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| | | | In Memory of my uncle Don who passed away this morning, after fighting with cancer the past few months. He could be a pain sometimes, but we loved him anyways and his memory will be with us always. |
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Several months ago I wrote this post about what i thought i'd miss about italy, and what I thought I would be glad to have back in america. There are certainallly many things I've missed about Italy in the past month, but i hadnt thought of this post until tonight. The other day we bought a container of marienated "fresh" mozzarella balls from Costco. Now I should have known better than to think these would be up to par, but tonight they sounded good, so I tried a few. My first clue should have been when i opened the container to find they were packed like sardines into there... well atleast we got our monies worth i thought... until i tried to stick a fork into them to pull them out. I was met with resistance and knew at once that just as my fork was not sliding into the balls with ease as i was so used to, their taste wouldnt be the same either. I have to say they werent the worst thing i've eaten, and certainally better than american made parmesan, but i dont really know what the mozzarella tasted like. Instead the taste i got was one that reminded me of garlic bread, as the oil they were marinated in was so strong.
Somehow or another my yerning for fresh mozzarella reminded me of my list... (note: current comments written in italics)
Things I'll miss about Italy:
- Fresh, cheap produce Still true, the produce here just isnt quite as satisfying...
- multiple cafes during the day While I miss getting them at the bar, I do have my mocha here and treat myself to two huge 3-shot esspressos a day
- aperativos Definately miss these!
- 5 min breaks always turning into 10 or 15 Well, right now i take as long of a break as i want, so i suppose this doesnt really apply. Although I do miss the company i had during those breaks
- good shopping I went to a mall the other day, not for shopping but to get my eyes checked. I walked through some sort of department store on my way in. passing the "juniors" section i felt appaled by all the gheto gangsta wanna be skanky clothing they were pushing on teenagers. Needless to say i felt no urge to try anything on
- hearing italian I've taken to talking to the cats in Italian, and to my brother when I'm annoyed with him. Otherwise I get an occasional dose of it when I call a friend. I miss having it around me though, and was a bit of an adjustment to hearing English all the time. I still find myself thinking in Italian quite often.
- walking to the store Or walking ANYWHERE for that matter...
- sms-ing (so expensive in the states!) I think I miss my cell phone in general. The poor thing sits on my desk with no connection looking so lonely and neglected
- hearing someone's conversation then spending 5 min debating in my mind whether they were speaking english or italian, cause its getting to the point where i dont automatically distinguish between the two anymore. Cant say i've run into this hear, although somtimes the accents i hear can be as strange as a foriegn language
- going to the bar above the school, getting a cafe in the morning... panino at lunch... another cafe... candy.. another cafe... bottle of water.... and then after it all, and several hours and trips down to the school and back later, finally paying for everything all at once. ahhhh trusting in one another... good faith... the honor system....
Things I'll be happiest to have back in America
- Starbucks! ;) I have actually only had Starbucks 4 times since I've been here. but I am VERY happy to have my flavored syrups back
- 24 hour stores I havent taken advantage of this yet, although it still surprises me when Jenny runs to the store at night and i find myself looking at the clock in shock that it's still open
- access to a car yeah..... a car that i cant drive cause i have no insurance....
- wireless internet now this is one thing I am definately happy to have back!
- my kitty who is laying snuggled up on the bed next to me right now, as he has taken to doing all the time. No one knows how to give better lovin than a cat
- leaving the house in sweats and not getting weird looks okay, still havent brought myself to do this yet, other than going out onto the deck
- english although it can be easier to express myself, i still find myself stumbling as i accidently switch into italian and then get puzzeled looks from my brother
- central heating and airconditioning it's taken me a month to adjust to how cold my brother keeps the house, but after spending half an hour in the open suana called outside, I'm happy to come back to the cold
- mindless entertaining television watching I've got well over 100 stations as well as 3 movie on demand stations each bringing numorous movies to my fingertips, yet i still find myself bored by TV very quickly.
- cat napping on the couch another one i havent done yet. although it is nice to have a comfy couch to curl up and read on
It's hard to sum up what I miss about Italy... I suppose you could say everything other than the government and its annoying rules for foreigners. Especially though I miss my friends... sitting around laughing... walking the streets... hanging out at the columns having a beer... walking late at night to the sandwhich stand for for a to-die-for spicy sausage and grilled veggies hoagie, then sitting in the park making a mess of everything trying to hurry and eat it before it fell apart.....
As far as what im happiest to have back in america.... cheap books at costco, turkey lunch meat, my cat, and flavored coffee syrups.
if i had my choice of where i would wake up in the morning... Italy, no doubt about it.
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Well, here I am, alive and well, and with an actual post about Virginia. Life here is good, although I feel like I'm on an extended vacation visiting my brother. I'm used to spending my days "surfing the net" when I visit my bro, only normally it's for a few days at a time. Now that I've been here a month my days have become relatively routine. Although there have been a few episoides of cultural shock (I still get a bit wide eyed at the selection and shear bigness when I go into a grocery store) I have been pretty well shielded from it. Although I've never been here before, it is still my brothers house, and although significantly bigger than his previous ones it still feels like 'home.' My old coffee table and end table are even here.
I think I have been mostly shielded from the cultural shock, as I hardly leave the house - and when I do its normally to go to the store. The house is pretty far out of town, and as such its impossible to go anywhere without a car. Seeing as my bro/wife have only one car currently, and I'm not on the insurance, I dont go anywhere unless its with them. We did take a trip to Virginia Beach the other weekend, not to actually go to the beach (they're not the lay on the beach type of people) but rather to walk along the "boardwalk." The Boardwalk was like a big fair. Haunted houses, mini golf, rides, tacky souvineer shops, and ice cream lined the street. I think this was probably the clostest to cultural shock I got - only because it was new for me, it almost felt more like going to another country then being in the US. We dont have any beach towns like that in Oregon.
As I said before, my days are mostly spent at home. Here I rotate between watching tv, bumming around on the net, playing CIV, and doing a bit of work. Yes, I am actually working. Although not at a real "job" (seeing as everything is to far away for me to be able to get to one). Instead I have started doing jobs online. Random design work, random monkey work. Things that arent incredibly interesting, and pay isnt great, but I figure if I'm going to spend my days sitting at my computer I might as well get paid for it.
I've also taken to studying. I'm trying to teach myself java and php, in addition to fine-toning my actionscripting skills (flash). The funny thing is, now that I'm done with school, I've actually started studying. I really dont think I've studied this much since HS. Never had the need to study a lot during university. It was a bit rough going at first sitting down with a 500 page book and going through it page by page (to make sure I dont miss anything), but it has become a bit easier over the days. To keep myself sane I stop now and then to make some silly/stupid project using what I've learned. Still, there is only so much my brain can absorb on any given day, so it's going to take awhile to get through this stack of books. Lucky for me programming is mostly math and equations, and i have the type of mentality that soaks them up and understands them without having to re-read. I do it once, and I've pretty much got it.
I did take a walk the other day around the "block" and down to a pond nearby. I was thinking of going a bit further, but by the time I got to the pond my clothes were stuck to me from the humidity, so I decided to turn back. The whole thing only took half an hour, and it felt nice to get out. I dont think I've ever been so inactive in my entire life. It's amazing how nice a walk can feel. I didnt think to take my camera until I was already a bit away from the house, and didnt want to turn back. Next time I'll take it along though to get some shots. It'll be a few days though, as the heat and humidity here has got it feeling about 110 outside. Not the best time to be walking around. I think once the temps come down a bit (suppose to happen next week) I'll be able to finally convince my brother for us to go take a walk through the "old" Williamsburg. We drove somewhat close to it one day and it looked nice (although extremely done up for tourists). We're also supposed to be taking a trip to DC one of these weeeknds. It's a bit of a shame being here yet stuck in the house, as history is so interesting to me, and I've always wanted to come to the south. Although we're at the northern part of the southern states, Virginia was officially part of the confederates during the Civil War. I know things are mostly modern now, but I was hoping to get a bit more of a historical look at things while I was down here.
Well, that about does it. my morning break time is over and it's 'off to work i go.' |
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