Sulley Montari in Inter's match against Udinese.
Professionals
Let us turn first to soccer, futbol, calcio, whatever you want to call it. As you'll learn, I read NYTimes like it's going out of business. Funny, because it may end up doing so in the current economic climate - not to mention that newspapers everywhere are flailing around like stinking, half-dead fish. But I digress. The NYTimes published an article about the recent Inter-Udinese match in Milan. It discussed, among other things, the state of race-relations in Italy. The match was not going well for Milan when the coach pulled Sulley Montari, one of Milan's star players, from the game. According to the article there was some pretty heinous boo-ing, much of which - as the article suggests - was due to the fact that Montari is a black Muslim. I'd heard that Italy had race issues, but I had no idea that they were this bad. I've become less and less enchanted with the culture here in Italy. I'm sure what I've experienced is not an accurate depiction of the entire country, but I definitely feel the country could use a civil rights movement. It's pretty bad when a coach says that your religious beliefs aren't convenient for your team.
Let us turn first to soccer, futbol, calcio, whatever you want to call it. As you'll learn, I read NYTimes like it's going out of business. Funny, because it may end up doing so in the current economic climate - not to mention that newspapers everywhere are flailing around like stinking, half-dead fish. But I digress. The NYTimes published an article about the recent Inter-Udinese match in Milan. It discussed, among other things, the state of race-relations in Italy. The match was not going well for Milan when the coach pulled Sulley Montari, one of Milan's star players, from the game. According to the article there was some pretty heinous boo-ing, much of which - as the article suggests - was due to the fact that Montari is a black Muslim. I'd heard that Italy had race issues, but I had no idea that they were this bad. I've become less and less enchanted with the culture here in Italy. I'm sure what I've experienced is not an accurate depiction of the entire country, but I definitely feel the country could use a civil rights movement. It's pretty bad when a coach says that your religious beliefs aren't convenient for your team.
Me
Coming back to my own life, I'm not playing soccer, but I did go to pilates yesterday. It's a LOT harder than it looks. NYU Florence brings in someone to teach a class every Monday night. This lady is a little southern belle - who reminds me a lot of Deborah Finley! She moved to Florence from Atlanta 4 years ago, and she brought her pilates studio with her. I was the only guy in the class - a point she kept bringing up: "You know, you're a smart guy! Those other guys have no idea that they're missin' out on all these lovely little ladies!" She also was very amused by my inability to do most of the exercises. I have a REALLY weak core. I did alright on the exercises that required balance, but anything that required me to isolate muscles other than my core didn't go so well. It's really hard to move your legs without using the majority of your leg muscles. Once, I mistakenly started rotating my foot at the ankle, which prompted her to say "don't you wish" and then proceed to forcibly move my entire leg in sweeping circles from the hip. She kept saying to lift from my abs. I wanted to tell her that I didn't have any...
I made myself feel better with a 5K run afterwards, because running is something that I don't entirely fail at. This is on top of the 4 miles I walked back and forth from campus. So needless to say I'm exhausted, and my Zytec from this morning and the glass of wine I had with dinner aren't helping. I'm off to bed before I fall asleep on my keyboard!
Ciao Bella!
Matteo "Sore-in-muscles-he-didn't-know-he-had" Yazge
P.S. - I realize that the title of my blog today is in Spanish. I feel I owe the rest of Europe my due dilligence, so there will be a flavorful mix of languages from now on!
Coming back to my own life, I'm not playing soccer, but I did go to pilates yesterday. It's a LOT harder than it looks. NYU Florence brings in someone to teach a class every Monday night. This lady is a little southern belle - who reminds me a lot of Deborah Finley! She moved to Florence from Atlanta 4 years ago, and she brought her pilates studio with her. I was the only guy in the class - a point she kept bringing up: "You know, you're a smart guy! Those other guys have no idea that they're missin' out on all these lovely little ladies!" She also was very amused by my inability to do most of the exercises. I have a REALLY weak core. I did alright on the exercises that required balance, but anything that required me to isolate muscles other than my core didn't go so well. It's really hard to move your legs without using the majority of your leg muscles. Once, I mistakenly started rotating my foot at the ankle, which prompted her to say "don't you wish" and then proceed to forcibly move my entire leg in sweeping circles from the hip. She kept saying to lift from my abs. I wanted to tell her that I didn't have any...
I made myself feel better with a 5K run afterwards, because running is something that I don't entirely fail at. This is on top of the 4 miles I walked back and forth from campus. So needless to say I'm exhausted, and my Zytec from this morning and the glass of wine I had with dinner aren't helping. I'm off to bed before I fall asleep on my keyboard!
Ciao Bella!
Matteo "Sore-in-muscles-he-didn't-know-he-had" Yazge
P.S. - I realize that the title of my blog today is in Spanish. I feel I owe the rest of Europe my due dilligence, so there will be a flavorful mix of languages from now on!
You're too young to be that sore! So if you start to get those muscles in shape, maybe I can find an old Jane Fonda workout tape for you to use when you get home!
ReplyDeletehahahah "muscles you didn't know you had". welcome to pilates and the world of dance, weak one. it suuuuuuuuuucks here. :o)
ReplyDeleteDeborah Finley! Love her.
ReplyDeleteI get up before dark to go walking from the Marina to under the Golden Gate Bridge and back.
And by before dark, I mean "before dawn, when it is still dark."
Your life sucks more than mine, in that regard. But that's just because I'm lazy.