Sunday, June 8, 2008

San Giovanni with our host family

We spent some time with an italian family. They live in a small town outside of Bologna. Bologna reminds me of Minneapolis. You hit farms until you are practically in the center of the city. San Giovanni as a result was a small town where every one knows everyone else.

Simonetta and Leonardo spoke very good english. Martina was learning in school and Daniele had just a little exposure. After a scoop of Gilato at the local Gilataria with the family we went to a small museum which featured stamps the had the different Disney characters. I rate mickey mouse up there with CocaCola and McDonadls on total world wide understanding. We had a blast going through all the disney characters. They had different names for many of the characters. They just could not believe that someone would name the three ducks Hooey, Dooey and Louie.

That evening, Daniele was to sing in the chorus for a presentation of Mozart's "The Magic Flute". School events are the same everywhere. Every child was waving at mom and dad.

It felt like the whole town showed up to the concert. We sat in the fourth row and felt like we were part of the family cheering on Daniele.

Overall, we had an absolute blast with the family. Simonetta and Leonardo were wonderful hosts.

I also got a chance to help Martina with her English homework while Joe played a strange game with Daniele which involved special cards and action figures. I still do not understand how Joe figured out how to play.

I guess no matter how little you can communicate with someone, you can still figure out how to play games with children with patience and understanding.

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