Capitolo 5 - La lettera

E’ difficile cercare di raccontare di se tramite una lettera. Devi scrivere almeno una pagina o una e mezzo, quindi lo spazio non è un problema… La cosa davvero ardua è scegliere cosa dire e come dirlo.

Anche perché quello che scrivi alla fine ti sembra banale. Insomma, tutti gli adolescenti avranno scritto: “Adoro i libri fantasy…. Faccio sport… Voglio iniziare uno sport… So cucinare!... Preferisco le serie TV… Non so cucinare…”. Ma alla fine credo sia quasi impossibile essere “originali”. Penso bisogna semplicemente pensare che quella famiglia avrà di certo delle aspettative, ma di sicuro non pretenderanno chissà che roba straordinaria o impossibile cosa da noi, no? In più la maggior parte di loro ha già dei figli, spesso più grandi di noi, quindi probabilmente sapranno cosa vuol dire trattare con degli adolescenti.

Io non sapevo davvero cosa dire e mi ci sono volute diverse settimane per arrivare a quello che ho scritto. Ma a essere sincera, al momento aggiungerei un sacco di cose in più!

I miei consigli per scrivere la lettera di presentazione sono pochi: una lista a punti di quello che ci piace (esempio a caso: basket, dolci, serie TV, film…). Stesso per delle cose che non ci piacciono.

Questa è la lettera che ho inviato, spero possa aiutarvi per prendere qualche spunto… Soltanto degli spunti, non copia-e-incolla selvaggio, ovvio ;)

“Hi, my name is Sofia. Right now my English is quite bad especially the spoken one. I beg you to be patient and don’t worry if I will be silent at the beginning.. When I will learn the language I’m afraid you will must stop me talking!

My relatives and my friends say I’m a joyful and curious person, and I think so too. I like drawing, visit parks, museums and historical places. I love good movies, notably Disney’s ones like “The Brave”, “The Aristocats” and “Hercules”. I like invent and test new recipes and try new thing. In particular, right now, I exercise myself with cakes and cookies. I  don’t have allergies or intolerances, but I really hate seafood except for tuna and smoked salmon. I love all staffs with fruits, such as smoothies, juices and popsicles.

My greatest passion is reading. I love the fantasy books. My favorite author is Rick Riordan. I read all available books he wrote. Riordan for his sagas takes inspiration from Hellenic, Roman, Egyptian and Norse old myths. He transposes them in in the contemporary world showing how values like courage, loyalty and friendship as well humans weaknesses are present in all ages. Furthermore, he shows also that all beings, from humans to deity, can have great virtue and pettiness at the same time.

Usually neither I nor my friends go to the disco or similar places. We like to walk downtown watching the storefronts, turning libraries and stop into coffee lounge where we enjoy a good cup of chocolate in winter time or  ice cream in summer time. We also take long walk along the seashore, talking and joking. Often we talk about seen movies and read books giving each other recommendation and advises. Other time we talk about what happens in our lives at home and at school. All the times we are so involved we do not notice cold, heat or fatigue.

At school my favorite subjects are literature, history, natural science, psychology and art. I find very difficult math, for this subject I need a little help, because I have dyscalculia. It is a form of dyslexia, which is simply a different way for learning things. Other dyslexic persons were Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Robin Williams… then I hope to have a chance to do something good in my life too. When I’ll be grown up I would like to be a teacher, I don’t know yet which subject I’ll teach. Now I’m torn between phycology, history and literature. In any case I’m willing to counteract disinformation about dyslexia and to help other dyslexic at school. I find really frustrating who do not understand yet what means dyslexia within the school. If I come back from school sad in most cases is for that. But I do not stay sad for a long time, I just do something I like, for example read a good book, talk with a friend, or play table games and it is all over.

I tried various sports, for example swimming, taekwondo, artistic gymnastics and akido, but no one of them grabbed my interest. When I was in junior high I tried also softball, I liked it a lot, but unfortunately in Italy this sport is almost unknown. I hope to have the opportunity to play in a real softball field one day. I love snow, I saw it only three times in my all life and only one time it lasted more than two days. I would like to play some snow games.

I love all kind of pets like: dogs, cats, hamsters, parrots, horses, ferrets. At home we have one ferret and one dog. The ferret is named Luna (in Italian Luna means Moon); she is seven years old; for a ferret is quite  an age. She’s very spirited anyway. Whenever I can I bring her in my room while I’m doing my homework or other things. She always tries to go up into my bed to play whit the blankets and when she’s tired she falls asleep next to me. The dog is named  Cora. She is very lazy compared to Luna, but every time she sees or hears a stranger she remembers to be able to run. She loves cuddles and she hates when we leave her home alone. She is very afraid of the dark, if she is left in a room whiteout light she doesn’t stop barking until someone comes or she hides under my bed. When I get home from school she is the first to cheer me up and she takes me up to the front door. I’m used to take care of our pets. So if you have pets will be great for me and hopefully for yours pets too.

I have a younger sister, her name is Letizia. Usually we get along very well, seldom we don’t. We like to read and exchange viewpoint about books we read. We also lend and borrow books each other. We enjoy the same kinds of movies and we go to the movie theater to see them together. Anyway we prefer to watch movies at our own home so we can comment out loud and laugh as much as we want. She loves videogames and occasionally she tries to involve me, but I don’t really like it, except for “The Sims”.

Almost every Sunday, I and my family go for dinner to restaurants located in the small historic towns on the hills near home. After dinner we walk through town, observing monuments and enjoying landscapes.

My mom is a housewife and she runs a photovoltaic plant. I’m used to be with her and my sister most of the afternoons. My dad runs a biogas plant and a farm in another town. I see him mostly in the evenings when, sometimes, he helps me with my math homework. I enjoy time spent with my family, sharing together  what happened in the day, relaxing with my sister, playing with Luna and Cora and help my parents cooking.

If I image my life abroad next year I’ll bring to my mind thousands of questions. For sure I’ll like discover the history and culture of the town where I’m going to live next year. Undoubtedly it will be even more exacting learn new way of life from inside a family. Maybe if you like you can teach me how to cook your favorites foods and I try to prepare for you some typical dishes of my region.

I’m a very curious to meet a new family, whit different tradition and habits, I can’t wait!”

Già… col senno di poi, aggiungerei (e toglierei) un sacco di cose.

Ma forse è meglio così. Avrò un sacco di cose in più da raccontare alla mia host-family. Quando migliorerò il mio inglese, ovvio.

P.S. Un ringraziamento speciale a mio padre che si è sorbito intere serate davanti al mio PC cercando di farmi scrivere autonomamente in inglese nonostante le mie polemiche.