cartoline dal mio cuore

Sono tornata!

2008-12-22T15:51:00.002+01:00

Ciao a tutti!

It was a long way home and I was awake for more hours in succession than I care to discuss, but at last I am home with the family - and yes, I miss Italia already.

Thankfully the jet lag has been minimal so far (she says on day one), and I am hoping to have normalized my sleeping routine by Christmas so I'm not a zombie when all the family gathers together!

Thank you again for your prayers, both during the travel of the past two days and my time away these past five months. I can't wait to catch up in person and dish out hugs like it's my job!

Molto amore e tanti baci,

Bekah

Arrivederci

2008-12-17T08:29:00.002+01:00

I'm sad to say this is probably my last post from Italy, for I'm not sure how long. I am such a mess of emotions right now - hating to leave this place that has become home to me and unhappy about the goodbyes that will fill these last days, but also anxious to come home home and see those I've been missing all these months. Be prepared for me to be an emotional wreck for a while ... they say it takes however many months you were away to recover, so maybe I'll be normal again by graduation, when the next emotional crisis hits! Ah!

So this is what the last days have looked like: On Saturday the 13th we had our day of exhibition - basically a day to display all of our work for schoolmates, host families, and friends of the school. It was a great afternoon - lots of food, naturally - and it was wonderful to see, hear, and read all the fruits of our labours!

Then on Sunday, the studying continued. Our exam days were Monday and Tuesday - I was so nervous! I had tests in Italian (two parts: written and oral), History of Siena, and LIS (Italian sign language), final papers for creative writing and my deaf culture class, and general to dos to accomplish in addition. Before my history exam (which was an oral examination where my professor could ask me questions about anything we had covered that semester - oh, and this was all in Italian too), I really almost got sick. The funny thing was, this nervousness, and all of the other nervous moments during those days, was not caused by fear of failure, but because I was so worried I would disappoint my professors by not knowing something! It's a funny thing, loving your professors (something I have had a LOT of experience in, both here and in my years at Meredith). The more you admire them, the more you want to work for them, and the more you care about not letting them down. I love all of mine, so you can imagine how much nervousness was floating around in my system!

Then yesterday afternoon I turned in my deaf studies paper and I was finished! Jamila and I got ready at our friend Tate's apartment (she lives in the city) and then the whole school (with the exception of a few teachers who couldn't make it) went out to dinner together at an amazing restaurant ... where, no exaggeration, I ate more than any of the men. Those who had not experienced my eating capacity before were a bit amazed :) I think my stomach realizes that I'm leaving Italy soon, and so it's doing its best to make room for as much wonderful Italian food as it can!

After dinner a few goodbyes commenced, which was awful. I hate goodbyes. Thankfully I will see most people again today and tomorrow before I leave Siena, but I had to say arrivederci to some of my teachers and that was hard. And then later that night I had to say goodbye to Jamila, which was also sad, but a little less, because we are already planning reunions in NC and New Mexico!

Today is my errands/last minute shopping/packing day. Fun, fun. It's also my last full day in Siena and tonight is my last dinner with Fulvia. Gosh, even typing that makes my chest get all tight.

Tomorrow I leave the house with Fulvia around 11 and she's dropping me and all my luggage off at school. I'll have about an hour there before my bus for Arezzo leaves, to say goodbyes and enjoy the company of comrades one last time.

And then I'm en route to Sansepolcro! I'll spend Thursday, Friday, and most of Saturday with Sara, Patrizio and the kids before heading to Pisa Saturday afternoonish. Don't even want to think about those goodbyes.

I'll spend the evening in Pisa, hopefully see the toppling tower (remind me to show you the sign for "Pisa" when I get home - and all the cities for that matter. the one for Pisa is great, love it!). That night I will stay in a hotel all by my lonesome (bah, I'm thinking it's going to be a weepy last night in Italy). I'm going to try to just stay awake, because I have to leave for the airport around 4 am, and it's just not worth it. I'll watch movies, Italian TV for the last time, re-pack my overflowing suitcase ...

And then at 6:30 am my flight leaves for Munich! From there it's Munich to Dulles, and then Dulles to RDU, ahhhh! Can't believe it! I arrive at 6:30 pm (isn't that funny, it's "exactly twelve hours later" - but then no, not at all), where I will fly into the arms of those I love, dropping all my bags for the pickpockets of RDU to pillage as they please. Can't wait.

And so, that is it. And this is it. I'll do a follow up post once I return, but until then, arrivederci.

And thank you for listening, again.

with love and baci,

Bekah

Io vivo! (I live!)

2008-12-09T17:35:00.003+01:00

Ciao tutti - what is there to say? I have been more than terribly negligent and I apologize. Life in Siena post-vacation has been anything but a vacation: still wonderful, but fuller than before. Lately I have been putting a lot more time into a few major projects for various classes, and on top of that I've had a couple presentations, tests, etc. to keep me on my toes. But I've made time for this, so how about an update? I will try to cover as much as possible ...

First of all, vacation. Jamila and I couldn't have been happier with our decision to stay in Italia. Not only were the sights breathtaking and food amazing (I mean, this was southern Italy!), but we met some of the nicest people and got to practice our Italian constantly, which was exactly what we wanted.

The trip began the afternoon of Halloween when we hopped on a bus bound for Napoli. We got there just after 11 (five hours, not bad) and then grabbed a taxi to get to our hostel. Our night in Napoli was anything but idyllic: the hostel was situated above a noisy bar so the music was pounding in our heads until about 4 am, and the mosquitoes were terrible. We had to sleep with the sheets over our heads and despite this precaution I woke up with 10 bites on one side of my face (no exaggeration here - there actually were ten, and in a nice semi-circle too) and dead mosquitoes in the bed with me. Those who know me well can guess how I reacted to this discovery upon waking up!

But despite the bad night and our general sense of anxiety regarding Napoli (did I mention it is the home of the mafia?), Jamila and I ended up loving it. We woke up to a beautiful day with sunshine and ocean breezes wafting from the bay, so looking back it was a great choice for us (minus the hostel). We were a bit preoccupied with our backpacks ("Hello, I'm an American tourist. Please rob me!"), but a few days later we paid Napoli a second visit in the form of a day trip (read: backpackless) and had a much more relaxing time.

Anyway, later that afternoon we took off for Piano di Sorrento, which would be our home for the next week. We had found a bed & breakfast off hostelworld.com and it ended up being the second best decision we had made thus far this semester (the first being to stay in Italy and travel south in the first place). Piano is a tiny little town just off of the main town of Sorrento that became home in no time. Five minutes from the B&B was the Circumvesuvia, a small train that snakes down the coastline between Sorrento and Napoli which made traveling from town to town a breeze - it was remarkably economical too!

Over the next few days we put the Circumvesuvia to use as the hardcore sightseeing began. We saw Pompei on Sunday, Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi on Monday, took a day off to rest and explore Piano on Tuesday (this was the beginning of my three-week cough), returned to Napoli on Wednesday, returned to see more of Sorrento on Thursday, and then spent Friday on the island of Capri. For a taste of all these beautiful places visit my picasa site - I put up hundreds of pictures!

On Saturday we rode the Circumvesuvia for the last time, regretfully saying goodbye to Piano for the train that waited in Napoli. Jamila slept on the train while I hacked up my lungs (I'm still not sure how she slept with me coughing like that). There was a sweet old man in same box as us and he gave me candies to help with the coughing. He asked me if I was a smoker and was relived to hear I had never so much as touched one - although he confessed that he did smoke and that it was a terrible thing to do.

After arriving in Chiusi we transferred to our Siena-bound train and made for home. We tried to use the rest of the weekend to gear up for the hard first week back (because aren't they always hard?), but it was still exhausting to "perform" again after such a relaxing week of doing both nothing and everything.

The weekend post-vacanza my creative writing class spent the day exploring the little towns and gorgeous views found just outside Siena. We were guided by our teacher, Jeff Shapiro, and his wife, Valeria, and their insider insights made the trip all the more rich. Pictures from the day are also up on Picasa now, but they aren't mine! I was stupid and forgot my camera that day (all I could think about were all the days I had remembered it but hadn't used it ...) so my awesomely nice friends shared theirs - grazie Tate and Sol!

The week after that (November 17-21) was business as usual with classes, papers, and good food at home. On Monday of that week my American housemates left for the last leg of their Italian adventure so Fulvia and I had to say goodbye (there are pictures of these lovely ladies up on picasa now as well). Thankfully I had plenty to keep me busy while I adjusted to the new empty/quietness of the house. It's different - not better, not worse - without them. Fulvia and I talk a lot more - in Italian of course - and I can tell I've improved some since then. We have also enjoyed having movie nights together and just talking about our days over and after dinner. I can tell she loves the company and I have loved getting to know her better - she's told me some great stories and we never fail to make one another laugh!

On Saturday the 22nd Siena School hosted a conference focusing on space and communication. It was held at what was formerly the Tommaso Pendola School for the Deaf, and the group attending was roughly half hearing and half Deaf. The topics were vastly interesting, covering communication on the verbal, non-verbal, and written levels and also spanning art, poetry, literature, history, and culture along the way. There were presenters from as far as Japan, England, and America and also from as near as the Siena School staff (several of our teachers presented). I learned so much and was thrilled to get more exposure to sign, both Italian, American, and British (LIS, ASL, and BSL). I even met a Deaf couple from Arezzo and learned the sign for Sansepolcro!

The week following included a presentation in my History of Siena class and a test in Italian, so I was kept busy until leaving for Sansepolcro Thursday afternoon, which happened to be Thanksgiving (long weekend, hurray!). Yet what had promised to be a fantastic weekend only proved partially so because I got really sick early Saturday morning (lots of throwing up - not pretty). So poor Sara and Patrizio had a sickie on their hands for a good 24 hours. Thankfully it was one of those fast but furious things. Still not sure what caused it, but I was glad when the end came. The rest of the weekend was fine, and I loved spending time with my Sansepolcro family after being away for so long (it had been over a month!). The next time I see them will be the last (for now at least), so I did my best to drink in each moment with them. For now I'm not thinking about the goodbye part - I can't believe it's just around the corner.

Then came December. Bam! Didn't see it coming. Where did November go? The first week of dicembre brought another presentation, this time in my Deaf studies class. I did a study of Martha's Vineyard and the hereditary deafness that made it a bilingual community for several hundred years. Then before I knew it another week was behind me and our long weekend was here! Monday the 8th is a national holiday, so that gave us one more good weekend for travel.

So where did I go you ask? Padova (Padua in English), with my friend Hillary! She has been in Salzburg, Austria this semester studying German, so Padova (which is located in the north about thirty minutes outside Venice) offered us a good semi-halfway point. It was absolutely wonderful to see her again, and we had the added benefit of an inside connection. My Deaf studies instructor, Rita Sala, lives in Padova, so we got the inside scoop on where to eat, what to do, and how to get there. It was just perfect! Hillary got there a bit later than I did on Friday, so I had the pleasure of meeting up with Rita and one of her friends, Giulia, for lunch. I had some amazing pasta with tomato and tuna and we ended the meal with caffe, naturalmente.

After that Rita showed me to my hotel and said she'd catch up with us later. After freshening up and changing out of my soaked clothing (did I mention it was raining gatti and cani?), I returned to the train station to intercept Hillary and Cally, a friend from Siena School that was staying in Venice that weekend. It was Cally's birthday, so I insisted that she join us for the evening - spending your birthday alone, even if it's in Venice, is just wrong!

The three of us had dinner in a delightful restaurant (which we practically had to ourselves) and were joined by Rita for coffee and dessert. I don't think I can say enough just what an enjoyable person Rita is. She's one of those people that you would love to be like, a modern-day superwoman in my opinion. After eating we all parted ways (except Hillary and me of course), and we went back to the hotel and crashed. The rest of our weekend was spent pursuing leisurely activities: walking, eating, shopping. It was beautiful! For a taste of Padova, as always, see Picasa :) I didn't take too many pictures because we were so busy enjoying doing nothing, but if I get more pictures from Hillary I will add those later.

Whew! And now, I must end this update. I will try to post once more before I leave in TWELVE DAYS. Unbelievable ...

Ciao for now! Molto amore e tantissimi baci!

Bekah

Andiamo in vacanza!

2008-10-28T12:07:00.002+01:00

Ciao a tutto - hope you all are well and enjoying the beautiful season of autumn.

So far, autumn in Siena has been very similar to the many I've spent in Raleigh: colorful, cool, and chaotic! I had my first real exam in Italian today (as in, the first one that actually counts towards my final grade), and teachers in other classes have begun to talk of final projects. But right now (now that my big Italian exam is behind me!) all I can think about is the wonderful vacation I have ahead of me. Here's what I'll be up to from Oct. 31-Nov. 9:

Oct. 31 ~ Jamila and I leave for Napoli (Naples) in the afternoon and arrive later that evening. We are staying in a central hostel (in the safer part of town), and have been cued in to the various street smarts we need to use while we're there.

Nov. 1 ~ We'll be spending most of the morning and afternoon exploring Napoli, then heading to Sorrento later that day.

Nov. 2-6 ~ These days we'll be based in Sorrento in a lovely little family-owned bed and breakfast we found outside the city (google: Piano di Sorrento and you'll see the exact area - it's GORGEOUS!). During the day we are planning to make day trips to Pompei, the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Salerno, and other local beauties. Our goal is to see as much as we can while still maintaining a laid back approach to this vacation. I know that staying in one place will really be nice too, because then there's that element of feeling like you're returning to a temporary "home away from home." There's a chance we might make our way back up to Perugia on Thursday (a city in Umbria about an hour from Sansepolcro) since neither of us has seen it yet, but for now we're leaving that day/night open in case we want an extra down down south :)

Nov. 7-9 ~ Friday morning we will head via train to Arezzo and then grab a bus to Sansepolcro! Jamila hasn't been there yet, so it will be fun to show her around my favorite little nook in Tuscany and introduce her to Sara, Patrizio and i bambini. We are planning to just take it easy those last few days and enjoy visiting with the Falaschi family. Then on Sunday afternoon we'll head back to Siena and gear up for the second half of the semester that awaits!

In other news - there are many new pictures up on Picasa! Check them out!

That's all I have time for now I'm afraid. I'll update once I get back from vacation. Tanti baci!

Bekah

Firenze due volte e, naturalmente, piu' Siena

2008-10-14T10:50:00.005+02:00

Ciao! By now you have probably surmised that I will only be able to post every two weeks instead of every week. It's just not feasible to do more with school during the week and traveling on weekends, but I will try to make up for it by posting lots of pictures on my picasa site piu' frequentamente (more frequently).

But now, to updates! The first week of ottobre was busy with classes and free time (it's surprisingly time consuming this thing called free time, because there is so much to do!). All of my classes are going very well, though Italian history is still incredibly challenging. Monday evenings I am still visiting the Casini family and I have fallen in love with those little boys (Alessio e Niccolo). The mom, Elisa, is Italian but half-American and fluent in English. It's an interesting story: her mother came to study in Siena during her junior year in college, but while she was here, fell in love and ended up marrying an Italian and moving here! She and her husband had molti figli (many kids), of which Elisa is the oldest. So she was raised bilingual and sounds like an American, but it has been difficult to raise her boys bilingual. She says it is really hard for the third generation to continue the language. Elisa's husband is Italian and speaks English fairly well, but what sets Elisa apart is her ability to pronounce certain sounds that Italians generally struggle with, such as the "th" sound. Anyway, I've really enjoyed getting to know them better and it has been fun to teach the boys English. They are jsut adorable - I will try to take pictures next week!

Okay, now for my travel updates: The first weekend of this month I had the pleasure of visiting Firenze with familiar faces. My home college is establishing a semester program in Sansepolcro and so representatives of Meredith attended a conference discussing the ins and outs and practicalities of maintaining abroad programs in Italy. Among those attending: President Maureen Hartford, Dr. Allen Page (VP of Academic Affairs) and his wife, Dr. Betty Webb, head of study abroad and professor of English, and her husband, John Rose, who I had the pleasure of exploring with the two days we were there (while the others were in meetings, etc).

Friday afternoon, John Rose and I just decided to walk around a bit before cena. The weather was lovely though a bit overcast, but we were spared from rain and had a lovely walkabout. We walked into chiese (churches) whenever we could get in for free (which surprisingly, was not very often!) and enjoyed the various markets and festivals we discovered along the way. My favorite church was San Spirito (pictures of which will be available as soon as I can go in and rotate then upload my photos), one of the few free of charge ones available. It was vast and open, and since it was still 6 o'clock or so there was plenty of late rays streaming through the upper windows and filling the entryway with soft sunlight. My second favorite thing was an international festival taking place in la Piazza della Santa Croce. It was mainly comprised of Germans and Austrians, but there were booths of all sorts: sweet food, meaty food, salty food, fatty food, crafty things, silly things, useful things, pretty things - we loved it. Then we joined the others for a fantastic dinner provided by the conference, where we enjoyed a multi-course wonder - in a restaurant that had formerly served as a local prison! My favorite course was the torta cioccolato, but the sad part was, by that time I was too stuffed to finish it. Those who know me well much realize now just how magnificent and massive this meal had to have been for me to have been stayed from eating every last crumb of a chocolate cake!

The next day, John Rose and I were joined by Dr. Page's wife (whose name, I'm ashamed to say, is currently escaping me! I called her Mrs. Page, so I didn't have the repetition needed to seal it in my memory - I'll remember tonight). We discovered una farmacia antica (an antique pharmacy) that serves as both a museum and working farmacia, revisited the international market for lunch (which. for John Rose and me, consisted mainly of the most delicious macaroons I have every tasted), and visited the Museo Bargello as well. Then we met up with President Hartford and Dr. Page at the duomo (they had finished with their meetings for the day), after which John Rose, Dr. Page and I scaled Il Campanile (Torre di Giotto) - the bell tower next to the Duomo. John Rose and I had previously determined that we would climb the Duomo, but one look at the line told us otherwise. So instead we braved all 414 scale (stairs) of the torre (tower) and were rewarded with a breathtaking view of Firenze. Ironically, we also ran into an old friend of Dr. Page's, who was also a Raleigh native! Imagine meeting a Raleighite at the top of the torre! Incredibile!

Ironically, Italy is, at the very least, the third country I've had the pleasure of walking about in the company of Mr. Rose (the other two being Switzerland and England, when I was abroad last summer), and every time he has found a way to lead up off the beaten path of tourists and into the heart of the place. I was so glad we were in Firenze too, because it needed redeeming in my mind (I didn't particularly enjoy it last May), and in his as well. Thankfully, by the end of our stay, we agreed that it had been much nicer this time around - there had been fewer tourists and our treks through the city felt more homey than our previous visits. I attribute this to his knack for finding interesting places and interesting people! I am very thankful to have improved my opinion of Firenze (get this: it was improved enough for me to revisit it with my friend Carly this past Saturday - I wanted to see more!).

Sara and I had a blast on our mini girl's weekend senza bambini (without children)! We stayed in a four-star hotel (compliments of the college) and felt like we were living in the lap of luxury. A fly on our wall would have been rolling in laughter - we were both so excited by all the little but significant accomodations of the room! For example, everytime we opened the doors of our armadio (wardrobe), little lights would come on so we could see our clothes. We also enjoyed the fact that we could sleep in because there was no Lollo to feed, no Leo to need help in the bathroom, and no Gigia to call for rescue from her crib. Granted, we only slept until 7:30, 8 at the latest, but after 6 am wake up calls (sometimes earlier!) lying in bed until well after 8 was heavenly :) In all fairness to the little cherubs back home, we did miss them, and were thrilled to pieces when they came running at us upon our Saturday evening arrival.

I spent the rest of my weekend (through Monday morning) at home in Sansepolcro before heading back to Siena for another week of classes. Then, as I mentioned before, I returned to Firenze this past Saturday and saw more beautiful things, msot notably the Giardino di Boboli (the beautiful gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti owned by the Medici), and, finalmente, Michaelangelo's Davide. We also did a good deal of walking around and admiring - the city, the Arno, and a bit of the outskirts when we got turned around by accident - which was actually really nice. I have found that I really, really enjoy just taking in a city on my own time via walking, instead of jumping from must-see to must-see.

The next day I did exactly that in Siena too. Jamila and I met in the Piazzo del Campo, sat, chatted, and ate gelato for a while, and then went off exploring down a route we have never visited before. Along the way we came across some positively gorgeous countryside - be sure and check out my photos on picasa!

This coming weekend the entire school is spending the weekend in Maremma (http://www.bellamaremma.com/en/) where we will be visiting an olive tree farm and making olive oil! I can't wait :) I will try to take as many pictures as I can, but seeing as making oil involves the hands, I'm not sure about doable this will be. We'll see!

That's all I have time for today. I really do wish I could tell all, but I just can't type quickly enough! I also apologize for the lack of pictures - blogger has been mean to me since coming to Siena and I've given up for now. Thankfully, I can still post via picasa, so check it out when you can: http://picasaweb.google.it/unpensierofelice.

A dopo a tutto!

Bekah

Classes, colds, and counting my blessings

2008-09-29T10:49:00.003+02:00

Please forgive me for not writing sooner. Our first week of regular classes went wonderfully, but was quite long because I was sick for most of it! I picked up some kind of head cold that developed into feeling like the flu for about 24 hours, then changed back into a raffredore and stuck around for three or four miserable days. Ah congestion, how I loathe thee! I cannot count the ways!

By Thursday and Friday I was feeling fine but still sounded really nasally, much to the amusement of others. Then after a Saturday of only having the sniffles (no headache, no sinus tension, no sore throat), I started coughing every now and then in church on Sunday and couldn’t sing a single note – not matter how hard I tried! Later that afternoon and evening la mia golla (my throat) started hurting again and it is still hurting today, so we will see what tomorrow brings. I am really hoping I haven’t picked up a different something from the girls I am living with (who came down with similar but different raffredori at the end of last week). It’s funny, because I am still so thankful for this cold weather (no more zanzare!), but I would be enjoying it so much more if I wasn’t blowing my nose all the time. Hopefully, once my winter clothes get here (any day now!) I will be better equipped to fight off the germs I encounter daily on my bus :)

With classes starting, things have settled into more of a routine now, for which I’m glad. Every weekday morning I wake up at or around 6:30, get ready, eat breakfast with Fulvia at 7 (she usually has to leave pretty early for school), and then spend the remainder of my morning at home studying the Word. I leave the house at 8:15 and walk down to the bus stop where my friend Carly is waiting (she lives with a family in a set of apartments close to ours). The bus arrives quite faithfully at 8:24 and we get to school around 8:40-5 depending on the bus crowd that morning. It’s fun to know the regulars – you start to notice when they get on, when they get off, etc and if you’re like me you make up all these elaborate stories in your head about their lives and where they are going each day. It helps pass the time!

Excepting Mondays, when we start at 1 pm (!) and Fridays, when they start at 8:30 (…), school begins at 9 am when everyone goes to Italian class. After that, we all part ways and the schedules differ from one person to another. The best thing about our new schedule though is the way they arranged our classes to accommodate long weekends: on Fridays the last class ends at 1 pm (although I personally finish around 10) and, as I mentioned before, classes don’t resume until 1 pm on Mondays! It’s perfect for travel, just starting off the week slow if you’ve had a busy weekend. And now that I have an idea of what my academic week will look and feel like for the rest of the semester, I feel more at liberty to explore because I know when my big chunks of free time are (not to mention that these chunks are bigger than before, which is nice).

Classes are going very well. I am very happy with my placement level into the intermediate class because the pace has been perfect for me. There is plenty of review, which I certainly needed, but I am still kept on my toes and learning new things all the time. Creative Writing has been great so far; this weekend I spent hours and hours nit-picking over a one-page piece for today, and it felt so good to write again.

My other non-Italian class is called Education and Linguistics. Now I know you are probably thinking, what on earth is that? Basically, we are learning about the deaf community in Siena and in Italy and in the process with be better equipped for the service-learning project attached to the course. There are three people involved in the teaching of this class: Rita, a sociology professor from a university in Trieste (northern Italy) who has worked with and studied deafness from multiple aspects for years; Luigi, a deaf instructor who is teaching us Italian sign language; and Katie, a Siena School alum who is leading our service-learning project. We will be creating books specifically designed for deaf children learning to read, using what we have learned in Rita’s and Luigi’s classes to produce books that cater to the special needs of these children. It has been an absolutely fascinating experience so far, and I look forward to seeing where the project will take us!

I wish I could have taken all the classes that looked fun and interesting to me, but that would have been a bad idea for my mental and physical health (I would also have probably had to divide myself into three). The upside to my current schedule is that it allows me plenty of time to devote to the perusal of Siena – and of Boccaccio as well! While Dante is clearly the first literary love in Italia, Boccaccio and his Decameron are not far behind. I started studying him a bit last semester in my Chaucer class and am hoping to continue researching and use the Boccaccio/Chaucer connection topic for my senior thesis. When I expressed an interest in Boccaccio, Siena School helped me arrange an independent study with one of the Italian instructors (not mine). Her name is Claudia and I am guessing she is in her mid-twenties; she studied Boccaccio in school, so she is a perfect resource! Our focus is very narrow, which is great because it’s allowing me to delve very deeply into the original text. This week I’m working on translating the 5th tale from the 10th day of the Decameron – where Chaucer shamelessly ripped the plot for the Franklin’s Tale – from Old Italian to modern English. It’s been challenging, but I love it!

My Sienese history class (taught my by Italian teacher, Roberto) is by far the most challenging and, to be honest, frustrating class for me. I think it’s because the vocabulary is so different (history enough to discuss in one’s first language, let alone in another!) and because so far it has been more lecture style instead of interactive like our language class. We have language lunedi, martedi e giovedi, and history mercoledi e venerdi. The idea is that on language days we learn more about the grammatical elements of la lingua, and then on the history days we use the language as a tool, not a subject. So we’re still learning it those days, just in a practical sense. The listening comprehension level of that class goes way up because of the lofty vocabulary, and when we finish it feels like my head has just been through a wrestling match. Thankfully, like in our language classes, Roberto is always very patient! I know it will get better as the weeks go on and my Italian improves, but non vedo l’ora che ha fa (I can’t wait for it to do that)!

I didn’t end up taking Pilates in the community like I wanted because the class time did not mesh well with my academic schedule. That made me sad at first, but there are other things I can do instead. I have taken to wandering around Siena in the hopes of becoming better acquainted with her (and not getting lost as often), but my favorite activity is still sitting in the Piazza del Campo. I love going there on Saturdays and watching all the weddings. It blows my mind how many one can see in just one afternoon!

I have befriended an Italian girl, named Palmina, who works in a nearby art gallery and during the past few weeks I’ve been dropping by the shop to talk (in both English and Italian). On Friday we exchanged numbers and decided to start eating the occasional lunch or go out for coffee after she gets off work. She’s 27 and in the middle of what I think is probably the equivalent of a dissertation. All her friends from college seem to have moved on and I get the feeling that she’s really lonely. I am so glad I met her because 1) she’s been a pleasure to get to know and 2) it’s a great – and fun – way to improve my Italian conversation skills!

The Sansepolcro crew (minus the two littlest ones) came to visit me in Siena this past Saturday! They drove up for the day and so I got to show them around a bit, which was fun. Sara said that as they were walking up from the San Francesco parking lot along the side of the cathedral, Leonardo said that Siena was “una citta’ belissima” (a city most beautiful!). She found it particularly amusing since they hadn’t seen anything yet and were essentially walking up an alleyway :) Later that day Leonardo asked me which I liked better, Siena or Sansepolcro, and was quick to add that Siena was his favorite. I think his absolute favorite part was running around the Campo chasing pigeons. Sara’s favorite was definitely the book stores (we are a very bad influence on each other!) and I think Patrizio’s was the Campo as well (although he just enjoying sitting and watching Leonardo chase the pigeons, not chasing them himself).

It has been nice to have them nearby, and I have enjoyed visiting them every other weekend or so. Next weekend I am meeting Sara in Firenze to explore the city while she attends a conference Friday and Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing a bit of Firenze on my own instead of in a group like I did last summer. I will also get to see Dr. Webb, who is also attending the conference!

On Saturday afternoon we will return to Sansepolcro and then I am planning to stay there through Monday morning and try the train route back. There’s one that makes it back to Siena Monday around noon, but I have to make sure that I can get a bus back to school by 1 so I’m not late for class!

Today I am finally getting to meet the Casini’s, a local family with two little boys that I will be playing with once a week specifically so that they can pick up more English. It took a while for us to connect, and then last Monday, when we were supposed to me, I had to cancel on her because of my sick state. I am very much looking forward to meeting both her and the boys – more on them next week!

I think that’s all for now. For pictures of Siena School (and Siena), check out Picasa over the next couple days. Blogger has been putting up a fuss when I try to post pictures on here, so until I figure that out I will just upload them on the picasa site for you to enjoy there.

Much love … arrivederci!

Bekah

Settimana numero due a Siena ...

2008-09-16T18:14:00.004+02:00

Ciao! I hope this post finds you warmer than I am! It's now week three in Siena and I'm already needing warm clothes. This past Friday the weather took a drastic plunge, going from the 80s to the 60s and 50s in mere hours. It's amazing what a good hard rain can do!

Week two of our language intensive classes was, appropriately, more difficult than the first, but it was easier in many ways as well. Various skills have been mastered (for instance, my bus route, the tricky lock on the front door, etc) so there is less stress in my non-academic life and thus, more room in my brain to focus on the Italian itself. Throughout the week we attended presentations of all the other classes (which begin this coming Monday) to give us a better idea of what each one will be like. I am still set on my choices of creative writing and an education and linguistics course, but there were plenty of other choices that tempted me to change my mind!

But the highlight of last week was definitely my return to Sansepolcro this weekend. Classes end at 12 on Fridays, so I caught a 12:30 bus from Siena to Arezzo and then another from Arezzo to Sansepolcro. I got most of my homework done in the first 45 minutes of the bus trip and arrived in Arezzo around 1:50. After buying tickets (more than I meant to - I'm set for the next three or four trips!), I ran over to a nearby bar and bought an amazing chocolate ice cream bar (double chocolate to be precise) and then went over to the bus stop to wait for the bus. On the ride over to Sansepolcro I met a small group of Irish ladies traveling together, and get this - they were from Cork (which I had the pleasure of visiting last summer)! We had fun chit-chatting about Ireland and Italy together as the bus careened through the hills around hairpin turns and near many a perilous edge.

Arriving in Sansepolcro again felt like coming home to an old friend. I stepped off the bus, said goodbye to the Irish ladies and then took off for Sara and Patrizio's house with a skip in my step. It only takes five minutes or so to get there, so before long I was walking up to the house, looking for signs of life. I could tell it must be naptime because the whole place had a sense of quiet stillness about it, but as I walked through the gate I heard someone shifting things around in the garage. I called out "Ciao!" and was happily greeted with a "Ciao Bekah!" from Patrizio which was followed by a big hug.

We ran upstairs and found Sara in the living room with Veronica - Sara gave me a big bear hug and Veronica flashed a radiant smile at me. It was so funny ... Sara and I kept giggling like little girls because we were so excited to be together again! That afternoon it poured and poured, bringing in the long awaited cold, but inside we were all glowing - it felt so good to be back with them again!

Leonardo and Ginevra napped a while longer, so that gave me plenty of time to cuddle Veronica and catch Sara and Patrizio up on everything Siena (and them plenty of time to catch me up on the latest developments at home - like Veronica's newest dental additions and Leonardo's first week of school). After another hour or so Ginevra woke up from her nap and there I was. Her immediate reaction was completely uncharacteristic - silence. She just stared at me with those big brown eyes and looked around like she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. It was so cute! But before long she was in my arms again, then pulling me around the house by my pinkie finger, pointing to things and talking in Ginevra-ese. It was "Battah" this and "Battah" that, and if I ever when out of eyesight, she immediately called out for me to make sure I hadn't disappeared again.

When Leonardo woke up he sneaked out to the living room doors and said, "How are you!" (note the punctuation there - it was not a question!). Then he hid and I had to go tackle him, and then, naturally, give him lots and lots of kisses (which, I am happy to report, were affectionately returned). We had a very sweet afternoon and evening together, and then that night Patrizio made us some killer pasta con pesto. It was magnifico ...

The rest of the weekend was really relaxed. It was fun to play with the kids again, talk with Sara, try to speak Italian with Patrizio, and walk around Sansepolcro again. Saturday I woke up around 6:30 (without an alarm! It's crazy ... my body just naturally wakes up early now) and got to feed Veronica her morning bottle. I love those quiet moments with her. Very sweet.

On Sunday Patrizio participated in a race in Citta di Castello - and came in 3rd! Then as we watched the award ceremony it began to pour again ... and I do mean POUR. We ran back to the car (with Sara, Leonardo and I sharing my very small umbrella) and took off for Sansepolcro and the delicious lunch waiting for us at Sara's parents' house. We arrived wet and hungry but happy to be there. Then after lunch it was time for me to head back to Arezzo to catch my bus back to Siena, so Sara, Patrizio and I all said "ciao for now!" and took off for the station.

I am planning to go back and see them again this weekend, but it was still sad to say goodbye! This week has been a bit long because it's our third week of language intensive classes, but I am still enjoying it very much. Next week will be fun though because all our new classes start - I can't wait, especially for the creative writing class.

Got to run - the school's closing soon and I need to gather my effects :) I tried to post pictures but blogger isn't behaving, but you should be able to view them on my picasa site - and some new videos of a couple of the kids too!

Ciao for now - love and baci.

Bekah

Safely - and very happily settled - in Siena!

2008-09-08T15:29:00.000+02:00

Grazie mille for your patience! I have had a busy but wonderful first week in Siena and am itching to tell you about what I’ve been up to, so let me get right down to business … prepare yourself for another novel!

After a sad, early morning departure from Sansepolcro, I waved goodbye to Sara and Patrizio at the Arezzo train platform and then rode off toward Firenze and then on to Pisa. Miraculously, I made it to eat train change without any trouble (we were sure I would miss one because the changes were very quick and the trains are often late) and arrived in Pisa around 11:30. Before long I made my way to the arrival gate (it is an absolutely tiny airport) and began looking for Americans. It didn’t take me long to find them :)

There are 11 of us in total, but they were still waiting for two more to arrive when I walked up and introduced myself. Within the group there are two sets of three – Dan, Jamie, and Solomon and then Bryan, Pam, and Shaheen – who are from the same schools (Carlton College and Wheaton, respectively), but the rest of us are loners from a scattering of colleges in the west, northeast, mid-west – Alaine, Callie, Carly, and Jamila – and then I am here represent the southeast (it’s a big responsibility). I also got to meet Donatella (the current secretary), Lucia (Donatella’s replacement who takes over in October), and Elizabeth, a Siena School alum who graduated this past May and is staying with Siena School for the next year as a mentor for us (and then also for the students who come in the spring). The staff was extremely friendly and so evidently concerned for our well-being that any lingering reservations were immediately put to rest.

After the stragglers arrived, we all loaded onto a bus and rode to an agriturismo in the vicinity of Volterra (about an hour away). An agriturismo is the product of a working farm that converts itself into a bed and breakfast of sorts too.

We were surrounded by breathtaking views, were fed out of this world meals, had a pool at our disposal and a personable asino (donkey) for our amusement – it was so nice!

The days were devoted to relaxation, visits to the nearby towns of Lucca and Volterra (to see pictures of these towns, visit my Picasa site – the link is listed on the right hand sidebar of this page), along with orientation logistics, and for many, recovery from jetlag. The guys shared a room and then the girls were paired off in doubles. Jamila and I decided to room together because we had been emailing a bit over the summer and had bonded a bit more on the bus ride. She is a linguistics/German/art restoration major from New Mexico and we have enjoyed getting to know each other very well in a very short amount of time – a phenomenon that often occurs when close quarters and constant interaction are imposed on two near strangers!

Saturday afternoon (Aug. 30) we arrived in Siena around 5:30 and were immediately picked up by our host families. Fulvia, my Italian mamma in Siena, speaks almost no English, so there is no temptation to slip into my comfort zone linguistically! I am guessing she is probably in her late 50s, early 60s. During the year she teaches 4-5 year olds (she starts school again next week), so she has all sorts of patience to bestow upon my clumsy, accident prone, absentminded self! When I told her how much I appreciated her patience as I bumbled through my first try at pomodoro sauce, she reminded me of her occupation and smiled. Is she perfect for me or what?

After we arrived at the apartment she showed me around, gave me something to drink, and then let me unpack. She lives in a three-room flat that I just love. My room is comfortably sized and has a 10-footish ceiling. I have more storage space that I will ever need (assuming of course that I don’t go crazy with the amazing clothing stores here – just kidding, Dad!).

After I had finished with the clothes, I put the rest off and went into the kitchen and asked if I could help with dinner. We had a lovely time making spaghetti and insalata, and I now know how to make a wonderful batch of simple but delicious tomato sauce, handmade pesto, meatballs, and some practical kitchen skills (and all the people rejoiced!). Hopefully I will come back home able to repeat what I have learned in these months with her and Patrizio, yes?

My room is at the end of the hall but caddy corner to hers, and so while I was organizing the shelves in my room I talked to her (she was taking care of something in her room). I wanted to make sure she didn’t mind me talking her ear off, so I told her to tell me if I talked too much. She laughed and said she loved it, because the last student she had didn’t talk or interact hardly at all.

So far Fulvia and I have been able to converse very, very well; when I don’t understand something we just backtrack and work through the phrases together until the lightbulb comes on. She is divorced and her children are both grown and out of the house, so for the first week it was just her and me (two more American students from another program joined us this past Saturday). Fulvia’s daughter is in her mid to late thirties and lives about 10 minutes away in a tiny town called Uopini that branches off of Siena; she is married but has no children. Fulvia’s son currently lives in Firenze and I think he is in his thirties too, but I haven’t met him.

On Sunday (Aug. 31) she took me on two road trips – first to a tiny walled town called Monteriggioni (of maybe 200 people) about twentyish minutes from her house. The whole place took maybe a half hour to walk up to, around, and back down! I was so enchanted I forgot to take pictures of the inside, but here is a shot of the outside walls:

Next she took me further out to see a castle outside Siena (it is privately owned, so we had to admire from a distance). She cracked me up, because everywhere we went she would pluck blackberries or herbs up and eat them, stow them, or give them to me to either taste or smell!

It reminded me of the time Patrizio stole plums from a nearby tree. Oh, but might I add that it was not just any tree, but a tree on property owned by their priest! As you can imagine, Sara and I gave him quite a bit of ribbing for stealing plums from a priest (as we sat in the kitchen eating his plunder) …

Anyway, on the way home from the castle sighting we stopped by Uopini to see her daughter. We walked over to a local blood drive where there was a little market of sorts, had some caffé and then looted a massive fig tree behind her daugter’s apartment. I, of course, was eaten alive by the zanzare (apparently, me + figgy fingers = irresistible), but we were able to pick a ton of figs – which have since been turned into marmellata. After the bag was satisfactorily full, we returned to the flat, had lunch around 1, and then both tried to read (but that turned into a nap for both parties). Then around 4, we headed out again to visit San Gimignano, a significantly larger walled hill town (but still smaller than Siena) known for its towers. It was about 45 minutes or more away from Siena, and it was just gorgeous. I have also posted these pictures up on my Picasa site, but here is a tiny sneak preview:

And then on lunedi, school commenced! The Siena School headquarters is in a villa (yes, a villa), so I feel like I am living in a dreamland. For the first three weeks we are only taking Italian language intensives, so we have class from 9-12 every weekday. As I said, there are 11 students in the program (plus two college graduates who are here as interns and taking language classes too), but we have differing levels of Italian so we are divided into three classes (I absolutely adore these tiny classes!).

I am in the middle one with four other students: only me and Tate (one of the interns) have studied Italian before, but the other three have significant backgrounds in foreign language so they are picking up Italian very quickly (for example, my friend Jamila was raised bilingual – Spanish/English – and has studied German and Portugese as well … I am insanely jealous!). Meanwhile, Tate and I are loving the review and helping the others move along at brisk pace. Our teacher, Roberto, is a Sienese local. He is very kind and patient with us, and, strangely enough, reminds me very much of Liam Neeson. Three hours sounds like a long time, but in reality it has been flying by (and we get a fifteen minute break).

Then from 12-2 we have a lunch break, which is just lovely. Jamila and I have been finding different places to eat around Siena (such as the Piazza del Campo or a nearby park) to get us out of the school and acclimated to the city. We have really enjoyed walking around and familiarizing ourselves with the hilly streets of this beautiful città.

In the afternoons we have had language/phonetics labs, meetings with members of the staff, history of Siena classes, and twice a tour around different parts of Siena. The Siena School (my program) has fulfilled and exceeded all of my expectations! They really have thought through everything and go to great lengths to make each student’s time in Siena a special experience that is tailored to his or her interests/talents. The school really loves helping students find their niche, because it offers yet another means of improving our knowledge of the language, the people, and the culture of Siena. For example, last week they helped me track down a dance studio. Classes start the first of October, and while their contemporary classes (modern) did not fit well with my schedule, I think I am going to be able to take a weekly pilates class!

They also helped me find a local church (protestant churches are few and far between, but we found a good one!) and I was able to attend the service yesterday. It is very, very small, but everyone was so friendly and welcoming and it was truly a blessing to be able to worship with fellow believers again (even though I couldn’t understand a lot of it!). After the service one of the older men ran up to the church office and got me an Italian/English Bible (it has French too, but my francese is extremely rusty due to shameful neglect!). I am really looking forward to being able to understand more of the sermon, but until then I will enjoy the weekly hymns (which I can understand, for the most part) and fellowship.

Our flat is about ten minutes outside central Siena (we live outside the walled portion of the town), so every morning I catch a bus and ride into town. Another Siena School student, Carly, lives in the area, so we have enjoyed having each other for company – and moral support – and we learned to maneuver through the bus system. We have also walked home once, and plan to do so on either a weekly or twice-a-week basis, depending on how tired we are (it took us over an hour, but it was a pleasant walk and helped orient us to our surroundings). While I am semi-jealous of the few students that live inside the city walls, ultimately I am glad that I live outside because it has forced me to learn how to use the buses and improved my knowledge of the city.

As mentioned before, I have my own room and so does Fulvia, and then the other two girls (a senior and a junior from BYU) are sharing the largest one. Their names are Shannon and Johanna and they are both very sweet (pictures to come!). We three ragazze share a bathroom, but so far it has been a very congenial and peaceful sharing of the space! They will be here until mid-November, but their school schedule differs a bit from mine. Because they are required to be back for Sunday morning services in Siena, their school gives them Fridays off to allow for weekend travel time. It sounds like they have many places they want to go, so I am guessing that most weekends it will just be me and Fulvia until Sunday afternoons. Of course, I will be going to Sansepolcro on some weekends, as well as making a few weekend trips myself, so Fulvia will have a few quiet weekends.

I miss everyone back in Sansepolcro very much, but now that my return visit is only five days away the absence is not so bad. Sara and I have been texting and emailing throughout the week, and I got to talk to them on the phone at least twice. The first time was when I called to let them know I had made it to Pisa and then on to orientation in Volterra okay. Right before Sara and I hung up Patrizio got on the phone and, with the clamor of i bambini in the background, said, “Bekah, come back, please!” The humorous desperation in his voice was so funny. I got to talk to Leonardo a couple nights later when he was going to bed. Sara said that he had been crying a lot since I left, and that Ginevra keeps going into my room and saying, “Batta?” I can’t wait to see them again!

Surprisingly, I can’t say that I miss the States at all. Now, please, please, please don’t read this incorrectly – I miss the people, but not the place itself. I must admit though, I do feel shamefully disloyal to my homeland and the lack of “missing home” can be quite disconcerting at times! But honestly, if it weren’t for all of you that I hold dear back home, I wouldn’t ever want to leave (blushes). I told Jamila the other day that if I were an actress or singer and could change my name for the stage, it would most definitely be an Italian one (exactly which one is yet to be decided).

I can already tell that my Italian is going to improve by leaps and strides in no time at all. Within my first 24 hours I was shocked by how much surfaced from the depths, and now that I have completed my first week of language classes I understand even more. I have also seen just how much living with Sara e Patrizio really jumpstarted my listening comprehension – there is much (MUCH!) room for improvement, but I can follow most of what Fulvia says and respond with reasonable confidence (though it still involves much effort too!).

And now begins my second week in Siena. I will hopefully take more pictures of the actual city this week and post them this coming weekend. I wish had adequate time to embellish and tell you absolutely every delicious detail, but alas, I do not. So until my next posting (keep an eye out on Mondays), much love … arrivederci!

Bekah

A dopo, Sansepolcro!

2008-08-27T23:00:00.001+02:00

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

2008-08-18T10:16:00.005+02:00

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

2008-08-17T17:48:00.010+02:00

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!

2008-08-10T18:02:00.015+02:00

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 ...

2008-08-03T17:48:00.005+02:00

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

La mia settimana in review

2008-07-31T16:19:00.008+02:00

Ciao! I am very behind so I will try to catch you up as quickly as I can. We’ll see how far I get this time …

Last venerdi (Friday), Sara e Patrizio had some friends over for dinner – a thirty-something couple with a little boy Leonardo’s age. The husband spoke perfect inglese, with hardly any accent, and the wife could talk with me just fine in her less-perfect English. We all ate outside (Sara and I got more mosquito bites) and once again, I tried new foods and loved them. My parents will be shaking their heads as they read this because I was a notoriously picky eater as a child – and have continued to snub certain foods as a young adult too! Well, what can I say? I have at long last seen the light! That night, Patrizio made another salad for us – cured prociutto lined the bottom of the plate, with little funghi, green olives, greens, and olive oil on top (yes, mia famiglia, I ate mushrooms and green olives!). On a separate plate were patate fritte e zucchini, which I also enjoyed. The whole time we ate, Ginevra – who was sitting at my right – kept reaching over and picking the little mushrooms off of my plate and popping them in her mouth like they were rightfully hers!

After trying a new type of vino rosso and my first sampling of limoncello (which was so strong that I felt the warmth in my nose, ears, and sinuses!), we had gelato … which was, amazingly enough, my first gelato since I have been here. It was so delicious: swirls of white and regular chocolate gelati with curls of shaved cioccolato sprinkled on and throughout the mix. And, to my delight, Sara e Patrizio serve gelato the way that I do – in grande portions (molto grande!). They also eat with their elbows on the table, a habit I have always enjoyed very much but consciously avoided in the United States for obvious reasons.

After dinner, the men took the kids to the front yard and played kickball. I took Veronica from Sara to give her the chance to talk with her friend without the little squirmer in her lap, then proceeded to bounce la bellina on my hip as I walked around the yard, through the house, etc. It’s so funny, because every time I take Veronica from Sara or Patrizio to hold her or feed her (or whatever), they thank me like I am performing some incredible sacrifice, or doing them a huge favor, when really I am being as selfish as can be – because getting time to hold and play with Veronica is such a joy for me!

I also got to meet Sara’s parents, whom I had met before when I was in Sansepolcro with Meredith (although they did not remember me since I was with twenty-odd girls that time!). They were both so kind to me, and I look forward to spending more time with them too.

Once the guests had left, Leonardo wanted to play me a song (he kept saying, “Conosci!” – “You know!”). After Patrizio found the right disc and pressed play, Queen’s We Will Rock You came on and “Nardo” started dancing – it was so cute! Later that night, I took him into my room and played him the same song on my iTunes, which made him laugh.

Sabato was a nice, quiet sort of day. I spent the morning coloring and playing calcio with Leonardo, chasing and tumbling with Ginevra, and cuddling and cooing at Veronica. Nardo helped me feed Veronica after pranzo, and it ended with much of the food going down her front and all over her clothes – Sara and I couldn’t help but laugh at the state of her afterwards! She was quite the sight! There she was, happy as could be, even with green baby food and applesauce everywhere.

That afternoon, la mia amica, Sam Cibelli, made her way to Sansepolcro after spending a month of study in Siena and a few days of sight-seeing in Firenze. I walked down to the bus station to meet her, but of course, her bus came later than expected so there were about three false alarms (other buses that I thought were hers) before I actually saw her smiling face through the tinted window. She was very tired, not only from the long rides on i treni e l’autobus, but from the go go go of the past month, so a couple days in Sansepolcro was exactly what she needed.

As I walked her back up the hillside to Sara e Patrizio’s house, we began the long process of catching one another up on all the happenings that had taken place between our last good talk (the night before she left for Italy) and the present. It was very hot, and carrying her smaller (but still surprisingly heavy) backpack carried my mind to memories of last summer when it seemed like I had one on more than off!

We came back home to Sara enjoying a nice, quiet house – Leo and Gigia were with i nonni (grandparents) for the afternoon and Veronica was still sleeping. Sam and I disposed of her bags, then joined Sara in the kitchen pulling out food for Sam (who, of course, said she was fine and just needed water, so I jumped in and informed Sara that she was in fact quite hungry and needed a snack!). A few minutes later, the three of us were chatting in the kitchen when Patrizio came in from biking, dancing into the house with his helmet and all his biking gear still on, and singing “Carolina Girls” (the song performed annually by Meredith students for the Italian host families at the closing dinner in June). Sara laughingly shushed Patrizio and chased him back outside with a wave of rapid fire Italian and a playful near-kick in the pants. Sam and I were laughing all the while at their antics, trying not to choke on our drinks or wake Veronica with the noise.

When she did wake up, Sam and I were still visiting with Sara and Patrizio in the kitchen over drinks and fruit, so I ran in and picked up the little bambina so that she could join in the fun too. One of the sweetest things about Veronica is her winning smile (that consistently appears mere moments after waking up, which is more than I can say for myself), and the glowing look she bestowed on Sam was every bit as lovely as always.

Thus began Sam’s happy but all-too-brief stay in Sansepolcro. She got to stay through Monday morning, but of course the days flew by in the busyness of talking with Sara about all things Italy, eating Patrizio’s excellent dishes, playing with the kids in the house and yard, laughing at Ginevra’s table manners (the best free entertainment – every night!), and of course, talking late into the night about her time in Italy and trying very hard to catch up on absolutely everything before our time ran out and it was time for her to leave.

Domenica began with Sam sleeping far later than anticipated (she woke up around the time that the family got back in from church and took off for la casa dei nonni). Then, having the house to ourselves for the afternoon, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, took our own sweet time getting ready, and then took off down one of my favorite haunts outside the city walls. The weather was absolutely perfetto, and made for some beautiful pictures of the Tuscan landscape around us, but it was also quite hot.

By the time we made it to the river and back, we were parched and slightly baked (though thankfully, not burned!), so there was nothing left for us to do but crash on the couch, pull out my laptop, and watch Pride and Prejudice. Best way to spend a hot afternoon really – we had Patrizio’s leftover panesanella to fill our tummies, the shutters closed to block out the caldo sun, and handsome characters with British accents and dashing blue coats to make us (or in reality, mainly me) sigh on occasion.

Then the viewing took a humorous turn, because Patrizio dropped by to pick up his bike (he is currently training for an event in agosto). The movie had just started, and so Sam and I tried to explain what we were watching and the main storyline as the action unfolded. Since our vocabulary is still rather limited, and the fast pace English – Briton-style – too hard for him to follow, we resorted to the following sort of explanations: “Il uomo rosso piace sorella bionda e la sorella bruna non piace il uomo bruno,” which translates roughly to “the red (haired) man likes the blonde sister and the brunette sister does not like the brown (haired) man.” He only had time for about the first ten minutes or so, but his face was priceless! It was clear that the facial expressions and tones (as well as the reactions Sam and I produced) were getting across the main idea, but, true to form, Patrizio was also trying to grasp what they were actually saying too, and the result was lots of furrowing of the brows and confused looks in our direction. After about fifteen minutes he called it quits (for now) and went biking. I think that it might go over better next time if we make sure Sara is around to help out a bit. Then, about halfway through the movie, Sam had also deserted me by falling asleep on the spot, so I ended up watching a good forty-five minutes or so by myself. Thankfully, she woke up in time to enjoy the happy ending. So all in all, we had a perfectly wonderful day.

The next morning she had to make an 8:46 bus to Arezzo, and owing to two realities (her procrastination in packing and my lack of directional capabilities) she almost missed it! Her last minute packing had us out the door at 8:36 (instead of the 8:25 departure I suggested) and then, because I only know the straightforward but long way down to the center of town (i.e., it contains one turn, not four or five), we had to run most of the way there (with backpacks on, mind you!). We ended up at the stazione right at 8:36 and no bus was in sight. Sam pronounced that we must have missed it, but I assured her that this was not the case.

And I was right.

At 8:37 the Arezzo bus turned the corner and opened its doors to take my Cibelli away, off to southern Italy and the relatives that waited. We gave each other quick bear hugs and then she was on her way. I was sad to see her go, but was still so grateful that I got to see her at all that the sadness of saying goodbye was almost niente to bear. All semester long we had talked and talked about seeing each other in Italy when we figured out our visits would overlap, but never actually thought it would work!

Lunedi was another nice day at home. I played with the kids outside in the morning, then helped get them out the door around 11. Sara had to take Veronica to the doctor for a checkup and Patrizio took Leo and Gigia out and then over to the grandparents for the afternoon. So while I had the house to myself I enjoyed a nice shower, straightened up, and then waited for lunchtime to roll around again. Veronica went down for a nap after her appointment, so Sara and I started getting the kitchen ready for Patrizio. When he arrived, preparation of an amazing lunch followed, as is the trend in this household.

One thing I especially like about the Italian lifestyle is their lunch hours – yes, hours. Plural. It allows people to actually go home and make, then enjoy a really nice lunch with friends or family, and I just love it. There is rarely any rush, and it even allows for a nap if you are prompt about eating.

Well, that particular lunchtime it just so happened that only Sara, Patrizio, and me were home to eat – no children (expecting little Veronica of course, who was sleeping)! What followed was yet another set of some of the most enjoyable hours I have had here. See, because I am still struggling to comprehend fast Italian dialogue, and Patrizio is the same with English, we try to meet in the middle sometimes when the three of us are talking: I talk in Italian as best I can, he in English, and Sara in both, helping the two of us out as needed. The result was probably the slowest and most relaxing lunch we have had so far, because so much thought was going into the talking that the eating had to take the backseat sometimes! Sara is always so patient with me, and offers gentle corrections without making me feel stupid or inarticulate. And there is so much good natured humor in these bilingual conversations too, because Patrizio and I are trying so hard, but still make all sorts of funny mistakes. They really do the most incredible job when it comes to making me feel like a part of the family and seeing to it that every possible need of mine is met above and beyond what I could want. I am so thankful for the chance to get immersed in Italian in the midst of such an amazing family!

That night, we had dinner guests again (as we more often do than do not!). Sara laughs and says that since Patrizio does the cooking, she can never say no when he wants to have people over for dinner. We have started calling him a “social butterfly,” a concept I had to explain since it doesn’t translate with the same meaning (Patrizio immediately wanted to know if it was a good thing in America for men to be “butterflies!”). Anyhow, this time around the visitors actually shared my native language, though they were also fluent in Italian too. Maureen Banker, a Meredith professor of art that has retired in Sansepolcro, came with her husband, Jim, to visit and eat with us. Over the years the Bankers have become very close with Sara, Patrizio, and the children, but they had been on vacation in Firenze for a month, so there was much catching up to do! I enjoyed the time with them as well, and it was fun to talk about Meredith again, and the mutual people that we knew from back home. I’ll never forget the change in look and tone when I told Maureen I was studying English at Meredith (“Ohhhhh, an English major,” she replied – in other words, “You’re one of those!”). Indeed. And rather proud of it too!

That night we enjoyed one of the most delectable dinners yet (see below). Oh, did I mention that Patrizio is a gourmet chef? Probably not. I didn’t want to let out all the amazing details of my life here all at once and risk of rampant cases of jealousy breaking out among my loved ones. I think it goes without saying that I am eating remarkably well every single day!

The dinner was accompanied by another happy surprise for me – a new vino dolce to try. Sara’s father had been given a bottle of sweet, white wine as a gift, but since he is not a fan of sweet wines, and knew that I very much am, he gave it to Patrizio and said it was especially for me! Can you see why I can’t stop talking about how wonderful my Italian family is? Sara’s parents come over on a regular (pretty much daily) basis, and I have become fast friends with both of them as well. Her mother is every bit as patient with my slow Italian as Sara is, and her father does the sweetest little things for me – he even tracked down some contact information regarding an evangelical church when he found out I was a Protestant!

Then, to top off my prima settimana in Italia, I got to spend the day in Assisi with (l-r) Chiara (Sara’s younger sister who lives in Milano), Sara, Leonardo, and Patrizio:

Assisi, home of the much revered saint, Francesco, is a hill town about an hour or so from Sansepolcro. We visited three belle chiese (churches), including the crypts below where we saw the remains of Santa Chiara and San Francesco himself.

The spectacular views of the Tuscan landscape went on and on, with the shadows of mountains looming in the distance. I tried to capture them on my camera, but I’m afraid my shots hardly do them justice.

As the day wore on, Nardo got tired and kept asking us to carry him. It was so hot that no one could oblige for very long, but you can see by the look on his face just how pleased he was when he finally got his way for a while.

We also got to see the college of culinary arts that Patrizio attended, walked around the beautiful city and took in the lovely architecture, then picnicked on the side of a mountain. Lunch was promptly followed by a universal nap – do they know how to live or what? Camping mats were rolled out on the happy slant of the hillside for the ladies and a not at all sleepy Leonardo, while Patrizio stretched out on the picnic table’s accompanying bench. The trees protected us from the heat of the day and the much needed rest was exactly what my body wanted.

After we all woke up (whereupon I discovered no fewer than four mosquito bites on me, one the side of a half dollar – yes, they love me here too!), we loaded back into the van and rambled through the beautiful hills until we came to another Francesco visiting area. It was a quiet, outdoor oasis intended for prayer and meditation, so most of the time was spent with we adults trying to take in the soft spoken beauty around us while constantly telling Leonardo zitto, zitto, zitto (“Zip it!”). The frequent signs reading “Silenzio” have absolutely no effect on nonreaders, who are usually the ones actually needing the admonition, yes?

The ride home was a relatively quiet one, so before long Leonardo and I were both asleep. When we got home Veronica was promptly picked up from one set of grandparents; picking up Ginevra from the other grandparents was put off until after dinner – and the house was much quieter as a result! However, we were very happy to have her back later that evening, and she provided no end of after dinner entertainment for the adults.

That night, Patrizio stuffed us with homemade gnocchi that was out of this world, and, as usual, he invited company over to enjoy it with us. His friend, named – ironically – Francesco, had lived in London for five years and spoke perfect English, but after we had gone through the preliminary questions that follow most introductions, the language of the evening was almost entirely Italian. I was actually surprised by how much I could follow though, and when Francesco talked to me in Italian (clearly and deliberately, but not what I would consider slowly), I actually grasped what he was saying with very little difficulty. I really enjoyed talking about London with him, and it was interesting to note the Briton slant to his accent. And then, of course, the four of us (Sara, Patrizio, Francesco, and I) ended the evening talking outside around the picnic table, with Ginevra and Veronica for entertainment (Leonardo was busy playing in the front yard with his friend, Ricardo, so he missed out). After Francesco left, I showed Sara and Patrizio the pictures I had taken at Assisi that day, as well as more pictures from home, a few from my younger years, and then snapshots of London and Ireland.

And that brings me to mercoledi – whew! I’m beginning to wonder how many of you are still with me! Yesterday we were mostly just in and about the house, playing with the kids, eating more good food of course, and trying to stay cool. Yet though Sara and I didn’t take them anywhere, by the end of the day we were both positively spent. Patrizio did not get off work until 8:30 or 9, and by the time he did, Sara and I were both on the verge of meltdown (the kind where one laughs uncontrollably out of pure exhaustion). He came in the door and started to tell us about his day (in English), saying that it had been a quiet day at the hospital, so he had done nothing but study English and practice past tense (which he then preceded to demonstrate for us), but try as we might, Sara and I could not listen with straight faces. I think it was because he used the phrase “I did nothing tonight,” which, of course, made us a little bit angry at him since we had been chasing down Ginevra, breaking up fights, getting spit up on, etc all day long!

Tired Bekah? Si! :)

So there we were, bursting into giggle fits while poor Patrizio tries to tell us about his day with his newly refined past tense. Before long he started laughing too, thinking he had said something wrong and thus funny in English, and we had to keep telling him that we weren’t laughing at him – it was just that we were tired. So, considering our state of mental exhaustion, you can imagine how we reacted when he told us a few minutes later that he was taking Leonardo and Ginevra out for a bike ride about Sansepolcro … “GRAZIE, PATRIZIO!!!”

Later that night after the kids were in bed, Sara and I pulled out my laptop and started watching more of Pride and Prejudice (we had gotten about thirty minutes into it on Monday) while she was ironing. Before long, Patrizio came in and joined us under the pretense that he was eating and had nothing better to do (though, he stayed and watched it with us until we all turned in for the night). We had the subtitles on to make it easier for them to follow and made it up to the point where Lizzy gets the letter about Lydia and Mr. Wickham. Sara was saying that she really wanted to get an Italian version, which would be great practice for me too!

One thing that I found particularly interesting came up when we were talking about Donald Sutherland. They recognized his face, but Sara explained that this was the first time they had actually heard his voice because all the films she had ever seen with him had been dubbed. It is kind of amazing to think about really – that they know all these famous American and British faces in TV and movies, but have never heard their real voices? And the crazy thing is, there are many actors, like Sutherland for example, that I love specifically for their voices. And then there is the inverse for me – watching an American film that has been dubbed – which is also quite an experience. At the end of August, Prince Caspian is coming out in Sansepolcro and we are going to go see it! I can’t wait, and I am really hoping my listening comprehension will have improved significantly by then.

And that brings me to today: giovedi. Sara and I had another busy morning with the kids, but this afternoon is a quiet one for me because I now have the house to myself. Sara went with her dad and sister (with Leo and Gigia in tow) to visit a great-aunt that lives out of town and has wanted to meet Ginevra. I had Veronica for a while, but after Patrizio got back from the supermercato he took her over to Sara’s mother for the afternoon and then took off to bike and run. So here I am, typing up the last of this very long account, shaking my head at how much more I could tell you if there was time! Thus, as a parting gift, here are a few random sketches of happy and humorous moments that did not make it into the previous rant because I either forgot about or overlooked them during the first run through:

Feeding Veronica

This is a task that, despite its daily nature, never gets old for me – probably because my subject goes about the ordeal with such animation. One would think the bambina had not eaten in a few days instead of only a few hours! I have also fine-tuned the best method and can get her through one bowl in roughly five minutes. The key? Three simple steps: scoop, deliver, swipe. First, I scoop a smallish glob of baby food into the spoon. Then, the spoon is delivered with intention, carefully avoiding the grasping fingers when this proves a problem and lifting the spoon deftly upon delivery to insure that all of the gloop makes it into her mouth. But the job is only complete upon conclusion of the swipe. Think about a squeegee, and then imagine that the edge of the spoon is the instrument and Veronica’s mouth the glass surface. It works (almost) every time, and I can now complete all three actions in about 4.7 seconds. Prunes are more difficult because they lack a thicker consistency and Veronica has a propensity to splurt them everywhere, but for the most part, I am basically a pro.

Mosquito Magnet

Although I am not the only one that is adored by mosquitoes – Sara and I are the dynamic duo – I tend to attract them away from most everyone else. My theory is, they like foreign blood because it makes them feel exotic or something. The funny thing is that even when Sara and I take pains and wear long pants to avoid an itchy evening (as the kids run gleeful in shorts and Patrizio enjoys a cool, shirtless existence), the stupid pests still make a beeline for us! One evening in particular this point was markedly made, for, when the mosquitoes discovered my legs – and arms! – were protected by pants and long sleeves, they went straight for my forehead. Awesome. Sam swatted one away before it had done too much damage, but a few minutes later I felt the itch creep on and knew it was too late. I turned to Sara, mute but on the verge of erupting into laughter, and just pointed. At my head. And the bump. It was too much – she broke out into hysterical laughter and then pointed to Patrizio – still untouched despite wearing shorts and nothing else – and said, “It’s not fair, is it?”

Principe Leonardo

Leonardo is quite the talker, but a lot of the time I have absolutely no idea what he has just said. He goes off on tangents (happy ones) that generally end in a question, and then looks at me expectantly as Sara and Patrizio laugh at my helpless expression. So, in lieu of these tangents that I rarely understand, he has begun to frequent one-worded commands. His favorites? Vieni (“Come!”), tieni (“Hold [this]!”), and prendi (“Take [this]!”). As a result, I have taken to calling him Prince Leo. The little principe has also had to learn that per favore is a required add-on to his requests …

Basta!

Ginevra also has a list of frequently used words, “no” and “basta” (stop!) being among those primarily used. The funny thing is, the way that she says basta is with a bit of a lisp (bahth-duh!), and, to top it off, sounds a lot like her version of “Bekah.” So, half the time I can’t tell if she is yelling my name or telling someone to stop. Her name for Veronica is equally confusing: “Lo Lo.” No one is sure where that came from, since there is no “lo” sound in “Veronica,” or an “L” either for that matter (our best guess is that it came from sorella, which means “sister”). However, whenever she says “Low-LOH!” everyone knows exactly who is being referred to, so in the end, it works!

In other Ginvera news, I have discovered that she prefers being upside down more than right-side up, and have been promoted to a happy existence among the ranks of those lucky enough to receive morning kisses from “Gigia.”

Thus, my very happy life in Sansepolcro goes on with me continuing to love it more and more each day. I hope that all of you are well – many thanks to those who have emailed me! If you have not received a response yet, you should soon. Thank you for your patience! A dopo …

much love and molti baci – Bekah

Te amo, Sansepolcro!

2008-07-24T18:53:00.012+02:00

Ciao everyone!

Mi dispiace that I have taken so long to post – it has been a busy week for me! Let me begin by trying to find a word that can possibly describe just how wonderful it is to be back in Sansepolcro … hmmm … nope … niente. I’m afraid no word exists yet! I will work on it.

Sara e Patrizio have been absolutely wonderful to me and i bambini are just adorably sweet. Leonardo is four years old and we are already good buddies. He wants me to do everything with him all the time!

Ginevra is two, into everything all the time, and likes to climb pretty much anything bigger than herself. She is trying very hard to add my name to her growing vocabulary list.

And then there is the baby, Veronica, who is one of the most happily-tempered babies I’ve ever known.

But before I go on and on about my felice life in Sansepolcro, I should debrief you on my trip. Overall, it was a very good one, though there were decided highs and lows, of course. The flight from RDU to Dulles was a warm one (the pilot said the air conditioner sometimes took a while to cool off the plane, and we were only in the air for 45 minutes or so), but thankfully I was in the very front row and thus, able to make a quick exit once we had landed.

In Dulles, after I had made my way to the proper gate, I saw a Starbucks nearby and went in for what might be my last chai frappecchino for a very long time – and left with possibly the worst frappecchino of all time (it looked like my cup was full of glaziers, not slush). When it was time to board, I chucked the cup and waved goodbye to Dulles with my numb fingers. My seat number was 23A, which meant I was in the Economy Plus section of the airplane; I later learned that this was because I originally bought a ticket for a Lufthansa plane (which is usually operated by United Airlines in the U.S.), so when they made the switch I was automatically placed in the roomier economy quarters. And, being in an “A” seat meant window – yes!

Anyway, I was thrilled to pieces about the arrangement, so the only trepidation that remained was in the identity of my seatmate. And, as it turned out, I was quite pleasantly surprised there as well. Lucius, a German student returning home to Munich after a year of community service in Savannah, was probably one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met on my travels. He walked up with a frappecchino in hand and almost immediately struck up a conversation with me (despite the fact that I had headphones on and was clearly engrossed in Wharton’s The Age of Innocence). Thus began a nearly nonstop conversation – by takeoff, we were already discussing the presidential election and comparing it with the structure of Germany’s political system.

Basically the only times we weren’t talking were the handful hours that I tried very dutifully to fall asleep (and failed) or during the in-flight movie. I think we probably annoyed the people sitting in front of and behind us because we never shut up! Another thing I really enjoyed about him was that, even though he had flown this very route at least three or four times, he still expressed wonder and delight over things like the way the wing of the airplane worked, or the beauty of clouds when looking down at them from above. He had this wealth of knowledge, and yet, still possessed an innate pleasure in “little” things too.

Sleep proved elusive for me because it was absolutely bone-chilling on that plane. I had on two shirts (one of them long-sleeved) and blue jeans, and was swaddled in both mine and Lucius’ blankets – clutching both pillows as a shield of sorts to protect me from the AC. He had dressed more appropriately and, being at least 6’6” and on the husky side, apparently produced enough body heat to endure the frigid climate better than I. In light of this, he took special pains to make sure I was comfortable during the flight, yet never gave me a moment’s hesitation as to his character or intentions – he always polite, and his behavior always gentlemanly in nature. My only regret is that I never got the chance to tell him thank you at the end. As the plane emptied, there was a lot of confusion and we were separated. I looked for him again at customs, but never saw him again. I only hope that Lucius realized just how much his kindness was appreciated.

The flight from Munich to Piza was also pleasant, though by this time I had been awake for about 24 hours and was beginning to feel the effects of the intercontinental flight on my back. It began by being delayed, and then not so very delayed, and then ultimately, rather delayed. The plane was very small, which, for me, was not a problem (I like roller coasters). However, there were barfbags sticking out of the back of each seat, so the size of the plane clearly has not sat well with all! My companion for this flight was a 50-60 something Polish man, who wanted to make sure I knew he was from Poland, not Holland. His English was sometimes hard to understand, but we got along just fine and I enjoyed the company.

My only complaint with him is that when he heard how old I was, he said he thought I looked much younger than twenty – but, to his credit, he then when on to say that his daughter, now thirty-three, is mistaken for 25 all the time (“So, you will like it later!” he said). We had the sweetest little snack – peach-applesause, orange juice, tea cookies, and something else that I remember liking (but I can’t remember what exactly it was now).

Upon landing, we climbed down the steps to the runway (yes, it was that small) and were shuttled over to pickup our luggage. From there I said farewell to my Polish friend and made my way to the information desk to find out about train tickets. Those being bought, I made my way over to the proper binario and boarded. I stopped at one of the Firenze stations to catch another train before finally – FINALLY! – reaching Arezzo where Sara e Patrizio came to take me home to Sansepolcro.

And now I can rave about how fantastic my time here has been. After arriving martedi evening, which was the 22nd, I unpacked, played with the kids before dinner, then enjoyed a delicious meal of salmone e pomodori al forno, compliments of Patrizio. I had my first glass of red wine, which was, despite Sara’s and my asking Patrizio to give me a small taste, hard for me to finish, but not as bad as I anticipated. Then I was quizzed as to what kinds of flavors and types I preferred, both in foods and wines. I assured them I would try anything, but added that in the past, I had preferred sweeter, lighter wines (“Ah, dolce! Bianco? Ah, bianco e rosa, si.”).

After dinner, Leonardo wanted to watch La Bella e la Beastia with me, and I must say, the movie was better in Italian! I went to bed that night after being away for about 36 hours, probably the longest I have ever been awake. I think it took me about thirty seconds to fall asleep after the light went off!

Ieri, mercoledi, Sara and I took the kids out in the strollers (Leonardo rode his bike) so that I could learn how to get to the center of Sansepolcro from their house. As you will hear later, this lesson only partially stuck with me, but that is because of my directionally challengedness, not Sara’s lack of instruction!

After una buona cena, which consisted of pasta con pesto, pane, e frutte, Sara said that Patrizio was going to Montecasale (a monastery founded by St. Francis – San Francesco) and that he would be glad to take me too. So off I went, admittedly clutching onto the motorcycle for dear life at first, but after we had clearly survived a few turns, I relaxed a bit and started enjoying the sights around me. Riding a motorcycle up the winding hills of Tuscany is infinitely superior to that of an autobus. Protected by one of Sara’s sweaters, I was able to enjoy the cool breezes and glorious sights – and, of course, now I want a motorcycle more than ever :)

From Montecasale, all of Sansepolcro and Anghiari and beyond was in view! True to form, I took tons of pictures, where appropriate at least (i.e., not in the chapel). Patrizio showed me around inside first, then, while he attended an afternoon mass given by the monks that live there, I explored the outside grounds. I will try to post all my pictures of beautiful Montecasale very soon – they will be on the Picasa site though, because the blog takes a while to load pictures!

After about an hour or so at Montecasale, we started back down through the Tuscan mountains and countryside. Patrizio was going to drop me off at the local mercato to pick up things like bottles of shampoo and lotion that had been left behind to lower the weight of my suitcase. He let me off at the entrance, and was about to drive off, but then, unsure that I really knew the right places to turn on the walk home, had me get back on (“Two minutes!”) and drove me up the street to remind me where the turn was. Is this family attentive to my needs or what?! In another minute he had me back down at the grocery store and I, thanking him profusely for his help, walked in to make my purchases.

It took me a while to make sure I was buying what I thought I was buying, but before long I had found the things I needed, paid with my Euros, and was walking back up the mountain to Via Sbragi. So, through the combined efforts of Sara e Patrizio, I made it home on my own without getting lost!

That night, we ate dinner outside in the backyard. Patrizio had made a traditional insalata di Toscana (see picture below), and there was also Tuscan bread con prociutto and fresh pineapple. I couldn’t stop eating long enough to grab my camera during my first serving of the insalata, so I “had” to get some more :) According to Sara, the secret to the recipe is the Tuscan bread.

Mid-meal, Patrizio took my partially full glass of water, said “excuse me,” chucked its contents onto the grass below, filled it with a new sampling of wine, and then set it down for me to try. It was perfect! Very dolce vino bianco, light, and yet, very flavorful too. And, to top it off, I haven’t had any headaches so far!

Today Sara and I took the children to a park to play for a while, then we walked through Sansepolcro again before heading back home for another mouth-watering lunch. Afterwards, I fed Veronica while Sara washed the dishes; Patrizio had taken Leonardo e Ginevra outdoors to ride bikes and play, so it was nice to get the chance for the two of us to talk and visit in a quiet house for a while. I could tell she enjoyed the stillness very much!

After that I walked down to town for a while and dawdled around the streets I grew to love last summer. It’s been a lot like reencountering a brief but special friendship – reacquainting does not have the same ease as one with an old, lifelong companion, but then at the same time, discovering all the things you liked and loved before is easy. So yes, I have needed to reorient and remind myself directionally, but emotionally, all the old feelings are there – and so I appreciate Sansepolcro all the more this second time around.

I was thinking about how blessed I was to be back today, and I came up with this analogy: to visit Sansepolcro for a day is a delight, and to stay for a month, delightfully wonderful. But to come back again, for a second, third, or fourth extended stay, is truly a gift from above, and to live here, well, no that is a taste of heaven.

If you’ve never been, you may think these words are a bit of an exaggeration, but for those who have walked these streets and been greeted with “Ciao!” from the natives, you know that I am in no way exaggerating.

In other news, my Birkenstock sandals seem to be among the height of fashionable female footwear this season. I see them everywhere I go!

I will write more soon – please forgive the typos and other errors as this was written without any proofreading on my part. There is no time for that I’m afraid, so mi dispiace!

A dopo, famiglie e amici,

Bekah

Flight tracking

2008-07-21T15:10:00.002+02:00

If you are like me and enjoy tracking flights online, here are my flight numbers (they are all with Lufthansa airlines - LH):

Flight 9329 - RDU to Dulles
Flight 9281 - Dulles to Munich
Flight 4044 - Munich to Pisa

I will call or email my mom to let her know when I arrive in Sansepolcro - it will likely be around lunchtime Tuesday NC time.

a dopo!

A lovely last weekend in Raleigh ...

2008-07-21T01:17:00.007+02:00

Ciao! It is mind-bending to think that this time tomorrow, I will be flying over the northeastern states, on my way to Italy ... Italy! This past weekend has been surprisingly free of stress - busy, yes, and quite full of to-dos and such, but not unpleasant in the least (the exact opposite in fact!).

Friday night I had the pleasure of seeing my sister and brother, Mary and Michael, perform in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which was the culminating event of their two-week drama camp. They both acted wonderfully in their respective parts, and I was absolutely thrilled that the performance came before and not after my departure!

Me and my Mary

and Michael boy!

Saturday was a major day of preparation, one that left me quite spent by the time I crawled into bed, but thanks to the help of Hillary and Amber, as well as the countless little aids provided by Mom and Mary throughout the day, much was accomplished without even a hint of frustration or stress. After kicking off the morning with Starbucks, Hillary and I made one last trip to Target before beginning the arduous task of deciding what clothes were going - and which ones were staying. Thankfully, she was up for the task - and my indecisive, scatterbrained way of going about it!

As was Amber when it came to actually packing what Hillary and I had deemed worthy of packing. Then, after I saw Hillary off to an evening of Peter Pan, Amber came in to finish the job. Her efficiency in the art of packing was the push my procrastinating ways needed!

Check out her handiwork!

Later that evening, my mom prepared a spectacular dinner for us (which was followed by an equally wonderful array of desserts), and we ended the night by curling up on the couch and watching one of my favorite movies - An Ideal Husband.

Today was spent enjoying my last Sunday at church, a quiet afternoon at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house, and then a restful evening at home. Here are some of the pictures we took after church and at my grandparents' house:

Mommy and me

My puppies - Penny and Callie

My "aunt," Sugar

Charlie (a cousin)!

What a sweetie!

Grandmommy and Granddaddy

I am not sure when exactly I will get to post again, but a reasonable guess would be sometime Wednesday or Thursday.

Ciao, i miei famiglie e amici! A dopo!

Excerpt from "De Gustibus" by Robert Browning (lines 39-46)

2008-07-04T08:03:00.001+02:00

Italy, my Italy!
Queen Mary’s saying serves for me—	40
(When fortune’s malice
Lost her Calais)
Open my heart and you will see
Grav’d inside of it, “Italy.”
Such lovers old are I and she:	45
So it always was, so shall ever be.