News from Cirò Marina

Tuesday, Feb. 3
Hello everybody,
I don't know how many cappucini I've already drunk but boys, they definitely know how to make a good coffee down here. The appartment I've found has no heating, since it's a place mainly dedicated to tourists in summertime, when temperatures barely go under 35 grades. There is no class in the afternoon in Italy, they finish at 1:30 pm but they have class on Saturdays morning. All the shops are closed till 5pm, which allows me to have a gentle nap - and, as you know, I like that. But today I had a short one. My appartment is still cold and humid inside, that's why I find myself better outside, along the beach or in some cafeteria like the one where i'm sitting now. Calabria is sort of our Belgian Hainaut, a rather poor region with a lot of socio-economical problems. But people are quite friendly, and they are proud of their land anyway. So far I've met a fair number of teachers, and some of the students too. But I haven't got a chance to teach yet. We should set up a schedule in the next days. Remember, this is South here, and 'chi va piano, va sano'. Everybody speaks Italian to me, but once they're speaking to each other, they do it in dialect, and I'm completely lost! That's it for today, I hope I'll be able to connect soon from home - I've just bought a usb/modem key but it's not working so far. I can connect at school anyway, so I should be able to send you those few lines in time.

Sunday, Feb. 8
Yes, Italians are noisy! The only moment when this small town seems to calm down is on Sunday, at lunch time, after the morning mass. Then everybody is having a big meal at home, with the whole family. Streets are deserted, there is no more car or motorbike race going on, no more kids shouting and arguing (they're just playing, you know). But this break doesn't last very long: around 4:30pm, here they come again and forget about concentrating yourself on reading a book for instance…
Concentration! this word sounds almost funny down here… and for what I've seen so far in the classrooms, forget about it! Of course the school where I'm doing this assistantship doesn't have the ambition of training the elite of the nation, but still…
This winter the little port has been severely damaged by a series of tempests. They've started to rebuild the protecting wall, and chucked hundred of concrete blocks in front of it, to brake the nasty waves. Some argue that all the money spent on that wall is a big waste. It is true that the streets also need some repair, not to mention the street lighting. Sometimes this town makes me think of what I saw in Central or South America (I shouldn't have mentioned Hainaut on the other day; sorry, Steve!): same kind of buildings, many of them uncompleted, same street layout, same loose cleanliness. But surely enough, it's lively - and it's Europe, isn't it?
Bye now,
Vincent

PS: I'd like to send you some pictures but it takes too long to download them.