un altra settimana (another week)
singin' toora-li, oora-li addity
singin' toora-li, oora-li ay
singin' toora-li, oora-li addity
and we're bound for botany bay
-anonymous
that song is driving me nuts! i dont know if i mentioned ever before that i am probably going to talk a little in some english classes about some aussie literature, and poems mainly, since that is kind of the most familiar to me (eg, my country, clancy of the overflow, man from snowy river etc.) anyway, i need to do some research on it before i try to explain it to people, and so yesterday i typed australian literature into google, (that is google.com.au, not google.it.....cos i catn read it in italain) and on my search i came across botany bay, and the damn song has been in my head ever since! it just keeps going around and around and around.....make it stop!!
moving on, birthday wishes! For tomorrow the 12th April, a huge Happy Birthday for Aunty Alvia!!!!! and I believe that yesterday was Jim Owen's 18th, so tanti aguri jimmy! and for the coming saturday, Buon Compleano Sagie!!! hope you all have terrific birthdays.
hmm. well i actually have a lot to say (how unusual!) but i probably wont get enough time as i am at school. therefore, i am going to try to keep it as short as possible, but lots has happened in the past week. the main thing probably is that i went to milan on a school trip. it was ok. i know that sounds maybe a little too un-enthusiastic, considering i went to milan, and i know, it's milan and i shoudl be really excited. but it wasnt that great a day to tell the truth. first of all, i have definately decided that school trips are NOT the way to see exciting things. for one, the kids generally arent nearly as interested as me, so i sometimes feel like i am the only one listening to the guide, but also the only one who doesnt understand. cruel irony if you ask me. anyway, also, because we are with a guide and have a time limit and stuff, i never really got to look around much, at least certainly not as much as i would have liked. we went to three churches and the castle. the first two churches were fantastic in themselves, the second one being where leonardo da vinci's last supper is kept, but we couldnt see it because it is in a separate place and is booked out until june! so for future reference, if you are ever plannign to come to italy and want to see da vinci's 'cenacolo' book well in advance! anyway, so these two churches we saw before lunch, but i reckon i could have spent all day in one alone! of course the kids were also suprised by how completely awed i was by it all, since for them it is nothing too special. i couldnt help thinking how spoilt they are and they dont even appreciate it, but then i realise that i lived in a paradise and hardly even realised it. i say 'paradise' because really, we are so lucky to live in australia, it is so beautiful and i guess if i had to choose, i would pick the desert and the ocean and all that's in between over davinci's and ancient architecture. anyway, it was still rather annoying to me that there were heaps of fantastic frescos on the walls and rooves of the chapels but i coulndt look at them properly cos we only really sat in the pews in the central hall. actually, for some reason the churches kind of reminded me of yeppoon town hall. obviously our humble town hall is a little less grand....but the way the churches are set out, with the main middle area and then two sort of large halways and then all the little chapels of the side and the stage'like area with the pulpit at the front, it reminded me of the town hall cos you have the main area and the stage, and then through the 'pillars' there is the kitchen/eating area, and on the other side the big hallway thing, and those side areas reminded me of the chapels in the churches. or the other way around actually, but anyway my explailning is terrible. so the mornign was pretty good except that i didnt get to look at muhc that i wanted to.
then in the afternoon we went to the 'castello sforzesco' and 'duomo.' the castle was ginormous and i woudl have liked to spend ages there, but we just stood for aaaaaagges listening to the guide in the middle lawn and then walked through to the other side. it had a kind of mote which was awesome. but i had a headache and was exhuasted and couldnt understand the guide cos the english teacher (who had been sort of translating for me in the churches in the morning) was with the other group, and i was bored. plus, we were standing for what was probably half an hour and i just wanted to sit down soooo badly. and again, we didnt relaly get to have that much of a look around. there were heaps of cats tho, which was kind of strange....ok by heaps i mean about 7, but i didnt expect to find cats in the grounds of a castle. then afterwards we went to the duomo which is HUUUUUUUGE! i cannot explain just how INCREDIBLY GINORMOUS it is! and absolutely fantasticly beautiful. unfortunately the front of the outside is covered in some kind of covering (geez i am good with words arent i!) because they are refurnishing it. but from the other side you cant tell and it is incredible. tried to take photos but it is just so big it is virtually impossible. and then inside was almost bigger (if that makes sense) but again we didnt get to look very much. hardly at all actually. so i was rather disappointed and note to self: if you want to be a tourist, dont go on school trips. and then we had about an hour free time and that is where the day really went downhill. i already was exhuasted and had a bad headache, but i ended up with these two girls and we got lost! i wont go into the story, cos i still get rather annoyed just thinking about it, but it wasnt my fault and we were late back to the bus and i was just very very very cranky by the end of the day. cranky, and completely exhuausted. so that is my milan story for you.
and what else has happened? nothign particularly unusual i dont think. just school and conservatorium and italian lesson and hanging around. but i am really enjoying life here now. and actually i am sad to be going to prague tomorrow in a way because i dont want to lose any time here in italy. i am extremely time conscious and i know i still have 2 months but it feels like time is running out in a way, and i dont want to miss anything while i am away. plus, after my milan experience i am not sure prague will be that great for me in a tourist sense, but i guess it will be more specail to the other kids too so maybe it will be better. who knows, i will just have to wait and see. but also, i am not looking foward to getting up at 3am tomorrow. but we stay the first night in austria, in salzburg to be exact and they say the hills are alive there so that'll be interesting! lol. plus, i am going to prague! woot!
so that is the lot for me this time.
love ellen
posted by Ellen of Taranganba @ 2:52 AM
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