Fritatta Me Happy

This was lunch. I made my Zucchini and Panchetta Pasta. I posted the recipe in February sometime if you are now interested! :) I am glad I now have a face to put with the name!


My Zucchini, Mushroom, and Prosciutto Fritatta. Beautiful.

Yesterday I invented I wonderful fritatta. It was actually my first time to ever make a fritatta and it turned out beautiful. I was so happy, I ran to get my iphone to snap a little photo. Emma had originally said, when I told her we were having a fritatta for dinner, she would not eat any of it because she did not like fritatta. She kept complaining about having to eat it and asking if she could just make a sandwich when I calmly told her that if she did not like it there would be plenty of broccoli and bread with oil for her to eat, but that since I was making dinner, it was rude of her to say she would not even try it. She then agreed to try some. In the end, I think both of the girls liked it well enough. No one went back for seconds, and I did see Emma picking around a few veggies, but for the most part, they ate it, and I was happy. I will be posting the recipe for it in my next post. For now I will just give you the photo I snapped.
As it turns out, Pam did forget to leave me with some money, but had the drive come back and leave me some cash underneath the umbrella holder outside her apartment. I got an email from Sam this morning explaining where I could find the money (technically, it was under the fire hydrant next to the umbrella holder) and said the emergency list of contacts was on Pam's desk. Of course, I did not see that 1) because of the clutter, and 2)I would never just peruse through her desk. Anyway, things are well here. I still do not have any bus tickets, but I figure I will try to beg a ride off of someone tomorrow, and go to Castelnuovo to buy some for myself.
Mornings go fairly smoothly here. I wake up around 640am and sprint over to my apartment to turn on the heat, then I come back and wake up the girls, make their breakfast (Emma normally has a piece of fruit, and Siena has a little chocolate biscuit), I have them brush their teeth, and hair, and well, we are out of the door in plenty of time. Honestly, I like waking up earlier. I have more time in the day, and I take a refreshing shower every morning after the girls are on the school bus (750am). Also, since their are no window coverings, I wake up just around the time the sun is coming up so it is not too hard for me to get up. It is always so much more refreshing to wake up to the light of the early morning sun than the ring of your alarm clock.
Sam comes back, I might start waking up this early all the time and going for a bike ride in the mornings. That is, if I can ever find some jogging pants; yet another incentive for me to figure out the bus schedule.

Being Stranded in Italy Has Become Somewhat of a Specialty for Me

The old woman who answered the door was very irritated and seemed to wonder exactly who was standing at her door, and more importantly, why she had been disturbed during the time of her nap. I asked for Bobo, and she raised an eyebrow asking who, exactly, I was. I told her my name and that I had met Bobo a few years ago when he still owned the bar. That seemed to be enough information for her, and she ushered me into the house. She still seemed a little skeptical but said she thought she remembered me, vaguely asked if I was the one who had sent him letters, and told me to take a seat and that she would go and get him.
He came out in a flurry. All smiles and hugs like the man I remember. He gave me a big hug immediately. I told him and his wife I was sorry to come to their door without warning, but that I did not have a phone number where I could contact them. His wife, Alda, was much more settled after Bobo made clear he actually knew who I was and was happy to see me. We all sat down at the dinner table and Alda made us coffee while Bobo and I caught up. I told him the story of the first Italian family I had been with, and being a small town, he had actually already heard some of what happened. It seems the father of the Italian family I worked for was telling everyone I had moved to Pienza or something. I am sure Bobo heard more of a story than that. I wonder if my name has been blacklisted in the Arezzo province. If Bobo had heard another story, he did not mention it. I did tell him what happened and he seemed generally concerned that the man would behave in such a way to an employee. Bobo knows the brother of the man I worked for, and said it was not very nice of him to act the way he did. Being a small town, and knowing a little of the small town dynamic, I did not say very much to this comment. I told Bobo they were a good family, but just not the right one for me. He asked if I was happy living where I am now, and I told him I was. The best part about going to Bobo’s home was meeting Peggy his little white dog, well, actually she is about a medium sized dog, I would not say she is small. I have no idea what kind of dog she is, but she was very sweet, and very interested in eating every cookie my hand came in contact with. She almost jumped up into my lap once. When Alda tried to get her interested in a dog biscuit, she just stuck her nose up, she would have none of THAT nonsense, it was the real deal for Miss Peggy. So, Alda broke down and just gave her a cookie. Of course, that did not stop her from trying to steal all my cookies as well.
After about an hour and a half Bobo offered to take me to the train station. I think they would have been pleased to have me for dinner, but I could not stay and make it back in time for Pam to pick me up at the train station. So, I said farewell to Alda, and Bobo and I made our way to his car. After a little maneuvering I figured out how to buy a ticket- the ticket office was not open so I had to use an antiquated ticket machine-, then Bobo and I headed over to the bar right across the street to get another coffee and a pastry while waiting for the train. We talked a little more about this and that. Castiglion actually has a lot of construction going on, lots of new apartments and some new shops, but no one is moving in. It is all new and empty. I guess it is just the economic depression that is stopping people from moving. I bet it would be really nice to live in Italy in a new apartment. They are much more energy efficient. Bobo not only bought my ticket, he also bought my coffee and pastry while we were waiting for the train and yet another pastry for the road. He told me to call him anytime whenever I was in the area and I could come and have lunch or dinner with him and Alda. Since they are both retired now, they have a lot of free time and get to go see and do. I think they might go somewhere for the Summer, but Bobo does not know where yet.
Eventually, the train came. Bobo waited with me the whole time on the train platform and then gave me a farewell kiss and hug. I am hoping to get back to Arezzo soon so I can meet up with him again. The train ride back to San Gusme, Rappolano Terme actually, was tiring. First of all, it was dark and freezing by the time I reached Arezzo and I had to wait an hour and a half for my train to leave. I did walk around the town once more while waiting in effort to keep warm and to make sure I had seen all I could see. I headed back to the train station, picked up my ticket, and went out to the platform. One weird thing was that to get to my platform, you had to cross the train tracks. My platform was the very last one in the station, super small, and not even covered. I think it must have been the only platform for trains leaving for the Siena province. Finally, the train did come. I did not realize how exhausted I was until I sat down. My face was burned from the freezing wind I had endured all day, and my legs and back ached. I was glad to have been able to get out of the house by myself for the day, but I was really ready to be back at my apartment and it was still another hour and a half before I reached Pam.
Before the train made its last stop, almost everyone seemed to get off leaving just me and the ticket man on the train. He was a happy rotund ticket man who started chatting me up about this and that, telling my how good my Italian was, etc. And then he asked me to come and sit with him in the middle of the train. I did not catch why he felt he could not sit up front with me, but I think it had to do with the cameras up there. So, I followed him and we talked some more. I was not thinking anything of our conversation. He was telling me about his town, how they hosted a very old Carnevale, etc. When all of a sudden, he asked for my phone number. Instictively, I told him I did not have a cell phone. At this point I had already told him I was staying in Italy with family friends in San Gusme, a little town outside of Siena, and that I was going to be in Italy for the next month. Suddenly, things were not okay. I told him I could give him my email, hoping he would either not take it, or take it never email me, he did take it (I gave him my old one) and I figured if he ever emailed me I would just block him. It was about this time when we reached our stop. I still had one more train to go. I was shocked when I got off the train because the station looked like something out of the 1930’s, which it probably was. There was only one light, and it was yellowed and dim. There were no signs for the train I was to be taking next, and so I reluctantly asked my ticket man. He told me to follow him, and ended up taking me into the train workers office in the station where, after looking up my ticket, he told me my train would be arriving on platform 1. This is not the end of the story though. After he gave me the information he offered me a seat while I was waiting, about twenty minutes, for my next train. I took the seat because I was just about as scared outside as I was in the workers break room, and it was not so cold. I figured I would rather be warm and scared than freezing and scared. Of course, I ended up regretting my decision almost immediately. I soon saw all the naked women posters hanging in the office, and there were about two other men in the office talking about soccer or something and asking me a few questions about Texas. The ticket man kept asking me if I was sure I did not have a phone and I told him I was positive. Twenty minutes seemed like an eternity, but finally, my train arrived, and I scuttled on board….only to find myself even more frightened. The train I took to Rapolano looked like the type of train you would see in a murder movie. The windows were crusted with dirt and rust, the seats were torn and smelly, everything was gross, and the window on the door that lead to the next car was painted black. Another thing I did not realize was when you travel through small Italian towns at night, the signs telling you what station you are arriving in, are not lit, so I had to judge my stop by what time it was and how long my ticket told me it would take until I reached my destination. I ended up getting it right, but it was stressful to have to constantly be straining my eyes to see what station I was at and hoping I did not miss my stop.
Once I was off the train I was relieved to see Pam and I immediately told her my train story. She was very upset that I had told the man I lived in San Gusme because, she said, ‘it is a small place and if someone wanted to find you it would not be that hard to do so’. Then, I was really really freaked out. I must have apologized to her five times the rest of the night. I guess I was just so exhausted that my mind could not keep from focusing on my mistake. Why had I told this stranger where I lived? Why had I been so careless with my own safety? Suddenly, I was really nervous about my safety, and so of course I had a fitful night of sleep.
Then, the next few days I became exhausted. I ended, and still am to this day, cooking lunch and dinner, and cleaning up after each meal, every day. Then, on Saturday, I got sick. Nothing really serious, but my throat started to hurt so much that I could barely eat, and I could not breathe. Looking back on it, I think it was a combination of being so cold while in Arezzo, and then getting run down cleaning up after people who will not keep their home clean.
As of right now, I am a little frustrated. It seems like Pam has not been very willing to help me find alternate activies; perhaps because she wants me at her house keeping the place fairly straight for her. So, I am going to try to do as much as I can on my own. I will get her number from Pam or Sam, and then maybe I can ask someone in the town to call her for me to see if we can set up a time to meet, and I want to figure out how to take the bus into Siena so I can go to the market on Wednesdays, and maybe even take a weekend trip to Florence some weekend. Also, I am going to sign up online for Italian lessons, and try to find someone who might be able to teach me French.
Finally, Pam left this morning at 7am. I woke up at 645, got dressed, and was at the house at 7am. Of course, Pam was running late, and I had expected this so it was not too bad. Getting the girls up was not fun. Siena is just downright angry in the morning if you actually make her get up. It’s like this weird refusal, even if you take the covers off of her, she will not get up and then get mad at you for telling her to get up. In general, they take a while to get ready, but we were out the door in plenty of time. They were on the school bus at 750am, and I was suddenly free. I went back to the apartment and read peacefully for an hour. Then, I took a shower. Of course, I was happy to lounge in my apartment today because I spent all day yesterday cleaning as best I could, moving everything I could to clean underneath it, with Ammonia and hot water. The shower was the worst. Of course it had never been cleaned, and I had not realized how much soap scum there was stuck to the tile. I used the scratchy side of a sponge and put some real muscle into scraping the stuff off. Suffice it to say, the place is pretty darn clean. Also, I had to buy some supplies for the apartment, a broom, a mop, a dust pan, etc, because Pam’s are just gross. The old lady who runs the little grocery in town asked me if I was sure I wanted both the broom and the mop, and I told her yes, it was time for me to clean. ‘Really clean’ she said to me, and I just smiled. The American has landed and this little US girl likes things organized as well as spick and span. I was so so so tired last night after cleaning, that I fell into bed and did not wake up once. Okay, so back to my story, after reading for a whole hour, and taking a shower – with the new clarifying shampoo I bought, I might add- I was feeling pretty good. I took time to fix my hair, and I made some tea. I responded to almost all of my pen pals. And then I came over to the big house to make some lunch. While eating, I watched a little of a movie on the girl’s computer, and then I did some laundry, ran the dishwasher, and tonight I am planning on having the girls in bed at 930 and eating dinner no later than 7pm. I am so so happy to be able to have my own schedule back. Today, I even ate lunch at noon. Even though I have to sleep in this very unclean apartment, I am just happy to have some time where I can get some things accomplished for me. I am just so tired of cleaning and organizing for people who do not care to be clean and organized. I will do my best to keep up with the chores I have volunteered for, but I want my own life as well. I mean, this family has a perfectly good keyboard collecting dust and I want to learn how to play it, yet no one will help me with that. Oh well, worse has happened to me, and I bet I can find someone to help me out.
And the best is yet to come.
Pam left this morning and without my realizing, until later in the morning, she did not leave me any money for food, no credit card, no list of phone numbers for emergencies (which she had been saying she had been compiling for the past week), no letters for her three closest friends giving them permission to make health decisions in the event of an emergency. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nulla. She did not even leave me the bus tickets she told me she had found while cleaning and so I am a little stuck. But hey, that’s nothing new for me. Being stuck in Italy is actually more of a specialty for me. I guess what I will do is ask someone in town if they can drive me down to Castelnuovo so I can buy some bus tickets to and from Siena and to and from Castelnuovo. Then at least I will be able to get to the bigger grocery store. Thank goodness I have some cash so just in case we need some prescription or something I can buy it, but if there were to be an accident, I would have no idea who to call. I think 911 here is 411, but I am not really sure. I am wondering if I will get a panicked email from Pam once she arrives in the states, or if I will not hear from her until she decides she wants to talk to her children. So weird for a mother to forget these things, but I guess she is just so scattered she cannot help it. Well, I am just glad to have a little me time. Ten days of me time actually.

One Week Can Feel Like A Month

A lot has happened since I last wrote. The most important being, I got sick this past weekend. My nose had been slightly running for a while, and then before I knew it my throat was so sore I could barely eat anything solid. I spent all of Saturday in bed. I watched “When Harry Met Sally” about four times and did a lot of sleeping. I was pretty upset that day. I have not been doing the things I came here to do, and I feel like when I come home in the summer I will be no closer to speaking Italian fluently than I was when I left. Plus, I have not been able to work on my writing, not necessarily my blog, but also on the stories I think of. My days go about like this. I wake up at 8am do a little picking up, or in this case, blog, eat breakfast and head over to the big house around 10am. I work there doing laundry, the dishes, etc. Which should not, in theory, take you that long to do, but you can only use one major appliance at a time or else you will blow the circuit. So, if you need to wash the dishes, but the washing machine is going, you have to wait to use the dishwasher, and if you need to use the oven, then you have to turn off the washing machine and the dishwasher. So, it takes me a little longer than it would at home. In between that time I am folding dry clothes, cleaning the breakfast dishes, and doing general straightening around the apartment. Then by noon it is time for me to start making lunch. I work on lunch for about thirty minutes to an hour, depending on how much I am cooking. Then, I call Pam and we eat together, do a little chit chatting and by 2pm it is time for me to clean the dishes from dinner, put in another load of laundry, then race back to the office where I call Mom. I generally am over at the apartment from 230pm to 445pm. Normally, I go to pick up the kids at the school bus stop, and then we all head over to the big house. I come up and start preparing dinner, then around 630pm, it is time for me to take the girls over to my apartment to work on English skills. We do this for about an hour and then head back to the house where I actually start cooking dinner. I call everyone to the table, and it takes about 15 minutes for anyone to actually come (this is actually pretty frustrating, but even Pam does not come that quickly). We eat dinner, and then it is time for me to clean the dinner dishes. I am normally finished cleaning the dishes and doing a last little pick up around 9 or 930pm. Then, I come back over to the apartment and talk to mom for another thirty minutes. I shower, get ready for bed, and do a little straightening at my place, then fall out around 11 or 1130pm. I think I am doing a little more than I am being paid for. Well, one good thing did come of my being sick. When I came back the next day for a late lunch (I had been told to wait to come over until 245 because the place was ransacked and they needed to pick it up a little) Pam told me she was going to pay me 100 euro extra during the weeks she and Sam were gone. I asked her if there was anything else I could do for her, and she said no, but I gather it was just hard not having help even for a day. I have been trying to re-center my focus and remember what I came here for. I did actually buy an Italian grammar book last week, and I did get to work in it a little before I became sick. Also, I have made a plan to start language classes in Siena in the middle of March, so I am excited about that. You can sign up online so I think I am going to do that today or tomorrow. Also, I have planned my trip to see my English friends, and that will be taking place in the middle of April. And, I am going to have some free time during May so I will try to take a little ‘me’ time then as well.
So, what have I been doing you ask? Well, I believe I blogged about going to Siena for the day in my last post. However, this time I will actually be posting photos from that trip. Just recently, Carnevale swept through the Italian lands. Basically, if you do not live in Venice, the way it is celebrated is by little children running around throwing confetti at one another. Here in San Gusme, all the children gathered in this local game hall and threw bags upon bags of confetti at each other. It was fun to watch, it seemed like they were having a good time, but after about ten minutes, I got bored and ended up going back to the big house to finish cleaning the dinner dishes. I had just swept the floor and cleaned up everything when Emma came in and shook herself so that all the confetti that was on her was then on the floor. I was mad. I mean MAD. I told her I had just swept the floor and she said she had nowhere else to shake. I asked her why she could not have done it at the bottom of the stairs, and she just ran off. Then, she came back in, very impressed with how much confetti she had in her hair, and shook her hair so that even more confetti fell to the floor. Well, by this time I was finished with all this non-sense. I grabbed the broom and told Emma she needed to sweep up every last piece of confetti. She was appalled, but did what I asked. She complained the whole time saying it was too hard, etc. I told her I had faith in her. In about ten minutes she was done, and I was feeling better. I mean, I really think it is important these girls know they should clean up their own messes and that I am not their servant. I am there to help their mother around the house, not to BE the house keeper. Well, anyway, Carnevale here is more a celebration for children than anyone else.
This past Wednesday I went back to Arezzo for the last addition of baby clothes for Ashley’s new baby. I will be so glad when they figure out a name because constantly writing ‘Ashley’s new baby’ is not very quick. Okay, so Pam graciously decided she would drive over to Montevarchi, the place where Sam first met me and picked me up, and from there I could take a twenty minute train ride into Arezzo. Man, did I ever pick a cold day to be outside. The whole day they wind was blowing fiercely and it was below zero almost the whole day even though the sun was shining. With the wind chill, I would say it was well below zero. The first thing I did once I got off the train was head down to the baby store I knew. However, I had been told there was another one that had equally cute clothing and I thought I would seek it out. After an hour of walking and searching, I gave up, and moved my frozen legs back to the baby store I knew of. Fortunately, there was no one in the store when I walked in and the woman working actually remembered me from my last visit. I told her what all I was looking for, and she must have spent an hour showing me this and that. I picked up this suit by Pinco Pallino, Italian designer baby wear, I had been admiring the last time I came in. I glanced at the price tag. Holy Hell! Truly I think I gasped when I saw the price tag. About 300 euros just for the pants, and there was a jacket to go with it as well. EEEEEEKKKKKK! I put that little suit back in its place with the up most care and speed. For about the price of just that pair of pants I bought several outfits, modeled after the expensive one, for a little less money. Still I thought the quality was good, and over all I feel I made a better choice because it will all work no matter if they baby is small or large. I left feeling good about my purchases, and headed up into the city center to find some lunch and just browse around before I left for Castiglion to see Bobo. It was a little early to eat lunch, so I walked around for about an hour and a half. I bought a winter cap for cheap from some outdoor vendor, and then walked the old streets of Arezzo. I saw a very cool museum, which I think must have once been a government office or something because there were all of these family crests outside the building carved in stone. Also, I saw the big cathedral of Arezzo, mass was still going on so I did not end up going inside, but the outside was pretty interesting. Then, as luck would have it, I found the little store where I had bought my cashmere scarf when I was first in Italy in 2006. I thought about buy a lot. One thing I did not realize was that all of the clothes and items sold in the store were made by hand. In the end, I just bought a little flower pin for my new winter hat. It cost me 5 euros, but there were several things in there I liked. Still, most of the clothes and scarves I can get at an open air market, and I just did not feel like spending the money. Happy that I found the shop, and now can find it again, I headed off to the place I had picked for lunch. I found this place on the Internet and the reviews had been good. People said it was a good place for tourists, and I figured that meant it was not too fancy and the people would be nice. I stepped in around 1230, early for Italians to eat lunch, but I had a feeling they would at least be open. Well, there was hardly anyone in there. And… it was fancy. I only had on my tennis shoes and jeans. Plus my shopping bags, I must have looked lost. Still, a man came up and asked me if I wanted lunch, and I told him yes. Too late to back out now! I sat down, feeling like this had been a mistake and that I should have just gotten a sandwich at some bar. What I had been wanting to do was to write on the post cards I had bought so I could just pick up some stamps and mail them before I left Arezzo, but the restaurant was so nice, nice linens on the table and such, that I hesitated to do that. Then I just thought, well, I guess they can kick me out if they do not like it, and I pulled out my post cards and started writing. The meal was actually really good. I had this pasta dish, ‘Pici with duck ragu’, and it was really really good. Pici, is like a really fat spaghetti. I gather it was made fresh, and of course the duck sauce was really good. All in all, I like the Pici pasta and will be ordering it again. After the pasta I was stuffed, but the waiter seemed almost insistent on my having desert. I thought I would just get something light, and chose the berries with lemon juice. Of course, after I ordered desert, the waiter brings me two little plates of small sweets. OMG. Seriously, I could have just had one of the pieces of chocolate and been fine, but oh well, it was part of the experience I guess. I mean this place was really into bring you little extras. Like after I ordered, the waiter brought me a little bowl of this green soup, really good, and whisked it away once I was done. Then I was brought a basket of bread plus a plate of mini breads, then came my pasta, then before the desert two little plates of mini sweets were brought to the table, then the desert. I felt like I should be eating all of the little extras, but I was so full, I just could not. When my fruit came, it was the ultimate joke. The plate was bigger than my plate of spaghetti and was covered with little bits of fruit. Needless to say, I didn’t finish it. The total was 32 euros and I left three extra as tip. I know it is not very European to tip, but I cannot help it. I feel so bad when I do not tip, that I would rather just tip and be done with it. It was a good meal, but I think next time I travel, I am going to look for something less ritzy. I mean 40 dollars for lunch for one person is a little crazy, but I am glad I had the experience. It was one o’clock when I finished lunch, and before I hit the train station, I went to buy some stamps from the local tobacchi so I could put my finished post cards in the mail. I got the stamps with no problem, but then, when I went to lick them and stick them to the post card they would not stick. It was sad really, they simply crumpled and fell of the postcards like sad little bits of paper. I was pretty frustrated by this. I did not have time to go and buy new stamps so I just waited thinking I would try to buy some tape when I came back throw Arezzo. I headed off to the train station, got my ticket, and in no time was on my way to see Bobo. The only problem was that by this time it was close to 230pm, and the whole of Castiglion was shut down for lunch. I made a lot of wrong turns looking for Bobo’s house, and everyone who I talked to seemed to have no idea where the street I was looking for was located. Finally, in the heart of the little town, I spotted a lady officer and asked her if she could point me in the direction of the street I was looking for. She was able to, and I thanked her greatly. Once on the street, I was quickly lost again and stopped an old man who was hobbling into his house. I said ‘excuse me?’, and when he kept on moving I figured he either could not hear me or did not want to talk to me. I took a few steps forward, and then he turned back to me. I asked him where the street ‘San Lazzo’ was and he pointed up to a little cut in the street ahead telling me I needed to go down there. I thanked him and went on my way. However, when I saw what was down the street, I was hesitant. It looked like nothing but a dead end to me, and I paused a moment. Long enough to hear the little man who was still watching me, tell me to keep going down. I waved and did as he told me. Sure enough, I found Bobo’s house. I was really nervous to ring the door bell because this is nap time for a lot of people, but I had come all this way so what was the harm. (Part Two Tomorrow!)

Be sure to take a look at all of the new photos I have posted below!!

New Photos Just For You!

Ahh, Remo's honey. This is some serious, butt kicking honey. He also has Chestnut flower honey in late June which I am very eager to try!


The view from the famous Loggia of Castiglion Fiorentino.


The famous Loggia of Castiglion Fiorentino.


The main corso in Castiglion Fiorentino.


Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, that IS a navy wedding gown. I love this wedding gown store, it is my favorite shop in Castiglion Fiorentino. When I was last there in 2006 they had a red wedding gown.


A random street in Arezzo.


I only thought I was getting a little fruit cup. My fancy dessert at the fancy restaurant I stumbled into in Arezzo.


I have no idea what these were, but there were several blocks like this one scattered along the wall of the Cathedral. I wonder if people were burried in the walls of the church....ooo, that's creepy!


One of the windows of the Cathedral.


A view of the famous cathedral in Arezzo. I could not go in because mass was still going on.


I have no idea what this building once was, probably some government building, but now it is a museum. It is pretty cool because there are all these family crests carved in stone outside of it.


A view of the Palazzo Pubblico from outside the old city walls.


A view of the Palazzo Pubblico, once a government building now a museum, that is the focal point of the Campo.


More little children amazed and bedazzled by the colorful bits of paper.


Some children in the Piazza del Campo running and throwing confetti at one another. Carnevale Tuscan style.


This is what Italians really think about the rest of the world. It was priceless and I just had to snap a photo. We were in this very well known bar in Siena called Bar Nannini.


A view of the restaurant. I think it must have been a slow day for them, but it was a very fun cozy little place. I think I would like to go back there whenever I am in Siena again. Although, they did mix up my order and gave me some fishy pasta which I did not like but felt forced to eat while they were making the dish I had actually asked for. Still, the service was very nice.


The view out of the window at the restaurant where Pam, Siena, Emma, and I ate lunch. That day we were suppose to have gone to Florence, but because Sam needed some more official documents from Italy, we had to go into Siena and skip Florence. All in all it was a really nice day though.


Some flowers I bought from the florist in Castelnuovo. Actually, I bought a peace lilly from her as well, but when I saw these blue roses, I just could not help myself and I bought some. They are died of course. What also persuaded me to buy some was the fact that the woman was so nice to me. I had just visited a stall selling flowers and the man working there was very rude and unhelpful, so I took my business elsewhere.


Market day in Castelnuovo Berardegna. The market is mostly centralized on this street, but I just love going into town. I love walking from stall to stall and just being able to get out a little.

Snakes In The Grass….No, I Mean Literally There Are Snakes In The Grass

The other day, Pam happened to mention that, during the warmer months here, the place is crawling with Vipers. Yes, you heard correctly, I did say ‘Vipers’. Apparently, after it starts to warm up, go nowhere near any amount of tall grass, otherwise you are in for a nasty surprise. If a Viper bites you, you have about one hour to get somewhere for some anti-venom before you die. I was floored when she told me this. We, the girls, Pam and I, were in the car and I am telling you my mouth dropped open. Then something else occurred to me, ‘Do they ever come in your house’ I asked, ‘Oh no,’ said Pam ‘hardly ever’. I would have been more comfortable if she would have just said never. Good thing this place is not that big, at least I should notice a new guest fairly immediately.
In other news, I will not be taking piano lessons. Apparently, the lady who gives them only does them in the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Pam has decided she cannot have me gone during that time. It is the girls short day, and she likes for me to be there from the time they get home, until it is time for me to leave after dinner, so she can work. I am really sad about this. She has even taken the piano out of the house and has put it in storage right below me in the office. I mean, here is a nice little keyboard, something I could and would get use out of and WANT to learn how to play, and instead it is just collecting dust. Sad. Well, maybe when I come home for the summer, I will try to take piano lessons somewhere in the evenings for a few weeks to get me started. Then if I have a basic concept of how to practice, I can ask Pam if I can use the piano. She asked me the other night if I was happy with everything. I mean, what do you say to a question like that? Of course, I am grateful to be here, and compared to the last place I lived, this place is a palace. Besides the cold there is really not a whole lot for me to complain about. However, I do think, if I ever decided to come and live in Europe again, that I will be coming back as a teacher, with my own apartment. There are downsides to coming over and living alone, but I think they are worth not having to live under someone else’s whims.
Also, I think learning French will probably be out for me as well. Sam had talked about how he was going to hire his French friend, who lives in Tuscany, to come during the summer and teach the girls French, and how I could join the group if I wanted. However, 1, I am going home for two months during the summer, and 2, I would be surprised if Pam decided she could spare me for that. Okay, now I am sounding bitter.
I am blessed with work. I am blessed with work. I am blessed with work.
This has been my motto, and most of the time I am good about remembering it. Even though I have ended up doing a lot more for Pam than I had originally anticipated, and I am glad to be busy. If I did not keep myself busy I would go crazy here. I would start missing home, and nothing would seem right. Work keeps my head on straight. Do you remember when I said my goal was to be so helpful to Pam that she did not know how she could live without me? Well, mission accomplished. Yesterday, we had sat down to make a plan for the days I thought free for me to travel, and when we thought I could enrolled in Italian school in Siena. I had made a calendar through excel and highlighted all the days I thought would be free for travel in light blue. When I showed the calendar to Pam she said “So, are you planning on traveling all this time?” her face was twisted with concern and panic. “No,” I said “they are just potential travel days.” “Oh my gosh,” she said, taking a deep breath and exhaling “I thought you were going to be gone all that time, and I started thinking ‘Oh, no!’”
I guess no one ever has helped her the way I have, because when I interviewed with her she told me she wanted me to travel, on a regular basis I gathered, and she seemed almost upset with her last nanny for not getting out of the apartment more. But, now that she has someone doing the laundry, cooking almost every meal, and cleaning up after each one, plus someone who is keeping the place clean, and straightens the place every few hours, well , I guess it is hard to let someone like that go.
Still I am going to try to accomplish my goals in the process. Like, learning French. Maybe I will try to find an English bookstore and pick up a book on the French language, and download free French lessons podcasts from Itunes. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Getting this place clean was another story entirely. Yesterday, my day off, but I still had to go over and meet with Pam about our scheduling for the months to come, I decided it was time to clean up the apartment a little. Well, I all I have here is a swiffer. I went through four swiffer towels. Two just to get up the preliminary dirt, then I took a washcloth (Pam was in the shower, when I was over for lunch so I could not get the mop from her) and soaked it in warm water (no chemicals in the place except some form of windex) and swept over the floor twice. I will probably have to throw that cloth away before I leave here. I had also brought some clean sheets from Pam and Sam’s place over to switch out my bedding, however, when I laid out the white flat sheet, I saw immediately a rather sizable pee stain, and I felt the sheet, and questioned whether or not it had ever been washed. That got flung off the bed immediately, and I just put the old sheet back on. At least the fitted sheet and pillowcases have been changed! After I mopped and let the floor dry, I went back over the floor with another swiffer and then swept off the stairs leading up to the room. It is cleaner now, but I would not say clean. I mean hot water and windex do not really clean. I will be on the lookout for Ammonia, the local grocery store has just re-opened today, so I will probably wait until tomorrow, after the rush, and go look for some cleaning products. If they do not have ammonia, mom told me she thought you can clean with hot water and plain vinegar. Hopefully, the store will at least have plain vinegar!
On Wednesday I have planned to go back to Arezzo where I will buy the last of Ashley’s baby clothes. Pam is still planning on going back to the United States and has offered to carry them back for me and mail them from her place in California, which I am very happy about. It is much more secure that way, and I know Ashley will have the clothes by the time she has the baby. Also, I am hoping to take a train over to Castiglion Fiorentino where I am planning on stopping in on Bobo. I am sure he still thinks I am living up on that crazy mountain, and since I will be in the area, it will be nice to just tell him I am ok, and what has happened. Maybe I will even try to go into one of the museums in Arezzo. Really, just make a day out of it. Well, that’s all I have for now!

The Silver Lining

As an odd twist of fate would have it, the sun has been out for two days in a row now, and the temperature has dropped considerably. At night, it gets below freezing, and in this drafty place, I can hardly get it about forty. One thing about the room I do not like, besides the windows themselves, is the fact that all the windows are frosted so you cannot see out of them. The only way to look out is to open a window, and right now that would be too much for my little heater to take. So, I make tea, take hot showers, and try to keep as covered and warm as possible. The other day, Pam happened to say I needed to have my heat off when I am over at their house. EEeeeeKk! For the past three days I had kept the heat on the lowest of low all day to keep my apartment comfortable. I asked her later, if it was okay for me to turn on the heat right before I came over for dinner, that way the apartment would be warm when I got back. She told me it was fine, then, almost as a realization, asked if I kept the heat on all night. I told her I did, but only on the lowest setting. She seemed OK with this, but not thrilled. The way I see it is this. If she and Sam want to make the apartment more energy efficient so you need less heat to warm the place, then replace the windows. Since that is not an option right now, and as I am not running the heat like a princess of Sheba, I say suck up the cost of the gas for another two months, and be done with it. Once April hits, there will be no need for the heat, and I will most likely not turn it on again until late October. But, this family is weird about cost.
Pam is really big on saying, ‘I do not have the money to do that’, or ‘that is too expensive’, or ‘we cannot afford that’. Of course, Emma is at the age where she wants, and asks, for everything. So, I understand Pam telling her no, but I wonder if it would not just be better to tell Emma no when she wants something frivolous instead of ‘we do not have the money for that’. Honestly, that makes me uncomfortable. Even though I know it is not my being here, the cost of me being her, that makes her say things like that, I still feel like a bit of a burden every time I hear Pam say she cannot afford something or other. Even at the grocery store, when I wanted some Nutella for my apartment, I ended up choosing the store brand version because it was a few cents cheaper. But, it is not that Pam buys the girls nothing. When we were in Siena yesterday, she spent about 7 euros on a piece of cheap jewelry for each of the girls, we got desert during our lunch – so let’s say about another 15 euros there, then we bought socks and underwear (because they were on sale) for another 40 euros, and if you combine all of this with the 50 euros she gave me initially to buy a pair of pants for each of the girls, we could have bought two pairs of pants for each girl at United Colors of Benetton where they both found pants they liked, but were over the 10 euro price Pam was willing to spend. In a nutshell, Pam will buy a lot of little frivolous things for a low price, has nothing all that nice, and spends about the same amount on cheap things, that she would have paid for a few nice things. Well, this is my observation at least. But, I think most people are like this. Most people do not think in terms of the long run.
Something that has been in my thoughts more and more is, why do people choose to live where they cannot live well? Pam and Sam could run their tour business from the states, and if everything is so expensive, and Pam cannot buy a pair of 35 euro jeans for her daughter, then why are they living here? And, it is not as if this family does without the conviences of home if they can help it. Every time Pam and Sam return to the United States, they have a laundry list of things to buy and then lug it all back to Italy. Things like, clothes, baking powder, a tea kettle, etc. Just things we do not even think of as luxuries in the United States. I can see how living here for a few months out of the year would be quaint, but then it is time to get back to reality. I like how America has grown, and how there are no restrictions on building anything new like there are here in Tuscany. I like how, when you call the phone company, they will actually come out to your house when they say they will, and fix your problems. I like the beauty here, really I do, every day sunset looks like a watercolor painting, but is THAT enough to make you give up everything and move here? Well, it must be for some people. I hope I am not sounding like I HATE Italy. I certainly do not, but now that I am living here, I see the silver lining.
Speaking of silver lining. Bugs, are never things you think of when you think about romantic Tuscany. Yet, I have five spider tenants in this new abode. I do not mess with them, hoping they will do me some good once mosquito season comes along. However, there some… unwelcome guests I have had to deal with as well. Yesterday, while I was rushing to get out the door to go to Florence (which we did not end up doing), a HUGE FLYING BUG appeared in my line of vision. It was like, I really really really oversized moth with wings flitting about as fast as a humming bird. I was in the bathroom when I spotted it. I had no idea WHAT it was or if could sting you or not, and so naturally my flight (not fight) syndrome kicked into high gear. It was banging against the window, and hoping I could get it outside, I ducked back into the bathroom, by this time I was hugging the outside of the bathroom door wondering if I should try to spray it with any static spray (the only spray thing I had), covered my head like there was a tornado drill, and quickly flung open the bathroom window. I scurried back out of the bathroom and slammed the door closed. I checked every few minutes, hoping it had flown out the window, and every time, it was still flying about the bathroom. I was debating on whether or not to call Pam, when I decided to check one last time, and sure enough it was gone. I slammed the window shut like nobody’s business, and tried to seal it up tight. The thing is, the window was closed when I spotted this bug, and I had not opened a window in days. Where did it come from? Ugh, I do not even want to think about THAT!

It's Amazing What A Little Resourcefulness Can Do For Your Cooking

Tonight I made dinner on the fly. The refridgerator is stuffed with so many things. I do think Pam knows half of what is in there. Today, while putting dinner together, I found small bag of green beans that had begun to mold. The deal is, if, and only if, Pam can get all of her work done by Friday, the girls can take the WHOLE day off of school and we can go to the Central Market in Florence where you can buy American goods, and basically anything you ever desired. Plus, we would just be getting to spend more time in Florence! If she does not get her work finished, then we will still go to Florence, but will just take the girls out of school early, and skip the big market. I do not know if Pam will be able to get all of this done, but I figured I would try to help her as much as I could, so I told her I would make dinner tonight. Of course, I had no idea what to make, and had none of the ingredients I needed for the select amount of recipes I have. Fortunately though, Pam had the presence of mind to buy four chicken cutlets, pre-breaded and partially cooked, while at the grocery store this morning. So, I knew I was going to heat those up in the skillet with some oil, salt, and lemon juice, but I had no idea what else to make. I asked each girl what she would and would not eat, and ended up making plain cooked carrots for Emma, roasted tomatoes with rosemary, salt and olive oil for Pam and I, and green beans parboiled then sauteed in olive oil and prosciutto. I was trying to think of simple ways to season each vegetable without going over kill or using garlic. Although I like garlic, I am trying to not use it so much in my cooking because it really can overpower the dish. The tomatoes were the most interesting thing. Of course, I had to turn off the dishwasher before I turned on the oven, and then I slid the tomatoes onto the first rack and turned the heat up to broil. Well, not five minutes later the electricity went out. I tried to turn off each of the gas burners I had going, and then left with Pam to go outside where the breaker box is to see how to turn the power back on. When we came back in I had to turn out about half of the lights going in the house, and pray to the electricity gods, the power would not go out again. One thing Pam and I notice immediately was that although I had extingushed the flame on the stove, I had not turned the gas off all the way, so I had to wait, and pray some more, before I turned the stove back on. It was a little scary hearing that click, click, click of the burner. I was worried I might walk out of the kitchen bald and smoking. Fortunately, nothing happened. I was tending to the things on the stove, when I happend to think to look in on my tomatoes. The second I opened the oven tons of foul smelling smoke rushed up and stung my eyes. I closed the door immediately and shouted "Oh God!" Pam came rushing in, and I told her I thought I had burned the tomatoes, but I was not sure. We turned off the oven, and waited for a minute, then, mostly out of impatience, we threw open the oven door. I was really worried at this point because I had used aluminum foil in an effort to not have to clean so many dishes, and I was wondering if the aluminum had melted to the pan or something. Pam pulled out the rack and said "Wow, these look great!" The tomatoes, as it turns out, were almost perfectly cooked, and whatever the smoke was, it was not coming from my tray. I gather something like cheese, Pam did make pizzas in the oven the other night, had fallen in the stove and was burning off while my tomatoes were cooking. Fortunately, the tomatoes did not retain any bit of the foul smell they were cooking in. In the end, everyone raved about the meal. Pam says I am a natural cook. Well, I am certainly not cooking any masterpiece. I think if I can just master cooking food that tastes good I will be happy. Plus, it is amazing what resourcefulness can do for your cooking skills. In this house, there is just more food than is neccessary, so when I cook, I just have to look in the fridge and say, 'Okay, what can I use up today?' Generally, everything comes out ok in the long run.
In other news, I am about to begin piano lessons. Siena, who has been bugging her parents about quitting lessons after four years of practice, finally won the battle, and now no one is using the piano taking up space in the livingroom. Tonight, while at dinner I asked Pam how much she paid for lessons for Siena, she told me it was 30 euros a month. "30 Euros a MONTH!" I cried. "I know," said Pam "it is a really good deal." She thinks the woman should have space for me, and that she could take me to lessons once a week, and told me to remind her about it tomorrow, and she would call to make sure the lady would agree to teach me. Also, I will have to find out about registering for Italian lessons in Siena. Maybe this way, I will meet some more people. At least I will be getting out more. Tomorrow is market day in Castelnuovo, and I am very excited. First of all, I love the chicken and french fries we buy from the market lady. Second, I need more candy from the candy stand. Third, I want to get a little plant for my apartment. Pam told me she would take me early, around 1030am, and then come back around 1230 to pick up the chicken and then get the girls from school, tomorrow is a short day for them.
Then, Saturday we have plans to go to a friends house for a Valentine's Day dinner. I am very excited because this is the first time I will have ever done ANYTHING for Valentine's Day. I am going to buy the hostess a gift while we are in Florence, it is always nice to bring a gift to a dinner party I think, maybe something like flowers, or some specialty food item? Any ideas on what a good gift would be?
Even though I am cooking almost every night now, and doing the dishes after dinner and lunch, I am glad to be staying busy. Of course, it would be nice if someone offered to help, but I guess I AM the hired help, and no one helps the help. Still, if I can learn to cook well, then I think it is worth doing the dishes every night. It's all about me, and so long as I am doing something that will help ME in the future, well, I cannot really complain.

More Photos! (I posted others earlier today as well!)

Some pretty apartments I saw in Arezzo.


A walk way right off the large piazza in Arezzo.


When I saw this little shop in Arezzo, it was just classic. Something you might see on a calendar with pictures of Tuscany or something. I just had to snap a photo. It is actually a very cute little shop.

Photos!

The main piazza. Everything still stands like it did when actual families lived here, even the church. Seems almost a little creepy to me.


View of one of the main streets in this once Tuscan town turned hotel.


The view from Pam and Sam's apartment window.


A view of my apartment. Can you spy the hot plate?


A veiw from the opposite corner of my room. Can you see my bed?

Cold, Cold, Cold

If you have not guessed, I am cold. It is getting below freezing here at night, and I think I am just going to have to start leaving the heat on at night. Every morning I wake up with a sore throat and a messed up nose from my head being so cold, and my body so warm at night. If I were to live here, I mean for a permanent, or atleast a few years out kind of thing, I would certainly need more than this breezy apartment Pam and Sam have set me up in. Of course there is also the want for an actual stove instead of a hot plate, but mostly it is the apartment itself. It is not very air tight, the windows might as well be cardboard coverings, and so it takes a long time to heat the place up after it becomes cold. Yes, I think I could live in Italy part of the year, and in America for the rest of the time, however I would need an actual apartment. I am pretty much sick of being cold. Of course, I am hardly ever cold and Pam and Sam's place because their apartment has been renovated and has a better system of heating, not to mention a fire place.

Yesterday the wood man came to drop off the last load of wood for the season. Now, when I was young, and we had wood delivered to the house, the men always stacked it for us up on the side of our house. Well, it is not done that way here. Imagine if you took a dump truck full of wood and poured it out into someones front lawn, then drove away. Now you get the idea of how wood is delivered in Italy. We had to carry up a small mountain of wood to the second floor where Pam and Sam's apartment is. I will have to take a picture of the wood and post it on the blog for you all to see.

Also, I made dinner last night. Italian Wedding Soup; which technically none of the Italians here have ever heard of, but that is beside the point. The girls liked the soup, but would not eat the meatballs, claiming they were too spicy. Pam had a bite, and did not find them spicy at all, only flavorful. Still, the soup was a hit, and I am glad. I have a relatively small number of dishes I can make for dinner, and this one happens to be quite easy, so I will plan on making this more often.

Other than this, I have just been trying to help Pam with everything she askes of me. I have not gotten to do actual TOUR stuff yet, mostly just organizing and helping keep the house picked up. But, I think I might get to start doing some actual travel agent stuff after lunch. I will let you know how that goes later on today. Mostly, Pam is just so busy she cannot take the time to explain to me how to do this and that and the other. She is constantly on the phone or internet confirming and planning. I think I am going to try and wake up early early tomorrow and be at the house right after Pam comes back from school and ask her to show me some Travel things I can start helping her with.

I will do my best to post some pictures tonight!!!

Time Flies (part1)

Date: February 5-6

First of all, let me just say I am really frustrated with blogger and I have no idea what is going on. Unless I break up my posts, I cannot get a post onto my page. I first thought it was the length of the post, but today my post was much so much small and I STILL had to cut it in half! I have no idea what is going on here, and of course, there is nothing resembling tech support here so... I guess I am SOL until this get worked out.

I have been keeping myself busy with everything I possibly can. I have barely spent 24 hours in my apartment. If I am not over at Pam and Sam’s house, I am out running errands with them. Anything to keep my hands busy I have been doing. When I have done all the work I can for Pam, and I am waiting for dinner, I organize the pantry, or redo the slipcover on the couch, hang laundry, fold laundry. Anything to keep me occupied. I have barely had the time to write, which I think is pretty good. It will not always be this way. Someday I am going to get tired of constantly doing, and I will take some time out to sit in my apartment and watch movie after movie, or polish my nails, or do something just for me. But, for now, I am happy to be moving ninety miles an hour. Pam is always really good about thanking me for the little things I do around the house. The other day I organized her linen closet, and she was amazed at the difference. Last night, while she was making dinner, I started to reorganize her shelves and I told her if she ever just got tired of me organizing, to tell me to stop and I would understand. On the contrary, she was really happy to have me doing little things around the house, and told me how much she appreciated my help. I work every day on things relating to her travel business. I think she was surprised yesterday, when I told her I was planning to do some more work for her after lunch. “On the weekend?” she asked me. “You know, if you ever want to take some time off, then you can. You do not have to work on the weekends.” I told her I would let her know when I needed some time off, but honestly, I feel like I have a little bit of time off every day. Mostly I do not get up until eight, nine or nine thirty on the weekends, and I always take a break right after lunch to call mom for about an hour; and to be quite frank, nothing I have encountered so far seems like work. Every day is filled with a little bit of errands, a little bit of leisure, a little bit of work, and a little bit of peace.
Yesterday Pam, Siena, Emma, and I went to Siena to do a little shopping. Unfortunately, the only shopping they needed to do was in the newer industrial part of the city, and completely detached from the old historic city center. Still, it was fun to see and do things normal Italian people do. We first stopped at a discount shoe store, where we looked for shoes for Siena and Emma. I did find some cute shoes for myself, but they were not very comfortable, and I think I am going to save my money for something a little grander. Then, because we were hungry and trying to wait out the rain, we scuttled over to the bar next door and had a pastry and a cup of coffee. The rain had let up a little by the time we finished our snack, and we walked down the way to a little mini home depot/bed bath and beyond. It was called “Things for the Home” and, to be honest I was not really impressed with it. The prices were expensive for the quality of things you were buying. It almost reminded me of the home things you see at TJ Maxx. Sometimes there are good deals to be had, but most of the time it is just clutter. Our last stop of the day was the grocery store, where I got a few new things for the house, and Pam bought more food for the week. Almost as soon as we had stepped foot in the door both of the girls started asking for everything in sight. First, they saw some plants they wanted. Then it was a certain type of pudding, and then it was a candy, and so on and so forth. I think I must have been like this when I was a child as well. Pam kept telling the girls there was not enough money for frivolous purchases, but did eventually relent to two things per girl. (Continue reading below)

Time Flies...(part 2)

The treat yesterday was stopping to eat Chinese food, Siena’s favorite type of food. The restaurant was completely dead when we walked in, and pretty much stayed that way. Of course I had no idea what I was ordering, and asked Pam if she would just pick out something good for me. Everything was different. There was no ‘Kung Pow Chicken’ or ‘Hot and Sour Soup’, and looking at the Chinese menu, written in Italian, I knew I was totally lost in translation. In the end, we ordered some sort of chicken with bamboo dish, and fried noodles with vegetables. Everything was good, but I still felt weird about being in a Chinese restaurant in Italy. Something about it just seemed wrong.
Trying to fit all of the groceries into the fridge was perilous. The fridge was already so full with leftovers, and older vegetables, there was hardly a place for anything we bought. By the time the girls and I were done filling the fridge, no one wanted to open it for fear of everything falling out. I think we will be eating in all this week, and next in an effort to get rid of all that food!
Last night was my first night to watch “Ballando Con Le Stelle”, the Italian version of “Dancing with the Stars”. There were some major differences, the first and most recognizable being that the show lastested upwards of four hours. Yeah, that was not a typo, I said FOUR HOURS. I ended up leaving before it was over. We all started watching the show at nine and by 1245am I was wiped out, and told Pam I was not going to make it, packed up my stuff and fell into bed. The way the show works is, there are five judges, plus one guest judge. Each of the couples, seven were left last night, dance and then each judge gets an unlimited amount of time to comment afterwards. In between this dancing there were little children who came out to perform and earned points which would be saved to give to one of the three lowest scoring couples. After everyone had danced, they had a dance off between each couple, and for each vote they received from the judge, they received five extra points. Then the audience could call, for about a dollar each time you called or texted, and vote for their favorite couple. That lasted for about ten minutes, then the totals were tallied, and the four highest couples were announced. The bottoms three had to dance again, and were not told what type of dance to do until they heard the music playing. After everyone had danced, the judges got to decide who they would award the children’s total points to, and then everyone would dance again, and then the judges would decide who they would kick off. I left about the time everyone had to dance again. Amazing that people actually stay up to watch this, but apparently, this is THE show to watch in Italy. I am a little sad that Saturday nights are supposed to be the family nights where I do my own thing for dinner, because I like watching the show. I think I might talk to Pam and see if we can make some other night family night, or if she really wants it to be Saturday, then I will accept that.
Mostly I am just having fun and trying to be very very useful to Pam and Sam. I am hoping, if I can get them to really like me, and not know how they lived without me, Pam will want me to at the least come back to Italy to help her with her business, and keep helping the girls with their English skills. Then I could live over here for four months or so, come home during July and August, and work again for another three and a half months, and come home for December and January. During the times I am home I would plan to do as much work as I could, wherever I could, to earn enough money to pay off my student loans for the year, and that way I could be in Italy, not making much money, without having to fret about it. Of course, if Pam decides she does not need me after the year is up, then I will come home and find a new path. Right now, the road seems fairly clear, but there are always potholes you do not see in the distance.

Anger....

I have been trying for days now to post to my blog, and I cannot. I have to break up posts, like I did down below in order to get anything on here! Man, why do I always get stuck with the bad technology. I am going to have to contact blogger to see if there is anything I can do about this.

Finally Some Sun (Ground Zero, part 2)...still to be continued

Date: February 4-5

If you call any service provider in Italy, prepare to be hung up on. One out of every three calls you are answered by a person who is angry and seemingly to busy to do their job and talk with you. One out of the same three calls ends abruptly, and without warning, when the customer service representative hangs up on you. If you want to change your type of phone service, be prepared to hear this: “Okay Sir, we have put your request into the system. If you do not hear from someone in two weeks, please call this number again.” Meaning, they might get to your order, or it might convieniently slip into the shredder. The reason Sam has not been able to set up the wifi in the apartment yet is because he requires a different type of phone service, and to change the service you have to first put in a request. He says about fifty percent of the time your request is lost. I am crossing my fingers, but hope really does no good here, it’s all luck of the draw.
This morning I was prepared to leave with Pam to go look at a hotel, a 5 star I believe, in the area where she is thinking about booking some clients. As it turned out, she was swamped with work so she did not end up going. We were also suppose to go to the market in Castelnuovo Berardenga, the largest town close to San Gusme (about a fifteen minute bike ride, or five minute car ride). In the end, it was just Sam and I going to the market and then to pick up the girls from school; today was a short day so they got out at 1230. So, I had an extra hour to kill. I walked down the street to check out the little grocery store, and possibly buy some berries. Something to remember when in Italy is that if what you are searching for is not in season, do not expect to find it. In the USA, we can buy blackberries year around, here you only have an option of what is in season, which I guess is good, but when you want a blackberry, an apple is just not going to do. Well, the grocery store was full of old women doing some serious serious shopping. I took a little look around, but scooted out of there pretty quickly since I seemed to be in everyone’s way. I had thought about going back up to my room, but uncharacteristically, made a stop in the local bar, Sira e Remino. Roberta, the only person with knowledge of the English language besides Pam and Sam, was working behind the counter. I had met her the other day before Sam and I headed off to Siena, but I did not get to talk to her much. It was about 1030 in the morning, so the breakfast crowd had already scooted out of there and Roberta was preparing for lunchtime. I walked in, of course she instantly recognized me, and I told her I came in to speak some Italian and have a little coffee. I asked her what all types there were, as my knowledge of coffee is very limited, and she made for me an “orzo”, which is coffee made from chickory, I believe, and is caffeine free. I really like it. I think I am going to make a goal to try every type of coffee I do not know on the bar menu. I tried talking to one of the locals while in the bar, but he was not one for conversation, perhaps the first quiet Italian I have ever met. Eventually, he told me he was going to sit over on the other side of the bar and read the paper. I was glad I had at least made an effort though. I like talking to Roberta the most, and I am going to try to go in again tomorrow. Not long after my time in the bar, Sam and I were off to the market to buy a Rotisserie chicken and French fries, the family’s traditional Thursday lunch.
It was a great day to go to the market. The Sun popped out for a little while and burned off much of the fog in the area, so the view was brilliant. Tons of green trees and rolling hills with large villas dotting the landscape. What you probably do not know though is that you cannot build in the Tuscan countryside unless the town you are building in is super duper small, I mean has less than 100 people kind of small. Sam says the government wants to preserve the landscape, and I guess since Tuscany is most people’s idea of Italy as a whole, it is good to preserve their cash cow. However, I cannot help but wonder what Italy, Tuscany, would look like without these restrictions. Basically, you can do renovations, and you can bribe. Sam says most people convert old farming structures, like an enclosed pig house into an actual home, or a small apartment. You can tear parts of a structure down, but when you rebuild it must look authentic to the area. Crazy. Can you imagine if the government of Texas put this kind of restriction on people so they could preserve the landscape for tourists? But, having been here for two weeks, nothing much can really surprise me anymore. Italy is the oddest country. (Continue reading below)

Finally Some Sun (Ground Zero, part 2)

So, back to the market; It was a beautiful day to go. Our first stop was the chicken lady, who was friendly and sold us the chicken, three pieces of stuffed meat (we have not eaten them yet), and some French fries to us all for about twenty euros. This chicken is the best chicken in the world. I feel like next time I should get on for myself, but you really have to eat it once you buy it. It just does not save well. However, I will look to see what else she has next week. Then we stopped at the fruit and vegetable stand. I got five very pretty Clementines and a pear while Sam bought some other veggies for the house. Afterwards, we strolled down the tent studded street, stopping where ever and browsing here and there. While Sam was busy buying socks, I stocked up on candies for the girls, ok ok and for myself!, during our spelling and reading lessons. I just told the lady I wanted an assortment of this and that. She would ask what I liked and just filled this plastic bag with some yummy treats. I paid 6 euros for a whole lot of candy, I think I will be buying more from her as well. I got to stop in the tabacchi in town and was finally able to procure some decent stationary and a birthday card for my pen pal in Africa. I also made a quick stop into the farmacia and bought a few more pairs of ear plugs (truly I do not know how I would get any sleep without them). Then it was time to go pick up the girls from school. Sam and I were running a little behind, but he was really wanting a quick coffee. So, we put our bags in the car and walked back across the street to my favorite bar, the bar Sam first took me to after he picked me up. Today, instead of an apple cake, there was this fabulous looking torte, checkerboarded with blackberry gelly spots and apricot gelly spots. Both Sam and I were eyeing that torte like there was no tomorrow, but we were running behind so we just slammed our coffees and zoomed out the door.
In the end, we made it to the school before the children were even let out for the day. The school is very very small. Grades 1 thru 6 go to the small building, and to me, it looks like there are no more than six rooms in the place. Siena listened to her ipod the whole way home and Emma was amusing herself by reading some bits of a story she had written earlier in the day. By the time we all sat down for lunch I was starving. The chicken was fabulous, and the fries were equally good, they do fries pretty well here actually. After the meal, I helped Emma with her math homework, addition, and happily got to brush up on some of my mental math skills. She was done pretty quickly, and in no time we were both sitting on the couch with our computers in our laps. Both she and Siena like to play for hours on this website were you can design clothes, virtual clothes, and set up boutiques to sell your designs. You earn money by having people buy your things, and you can in turn buy from someone else. I was checking email and talking to mom the whole time. I was pretty happy because the sun was out. Honestly, I had no idea the sun effected my mood so much, but I am so so much more happy when the sun is out. Being in all this rain, this week after week of clouds and rain, can really get me depressed. Something good to know about myself I think. I now know I would never make it in Seattle!
Everything closes here for about four hours, 1230-400, for people to go home, eat lunch and nap. So, I waited until 430 and then made my way down to the little grocery store, thinking I would try again. Sure enough, the place was dead. I must admit, I was driven by something greater than myself. You see, the Hilts have introduced me to “Cantucci al Cioccolato”. Basically, they are slightly soft biscotti with huge chunks of ultra rich and creamy dark chocolate. Yum!! They are sold t the little grocery store, and I just had to have some since we ran out at lunch. When the guy asked me how much I wanted, I told him twenty pieces. Who cares? I mean, I am going to TRY to make them last, but I can promise nothing. They are like girl scout cookies, simply irresistible. I have also come across a very good little juice, nicknamed “ACE” (pronounced: Ah-Chu-Eh), composed of orange, carrot, and limon juice. They call it ACE because it contains vitamins A, C, and E. It is really so much better than just plain orange juice, well except for the fresh squeezed stuff from central market.

Ground Zero (part 1)

Date: February 3-4

Well, in case you do not know what happened with me, here it is in a nutshell. As you know, I could not handle Elia again last week, and it was very apparent I was not going to be able to stay with the family for a whole year, let alone another two weeks. When I told Alice, she was very understanding and told me she knew how hard it was to live with such a little baby. I agreed to finish out the weekend, this was Sunday morning, and told her I was going to contact another family and wondered if it would be possible to stay with them until Friday. She told me I was welcome to stay with them, and I left the room feeling good about how open we had been with one another. She told Alfonso on Sunday evening I was not going to stay, and the flood gates unleased their furry. He was upset I was just giving up after two weeks, told me how he was never going to hire another American, and how he could replace me in an instant. Elia’s crying was all my fault, and so on and so on. He had been quietly fuming for the past week when around me, so I was not all that surprised by his anger. I told him I was sorry he was so angry, and left it at that. I certainly was not going to go into verbal combat with him. So, I had arranged for Pam and Sam, the other family, to pick me up at the house on Tuesday at 2pm. On Monday evening Alfonso comes home from work and tells me I am leaving tomorrow at eight in the morning. He would drop me off at the train station. When I explained to him I would be waiting for six hours for the other people to come and pick me up, he said that was not his problem and left it at that. In a rush I was able to call Sam and Pam, tell them the situation, and ended up planning on taking a train half way to their town where it would be easiest for them to come and get me. Of course, after over hearing my conversation, Alfonso told me we would be leaving in the morning closer to 730. The long and the short of it is, he drove me to the train station in complete silence. I waited as he unloaded my bags, and once he did I turned my back on him and did not say a word.
Once in the station I had about ten minutes to make the latest train to Montevarchi, the place where Sam was to pick me up. After getting down the stairs and getting up another set with one bag though, I had only three minutes to get to the train. I ran back down the steps for the 70lb suitcase, hauled it up the steps and ran down to the other end of the platform where the train seemed to threaten me with the prospect of leaving. The first door I got to I threw, yes threw, on my red bag and as I was struggling with my blue, 70 pounder, bag, another woman who was late for the train came to my aid and we both hopped on right before the doors closed.
I arrived at the Montevarchi train station thirty minutes later. The stop was a quick on, so I just kicked my bags off the train and hopped down myself. Then I was alone, and of course on the second platform and had to brave even more stairs. The problem was though, that construction was being done on the stairs and the underground tunnel connecting the platforms. Getting down to the tunnel was not too hard, except for the Italian men who like, for some reason, to get right in your way and then stop, getting thorught the tunnel was another story. The tunnel was so narrow only one person could get through at a time, and what with my bags and the single file stairs heading out to the train station front, well a line started forming pretty quickly. As I was hauling my blue bag up the stairs, the Italian girl at the end of the staircase took up my red bag for me and started carrying it up. I thanked her, met her half way, and carried it the rest of the way up. Still there were more stairs to endure, and after having gotten out of the way, I carried my blue bag up first. The janitor who had been watching me with my bags, put down his broom and went down the stairs to get my red bag. I thanked him for carrying it up the rest of the way, and rolled my things out to the front to meet Sam. About twenty minutes later, Sam calls me to tell me he is actually in the back of the train station, double parked, and wanted to know if I could go BACK down the stairs and come up to meet him. I told him I could, but wondered if he could not come and help me with my bags. He was a little hesitant, but came to meet me anyway. His mind was immediately back peddling once he saw my large blue back. “Why don’t I”, he said, “just pull the car around to the front. I mean there is construction going on down there, and it is noisy, etc.” I told him I thought it an excellent plan, and waited about ten minutes more for him to make it around to the front. By the time I got my bags into the car I was hot, and probably smelled like something that had been rolling around with the animals, but Sam was completely courteous. Once we reached the town at the base of San Gusme, we stopped, killing time really since my room had not been cleaned in a while I think, and Sam bought me a coffee and a piece of apple cake. Then we were off to the little grocery store around the corner. He bought the food to make a Mexican dinner, and I got some milk and yogurt for breakfasts. Randomly, it is ‘Uncle Ben’s’, yes the rice people, who supply Italy with all of the Mexican style food. They even sell salsa, although, not real salsa. I looked at Sam after he told me this and said, “Yeah, but Uncle Ben isn’t even Mexican.” I think he got a kick out of that, but I can never really tell as he doesn’t laugh much, just smirk or smile.
After we were finished with the groceries, we were on our way to San Gusme. I did have to wait for a minute while Pam was finishing up my room, but once I came up I was in shock. The apartment is really an apartment. It does have a kind of loft style, but there is a door at the bottom of the stairs. There is one closet, one chest of drawers, a futon which serves as my couch, a table and two chairs, a bed, a small nightstand, a kitchen area with a little fridge, a hot plate, and a sink, and of course a complete bathroom. There is no washing machine so I have to do laundry over at Pam and Sam’s but that’s ok. I spent a large portion of the rest of the day (we ended up arriving in San Gusme around noon) unpacking and organizing.
Half way through my unpacking I went with Sam to meet the girls at the school bus. When Siena, the oldest girl, stepped off the bus I hardly recognized her. Her hair was longer, but when she walked up to me and said “Hello”, I knew immediately who she was. Then Emma bounced off the bus with her friend Camilla. They have short days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and get home around 1 in the afternoon, which is just in time for lunch.
The rest of the day was a whirlwind. I honestly do not remember half of what I did. I do remember that after lunch I was a little shocked when everyone scattered and Pam asked me to do the dishes before rushing back to her bedroom/office. I knew I was going to have to do the dishes eventually, but to be asked to do so after I had only been there for an hour and a half was a little crazy. Still, I did as I was asked. I remember being so excited to find they had wifi in their home and since Sam and I are often on our computers, and his office is below my apartment, he told me he would try to get wifi set up sometime soon so I could get on the internet from the apartment. He is leaving soon, this Sunday, for the USA to obtain a few necessary documents for establishing another business overseas. He will be gone for three weeks, and about four days before he comes back, Pam will leave for the USA as well. I gather they both need to sign whatever forms they are procuring from the states, but they do not want to both be gone for so long.
There is some more exciting news as well. It looks like I might be coming home for two months during the summer, well, at least for one month. Apparently, Sam and Pam do not tour during July and August because it is just too hot. I already talked to Pam about me going home for a month, but the more I think about it, who wants to be in Italy in the middle of the heat with no A/C? They would not pay for my flight back into Italy, which I guess is the price I pay for not having chose them to begin with, but they did tell me I should not have any problems getting back into Italy. Mostly, I like it here. I like having my own space, and I like the family. I wish there were wifi in my apartment, but as mom keeps reminding me that these people had no idea I was coming until two days ago and they cannot do everything I immediately.
The next morning I woke up so so so sore. I guess I did not realize how much I had stressed my body when moving my bags up and down and on and off the trains. I woke up early to be ready to go with Sam into Siena. He was only there for an hour tops, but I while walking with him I had a chance to scope out the shops and saw some stationary stores I will be checking out this coming Saturday when I go back to the city with Pam, Siena, and Emma. Then Sam rushed back to San Gusme to drop me off, and left for a lunch date. Pam and I ate some soup she had made and talked about scheduling, and what she wanted me to do with the girls. On long days, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the girls do not have homework so after their snack, they come over to my apartment and we work on reading, spelling, and US History. This is a fun time for me. We had our first lesson last night, and it went pretty well. I am now thinking of more things to do with them. (To Be Continued…)