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.