So, I have to open with this: I have now seen an episode of My Little Pony. I'm still lost on the cult following, though. Granted, the episode I watched was "l'intuito di Pinkie;" aka the entire thing was in Italian...
On the subject of television, though, I took away the children's TV privileges on Thursday. I don't believe in rewarding bad ehavior, and all three children were particularly bad that afternoon. So they didn't get to watch any cartoons that night. When their mother informed them of their loss and why, they all proceeded to throw yet another tantrum. It made me realize that humans have become addicted to both TV and the internet. It's instant gratification, but it comes at a cost.
With this in mind, I have decided to treat the computer as a tool only;: it will hold my documents and an electronic copy of every document I need, and it will mainly be used for research and development. I'm going to work on cutting down time spent poring over social media sites, and instead do things like cultivate a garden, work on my dancing, and find a job when I get back to the States (though I will probably start looking for the third a little earlier).
Thursday I ended up going over my 20 euro a week limit. I needed to replace my purse (it's bad when you keep forgetting that you have a nice hold in it where the little pocket it, and only remember when you go to put something in said little pocket) and my stolen backpack, and I knew that getting a good quality bag would cost more than 5 euros. So after class and lunch, the other au pairs and I made our way to Garibaldi, the main shopping street in Turin.
The best way to describe Garibaldi is a wide avenue of various shops that stretches over a mile long: from clothing to accessories to shoes to eyeglasses to gelato shops, and everything in between. There are people walking, people biking, funny little cars with three wheels and are apparently operated by groundskeepers (I never realized just how messy people could be!), and the occasional garbage truck (made by Fiat, of course) all sharing the same space. Luckily they are no regular cars, otherwise I'm pretty sure there would be multiple accidents every day!
After four shops I found a wonderful replacement. It's more of a messenger bag (like my old one) than a purse, but it suits my needs wonderfully. When I told the woman at the counter I didn't want a bag she looked at me like I was off my rocker. So I showed her the state of my purse. Comprehension dawned, and was kind enough to empty out the paper inside the bag before giving it to me. That restored a little of my faith in humanity.
Saturday it rained, which trapped everyone inside the house. Had it not been for this, I probably would have gone warndering around, but the children need a babysitter so their parents can go out and run errands, so inside I stay.
I guess I spoke too soon when I expressed the belief that I was free of the guy from the train station. He called me Saturday evening, and once again expressed his desire in seeing me. From the sounds of it he wanted it to be that night, but I managed to dissuade him from both that and Sunday. He's pushing for next weekend, though. Before anyone asks: no, I don't want to see him again. It's obvious that he still wants to start a relationship with me, and this past week has shown me nmany more reasons to stay single for the next year or so. I don't think he'll understand, because the first time I tried to explain he just brushed it away like it was nothing. I'm hesitant to be rude/mean about things, but if it has to come down to that to get my point across, then I'll do it. I'm not going to be a doormat, thanks.
I think that I missed something, growing up with only one older sibling. I always got in trouble if I fought back. So watching the three children hit and kick each other makes me jump up and put a stop to it, no matter which sibling started it. I don't know if I'm helping or hurting things by doing this, because I don't know if they're trying to determine pecking order within their ranks.
After two weeks around the children, I think I've come up with a wonderful way to help lower teen pregnancy rates. Starting at age fourteen, every American teen should spend two hours a day volunteering at a local daycare center (preferably around snack time or nap time) with 2-5 year olds who are not their siblings. Then they get to deal with toddlers, not the "cute little babies" that I hear some of them cooing over and wanting at such a young age. Ever have to tell a 3 year old that no, he can't have a highly sugary snack and instead is going to have something healthy? Yeah....
My two weeks here has also helped me realize that I don't believe I want to bear children of my own. Instead, I think I"m going to donate my eggs to help other women/science and adopt/foster children. There are too many children without parents who also need love, and I don't see that me upping the population by 1-4 is going to help anything. If other women who want to have children but can't and who would benefit from my donation can be helped, then that makes me happy. I'm going to look towards adopting children around 3-5 years old and have a foster home. I keep thinking of the movie It Takes Two, where the Olsen twin who was the orphan made the comment of "Nobody wants to adopt a child. It's like dogs: everyone wants a puppy." Then again, first I need to get a job and either a house or an apartment that would have the room needed to raise a child.
I'm finding that I keep mixing up my French and Italian words. For example, Sunday morning I tried to tell the middle child to "Close the microwave door, please." It came out: "Fermez la porta di microwave... Per favore." I count thre different languages in that sentence. No wonder I'm having trouble.... While I have two "Learn Italian" books, they are both solely in Italian. Immersion for the confusing win?
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