respect

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today was an experiment in respect. respect for boundaries, culture, intelligence, et. al.

i finally slept a solid 7 hours last night and seem to be adjusting to the time change with very minimal jet lag (hooray!), so when i woke up this morning i picked up the milano section of the corriere della sera (the newspaper). it was harder to read than i'd prefer, but my comprehension of the language is pretty solid. so far my uncle and cousin are speaking english 100% of the time, its their preferred language at home- kind of disappointing. after glancing through most of the articles i decided to take a walk down the street, toward the duomo, but stopped at the basilica where da vinci's last supper is. the church is beautiful. the hoard of tourists in front of the building were funny and mostly french or asian. i hardly hear english outside the house.

i was not dressed correctly for the church, and it only took two minutes inside and one very forward woman to tell me i was inappropriate for me to leave very apologetically. but i got good pictures of the outside, also designed by da vinci, and will go back tomorrow to get a better view of the inside. this time without shorts and with close-toe shoes, oops.

i had my first espresso, delicious. baristas are impressive people who really know what their doing, yum. i had my first bottiglia di vino, bellisima. buttery, not too sweet, not to acidic, just right. i had my first italian tomato today, extraordinary. if american tomatoes tasted this good no one would turn a tomato down.

my cousin sara, who has been sick all week with a high fever, figured out a program on my computer and taught me how to use it more effectively (grazie mille sara). david, my uncle, is providing good conversation, all sorts of useful information, and excellent hospitality. now all i need to do is continue to respect his space and keep on keeping on.

eleven days until i get to my first fattoria, cherry harvest in monteveglio! i've got to practice speaking italian...

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Comments

[Delphine]

so here you are a tourist in Milan! I hope you enjoy the architecture, definitly different than here. By the way I tought it was you on the pic and not your cousin!

[BJ]

it's almost like being there... thank you, Jamie
You're writing is wonderful and it does almost feel like I'm there with you... You're very observant and sensitive to things and it comes through your words with a richness that's deep in your soul. Thank you for sharing your sights, sounds, flavors and feelings - trust me, we feel the love and hope you know that we are 'there' with you!!!

[Lew]

Find out the secret of their tomatoes!