Our lessons in the morning were really good - a detailed look at the subjunctive tense, with a great powerpoint slide to go with it (look out yr 12s) and then a fun lesson looking at dialects and regions of Italy, with presentations to each other afterwards.
We had lunch, as usual and then had a half hour rest before we headed to the afternoon activities.
I was to go to 'carta pesta'.
I had been speculating about this -as I didn't think paper mache was that hard a thing to learn - but the ante was definitely upped when we walked into the shop!! To put things clearly for you, there are only 8 artisans who can do this level of paper mache in Italy...and the guy we learnt from (Claudio) has made models for the pope, famous actors and also Russian dignitaries. WOW.
So we started with a naked body made from terracotta (hands, feet and head) with a scrunched body made from newspaper. It was bound with strong to give it some shape. Claudio brought out brown recycled paper (quite a specific type), which had already been damped with glue (made from flour and water). We had to then follow his instructions to make a wise man from paper mache. I absolutely loved it and have called my wise man 'Alfonso'.
I coudn't get lots of pics as we were using glue and wearing gloves, but I will add some so you can see my little man :) Not sure how I'm going to get him home, but will think of something! Am very proud of my work!!!
We had a great time chatting with Claudio - he's really funny. We told him our plans to go to Novoli for the focara and he said he'd come along. SO at about 8am, the people from our group that were keen, headed off to the train station to go to Novoli - only 10 mins by train away.
I couldn't believe the size of the festival when we got there!!! SO many people, markets all over the roads, fireworks and the huge bonfire. The atmosphere was electric. I was thrilled to be there.
WE walked down to the bonfire and saw the fireworks - then headed back to get a sandwich. I had an arrosto misto (mixed grill) and ate everything - really nice. Afterwards, I found out one of the specialties was lambs liver wrapped in goodness knows what. Oh well - was nice when I ate it!
After that,w e walked around (well, pushed) and had a crepe with smarties....yummy! Also tried some very strong local liqueurs to keep ourselves warm. Pretty happy! Some of the others were cold and tired, so they headed home - and Irene, Claudio and I stayed longer. We had a great walk around and caught the train home, ending up walking in at 1am.
Fab evening and day!!!
Miss A
So..... What's the best paper mâché figure you can make? Is Kylie Minogue out of the question? Seems like a reasonable challenge to me!!!!!
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