Day 18: Karaoke

Waking up this morning I did not think that I was going to have a good day. Having gone to bed at 2am, I mysteriously found myself awake at 5am, unable to go back to sleep. Because the sun rises at ungodly hours here (5:30am), my room was soon filled with painful, bright light. My throat still ached and I was grumpy and tired. Since it was only about midnight back in the states, I called my mom and we skyped for about an hour and a half until she was ready to go to bed and I was left to toss and turn until the others woke up.

Dragging myself out to the living room, Giancarlo and Mariella let me snooze on the couch and when I finally decided to get ready for the day the boys were upstairs asleep and the rest of the family was out. I put my headphones in and danced around the kitchen eating breakfast. Giancarlo woke the boys up at noon when they got home and we all got ready for lunch at the grandparents.

Giancarlo's father and stepmother were very welcoming and kind to us even though we didn't speak Italian. His stepmother spoke Italian as a second language so Federico and Mattia teased me by saying her Italian sounds like mine. The only difference is that she is fluent and I am not.

We had very delicious handmade lasagna for the starter course and beef as our meat. The boys at one point "insulted" Quinn by telling him to leave so he ran up to the roof while the boys were left to chase him and bring him back. I'm going to say it once again, I don't understand what goes on in these boys minds.

Dessert was next. Giancarlo had me unwrap the cake because he said he wanted to see my reaction. It was a lovely welcome sign for Quinn and I. The outside was gorgeous but the inside was better. It was a layered cake with different chocolates. We also had rum and honey fruit cakes but I didn't like the taste of those.






After lunch, it STORMED. Thunder shook the building and the rain flooded the street. Unfortunately I left my phone at home so I don't have any pictures. The whole family fell asleep at various places in the living room while it rained so when we woke up it was miserably hot because the rain brought muggy weather.

We drove home and got ready for church before heading over for the mass. Because it was so hot inside the building, we had mass outside. I didn't understand anything but Federico was helping in the service so that was fun to wash.

After the service, I had to say goodbye to all the folks that we had been having dinner with so that was really sad. There is so many nice people that go to this church that I'm going to miss when I leave. It was even depressing to say goodbye to the children that I don't understand but still try to talk to anyways.

There were perks though. After church we drove up the mountain awhile to a pizzeria that Giancarlo used to work at. This is where we ate dinner. It was a surprisingly large building and Giancarlo gave us the tour, traipsing through the kitchens and back areas to say hello to everyone working there.












We decided to sit in the front where there was a guy DJing and running karaoke. There was only one other group of older people in there besides us but the music filled the room. The older group took turns singing into the microphone and I had fun singing along because the words were on the screen.

I cannot convey how joyful it was for me sitting there with everyone unabashedly singing as loud as they could. The music guy came up and serenaded me on multiple occasions and although I had no idea what he was singing about, I appreciated the gesture.

Quinn and I split a pistachio pizza and yum. Just yum.



After dinner, we all got up and danced. We attempted several different dance styles including but not limited to chacha, rumba, limbo, disco, slow (no one could take this dance seriously although Mattia and Quinn make a cute couple), square, and gangam style.

On multiple occasions, us children ran outside laughing wildly to feel the cold air on our skins before pushing each other to get back inside and dance some more. The older people frequently did line dances and I attempted to mimic them. They invited us to dance with them and were very friendly. The boys also spent a large portion of the evening trying to lift me like in the movies but knowing that I've gained like 20lbs since coming here, I protested.


















I forgot about my throat and tiredness and by the time it was midnight, nobody wanted to leave. We were all pretty hyped in the car, high off of good food and loud music. My voice was cracky and cut out so I decided to go to bed when we got home, knowing I was going to wake up with no voice in the morning.

I wish every night could be like this one.