Presents, then history

There are lots and lots and Lots of figurines in Italy.  Instead of Christmas trees, many families collect doll-house-type materials.  Detailed old-fashioned homes, miniature people, animals, foods, and of course nativity scenes.  So all of this figurine stuff is everywhere.  

Though I appreciate the craftsmanship, it's not really my cup of tea.  One popular figurine is a little dude with a half-mask over his eyes and a big nose.  Sometimes he rides a chili pepper, which is for good luck.  To ensure good fortune, you're not supposed to buy one for yourself.  Given that it was Antonio and Adriana who explained this tradition to us, Kim and I are now both owners of little red ceramic chili peppers with masked men riding them.  

Today's lunch was Neopolitan pizza.  According to Antonio, the best pizza in Naples is Michele's pizza.  (Pronounced mee-keh-leh.)  We walked there and took a number.  After waiting 30 minutes or so, Antonio checked to see how far down the line we were.  They were on number 1.  We were number 81.  Che peccato!  So we went to the place across the street instead.  "Good, but not best in Naples."  I'll say it - pretty darn good pizza.  Big, filling, fresh, and delicious.  And of course when we left there were presents - little pizza keychains.

Tonight after dinner we watched "A River Runs Through It" in Italian.  So good!  Much like one Traci Lynn Rucker, Adriana fell asleep a time or two.  Yeah yeah, it's kinda long.  But before the movie, again there were presents!  For each of us, a new umbrella and a silver candle-holder.  

Presents aside, I have to tell you - we saw something really cool this morning.  We're lucky with our hosts for many reasons, but one is their interests.  Adriana is a teacher, so she's often telling us about the history of something, it's significance, or helping us with our grammar.  Antonio is retired and loves history and museums.  Both are fonts of information and it's fantastic to tour with them.  First thing this morning (after our clementini and caffe latte, of course), we visited a church in Napoli that used to be a monastery.  As far as I know, it's only open for tourism now; no more church service.  So we walked in, toured the different rooms, saw the old, medieval sculptures and paintings... typical Italian history.  Then we walked downstairs, into a cavernous underground area.  And here we saw a revealed marketplace from the days of Roman rule.  There were shops, bakeries, restaurants, and the time's equivalent of a dry cleaner's.  But wait - there's more!  In some sections, you can look down and see stones and walls from the time of Grecian rule.  In the land of Naples, you just build over what once was.  So in one building, we saw original ancient Grecian architecture, covered in original ancient Roman architecture, covered in original medieval architecture.  All pre-dating our country, obviously.  Wow.

Give me Assisi or give me . . . . nope, just give me Assisi

It's Friday night, and Kim and I are snug as bugs in a rug sharing the fold-out at her family's place in Napoli.  This time we're staying with Antonio and Adriana, two fantastic, generous, happy people.  Like all Italians, they sound like they're fighting most of the time, when in fact they're agreeing, discussing, flirting, whatever.  I always enjoy encountering people who have been married for a long time and still make each other laugh.  Priceless.

After a couple of delayed train rides earlier today, we met Antonio in the Napoli Centrale station, where we proceeded to take two different metro trains, and then walk 20 minutes to their house in the pouring rain.  But that's not the sucky part.  The sucky part is that on our way from one metro train to another, we put our tickets into the reader/ticket-taker to get to the next train.  (Antonio had already purchased them for us.)  One of the machines wasn't working, and of course that's the one Kim and I use, so it didn't stamp our tickets properly.  

As we rounded the corner, there were men checking everyone's tickets to make sure they were stamped.  Since two out of three of us didn't have them stamped properly, they fined him 40 euro on the spot.  Forty euro!  And I think they were only fining him for one of us.  He explained and was incredibly nice to the man.  In fact, after arguing more politely than I've ever seen two Italians argue, they smiled and shook hands.  He shook our hands, too, even though Kim and I wanted to spit in his face for fining our Antonio.  Really the fine should have been ours, but of course he wouldn't hear of it.  Clearly we'll be dropping 40 euro somewhere in the house before we leave.  

So here's a rundown: Antonio met us at the train station, waited extra because our train was late, carried our luggage, paid a stupid fine for us, and escorted us home in the rain.  THEN, because my feet are bigger than his wife's, he gave me his nice, leather slippers to wear around the house.  We had an excellent dinner of pasta with garlic, parmesan, oil, and parsley, followed by a meatloaf thing with mozzarella, bread, pickled eggplant, vinegar carrots, wine, and fruit.  So now we're comfortable, dry, and de-crankified.

My lesson learned?  Clearly Genova, Napoli, and all of the other Italian cities can't compare to perfect Assisi.  These nice people, along with my family and friends, should all just move to Assisi.  It's just the best. 

Get me to the church on time

We've been trying to get to the 7:15am mass at Santa Chiara church for a couple of weeks now.  The thing is, it's wintery wet and cold outside, and we have to leave before dawn to get there on time.  It's only a 20 minute walk from the house, but getting out in the black, cold, morning air when it's not required, when you could just as easily stay in your warm bed for a couple more hours, it's a challenge.

So every day I set my alarm for 5:30 or 6, hoping to get up in time.  This morning I woke up at 6:51, the time I wanted to leave.  But there was a new determination afoot!  I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and headed out the door.  I busted up the hill as quickly as my legs would take me, and ran down all the little side streets I could.  And I made it to the church at 7:14!  

The nuns that join the traditional order of Santa Chiara (Saint Clare) are hardcore.  Once they join, then enter the convent attached to the church, and they never leave.  Never to be seen by society again.  However, they do sing at morning mass, hidden behind a screen next to the altar up front.  When it's time for communion, the priest walks behind the screen and gives them the eucharist, but they never come out.  The choir's voices are gorgeous, and it was moving to hear them sing this morning.

Other parts of the mass were nice, too.  Again, I was able to interpret the sermon however I liked, and it was neat to recognize different parts of the mass as they were happening, since Catholic mass is the same pretty much everywhere.  I understood when they were praying for the sick and the hungry.  I said "Pace" with everyone else when it was time to shake hands and wish for peace for your fellow church-goers, and I said the Our Father in English in a quiet voice as the rest of the folks said it in Italian.  It was nice to participate.  

Now we're off to Naples for the weekend to visit with Kim's family, so there might not be any posts for a few days.  Have a great weekend, everybody!

Vespers, Take One

After a majorly successful yet financially damaging shopping trip this morning, we spent our afternoon trekking to San Damiano.  The area is incredibly peaceful, and the church itself was humble and lovely.   Our walk to this spiritual haven was all downhill, so we knew we had a tough homeward walk ahead of us.  

While we walked around the area outside of the church, we ran into a couple I met at the market last weekend - Anita and Paul, visiting from England.  They informed us that the San Damiano Church holds a vespers service daily at 5:00.  Since it was just 4:15, we stuck around.  

Now in southeastern Ohio, vespers means that an allegedly talented choir sings religious, possibly Christmas music for 30-60 minutes.  But this vespers service was much more like mass than any kind of choral performance.  It was all men singing, but I wouldn't call them trained, exactly.  There were also biblical readings and a le

ngthy sermon.  I enjoyed the calm, Catholic atmosphere, and picking up little bits in Italian like "Go now in peace, to love and serve the Lord."  And since I'm not fluent, I was really able to take whatever I wanted from the sermon.  : )

Of course it was dark by the time we left, with that long walk ahead of us and all.  After trying to take a pitch-black, possibly haunted shortcut that didn't pan out, we headed back to the church to take the long, difficult hike home.  Walking through the parking lot, one departing SUV stopped.  The door opened, and a kindly, older man offered us a ride home.  He works with the brothers at the church (I think - my Italian isn't so great!), and he drove us all the way up to the piazza near our house.  We promptly caught the next bus up the hill, and we barely had to take a step in the cold night air to get home!  

So now we're warm and cozy, safe at home, and feeling pretty lucky to be living in such an amazing place.  More pictures are forthcoming.

ps - Tonight for dinner, I'm having cheese, wine, and pie.  That's right!  And while I type, Kim is putting together some homemade minestrone soup.  Unfortunately (or not, depending on your preferred meal of the day), the orange/yellow squash that we thought would make an excellent addition to the minestrone turned out to be a melon of some kind.  Oops.

Mom! Dad! I made a new friend!

This week we were sauntering through Assisi (yep, we saunter), and we came across a nice ceramics store we hadn't visited previously.  The woman inside spoke perfect English, and her store was beautiful.  Turns out Laura is from Austin, Texas, and opened her new business in Assisi 7 months ago.  How fun!

I hoped for a few moments in vain that she could hire me at her store and I could come back next year, but she's already being grilled by the local authorities on a regular basis, and I'm not exactly legal.  We still enjoyed her company, though.  She's incredibly nice, and her voice is soft and soothing, like Margaret Miller's.  (Shout out, Pekinites!)

About Laura: she lives outside of Assisi in a gorgeous home that she rents from a couple that runs mind/body retreats in the area.  The couple's woman is a dance/yoga instructor and the man is a psychologist.  They're both Catholic, but the the retreats are more about simplicity, spirituality, and health than religion.  Anyhoo, Laura converted to Catholicism last year, quit her marketing job of 24 years, and went into business with her ex-boyfriend to open this store in Assisi.  Wow!  She has two artsy/musician sons in the states, and seems to be doing pretty well here.

Kim and I both had a good feeling about Laura, so we invited her to date night*.  Instead of going out to eat with us, she invited us over to her house for a really nice meal, including candles, appetizers, a roaring fireplace (which Kim built with her mad camping skillz) and everything!

Dinner was a delicious mix of cooked spinach with garlic, red pepper, and whatnot stirred around pasta shells.  (Did you know that we like pasta?  'Cause we do.)  And of course there was wine.  

So we might go out to eat again next week with Laura at a nearby restaurant that sells large bottles of delicious red wine for 2 euro a pop, which we tested at her home.  Good times ahead!

*Tuesday night is date night.  While we normally eat in and wear jeans and tennis shoes, on Tuesday nights we step it up.  We wear cute shirts, make-up, jewelry, and boots.  Then we go out to eat and flatter each other over wine and expertly prepared Italian food.  You're officially in the loop.  

Toilet seats, dryer sheets,....

It started with the vino! Wine in Italy is great (obviously) and extremely cheap (our favorite kind is 3.50 euro a bottle). In addition to becoming regular pasta eaters, it's safe to say we've become semi-winos as well. We love wine. So today, we faced the cold and the three hour bus/train commute to Orvieto, a town that is known for it's wonderful wine and beautiful scenery. As Annie and I sat enjoying our pasta lunches and red wine today, we began discussing how wonderful our present situation is and how much we love Italy. Our discussion quickly turned into us listing all of the things we miss and do not miss about the US. Okay, I have to admit that I have a small addiction to making lists and that this problem is quickly rubbing off on Annie (mwhaha). So, at the same time we both said, "let's make a list!" In order for something to make the list, both of us had to agree that we missed it severly (therefore routines, car, bathtubs, Chipotle, and tupperware were left off the official list). Here's what we came up with.

What we miss the most about living in the US:
1) Toilet seats. That's right people, the majority of the public bathrooms here do NOT have toilet seats which is quite awkward to get accustomed to. I miss sitting down to pee.
2) Dryers and dryer sheets. It's difficult to wear your jeans when you have to wait three days for them to completely dry. Plus, since you've been wearing them for a week already they're stretched and it'd be nice to shrink them back down but there is no dryer here to do so. AND, when you do put them on, they're not soft and they don't smell like the cuddly little bear back home says they're supposed to. Boo.
3) Washcloths. Now this one is our own fault. Neither of us thought to bring washcloths with us and come to think of it, I don't know why we didn't just go out and buy a few.
4) Stores being open from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Nothing is open here from 1-4, well except for the churches. This is forcing us to get up really early if we want to get anything done. We've been here for a good while now and forgot this rule the other day. We ran out of butter during our Thanksgiving meal preparations. We walked the 15 minutes down the steep hill to the store to find it closed! How dare they?!? To make matters worse, stores are starting to not reopen in the afternoon since it's getting dark early and there are very few tourists. Yes, this means that many Italians work from 10:00-1:00 every day! What a life.
5) Having an income. Yeah, the money is going out a lot faster than it's coming in. Okay, so it's not coming in right now.
6) All-in-one convenience. There is no Target here! Sometimes, it feels like we spend most of one day in search of a particular object (transformers, milk frother, turkeys, etc.)
7) Easy internet access. Currently, to access the internet, our computer has to be perfectly perched in the right corner of the kitchen window. If we both try to put our computers in the window, we battle each other for internet use. That leads to name calling and shoving and that's not fun for anyone. Of course, I can still use the very expensive internet key that I purchased in Genoa, but out here I'm charged roaming fees. Oh, we also can't download anything from certain American companies (itunes, etc.).
8) Large showers. The showers here are tiny. It will be nice to take a shower where I can reach for my shampoo without banging my elbow. Now I know why Europeans don't shave! They can't comfortably reach their body parts.
9) Adam Wong (Wong, Wonger, Wongster, Wongenator, Long Wong Silver). Whatever you call him. However you know him. You know it hurts to live without him.

What we do not miss about the US:
1) High wine prices. We've been paying way too much for crappy wine at home.
2) Fake pasta. The pasta here is so fresh and amazing. In order to really understand, you have to have it here. The US is selling imposter pasta.
3) Work. Man, we love not working! There are so many things that we're getting to do on a daily basis that we could never do while working (learning to play the guitar, experimenting with new recipes, etc.). Unfortunately, this does have a very negative effect on #5 in the previous list.
4) No naps! SERIOUSLY?!?! Whose idea was it to ban these? Why did nap time end in kindergarten? They're amazing. One of my greatest pleasures since I've been here is that I can eat my pasta lunch and then if I'm tired, I can sleep! Of course, I'm only tired because I've gotten up early since everything's closed in the afternoon! Awww, the viscious cycle.
5) George Bush. Luckily, this one has been taken care of.

So, the next time you sit down to use the bathroom (wearing your soft, dry clothes), think of how mistreated we are over here. We'll be eating fresh pasta, drinking cheap wine, then taking a nap and missing the Wonger.

Cheers.

Genova strikes again!

Kim and I have been so excited to have our friends come to visit this weekend. We bought all the food to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for them, including a disgusting-looking half-turkey, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, green bean bundles (Kim's fantastic tradition to be explained below), apple pie, cheesecake, stuffing, etc.

Simona and Francesca were to arrive on the last train into Assisi on Friday night. It was raining here, but just a little drizzle. In Genova, of course, it's still storming like part of the plagues or something. Get this: the storms were so bad that not all of the trains were running. Seriously. So they had to cancel their trip! Boooooo!

The result? Thanksgiving dinner for two. It was still pretty good, but without guests we sort of grazed all day instead of sitting down for a formal dinner. There was wine, song, and good food, so still a good day.

Let's talk about these green bean bundles, a new tradition for me:

First you take three or four green beans and wrap a piece of bacon around them - sealed with a toothpick. (We improvised with prosciutto.) You lay all of your bundles in a pan, and add a few tablespoons of butter in the bottom. Then you sprinkle brown sugar over the tops of them and bake them for about 45 minutes. DeLICious.

The deviled eggs were gone by evening (no surprise), and the stuffing and potatoes turned out pretty well. The turkey, on the other hand, was a little intimidating. It still had quills and even hair sticking out in various places. We tried to get them out, but they wouldn't budge. The insides were gross too, but that's usually the case. So we buttered, seasoned, stuffed, and baked our half-bird. When she was all finished, she smelled great. Her hairy look prevailed, though, so she wasn't exactly the most popular dish at the table. Ew.

Ultimately a good day, though we missed our friends and family. The rest of my handful of pictures are HERE. Today is pretty stormy, so I guess Kim and I will have to start doing jumping jacks to work off that apple pie. No pictures to follow. : )

The Legendary Day that Was (pause for effect) Deruta

WHAT a day.  We've been trying to go to Deruta for three days.  It rained/snowed on Tuesday, and we got the bus time wrong on Wednesday.  So today was the big day.  I was determined.  Kim, never having been, didn't see Deruta as much of a priority, but I persisted.  (Cliff note: Deruta is where pretty much all Italian ceramics are made.  Some immensely beautiful stuff.)

We were at the bus stop 10 minutes early this time: 7:30.  In girl time, that meant Kim and I had to wake up at 6 and 6:30, respectively.  An early morning for these Assisans.  We rode the bus down to the train station, and the machine wouldn't sell us a ticket to Deruta.  Strange.  I knew we had to transfer in Perugia, so we just bought a ticket to go there.  NOTE: we almost went back home.  What if we can't get there?  But persistence and the promise of gorgeous ceramics prevailed.

Once in Perugia, we found no schedule with a Deruta stop.  It wasn't in their machine, either.  However, it was now 9am, so there was a friendly train staffer to sell us each a ticket for 1 euro to get to Deruta.  Success!

Our stop was only a 9 minute train ride away.  Stepping off the train, we felt triumphant.  We knew it was a bit of a walk to town, but we've walked such distances before.  (Sidebar to the Alesandrinis - we totally walked from Santa Maria to Bastia and back the other day.  Holla!)  But looking around the station, we noticed something eerie.  There were no people.  No snack machines.  No ticket machines.  How the heck would we get back home?

That's a problem for another hour.  On to Deruta and her fine ceramics!  My keen intuition, aided by googlemaps, told me that Deruta was due east of the train tracks, so we followed the sun.  The road didn't want to do the same, so we weaved a bit, semi-confident in our direction.  As we walked further, we were concerned by the fact that there was no town in sight, nor any people.  Hmmmmm.  

We pressed on, boldly following the sun's guidance and familiar road signs.  Just when we thought we'd found a road heading in the right direction, it dead-ended into a farm.  Embarrassed and slightly desperate, we approached some of the workers and asked for help.  They were very kind, offering confusing directions, friendly smiles, and ultimately, a ride into town.  But not from them - from the elderly owner.  As he started his car and waved us over to the garage, his daughter pulled into the drive.  Mama came out of the house.  "No.  You go with her now."  Yes ma'am!  So she explains the situation to daughter Marta (later to be dubbed Santa Marta), who drops her visiting plans to drive us into Deruta - a 15 minute drive from our location by highway.  (!)  Marta gives us her phone number and says to call if we can't figure out how to get home, and she'll come get us.  Seriously.  From this day forward - Santa Marta (Saint Marta).

Now we're in town!  We stop for a coffee to warm up, and ask for ideas about how to get home.  The mother/father/daughter team in the caffe/bar is incredibly friendly.  After a few minutes of conversation, mama tells us that if the tourist office can't give us the help we need, we should come back and their daughter will drive us the half hour home.  (!)  Could these people be any nicer?

Then we shop.  Apparently we looked cold when we walked into the first store, so the owner hugged me and rubbed my cheeks to warm up my face.  Yeah, we bought some stuff there.  The woman at the next store kissed us goodbye when we left.  Everyone was extra friendly and sincere.  We found the tourist information office and figured out how to get home by bus.  Mission accomplished again!

After a tasty pasta lunch, we stopped in one more store.  The owner, all smiles, immediately began a long, chatty conversation, all the while hugging us, pinching our cheeks, and patting our faces (a little forcefully, I might add.)  When he learned that we'd have to walk down to the bus stop, he explained that he has another store down there and offered us a ride.  So he closed his store, and we got into a stranger's car for the second time today.

As we walked into his second store, I realized I'd been there before.  In fact, my sister had been in his studio - he taught her to throw pottery.  So I tell him about my family, and he claims to remember.  Sure, sure.  Making the sale.  A few minutes later, he puts a photo album in my hand and points to a picture of Emily.  There she is, plain as day!  He (who we now know as Rolando) then proceeds to take us both downstairs, and soon we're all throwing pottery and getting all muddy.  

You should know that the cheek pinching has now upgraded to full groping status.  Rolando is regularly patting my rear-end, and Kim mysteriously has clay on her boob.  (Ok, not so mysterious.  I saw him put it there.  No shame!)

Finally, we make our purchases and say our goodbyes.  Kim and I force ourselves to do a little more window shopping (torture, really), and then we find our way to the bus stop.  With ten minutes until the bus's arrival, there's our friendly salesman, Rolando, shooing us into the nearby bar for a coffee.  He insists on treating us, so it would be rude to say no.  This will be my third espresso of the day.  After a few more minutes of hugging, kissing, and groping, we get on the bus to Perugia.  Whew!

Two more bus rides and 3 1/2 hours later, we're home!    Now that we've spent way too much money, learned the non-ease of taking public transportation to the ceramics capital of Italy, taken multiple charity rides with strangers, and been thoroughly groped by an old pottery-thrower, I do believe we've conquered the juggernaut that is our Deruta.  For the full set of the day's pictures, click HERE.  

Good night!

Thanksgiving Preparations

In preparation for the upcoming holiday, Annie and I have been on a turkey hunt (thankfully not with bows and arrows). Today, we were victorious! We found a turkey. Well, part of one anyway. Ironically, neither of us are big turkey gobblers. However, to give our Italian friends the full American traditional meal, we feel a turkey is a must. For awhile, I was worried we would be stuffing a chicken. Here's what else is on the menu: mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean bundles, homemade bread, deviled eggs, stuffin' (we're fighting over calling it stuffin' or stuffing, but this is me typing - stuffin' it is), cheesecake, and hopefully a pumpkin pie. All of this will be made with no electrical appliances and from scratch. The search for food has been a long and tedious one. We truly feel like pilgrims. It has been difficult to find certain ingredients that we're so used to having...for example, sour cream. Not only can we not find it, we also stand in the grocery store with our dictionary looking up every word on items in the cold section. Fun times. We also have yet to find a can of pumpkin pie filling. So, we'll be scraping out the inside of a pumpkin come Friday. We've now been to five different stores (not including the fresh markets) in search of the needed ingredients. We have not found them all and so the hunt continues.

Annie's roommates from Genoa, Simona and Francesca, are arriving Friday and our Thanksgiving feast will be Saturday. We are thankful to have found such great friends here in Italy. We definitely will miss our friends and family back home (well, most of you). Both of us agree, that our experience in Italy has made us more thankful for the blessings in our lives and all the conveniences the US provides. We're very thankful that at this moment, we're cooking dinner, eating amazing cheese and drinking fabulous wine, and listening to Christmas music (and all you suckers are at work - mwahaha).

We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and I'm sure we'll give you a full report of ours. ~Kim & Annie

And the clouds parted.....

Today we were asked for directions dozens of (read: 2) times, because we are truly Assisans and obviously, people can tell.  Let's talk about the day overall: a mix.

First: I was asked for directions by an Italian man on the way to the San Matteo market, and bought some fresh veggies and a food processor down there.  Felt pretty good about myself.

Second: We fought the mighty lizards on our long walk down to Santa Maria.  It was quite the tiring adventure.

Third: After visiting the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (pretty!), we donated to a local boy scout troop and got ourselves a Christmas pencil.  Not too shabby.  They were super-polite.  Here's a nice shot of the basilica:

Fourth: We paid a visit to our favorite local pasta fresca shop, where they opened Just For Us.  That's right, VIPs Annie and Kim were in need of some good pasta, and they made it happen.  Pumpkin ravioli and fresh spaghetti.  Yum!!

Fifth: Our trip to the grocery store proved fruitful for almost everything on our list, but they had no Amaretto.  Seriously?  Seriously.  We're still slightly in withdrawal.....

Sixth: While we waited at the bus stop to get back up to Assisi, we were honked and hollered at by (ready?) Italian firemen.  Yes.  True.  Vero.  Si.

Seventh: We gave excellent directions to some international tourists seeking the city's center, a path which we clearly know by heart.  We could walk this place in our sleep, people!

So overall, a good day.  With the mighty lizards defeated (for today... dun Dun DUNNNNN!), and enough wine and whisky cream to tide us over until the amaretto is restocked (shut up, it's for our coffee), I think we'll live another day.  Ciao, babe.