A dopo, Sansepolcro!

Please forgive the delay in my posting. Last week was a difficult one for me and many loved ones back home, but God is still good and He has been abundantly faithful through this past storm. My friend Luke is with Him now, free from pain and relishing the presence of his King. It has been very hard to be away from my family, friends, and church body during this time, and then this past weekend I missed out on what sounded like a magnificent celebration of his life, which was equally hard. At this point, none of it feels real.

However, more than anything else I am simply thankful to have known Luke during his time on earth – and rejoicing in the knowledge that I will see him again in the next! Please keep praying for his family, friends, and our church family as they all continue to adjust to the gaping hole Luke has left behind.

Well tomorrow I have to bite the bullet and say goodbye to Sara, Patrizio, Leonardo, Ginevra, Veronica, and Sansepolcro – for the present, at least. It is bittersweet because the idea of Siena, including all its unknowns and the adventures that lie ahead, is very exciting – and yet, I know that I will miss the family (which I now regard as my own) quite terribly, and also that adjusting to the fast paced demands of academic life will be hard at first. Thankfully, Sansepolcro is just an hour’s bus ride away, so, assuming my homework load is manageable, I will be able to visit my “home away from home” on a regular basis! I keep telling Sara and Patrizio how much I am going to miss all the little things that we find trying, like Ginevra’s “NOOOOO!”’s and Leonardo’s under-the-table kicks, etc. Sara laughed and said, “Well if you are really missing them that much, we can just send you one while you are in Siena, no problem!”

Tomorrow morning Sara and Patrizio are taking me to Arezzo where I will be catching a train to Firenze and then another on to the Pisa airport where I will be meeting up with the other students. I have to leave pretty early in the morning, but what a blessing to not be jet-lagged like the rest! I will have to be extra nice to the ones that are. From there we will be staying in Pisa (or nearby anyway) for a couple days of orientation before heading on to Siena, on Saturday I believe. Then classes start on Monday – yikes!

I am not sure what my internet availability will be like for the next few days, but I will post again in Siena if not before. I would really appreciate your prayers as I move into this next phase of my time in Italy. Grazie mille! I have been so very blessed by my time in Sansepolcro, and while life in Siena will be far more demanding, I know God has great plans for my days there as well.

Thank you for listening, as always. Until Siena – arrivederci!

Bekah

Luke

Please be praying for my friend, Luke Johnston. I found out yesterday that he suffered a spinal injury and remains in critical condition at Duke. Here is more information, taken from his carepage:

"The Johnstons were at a picnic at the lake and Luke and Brock (age 9) were playing Frisbee. As Brock threw the Frisbee, it went over the water and Luke dove for it. Luke is a competitive swimmer and a lifeguard so Brock was not too worried when he did not immediately resurface. When a few minutes had passed, Brock went out to find him and pulled him to the shore where a bystander began doing CPR and Brock ran to the shelter to get his dad. Dave and another bystander (an ER nurse) took turns doing CPR for the 10 minutes it took for EMS to arrive. Luke was taken to Duke and placed on life support. He has sustained a significant brain injury and has dislocated the vertebrae between C2-C4. "

According to my mom, the doctors have said that if Luke survives, he will be a quadriplegic on a ventilator for life. His brain was also very oxygen deprived, and so they don't know yet if there is any hope of anything less than severe brain damage.

Right now I am praising God because Luke is still alive as of the last update (6 hours ago). The doctors didn't think he would live through Saturday night.

Please be in prayer particularly for his parents and his siblings - he is the oldest - as well as for my entire church body as they seek to support the family and glorify God through this. I would also appreciate your prayers as I struggle through it from a distance. Right now I am trying to rest in the knowledge of God's power and omniscience.


Many thanks,

Bekah

Packages, thunderclaps, too much espresso e un molto buono compleanno

And then another week went zooming by … ciao family, friends, and kindred spirits! I suddenly find myself a mere ten days away from leaving Sansepolcro – for another adventure in Italy, yes, but nonetheless, I am beginning to feel the pang. Thankfully, it looks like there will be rather frequent visits back, assuming that I can keep up with homework and such while doing so.

My morning view ...



I tried to explain to Sara and Patrizio just how much I was going to miss the everyday chaos that comes like clockwork at mealtimes (and pops up all over the place in between), but in the end, they will never really know just how much I love every minute with them and the kids – even the crazy ones. I just love these kids!

It has been another busy week, but a happy one. On lunedi I finally got my long-awaited package from home, full of things (books in particular) that had been left behind in deference to weight limitations. My poor parents had quite the time getting it to me! The customs form required every last detail of the contents, there was a huge list of no-nos (including shoes and perfume, two things in particular I had counted on being mailable), and then charges on both the sending and receiving ends. Crazy. I was particularly sad about the shoes, because my Birkenstocks were one of the pairs that got left, and they are pretty much all I wear in cooler weather. Guess I will have to buy another pair while I am over here – quite a shame, yes?

Anyway, back to the package. I think I scared the poor delivery woman with my excitement. See, I was home alone that morning because everyone else was out running errands and such, but I was napping, so when the buzzer rang, I didn’t react the first time. Then came a second buzz, and I stumbled out of bed to the door to see who was there. Once I saw the delivery truck, I about fell down the stairs in my haste to get to the gate! She needed ID, and there was a ten euro charge for delivery (which, thankfully, I had in cash!), so I ran back up the stairs to grab my wallet. But eventually, the heavy box was in my possession and I was running upstairs for the last time to unearth my treasures. It felt like my birthday! You know it’s bad when you are giggling ridiculously while all alone, just you and a box. But I was just so excited!

Inside were basic things like extra toothpaste, sweet things like Mentos, useful things like my external hardrive, fun things like toys for the kids, and things that make your heart skip a beat, like books and a beautiful new watch set in EST (which, I still haven’t changed, by the way). I think I was most excited about the books, with the watch being a very close second.

The enclosed titles included: Cyrano de Bergerac, The Man Who Was Thursday, A Room with a View (which I devoured in about a day), and a guide to Tuscany and Umbria. Inside I also found Orgoglio e Pregiudizio (which Patrizio is now reading), and For Women Only (which Sara is now reading).

For Women Only is basically a guidebook to the male mind written in a language women can understand. I wish you could have seen Patrizio’s face when he picked it up and read the cover. “What is this?” he said, laughing because he had a pretty good idea of its contents based on the subtitle (“What you need to know about the inner lives of men”). When Sara and I explained it further to him, he smirked and said, “But why do you need to read this? You can just ask me!” You can imagine our mutual response to this suggestion … yeah right!

Oh, and one more happy note about the package – for some reason they were not supposed to include personal letters inside, which made me sad. However, unbeknownst to my family (at least, I think it was unbeknownst), I had slipped a couple early birthday cards I received before I left inside a couple of the books. So I got some momentos after all!

On giovedi Sara and I started watching The Holiday while the kids napped. We were able to finish it on venerdi afternoon and she absolutely loved it! I think it was a lot easier for her to follow than Pride and Prejudice. I mean, not only were the conversations slower, but there were far fewer multisyllabic words and only a handful of British dialects to decipher! We are going to watch Jane Eyre next.

The other day Sara made my day by revealing that she was just as sad about me leaving as I am. We were in the kitchen talking as Veronica finished up the last of her morning latte while Leonardo and Ginevra were out biking with Patrizio. Both of us were relishing the quiet, commenting on how peaceful it was, and she brought up the fact that school would be starting shortly after I leave and then it would just be her and Veronica most mornings – soon every morning would be quiet like this one! She said she had been thinking about it one morning, and then she was hit with just how much she was going to miss having me here to keep her company. That blessed me to hear! I mean, it is one thing to assume another person is enjoying your company and quite another to be told how much they will miss you!

One particularly happy piece of news has to do with the weather, which I find kind of humorous since the weather is generally thought of as a dull topic people turn to when they can’t think of anything else to say (not at all the case here!). We got quite a bit of rain on venerdi throughout the day and again at night, and to our delight, the temperature has dropped significantly as a result. We were all relieved: Sara and I because of the likelihood that our battle with the zarzare might be lessened, and Patrizio because his guardino has been dying a slow, painful death due to the lack of rain (it seems his indigenous rain dances finally did the trick). So in the end, all parties were satisfied by the glorious rainfall (except, momentarily, the kids, because they were frightened out of the senses during naptime when a huge clap of thunder woke them up and caused a minor scene of hysteria).

That night we watched Ratatouille, in italiano of course, because it is one of Patrizio’s favorites (those of you who have seen it will know why). When I went to bed that night, the temperature had dropped to the point that I needed to sleep in sweats and a long sleeve shirt to be comfortable – I loved it! I kept one of my windows open, so when it started raining in the middle of the night I fell back to sleep with the sound of rain lulling me to dreamland. It was just fantastic after weeks of hot nights, something you can’t truly appreciate until you have been without AC for a month!

Check out this picture: Patrizio cooked a marvelous turkey earlier this week, and they had quite the time with the drumsticks afterwards! You can’t really tell, but Ginevra is actually about to brain Leonardo with hers …

(You would never guess that behind that innocent little face lies the plotting capabilities of an impish genius, now would you?!)

However I did not sleep that well last night, not due to the weather, which was still cool and delicious, but because I had a small cup of espresso after cena (dinner), which was pretty stupid of me. Usually I just have one after pranzo (lunch), but the rain has brought in some nice cool weather so it sounded really good last night when Patrizio made some. The result? Not tired at all when I was trying to fall asleep last night. Oops. So I exercised, thinking that might make me tired. Again, stupid Bekah, just not thinking (Dad, I forgot to take my stupid pill yesterday morning – and I am running low, so please send more via airmail). My little workout gave me more energy and I was less tired than ever. Perfetto. I am not sure when I fell asleep, but I ended up waking up multiple times through the night and for good around 6 this morning. That’s the last time I enjoy an after dinner coffee!

I meandered in bed until 7:45 or so, then made my way to the kitchen where the happy noises of hungry little Falaschis were erupting. And what did I find? Everyone (minus Patrizio, who was wrapping up a night shift at the hospital) gathered around the table (which is never the case at breakfast) as Leonardo shouted “Buon compleanno!” and shoved a big birthday bag in my face as Sara scolded him in Italian and told him to let me sit down first. It melted my heart! Meanwhile, Ginevra had started wailing at the top of her lungs because she wanted a biscotto, Leonardo was still demanding that the present be opened (as he began pulling out the contents himself), and Veronica started singing in baby talk (high pitched squeals). Poor Sara! Between the two of us we put out all fires, pacified all whims, and settled down to eat and enjoy the beginning of my birthday. They gave me a beautiful scarf and Le pagine della nostra vita (literally translated: “The pages of our life,” which is the Italian version of Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook), which should be considerably easier than my first attempt – trying to read Jane Austen in italiano! Another present (which they had already given me) was a bottle of my favorite perfume, which had been left behind because of weight and then not permitted in the package my parents sent. I have already been putting that gift to use on a daily basis!

Later this morning we all went to church, which turned out to be quite the trial for me (in the best of senses and not in any way you might suppose). See, one major difference in Italian churches (at least, in the ones I have visited) is that there are no nursery services – all the children are in the sanctuary with the adults. Now, knowing that, and adding to it what I have told you about my little comrades, can you guess how I was tried?

Think about all the times you have had to fight to maintain composure – either in a church service, at a funeral, wedding, whatever – and you will have a pretty good idea of how badly I wanted to laugh at loud, but couldn’t. Ginevra sat in her stroller for about ten minutes (which amazed me), and then Leonardo started talking to her and it was all over – she leaned back to look at me and started squealing my name (as it echoed throughout the highly echoey cathedral), then started saying “Ciao!” to the old man across the aisle from her. She also walked over to him and started digging in his pants, searching for his keys, and squealed again when she found them.

Meanwhile, Leonardo, bored of crawling in and out of the pews and asking impertinent questions in normal volume (versus the whispers his nonna replied with), decided to seek amusement and answers elsewhere. He stepped out of our row, walked up to the man behind us and asked, “Finito?” I about died! It was just too funny, and I was already tired, which was not a good combination. Thankfully, I was not the only one who found them amusing, and to my relief I also succeeded in making it through the service without snorting (as is my propensity when I am very tickled by something). I think what saved me what the thought of a snort echoing through the service and everyone turning to stare and frown in astonished disapproval before kicking out the irreverent snorter and returning to the service. At such times, an overactive imagination like mine really comes in handy!

After the service we strolled down to Sansepolcro, Sara trying to keep Leonardo off various walls and fences, Patrizio trying to pacify Ginevra as she rode on the back of his bike, and me happily pushing an equally happy Veronica as she cooed in the stroller below me. Despite the predictions of rain, it turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day, complete with Carolina blue skies, warm rays of sunlight, fresh summer breezes, and full cotton candy clouds. It was a nice way to stretch our legs after the service – just a brief little interlude around the town before heading back up to the house for pranzo.

And what a pranzo it was! Patrizio went all out for my birthday, serving us a knockout plate of four-cheese gnocchi that was easily one of the best pasta plates I have had in my entire life. This was followed by corn on the cob North Carolina style, something they had gotten special for my birthday (Italians don’t really eat corn that much, and pretty much never on the cob). And then came the grand finale: freshly cut pineapple rings swimming in homemade sweet cream coupled with a delightful little cream pastries that Patrizio had picked up at the local pastry shop earlier that morning (followed by a cup of espresso for the adults, of course!). I was positively stuffed, but oh so happy. I wish I could send each of you a plate of his gnocchi – there really is no comparison, and I am afraid our version of the dish pales shamefully to this homemade goodness.

Lunch pretty much did us all in – Ginevra and Veronica went down for naps, Sara read to Leonardo before adding him to the company of sleepers, Patrizio picked up the newspaper, and I came to compose this little love letter to you all. The house is relishing one of those rare moments when all is very, very quiet!

Now technically, I am not officially twenty-one yet. In fact, I still have a couple hours to go because I was born at 2:22 p.m. EST – which translates to 8:22 this evening. But technicalities aside, I have had a very happy first day being ventuno. Oh, and Michael Phelps went and rewrote history when he won an eighth gold medal in honor of my special day … how cool is that? Thanks, Mike!

And now I am off to enjoy what is sure to be an absolutely extraordinary birthday dinner with the fam. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the rest of the Olympics!

A dopo,

Bekah

Pools, lakes, rains, pizzas e Olympics!

We have had another happy week here in Sansepolcro. Un giorno alla piscina (a day at the pool), una sera al lagho (an evening at the lake), Orgoglio e Pregiudizio (Pride and Prejudice in Italian), i gioci olimpici (the Olympic games!), pioggia (rain), and as always, lots of really good food.

Lunedi was a longer day, or afternoon really, because it was one of those days when Patrizio worked a post-lunch to evening shift. Before he left, he told Sara and me that all he wanted to do when he got home was put the kids in bed and finish watching Orgoglio e Pregiudizio, a sentiment Sara and I couldn’t have agreed with more. It was a long afternoon and evening, but we survived! Sara’s parents joined us for dinner and helped with the kids a bit, but we were still pretty much spent by the time Patrizio got home. But then at long last the kids were asleep and the film was resumed and loved by all (okay, I don’t think it is fair to say that Patrizio loved it, but he certainly didn’t detest it either).

It was absolutely hysterical to note the differences in their responses and reactions throughout the film in comparison to the first viewing. They both laughed a lot more, Sara sighed and “awwwed” a lot more, and Patrizio kept making noises of realization and comprehension (“ohhhhh” or “ha senso!”). It was interesting to watch a favorite movie with different voices too, and to my surprise (and theirs) the subtitles didn’t match up with the dialogue much of the time. Sara and I agreed that the original voices (particularly of Lizzie and Darcy) were infinitely superior, but were impressed by the voices of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, which were cast quite well indeed.

On martedi (Tuesday), Sara e io took the kids – minus Veronica – to the local piscine (pool). As we walked through the front gate, Sara immediately began forewarning me that it wasn’t a very good pool, but as you probably know from experience, “good” is a very subjective word. So there I was expecting something close to dreadful, and I walk in and see a very large and well-kept outdoor facility, not unlike many pools I have seen back home. There were two huge slides (and I mean huge – think water park size), a diving well with two large boards, a nice baby pool (which is where Sara and I spent much of the time chasing Ginevra), and a large, shaded area reserved for tables and chairs.

All in all, it seemed much like American swim clubs, but there was one major difference that was impossible to overlook – and that was the amount of skin displayed by its inhabitants, both male and female! It was very distracting at first, and the funny thing was that my own considerably more conservative swimwear seemed equally novel to them. Thankfully, I had plenty of distraction from said distraction in the form of little Gigia because she was all over the place – in and out, here and there, running away one minute and then crying for me the next. I am never ever bored by Ginevra!

That evening we had another amazing dinner of pollo, zucchine, pane di Toscana, vino ... and it was just wonderful! Patrizio had an old friend over to join us, a guy named Alessio that Leonardo just adored. After dinner I fed Veronica her evening latte and was thrilled to discover she was in a particularly cuddly mood that night. She is the sweetest little thing! Here's a picture of her getting a bath in the sink earlier this week:

The next day (mercoledi), we made another excursion to a large body of water, this time minus Veronica and Ginevra. Sara, Patrizio, Leonardo e io met up with couple friends at a nearby lake to picnic, swim, and enjoy the gorgeous views at hand.

Of course, as it would happen, after over a month of no rain, the night we chose to visit il lagho happened to be the evening a thunderstorm erupted (only thirty minutes after we arrived too!). Patrizio and his friends went swimming despite the foreboding sky and were able to get in a decent swim before we had to make a run for the van.

The picnic, however, was nixed and moved to a different location – Sara e Patrizio’s backyard, under the protection of the canopy. On the way to the house, Sara brought up the question of gelato, which, though it meant an extra trip, was deemed necessary by the females in the car, so Patrizio graciously complied (as he jokingly chanted “Mrs. Darcy” at us). The twenty-first century "As you wish," if you will.

A lovely non-picnic of sorts ensued, with good food, plenty of gelato, and lots of laughter (accompanied by funny stories in both italiano and inglese. I had met both of the friends before at other dinners hosted by Sara and Patrizio, and they both happened to speak English fluently, which was nice. I know it must be a relief to Sara to have extra translators every now and then!

Giovedi evening was one of my favorites so far. It was just the six of us, and we ordered pizza then ate out in the back yard. Italian pizza really is the best! Then, after we were all stuffed with the wonderfulness that is pizza in Tuscany, we all walked down to the center of Sansepolcro and participated in the local passeggiata, an evening walk and social time Italians often take advantage of in the evenings. Leonardo of course rode around the piazza on his bike, Ginevra ran around talking to herself as Patrizio chased her, and Sara and I strolled around leisurely with Veronica tucked away in the stroller. Then to top it off, we also bought gelato and ate it on the front steps of the cattedrale.

Afterwards, I stayed in town and went to a jazz concert being held outdoors in one of the piazzas. The music was just wonderful because they played beautifully together - sax, trumpet, pianoforte, bass, and drums. It was late evening so the temperature was cool and the air breezy, plus, the sound carried nicely through the cobblestone streets. I loved it!

The rest of the week has been equally enjoyable, though less eventful. The usual everyday chaos that I love. Check out the decor on the entryway mirror ...

We’ve been playing around the house, watching the Olympics, battling zanzare, enjoying the cooler weather brought about by an all out storm we had on Friday afternoon, and of course, eating more excellent food and enjoying the company of more friends. Friday night I was plagued by a loud, green bug that decided to join me for bed, but of course this happened right after Sara e Patrizio had gone to bed so I was on my own. After three futile attempts at smashing the brute with my book, I gave up – climbed in bed, turned out the light, and pulled the covers over me with my eyes tightly shut. When I checked on his whereabouts the next day, I discovered – to my horror – not the probably harmless green bug (which had since disappeared), but a huge, brown spider. The next word out of my mouth? “PATRIZIO!” Not knowing the word for spider, I had to run to Sara and find out in order to describe my attacker. Il ragno. A spider is un ragno in italiano. So then I was equipped to run around yelling, "Io detesto i ragni!"

I really have loved watching the Olympics here, even though the majority of the events I have seen have involved Italians and not always Americans. I also can’t understand a lot of what they say, but that has provided valuable learning opportunities, so I’m not complaining! For example, the afternoon of the opening ceremony, Sara was busy tutoring a high schooler in the kitchen and the kids were asleep, so it was up to Patrizio to explain a lot of what was being said. We each had an italiano-inglese dictionary in hand and the globe pulled out in front of us for frequent reference. It was hilarious!

I hope you all are doing well and that it is not too hot. We were pretty miserable until the rain came, but now the weather is perfetto.

Well, that’s all I have for now! Much love and molti baci.

A dopo,

Bekah

Still loving every minute ...

Ciao! Here is this week's update:

Giovedi pomeriggio e sera, we got some rain. Mere sprinkles, really. Sara and Patrizio told me that it rained a lot when the Meredith students were here from mid-May to mid-June, but that it really hasn’t pioveva since.

Patrizio has been bemoaning the slow death of his guardino, and the rest of us are longing for the cooler temperatures a good, hard rain would bring. Sfortunatamente, all the little sprinkle brought us was more humidity than we had previously – granted, it is nothing like the humidity we face on a regular basis in North Carolina, but when one becomes accustomed to the lack of it, an increase is quite noticeable!

When I got back from the internet point that afternoon, I had the house to myself for a while because Sara was still out with Leo and Gigia visiting the great aunt and Patrizio was biking or something. I enjoy the stillness, though I prefer it in small doses because, in the end, I love the bustle and energy that comes when the kids are home. Patrizio got back first, so I sat in the kitchen while he started dinner and we tried our best to talk in our respective second languages without the help of Sara, which was good, but hard – she helps so much! As a result, we had to break into the Italiano-Inglese dictionario quite frequently. Then, before long, the rest of the family was back and the dull roar of “LO-LO!” and “basta!” returned. I wish I could film one of our dinners and post it for you to witness, because it really is one of the most entertaining ordeals sometimes!

After dinner the noisy pair went on a bike ride with their babbo, so Sara and I had little Veronica and a quiet house. The rest of the quiet period consisted of bathing and changing the bambina, putting her to bed, starting the laundry, folding the laundry, straightening up, etc. And then when Patrizio returned with Leonardo and Ginevra and the bedtime rituals of bathing, reading, buona notte-ing, and so on took place, along with the usual exclamations of “No, no, NO!” and unintelligible Italian squawking from Ginevra. So as you see, bedtime can be highly amusing too (well, for me anyway … I can tell it gets old sometimes for Sara and Patrizio!).

Venerdi brought August along, and with it another molto caldo giorno. That morning Ginevra got her haircut (although, both Sara and I commented that it looked like they hardly took any off at all – probably because she was squirming), and I played with Leonardo and Veronica in the backyard while Sara made a quick run to the supermercato. Leonardo brought a cd player outside and played the same song over and over and over until I at long last truly empathized with my parents (I did the same as a child … and preteen … and teenager). Sometimes it takes firsthand experience to truly bring about heart change!

After about ten o’clock or so the heat really set in and so Sara and I kept the kids indoors and tried to keep them happily engaged until Patrizio came home around 13:00. To our relief, Patrizio made us more delicious panesanella – a cold salad-like dish (refer back to my first Italy post for a picture), which was followed by full, juicy uve verde (green grapes) and then sliced formaggio with honey drizzled on top. Perfetto.

After Sara and I had cleaned up and the kids were all sleeping, Patrizio took me over to visit the Bankers (Maureen and Jim), particularly so I could see their delightful house and yard. The Bankers live in what was Sara and Patrizio’s first house, so there are a lot of memories in that place for the two of them. It was probably the sweetest little home I have ever seen. Here is how I described it in a recent email:

“[The house is settled] among the Tuscan hills with a cows and horses for neighbors – and all I can say is, [the Bankers] live as I live in my happiest dreams! Their house is made up of three small rooms (it used to be a barn), and was actually the house that Patrizio and Sara lived in when they were first married. Before the wedding, Patrizio and his father worked to convert the barn into a home, and his uncle helped build the indoor cabinetry, etc. The result of their labor is the loveliest little house, the kind that makes you feel you are at home the moment you walk through the door. And, to add to its overall appeal, the surrounding land is equally enchanting. During the preparation of the house, Patrizio also cultivated the outdoors into a garden … and what a garden it is! There are all sorts of fruit trees (cherry, plum, nectarine, persimmon, pear), walnut trees (two of them support a hammock in between), vegetables like squash, eggplant, tomatoes (and more) that grow on the side of a sloping hill out back, and a view that rivaled all I have ever thought beautiful [… b]asically it seemed an embodiment of absolute perfection!”

When Leo was about a year old, Sara e Patrizio had to leave it and move into their current house because they knew they wanted to expand their family – and expanding a structure of any kind in Tuscany is about as complicated as getting a visa to live there. All I could think about as Maureen showed me around was how idyllic it all was, and how much I wanted to live in a place like it someday. It was like something out of a novel, but so down to earth and modest at the same time – no “marble halls” or anything of extreme monetary value. Just life. It was so full of life, life and beauty. And, of course, Jim, Patrizio, Maureen, and I had a wonderful time talking as well, all the while eating walnuts and plums from the trees outside. I loved it!

Sabato, ieri, was another hot day, but a nice, slow one. Patrizio had worked a night shift and wasn’t coming back until mid-morning, so Sara and I took the kids to il parco around 9:30 or so to enjoy the outdoors while it was still bearable.

On the way to the park Sara stopped in to buy bread at a local bakery, so I waited outside on the cobblestone streets with two strollers and an antsy little Leo wanting to take off on his bike. While we waited, and older Italian woman came up to me and started rattling off in italiano, which took me by surprise, but thankfully I was still able to respond with a laugh and say, “Sono americana – io parlo inglese!” (“I’m an American – I speak English!”). I wish I could proudly tell you that I answered her in flawless Italian, but I am not quite there yet! However, I was immensely flattered that she had mistaken me for a native. That means I’m not sticking out like an awkward foreigner anymore!

Later that afternoon I went out on my own to make a few necessary purchases, mainly the long elusive stamps and some more tank tops to defy the incredibly hot weather. As I was walking around Sansepolcro, I couldn’t help but notice (and laugh) at the difference among the response to me when I am out with Sara and the kids versus when I am out by myself. See, before leaving I thought dyeing my hair brown would be the best way to avoid calling unnecessary attention to my person, but this has not proved as affective a technique as that of the stroller and/or baby-on-the-hip method. When I am pushing a stroller I can tell that I am practically nonexistent/invisible to the opposite sex, but when I am both stroller- and child-less, the response is quite the opposite. It seems I misjudged when it came to what changing my hair color would be good for, because while I undoubted blend in better, it seems that attention from the male sex is generated not by the color of my hair or my country of origin but rather from my status as a living, breathing female. However, the good news is that my “don’t even think about messing with me” facial expression has so far proved unilingual and extremely affective – it seems to work every bit as well in Italia as in the States. And honestly, while Italian men in general may be more blatant with their eyes, they are not aggressive (here, anyway) and I never feel in any way threatened – just annoyed.

In other news, life without AC has been interesting for me, but for the most part I appear to have adjusted quite well. I had a dizzy spell after dinner last night, but after drinking more water and laying down for a while felt just fine. Sara and Patrizio think it was probably just a mix of being in sun a lot that day, still getting used to not having AC, and general tiredness – and the wine at dinner didn’t help either. They were telling me that if you are already dehydrated, hot, or tired even a half glass of wine (which is about all I had) can make you dizzy.

Mom and Dad, you will like this: now that they know I need to drink more water, Sara and Patrizio are both always asking if I need more water (and I am consistently accepting the offers, so I should be good now). They said it is even very hot for them right now, and they aren’t used to AC, so they are being so considerate of me and trying to make my survival of the heat minus the luxury I am used to as easy as possible. I can’t stop saying how wonderful they are!

Today I met one of their neighbors that had been on vacanze, and yet again the lovely sensation of being told that I looked so much younger than my age. Now, this is a frequent enough occurence in the U.S., so being confused for a younger girl is nothing new to me, but the number of times it has happened over here has surprised me. "Almost twenty-one? Miseracordia ("mercy!"), I thought you were much younger than that. No, really, I thought you were considerably younger." Hmmmmm ... grazie? I can't quite figure it out - I mean, it could be considered more of a compliment here, or maybe I just look younger than most 20-somethings here. Who knows?

Tonight we are all heading over to Sara’s parents’ house to celebrate her mother’s birthday. I am very excited about going because I love being around that entire family and, to top it off, I know that there will be loads of amazing food involved as well! Talk about a winning combination, right?

Then, to close off the evening, Sara, Patrizio, and I decided that we would put the kids to bed early tonight (early for them being 21:30 – 9:30 p.m.!) and then start watching Orgoglio e Pregiudizio, the Italian-dubbed version of the one we just watched in English. So now the roles are to be reversed, and I will be relying on quick listening and/or subtitles. I might even just ask them to put on Italiano subtitles, because I know the movie so well and, being a visual learner, I think it would help me to see the sentences written out. I think it’s going to be terrific – great for my Italian and fun for them to watch it in their language!

That’s all I have for now. From here on out I will be posting on Sunday afternoons (midday-ish for you) only to cut down on Internet point costs … so I am afraid they will be both infrequent and long, like the last one. Bear with me until Siena – I think I will be able to post more often and in smaller chunks then.

Until next Sunday! Have a wonderful week wherever you are and whatever you are doing, and never hesitate to email me if you get the chance because I can check my email daily on Sara’s home computer.

Ciao!

Bekah