Life Stories – Italy Second Chance, Grundtvig 2013-15 CTP “S. Pertini” Siena prison / Ranza prison
Elisa Faleri A naughty boy
A naughty boy I am 34 years old and I was born in Torre del Greco, in the province of Naples. I lived up to nine years in Herculaneum, a town with many inhabitants, it was a very lively town, both day and night. The memories of my childhood are many. Those that come first to mind are just the negative aspects: as a child I was a too lively kid, at high school I couldn’t be silent and I couldn't sit and stay calm, so the teacher gave me a good slap! Another bad episode, which I still regret, is that when I was playing with my friends, I drop a little girl from a wall near my house. She hit her head and was immediately brought to the hospital. She returned home with her head bandaged and I felt guilty. Another terrible episode, but today I think it is also funny, was when I cut the chewing gum and I put the pieces into one nostril. I couldn't take it off, but I was afraid to tell Mum, because I thought I was scolded, after a week, she realized that I smelt bad, she took me to the doctor and he saw what I had done. I have many positive memories, but it is not necessary to tell them, because I think that children bring with them mostly positive memories. I went to school for 13 years, but did not get received a certificate. Primary schools were close to home, as well as high school. I changed school during middle school because my parents moved from Herculaneum to Poggibonsi, in the province of Siena. For me the change in sixth grade was traumatizing because the school year had already started, and I was enrolled in a class where the foreign language I had to study was French, but I had studied just English. The teacher gave for granted that I had studied French and knew it. I remember a lot of anxiety and panic before questions and tests, and a great joy when we organized school trips, because I had fun. I got on very well with some of my classmates, we were friends, and we did many things together, for example skipping school, doing some tricks to the teachers. What I could do very well was faking the signatures of parents of my classmates in exchange of breakfast: at the school bar I always ate for free. 15