The Dream Diary of Italy

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Thursday, 20 December

So apparently the world is supposed to end tomorrow according to Mayan time, but I have decided as there are weather forecasts for after tomorrow. Therefore I have concluded that the Mayans are wrong!

In my family in South Africa we have a tradition that every year at Christmas time we bake what we call Soet Koekies which are cookies that have spices in them that go fantastically with tea or coffee or even milk. So I baked them a few days ago for my host family and they went down with a bang!! So today I baked a double batch! I think i must have made about 100 cookies! So we are giving them to their grandparents and friends and other famuly members as i christmas present from me!!

My plans for my 2 week vacation is to spend the Christmas time with my host family. On monday the 24th, we will go to the fathers parents who stay in Cremona and have a traditional christmas with them. It involves going to their house at around 5:30pm, Santa Clause comes at 6:00pm, then the kids and adults open presents. Then we go for the apperitivo at a bar which involves drinks and finger food like chips, olives, cheeses, meats etc. We go back home to eat dinner which on the 24th is traditionally fish. So pasta with clams, then the fish thats cooked then eaten with mayonnaise. Then desert which involve a cake with jam, and then dried fruit and nuts.

Then we plan to leave for Genova on the 25th and stay there untill the 29th of December. I am not sure what we plan to do for actual christmas day there. I know we are going to do some sight seeing and eating (again). Then we leave from Cremona to go to the mountains on the 30th Decamber and I will stay their until the 2nd January. The mountains we are going to are called San Cassiano in Badia. It is a smal touristic village in the mountains for skiing. I will not be skiing unfortunately as it is not covered by my travel insurance, which sucks.

I climbed the tower of the Cremona Duomo the other day! O MY GOSH!! I have never had to walk up so many stairs in my whole entire life!!! I kept thinking ... How the hell did soldieers and priests do it with all those heavy clothes that take up so much space!! The view from the tower was beautiful and we were lucky as it was a clear day so we could even see as far as the mountains. (Go to facebook to see pictures).

I went with the family to the little girls school christmas play. The set for the play was really cute and the kids costumes were good except that Giulia (the little girl I look after) had the unfortunate luck of being one of the kids that had to wear a potatoe sack!! In the beginning of the play it was good but then in between eachg class (4 classes) they played a video showing what the kids got up to during school which is really sweet but it dragged the play on to about 2 and a half hours!! Turned out to be a bit too long! Plus i did not really understand wht was going on half the time.

Once a month in Cremona there is a market for antiques and second hand items. It was very beautiful to see all the old furniture and jewellery and house decor and books! My mom would have loved the antique furniture! They even had old clothing with corsets which thrilled me to no end!! Was very cool to see that!

Untill next time!! Ciao!

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