broken.

Tonight was one of my most awkward here at the Pellet home. Neither my oldest host sister nor my host brother were at home for dinner, so there were only 5 of us at the table. My two youngest host sisters (aged 8 and 10) were pulling what seemed like the normal antics, but the parents were especially on edge - even going so far as to hit the two of them on the back of the head. Both my host parents hit them each once, at the table, but it didn't really change anything about the way they were acting.

My host mother is an aggressive character - earlier, I scuttled into the kitchen to get a cup of tea since I've been feeling under the weather today. She told me off for not dressing appropriately, calling it idiote that I wasn't wearing a scarf inside the house. I was a bit taken aback that she would talk to me that way, but perhaps that language isn't quite as strong in French as it is in English?

At any rate, I'm pretty excited about my weekend trip to Turin tomorrow. I'm going with a group of American girls, only one of which I actually know. But it doesn't matter - I'll be thrilled to be at Italy again.

I must say that I feel quite guilty for spending as much money as I am on traveling when the only news you ever hear these days is that the economy is a mess. Am I being a good global citizen by not witholding my spending, or should I be more prudent about where my money is going?