Lately I have been wondering about dreams. When I was in school, I use to dream about being a filmmaker, until the harsh reality hit me, and I let that dream die. Oh, I finished school with a degree in film mind you, but I did it just because I didn’t want to veer off course. I didn’t want to be one of those people who just gave up, who stopped doing what they had set out to because it got hard. Of course, what I did not realize at the time was that it did not get hard, well it wasn’t easy, but mostly it just stopped being fun. I guess I should have known better, and switched to my focus on something that interested me more, but well, I didn’t want to stay in Austin any longer than I had to. .. Okay, so I guess what it amounts to is: I should have transferred to a school back home where I could be happy, and switched my focus to something that was fun to me.
In the end, I gave it up anyway. I just did enough to graduate and then became a landman, and promptly forgot about my film school past. But, was this a bad thing? Certainly, you do not want to force yourself to do something you do not like, especially if that something is a job for peanuts. Then, I hated my job as a landman, so I decided to be an Au Pair in Italy, wanting to experience the life of a normal Italian family. Well, that did not work out quite the way I had planned it. So, now I am living in Italy, somewhat disenchanted with the lifestyle, and working for peanuts. I wonder if I want to come back to Europe, do I like it enough to come back (of course, keep in mind I have only ever seen Italy, and I think of all the European countries, Italy is the most behind the times), do I want to study languages, if I don’t study languages, what on earth will I do? Sure I can always be a secretary somewhere, but that is not what I think I should be doing. After all, I have a college degree, shouldn’t I be doing something more with my life? In the end, I think I will come back to Europe, but I wonder if it would not be better to take a break first. Do I come back and go to school for a while, pay as I go so I don’t gain anymore debt, and learn to speak French, German and Russian??? Or, do I try to find a job back in Europe? Although I would not say my experience as a nanny has been the worst experience of my life, I would not want to do it again. I guess if I got desperate enough, I would come back as a nanny again, but only for a six month period.
To be quite honest, I think I am a teacher. I just think that is where my life seems to be leading me right now. Of course, in eight months, when I am home, and possibly substitute teaching on the side to earn a little money, I might be thinking, dang I hate bratty little kids! But, right now, I just feel like that is going to be the next step. I am just not an office chick (although, let’s face it, who is?) No one grows up thinking, ‘Oh YES!!!! I get to sit and type at a keyboard all day while I make OTHER PEOPLE RICH!!! HOT DAMN!!!’ I mean, no one thinks that. Everyone feels they have some purpose to their life, and in reality, most people (maybe me too?) just have a small purpose with no real significance in the scheme of things.
Mostly, a great cloud of fear is clouding my mind these days. I certainly do not want to come home and turn into some kind of ‘beatnik’, living off my parent’s good graces. I know I do not want to go back to school because I feel like I have no other options. If I go back to school I want to have a plan, and to be really excited about it, otherwise, school is 24 hour stress for me. I want to make sure that coming back to Europe is something I really want. The problem is one, there are not a lot of jobs out there for people with limited qualifications, like myself, and two, I do not know what I want to do. I feel like I should know by now. I mean, dang, my sister was MARRIED at my age! Dear Lord, I could really use a bit of light right about now!!
And of course, the little tid bits. The weather is so much warmer today, I cannot even tell you how good it feels. It is the first day I have just worn a simple black long sleeved t-shirt and felt completely comfortable. The weather actually forecasted rain for the rest of the week, but hey, the sun is shining out of my window, so I guess someone goofed. Spring has finally arrived.
My trip to England is less than nine days away, and I cannot tell you how excited I am about it. I am excited to see some place other than Italy in Europe, I am excited to drink real English tea, and I am excited to be on vacation!!! I promise to take my camera everywhere I go, and to upload some amazing photos when I get back.
And, last but not least, I am officially an Aunt. Yes, Aunt. Not Auntie, not Aunty, and certainly not AntC (or Antsy, as my sister liked to joke). Plain old Aunt Casey will do just fine. He looks like both Monty and Ashley to me, but who knows how he will turn out. I am anxious to see him once he has finally taken shape. He’s the cutest little pink lump, and since he is a Sabbath child, I expect a lot of good to come his way.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Missed the Bus, and My Last Day of Class
I swear I set my alarm last night. Of course, when I woke up this morning, two minutes before the bus was suppose to leave for Siena, the alarm on my phone showed no sign of ever being turned on. Honestly, I am pretty sad to miss the last day of class because today we going to play Taboo in Italian. I think it would have been really fun, but I guess I really needed the sleep. I could take a later bus into the city and get to class just before 10am, but by that time, Taboo would almost be over with. Honestly, I think I really needed the sleep. These past three days have been some of the most stressful since I have been in Italy, and I can safely say I was completely exhausted. I even asked Mom yesterday if we could go to Vegas or Reno when I come home, and just live in the spa for a weekend. Not that I do not, in some ways, love the simple Italian life, but I miss the luxury a lot. Still, I guess the Tuscan life has sunk in little by little. I remember walking through Siena to the bus the other day, when I decided that I wanted to have a vegetable garden and started thinking about where I might be able to put one at the new house. This coupled along with want to learn how to play the piano and the cello, learn German, Russian, and French. Well, I guess Italy has got me feeling kind of arty. Good thing most of these goals are obtainable. Plus, I have already started learning French.
All in all, I think the Italian class was very useful. I learned a whole lot of new vocabulary, and was able to review some of the everyday grammar I had forgotten. The biggest downside to the whole experience was that it sucked away all my free time, and was quite honestly, exhausting. Every morning I would wake up at 6am, be in Siena by 7:50am, and walk around the town aimlessly for one hour, until class started at 9am. Then we would have class until 12:15, with a 15 minute break somewhere around 10:30am. I would then have 45 minutes to either rush to the grocery or run some errand and then huff back to the bus stop just outside of the old city walls. The bus ride was a good 40 minutes, and so I would not get home until close to 2pm. I would rush upstairs, make lunch, talk to mom, get ready for the next day, clean my dishes, and then head over to the big house where I would hang laundry, and make/clean up dinner, then rush back to the apartment so I could be in bed at 9pm and start the whole process over again. By the end of the two weeks I think I was just too tired. It was not the class but the constant running that wore me down. Still, I am glad I had the time to travel Siena because now I really know the city center well. I know where to find bedding, office supply stuff, kitchen supply stuff, everything, just by walking in the mornings. It was not always pleasant, and keep in mind none of these stores were ever open (opening generally starts around 9 or 9:30am for the Italians). Some mornings the wind would be so cold and so strong, that I would come home and my whole face would be red and wind burned. Still, I feel much more comfortable with Siena now, so I think it was a good experience all in all.
One thing I recommend to anyone planning to live abroad is to walk as often as possible in the city you either live in or close to. I never want to seem like too much of a tourist, and I always thought that if I turned around in the middle of a street, I would surely be spotted. So, my plan of action has always been this (and it has worked pretty well so far) never turn around. Even if you find yourself going into what looks like a residential area, just keep walking and keep your bearings. You will eventually either make it back to the tourist area you were in, or you will end up somewhere you recognize and can start you trek all over again. In my opinion, this is the best way to explore because you always end up finding some shop you would have never known existed. Like how I found a shop that sold little egg timers one day in Siena and I thought, well that would be nice to have, and now I know where to get it. I mean, if you are just a tourist, then I guess this is not really quite as important, but if you are going to be a resident somewhere, even for just three months, I have found that walking without turning around, is the best way to discover where the things you want are sold. Of course, you might know someone who knows the city better than you, and can give you advice on where to find what you are looking for. But, if you are like me, and living with people who don't really know much about their local big city, then it is just you and your feet.
It is suppose to start raining again tomorrow, and is not forecasted to stop until next Friday. So, I guess this just about kills my plans to start running in the mornings. Still, I do have a backup plan. Since I did finally find a workout/yoga mat in Siena, I started looking for free yoga classes via YouTube. Most of the "classes" offered were about five minutes long. Basically the instructors gave you all the poses and then said it should take you so and so many minutes to go through each of the poses. Well, I just do not work very well that way. I kept looking for a full length class, and then I finally found one. They were listed by the user: yogayak.com. So, I decided to check out the website. What I really like is that the classes are just posted on the site, and I think they do keep them updated, but you can do them at your own pace, and on your own schedule. Then I saw the price. 15 dollars for one month, 30 dollars for three, and 100 for a whole year (be careful, the subscription automatically renews), and I think I am just going to have to join for a three month period. That will cover me until it is about time to go home, and this way, I will have a way to get in a bit of exercise even when it is raining. I would seriously check this site out if you are interested in doing yoga but do not have the time to make it to a gym or do not want to go to the gym, this might just be the site you are looking for. You know, I will never cease to be amazed by what you can find on the internet when you just start looking. I found a French teacher; I found full length yoga lessons... who knows what I will find next!
I guess I should take a minute to go over some of the good things, since this blog seems to be swinging to the negative. First of all, a cold front blew in at the first of the week, and it got COLD yet again. So, on the first day the front blew in (at 30mph...no joke), coated the interior edges of my big window with what they call "parafreddo" (basically this sticky on one side, foamy stuff which fills any gaps between your wall and window. Then I realized that there was a serious gap in my kitchen window keeping everything super cold still in the apartment, I had no idea what to do since I could not open the window and the gap was too big to caulk. Then Mom suggested tin foil, and it has worked beautifully. I have not finished the whole window because I want to take down the back curtains first since I think there is a little family of spiders living behind there. Still, the apartment has been much much warmer. The only thing I want now is a throw because I do still get cold sometimes when I am just sitting around. I guess I will look for that one later. I am not planning on going into Siena next week since it is suppose to be raining, but I guess I might, who knows?
Besides the apartment situation, I must say this about Pam and Sam, they do at least always say thank you every evening when I leave to go back to the apartment. Even if I just folded clothes that day, they always say thank you, and so I must give them that. Pam might be one of those rude people, who just say whatever they are thinking, but she does at least say thank you.
So, here is what you missed that spurred my bad past couple of days. I made dinner on Tuesday night. It was a swim night (Tuesdays and Thursdays) for the girls, and so Pam asked me to get dinner ready. I had no problem with that, and decided to make lentil soup. Because there is no chicken broth here, I have to use one cube of veggie bouillon and one cube of mushroom bouillon. I have had problems with salt in this soup the past few times I made it, so this time I made the soup with no salt at all. I was really happy with how it turned out. It was just salty enough and quite mellow compared to the other lentil soups I had made. So, everyone gets home from swimming. Sam is complaining, or talking, about something when Pam interrupts him, looks over and me and says "Casey, this soup is just too salty". I was really floored, fired and brimstone did not start shooting from my eyes until I had thought about it some more, but when she first confronted me, I was just stunned, one, that someone would even say such a thing to a person who made their dinner, and two, because I had put no salt in the dang soup. I asked Sam if he thought the soup was salty and he said that he thought it was a little and that the family generally errs on the side of bland. All I could say was "okay". Pam started trying to tell me all the ways she thought I could "fix" the soup, but to be quite honest, I would never take cooking advice from her because I think her food sucks. I just kept getting madder and madder about it all, plus that had not yet set up the wifi in the apartment, and I was really mad about that (Now, Sam has just bought a 50 ft Ethernet cable and I am finally connect in my apartment, Yay!). I was so mad, I thought about slapping her with a raw chicken breast and asking her if that was bland enough for her.
Now I know what it is like to cook for a picky eater. In this since, the girls have much better manners than their parents. Whenever it is just me and them, if they do not like something in the food I make, they at least just pick around it and never say "I don't like this". Well, I guess from now on, I will just never salt or pepper their food. Pam likes to eat food with no seasoning, and so I will just salt and pepper my own. And, of course, I will probably not be making the lentil soup again. I guess my feelings are still a little hurt, but I will just know that when it is my night to cook, I will just make something special for myself.
All in all, I think the Italian class was very useful. I learned a whole lot of new vocabulary, and was able to review some of the everyday grammar I had forgotten. The biggest downside to the whole experience was that it sucked away all my free time, and was quite honestly, exhausting. Every morning I would wake up at 6am, be in Siena by 7:50am, and walk around the town aimlessly for one hour, until class started at 9am. Then we would have class until 12:15, with a 15 minute break somewhere around 10:30am. I would then have 45 minutes to either rush to the grocery or run some errand and then huff back to the bus stop just outside of the old city walls. The bus ride was a good 40 minutes, and so I would not get home until close to 2pm. I would rush upstairs, make lunch, talk to mom, get ready for the next day, clean my dishes, and then head over to the big house where I would hang laundry, and make/clean up dinner, then rush back to the apartment so I could be in bed at 9pm and start the whole process over again. By the end of the two weeks I think I was just too tired. It was not the class but the constant running that wore me down. Still, I am glad I had the time to travel Siena because now I really know the city center well. I know where to find bedding, office supply stuff, kitchen supply stuff, everything, just by walking in the mornings. It was not always pleasant, and keep in mind none of these stores were ever open (opening generally starts around 9 or 9:30am for the Italians). Some mornings the wind would be so cold and so strong, that I would come home and my whole face would be red and wind burned. Still, I feel much more comfortable with Siena now, so I think it was a good experience all in all.
One thing I recommend to anyone planning to live abroad is to walk as often as possible in the city you either live in or close to. I never want to seem like too much of a tourist, and I always thought that if I turned around in the middle of a street, I would surely be spotted. So, my plan of action has always been this (and it has worked pretty well so far) never turn around. Even if you find yourself going into what looks like a residential area, just keep walking and keep your bearings. You will eventually either make it back to the tourist area you were in, or you will end up somewhere you recognize and can start you trek all over again. In my opinion, this is the best way to explore because you always end up finding some shop you would have never known existed. Like how I found a shop that sold little egg timers one day in Siena and I thought, well that would be nice to have, and now I know where to get it. I mean, if you are just a tourist, then I guess this is not really quite as important, but if you are going to be a resident somewhere, even for just three months, I have found that walking without turning around, is the best way to discover where the things you want are sold. Of course, you might know someone who knows the city better than you, and can give you advice on where to find what you are looking for. But, if you are like me, and living with people who don't really know much about their local big city, then it is just you and your feet.
It is suppose to start raining again tomorrow, and is not forecasted to stop until next Friday. So, I guess this just about kills my plans to start running in the mornings. Still, I do have a backup plan. Since I did finally find a workout/yoga mat in Siena, I started looking for free yoga classes via YouTube. Most of the "classes" offered were about five minutes long. Basically the instructors gave you all the poses and then said it should take you so and so many minutes to go through each of the poses. Well, I just do not work very well that way. I kept looking for a full length class, and then I finally found one. They were listed by the user: yogayak.com. So, I decided to check out the website. What I really like is that the classes are just posted on the site, and I think they do keep them updated, but you can do them at your own pace, and on your own schedule. Then I saw the price. 15 dollars for one month, 30 dollars for three, and 100 for a whole year (be careful, the subscription automatically renews), and I think I am just going to have to join for a three month period. That will cover me until it is about time to go home, and this way, I will have a way to get in a bit of exercise even when it is raining. I would seriously check this site out if you are interested in doing yoga but do not have the time to make it to a gym or do not want to go to the gym, this might just be the site you are looking for. You know, I will never cease to be amazed by what you can find on the internet when you just start looking. I found a French teacher; I found full length yoga lessons... who knows what I will find next!
I guess I should take a minute to go over some of the good things, since this blog seems to be swinging to the negative. First of all, a cold front blew in at the first of the week, and it got COLD yet again. So, on the first day the front blew in (at 30mph...no joke), coated the interior edges of my big window with what they call "parafreddo" (basically this sticky on one side, foamy stuff which fills any gaps between your wall and window. Then I realized that there was a serious gap in my kitchen window keeping everything super cold still in the apartment, I had no idea what to do since I could not open the window and the gap was too big to caulk. Then Mom suggested tin foil, and it has worked beautifully. I have not finished the whole window because I want to take down the back curtains first since I think there is a little family of spiders living behind there. Still, the apartment has been much much warmer. The only thing I want now is a throw because I do still get cold sometimes when I am just sitting around. I guess I will look for that one later. I am not planning on going into Siena next week since it is suppose to be raining, but I guess I might, who knows?
Besides the apartment situation, I must say this about Pam and Sam, they do at least always say thank you every evening when I leave to go back to the apartment. Even if I just folded clothes that day, they always say thank you, and so I must give them that. Pam might be one of those rude people, who just say whatever they are thinking, but she does at least say thank you.
So, here is what you missed that spurred my bad past couple of days. I made dinner on Tuesday night. It was a swim night (Tuesdays and Thursdays) for the girls, and so Pam asked me to get dinner ready. I had no problem with that, and decided to make lentil soup. Because there is no chicken broth here, I have to use one cube of veggie bouillon and one cube of mushroom bouillon. I have had problems with salt in this soup the past few times I made it, so this time I made the soup with no salt at all. I was really happy with how it turned out. It was just salty enough and quite mellow compared to the other lentil soups I had made. So, everyone gets home from swimming. Sam is complaining, or talking, about something when Pam interrupts him, looks over and me and says "Casey, this soup is just too salty". I was really floored, fired and brimstone did not start shooting from my eyes until I had thought about it some more, but when she first confronted me, I was just stunned, one, that someone would even say such a thing to a person who made their dinner, and two, because I had put no salt in the dang soup. I asked Sam if he thought the soup was salty and he said that he thought it was a little and that the family generally errs on the side of bland. All I could say was "okay". Pam started trying to tell me all the ways she thought I could "fix" the soup, but to be quite honest, I would never take cooking advice from her because I think her food sucks. I just kept getting madder and madder about it all, plus that had not yet set up the wifi in the apartment, and I was really mad about that (Now, Sam has just bought a 50 ft Ethernet cable and I am finally connect in my apartment, Yay!). I was so mad, I thought about slapping her with a raw chicken breast and asking her if that was bland enough for her.
Now I know what it is like to cook for a picky eater. In this since, the girls have much better manners than their parents. Whenever it is just me and them, if they do not like something in the food I make, they at least just pick around it and never say "I don't like this". Well, I guess from now on, I will just never salt or pepper their food. Pam likes to eat food with no seasoning, and so I will just salt and pepper my own. And, of course, I will probably not be making the lentil soup again. I guess my feelings are still a little hurt, but I will just know that when it is my night to cook, I will just make something special for myself.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
A Long Week
A Long Week
In some ways, it feels like this week has been forever and a day long, and yet, it seems to have flown by. I think this is going to be a long post; so prepare yourself.
First and foremost, I started school this week. Every day, I wake up at 6am to get ready, eat breakfast and be out the door in time to catch the 7:10am bus. This puts me into Siena about an hour and ten minutes before class starts. I have absolutely nothing to do, and mostly I just wander the main streets, looking in shop windows, and finding my way around the city. Please do not forget that it is still cold in the morning here, usually somewhere in the low thirties, and so I think my face has become pretty wind burned this week. Friday, it was just too windy. The wind speed was something like 25mph, and so I just waited for the school to open and sat in the stairwell. Class has been wonderful. I am learning tons and tons of new words, and even though I have not memorized them all yet, I will have plenty of time to do so after class ends. I am reviewing a lot of the grammar I had forgotten about, and so I feel like this was a good use of my money. I really like my teacher, and I think I will be sad when classes finish. The school is located right off of one of the main piazzas in Siena, where the big post office sits. Everything you could ever want seems to be in, or right off of, this square. For example, the city supermarket, Conad, is stocked with goodies you just cannot find in Castelnuovo. Like, for example, dried apricots. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the little pack. I do not even look at the price, I know I want them, and I buy them. I have been searching high and low for dried apricots after I ran through the supply mom sent with me. All I ever succeeded in finding was raisins… Well, at least now I know where to get my fix. Also, I learned from my professor the other day that Italy does in fact know what sour cream is. They call it “panna acida”, or acidic cream. No one really eats it here, and my teacher says not only is it hard to find, but also, if you do find it, most likely you will have only one option. No fat free Daisy here I guess. I have also located the place to buy my Clinique stuff, I found a paper store that happened to sell cork boards, and bought one instantly for my room (YAY!) so now I can display all of the post cards and photos people send to me.
Wednesdays are the best day because that is the day of the market. When I arrive in Siena at 8am, the market is already in full swing, so I can spend my hour browsing the stalls for this and that. Last week I bought some more “parafreddo”, which I can only describe as a type of removable caulk. It is very thick, thin strips of foam that is ultra sticky on one side. They are made to stick on the inside of your window to make them more airtight. I did this with the big window, the one where the crooked curtain hangs, because I felt it was leaking the most air, only to find that the window over the sink was in even worse shape. At first, I thought I could buy some caulk and caulk the cracks of the window closed, but after messing with the big blue curtain this morning, I noticed that there is a sizable gap between the window and the frame that you just could not fill with caulk. I think what I am going to do is take down the curtains, wash them, and then put them back up on the wall but in such a way that they actually cover the open area of the window. Maybe this will help. I do not know what I am going to do, but I am certainly going to need to figure it out before summer hits because the gap is certainly big enough for a bee or wasp to fly in and out of. If worst come to worst, I might just stuff some fabric down into the gaps! I cannot use duct tape, because Pam says it takes the paint off the wall (oh what a tragedy!)
Well, while we are on the subject of windows. I think I am just going to break down and buy some new fabric for them. First of all, both of the curtains are dirty dirty dirty. I do not think they have ever been washed; second, they are not all that nice. I am going to try to look up how to make curtains by hand on the internet to see if I can easily sew together some curtains. I figure they cannot look much worse that these do. However, for the curtains over the sink will have to be nailed to the wall, like they are now. The only difference I am going to make is I am going to nail them directly above the window, so I can hopefully make the place a little more airtight. I go back and forth on this. I do not know if I want to put the time and money into making curtains by hand, buying the fabric, etc. But, it is going to get cold here again before I leave, and I am going to have to do something I think. It is better since I arrived, but some more things could be done. Of course, there is no hope for the window in the bathroom. All I can do is try to keep the window closed, since the walls on either side of it are angled, and there is no way to even nail a curtain up since the window goes all the way up the wall. Well, anyway. I might get bored with the whole sewing curtains by hand bit, but for now it seems like a plan.
French lessons are also going well. I told you all I started taking French lessons via Skype right? Well, they are going pretty well. I actually have one today in a few hours, so I guess I should be studying, but I really wanted to upload to my blog, so here I am. Right now, I am learning how to count to one hundred, which is actually rather complicated in French. Like to say “80”, in French it is “40, 40”, or to say “90” it is “sixty, twenty, ten”, crazy I know. Of course, when Pam asked me how things were going in French, and I was trying to tell her some of the numbers I had learned just yesterday. I made a mistake and Sam was quick to jump in tell me, “No Casey, you are wrong it is ….blah blah blah”. Ass. I really do not like him. I think he is quite rude most of the time, and too old to do anything other than plop his butt down in front of the computer all day and check email. I mean, how much effort does it take to shoot down a beginning language student? None, that’s how much. It’s like taking candy from a baby. So, I said, as Sam was still rambling on about French numbers, “wow, thanks for shooting me down”. Everyone at the table laughed, except Sam, who continued trying to demonstrate how smart he was to everyone else. He may have a PhD in Renaissance art, but he is an Ass who will not set up my wireless internet!
Well, what can I say? I like it much better when the two of them are gone. I mean, the house is so messy, but I try not to be over there too much. The only plus is that I can get on the wireless over there, so I always eventually make my way over to the big house. Well, only one more week, and then they will be gone on tour, and then directly after that, I am leaving for England. Then I come back, and they are gone again. I think things will work out okay, and time is going to start flying by even faster than it is now. I have already started looking for work for next year. I was really thinking I wanted to come back to Italy or go to France, but I do not know what will happen. I know that what I am looking for now is a job that will pay enough for me to find my own apartment so I do not have to live in a barn. Actually, if I wanted, I could go to Prague or Russia for a pretty good deal. In Prague, they do not pay for your housing, but you get a thousand dollars a week for 25 hours of work, and so I am sure I could find a decent place on that kind of salary. Also, in Russia they pay for the whole kit and caboodle. They pay for a whole winter wardrobe. I am sure you would need it! They pay for your housing, your flight over, they take care of getting your visa, and you get free Russian classes as well as 1000 dollars a week on top of all this. Of course, this means you would be living in Russia, so I think it would be pretty freaking cold, but if you had modern living conditions, I do not think the cold would be such a problem. Well, these are just the things I have found so far. I would also like to try getting on with an American company in Europe as well. I do not really know what I am going to end up doing, but I am glad I started looking now. What with the economy in the shape it is in, I guess you just have to get a head start on everything.
Finally, I have to tell you about the Waxer from hell. Okay, so I know this is probably TIM (too much information), but I have to tell you so you understand the story. See, I have not shaved my legs since I have been in Italy. Mostly it has been so cold, and I just did not see the point. Well, thought I might just go and have it waxed so I did not have to fool with hours in the shower shaving. There was an ad posted on the board at my school for a nail salon/waxing place, which gave discounts to students. Well, I decided to make my way over to the place after school on Friday to check out the prices and the facility. I finally found the place; it was almost hidden down this angled hallway off of the main streets of the city. When I walked in, it was small and cramped, and all of the ladies immediately stopped and stared at me. I said, in my broken Italian, that I had seen their paper at Scuola Leonardo, and was wondering if they had a price list I could look at. One of the women said, “no, come with me”. I followed her, and she said “ok, there is no price list; I just have to tell you. What do you want?” I told her I wanted to do my legs and she said “ok, 26 euros. When do you want to come. Today at 3pm.” This was not a question. I told her no, that three was not good for me. Then she flipped the page, “Monday at 3pm”, no I could not do that either. The telephone rang and she answered it, telling her friend to hold on. “Tuesday at 3pm”. “No, I cannot do three”, she let out a very loud, exasperated sigh. I asked her if I could come around noon, and she said they were closed. She seemed very upset with me, so I just told her I would come back. She made a slight attempt to stop me, but when I told her again, that I would just come back, so said “fine” and turned to talk to her friend on the phone, someone clearly more important than I was. Well, after that I just thought, ‘oh hell, I will just shave my legs and for Christmas this year I am giving myself laser hair removal.’ And that is exactly what I am going to do.
It is funny how most people think of Italians as these really jolly people ready to invite you into their homes to have dinner and talk about this and that. I guess some small group of Italians made a really good impression on the world, because this seems to be the stereotype all over the world. And yet, I think the Italians are not nearly as friendly or courteous as the people I know back home. Men shove in front of old women to get on the bus, people are just downright rude to foreigners half the time, and I can see how, if you do not speak the language, you could be very overwhelmed by the people and the country almost immediately. It is funny because as a foreigner, I always expect people to be especially nice to me. I mean, I certainly am to every foreigner I meet, but here, it is just not that way. I cannot understand why people are rude to foreigners and tourists. These people keep the economy going when times get rough, but I guess to each his own.
In some ways, it feels like this week has been forever and a day long, and yet, it seems to have flown by. I think this is going to be a long post; so prepare yourself.
First and foremost, I started school this week. Every day, I wake up at 6am to get ready, eat breakfast and be out the door in time to catch the 7:10am bus. This puts me into Siena about an hour and ten minutes before class starts. I have absolutely nothing to do, and mostly I just wander the main streets, looking in shop windows, and finding my way around the city. Please do not forget that it is still cold in the morning here, usually somewhere in the low thirties, and so I think my face has become pretty wind burned this week. Friday, it was just too windy. The wind speed was something like 25mph, and so I just waited for the school to open and sat in the stairwell. Class has been wonderful. I am learning tons and tons of new words, and even though I have not memorized them all yet, I will have plenty of time to do so after class ends. I am reviewing a lot of the grammar I had forgotten about, and so I feel like this was a good use of my money. I really like my teacher, and I think I will be sad when classes finish. The school is located right off of one of the main piazzas in Siena, where the big post office sits. Everything you could ever want seems to be in, or right off of, this square. For example, the city supermarket, Conad, is stocked with goodies you just cannot find in Castelnuovo. Like, for example, dried apricots. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the little pack. I do not even look at the price, I know I want them, and I buy them. I have been searching high and low for dried apricots after I ran through the supply mom sent with me. All I ever succeeded in finding was raisins… Well, at least now I know where to get my fix. Also, I learned from my professor the other day that Italy does in fact know what sour cream is. They call it “panna acida”, or acidic cream. No one really eats it here, and my teacher says not only is it hard to find, but also, if you do find it, most likely you will have only one option. No fat free Daisy here I guess. I have also located the place to buy my Clinique stuff, I found a paper store that happened to sell cork boards, and bought one instantly for my room (YAY!) so now I can display all of the post cards and photos people send to me.
Wednesdays are the best day because that is the day of the market. When I arrive in Siena at 8am, the market is already in full swing, so I can spend my hour browsing the stalls for this and that. Last week I bought some more “parafreddo”, which I can only describe as a type of removable caulk. It is very thick, thin strips of foam that is ultra sticky on one side. They are made to stick on the inside of your window to make them more airtight. I did this with the big window, the one where the crooked curtain hangs, because I felt it was leaking the most air, only to find that the window over the sink was in even worse shape. At first, I thought I could buy some caulk and caulk the cracks of the window closed, but after messing with the big blue curtain this morning, I noticed that there is a sizable gap between the window and the frame that you just could not fill with caulk. I think what I am going to do is take down the curtains, wash them, and then put them back up on the wall but in such a way that they actually cover the open area of the window. Maybe this will help. I do not know what I am going to do, but I am certainly going to need to figure it out before summer hits because the gap is certainly big enough for a bee or wasp to fly in and out of. If worst come to worst, I might just stuff some fabric down into the gaps! I cannot use duct tape, because Pam says it takes the paint off the wall (oh what a tragedy!)
Well, while we are on the subject of windows. I think I am just going to break down and buy some new fabric for them. First of all, both of the curtains are dirty dirty dirty. I do not think they have ever been washed; second, they are not all that nice. I am going to try to look up how to make curtains by hand on the internet to see if I can easily sew together some curtains. I figure they cannot look much worse that these do. However, for the curtains over the sink will have to be nailed to the wall, like they are now. The only difference I am going to make is I am going to nail them directly above the window, so I can hopefully make the place a little more airtight. I go back and forth on this. I do not know if I want to put the time and money into making curtains by hand, buying the fabric, etc. But, it is going to get cold here again before I leave, and I am going to have to do something I think. It is better since I arrived, but some more things could be done. Of course, there is no hope for the window in the bathroom. All I can do is try to keep the window closed, since the walls on either side of it are angled, and there is no way to even nail a curtain up since the window goes all the way up the wall. Well, anyway. I might get bored with the whole sewing curtains by hand bit, but for now it seems like a plan.
French lessons are also going well. I told you all I started taking French lessons via Skype right? Well, they are going pretty well. I actually have one today in a few hours, so I guess I should be studying, but I really wanted to upload to my blog, so here I am. Right now, I am learning how to count to one hundred, which is actually rather complicated in French. Like to say “80”, in French it is “40, 40”, or to say “90” it is “sixty, twenty, ten”, crazy I know. Of course, when Pam asked me how things were going in French, and I was trying to tell her some of the numbers I had learned just yesterday. I made a mistake and Sam was quick to jump in tell me, “No Casey, you are wrong it is ….blah blah blah”. Ass. I really do not like him. I think he is quite rude most of the time, and too old to do anything other than plop his butt down in front of the computer all day and check email. I mean, how much effort does it take to shoot down a beginning language student? None, that’s how much. It’s like taking candy from a baby. So, I said, as Sam was still rambling on about French numbers, “wow, thanks for shooting me down”. Everyone at the table laughed, except Sam, who continued trying to demonstrate how smart he was to everyone else. He may have a PhD in Renaissance art, but he is an Ass who will not set up my wireless internet!
Well, what can I say? I like it much better when the two of them are gone. I mean, the house is so messy, but I try not to be over there too much. The only plus is that I can get on the wireless over there, so I always eventually make my way over to the big house. Well, only one more week, and then they will be gone on tour, and then directly after that, I am leaving for England. Then I come back, and they are gone again. I think things will work out okay, and time is going to start flying by even faster than it is now. I have already started looking for work for next year. I was really thinking I wanted to come back to Italy or go to France, but I do not know what will happen. I know that what I am looking for now is a job that will pay enough for me to find my own apartment so I do not have to live in a barn. Actually, if I wanted, I could go to Prague or Russia for a pretty good deal. In Prague, they do not pay for your housing, but you get a thousand dollars a week for 25 hours of work, and so I am sure I could find a decent place on that kind of salary. Also, in Russia they pay for the whole kit and caboodle. They pay for a whole winter wardrobe. I am sure you would need it! They pay for your housing, your flight over, they take care of getting your visa, and you get free Russian classes as well as 1000 dollars a week on top of all this. Of course, this means you would be living in Russia, so I think it would be pretty freaking cold, but if you had modern living conditions, I do not think the cold would be such a problem. Well, these are just the things I have found so far. I would also like to try getting on with an American company in Europe as well. I do not really know what I am going to end up doing, but I am glad I started looking now. What with the economy in the shape it is in, I guess you just have to get a head start on everything.
Finally, I have to tell you about the Waxer from hell. Okay, so I know this is probably TIM (too much information), but I have to tell you so you understand the story. See, I have not shaved my legs since I have been in Italy. Mostly it has been so cold, and I just did not see the point. Well, thought I might just go and have it waxed so I did not have to fool with hours in the shower shaving. There was an ad posted on the board at my school for a nail salon/waxing place, which gave discounts to students. Well, I decided to make my way over to the place after school on Friday to check out the prices and the facility. I finally found the place; it was almost hidden down this angled hallway off of the main streets of the city. When I walked in, it was small and cramped, and all of the ladies immediately stopped and stared at me. I said, in my broken Italian, that I had seen their paper at Scuola Leonardo, and was wondering if they had a price list I could look at. One of the women said, “no, come with me”. I followed her, and she said “ok, there is no price list; I just have to tell you. What do you want?” I told her I wanted to do my legs and she said “ok, 26 euros. When do you want to come. Today at 3pm.” This was not a question. I told her no, that three was not good for me. Then she flipped the page, “Monday at 3pm”, no I could not do that either. The telephone rang and she answered it, telling her friend to hold on. “Tuesday at 3pm”. “No, I cannot do three”, she let out a very loud, exasperated sigh. I asked her if I could come around noon, and she said they were closed. She seemed very upset with me, so I just told her I would come back. She made a slight attempt to stop me, but when I told her again, that I would just come back, so said “fine” and turned to talk to her friend on the phone, someone clearly more important than I was. Well, after that I just thought, ‘oh hell, I will just shave my legs and for Christmas this year I am giving myself laser hair removal.’ And that is exactly what I am going to do.
It is funny how most people think of Italians as these really jolly people ready to invite you into their homes to have dinner and talk about this and that. I guess some small group of Italians made a really good impression on the world, because this seems to be the stereotype all over the world. And yet, I think the Italians are not nearly as friendly or courteous as the people I know back home. Men shove in front of old women to get on the bus, people are just downright rude to foreigners half the time, and I can see how, if you do not speak the language, you could be very overwhelmed by the people and the country almost immediately. It is funny because as a foreigner, I always expect people to be especially nice to me. I mean, I certainly am to every foreigner I meet, but here, it is just not that way. I cannot understand why people are rude to foreigners and tourists. These people keep the economy going when times get rough, but I guess to each his own.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
If at First You Don’t Succeed…
Yesterday I finally took a day for myself and went into Siena. Mostly, the trip was to gain a better knowledge of the bus system, as I had to take the bus to and from Siena. Monday, I begin my Intensive Italian lessons, and even though I have to take the 7:10 bus to reach Siena on time, and even though class does not start until 9:00, well, you just never know, and I wanted to be sure I knew how to work the bus. Of course, I did not know what I was doing, and so, here is my story:
I had planned all along to take the bus to Siena on Friday, however, Friday I lost track of the time between poaching some eggs and washing my face. I looked down at the clock and it was 8:51am. Since the bus comes at 8:55am, and I was still in my pajamas, I knew there was no way I was going to make the bus on time. So, I started cleaning instead. This is really a story in its self, but I will try to make it brief. The bathroom was the biggest of my concerns. The soap scum on the bathroom walls has never been cleaned, ever. The first time I tried to clean the shower, I ruined a dish sponge, so while P&S were in America, I took the liberty of buying a few odds and ends, like a hard plastic bristle brush, which I used on the shower walls. I think I ended up getting most of the scum off of the walls, and I am sure that within a few more cleanings it will all be completely clean. Then, I started tackling the mould in the bottom outside corners of the shower. I read somewhere online that if you soak a cotton ball in either pure bleach or pure ammonia and press it into a hard to reach space, like a corner, that after a few minutes the mould will just wipe off. I am here to tell you this is true. I did have to use a tooth brush, and the edge of my hard bristle brush to get the last stubborn bit, but as it turns out, I am glad that I did. You see, I thinking I was just trying to be thorough when started giving the grout around the shower a light scrub, when suddenly all this black grunge started coming up. It smelled horrid, and I imagine it was a combination of years of dirt and a few over flown toilets. I got on my hands and knees (a towel under my knees) and scrubbed all the grout in the bathroom. Who knew the grout was suppose to be white? Then I took the mop and did a little sweeping. The apartment is finally organized so when it came to cleaning the rest of the place, I was mostly just sweeping, and moping. I did dust off the few pieces of furniture I have, but that was it. One day, I am going to tackle the windows. Even though you cannot see out of them, I bet they are still really dirty. Friday, I felt accomplished but tired. When I came over for dinner, I came over late hoping Sam would get the message; there was nothing on the table. So, I asked him if he wanted me to make the frozen pizzas or if he wanted to cook some of the meat he bought. Well, he did get the picture and start cooking (the way I see it is they had me doing the dishes the night I came to them and I was so exhausted. He has had a day to recover so he can certainly do dinner). Maybe as just some form of spite he decided to pan fry the chicken breasts he bought and make a complete floury greasy mess of the kitchen. Of course, he did not even attempt to clean up after himself, and even thought the girls took their plates to the sink at the end of the meal, he left his sitting on the table. It frustrated me to no end that there was greasy all over the place, but I was not about to clean it up, not my mess. And then I just decided, I had to get out tomorrow. So, I gave myself enough time in the morning and made sure I would not miss the bus to Siena this time.
The bus driver who picked me up was not a happy camper. I said good morning to him, and I think I might have heard a slight grunt, but who knows. I found a seat, as my stop is the first on the route, it was easy to find one, and I opened my book. Reading is not a good idea while on a bus in Tuscany. The roads the bus has to take to pick up everyone are so curvy that you start to get motion sick, even if you are not prone to being motion sick. In the end I had to close the book and concentrate on not feeling ill. The stop I wanted was ‘Porta Ovile’. ‘Porta Pispini’ came up first and I knew the next stop would be mine. What I did not know, however, was that you must stand to indicate where you want to be let off, and unfortunately, I had no idea I wanted to be let off a my stop until we had past it. Once we past the stop, I had to ride the bus all the way to the Siena train station, which is about 5.5km or 2.5 miles back to the gates of Siena. So, I walked. I walked all the way back to the city center and by the time I reached it, I was climbing a hill so steep I had to lean forward to keep from falling back, I was really regretting my decision to wear a turtle neck, a sweater, and a jacket. Plus, I had put on my Jo Malone Rose and Verbenas perfume, and I knew I certainly did not smell like a rose…
Still my legs did not give up, and I did reach the gate where I was supposed to get off after about forty-five minutes of walking. The first thing I did was to check out all of the bus stop signs on the street. I found out where and when my bus makes its stops and then headed up to the city center. The Porta Ovile stop is right in front of these series of escalators which I gladly road into the city itself. I had taken them several times before when I came with P&S, but I had no idea my bus stop would be right there as well. Once in Siena, I found the school where I was going to be taking lessons (it was closed of course), and then scoped out the town. I found where I can buy all my beauty stuff, my Clinique stuff, I went into the Upim and looked at all the things they sold for the home, I walked around the town, and looked in the windows of the very old and historic farmers coop (which I will be visiting next time). I also bought about 12 postcards and (that morning before I left I got all the stamps I need from the post office here in San Gusme) I made my way to the Campo. Funny enough, as I was walking down an alley I had not walked down before to get to the campo my eyes floated to this sign “Museum of Torture”, it read. I thought I must surely be mistaken, but nope, as I walked by I saw a worker cleaning the door, and a fake skeleton hung in a human sized cage, and of course the skeletons mouth was hanging wide open. I will have to check that out one of these days. I do not think you see that museum listed in many of the guide books.
It was a beautiful day in Siena, and being the weekend, there were a lot of tourists. Americans were speaking English, I heard some French buzz by my ear a few times, and of course there are always the British. I sat on the ground in the Campo, like everyone else does when it is beautiful outside, and wrote for an hour and a half to everyone in the world I knew. I really enjoy getting out in the mornings, and I was so pleased with how pleasant it was to simply sit and people watch, I thought I might do this more often.
I had planned on going to see an exhibit on artists and madness, but I did not have enough time, what with missing my stop this morning, and then trying to find my way back, I just did not have the time, but I figure it is something to bring me back again. So, I made my way down to the bus. I was there in plenty of time, just sitting on the bench at the stop right outside the escalator doors, when all the sudden this great blue bus comes roaring past me. No breaks, no nothing, I barely had time to read that the bus was going to San Gusme, let alone stand up. You see, the bus stop is on the far end of a curve on a hill so the buses (all standards here) must not like to slow down. I actually sat waiting for another ten minutes, hoping it was just my imagination, and that the bus had not in fact just flown by me like a chicken on fire. Unfortunately, when I asked the girl sitting next to me where she was going, she was so kind to tell me that I missed the bus I was waiting for, and after looking at the posted bus schedule with me, told me I would have to wait another hour for the next one. I thanked her, and went on my way. Some might say I could have gone back up into the city, but everyone closes from one to three for lunch, and it was one o’clock when my bus was supposed to arrive. So, I made my way up to the stop ahead of where I was. At least this stop was more open and I had a chance to prepare for the bus’s arrival. Also, something I did not know was that you have to flag down your bus, as if you were hailing a taxi. I was very glad, by the end of the day, that I had taken the bus once before my classes started because being all hot and smelly for the first day of class would have made me so uncomfortable.
While waiting at the bus stop I met a Roman woman and her husband. She asked me how many gates there were to the city, and I told her I had no idea. Her husband then took off, and she told me they had forgotten where they had parked their car. She said he normally had a good sense of direction, but that they had been walking a lot today and just got turned around. Then she asked me why I was here, and I told her I worked for an American family in Tuscany, and that I was starting language school on Monday, and that I had missed the bus because it when flying past me without stopping so I was waiting for the next one which would come in another hour. I was actually pretty amazed I understood most of what she was saying, but some days are really good for me. She left after about forty minutes. I did not see her husband so I wonder if she went off in search of him, but she waved at me and I did the same. Finally, finally, the bus showed up. Of course it was the same unhappy driver, and this time the bus was loaded up with school children. High school children come into the city for school and have to take the public bus to and from if their parents do not drive them. Fortunately, I was able to find a place in the back. I made it home safe and sound.
The first thing I did was check to see if I had any mail in the mailbox, which I did, and then I went back to the apartment to make a quick lunch, by this time it was almost three in the afternoon and I had not eaten since 7:30 that morning. I gobbled it down, and then bolted to use the free internet downstairs so I could talk to mom and dad. Afterwards, I just decided there was no way I could go over to the big house and have to clean up a big mess. I left Sam a note and an email explaining that I was taking tonight and tomorrow night off (actually I already have those days off, but I like to give a little notice when I am not going to be there for a meal), and headed up to my room where I showered, and went to bed early.
So, here I am. It is Sunday morning, the bells of the old church are ringing, it is 7:45am, and I think it will be a good day. I hope yours is too.
I had planned all along to take the bus to Siena on Friday, however, Friday I lost track of the time between poaching some eggs and washing my face. I looked down at the clock and it was 8:51am. Since the bus comes at 8:55am, and I was still in my pajamas, I knew there was no way I was going to make the bus on time. So, I started cleaning instead. This is really a story in its self, but I will try to make it brief. The bathroom was the biggest of my concerns. The soap scum on the bathroom walls has never been cleaned, ever. The first time I tried to clean the shower, I ruined a dish sponge, so while P&S were in America, I took the liberty of buying a few odds and ends, like a hard plastic bristle brush, which I used on the shower walls. I think I ended up getting most of the scum off of the walls, and I am sure that within a few more cleanings it will all be completely clean. Then, I started tackling the mould in the bottom outside corners of the shower. I read somewhere online that if you soak a cotton ball in either pure bleach or pure ammonia and press it into a hard to reach space, like a corner, that after a few minutes the mould will just wipe off. I am here to tell you this is true. I did have to use a tooth brush, and the edge of my hard bristle brush to get the last stubborn bit, but as it turns out, I am glad that I did. You see, I thinking I was just trying to be thorough when started giving the grout around the shower a light scrub, when suddenly all this black grunge started coming up. It smelled horrid, and I imagine it was a combination of years of dirt and a few over flown toilets. I got on my hands and knees (a towel under my knees) and scrubbed all the grout in the bathroom. Who knew the grout was suppose to be white? Then I took the mop and did a little sweeping. The apartment is finally organized so when it came to cleaning the rest of the place, I was mostly just sweeping, and moping. I did dust off the few pieces of furniture I have, but that was it. One day, I am going to tackle the windows. Even though you cannot see out of them, I bet they are still really dirty. Friday, I felt accomplished but tired. When I came over for dinner, I came over late hoping Sam would get the message; there was nothing on the table. So, I asked him if he wanted me to make the frozen pizzas or if he wanted to cook some of the meat he bought. Well, he did get the picture and start cooking (the way I see it is they had me doing the dishes the night I came to them and I was so exhausted. He has had a day to recover so he can certainly do dinner). Maybe as just some form of spite he decided to pan fry the chicken breasts he bought and make a complete floury greasy mess of the kitchen. Of course, he did not even attempt to clean up after himself, and even thought the girls took their plates to the sink at the end of the meal, he left his sitting on the table. It frustrated me to no end that there was greasy all over the place, but I was not about to clean it up, not my mess. And then I just decided, I had to get out tomorrow. So, I gave myself enough time in the morning and made sure I would not miss the bus to Siena this time.
The bus driver who picked me up was not a happy camper. I said good morning to him, and I think I might have heard a slight grunt, but who knows. I found a seat, as my stop is the first on the route, it was easy to find one, and I opened my book. Reading is not a good idea while on a bus in Tuscany. The roads the bus has to take to pick up everyone are so curvy that you start to get motion sick, even if you are not prone to being motion sick. In the end I had to close the book and concentrate on not feeling ill. The stop I wanted was ‘Porta Ovile’. ‘Porta Pispini’ came up first and I knew the next stop would be mine. What I did not know, however, was that you must stand to indicate where you want to be let off, and unfortunately, I had no idea I wanted to be let off a my stop until we had past it. Once we past the stop, I had to ride the bus all the way to the Siena train station, which is about 5.5km or 2.5 miles back to the gates of Siena. So, I walked. I walked all the way back to the city center and by the time I reached it, I was climbing a hill so steep I had to lean forward to keep from falling back, I was really regretting my decision to wear a turtle neck, a sweater, and a jacket. Plus, I had put on my Jo Malone Rose and Verbenas perfume, and I knew I certainly did not smell like a rose…
Still my legs did not give up, and I did reach the gate where I was supposed to get off after about forty-five minutes of walking. The first thing I did was to check out all of the bus stop signs on the street. I found out where and when my bus makes its stops and then headed up to the city center. The Porta Ovile stop is right in front of these series of escalators which I gladly road into the city itself. I had taken them several times before when I came with P&S, but I had no idea my bus stop would be right there as well. Once in Siena, I found the school where I was going to be taking lessons (it was closed of course), and then scoped out the town. I found where I can buy all my beauty stuff, my Clinique stuff, I went into the Upim and looked at all the things they sold for the home, I walked around the town, and looked in the windows of the very old and historic farmers coop (which I will be visiting next time). I also bought about 12 postcards and (that morning before I left I got all the stamps I need from the post office here in San Gusme) I made my way to the Campo. Funny enough, as I was walking down an alley I had not walked down before to get to the campo my eyes floated to this sign “Museum of Torture”, it read. I thought I must surely be mistaken, but nope, as I walked by I saw a worker cleaning the door, and a fake skeleton hung in a human sized cage, and of course the skeletons mouth was hanging wide open. I will have to check that out one of these days. I do not think you see that museum listed in many of the guide books.
It was a beautiful day in Siena, and being the weekend, there were a lot of tourists. Americans were speaking English, I heard some French buzz by my ear a few times, and of course there are always the British. I sat on the ground in the Campo, like everyone else does when it is beautiful outside, and wrote for an hour and a half to everyone in the world I knew. I really enjoy getting out in the mornings, and I was so pleased with how pleasant it was to simply sit and people watch, I thought I might do this more often.
I had planned on going to see an exhibit on artists and madness, but I did not have enough time, what with missing my stop this morning, and then trying to find my way back, I just did not have the time, but I figure it is something to bring me back again. So, I made my way down to the bus. I was there in plenty of time, just sitting on the bench at the stop right outside the escalator doors, when all the sudden this great blue bus comes roaring past me. No breaks, no nothing, I barely had time to read that the bus was going to San Gusme, let alone stand up. You see, the bus stop is on the far end of a curve on a hill so the buses (all standards here) must not like to slow down. I actually sat waiting for another ten minutes, hoping it was just my imagination, and that the bus had not in fact just flown by me like a chicken on fire. Unfortunately, when I asked the girl sitting next to me where she was going, she was so kind to tell me that I missed the bus I was waiting for, and after looking at the posted bus schedule with me, told me I would have to wait another hour for the next one. I thanked her, and went on my way. Some might say I could have gone back up into the city, but everyone closes from one to three for lunch, and it was one o’clock when my bus was supposed to arrive. So, I made my way up to the stop ahead of where I was. At least this stop was more open and I had a chance to prepare for the bus’s arrival. Also, something I did not know was that you have to flag down your bus, as if you were hailing a taxi. I was very glad, by the end of the day, that I had taken the bus once before my classes started because being all hot and smelly for the first day of class would have made me so uncomfortable.
While waiting at the bus stop I met a Roman woman and her husband. She asked me how many gates there were to the city, and I told her I had no idea. Her husband then took off, and she told me they had forgotten where they had parked their car. She said he normally had a good sense of direction, but that they had been walking a lot today and just got turned around. Then she asked me why I was here, and I told her I worked for an American family in Tuscany, and that I was starting language school on Monday, and that I had missed the bus because it when flying past me without stopping so I was waiting for the next one which would come in another hour. I was actually pretty amazed I understood most of what she was saying, but some days are really good for me. She left after about forty minutes. I did not see her husband so I wonder if she went off in search of him, but she waved at me and I did the same. Finally, finally, the bus showed up. Of course it was the same unhappy driver, and this time the bus was loaded up with school children. High school children come into the city for school and have to take the public bus to and from if their parents do not drive them. Fortunately, I was able to find a place in the back. I made it home safe and sound.
The first thing I did was check to see if I had any mail in the mailbox, which I did, and then I went back to the apartment to make a quick lunch, by this time it was almost three in the afternoon and I had not eaten since 7:30 that morning. I gobbled it down, and then bolted to use the free internet downstairs so I could talk to mom and dad. Afterwards, I just decided there was no way I could go over to the big house and have to clean up a big mess. I left Sam a note and an email explaining that I was taking tonight and tomorrow night off (actually I already have those days off, but I like to give a little notice when I am not going to be there for a meal), and headed up to my room where I showered, and went to bed early.
So, here I am. It is Sunday morning, the bells of the old church are ringing, it is 7:45am, and I think it will be a good day. I hope yours is too.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Photos, Photos, Photos!
My Carnations. I am especially patriotic since my vase is blue glass!
My New kitchen, I think the only difference you will see are some hanging pans and spoons to the right.
Organization even behind closed doors.
Check out my new room. Notice the new rug and bedding!
Another view, check out my cute lamp.
Ah, and finally the Gerber Daisies. I could never really get a great shot of them...
Thursday, March 12, 2009
One Step Back, Twelve Steps Forward
So far, the sun has been out every day for almost a week. I keep checking the weather channel online with a slight fear that the next day will bring back the ugly winter weather, but so far, I have been saved. Spring is upon us now. The average daily temperature just falling short of 60 degrees, I would say pleasant would be the correct word to describe the current weather here (Although, it would be really nice if it were 70 and sunny, that would be perfect). Since I am still wearing a cuddl dud every day, I cannot say it is warm, but at least the general chill is gone.
The girls have been in such expectation of Sam's arrival that there is hardly a moment of peace in the apartment when they are home. Always they are fighting over whose turn it is to use the computer, or what movie they will watch that night, or where one does their homework, the other inevitably crowds them. These past few days I have been so absorbed in my own issues, I have mostly stayed in Pam and Sam's room with the door shut. Who cares if they stay up till midnight hitting one another, I am still getting them up at 7am and I am not going to lose a bit of sleep over it. They are both good children, but they are sisters, and there is just no way to get around them fighting. Perhaps one day they will grow up to be best friends... but I doubt it; I bet they will end up more like Ashley and I; friendly, but not friends. They are exactly the same amount of years apart as Ashley and I, and I think that siblings, who end up best friends with one another, are either much closer or much further apart in age. Four years is not close enough apart or far enough apart. Still, the time has flown since Pam and Sam have been gone, and I have thoroughly enjoyed having complete, uninhibited access to the internet, and being able to rule the roost. I prefer ruling to following.
I think you all know I have been dreading going back to my dirty, cold littler apartment, but that has all changed. Mom persuaded me to go and buy a few things for my apartment to make it feel like home. If you are buying a lot, let's say curtains, or bedding, or kitchenware, the place you go to find the best prices is the market. While Castelnuovo Berardenga does have a little market that comes every Thursday from 8am to 1pm, it is small and limited; aka, the prices are higher and the selection is not as good. The real market to go to is the one in Siena, which is held every Wednesday from 8am to 1pm. Knowing Sam was coming home in less than 72 hours, I begged Caterina to take me to the market so I could buy all new bedding and blankets. I am just about sick of bundling up in a mass of cat hair. I mean, seriously, if you had a foreign guest coming to live with you, would you hand them dirty blankets and sheets for their bed?? I think not, but would you hand them sheets and blankets filled with cat hair....apparently some people do, and think this is no problem. Let me tell you, it is a problem. If you have pets and have pet hair all over your house, be respectful to your guests and their allergies. Do what you have to do to get the pet hair out of your house so your guest can relax. Ok, that was my little rant, and it's over now :).
Caterina, being the nice woman she is, told me she would take me to the market to buy all the things I wanted so long as I could get on the bus and meet her in Castelnuovo. I readily agreed, and the next morning I go on the bus-fortunately there was a different bus driver!-and make my way to Castelnuovo. However, when I get off of the bus, Caterina is not there. So, I wandered around looking for her car for about five minutes until I came back to the bus stop where I saw her car parked on the other side of the road. She said she had been a little late getting out of the house, and apologized. By this time, it was already 9:15, and parking for the market was going to be impossible. Caterina looked in several parking lots, but ended up parking at a gas station a little up the road from the bus stop. You see, Siena is not quite as well laid out as Florence or Bologna. The train station is on the outskirts of Siena, and although you can walk from the station to the city center, it is about a 2.5 mile uphill trek. Also, everyone would know you were a foreigner since everyone takes the bus. It costs 90 eurocents to take the bus up to the city center, and it is money well spent. It was 10am when we finally came upon the market which was in full swing. There were people everywhere shopping for everything from underwear in a box, to kitchen ladles. In the first thirty minutes Caterina and I came upon a stall we liked. I had seen a nice comforter at another stall, but the woman brushed Caterina off when Caterina tried to ask her a question, so Caterina say Au Revoir, and we went on our way. We are both like that, if someone does not take the time to help us, we just move on to the next stall. After all, it is not like anyone at the market is selling handmade baubles. Most vendors are selling the same stuff at different prices, and there is a good chance that all of it is made by Chinese workers which Italian factory owners import and pay practically nothing. Sometimes, I wonder what we would do without China or all of the poor countries in the world for that matter. If we were all rich, I think eventually the whole world would be poor. Still, what do I can if some Chinese worker made my bed sheets for a grain of rice? You cannot help everyone in the world, and when you have little money, you cannot afford to say I will buy more expensive but know it is from Italian workers. I will leave all that to the rich.
So, like I was saying, in about thirty minutes, we came upon a stall we liked, and I bought a cream colored quilt with little antique looking roses on it, a cream and light pink thick wool blanket, a set of pink and purple sheets, and a new rug for my apartment (one of those woven Navajo looking ones which, at the time I was not too crazy about, but now I like a lot). In the beginning I bought the rug because it was relatively light and could be easily folded down into a sack. After a little more shopping I ended up buying a Ladle (for one euro), some little "S" hooks, a small rug for when I step out of bed in the morning, a French style, white washed lamp, and a cream lampshade to go over it, and two light bulbs. All of this cost me 111 Euros, which I would say is a pretty good deal. I still have to get some more little things, but they can be gotten in Castelnuovo, and I am not in such a rush for them. The one thing I did not do was wash my pink sheets before I put them on my bed. I did not even think about it until I had the whole bed made, and I was so tired afterwards, I am just going to take my chances and sleep on them for a few days anyway. The apartment is seriously dusty, and although I would like to stay home tomorrow to clean it, I know I need to ride the bus into, and out of Siena, find where exactly my school is (and clock how long it takes me to walk there), as well as just take some me time. So, I guess I will just be cleaning on Saturday; and maybe as a treat I will go into Castelnuovo.
Sheryl, the old nanny, is coming back for a two week visit on Saturday. The girls are really excited since I think she was their favorite. When she was here she started up this relationship with one of the Italians that works in one of the restaurants here, and now she is coming back for her booty call. :D Okay, maybe not a "booty call", but they will certainly be spending some time together. Emma wants to go over to the apartment she is renting to sleep with her for a few nights, and I wonder, Sheryl must know about the diaper thing then. Oh, and just as a side note, Emma wet her bed last night, so the girls were already up when I went to wake them up. I did not say anything to her excuse, and just asked the girls if they would put the sheets in the washer to save me a little time. I washed them on super hot with some serious detergent action. I think everyone in this family loves Sheryl, so I am really anxious to meet this godlike figure. I think she must be liberal, like the family, and probably not as clean or organized as myself; Birds of a feather, you know.
I am really anxious to get paid! I have been going almost a month with no salary whatsoever, and now I am getting down to the end of my cash flow, and since I forgot to bring my debit card with me, I really have no way of getting any more money, so I am very very happy Sam is coming back. I am also curious, because Pam had mentioned to me, before she left, that she had decided to pay me two hundred Euros on the weeks she and Sam were gone. I am anxious to see if Sam pays me two hundred Euros per week or just one hundred. Either way will be fine, and since I would feel weird about asking, I will just take what they give me.
Finally, just in case you all did not know, this Monday I will be starting my Intensive Italian session which will last for two straight weeks. I am very excited, and I am going to do my best to be as outgoing as possible so I can meet new people, and hopefully create some sort of friend base. Then, at the first of April, Pam and Sam have their first tour, then I am headed to England for nine days, and then P&S are on tour again, I have a little bit of a break in May and hope to either travel some more or take more courses at this Siena school I am currently enrolled in. Then it will be June, and then the summer. Finally, I have found enough activities for myself (although I am still looking for piano lessons), and it feels like time is going to start flying, but I am prepared for the breeze. I just have to keep my mind on smooth sailing and the bumps will not seem quite so major.
The girls have been in such expectation of Sam's arrival that there is hardly a moment of peace in the apartment when they are home. Always they are fighting over whose turn it is to use the computer, or what movie they will watch that night, or where one does their homework, the other inevitably crowds them. These past few days I have been so absorbed in my own issues, I have mostly stayed in Pam and Sam's room with the door shut. Who cares if they stay up till midnight hitting one another, I am still getting them up at 7am and I am not going to lose a bit of sleep over it. They are both good children, but they are sisters, and there is just no way to get around them fighting. Perhaps one day they will grow up to be best friends... but I doubt it; I bet they will end up more like Ashley and I; friendly, but not friends. They are exactly the same amount of years apart as Ashley and I, and I think that siblings, who end up best friends with one another, are either much closer or much further apart in age. Four years is not close enough apart or far enough apart. Still, the time has flown since Pam and Sam have been gone, and I have thoroughly enjoyed having complete, uninhibited access to the internet, and being able to rule the roost. I prefer ruling to following.
I think you all know I have been dreading going back to my dirty, cold littler apartment, but that has all changed. Mom persuaded me to go and buy a few things for my apartment to make it feel like home. If you are buying a lot, let's say curtains, or bedding, or kitchenware, the place you go to find the best prices is the market. While Castelnuovo Berardenga does have a little market that comes every Thursday from 8am to 1pm, it is small and limited; aka, the prices are higher and the selection is not as good. The real market to go to is the one in Siena, which is held every Wednesday from 8am to 1pm. Knowing Sam was coming home in less than 72 hours, I begged Caterina to take me to the market so I could buy all new bedding and blankets. I am just about sick of bundling up in a mass of cat hair. I mean, seriously, if you had a foreign guest coming to live with you, would you hand them dirty blankets and sheets for their bed?? I think not, but would you hand them sheets and blankets filled with cat hair....apparently some people do, and think this is no problem. Let me tell you, it is a problem. If you have pets and have pet hair all over your house, be respectful to your guests and their allergies. Do what you have to do to get the pet hair out of your house so your guest can relax. Ok, that was my little rant, and it's over now :).
Caterina, being the nice woman she is, told me she would take me to the market to buy all the things I wanted so long as I could get on the bus and meet her in Castelnuovo. I readily agreed, and the next morning I go on the bus-fortunately there was a different bus driver!-and make my way to Castelnuovo. However, when I get off of the bus, Caterina is not there. So, I wandered around looking for her car for about five minutes until I came back to the bus stop where I saw her car parked on the other side of the road. She said she had been a little late getting out of the house, and apologized. By this time, it was already 9:15, and parking for the market was going to be impossible. Caterina looked in several parking lots, but ended up parking at a gas station a little up the road from the bus stop. You see, Siena is not quite as well laid out as Florence or Bologna. The train station is on the outskirts of Siena, and although you can walk from the station to the city center, it is about a 2.5 mile uphill trek. Also, everyone would know you were a foreigner since everyone takes the bus. It costs 90 eurocents to take the bus up to the city center, and it is money well spent. It was 10am when we finally came upon the market which was in full swing. There were people everywhere shopping for everything from underwear in a box, to kitchen ladles. In the first thirty minutes Caterina and I came upon a stall we liked. I had seen a nice comforter at another stall, but the woman brushed Caterina off when Caterina tried to ask her a question, so Caterina say Au Revoir, and we went on our way. We are both like that, if someone does not take the time to help us, we just move on to the next stall. After all, it is not like anyone at the market is selling handmade baubles. Most vendors are selling the same stuff at different prices, and there is a good chance that all of it is made by Chinese workers which Italian factory owners import and pay practically nothing. Sometimes, I wonder what we would do without China or all of the poor countries in the world for that matter. If we were all rich, I think eventually the whole world would be poor. Still, what do I can if some Chinese worker made my bed sheets for a grain of rice? You cannot help everyone in the world, and when you have little money, you cannot afford to say I will buy more expensive but know it is from Italian workers. I will leave all that to the rich.
So, like I was saying, in about thirty minutes, we came upon a stall we liked, and I bought a cream colored quilt with little antique looking roses on it, a cream and light pink thick wool blanket, a set of pink and purple sheets, and a new rug for my apartment (one of those woven Navajo looking ones which, at the time I was not too crazy about, but now I like a lot). In the beginning I bought the rug because it was relatively light and could be easily folded down into a sack. After a little more shopping I ended up buying a Ladle (for one euro), some little "S" hooks, a small rug for when I step out of bed in the morning, a French style, white washed lamp, and a cream lampshade to go over it, and two light bulbs. All of this cost me 111 Euros, which I would say is a pretty good deal. I still have to get some more little things, but they can be gotten in Castelnuovo, and I am not in such a rush for them. The one thing I did not do was wash my pink sheets before I put them on my bed. I did not even think about it until I had the whole bed made, and I was so tired afterwards, I am just going to take my chances and sleep on them for a few days anyway. The apartment is seriously dusty, and although I would like to stay home tomorrow to clean it, I know I need to ride the bus into, and out of Siena, find where exactly my school is (and clock how long it takes me to walk there), as well as just take some me time. So, I guess I will just be cleaning on Saturday; and maybe as a treat I will go into Castelnuovo.
Sheryl, the old nanny, is coming back for a two week visit on Saturday. The girls are really excited since I think she was their favorite. When she was here she started up this relationship with one of the Italians that works in one of the restaurants here, and now she is coming back for her booty call. :D Okay, maybe not a "booty call", but they will certainly be spending some time together. Emma wants to go over to the apartment she is renting to sleep with her for a few nights, and I wonder, Sheryl must know about the diaper thing then. Oh, and just as a side note, Emma wet her bed last night, so the girls were already up when I went to wake them up. I did not say anything to her excuse, and just asked the girls if they would put the sheets in the washer to save me a little time. I washed them on super hot with some serious detergent action. I think everyone in this family loves Sheryl, so I am really anxious to meet this godlike figure. I think she must be liberal, like the family, and probably not as clean or organized as myself; Birds of a feather, you know.
I am really anxious to get paid! I have been going almost a month with no salary whatsoever, and now I am getting down to the end of my cash flow, and since I forgot to bring my debit card with me, I really have no way of getting any more money, so I am very very happy Sam is coming back. I am also curious, because Pam had mentioned to me, before she left, that she had decided to pay me two hundred Euros on the weeks she and Sam were gone. I am anxious to see if Sam pays me two hundred Euros per week or just one hundred. Either way will be fine, and since I would feel weird about asking, I will just take what they give me.
Finally, just in case you all did not know, this Monday I will be starting my Intensive Italian session which will last for two straight weeks. I am very excited, and I am going to do my best to be as outgoing as possible so I can meet new people, and hopefully create some sort of friend base. Then, at the first of April, Pam and Sam have their first tour, then I am headed to England for nine days, and then P&S are on tour again, I have a little bit of a break in May and hope to either travel some more or take more courses at this Siena school I am currently enrolled in. Then it will be June, and then the summer. Finally, I have found enough activities for myself (although I am still looking for piano lessons), and it feels like time is going to start flying, but I am prepared for the breeze. I just have to keep my mind on smooth sailing and the bumps will not seem quite so major.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
An Early Morning Meditation
Technically, I think I should be giving more attention to my face than to my blog right now. The wookie in me is starting to come out, and even though no one, young or old, keeps their face plucked here, it is just becoming downright embarrassing to me. Still, it is a very crisp beautiful Sunday morning and I thought I would put a few thoughts down before I go conquer my goals for today.
Again we have sun today so my eyes were open at 7:06 this morning. I could have gotten up, but I chose to lie in bed for another hour (it is Sunday after all). Right before eight o'clock, I got up to find the cat had been in the ashes, yet again. He is not looking for a litter box; he just likes to play in the old ashes like children like to play in sandboxes. Of course, he is only eight months old, so this does not surprise me. When I first came, Sam was quite frustrated Caterina was constantly cleaning out the ashes and asked her to please leave them so starting a new fire would not be so difficult. She is coming again this Tuesday, and I am just going to tell her the ashes have to go. It is almost every morning now I wake up to little cat footprints scattered all over the apartment and I really think I am going to kill this cat if something cannot be done to solve this problem. The girls, in the very beginning were totally expecting me to clean up every one of the cats messes, and I nipped that in the bud pretty quickly. Hell, these are not even MY cats! I will never forget Emma saying to me "ooo, Casey look as the mess you are going to have to clean up. Leo turned one of Momma's plants over." Oh my Lord, I was so shocked anyone would address me like that. I am the babysitter not the maid, and to be quite honest, when it is just me and the girls they need to know that they have to help out. I have, of course, talked to them about this and said that, like cleaning the litter box and giving them food, picking up after their messes is just part of having an animal. Told them I was willing to help them pick up a mess, but it was not MY job to do it as they are not even my pets.
Leo is the biggest trouble making cat I have ever come upon. He is constantly into things he is not suppose to be into, and constantly all over me whenever it is time to go to bed. I kid you not, last night I turned over on my stomach, turned out the light, and before I knew it, there was this little creature snoring on my back. Mostly, since I try to sleep on my side, he likes to sleep butted up again my stomach in the natural cradle my body makes. The first time I realized he was down there I turned to move onto my other side and all the sudden this face popped up from my stomach and scared me half to death.
This morning I perfected my egg poaching skills. I dropped two eggs into a pan of hot water, made two slices of toast, added the smallest of small pats of butter to the center of each slice, cut some strawberries and poured myself a glass of milk. It was a great breakfast, and since the girls do not wake up until after ten in the morning on the weekends, I had a nice, pleasant breakfast all to myself. The morning is crisp, clear, and beautiful. There is not a hint of fog, or a cloud in the sky. You can see the gleaming white tower of the Sienese Duomo clearly from Pam and Sam's window, and the day is just beautiful. Half of me wants to get on a bus and go into town, it would be a wonderful day to walk the streets of Siena, but I must stay since the girls have to do homework today, and even if they did not, the bus system is sparse on Sundays and super crowded since less buses run. I am planning on going back to the Market in Siena this Wednesday, so hopefully I will make that work. The weather is forecasting clear skies for the next week and a half; keep your fingers crossed for me!
Again we have sun today so my eyes were open at 7:06 this morning. I could have gotten up, but I chose to lie in bed for another hour (it is Sunday after all). Right before eight o'clock, I got up to find the cat had been in the ashes, yet again. He is not looking for a litter box; he just likes to play in the old ashes like children like to play in sandboxes. Of course, he is only eight months old, so this does not surprise me. When I first came, Sam was quite frustrated Caterina was constantly cleaning out the ashes and asked her to please leave them so starting a new fire would not be so difficult. She is coming again this Tuesday, and I am just going to tell her the ashes have to go. It is almost every morning now I wake up to little cat footprints scattered all over the apartment and I really think I am going to kill this cat if something cannot be done to solve this problem. The girls, in the very beginning were totally expecting me to clean up every one of the cats messes, and I nipped that in the bud pretty quickly. Hell, these are not even MY cats! I will never forget Emma saying to me "ooo, Casey look as the mess you are going to have to clean up. Leo turned one of Momma's plants over." Oh my Lord, I was so shocked anyone would address me like that. I am the babysitter not the maid, and to be quite honest, when it is just me and the girls they need to know that they have to help out. I have, of course, talked to them about this and said that, like cleaning the litter box and giving them food, picking up after their messes is just part of having an animal. Told them I was willing to help them pick up a mess, but it was not MY job to do it as they are not even my pets.
Leo is the biggest trouble making cat I have ever come upon. He is constantly into things he is not suppose to be into, and constantly all over me whenever it is time to go to bed. I kid you not, last night I turned over on my stomach, turned out the light, and before I knew it, there was this little creature snoring on my back. Mostly, since I try to sleep on my side, he likes to sleep butted up again my stomach in the natural cradle my body makes. The first time I realized he was down there I turned to move onto my other side and all the sudden this face popped up from my stomach and scared me half to death.
This morning I perfected my egg poaching skills. I dropped two eggs into a pan of hot water, made two slices of toast, added the smallest of small pats of butter to the center of each slice, cut some strawberries and poured myself a glass of milk. It was a great breakfast, and since the girls do not wake up until after ten in the morning on the weekends, I had a nice, pleasant breakfast all to myself. The morning is crisp, clear, and beautiful. There is not a hint of fog, or a cloud in the sky. You can see the gleaming white tower of the Sienese Duomo clearly from Pam and Sam's window, and the day is just beautiful. Half of me wants to get on a bus and go into town, it would be a wonderful day to walk the streets of Siena, but I must stay since the girls have to do homework today, and even if they did not, the bus system is sparse on Sundays and super crowded since less buses run. I am planning on going back to the Market in Siena this Wednesday, so hopefully I will make that work. The weather is forecasting clear skies for the next week and a half; keep your fingers crossed for me!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Making the Best of Things
I never thought I would miss yoga as much as I do now. I guess before I left the States, I really had no time to drive twenty minutes to a yoga class, and after an hour and a half, drive back home. When I was working, I was lucky if I made it out of bed in time to get to work, but now that I have all this free time, time to work on me, I have no access to what I want.
People in Italy do not work out. It is a challenge to even find a sports bra here. I decided, since I had so much time on my hands, I would start a little morning workout schedule, but getting the right gear to work out is like finding a needle in a haystack. My knees have been hurting me for a while now. Every morning I wake up already sore, and I thought if I could just get back to yoga, perhaps all the stairs would not give my knees such pain. Still, getting anything of convinence here is just about out of the question. The only thing Amazon will ship to Italy is books, and some DVDs. And everyone else has pretty much followed their lead. If you want something from an Italian website, you need to have a credit card that has an Italian billing address. So... I guess in many ways I am stuck. I did, however, see some information listed through Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Siena (the school where I will be going starting the week after this one for two weeks of Intensive Italian Language courses) saying they had a yoga program, or could help you find where to go do yoga in Siena. Honestly, I am just riding out this next week hoping that the school will provide me with everything I want to know so I am not so in the dark about finding normal items in Italy.
At first, well, after the first, but in the beginning, I really though "What the *expletive* am I doing here in this backwards country?" No dryers, No microwaves, my apartment (with the new family) is like a little ice box, No car, No good bus system, it rains almost every day....
When you first come to Italy, or really, any European country I think, you are just so amazed to 1) be there, and 2) to be seeing things you learned about in history class. Life in Europe definitely seems simpler, and less interrupted by the stress and busyness Americans face every day. Even on a long vacation, you leave before the novelty of simplicity wears off. If you were to stay, no doubt you would be wondering the same thing I was after the newness wore off. In Europe everything is old and crumbling. Nothing is energy efficient, homes just do not stay so clean, it is cold, you cannot find the same foods you loved back home (Italy is very anti-globalization), and everything just seems upside down. I believe they call this "culture shock". I didn't realize what it was until after it had set in for a few weeks. I thought I was just, well, spoiled in a way. I hate to live without convenience, and even more, I hate living in a place I feel I cannot get fully clean (you cannot even buy distilled vinegar here because no one knows what it is! Fortunately, they at least have ammonia). I would talk to mom, and every day she would just be frustrated with my "unhappiness". I certainly had no idea how to solve the problem. I was frustrated with not picking up Italian faster, I was frustrated with it always raining and being cold, I was frustrated with no being able to go to the mall to get some more LIP BALM FROM THE BODY SHOP!!!, and of course, nothing can be bought here via the Internet (well, I am still a little frustrated with this, but I am trying to just get over it).
Then, one day I woke up, and things were not so bad. The sun was shining, for once, the weather was a little warmer, I talked to everyone who I saw in San Gusme, and they all answered me with smiles and questions, which I generally understood. I found a French teacher online and signed up for Italian school within two days, and suddenly, life started getting a little better. I was not so annoyed with the inconvienence, or the fact that I would never ever get my apartment 100% dirt free, and things started falling into place. I realized that even though I will, probably, never end up living in Europe... Tangent Alert
You know, I actually think I could live in Europe, even Italy, if I had an apartment that you were actually meant to live in like how Pam and Sam have. My apartment was once an old pottery store and where I live now was storage, and to generally protect their goods from the weather, windows were bolted on to the apartment walls, no caulk, no nothing, so the place is very drafty, and technically, it is not fit to live in. But, if I had an actual apartment I could make it pretty nice. The floors here are all red brick title, so during the winter I would lay out heavy rugs end to end, and hang heavy curtains on the windows to keep out the cold. It would really not be so bad if my living conditions were better I think. Everything else, I can do without (oatmeal, dried apricots, those are little luxuries, and I am told you actually can find those things in this special market in Florence). Plus, having a car would make my life much easier.
But, back to what I was saying. Even though I will probably come back to America, specifically to Texas, and even more specifically to Fort Worth, I am glad to be traveling now. I am glad to be here in Italy, trying to become fluent in Italian, and I am glad to have made the choice to come here. Of course, as a dear friend once said "you aren't going to wake up happy everyday", and I fully expect this. Some days here will probably suck, but for now, I am feeling better. I am glad I made the choice to come because it has helped me see another side of the world, but more importantly, because coming here, to Italy, and seeing what these people have, makes me realize what I want. I want to be back in Texas living in a nice home with all the conveniences of modern life, and I want to have my own business, and I realize now that, if along the way, I need to get a job I do not so much like in order to pay the bills, then I will and know that whatever the job may be, it will not last forever.
In other news, this past Wednesday I went to the big market in Siena with Caterina, the woman who cleans Pam and Sam's house, and my newest Italian friend. I realized once she made me a bracelet that we would be good friends. She is 38 and is married with a little boy. She has a cute apartment and lives in Castelnuovo. She offered to take me because she was going to the market herself, and she knew I had never been before. Unfortunately, it had to rain that day. We went anyway though. I wanted to see the market so badly; I just made the best of it. Still, the longer we stayed and tried to wait out the rain, the harder the rain fell. Caterina thought we should go when she looked down and saw the legs of my jeans were soaked up to mid calf. Fortunately, I had had the presence of mind to put on my cowboy boots that morning, and my feet stayed pleasantly dry all day long.
I had no intention of actually buying anything at the market. I figured I would just follow Caterina around and do a little browsing. Before I knew it I was set with a box grater, a tea kettle (oh my god, my mouth fell open when I saw this little thing for sale. I was floored because I thought you could not find a tea kettle in Italy. Everyone here makes their tea in a small pot and then pours it into their cup. So, I had to have it when I saw it.), Two large, lined wicker baskets which I put under my sink to hold chemicals and food, a set of wooden cooking utensils (spoon, spatula, and pasta fork), a long v-neck cashmere sweater (10 Euros), and two 'Jerzees' brand long sleeve zip up fleece jackets. There were several other things I saw that I wanted as well, but we literally ran back to the car, and I did not want to get even more wet by stopping at an extra stall. I think the fleece jacket was my best purchase. I bought one thick and one thin. I have not worn the thin one yet, so I do not know how warm it is, but the light blue thick one I bought I have worn every day since I got it. It is super warm, and for once I am not really cold. Of course, I am also sitting over in Pam and Sam's apartment now, so that might have something to do with it as well, but still. I am very pleased with my purchase, and might even buy another if I go back to the market soon. It is held every Wednesday morning of every week, so I am sure I will make it back sooner or later.
Finally, in an effort to not eat so much junk in the morning, I have started making myself a proper, filling breakfast. You cannot get oatmeal here (well, actually I think you can, but you have to go to a large grocery store to find it and there is no large grocery near here), and that would really be the best because it is so filling. So, I thought I would make an egg. But, what is the healthiest way to cook an egg. I had to really think about this because no one wants to take the time to boil one every morning, or to eat a cold boiled egg (blah!) for breakfast. Scrambled or fried was out, and then it hit me. Poaching. 'How hard could it be?" I thought. I watched a little video on YouTube of a British man giving a demonstration of how to make a poached egg, and thought it did not seem so difficult.
The first egg I cracked broke; the second one did not cook correctly. Like, all the white part of the egg spread to every corner of the water, leaving the yolk without a nest. The third and fourth cooked just fine. I had already made some toast. How? you might ask since there are no toasters here, well I just held each piece of bread, using tongs, over the open gas flame. Unfortunately, I cooked the eggs for a little too long, and the yolks were more firm than running. Still they were not cooked all the way through, so I decided to give them I tried. I put each egg on a slice of toast with the smallest bit of butter directly underneath each. The put a little salt on top, and they were ready to eat. Actually, even though they were firmer than what I would have liked, they were in no way over cooked and I thought they were really good and filling. Hopefully my poaching skills will improve and I will be able to do this blind folded.
Today is Saturday, and since Pam and Sam have decided to stay for an extra week in the states, Giulia, the woman who comes to help the girls with their homework, is coming to take us to the supermarket around 4pm. I have somewhere around 70 Euros and I am thinking we are going to go over this amount, but who knows, I could be wrong. In any event, we need food, so I will just use some of my own money if I need to. Otherwise, today I am as free as a bird. I had my first French lesson through Skype yesterday, and so I think I will practice what I learned yesterday, work in my Italian book and start trying to learn to play the piano with this online piano website mom found for me. Maybe tonight I will watch dancing with the stars, or at least a little of it (remember it goes from 9pm to midnight or 1am here). I do not like to stay up quite so late because I wake up pretty early in the mornings. I do not cover the window in the bedroom. It looks like Pam and Sam have a curtain rod set up over the window, but mysteriously, it is bare. Instead, when Pam is here, she likes to stuff a beach towel into the window because she doesn't like the morning light. I just think that is crazy. When the mornings are sunny, I wake up no later than 7:10am and I feel very refreshed. It is very refreshing to be woken up early by the sun. So for today, it has started out being a good day. I hope there will be many more to come.
People in Italy do not work out. It is a challenge to even find a sports bra here. I decided, since I had so much time on my hands, I would start a little morning workout schedule, but getting the right gear to work out is like finding a needle in a haystack. My knees have been hurting me for a while now. Every morning I wake up already sore, and I thought if I could just get back to yoga, perhaps all the stairs would not give my knees such pain. Still, getting anything of convinence here is just about out of the question. The only thing Amazon will ship to Italy is books, and some DVDs. And everyone else has pretty much followed their lead. If you want something from an Italian website, you need to have a credit card that has an Italian billing address. So... I guess in many ways I am stuck. I did, however, see some information listed through Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Siena (the school where I will be going starting the week after this one for two weeks of Intensive Italian Language courses) saying they had a yoga program, or could help you find where to go do yoga in Siena. Honestly, I am just riding out this next week hoping that the school will provide me with everything I want to know so I am not so in the dark about finding normal items in Italy.
At first, well, after the first, but in the beginning, I really though "What the *expletive* am I doing here in this backwards country?" No dryers, No microwaves, my apartment (with the new family) is like a little ice box, No car, No good bus system, it rains almost every day....
When you first come to Italy, or really, any European country I think, you are just so amazed to 1) be there, and 2) to be seeing things you learned about in history class. Life in Europe definitely seems simpler, and less interrupted by the stress and busyness Americans face every day. Even on a long vacation, you leave before the novelty of simplicity wears off. If you were to stay, no doubt you would be wondering the same thing I was after the newness wore off. In Europe everything is old and crumbling. Nothing is energy efficient, homes just do not stay so clean, it is cold, you cannot find the same foods you loved back home (Italy is very anti-globalization), and everything just seems upside down. I believe they call this "culture shock". I didn't realize what it was until after it had set in for a few weeks. I thought I was just, well, spoiled in a way. I hate to live without convenience, and even more, I hate living in a place I feel I cannot get fully clean (you cannot even buy distilled vinegar here because no one knows what it is! Fortunately, they at least have ammonia). I would talk to mom, and every day she would just be frustrated with my "unhappiness". I certainly had no idea how to solve the problem. I was frustrated with not picking up Italian faster, I was frustrated with it always raining and being cold, I was frustrated with no being able to go to the mall to get some more LIP BALM FROM THE BODY SHOP!!!, and of course, nothing can be bought here via the Internet (well, I am still a little frustrated with this, but I am trying to just get over it).
Then, one day I woke up, and things were not so bad. The sun was shining, for once, the weather was a little warmer, I talked to everyone who I saw in San Gusme, and they all answered me with smiles and questions, which I generally understood. I found a French teacher online and signed up for Italian school within two days, and suddenly, life started getting a little better. I was not so annoyed with the inconvienence, or the fact that I would never ever get my apartment 100% dirt free, and things started falling into place. I realized that even though I will, probably, never end up living in Europe... Tangent Alert
You know, I actually think I could live in Europe, even Italy, if I had an apartment that you were actually meant to live in like how Pam and Sam have. My apartment was once an old pottery store and where I live now was storage, and to generally protect their goods from the weather, windows were bolted on to the apartment walls, no caulk, no nothing, so the place is very drafty, and technically, it is not fit to live in. But, if I had an actual apartment I could make it pretty nice. The floors here are all red brick title, so during the winter I would lay out heavy rugs end to end, and hang heavy curtains on the windows to keep out the cold. It would really not be so bad if my living conditions were better I think. Everything else, I can do without (oatmeal, dried apricots, those are little luxuries, and I am told you actually can find those things in this special market in Florence). Plus, having a car would make my life much easier.
But, back to what I was saying. Even though I will probably come back to America, specifically to Texas, and even more specifically to Fort Worth, I am glad to be traveling now. I am glad to be here in Italy, trying to become fluent in Italian, and I am glad to have made the choice to come here. Of course, as a dear friend once said "you aren't going to wake up happy everyday", and I fully expect this. Some days here will probably suck, but for now, I am feeling better. I am glad I made the choice to come because it has helped me see another side of the world, but more importantly, because coming here, to Italy, and seeing what these people have, makes me realize what I want. I want to be back in Texas living in a nice home with all the conveniences of modern life, and I want to have my own business, and I realize now that, if along the way, I need to get a job I do not so much like in order to pay the bills, then I will and know that whatever the job may be, it will not last forever.
In other news, this past Wednesday I went to the big market in Siena with Caterina, the woman who cleans Pam and Sam's house, and my newest Italian friend. I realized once she made me a bracelet that we would be good friends. She is 38 and is married with a little boy. She has a cute apartment and lives in Castelnuovo. She offered to take me because she was going to the market herself, and she knew I had never been before. Unfortunately, it had to rain that day. We went anyway though. I wanted to see the market so badly; I just made the best of it. Still, the longer we stayed and tried to wait out the rain, the harder the rain fell. Caterina thought we should go when she looked down and saw the legs of my jeans were soaked up to mid calf. Fortunately, I had had the presence of mind to put on my cowboy boots that morning, and my feet stayed pleasantly dry all day long.
I had no intention of actually buying anything at the market. I figured I would just follow Caterina around and do a little browsing. Before I knew it I was set with a box grater, a tea kettle (oh my god, my mouth fell open when I saw this little thing for sale. I was floored because I thought you could not find a tea kettle in Italy. Everyone here makes their tea in a small pot and then pours it into their cup. So, I had to have it when I saw it.), Two large, lined wicker baskets which I put under my sink to hold chemicals and food, a set of wooden cooking utensils (spoon, spatula, and pasta fork), a long v-neck cashmere sweater (10 Euros), and two 'Jerzees' brand long sleeve zip up fleece jackets. There were several other things I saw that I wanted as well, but we literally ran back to the car, and I did not want to get even more wet by stopping at an extra stall. I think the fleece jacket was my best purchase. I bought one thick and one thin. I have not worn the thin one yet, so I do not know how warm it is, but the light blue thick one I bought I have worn every day since I got it. It is super warm, and for once I am not really cold. Of course, I am also sitting over in Pam and Sam's apartment now, so that might have something to do with it as well, but still. I am very pleased with my purchase, and might even buy another if I go back to the market soon. It is held every Wednesday morning of every week, so I am sure I will make it back sooner or later.
Finally, in an effort to not eat so much junk in the morning, I have started making myself a proper, filling breakfast. You cannot get oatmeal here (well, actually I think you can, but you have to go to a large grocery store to find it and there is no large grocery near here), and that would really be the best because it is so filling. So, I thought I would make an egg. But, what is the healthiest way to cook an egg. I had to really think about this because no one wants to take the time to boil one every morning, or to eat a cold boiled egg (blah!) for breakfast. Scrambled or fried was out, and then it hit me. Poaching. 'How hard could it be?" I thought. I watched a little video on YouTube of a British man giving a demonstration of how to make a poached egg, and thought it did not seem so difficult.
The first egg I cracked broke; the second one did not cook correctly. Like, all the white part of the egg spread to every corner of the water, leaving the yolk without a nest. The third and fourth cooked just fine. I had already made some toast. How? you might ask since there are no toasters here, well I just held each piece of bread, using tongs, over the open gas flame. Unfortunately, I cooked the eggs for a little too long, and the yolks were more firm than running. Still they were not cooked all the way through, so I decided to give them I tried. I put each egg on a slice of toast with the smallest bit of butter directly underneath each. The put a little salt on top, and they were ready to eat. Actually, even though they were firmer than what I would have liked, they were in no way over cooked and I thought they were really good and filling. Hopefully my poaching skills will improve and I will be able to do this blind folded.
Today is Saturday, and since Pam and Sam have decided to stay for an extra week in the states, Giulia, the woman who comes to help the girls with their homework, is coming to take us to the supermarket around 4pm. I have somewhere around 70 Euros and I am thinking we are going to go over this amount, but who knows, I could be wrong. In any event, we need food, so I will just use some of my own money if I need to. Otherwise, today I am as free as a bird. I had my first French lesson through Skype yesterday, and so I think I will practice what I learned yesterday, work in my Italian book and start trying to learn to play the piano with this online piano website mom found for me. Maybe tonight I will watch dancing with the stars, or at least a little of it (remember it goes from 9pm to midnight or 1am here). I do not like to stay up quite so late because I wake up pretty early in the mornings. I do not cover the window in the bedroom. It looks like Pam and Sam have a curtain rod set up over the window, but mysteriously, it is bare. Instead, when Pam is here, she likes to stuff a beach towel into the window because she doesn't like the morning light. I just think that is crazy. When the mornings are sunny, I wake up no later than 7:10am and I feel very refreshed. It is very refreshing to be woken up early by the sun. So for today, it has started out being a good day. I hope there will be many more to come.
You Know Better Than Anyone
I am sorry it has taken me a whole week to make a new post to my blog. I would say you have no idea how crazy and tired you can get just taking care of children, but you probably know better than anyone the rat race of making sure this one has brushed their teeth, and the other has feed the cats. The list could go on forever. It is amazing how much help children need even after they seem old enough to essentially take care of themselves. Well, enough about that mess.
Since Pam and Sam have been gone, things have gone fairly well. We have yet to miss the bus in the morning. It is normally pulling away from the bus stop somewhere around 7:50am every morning, but we always manage to make it, no matter what the morning has been like. I have been good about making them finish their homework promptly, and each night the litter box is cleaned, and every morning and evening the cats are fed. Even when we are running late I can always make time for one of the girls to feed the cats in the morning. I am proud, in some ways, that I have not ended up doing all their work for them. Normally when their parents are here, I cannot make them clean up, oh let's say their movie mess and dishes. Pam will normally just send the girls to bed, and tell me she will get the dishes. What that means is she will get to think about getting the dishes, and inevitably, the next morning nothing has gone through the dishwasher, their is a mess everywhere, and as if this was not enough, generally dirty breakfast dishes are piled on top of that. Phew....
The girls have been good though about taking their dishes to the sink and picking up after themselves. Still, there is plenty to do. Making every meal for one thing is just tiring. For a while there were some problems. I gather Emma must have been complaining to her parents about the strictness of the house since they have been gone. Luckily, Pam and Sam do not seem to mind my form of strictness and they tell the girls it is good for them; that they are learning good habits. Emma was particularly upset when I would not allow her to simply not do her homework and wait for Giulia to "explain things" to her. Of course, Siena always has verb homework, or studying for a test that Giulia helps her with, but in general Emma just does not want to do her work and then when Giulia arrives, she just wants to dance in front of her talking in a voice that most resembles a smirff to me (and since she is so small I guess this is fitting.... although sometimes I just want to wring her little neck when she talks like that). So, I got up, read the instructions (in Italian mind you) and explain to her the instructions, which were to underline all of the characteristics of the main characters and the descriptions of the settings presented in the story. This was not rocket science people, there was no way she "didn't understand" this, she just wanted to wait for Giulia. Well, she was pissed I didn't let her wait, so when her mom called, she started complaining to her about how I would not let Giulia help her, etc. And then Pam wanted to talk to me. She told me she thought Emma was probably feeling left out and needed some attention from Giulia, and that it was okay if I left one or two things for Giulia to do with her. I told her that was fine with me, and we hung up on peaceful terms. I from the bedroom, which is where the phone lives, I went directly into the living room where I pulled up a chair and asked both of the girls, who were sitting on the couch on the internet, if they had any problems with me or things I was doing. Emma immediately piped up saying "Well, I just told Mamma to tell you that I sometimes need Giulia's help doing...." and the excuses and such just went on from there. I stopped her and told her, "well, you can tell me when you have a problem too. I will not get mad at you or snap at you. If you have a problem with something I am doing, just tell me and we will work it out. You do not need to wait for your mom to call to let me know there is a problem." Emma started to bring up Giulia again, and I told her Pam had told me that she was to finish as much homework as she could on her own before Giulia came, and when Emma's face went sour when I told her I could help her with little things she didn't understand, I told her that she could always just have Giulia check her work. So, to feel free to ask me questions, and then just have Giulia look over the work we do together to make sure it is correct. Emma seemed quite okay with this, and from that point on, she has given me these little periodic hugs. So, we are on better terms.
In other news, Sam is not returning tomorrow as originally planned. Apparently, they are having trouble getting their two Caliafornia rental homes ready, and Sam needed to stay until this coming Thursday; so, one more week with the girls. Not that I mind it. I am not getting sick of them, and I certainly prefer living with a little bit of insulation! You would not believe the difference in my place and Pam and Sam's place. My windows were just bolted over open holes in the walls, where as Pam and Sam actually have real, glass, air-tight windows. I am hoping that within this next week things will warm up even more and living back over in the apartment will not be so bad.
This past Tuesday was my first time to ride the bus from San Gusme to Castelnuovo Berardenga. Of course, I was so nervous that I had no idea what I was doing. While I was waiting for the bus everything was cool. I was really thinking I looked like a native, until I punched my ticket on the bus. Everyone else must be regulars because no one else even reached to punch their tickets. Still, I did not worry about that, and simply took my seat. It took us about six minutes to get to Castelnuovo, and of course, I recognized the area immediately. As we were coming into town, a woman was stopped on the side of the road and flagged down the bus driver. I guess she had a question about something or other, and I of course, thought this was the bus stop. So, I immediately get up to get off the bus. There is no space on this thing, even though it is a charter bus, there is barely enough room for one person to walk down the isle, but two people moving in opposite directions, is just impossible. Still, I am worried I am not going to get off at the right stop, so I stop the bus driver as he is closing the door, and wiggle off the bus. In retrospect, I must have looked pretty rude, getting off the way I did, and pushing past this woman. Still, I was so worried about missing my stop that I could not wait. I was horrified when the bus stopped just several feet ahead of me at the actual bus stop where people were both getting on and off. I was so embarrassed, I hung out behind this movie poster for several minutes until the bus was on its way again. After my brief humiliation, I went on my way to do a little of this and that in town. I bought a few spiral notebooks and a magazine at the one and only tabbacchi, I bought (and paid too much for) a strainer, and was horrified to find a significantly cheaper one at the grocery store.
The bad part about taking the bus where you want to go is that it does not come very often. For instance, the bus will drop you off at 9:05am and pick you up at 11:45, and if you miss that bus, there is not another one until one in the afternoon. Although, once Pam and Sam are back, that will be the better bus for me to take because there is less of a waiting time in between the two. So, I was finishing up my errands around 9:30am. I still had to go to the grocery store, but I figured that could only take me a maximum of thirty minutes, so I took out my cell phone to call Caterina. Caterina is the woman who comes once a week to clean Pam and Sam's apartment. She lives in Castelnuovo and we had become pretty friendly, so I was going to give her a call and ask if she would not mind taking me home so I did not have to wait two hours for the bus when... "Beep Beep". I have no idea why I turned to the honking car. I never normally do that, I mean who actually knows me here, but I did turn, and it was Caterina. She told me that she was suppose to clean the house today, and that she had to come find me because she does not have a key to the house. I told her I had to do some grocery shopping but if she could wait no more than twenty minutes, I could be out. She was happy to wait for me, and told me she had told Siena to remind me she was coming, which Siena never did. Oh well, at least I got a ride home. While I was blazing through the grocery store though, I did have the presence of mind to buy a skillet, good and cheap, as well as a few other essentials for my apartment.
By the time we got back to the apartment Caterina had lost about an hour of work time, but since the place is always picked up when she comes, she had no trouble getting finished at her usual hour. Actually, she has told me several times how she likes it when I am over here because I have the girls pick up their things and keep the place in some resemblance of order. I think, normally, when she comes to clean she has to pick up so much stuff that she cannot start cleaning for atleast an hour and a half. I mean, if you are going to hire someone to come and clean your house, at least keep it to where it can BE readily cleaned. Anyway, that day Caterina gave me a little bracelet she had made for me, cute but nothing fancy or extremely nice, but still a treasure to me because it is a symbol of friendship between us, and she also asked me if I wanted to go to the big market with her in Siena on Wednesday. Of course I wanted to go, and we made plans to leave at eight thirty the next morning. (More about the market later tonight!!)
Since Pam and Sam have been gone, things have gone fairly well. We have yet to miss the bus in the morning. It is normally pulling away from the bus stop somewhere around 7:50am every morning, but we always manage to make it, no matter what the morning has been like. I have been good about making them finish their homework promptly, and each night the litter box is cleaned, and every morning and evening the cats are fed. Even when we are running late I can always make time for one of the girls to feed the cats in the morning. I am proud, in some ways, that I have not ended up doing all their work for them. Normally when their parents are here, I cannot make them clean up, oh let's say their movie mess and dishes. Pam will normally just send the girls to bed, and tell me she will get the dishes. What that means is she will get to think about getting the dishes, and inevitably, the next morning nothing has gone through the dishwasher, their is a mess everywhere, and as if this was not enough, generally dirty breakfast dishes are piled on top of that. Phew....
The girls have been good though about taking their dishes to the sink and picking up after themselves. Still, there is plenty to do. Making every meal for one thing is just tiring. For a while there were some problems. I gather Emma must have been complaining to her parents about the strictness of the house since they have been gone. Luckily, Pam and Sam do not seem to mind my form of strictness and they tell the girls it is good for them; that they are learning good habits. Emma was particularly upset when I would not allow her to simply not do her homework and wait for Giulia to "explain things" to her. Of course, Siena always has verb homework, or studying for a test that Giulia helps her with, but in general Emma just does not want to do her work and then when Giulia arrives, she just wants to dance in front of her talking in a voice that most resembles a smirff to me (and since she is so small I guess this is fitting.... although sometimes I just want to wring her little neck when she talks like that). So, I got up, read the instructions (in Italian mind you) and explain to her the instructions, which were to underline all of the characteristics of the main characters and the descriptions of the settings presented in the story. This was not rocket science people, there was no way she "didn't understand" this, she just wanted to wait for Giulia. Well, she was pissed I didn't let her wait, so when her mom called, she started complaining to her about how I would not let Giulia help her, etc. And then Pam wanted to talk to me. She told me she thought Emma was probably feeling left out and needed some attention from Giulia, and that it was okay if I left one or two things for Giulia to do with her. I told her that was fine with me, and we hung up on peaceful terms. I from the bedroom, which is where the phone lives, I went directly into the living room where I pulled up a chair and asked both of the girls, who were sitting on the couch on the internet, if they had any problems with me or things I was doing. Emma immediately piped up saying "Well, I just told Mamma to tell you that I sometimes need Giulia's help doing...." and the excuses and such just went on from there. I stopped her and told her, "well, you can tell me when you have a problem too. I will not get mad at you or snap at you. If you have a problem with something I am doing, just tell me and we will work it out. You do not need to wait for your mom to call to let me know there is a problem." Emma started to bring up Giulia again, and I told her Pam had told me that she was to finish as much homework as she could on her own before Giulia came, and when Emma's face went sour when I told her I could help her with little things she didn't understand, I told her that she could always just have Giulia check her work. So, to feel free to ask me questions, and then just have Giulia look over the work we do together to make sure it is correct. Emma seemed quite okay with this, and from that point on, she has given me these little periodic hugs. So, we are on better terms.
In other news, Sam is not returning tomorrow as originally planned. Apparently, they are having trouble getting their two Caliafornia rental homes ready, and Sam needed to stay until this coming Thursday; so, one more week with the girls. Not that I mind it. I am not getting sick of them, and I certainly prefer living with a little bit of insulation! You would not believe the difference in my place and Pam and Sam's place. My windows were just bolted over open holes in the walls, where as Pam and Sam actually have real, glass, air-tight windows. I am hoping that within this next week things will warm up even more and living back over in the apartment will not be so bad.
This past Tuesday was my first time to ride the bus from San Gusme to Castelnuovo Berardenga. Of course, I was so nervous that I had no idea what I was doing. While I was waiting for the bus everything was cool. I was really thinking I looked like a native, until I punched my ticket on the bus. Everyone else must be regulars because no one else even reached to punch their tickets. Still, I did not worry about that, and simply took my seat. It took us about six minutes to get to Castelnuovo, and of course, I recognized the area immediately. As we were coming into town, a woman was stopped on the side of the road and flagged down the bus driver. I guess she had a question about something or other, and I of course, thought this was the bus stop. So, I immediately get up to get off the bus. There is no space on this thing, even though it is a charter bus, there is barely enough room for one person to walk down the isle, but two people moving in opposite directions, is just impossible. Still, I am worried I am not going to get off at the right stop, so I stop the bus driver as he is closing the door, and wiggle off the bus. In retrospect, I must have looked pretty rude, getting off the way I did, and pushing past this woman. Still, I was so worried about missing my stop that I could not wait. I was horrified when the bus stopped just several feet ahead of me at the actual bus stop where people were both getting on and off. I was so embarrassed, I hung out behind this movie poster for several minutes until the bus was on its way again. After my brief humiliation, I went on my way to do a little of this and that in town. I bought a few spiral notebooks and a magazine at the one and only tabbacchi, I bought (and paid too much for) a strainer, and was horrified to find a significantly cheaper one at the grocery store.
The bad part about taking the bus where you want to go is that it does not come very often. For instance, the bus will drop you off at 9:05am and pick you up at 11:45, and if you miss that bus, there is not another one until one in the afternoon. Although, once Pam and Sam are back, that will be the better bus for me to take because there is less of a waiting time in between the two. So, I was finishing up my errands around 9:30am. I still had to go to the grocery store, but I figured that could only take me a maximum of thirty minutes, so I took out my cell phone to call Caterina. Caterina is the woman who comes once a week to clean Pam and Sam's apartment. She lives in Castelnuovo and we had become pretty friendly, so I was going to give her a call and ask if she would not mind taking me home so I did not have to wait two hours for the bus when... "Beep Beep". I have no idea why I turned to the honking car. I never normally do that, I mean who actually knows me here, but I did turn, and it was Caterina. She told me that she was suppose to clean the house today, and that she had to come find me because she does not have a key to the house. I told her I had to do some grocery shopping but if she could wait no more than twenty minutes, I could be out. She was happy to wait for me, and told me she had told Siena to remind me she was coming, which Siena never did. Oh well, at least I got a ride home. While I was blazing through the grocery store though, I did have the presence of mind to buy a skillet, good and cheap, as well as a few other essentials for my apartment.
By the time we got back to the apartment Caterina had lost about an hour of work time, but since the place is always picked up when she comes, she had no trouble getting finished at her usual hour. Actually, she has told me several times how she likes it when I am over here because I have the girls pick up their things and keep the place in some resemblance of order. I think, normally, when she comes to clean she has to pick up so much stuff that she cannot start cleaning for atleast an hour and a half. I mean, if you are going to hire someone to come and clean your house, at least keep it to where it can BE readily cleaned. Anyway, that day Caterina gave me a little bracelet she had made for me, cute but nothing fancy or extremely nice, but still a treasure to me because it is a symbol of friendship between us, and she also asked me if I wanted to go to the big market with her in Siena on Wednesday. Of course I wanted to go, and we made plans to leave at eight thirty the next morning. (More about the market later tonight!!)
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