Olympic Style

Before coming to Torino I got asked a lot where why the name “Torino” sounded so familiar. In 2006 a pretty big event happened here. An event that is broadcasted all over the world…The Olympics!
I haven’t been to the Olympic village because it is on the outskirts of the city in how shall we say this, sketchy part of town. There’s not much left that is exciting over there but some of the buildings used are still around. There is the lingotto mall which was the FIAT factory and then used during the Olympics and now is a mall. And the Olympic arch can be seen from some of the apartments of my friends and there is the skating rink.
During the holiday season the skating rink is opened and you can go ice skating! Mondays are discount night. So guess what I did Monday night?!? I went Ice skating on the former Olympic ice rink.
Someone has proof that I was there; I just don’t personally have it. When I get it, I’ll let you see. I do have proof in the form of a bruise on my knee. I was doing so well. I hadn’t fallen, not that I hadn’t had a few attempts. Then out of nowhere, bam! On the ground. It wasn’t too bad because it was near the end of the evening.
There is something about ice skating that brings people together. There were so many students from my program there and they were all at different levels. People who don’t normally talk to each other were helping each other skate. My Korean friends were fearless. It was so fun to encourage them to go another round. To tell them that even though I’ve skated before I still can’t stop well. And even listening to them talk about how sore they were. I think my favorite conversation from the night was with Seowon and I told her to bend her knees just a little bit. That it would be easier. She said “I can’t!” and I told her just a little bit. “like this?” “yep!” After the next lap she came up next to me and said “it really works!”
The skates we rented were plastic and there was no difference between male and female style. It was interesting not being in figure skates with a toe pick. The boys adapted better since hockey skates are similar to the ones we used.

I had a lot of fun brining in December with this winter activity! What is your favorite winter activity?

I have a list of things to do in Torino, before I leave Torino. Yesterday I killed two birds with one stone, so to say. There is a café that always looks so nice around the corner from where I live. They have a case full of pastries and it reminds me of the Victorian Ice cream parlor at Disneyland.
The reason I haven’t gone before is that they have the most interesting hours. I cannot seem to figure them out! I go when I think they should be open, and they are closed. When I go by a week later, at the same time, they are open. I can’t find the pattern, but someone must know it! It is Italia, so there may be no method to the madness!

On the list was to:
~eat a cannoli while in Italia: shameful that I have not done this yet, I know! But now I have. They were small, but they were cannoli!
~order something at this café. Something. Anything. No matter the cost. I did.

There are no pictures of me, because I went hoping that they might be open so no one came with me. Every time I plan to go with someone it’s closed. If you want to use your imagination I was wearing my red coat that is very famous here on the blog, and had really shiny hair {which was odd} pulled into a pony tail.
I did well in my Italian, as in I didn’t speak any English while there {mostly because there was no one to speak English to}. I ordered my pastries and a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate would form a layer that was half a centimeter thick between spoonfuls. This was non drinkable hot chocolate! The cannoli is filled with sweet crème, and it was a perfect balance to burning my tongue on the chocolate!
While I stood and enjoyed my snack I reflected on Torino. I’m going to miss this place. I’m committing to taking one day at a time and enjoying all the wonderful things I get to experience here.

What is your favorite cold weather sweet treat?

Adventures in the City

I am doing a whole lot better, and Sunday was the first day I got out of the apartment. It ended up being an adventurous day. Here is what happened…

I decided to go to church and to get there decided to get a ticket by taking the metro. Tabacchi {tobacco} stores are closed Sundays and they along with the metro are the only ones who sell bus tickets. So after taking the metro I walked to the bus and finally got church a few minutes late. This week I didn’t have anyone translating for me, but I got most of it. At least I hope!

I got to see so many of my new friends again and they all have such different backgrounds and stories. One is an American, but she is fluent in Italian. It is amazing to watch her in action. Then there is mother and daughter originally from Romania. The daughter is in high school and is leanring English so she practices on me. Then there is the young man who gave the message. He is originally from Albania and is also trying to learn English. He asked if he could converse with me and he did so well. He knows more English than I know Italian, but I was happy I got to say “in Italiano.” {That means I was going to translate it into English to help him!} My American friend, Albanian friend, Peruvian friend, and I decided to go for a walk downtown after hanging out at church and fellowshipping with everyone. After walking to the center of downtown, we were at Piazza Castello. I brought my parents here when they visited and I’ve been in all the buildings around it for my Interior design class. They have a huge advent calendar set up and a display of a nativity scene. It is interesting to say the least.

Notice the missing baby Jesus...

While I was soaking up the Italian chatter of my friends, one remarked that it looked like they were filming something. This is a very famous square and there seems to be something going on there all the time. I looked closer just to try and guess and saw this pretty picture…

Yep that’s right, The Amazing Race is coming to Torino!
I don’t know what season they are filming or anything. I don’t know what this means or what else they will have to do. All I know is that the Piazza is the “pit stop for this leg of the race.” Yes I heard the words come out of mouth of Phil Keoghran. And that guy is good, but he still did at least 2 takes while we were standing there. He was also helping the crew with lighting and such. Multi talented! I was surprised by how little equipment they had all together.

The funny part was trying to explain this television show to my friends. In Italian. Oh boy! It’s a race…yes it’s a course…no, not an actual course… * I think they got the gist of it, but I’m sure they think I’m crazy. I tried to tell them that it’s one of the few programs* that I watch. If you know me you know I don’t watch much TV.
They were obviously not as enthusiastic as I was...so we walked to the Christmas market.
The Christmas market is put on for most of the month of December and it is quite the little festive area. They had fresh funnel cake/donuts. If my stomach hadn’t been so tied up still I would have gotten one. I did however have bites of my first farina tanti cotta a legna. It’s made of chickpea flour and olive oil {and they added some spice that I can’t think of right now}. They bake it in wood oven fires. It felt like winter and Christmas just being there.

After all the excitement I had to come back and do homework. But I think the outing was worth it! What did you do that was adventurous this weekend?

They have been decorating while I've been sleeping!

*course= race
programma= plan/schedule/TV show