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)
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