Che caldo...da morire

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It's been a while! I've been at the same farm for the last month, working a little and having lots of fun. It's a pretty good life. My brother Alex is coming to Italy in August for about 3 weeks so I'm going to plan a grand tour for us! I bought my return ticket, and I'm still not sure if it was the right choice, but I'm going back August 25th so I can help Alex move up to New York. I'm going to give America one more chance. We'll see what happens.

Quick review of the last month or so:
Cons: This month has been incredibly hot, so it's difficult to do anything but sleep (pro). But because of this weather, I haven't been doing too much during the day and I haven't seen the view of the mountains for the whole month. The job I thought I had fell through. I should have learned by now that if something seems to good to be true, it is.
Pros: I've been meeting new people and becoming better friends with people in the area probably in part to my improving language skills. Italy has a great nightlife, which I'm enjoying. My mother almost never lets me work and I have only worked at 2 markets because my father always says "If you're tired, don't worry." I was really good last summer, and the beginning of this summer, too: I would get up at 7 to start work and I always went to the markets. But there was a french WWOOFer who came for a week who had lived here all winter and everyone was always raving about what a good worker he was. So I was imagining him getting up at 6 and working all day, but he gets up when he wants, 10, whenever, and I think the only reason they think he's a good worker is because he tells them what they should do in the gardens. So now I get up when I want and give some advise about cooking and things, but I do work enough...certainly more than the sons, so I'm appreciated.

Language and Culture

My Italian is abbastanza (enough). That's what I say and people seem to agree: I understand (often too much) but I speak just enough. Enough to communicate general ideas, I suppose. My first week I was rather distraught because it was really difficult getting back into the groove, but my stay at Lake Como was also great for my language skills because I asked that we only speak in Italian and we did mostly. If I think someone only speaks Italian, then I can speak with them no problem. But as soon as they say that I speak Italian really well or let on that they can speak a little English, everything leaves my brain. But, it's generally a good situation because I can pretend that I can't speak Italian if I don't want to talk to someone yet I can understand things that people assume I can't. I'm to the point now that I don't have to concentrate so hard to understand, so unfortunately I can no longer tune out my family's constant bickering or 15-year-olds complimenting my butt.


It's actually a really good thing that I can't speak so much Italian, because what I would say wouldn't always be nice. Actually, probably half of my current vocabulary is bad words, but that's not what I mean. Italians do lots of things that don't make sense to me...so when they ask my opinion it's probably better if I just keep my mouth shut. For example, the summers are really hot and there is no AC, so opening the windows is necessary. However, there are many flies and mosquitoes every summer, but very few houses I've seen have screens over the windows. They know they exist, and they know the function, and they constantly complain about the flies, but still they do nothing to fix the problem. This is my family: they are great at creating, finding, and pointing out problems but are somehow incapable of fixing them even if they are presented with a solution. And there are always so many things to be done in the farm, yet they will spend a whole day doing something completely unnecessary, like building a fence or painting a door. They even payed a guy to paint the entire inside of the house because a relative was coming to visit for one night. So maybe this is not true in every Italian family, but one thing I can say is classically Italian is discussing an issue for 2 hours and never finding a solutions. I'm not talking big, complex, philosophical issues, I'm talking when should we go to the party and where should we sleep or should we build a fountain in the pond or are the fish in the pond still alive. They even received a clock as a gift and argued for 2 days about where to put it and it still sits on the table. Mamma mia, che palle! (What balls!, which is a very popular phrase even spoke by old women.) Some days these things make me laugh and some days they drive me crazy. Oh, and there was a weeding of one of the nieces. What a production to find nice clothes fro everyone, and have relatives for dinner. My mother was so worried about what everyone would think about what she's wearing, and now I understand why. For days after the wedding, everyone (although mostly my mother) was talking about what everyone wore and how they looked in it. But I'll talk more about italain people/culture in the next post.

Animals

I think everyone in rural and semirural Italy has at least a dog and a cat. Really. At my house there is Spillo the dog, then I think 5 cats and 5 kittens. In Italy dogs are dirty and poorly trained and the cats roam free, so I imagine it's difficult for much wildlife to live. The cats piss me off. My mother feeds them, so of course they reproduce and reproduce. She says when the kittens get a bit older we'll catch them and drive them somewhere else and leave them there. I tell her we can't do that. She says she'll give the cats some pille so they can't have more kittens. I tell her they need an operation. I'm sure it will always be the same. But I love some of these dogs. Gaspere, the small dog of Mattia cracks me up. He used to be so dirty that he had dreads and it was like a dirty mop chasing after you trying to rub against your legs. Now...well, just look at the pictures. Spillo is also so dirty that you just have to laugh, and he is certainly a pain because he barks at any stranger and begs from the table, but he is incredibly sensitive. One day I was sad and was walking somewhere and he happily followed me to my destination to give me company. It was incredible. Sensibile sporcacione. (Sensitive really dirty thing.)

Food

A strange thing happened one day when I was lounging in a park with Mattia and his friends: They all started talking about how good the food in America is. I'm sure you would never expect that, but the truth is I understand. Certainly, Italian food is delicious...depending on who prepares it. But it's really your only option. A question that I am always asked is "what is the typical food in Florida?" How can I answer that? Sure, I say what we can grow in Florida, and obviously there is seafood, but I have to explain that you can eat food from all the world. While we may lack a particular food culture, American has culinary variety and Italians recognize how beautiful that is. For this reason, it seems that this summer I am more of an international food ambassador than I am learning about Italian food (although I am constantly doing that as well). I am teaching Silvana (my Italian mother) how to not overcook all the beautiful and fresh vegetables we have. I bought a steamer at a market and now she thinks I'm a genius because it uses less water, less gas, and cooks healthier and tastier veggies. I've made mexican food for Mattia's family and my family and I was amazed that everyone loved it. I generally don't like to cook here because it's such a production to find ingredients, pick a day when everyone's around, cook without people questioning everything I do, and then dealing with the very honest feedback about what I've prepared. I think when I go back I'll try to cook more because they really need some new ideas about what to do with their incredible abundance of vegetables.

The work on the farm can be tough sometimes, because there's a lot of wedding and planting and watering that results in fighting with the hose. But it's also rewarding, especially when I get to see how amazingly fast everything grows as a result of my work. I love the baby fruits and vegetables! And I love that we also get fruits like blueberries and lemons from other farmer friends, so we always have every fresh ingredient we could ever want.

A third of time is spend working, a third sleeping, and maybe the other third going out with friends. A big part of the summer culture here are parties every night. Food, drinks, music, and they're always outside. I'm currently in Frankfurt visiting my friend for the week, so I'm going to devote the next post mostly to the European people and nightlife. Festa, festa, festa!

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Photos

Fratelli
3 of my brothers dressed for the wedding.

Before
Gaspere with his dirty dreads.

After
And now a whole new dog

Roof Cats
2 of 5 kittens, 1 of probably 5 cats...mamma mia

Mexican Dinner
I made fajitas, salsa, guacamole, etc. and they loved it :)

I primi pomodori
The first ripe giant tomatoes from the green house