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!!