Carnivale

It is Carnivale here in Italia and to celebrate Nerina's mother is throwing a party for her daughter and 50 other children, at their house, and I'm invited...to chaperone. Because I am insensitive to this tradition, I would describe Carnivale as a classy Halloween. In Vencie it used to last 6 months of the year! Now it is only a week and a half during the month of Febuary and is really more for the children than an excuse for adults to be drunk and wanton. At Nerina's party there will be helium balloons everywhere, paper on the walls for the children to draw on, professional entertainers, popcorn, paninis, and costumes! Little Nerina will be an elf she insists that I be her ladybug a.k.a her mode of party transportation. Ginevra bought me a black and red sequined mask to wear and the rest of the costume I will have to come up with before 10:30 a.m. tomorrow when I am to report for duty, though the party doesn't begin until 3:30. Ginevra basically told the parents to just drop their kids off--it's going to be a mad house, but boy am I excited.
Tonight, instead of doing my homework, I am going to a Middle Eastern film festival which lasts until Sunday. The movies playing tonight are Iranian with English and Italian subtitles. My roommates may join me, but we shall see how they are feeling. I forget how tiring it is to adjust to living in a new country. I forgot how lost I felt in Florence my first few weeks and how overwhelmed I felt trying to avoid all the Italian faux pas, meeting so many new people, learning a new language. I still feel that way sometimes. I'm off to the movies now. Ciao ragazzi!