A Vagabond's Antics: Hakunnah Matata'd

Sorry about the delay between posts. We just got back from a weekend skiing in Prali, a small township located right on the border between the French/Italian alps. That sentence sounds awesome if you read it back out loud. As expected there was no internet access for computers up in Prali. Somehow I managed phone reception though...

I left off right before leaving for the Castello, if memory serves correctly. It's so cool how close everything is here. It's like a 10 minute walk from the Duomo to the Castello, and that's if you're dordelling. Anyways. I went in with my guard down, looking up at the walls and taking some photos when out of nowhere, it happened. For a quick bit of background knowledge for those who don't know, there are a whole lot of people all over the 'touristy' areas of Italy that will essentially rob you with a smile. They'll come up with a pile of little rope bracelets or badges and insist that you take one, telling you it's free and so on, and then proceed to insist on payment for their product. Back to the Castello- I'm on my way towards the gates when this African guy comes up to me with this pile or bracelets. I didn't notice him instantly but turned around pretty quickly (and somewhat aggressively) when I felt him start to tie one of these things on my hand. I didn't at all want one- they were this horrible rainbow color and everything. He proceeded to tell me how he'd made them himself back home in Africa and how he was going to bless me with the 'Hakunnah Matata'. Not totally pleased that he used such a carefree song for what was essentially his attempt at robbing me. Simba would not be impressed. After tying this stupid little thing to my hand he then somehow managed to find the audacity to ask me for 10 euro to cover his expense. 5 for himself, and 5 for his friend whi had literally just stood there smiling and saying 'Hakunnah Matata'. Obviously there was no chance they were getting that kind of money for this crappy-rainbow-hakunnah-matata-string. I begrudgingly gave him 2 euro and went on my way. I am now referring to this as being 'Hakunnah Matata'd'. I laughed at another guy who was Hakunnah Matata'd almost straight after me. I'm glad to know I'm not the only victim. Anyway- I spent the rest of the evening in the park behind the Castello walking around and soaking it all up. After a good 3 hours or so I made my way home, with a quick pit stop on the way for a Panzerotto. Panzerotto are like God's bread, only way better because God probably doesn't cook with oil. They're essentially fried bread pockets full of cheese and ham. Ohhh my god they were good.

The next two days were somewhat less exciting. I had a tonne of files to fill out for university and documents that needed to be circulated around, which all ended up taking far longer than I had anticipated. Thursday night I was saved, as I went down to a local(ish) bar to meet some more Italian friends. I was beyond surprised when I found the bar had a deal on hamburgers and a pint of beer. It was legitimately even a good hamburger. The next day I again met with these friends, only in a somewhat different matter. Their school had been running a week of 'alternative' lessons, which we decided I should join. After dodging roll calls and sneaking my way in to the lift with a janitor who proceeded to accompany me to the 2nd floor, I was in. The first class I kind of understood nothing of, because I spent the whole class wondering how much eye contact to make with the teacher without looking suss. Should I stare and flare my confidence? Or shy away and hope I remain unnoticed? I'm certain there must be a science behind these. It has now become one of my 13 life goals to discover the truth behind this mysterious eye contact paradox. The second lesson, however, I was quite amused by. A lecture titled 'The History of Weed'. Legit a whole lecture devoted to weed, medicinal and religious uses, and why it should be legalized. This lecture was organised and run by students as part of the alternative lessons, but had been listed as 'The History of Bicycles' in order to avoid the prying eyes of teachers. I will never forget the teachers face when she walked in to the room and saw the board... Now adding 'attended a weed lecture in an Italian high school which I snuck in to via the janitor's lift' to my resume. The only hugely disappointing aspect of this day was when a freestyle Italian rap battle which had broken out in one of the corridors was stopped before I got there to enjoy it. -insert emotional breakdown here- That evening I went to an art show with Pietro and his family. There was an exhibition on for Kandinsky, which we had all decided to attend. He was a modern kind of artist who had through the 1900s and died just before the conclusion of the Second World War. First art show I've ever been to- and I actually quite enjoyed it! There were a few paintings that literally didn't make a lick of sense. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to find a fish in one of the paintings. The description made it so clear that the centerpiece of this painting was the fish, but I couldn't manage to find it for the life of me. I actually got quite frustrated with the painting, before remembering it was a painting and continuing on my way. Favorite painting on display was Sviluppo in Bruno (Developement in Brown).

That was Friday. We spent the following 2 days up in one of the families ski houses in Prali, situated on the border of Italy and France. The whole town was covered in almost 2 meters of snow. All the buildings were the typical Italian style, with alternating colors and cobblestone pathways (I think. I couldn't exactly see the cobblestone beneath the ice and snow, but I imagined it was there). The local temperature was -10 degrees upon our arrival, and continued to fluctuate from -12 to 5 degrees the entire weekend. The roads were all covered in black ice and you had to skirt around the edges of the buildings because of the constantly falling icicles. So cool. Here I learnt to Ski (only fell over twice. Olympics come at me.), and spent some time failing at Ice Skating on a frozen lake. It became quickly apparent to me, after having no success with either the ski boots or the skating shoes, that Italian shoe sizes are much smaller than ours. We couldn't find any properly fitting ski boots and all the ice skating boots were at least 2 sizes too small, which led to a few painful laps of the ice skating ring before an early retirement. One of the coolest things there was an older guy who drove around selling cheese out of the boot of his car. He had a full cash register in his boot. He. was. awesome. Today (second day in Prali) I spent some time exploring the older local villages, like Ghigo, Giordano and Pomeifre. They were all hundreds of years old, comprised of old stone buildings and paddocks. They had frozen water troughs with poles to break the ice open, stables turned in to garages, frozen paddocks and so on. Old wooden staircases were dotted amongst the slowly decaying houses, which were marked by their torn curtains, open doors and broken windows. It was literally like being on the set for Winterfell (Game of Thrones reference for the younger generation). One older building had been somewhat restored and turned in to a restaurant. It maintained all it's old charm, but had been reinforced and had a kitchen installed upstairs. They were well known for their traditionally cooked 'mountain food' and all their ingredients were locally sourced (hoping their cheese didn't come from that guys car). It's hard to put in to words how incredible this place was. I will put a few photos down below, but understand they really don't do it enough justice! My plans for the rest of the week remain open as of yet. I'm hopinh to find some local backpackers who are keen to try and hitchike somewhere. I don't really know where yet, I just like the idea of being able to say I've hitchiked. On the condition that I'm not literally going to get stabbed by a man with a cheese car or something. These plans are still being processed. Suppose we'll find out!

Ciao for now!