After the previously chronicled Bologna Day 1 morning, I found myself at Tito Percy's. He's a cousin of my mother, for those who don't know. He works in Bologna and lives with his wife and daughter, Benedetta, in a comfortable apartment. They were gracious enough to lend me a room- I am eternally in their debt, unless they come to the United States. (Please do!)
Memeth, Roy, Ronelle, and Benedetta.
After spending the afternoon eating lunch (I sat there eating for a while), watching television, and taking a nap (they do siestas too, kind of), I met Tito Ronnie, Percy's brother, as well as Roy, one of Ronnie's two toddler twin sons. The little boy was very shy around me, though that must to be expected when seeing a very imposing looking stranger.
From there we walked to the basement of a local church, where a party was being held for a Filipino man's 21st birthday. Seeing the buffet table was a sight for sore eyes- simple steamed rice, pansit, and fried chicken, as well as tropical desserts. I felt like I was finally getting what the crew has been holding me out of. While at the party, I met Tita* Memeth, Tito Ronnie's wife, as well as Andro (as his facebook lists him), who is her brother. Memeth is really nice, cooks very well, knows her kids tendencies and differences despite them being twins (“He's an international actor,” she once said referring to the one that cries a lot), and should be a great mother for years to come. Andro was dressed in a nice polo with a matching Yankee hat- I would've thought he was from the states simply from the look.
Then Tito Percy took me on a mini-tour of the old part of Bologna. He pointed out that Bologna was a middle age city, which used to have walls lining its center square. He pointed out the churches, and the iconic towers that distinguish Bologna from other Italian cities. Between Bologna and Florence, even though both cities are of completely different scale, you notice that come to define Italian cities. In the center in front of a big church was a movie festival, and an American movie about Italian immigration was playing on a gigantic screen. Pretty cool.
The second day I like to call relaxation day. For the most part, we stayed in Tito Percy's apartment. It was early in my tenure in Italy, I was in no rush to do anything other than pick the brains of locals (well, Filipino ones) and to spend time with family. It turned out to be pretty eventful; both Memeth, her kids, and Andro came over to visit. Memeth cooked a very nice meal for dinner- she really cooked a lot of food, already I could tell I wasn't going to starve to death for the rest of the voyage, let alone the Italy stay. Andro and I played guitar and sang Backstreet Boys. (Don't judge us.) We also talked about language barriers, and how a Mexican friend of his learned Italian faster than he can, while he's losing his English abilities because he is out of practice. As a linguist, even in a non-educational environment, I can't help but to eat that conversation up.
Turtle at the park.
We went with Memeth and her kids to a park (It had Margherita in the title?). In a weird way, it reminded me of (what I imagine is) my youth in Camperdown as a open recrational area in the middle of light urbanism. The park was defined by green grass, little turtles, giant fish, basketball courts, and people walking, running, skating, and living as you expect they would. I don't know about Rome, but Bologna isn't so different from middle America. It was a real reality check.
By the end of the day I felt like I realy bonded with Roy and Ronelle (the other one). I was able to play a nice game of keepaway using pillows, distracting them both for hours from the comfort of a couch. Those two are such a load of fun. That said, I realize that twins are harder to deal with than you think, they are twice as exhausting at the same time as twice the fun.
The third day we went to Pisa. I'm not typing this out again.
The fourth day (aka Firenze Day 1), I planned to leave around mid day to meet my cousins on the other side of the tree. But really Tito Percy saved the best sightseeing for last, driving us to San Luca and Bologna FC stadium. San Luca is an orange medieval church built upon the highest mountain close to Bologna. Apparently it was built because the virgin mother came down to Bologna for a week, and this would be the site for pilgrimage. The church is beautiful, defined by an orange, round exterior, Corinthean columns, a beautifully painted dome depicting angels, and gigantic paintings of the Passion on the sides of its walls (that must sound like every church I've been to, but it's different). It was a medium sized church, certainly not a duomo like Pisa and Florence, but certainly larger than most American Catholic churches. There is a roofed path from this church into the center of town. From the church, you can see for miles. The entirety of Bologna can be seen. For being in Bologna, it is quite the diamond in the rough.
He then, on a whim, took us to the home stadium of Bologna FC. (I kept saying FC Barcelona every time I talk about it...) Tito Percy used to live across the street from the stadium. Truth be told, the logos of both teams seem very similar, as both teams have blue and red stripes, both symbols use Saint George's Cross, and both cities start with the letter b. Only thing missing is that Catalunya flag. That said, Bologna's stadium was every nice looking. Although it didn't house nearly as many people as Camp Nou, its architectural style, with a medieval tower on one side of it, matched with the city's architecture well. Unfortunately, they gated the field so I wouldn't get to run around on it. But for what we saw, and what we didn't pay to see it, it was completely worth it.
Then at 1417 I jumped on the train towards Prato and waved goodbye to Tito Percy and Benedetta. Thank you so much for letting me stay with you and sharing with me all you could. I can't thank you enough.
Side notes:
I forgot to write this, on our way to Pisa I ran into a couple of Americans who lived in Carroll County, but hailed from Wisconsin. One of them was a nuclear engineer, who travels the world to look at power plants. He says Bulgaria will be pretty cheap, though not as cheap as Egypt would be. We also had a lovely conversation about the growth of hockey in Maryland, or lack thereof. An American or two now and then isn't bad.
*We're not going to call her Tita after this point because she wants to feel young. Her kids are only toddlers and a college kid is calling her Tita?
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