Big Fat Quitter

Ugh. I'm a quitter. I quit. The little bastards win.

Yesterday went to Siena, which my guide book calls "One of Italy's most enchanting cities.'' This required quite a bit more effort on my part than I planned.

Class end at 1. I went to my favorite pizzeria for a slice, and then took a bus to the train station. That took about 1/2 hour. The train for Siena wasn't going to arrive for another 1/2 hour. Unfortunately, the train to Siena is the Regionale, which is the local, HOT, smelly, HOT slow train. It took an hour and a half, no A/C. Did I mention it was HOT AS BALLS?

Right as the train was taking off, one of the young gypsy girls, no more than 16 years old, that flock the streets here was begging a pair of young Italian boys for money. The normal Italian response is to look away and pretend they don't hear these people. I have no idea where these ''gypsies'' come from, but they were long skirt, are dirty, have long hair and overly tanned skin, and are very persistent beggars and petty theives. It's quite a phenomenon all throughout western Europe, I believe.

Anyway, the strange part this time was that she kept getting on her knees and pressing her head against the legs of the boys in a very strange fashion. They still didn't move, and just continued to look away. Now the two other people I am next to on the train are staring in disbelief and wonder as to what's going on. She just kept getting up, showing her "give me money" sign, and then getting on her knees and pressing herself on these boy's legs. I might have told her to fuck off if I didn't know these boys were Italian.

It turns out that she was trying to steal one of the boy's cell phone.

Anyway, this elicits a conversation between me and the girl next to me, and the boy in front of me figures out I speak English and seems pleased by that. Turns out Gregory is Belgian (which means he's OK to talk to,) and is traveling with 5 other people from Belgium. They have rented a car, but only 5 fit in the car, so whenever they go to another city, one of them has to take the train each time! They rotate turns.

Anyway, he was very nice (Nicole D.... I thought about it and he was a little young and tall for you. About 6' 5'' and 21. Still lives with the parents. I'll try harder next time to find someone for you...) and we decided to walk to the center of town together (as he was a poor student and 1 km didn't seem too far to walk.)

OK. 1 KM IS A LONG WALK!! I NEED TO GET THIS INTO MY HEAD! This is the second time that someone has suggested I take a bus and I said I'd walk. It was quite a nice walk, but about 1/4 way through, Gregory gets the call to meet his friends at the train station anyway, and I am still walking. About 45 minutes later, I get to the center of town, but now I am a little worn out.

Siena is indeed pretty, but pretty spread out. I'm not so interested in all the cultural stuff, but I do really enjoy looking at all the beautiful old buildings and villas. So I walked around for an hour, had my gelato of the day (nocciola and crema) a cup of coffee, walked around for another hour, and decided I was too pooped to walk any more.

BTW, the bus ticket was only 90 euro cents. About a buck.

That train ride home was UNBEARABLE. Hot as hell. I got back and just about passed out after a not-too-exciting dinner, about 10:30. I didn't even wake up in the middle of the night as I often do here to scratch at the mosquito bites.

This morning was the first morning I didn't wake up before my alarm. Ugh. I am pooped. And my allergies have kicked up a bit. I barely took any pleasure in my morning Greek yogurt and honey. I get on a crowded-ass bus to town, go to my classroom, which has a fan but is hot and stuffy, and within 10 minutes of being there I get the sniffles, and my head is throbbing. I can't think. I can't even muster the strength to tell the teacher in Italian that I am not feeling so well. I guess the heat, my headache and exhaustion, coupled with the idea that I would have to be sitting in a class that I deplore was just too much for me.

So I quit. I excused myself and left. I'm not really learning too much there, anyway. Nothing I can't teach myself from my book.

I am saddened that my experience at that school was spoiled by an administrator and a teacher who had no control over a small group of kids. They both just allowed them to be crazy, disrespectful, and difficult. Yesterday afternoon, the teacher asked the Austrian boy what he eats for breakfast, and the kid says, ''ham and eggs.'' In english. He just doesn't care, and neither did the rest of them.

I don't blame of hate the kids anymore... it's not their fault. If I were 15 or 16 years old, away from home, away from my parents for two months, and I were required to be in a hot classroom for four hours a day (with only a 20 minute break), and no one stopped me from behaving inappropriately, I would probably be nuts also. But I am quite annoyed that I was not allowed to change my class. Perhaps if I pressed further, it might have happened, but with only a couple of days left, it would have been hard to do.

I killed my headache with a couple of advil, a cappucchino and about an hour in this air-conditioned internet place. Tonight I am going to Smadar's (you were right on the spelling, mom, btw) appartment to cook some dinner.

Tomorrow I pick Rik up from the airport (hopefully that will all work out) and we're going to spend all of Thursday waiting in line to see Michaelangelo's David, with everyone else in the planet.