I had cappuccinos at
Cinzia’s club today and Pina came along but didn’t drink one as she already had
coffee at home with Aimone. She said she
will have one tomorrow. She and Cinzia talked for a bit, mostly about
me and my love of her coffee. They are very friendly with each other; Cinzia
asks about Aimone and she is very respectful to Pina. Afterwards I tell Pina I like her, that she
seems very nice. Pina agrees but says
sometimes she is trouble. I don’t know
what that means but assume it to be related to the late night patrons that can
get loud and sometimes leave trash behind on the benches outside of Casa
Pellegrini.
We move onto the bakery and
I see a box of Corn Flakes on the shelf.
I am looking at it and the baker (Christina) asks how to pronounce it,
so I tell her. Then Pina tries it, then
everyone else that was in the bakery joins in.
Hilarious! When then say ‘flakes’ they expose all of
their top teeth. Everyone kept saying it
over and over again and we all laughed and celebrated the English lesson. Later in the afternoon a woman walked by me,
said “Ciao” and then stopped and said “corn flakes” with a big smile on her
face.
A bit latter Pina stopped
over, gave me a zucchini, told me her recipe and told me to try. It is as follows:
Chop
zucchini in small pieces
Chop a
small amount of onion and fresh basil, again into small pieces
A little
bit of salt
Add just
enough olive oil to coat the mixture
Stir and
let sit for 5-10 minutes to marinate
Then add
to a sauce pan and sauté until the zucchini is a little soft
I was pleased with my result
and when I had Pina taste it she said “Brava Linda” and did the ‘twist index
finger in cheek’ gesture meaning it tastes good. What a great souvenir to take home, Zucchini
a la Pina!
While I had been working on
my zucchini, Pina and Aimone were busy making a huge pot of pesto. Yesterday I saw a bucket full of basil, a bag
of grated cheese and a bag of pine nuts sitting inside the front door of our
common entry way and I just assumed it was Pina’s. She explained that it was dropped off by a
friend and was there way of asking her to make pesto. Pina is known around town for her good
cooking. She kept a little pesto for us to
have with pasta for lunch today. I tell
her I bought a pineapple at the market and will bring that over as well. She had to inspect it first and offered to
pay for it, but I said no and after some grumbling she said ok.
I also asked her if I could
get a pedicure in town. I’ve been
wearing the sandals every day that I bought at last Thursday’s market and my
feet are in need of some tender loving care.
She says there is no place in town, but knows a girl from Saturnia that
makes house calls. (What?) She picked up
her phone, gave Jessica a call and made an appointment for me at 8am tomorrow
morning. She then tells me I have to wake
up early because my feet need to be soaking in hot water by 7:30 so they are ready
when Jessica gets here. Oh Madonna!!
Today as I walk from my kitchen
to hers for lunch I find a huge bag of tomatoes in the common entry way. Pina tells me they are from
Annedia. She and Aimone are going to
make sauce (or salsa as she calls it) later today. After a great plate of pasta with fresh pesto
sauce, she starts to clean up after lunch.
She now allows me to help clear the table, including putting the water
bottles back in the fridge and removing the table cloth.
I missed the sauce making
show. I had stepped outside and many
people stopped to visit with me so I lost all track of time. When I came back into the house, they were
just finishing up putting the sauce through the mill to remove the tomato skins
and seeds. Then then put it in glass bottles
and seal them with the new bottle caps that Pina bought at Annedia’s store this
morning. They have a bunch of bottles of
all different sizes including Coke bottles, beer bottles and a few that are
from the grocery store that once had other things in them. Nothing
is wasted here, if you can think of another use for it then you hold onto
it. Pina
pulls out this old bottle top put-er-on-er thing that was her Mothers. Aimone operates it but needs my help line up
the bottles so the tops go on just right.
He tells me I am really good at my job thanks me for helping. Here is a photo of Aimone proudly showing
off his work – the white spot on his chin is a freaky reflection of the
flash.
A thunder storm comes
rolling in as we are finishing up and Pina gets all excited but not in a good
way. She is scared of the storm and
makes me go around the house and close all the windows and then help her unplug
lamps and appliances. I tell her I like
them and Aimone says he does too. A
minute later the kitchen light goes out then back on, there is a loud clap of
thunder and Pina (who is sitting) lifts her feet off the ground and hides her
face in her hands. Aimone and I laugh at
her, he goes to her to pat her arm and calm her down. I love how we are becoming so comfortable with
each other and finding ways to communicate.
I can actually understand more Italian than I can speak as many Italian
words are similar enough to English that I can figure out the overall meaning
of the conversation, just not all the details.
Pina and the rest of the town people are really good at acting out
things, but at times I feel like a big stupid fool for being here as long as I
have and still not having a better grasp of the language. I think if I would have started the trip here
in Semproniano, I might be further along.
But, I am here now and I do the best I can knowing all too well that my
time is quickly running out and soon enough my ears will be overloaded with
English once again. While I am very homesick for the conveniences
of America, the familiarity of English, and of course my friends and family – I
am weighed down by a heaviness in my chest when I think about leaving Italy. I wish I were rich and could live a few
months in America and a few months in Italy…
Where are those winning lottery numbers Saint Anthony???
After the sauce bottling job
is done, I get shoed away to relax and I make my way to the benches out in
front of the house. As I am sitting
there, the butcher comes out from his shop across the street and stroll over. Andrea (Andrew) is his name and he asks me to
teach him some English. We go over the
basics of ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, ‘how are you’, ‘I am fine’, ‘breakfast’ (which he
also chimed in with ‘corn flakes’), ‘lunch’ and ‘dinner’.
As we were talking, a guy
driving by stopped to see what was going on as he also understands and speaks a
little English. So he joined in until
another car came and he had to move on.
After the lesson, Andrea and I continued to talk, rather he rambled
while I had my nose in my dictionary. He
is 46 and lives in town all year around, he is a very funny and popular guy
around town. He loves Pina and teases
her every time she sticks her head out the door to see what I am doing and who
I am talking to. He always gets a laugh
out of her – and from Aimone as well.
After Andre got called back
into the shop to do some business, a woman walked over to me and introduced
herself in broken English. Her name is
Francesca and she is in town for a few weeks on vacation. She said she heard me speaking ‘beautiful
English’ and asked if she could speak English with me. I said yes and invited her to sit but she
could not stay and asked if she could come by on another day. I said yes and wished her a good
evening. When she walked off, Cinzia
called for me from her seat outside of her club across the street and motioned
for me to come over. She then said “Linda,
I speak English - - - Vodka”. I told
her that the best word I heard all day and she holds open the clubs beaded
screen door and invites me in for a cocktail and a game of pool.
8/14
I was up at 7am so I can have
an espresso before Pina sees me and makes me soak my feet. I slip out to Cinzia’s club and am back in
the house by 7:20. At precisely 7:30 I
hear the smack of Pina’s cane on the stone floor as she walks from her living
room to Casa Pellegrini’s kitchen. She
comes in carrying a big plastic pan for my feet and what looks like the size of
a kindergarten classroom chair for Jessica.
Pina instructs me to sit as she fills the pan with hot water and then
arranges the kitchen furniture so all is just perfect. After she sets me in my spot, she proceeds to
stand at the front door on the lookout for Jessica and yells to me the moment
she spots her car. It turns out to be a
great manicure and Pina stays with us the whole time chatting up a storm. Jessica says it is 15.00 euros, I give her a
20 and when she starts to dig in her pocket for change, I say “non – lavoro va
molto bene e lei guidare da Saturnia - grazie mille.” (no, work is very good and you drive from
Saturnia - thank you very much) Both she and Pina are speechless and Jessica gives
me a big hug and kisses my cheeks. There
is not a lot of tipping done around
here, but I am a crazy American so I tip.
It is well deserved as she did do a great job and gas prices here go up
every day or two, so I don’t mind one bit.
We walk her to the door and she hugs me again and thanks me as she leaves.
Afterwards, I took Pina and
her best friend Emily into Cinzia’s club for a café. When we
get to the beaded screen door, they step back and let me walk in first. Both Pina and Emily are in full agreement
with me the coffee is much better here and compliment Cinzia on it. Cinzia is very gracious and says that I am
good for business. I stopped back in to
talk with her later in the day to ask if it was alright that I brought them
there for coffee, again being very conscious that this is a private club. She said it is okay because they were with
me. I am SO “in”!
A note about the beaded
screen doors - the vast majority of houses and most businesses do not have
screen doors. Come to think of it, I’ve
not seen one. To keep bugs and little
critters from coming in through the door, most people use the same method as
has been used for 1000’s of years - they hang long strands of beads in the
doorway. They hang from the top of the
door frame all the way to the ground and cover the width of the door opening. The beads miraculously keep the insects
out, I guess they don’t like flying through them. And they are great for a business owner as
they can hear when someone enters and exits.
Some are very plain, some have pretty patterns and some, like the ones
that hang in Cinzia’s club, are very colorful.
Her's are strands of different colored plastic bottle caps.
Bakery
Butcher
Cinzia's club
Grocery store
In my trek around town, I
picked up some flowers for Pina, five roses done up in a beautiful bouquet. As I walk around the block back to the house,
several comment on how beautiful they are and I say ‘per Pina’. I pass Moreno (the English speaking dude) and
he asks if they are for him… I dropped
them off at the house and Aimone eyes lit up when he sees them. He says “Linda, molto gentile” (very kind)
and touches my cheek. I step out again
to pick up some stuff at the bakery and see Pina is there chatting it up with
Christina, the baker. Moreno walks in
and asks where are the flowers are. I
tell him to be quiet because Pina is standing in front of me; he says “Linda you
forget, they have no idea what we are saying.
Just like when they are speaking Italian to you.” The thought hadn’t occurred to me and it made
me laugh out loud. When we get back to
the house we go our separate ways and when she sees the flowers she asks Aimone
where they came from, he tells her. She
comes into Casa Pellegrini yelling for me and then showers me with kisses as
tears well up in her eyes. Molto
gentile, Pina… Molto, molto gentile…
In the afternoon, while the
town slept, I took a walk down a road I had not been on before – one of my
favorite things to do in Italy… It
wasn’t an overly exciting path, but I did get to see a Roaster sitting in a
tree. That’s something you don’t see
every day.
view of the town from Via Saturnia
When I got back I got
cleaned up for dinner and Pina asks if I would like to go to Bar Sport for
happy hour. (What?) How could I say no to that! Happy hour consisted of a bowl of small pieces
of bread and four different salsa/toppings as well as a pan of pasta and tomato
sauce. Pina makes sure I have a taste of
everything and we take our little plate of snacks along with a beer for me a
and a fizzy fruit drink for Pina to one of the outside tables to hang with the
crowd for about a half hour. Pina had a
great time as she talks to everyone about everything. Being with her is like being in a celebrities’
entourage – I am immediately accepted and am treated like a member of the royal
family. She finally says we have to get
back home as Aimone will be wondering about dinner. Sure enough when I look down the street he is
standing outside the front door looking towards Bar Sport. So off we go.
Later in the evening, I went
to the town park to listen to some great Italian music. It is another part of the ongoing
festival. They have setup a temporary
dance floor for the week and I am amazed by how many people, of every age, know
how to do couples dances. Real couple’s
dances like the tango, waltz, fox trot, polka, etc. There is none of what American’s call “slow
dancing” which is basically just two people hugging and rocking back and
forth. Here it is real dancing and every
man, woman, boy and girl of every age is doing it. It is wonderful.
8/15
After breakfast I took a
walk up to sit outside the Pizza place to connect to the internet and work on
the blog and read American news. The
guys sitting at the gas station are buzzing about me as I can hear the words
‘American’ and ‘internet’ being said. When I am wrapping up, Maria spots me and asks
if I’d like to take a walk with her, so I drop off the computer at the house
and we proceed to stroll.
Maria is just like the rest
of the people in this town, very touchy and affectionate. She takes my hand as we walk and pulls me
where I am to go, then locks her arm is mine as we walk. At first it caught me off guard, but it is
how I see most women (young and old) walking together in town. I even see men (and boys) doing the
same. Everyone shakes hands, holds
hands, and puts an arm around your waist or over your shoulder when talking to
you. It’s just the way they are. Maria and I struggle with communication, as
usual, and she is another one that seems to think if she just keeps repeating
herself that I will eventually understand what she is saying. She speaks zero English but by the end of the
walk I have taught her “see you later”, “tomorrow”, “tonight” and “dance”. I find out that she is just a few years older
than me, was married but is now divorced, she is a full time resident and is a
housekeeper for many in town. She is
like Pina as she knows everybody and all say something to her when she
passes. From what I can tell, she has a
bit of a smart mouth as she is seems to do a lot of teasing and making them
laugh. She tells me there is another
dance at the park tonight, asks if I want to go and says she will come by at
9:30 so we can walk together.
When we get to the park,
everybody greets her and all the single older men are surrounding her right
away asking her to dance. She makes
sure I am settled and then hits the dance floor. She’s pretty good and is
laughing loudly in no time. One of the
men asks me to dance, I tell him “io non bene” (I not good) as I have not
danced like this since dancing with my Dad over 25 years ago. He says we will wait for a slow one. When one is played, he takes me by the hand
and helps me with the steps. He then keeps
me out of the floor for 3 more songs and is very familiar with his hands all
over my back, and arms, and pinching and patting my face. When I finally convince him that I need a
break, we walk off the floor and another man asks me to dance. Io non bene I say again, he says ‘va bene’
(is ok). “Uno memento, per favore, dopo
beve” (a moment, please, after drink). He immediately asks me what I would like to
drink and proceeds to fetch me a small beer.
The whole time this is going on,
the first man is still standing near me and touching me every time he leans in
to say something. Maria can see what is
going on and keeps moving so she is constantly getting in between me and man
#1. There is also a man doing the same thing to
Maria. I’ve seen him at other gatherings
and he is totally smitten with her, but it’s not reciprocated. So I too try to maneuver around Maria to help
her avoid him as well. But both her guy and my guy keep moving as
well to position themselves right next to us.
From an aerial view it probably looks like some kind of Japanese beetle
mating ritual dance. Maria explains to the gaggle of men that I
don’t speak much Italian but they keep talking to me anyway, just like everyone
else. I smile and nod a lot and watch
for direction from Maria. Finally the gentleman
that bought my beer decided it was time to dance, took me by the hand and to
the dance floor. I don’t know what the dance
was but he stayed close to my ear and kept counting the steps for me. I didn’t
do too bad but am nowhere near his level of expertise. He was very sweet and forgiving and
complimented me anyway. As we walk off,
another guy, this one that frequents Cinzia’s club, grabs my hand and takes me right
back onto the dance floor. He is not as
good as a lead as the last man and he’s a heavy drinker so it is not a pretty
sight. When the song is over he asks for another, I say no and he kisses
me. I hear Maria squeal somewhere behind
me and she walks up, takes my hand, scolds the man and off we go. After she is sure that I am okay, we laughed
and laughed and made our way home. She says there is another dance tomorrow night
and asks if I’d like to go – I said yes, and act out ‘no spaghetti arms and no kissing’.
She laughed and makes a fist as if to punch
and I nod and say “perfecto!”
8/16
I had coffee with Cinzia
this morning and gave her a full recap of last night’s dance. One of the girls that frequents the bar was
also at the dance and was at the bar afterwards, so Cinzia already heard about
the kissing incident. Ah, a small
town. She also made the movement to punch
and kick as a defense. Here again we
are finding ways to communicate and although frustrating, it is getting a
little easier every day and as we become friends.
It’s Thursday – MARKET
DAY! This time I know to go to the
produce stand early and I do and stock up on some great things. Although I’m not sure why, Pina is doing most
of the cooking and every other day gives me fruit for my fridge. But I buy things anyway because it is fun and
I have a kitchen to do some cooking experiments in.
This afternoon, Pina calls
to me to join her and Aimone at a concert in the church parking lot. I thought she said it was a small band, turns
out it’s a band made up of small children.
Today is the day they show what they’ve learned at all those lessons
that their parents paid for. At the
beginning of the show, they march in as a marching band, playing the Battle
Hymn of the Republic… Then each child
does a solo to show their talents. It starts
with the most inexperienced going first, a boy of about 6 or 7 playing the
drums. He is sitting behind a full drum
set and he hits only one of them about a dozen times to a very, very, very slow
beat and that was it. Pina yells “Brava”
anyway. It got progressively better and
I see some of the same kids that were in the dance show a few nights ago. One of the guys plays the clarinet and I
laugh silently when he begins the song, it is Tom Jones ‘Delilah’. I notice some of the crowd swaying when he
gets to the chorus and hear Pina singing softly “why, why, why, Delilah.” The oldest girls are 11 & 12 and they
play the drums along to some American and Italian songs and I am impressed with
what they can do. Afterwards Pina takes me to the big photo that
is hanging behind the drum set, it is an old photo of the band when her Father
was in it. Many others come and look at
the photo too and they all know and acknowledge Pina’s Dad. She is very proud.
Later that night as I am
sitting on the bench in front of the house waiting for Maria, a regular from
Cinzia’s club comes over and sits with me.
He can’t speak any English but we work through a little bit of conversation
and he says he likes my American accent.
He asks me to teach him American, so I taught him to say ‘apple pie’ and
‘hot dog’. I explained that those two of
the most American words around. When Maria showed up I said “ciao” to him and
he replied “bye, bye apple pie”. I said
“brava!”
It’s a smaller crowd at
tonight’s dance, and the band is not as good as last nights. The two men that were hovering over us last
night are not here but we still get asked to dance by other guys and we have a
good time. As it is a smaller crowd,
some of the better dancers take advantage of the room on the dance floor and we
see some incredible tangos and jitterbugging going on. We left early and stopped at Bar Sport for a
beer, followed by a coffee. It’s a weird
combo yet an effective nightcap.
8/17 –
After breakfast I hop in my
rental car go to the nearby town of Pitigliano. I really need to up my exploring of the
surrounding area; because so far I am paying for my rental car to just sit in
the parking lot at the edge of town.
I discovered Pitigliano with
the Totally Tuscany cooking trip in 2006.
It is a beautiful neighboring town that sits on the top of a mountain
and is where some of the Hershey’s Italian community call home. Actually many of the surrounding towns here
are responsible for a big percentage of what we used to call “Little Italy” in
Hershey. Many people came from here to
work for Mr. Hershey at the factory.
Pitigliano is also well known in these parts for its white wine and
meats.
Hmmmmm…..
An original 'man cave'
Look closely at the markets booth construction - - - simple and effective.
These guys practiced their cadence for almost 10 minutes. The shirtless guy on the far left is the leader. He would start a rhythm and then shout direction to the other guys and they would all follow his lead. It was fantastic!
Saturnia, the natural hot
sulfur spring near Semproniano – I haven’t been there yet this stop, to sit in
hot water on a hot day just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but
Italians seem to dig it…
My little Fiat
After dinner tonight there
was another concert, this one was held in the gas station area. Nope, I am not kidding… It was a full band and they put out 200-300
chairs for the towns folk. The sign said
the show was going to start at 9:00. At
9:00 they were still hanging the lighting and most of the band didn’t show up
until around 9:30. What’s the rush? It finally got started at 9:50 and lasted
until about 11:30 and it was a great show.
They played lots of American jazz, including Gershwin that the clarinet
player rocked, and had a great woman singing Italian and American songs. The American songs she did were Hello Dolly,
Summer Time and New York, New York. Some
of Pina’s friends made comments when they would announce an American song and
say that I should be the one singing it.
The lady that was sitting next to me would give me a hug after every
American song. When the concert was
over they set up a two long tables and handed out free wine, water and biscotti
to the band and the crowd. It finally
cleared out around 12:30. Pina would not
come into the house until she was sure everyone was gone and all the trash was
picked up as the concert and gathering happened right outside of her kitchen
window.
8/18 –
Pina and Aimone’s daughter Laura and her family arrive today
and are staying for 4 nights. She and
her husband Mario speak English and I am looking forward to having someone
interrupt what Pina is saying. She has
been cooking up a storm in preparation for their visit; both her and my refrigerator
and freezer are packed to the max with her gastronomical goodies. Yet
just when you think she is done, she is out the door again to the butchers or
bakery for something else. Aimone rolls
his eyes as she brings in another bag and then still worries that she doesn’t
have enough.
The family arrived a little after 1pm, Laura, Mario, their
two children (ages 26 & 23) and three of their friends. All of the ‘youngens’ understand and speak
English but they are hesitant to do so because they are conscious of their
pronunciation and grammar – just like me with Italian. It is mainly Laura and Mario that speak
directly to me in English. Pina is
quick to greet everyone and have them stow their luggage so lunch can be
served.
Now that the family is here, every meal will be served in
the traditional Italian style – course after course after course after course
and we will be at the table for almost two hours from start to finish. Today’s lunch courses are as follows:
1 – baked
zucchini stuffed with sausage and baked tomatoes stuffed with rice
2 – roast
beef, green beans, zucchini and salad
3 – an
array of fresh fruit including grapes, peaches, pears, prunes and figs
4 – two
types of sponge cake, a fruit tart and gelato
Mario tells me that every time they come to Semproniano he
must go on a diet as soon as he gets home.
I told him I was hoping to do that while I was here, with the advantage
of having my own kitchen but Pina’s cooking makes it near impossible. I tell him it will be easier to do in America
because the food and wine is not near as good as it is here. He agreed with that.
While the family slept, I experimented cooking with eggplant
today. I cooked some of it similar to
Pina’s zucchini recipe but substituted rosemary for the basil and also fried a
few pieces using bread crumbs I grated by hand also adding some chopped
rosemary. Pina came over to sample both
and again gave the ‘twist finger in cheek’ gesture. She really liked the rosemary/eggplant combination
and said she was going to try cooking it that way as well. She asked me who taught me to cook these
dishes; I tell her I just did it on my own and didn’t know if it was going to
be good or not. She tells me I am a very
good cook because I am not afraid to experiment with flavors but I only use a
few of them. She says some American
cooks add too many flavors to a recipe and the taste of the main component of
the dish is lost. She tells me to
remember to do this in my American kitchen when I get home and a part of Italy
will always be with me.
We had dinner in the park tonight, a pasta course followed
by a meat course. I really enjoyed
watching the family interact and seeing Pina and Aimone beam with pride as many
come by the table to say hello to the family.
After dinner the family went back home and I stayed in the park to hang
out at the dance with Maria and Cinzia.
I danced a waltz with a friend of Cinzia’s that was a very good lead and
he spun me all around the dance floor. I
was amazed I didn’t fall over as I had quite a bit of wine at dinner… He and some of his friends stayed with us all
night and acted as our guards as they successfully kept the old men away from approaching
us for the night. They still lurked and
stared from several feet away, but didn’t come any closer as we were surrounded
by guys our own age. Tomorrow is another dance so
Maria, Cinzia and I make a plan to meet up again.
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