Batti cinque!

Well, this is the first time I've had Internet since Saturday!  I bought a "Tim" card so I can get Internet from the Italian providers which is similar to the 3G in the US. It is slow but gets the job done! And we are in a small hill town. Gavinana is the name of our village, which is associated with San Marcelo Pistoese, within Pistoia, which is in the state or region of Tuscany within Italy. That is the general hierarchy of the towns and areas.

As of today, Britt and I have completed two days of our clinical, and we have learned so much in these two days whether it was language, Italian differences in physical therapy or the culture. We have mastered "buongiorno" and "non capisco" which means "I don't understand". We have used that phrase quite a bit. Part of the experience here is for us to get a sense of what it's like when people who don't speak English come to the US. We now know exactly how they feel! Our clinical instructors or CIs, Linda and Elisa, at the clinic speak English as well as some other therapists, but it's not near perfect. Total immersion at its best.

We live in the facility on the top floor, literally in the same building as our patients and where we work. Last night as we were trying to find a computer and some supper, we walked through the main common room where everyone hangs out and one of our patients from the morning saw us and yelled "Americano, Americano!" He wanted us to push him closer to the television. We are living with our patients, assisting them whenever they need us! Another guy invited us to go watch tv with him that same night.

On the first day, we were officially introduced as Brittany and Katerina but since then our names have been shorted to Britt and Kate because it is easier for everyone to say. When Brittany was introduced they went "Oh, like Britney Spears!"

Today we walked down to the neighboring town of San Marcelo where I got the sim card and is where we can go to the Coop for our groceries. Gavinana has a few grocery stores, but San Marcelo has many more options. It is about a 40 minute walk down the mountain along a footpath to get to the centre, or city center.

We have learned how to us body language and a lot of gestures to get our point across, it has been very difficult and I know very frustrating for the people we talk to but everyone has been very patient with us. We do not know what they say about us behind our backs, however. We did meet one resident of Fondazione F. Turati who spoke English very well, she didn't even have an accent. We had dinner in the cafeteria on site with all of the residents in the assisted living section of the complex. We got a lot of stares as we walked in. The kitchen staff knows who we are, and we have our own table for every meal. Meals are included in the cost of rent, which is $300 euros a month.  As we were leaving dinner tonight, a man signaled Britt saying "Inglese, Inglese!" He was signaling for one of his table mates, Marcela, who was the one that spoke English very well. She was very happy to meet us Americanos! She even invited us to her village for a celebration they are having this weekend, but unfortunately we are traveling to Siena this weekend. We are very excited about that!

Fondazione F. Turati is a private institution that houses many different services. Physical therapy is obviously one of them. People from all over Italy and Europe come to stay here for inpatient rehab services. There is also skilled nursing and assisted living areas, an alzheimer's unit, end-stage coma care, "pediatrics" but this is really more adults with mental disabilities whose parents never came back to get them or they died. Elisa called them "nobody's kids". They live at the facility permanently. They are such happy people and when we went to visit on our first day we got hugs and crafts they made! So fun.

We have been spoiled with caffe since we have been here. A cappuccino with breakfast, a caffe (espresso) mid morning, macchiato (espresso with milk) after lunch, and another caffe or two in the evening.  And it is good too! The offer Americano which is basically the espresso with more water to make it bigger like the American cup of coffee.

Well, it is the evening here and we are unwinding after a long, but exciting day. There is never a dull moment here! The posts should be more frequent now that I have continuous Internet and hopefully I can get some pictures up because I know everyone is dying to see some and I can't wait to show them!

Buonasera!