so currently 4:38pm in Italy ....and don't know how I manage to sleep in until 1pm today. almost 13 hour sleep, equivalent to the amount of sleep of the past three nights..one of them being awake for like 24 hours.
I landed in London at 7:20am and spent the 8 hour stopover sleeping in this huge red couch making sure my backpack was right beside me, and my leg was on top of my other carry on as everyone had been warning me of pickpocketers and gypsies.
Then to my surprise the 8 hours went by quite fast as I was starving without food..and being cheap I didn't bother buying food. Then my 3 hour flight to Rome was again short and sweet..landing around 7:40pm in Rome. Running around the airport figuring out who was to pick me up.
I eventually found these nuns that I tried to talk to...because it's soo weird not to talk for such a long period of time and being alone in this foreign country.
My converation consisted of " Mi chiamo Donata, Sono di Canada..." Can I use your cellphone (gesturing a phone)...they understood and one of them was Indonesian which helped.
Finally after three hours I found the other girl from LA and we both took a taxi to Centro Gen, where I was to spend the night.
As soon as I arrived, they all greeted me with smiles and such a welcome that I felt at home again. They offered me to make me pasta at like 11pm..but I just opted for some water. My body was drained but their welcome and love somehow energized me.
So the buildings and homes in Italy are soo different from Canada. To describe it....I took a shower in a bathtub without a curtain, and in every room they have a door to a balcony (this was an apartment)
Tired as I was I must have fell asleep within the first 5 seconds after sending my parents an email saying that I'm still alive as my dad was in deep panic the whole night and day figuring out how to contact me. He was worried to death.
So I managed to squeeze in 6 hours of sleep, but slightly jetlagged. Another thing that is different is the food of course...everything is half the size. their bread, they milk containers, their jam.....no wonder we have an obese epidemic in North America. and they are deprived of chocolate...so I welcomed the girls with some toblerone chocolate.
A while later me and the girl from LA (Elsie) and another gen from Milan took a train to Rome Termini (central station)...where me and Elsie would take a 3 hour train ride to Firenze (Florence). At the station I was extremely cautious of my stuff ....but never really saw any pickpocketers or gypsies again.
Even on the 3 hour train ride, no sight of gypsies and we arrived in Firenze. then took a 15 mins car ride in a pretty ghetto standard car...up the mountains into Loppiano!
What an adventure....and then as soon as I arrived I was greeted by like over 40 gen/youth at the Gen house..from Jordan, Brazil, Colombia, Nigeria, Burundy, Australia, Hong Kong, Argentina, Israel,India....covering the whole world...and tahnkfully most of them knew some english..but mostly all of them knew Italian.
They had like 10 times the energy I had...and they welcomed me with such joy it was contagious. I settled into my petit room as there was limited space in the big big house we were living in....with like at least 7 bedrooms, and 7 washrooms, 2 kitchens, many living rooms, computer room...and just about everything.
Everyone helped me with my luggage, told me to get rest, asked if I wanted to eat something, introduced me to other ppl, offered me their umbrella, had my bed ready,....endless acts of kindness that made me feel so loved despite being a stranger to them.
I think this is enough of an update as there could be so much more....I'm just beginning to overcome the language barrier and the tiredness I felt.
But today I'm ready to start a new day ...living each present moment.
(btw...thanks for all those that came to my party, and also those that couldn't come)
with Love,
Donata
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