna gave us a tour of her home she showed us her bedroom. Her bed is as big as ours, which is basically tiny. Even though I know she is currently not married, a bigger bed for the master bedroom is typical in both Guatemala and the US.

3. Coffee making
With the amount of coffee italians drink, you would think they have coffee makers. Nope. Since I drink coffee in the morning, there is this tiny, strange coffee maker that makes one cup at a time. So Silvanna will prepare it at night and in the morning I turn on the gas for the stove, and turn the burner on and make myself a fresh cup of coffee. It is definitely delicious and fresh but a little inconvenient if you ask me. Especially if you need to make more than one at a time.

4. Corn
So when we were done eating, Silvanna had some things to give to her son Claudio and his girlfriend Francesca to take home. One of these things were two corn cobs. Claudio was extremely excited for these and told us that he loved "grilling" them. I thought it was very interesting how something that is very readily available in Guatemala and is one of the most basic foods people have is a luxury in Italy. I told them about Guatemalan "Elotes Locos" (corn on the cob with mayo, parmesan or other cheese and lime, sometimes even ketchup) and Claudio was a little grossed out.
Who knows, maybe I will make a fortune exporting corn from Guatemala to Italia...?

5. Italian Dog
Anyone who knows my family and our dog Max (and our old dog Simba) know how much we like "champurradas". Basic breakfast food, similar to biscotti. Well, both Max and Simba love "champurradas" too and would get one every morning with breakfast. Well Pipo, Silvana's dog loves gelatto. When we ate pasta he was very calm, the meat got him a little more excited but when we had gelato, he was thrilled. He got some with a pice of bread and loved it. Silvanna also told us that he loves getting long strings of spaghetti. Such an italian dog. Love it.

So another great experience in Florence to add on to the good days. Today was the last day of orientation, we submitted our class requests, one last meeting and we are done!

On another positive note, my friend Karina lives only like two blocks away and our friend Laurie lives sort of close. I also met Patricio, an Argentinian boy that goes to Syracuse and his friend Raul. This is awesome, the 8th latino I have met here. Its nice to be able to bust out the spanish from time to time. Also, since Silvana's son is married to a Peruvian girl, she is learning spanish. So I can help her with her spanish and she can help with my Italian! I am going to make her a CD with my favorite Spanish songs (while she was cooking, Danza Kuduro was blasting).

That is it for now, and on Monday I will update with weekend adventures and my class schedule!