I am in Italy and Full!!

Dearest Family, Friends, Assorted Loved Ones,

I am in Italy and, as the title says, full. Italian mothers put Jewish ones to shame. Seriously, these women are downright agressive. My host family tells me at least five times for every course that I should eat! eat! (mangia!), and they already serve me twice as much as they serve themselves. Also, my host mother calls me "baby" or "treasure," gets upset if I have wet hair, and was shocked that Flannery (the other American in our apartment) and I made our beds. Apparently Italian children often live with their parents until they are about 30, so we are hopelessly young.

I arrived, to backtrack, in Siena after a whirlwind tour of Rome . . . pictures of really old buildings forthcoming. I am with, as I said, one other girl in my apartment, which actually relieves some anxiety. My host mother an father are an older couple named, confusingly enough, Giulio and Giulianna. They also have a posse of children and the cutest grandbaby and a tomcat who are around often.

I got placed into the highest level of Italian, and I can understand a fair amount, but the Sienese accent is very strange. They cannot pronounce either a hard or a soft c. Thus, my name is now Mee-hai-ah. Also, they drop all sorts of endings. However, despite the language barrier, I have already managed to discuss immigration issues, the democratic presidential hopefuls, the universality of religion, and the main tenets of Quakerism . . . all supremely inelegantly.

There is only one public computer that currently has internet in our offices, so I shall leave it at that for now. Tomorrow I shall give a longer post, with pictures. Oh, and I am getting a cell phone, so anyone who wants the number can leave a comment and I shall email them.

Micaya