First post from Italy, 2011

Whenever I start talking, or writing, I want to tell everything there is to tell! But since I really don’t have time to spare for sitting in front of my computer, I am going to post at least one interesting thing that happened each day I am in Italy. Featured today: a short account of my journey here, a fact about Italian men, and a fact about Italian women.

It started on Tuesday night, when I finally finished grading final exams and began packing. I had already planned what I wanted to bring (somewhat) and begun to set things out, but I still had some laundry to do and miles to go before I slept. And actually, I didn’t sleep that night. My dear cousin Amanda came to get me at 4:50 a.m. just as I had finished packing and changed into my travel clothes. She helped me empty the fridge of perishables and laughed as I had to lighten my suitcase by a few pounds. This amazing girl had to get up at 4 a.m. to get me. THANK YOU, AMANDA! We were (or at least I was) a bit slap-happy on the way to the metro.

So she took me to the metro, which I took to Reagan National, from whence (after an hour delay) I flew to JFK. I had a long layover in New York, but we left on time at 5 p.m. I was really tired by then, but I tried to stay awake all day long so that I could sleep on the plane. And I did, very well. You see, not long after I found my seat at the back of the plane (a window seat, 38G) the lady sitting next to me asked if I would switch with her daughter, who was sitting up several rows in 19G. Sure, I said. No problem. After I found my seat there, the flight attendant came up came up to say that those seats had been double-booked (or something that was unclear to me) and we had to move all the way up. I was now sitting in 1G. Business class. First class.

There were so many amenities, I didn’t know what to do with them all! Instead of a thin fleece blanket and small, flat pillow, passengers in first class get a comforter (practically) and a big, fluffy pillow. They also get noise-cancelling headphones, a bottle of water, and a completely different menu than the rest of the plane. I was so tired that I unfortunately did not get dinner, but I did enjoy the omelet for breakfast. And I really enjoyed the reclining seats as I slept.

So, it was a good flight! And even better, my suitcase turned up at the baggage claim. I kept thanking God after each successful stage of the journey. I took the train, then the metro, then a bus…and there were Anna and her friend, waiting to pick me up in Sora!

Since then I feel like I’ve done so much: hiked up to the old castle in Sora, dinner and il vino with Giuseppe (who is the father of Antonello, the owner, and only speaks Italian), lunch with all the volunteers at the house of Gabriele (who is a friend of Antonello and a park ranger in Abruzzo), and my first three hours of work. We cleaned rooms for guests and then I worked on sanding remnants of paint off an old door.

Observations from the past 24 hours:

Italian men are really great about helping with suitcases. One guy helped me get my 49-pound suitcase onto the train, and then two more helped me with the process of getting it on the bus.

Italian women like to match things. I spotted three matching outfits, yesterday. One lady had on golden-beige glasses, shirt, purse, shoes, and fingernails. Another lady had a blue patterned dress, light blue bag, and blue espadrilles. The third was wearing light purple from top to bottom. Oh, and I saw another all-purple outfit today.

Daily Life

I started to write about my trip to Rome, but I kept having to include details about the people I work with and our normal schedule. Therefore, here is a post dedicated to daily life at Via Piana. Let me know if I excluded anything.

Besides our host, Anna, I'm currently working with two other volunteers. Ross and Lauren are a couple who met each other working at a place in the Grand Canyon. They’ve been over here in Italy and Switzerland for about six months (Ross a bit longer than Lauren) and had lots of different experiences. They’ve been very kind in sharing their experiences and showing me the way things work around here. It was neat to hear about some of the other Workaway gigs they’ve had, ranging from awful to awesome. Most were good.

They are leaving this coming Tuesday, the 12th, which is why I decided to visit Rome last week while I knew there would still be other people to cover the work. I'll make other trips later as opportunity arises. Turns out that Jessica Fox might be in Italy during July (for her nanny job) and I’m going to try to visit her. It is so cool that we might meet on a foreign continent. Is it not cool? I’m definitely planning to visit Pompeii (and will definitely bring a sun-umbrella after getting burned in the Roman Forum yesterday). I am even getting my nerve up to visit Naples.

I really want to visit Napoli, especially as a fan of Michael Buble singing “Buona Sera”, but it’s not one of the safer cities in Italy. Some have told me to avoid it at all costs, some have told me to go in a group, other just say just don’t wander around aimlessly. A lady staying here at the b&b recently got robbed in Naples. Her purse was actually cut from her body; but it was after she left her hotel in the late evening and had withdrawn a lot of money from the Bancomat. Easy target, right? I should be able to avoid that if I already have money with me. I mainly want to go to one place: the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. It’s supposed to have more Pompeiian stuff than Pompeii itself. Anna thinks I should go. So that’s three more trips in the next three weeks: Naples, Pomepeii, and Jessi.

I guess I won't make any trips until the end of next week, since from the 12th-16th I’m supposed to be helping to teach English to Italian school kids. The idea was shared with me last week by Antonello, the guy who actually owns the b&b (Anna just manages it). Seems he’s always getting good ideas. But this one, I don’t know about. He expects me to know a little Italian to communicate with the kids. Very optimistic, if you ask me, but I have been practicing my conjugations. I know the verbs “to stay”, “to be”, “to do”, “to have”, “to give”, “to want”, “to go”, “to have to”, “to drink”, and maybe a few more in the present tense (presente). And I sort of know the perfect tense (passato prossimo). I know numbers and days of the week and a few months of the year and how to tell time and a few conversation openers – but I really can’t hold a conversation.

Antonello’s dad, Giuseppe (great name, eh?) cannot speak any English, so he’s a good one to make me practice Italian. I’m too intimidated to go over to the farm where they live, though, unless Anna is with me. She is very encouraging and helps me with Italian a lot. She is so good at languages! German is her native language, being from Austria, but she of course studied English in school, as well as Italian (and has been practicing Italian for a few years) and French. Oh, and six years of Latin. And ancient Greek. She went to a school that specialized in languages. I am jealous.

Most of the work (besides my first day here, when I helped to translate the menu of a local restaurant into English) has been physical or practical. There has been lots of sanding. Sanding rust off metal fixtures on a door (to be treated with an anti-rust coating), sanding an old wooden door (to be treated with anti-termite solution and then stained), and now sanding rusty railings (to be varnished). Beyond renovations, there are lots of plants that need to be watered (a garden with great lettuce and little chile plants, as well as herbs and cacti growing on the terrace) and animals that need to be cared for. Every day we feed the chickens with all our food scraps, supplemented by corn and wheat meal. We also feed the ducks and carry them down the steep hill to the stream (that is slowly drying up) behind the house. Soon their little chicken house will need to be cleaned. Gross.

Usually we just work for three hours, starting at 8:30 or 9 and ending at 11:30 or 12. Then we prepare and eat lunch, then a long siesta for the hot hours of the afternoon. This makes me think of the “quiet time” we always had growing up, when we were deposited in separate rooms and had to find some quiet activity (napping, reading, coloring, listening to records very quietly…I think the last was a luxury, actually) for an hour after lunch. There were times I hated it, but now it seems like a great idea! So that’s what we do, each on our own either take a nap, read, or work on the computer. Then we do usually do some activity such as hiking, shopping, walking into town, or the like. Later in the evening we eat dinner (usually no sooner than 7 and no later than 10).

Today I’m going to do my laundry, then all three of us are going to do some extra work to make up for day trips we each have taken while Anna cooks dinner. Then we’re going to go to a jazz festival in town. They literally have some sort of festival every night in July in this area. We went to a folk-ish festival last Saturday and I took a video of the music. I’ll try to post it later.

Hopefully that gives you a better idea of my day-to-day life here. Every day is the same, no breaks on Saturday or Sunday which is a little strange. I’ve thought about trying to go to church, but last week it was a bit much to find a local church within walking distance and the schedule besides. We’ll see what I can do in the coming weeks. Counting tomorrow there are four more Sundays to try. And three more weeks in Italy – how amazing!

Venerdi, 2 Luglio

Wow! Amazing! Beautiful! These are words I’ve been saying way too much since coming here to Via Piana. I got to Sora, just how I saw it on Google Maps’ street view (police station near the bus stop) and found Frederico’s Pizzeria. I called Anna with my brand new cell phone and stood on the corner for a while to wait. There was a little lightning and thunder in the distance (but it never got near enough to rain, fortunately). After a while, Frederico came out and told me I could sit down and wait, but that’s when Anna drove up.

She is so young, like me! I was definitely expecting someone older, maybe because of the formality of her emails. Maybe they sounded more “proper” because English is her second language. She is very good at English, though. And Italian. She is even helping me whenever I ask her how to say something. Anyway, she’s just 23 years old. She was working on her degree in Austria when she decided she just had to leave (out of boredom, I think). That’s when she moved here, about two years ago. Now she’s working on a communications major at the local university in Sora. She has more time over the winter, when there is less to do at the bed and breakfast. She said that actually the faculty and students were on strike right now because of some proposals to cut funding. Funny.

On our way back, we stopped to pick flowers at the farm, which is extremely “rustic” and has a rather unfinished farmhouse. Right now there is one person staying there from upstate New York. He didn’t look entirely happy about his living conditions. I don’t know if I would like it myself, but I did read the description on Workaway and I think it was pretty accurate. The “rustic farm” is owned by the same guy who owns the bed and breakfast, along with another working farm that also hosts visitors.

Then we got to the bed and breakfast. It’s down a very narrow and windy driveway (literally down, since it’s very hilly around here) with old buildings on each side. All of the buildings seem to be connected to each other, although I know they’re not. The building I’m staying in is very old, probably about 200 years old! It seems to be made of stone, plaster, and the red tile roof you see everywhere. The doorways and windows are wide rectangles and squares cut in the walls, usually with a simple wooden frame. *The door to the kitchen is actually an arch. Most of the rooms have a window in the frame, some do not. All the rooms are in varying stages of remodeling.

There are a couple of guest rooms that are really nice. They have window, tile floors, new beds, and electricity. The bathroom is also fully finished with a sink, mirror, electrical outlet, toilet, bidet (haha), and shower. The water pressure is great. The funniest part about the bathroom is the shower is not in a separate stall. You go into the bathroom, lock the door, and turn on the water, and try not to spray the whole room. Then you just squeegee the entire floor (which is not very big) when you’re done. The other thing about the bathroom is that there’s only one for six (about to be eight with the arrival of a couple more guests) people. So far it really hasn’t been a problem. But it’s very different from what we would expect in the States, right?

The kitchen is small but very nice and up-to-date. The dining room has a big table, a cabinet, a fridge that acts like a cabinet, a fridge that actually works, a window frame that has no window (but provides a nice summer breeze), a fire place, and a brick oven. Anna actually uses it to bake bread. I can’t wait to watch her do it. The dining room also serves as the common area since it has the most electrical outlets and the best internet reception. *It’s where I’m typing right now.

My room is rather unfinished. Anna was very sweet and offered me another choice of room (which she’s currently renovating, that’s why she didn’t just put me there) if I don’t like this one. I like it, though. It’s a walk down a hill and up some steps from the kitchen so it’s quite private. I just realized this afternoon that even though this complex of houses all seems to be connected, none of the rooms themselves are actually connected. You have to go outside to get to each one (the bathroom, the kitchen, the laundry room, the bedrooms) and there are multiple levels with stairs and pathways and little hills between each one.

Anyway, you may be interested to note my room has a window frame with an actual window. It also has a bed with a comfortable feather mattress on a somewhat lopsided frame. I’m using the sheet and unzipped sleeping bag that I brought from Tennessee and was quite comfortable last night. Oh, side note: it’s very interesting to hear what people say when I tell people I’m from Tennessee. With other Americans I talk about what cities are nearby and whom they know from the area. Well, it turns out that Italians have actually heard of Tennessee, too. One guy just LOVES Elvis Presley (“An American icon!”) and the guy who owns the bed and breakfast said “Oh, that’s where they make whisky!”

But back to my room. There is an empty fireplace in it which looks like it hasn’t been used a while and there’s also an oven just like the one in the kitchen except this one doesn’t work, according to Anna. The whitish walls are bare, except for a few rusty nails sticking out of the walls with a few mysterious twisted metal rods hanging from a few of them. Some of the plaster has fallen from the ceiling (they tested it to make sure no more would fall down) leaving some of the red roof tiles exposed. If you’ve ever seen the movie version of Mamma Mia, this whole complex looks a bit like that hotel on the Greek island. And just to give a complete picture, there’s also a rickety table and chair, and a bench made with a slab of marble. And there is a bat. At least there was. It flew away last night and didn’t come back in the morning. Maybe because I shut the door. Sad.

I’ll have to write about the people and the work and grocery shopping tomorrow. Buona notte!

Giovedi, 1 Luglio

I am in the plane and it is 5:47 local time. I just set my watch to European time – Rome time – Italy time! I also made it 24-hour format and am going to try my best to get used to it. I think that telling time might be a good thing to be able to do in Italian. For example: “Sono le sei meno un quarto.” I have made another language goal. I will, in the airport, ask someone either where the baggage claim for my flight is (“Dov’é il ritiro bagagli per il volo due cento quaranta?”) or how to get to the train (“Come si arriva alla stazione ferroviaria?”) *I actually used a version of the second one to find the bus to Sora. Keep reading. So I guess I sort of met that goal.

This has been a very good flight. We flew up the coast of North America, across the Atlantic, across France, across a bit of the Mediterranean (we’re currently over the island of Corsica) and now we’re only twenty minutes from Rome! Amazingly, I am on the very plane as another Latin teacher from Maryland! I met her through the Latin competitions with Maryland Junior Classical League and I knew she was going to Rome this summer for a week-long Latin immersion program, but never fancied that we’d be on the same transatlantic flight. Crazy. It was nice to have someone to talk to as we stood up to stretch our legs. Out the window it is very bright and misty. Hard to see anything. I think I see the coast now!

Later…

I am now on the bus to Sora, but so much has happened before this point. Getting to the Termini from the airport was not so bad. In fact, I was with other Americans the whole time. The other Latin teacher and I (more on that later) met and sat with a young mother who was meeting up with her husband after his conference in Rome.

Getting to the Metropolitana was a bit more difficult due to all my luggage and all the stairs. Up and down, up and down, and just as my strength was about to give out, a nice Italian gentleman carried my big suitcase up the last set of stairs. He was so nice and he did it quietly without even asking, so I said “mille grazie” and he said “prego” just like in the Italian scenarios!

“Grazie” has been my most-practiced word so far. People have been so kind and helpful, often without being asked. They just see us poor and helpless Americans and just jump in. I have also practiced my numbers (money, platform numbers, etc.) I’m also using my phrasebook more than I thought I would. I used it most just trying to get on this bus.

Must interject – we’re on the highway right now and it feels so much like Tennessee or Virginia. The Apennine Mountains in the background remind me of the mountains I drive past on my way home from Maryland (except a bit bigger). They’ve even just cut hay, so there round bales of golden yellow hay all over the fields. The road itself is also quite normal-looking, except for the signs, I guess.

Anyway, getting on this bus was a challenge. I got the ticket (“Un biglietto per Sora”) and checked the departure board to see where to go. Sadly, I had just missed the 14:20 and would have to wait until 14:50. *See how versatile I am, using 24-hour time??? It was supposed to leave from platform 10, but I only saw signs for platforms 1-8. I tried to explain that in my minimalissimo Italian to the ticket man and a couple of girls behind me in line. I asked “Dove” or “Where” an awful lot. Finally, between the girls and a second ticket agent who could speak pretty nice English, I figured out that I had to go up the steps of platform 8 (ticket sales were below the bus area) and then cut across to the correct platform outside.

I still had to ask around a little after that, but thank the LORD I did find the right one. Oh and a couple of other kind people helped me bring my ridiculously unwieldy luggage up the steps of the buss. It’s now resting on the seat next to me. And I am also resting. Whew.

There was a long time between the express train and the bus adventure, however. After saying goodbye to my Maryland colleague, I decided to look for a cell phone place. They are not as easy to find as I thought they would be, let me tell you. After walking half a block, who did I run into? My fellow Latin teacher from Maryland, again! She was looking for hotel. She suggested that we put our bags in her room and go explore the city or get something to eat or drink. So after receiving even more local help (old man told us that we were looking on the wrong side of the block) we found her hotel and deposited our bags with a sigh of relief and set off.

I knew I didn’t have to be in Sora before 19:00 at the latest, so I figured I had time to explore. What I didn’t know was how much we could see in such a short time! It was great to share my first glimpses of Rome with an acquaintance. In short, I got a brief overview of the eternal city. I bought my first bus ticket for 1 euro (they last 75 minutes and are good for any bus, train, or metro within a certain range) navigated a couple of bus lines, saw some recently excavated ruins, saw the Pantheon (!!!) walked along the Tiber, caught glimpses of Vatican City, and finally found the Piazza Novena.

Amongst many other experiences, I had my first Italian cappuccino (with that phrase I’ve been practicing on everyone, “Un cappuccino, per favore”), first real gelato, first Italian seltzer water, and first drink from a Roman drinking fountain. The drinking fountains aren’t quite as prolific as I thought they would be, so I’ll definitely want to carry water when I come back. I didn’t think it was too hot that day, but we got pretty worn out.

So all in all, a very happy introduction to Rome and Italy. My friend the Latin teacher was able to tell me lots of facts about the few ancient sites we saw and I was able to help her find a cell phone like mine. Yes, we finally found a cell phone store.

Finally, here are some things that stood out to me on my first day (this includes my time in Rome and my bus ride to Sora).

• Oranges on trees in Rome
• Flowers everywhere…balcony railings, etc.
• Priest, nuns, and monks everywhere
• Red tile or terra cotta roofs
• Laundry hanging out to dry everywhere
• Old ladies leaning out of their windows into the sun

Mercoledi, 30 Giugno

Ciao, everybody! I decided to share bits of journal entries, edited to include updated information. All the updates you’ll see will be in italics.

_ _ _

My trip began with a false start yesterday. *By now most of you have already heard this part of the story, thanks to Facebook. I was supposed to leave at 5pm on the 29^th and get to Rome by 10:30am today. Instead, I flew out at 12:30pm today and will arrive at 7:05am tomorrow. At least I got to spend the night at home, instead of stuck in an airport somewhere. And, at my mom’s urging, I got a voucher from Delta (which might barely cover the cost of a plane ticket) in compensation for my missed day in Europe. Right now, I’m sitting in the Baltimore airport, waiting for my flight which is finally less than two hours away.

In my unexpected time last night at home, I picked blackberries! The Stevens have some great bushes with huge juicy berries. I ate some for dinner and breakfast and froze 8 cups more. I hope to make blackberry cobbler when I get home. I wonder if they have blackberries in Italy. *Yes, they do. Haven’t seen any yet, though.

I hear that breakfast is not a big deal in Italy – usually just coffee, juice, and pastries. *Pretty true, but they serve milk and cereal for volunteers at the bed and breakfast. Oh! I just realized why they call it a “continental breakfast”! It’s breakfast as they serve it on “the Continent”. *My host that confirms this is the case.

The part I’m most nervous about on this trip is getting from the airport in Rome to the bus station in Sora. I have to take the express train to the Termini station, then the Metro to the Anagnina bus station, then the bus to Sora where I’ll be picked up by Anna, my host. Along the way I need to get an Italian cell phone and maybe an international calling card. I’d like to stop and enjoy Rome a bit, but with all my luggage, I don’t think that will be possible. *Oh, just keep reading. I have a backpack, a smaller carry-on suitcase and a larger checked suitcase. I have a bunch of assorted key chain rings that I’m going to use to fasten the zippers on my backpack and suitcase together. That’s to deter pickpockets. *I guess it worked, but it was a bit of a hassle.

I think I’m ready! I can hardly believe I’ll be in Europe tomorrow. I’ll keep you updated on all my adventures.

The Adventure Begins

I am going to Italy! But the adventure begins, of course, with revamping my blog. I gladly took the opportunity to play around with templates and HTML code tonight (this morning, really). I am ashamed to say I spent six hours on it. SIX HOURS. SEI ORE.

That last bit was Italian, which I cannot speak very well. I bought a phrasebook and can count to twenty and ask for a cappuccino and exchange pleasantries. I'm glad I'll be staying amongst English-speakers who can help me along the way. Anna, the lady I'm working for, is actually an Austrian who moved to Italy a couple years ago. Antonello, the guy who runs the neighboring farm, has a degree in English and Spanish literature (according to this Seattle Times article). So although I'll be in a rather un-touristy section of the country, I think I'll be fine in terms of language. I would like to learn some more, though.

The toughest part of the trip, as I anticipate it, will be getting from Fiumicino Airport in Rome to where I'll be staying near Sora. I'll need to take the express train to the Termini station in the middle of the city, then take the metro to its last stop, then take the bus to Frederico's Pizza in Sora, then finally get a ride to the bed and breakfast. If I can make it there, the rest of the trip should be a breeze.

Where was I going with all this? Oh yes, I was revamping the blog. Those of you who use the wonderful Google Reader (or the like) should click through to see my marvelous side bar. I made lots of additions to help explain what I'll be doing for the next month or so. I know that I've talked to one and another of you to varying degrees of specificity, so I though I'd write it all down to answer some frequently asked questions. If you can think of anything else I should address, let me know!

Ice Skating Update

Ice skating was fun. There were no four-year-olds because they go into a "tots" class. There was one mother who was in the class with her kids, but other than that I was clearly the oldest one. I felt more like the teacher's assistant, as I finished my two-footed glides across the rink and coached my little classmates across behind me. The most fun part of the class was when we did "Superman Glides" which involve falling forward out of a two-footed glide to slide Superman-style along the ice on one's stomach. The teacher said I did mine very well. ;o) I talked with her afterwards and she said if she quickly shows me all the Basic 1 stuff I could move up to Basic 2, which meets at the same time. My goal for these classes is to learn how to do backward crossovers. That might be Basic 4 or 5. Maybe next year. At least now I know how to fall down and get up. Important life skills, those are.

I wrote this update while monitoring study hall on Wednesday, though I'm just now posting. Things haven't been too busy at school since we're entering a new trimester and all my grading is under control. That won't last long, though. Next week will be our first five-day week in a oddly long time. Two of the shortened weeks in February were planned. One was for Presidents' Day and the other for end-of-trimester and the school musical. The other two shortened weeks were a result of the snow storms. But now it's all back to normal. March is supposed to be a full month of school and spring break is not until April (it's actually more of an Easter break). Well, routine is nice, I guess. I'm off to Trader Joe's now. That's my weekend routine.