Perspectives by Esther

Italy is beautiful.  Simple statement, yes, but I cannot begin to describe the beauty we have absorbed in this last week.  These pictures may give you a glimpse but they can in no way do justice to what our eyes have been soaking in.

The mountains and valleys...

Every little village...

The streets during the day and at night...

The ever so cool doors...

The beautiful girls I get to see every day...

Every other tiny detail...

We have been experiencing culture to the fullest.  From stopping in at the local bar and a random old gentleman paying for your cappuccino to being able to hear family feuds from the other side of town, we are taking it all in.  Right now I sit in the dining room of a distant relative of the girls and am really enjoying a short time of connection with the stateside world.  Socializing is very important here and that, unfortunately, doesn't include virtual socializing.  I shall bid you all good night and happily go fulfill my 'noblesse oblige' by being all 'here'.  

Blessings!

'Upon meeting Francesco' by Carmen

I'm sitting here in the kitchen, with my little microscopic cup of coffee at my side and thinking over this evening's encounter with Francesco. Esther, Beti, and I decided that if we wanted to be warm and cozy at our house tonight we had better walk to the other side of Bisegna to keep our fire burning which was started around noon and which probably burned out a long time ago. Still it was worth a try. Yes, I wrote "was" because we never quite made it all that way. Francesco is one of the old men here in town who wander about all day doing not a whole of anything, or so it seems to us outsiders. They stroll about slowly, greet each other and pass the time of day catching up on the most recent events or reminiscing as the culture is. It's no wonder that they all know each other so well. In the evenings they meet at the local bar to socialize in the evenings. Who can blame them, they are old, they worked the ground here in these mountains all their lives, and are now retired.

We were rushing quickly across town when we saw him afar off smoking his cigarette like he always does. We have yet to see him without one. He stopped us as we were passing by and started to converse with us in Italian. We tried and tried and tried to explain with hand motions and facial expressions that we could not speak or understand the language, but this did not deter him one bit! He continued to try to explain the same thing for a very long time. I was glad when his cigarette finally burned out and that he didn't light another one. The smoke was more than we could take. Among all the things that we did not understand we picked up that Rodica has earned herself the accolades here of "bellisima" and "bravissima", the "excellent and beautiful" one for all her hard and good work taking care of Assunta, the elderly lady in her care. The thing that amused me the most was his frustrated expressions, it almost looked like he wanted to cry at times, then at other times it looked like he was mad, but a raspy chuckle relieved my fear. I couldn't predict where the conversation was going and that was the most helpless feeling for someone who loves to meet and greet people. He couldn't comprehend how we couldn't understand what he saying, and we couldn't comprehend how he didn't get that we couldn't. It was all very amusing. Then he started to walk with us and we weren't sure quite how far that was going to go so we stopped, he talked some more, and then we turned around and came back, but not after he raised his hands in exasperation and bid us Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! with a toothless smile. In the middle of our awkward dialogue, however, he was glad that I understood something he was saying and planted a big, smokey kiss on my cheek.

On coming back, we all rushed into the kitchen to tell Rodica about our little meeting. She was amused and said that he actually had very accomplished and well-off children who had made quite a good life for themselves in Rome. Who would've thought such of a seemingly lonely old man who was always smoking, and who's skin looked like it's seen the sun every time it shone. The raspy, thick voice, dark brown leathery skin with deep furrows which time and hard work ingrained therein, a beer belly, shortness of height, and all white hair made up his person. His wife, we were informed is still young at heart, she still wears flowers in her hair. It was a very intriguing experience.

It is a warm and generous culture here, a breath of fresh air and great learning experience to us coming from a techno-consumed culture where the majority of our interactions come via chats, texts, photos, etc. We tend to get so narrow-minded so much of time and this is a valuable experience.

'First Impressions' By Beti

Aha! A new season of my life has started! It is the most interesting season yet! First of all I'm in a room with Carmen and Esther Lambright in the basement of an apartment in Besigna  Itlay. Yes I'm really in Italy!!! And it's been so weird , exciting,  so strange and unreal! I feel like I landed in an adventure book and not knowing the language is ever so frustrating! Being here and there I am truly in culture shock, naturally! After the jet lag wore out (which it's still doing) I realized 2 things. The culture is so so so different and Rodica wants everyone to eat all the time! :) 

It now is 12:00am Saturday  but back home it is 6:02 pm friday. We're gonna beat NY to Saturday by 6 hours!!:) Take that you old time change! Btw your so confusing right now! :-) My body wants to think that I'm still at home and wants to keep going. 

Ughh and also another tragic thing. Noo wifi!!:(( But there is wifi about 10 minutes from here the next town on the side of the mountain over. Actually it's like 5 minutes with the way Rodica drives that Fiat. And may I add the roads are ridiculously narrow as are the small cars! I have seriously never seen such small cars. Anyway, back on point, wifi. It's located at a sports bar that is also a morning hangout where we had pastries and some real cappuccino (Super spiked!Strong and heavy) and not to forget we also had to greet the locals, with smiles and a 'Bonjourno'. 

We are so foreign it's not even funny! People all over smile at us and nod as if we stepped off mars. Rodica doesn't fail to mention that we are her girls from America. However the people are so friendly! They are so helpful and neighborly. We have been here only 2 and a half days and already we meant Franco, Roberto, Maria Luis, Lucia, Katie (an English speaking Canadian that lives here with her Italian husband) and also the cute little grandma Rodica lives with and takes care of known universally as Baba or her real name Asunta. She never ceases to take my hand and speak in Italian to me ,emphatically. I so wish I knew what she was saying. All I can do is nod and say 'Si Si Si' a dozen times. She's so adorable and tiny and I'm sure  full of stories from her cow herding days. But then again, everyone has a story to share don't they?

Okay next subject, the language barrier. All I can say is Vi De Mine meaning Oh My! Between Italian and Romanian I'm having a hard time keeping my English! I've mixed up so many sentences today it's not even right So many times I've said such weird things and we laughed so hard. Truth is we are all having such difficulty trying to understand this or that. My Romanian is little by little coming back one word at a time but its getting mixed up with  Italian. Somewhere all this Romanian is stuck in my brain but my mind is having  a hard time trying to figure out the words. It's the same equivalent of someone having hearing aids and hearing what is being said but not making it out. Sometimes it's so frustrating but I tell myself it's only day 3 really and I have quite more time to try to figure this all out. 

Oh we went touring today! We saw amazing alps, saw a man walking his Czechoslovakian   wolf, drove up and down mountain after mountain passing village after village and seeing cows, horses, and other grazing animals on the steep slopes and the cats and the dogs running around and the woman gathered under the umbrella in the street to talk. There is so much more to say but now it is time to say ciao and lay me down to sleep on this oh soo soo hard bed.