Life, Italian style!
We've had a very relaxing, chill out kind of day today. And I needed it!
Unfortunately, I accidentally got myself back on USA time, by sleeping till 1:15 in the afternoon! I'm going to try to get to bed at a normal hour here and get back in this time zone. Its playing merry hell with insulin, regular eating times, etc.
We went to an Italian supermarket today, Euviessa. Interesting experience, and yet, some things are the same worldwide. One interesting thing is that to get any kind of unwrapped produce, you must handle it with plastic gloves! Everybody walks around with one gloved hand, ala Michael Jackson, LOL! The next step is to put your bag of produce on a scale and punch a picture of the food, and the scale spits out a sticker with your price on it. My carrot sticker got stuck on my glove, so I had a big hole in it. I was afraid to buy beef, so I went with chicken breast. I got some fresh pasta, and a bunch of Italian cheeses. I love the pecorino cheese, made from sheep's milk and unpasteurized. It was interesting trying to figure out the different detergents - which ones were for the dishwasher and which for the washing machine. We came home (via cab) with about 8 bags full. Oh, and you have to pay a surcharge for using bags - people were bringing in recycled ones, using backpacks, bags, etc. My Publix canvas bags were looking real desirable, let me tell you! Next time, we're going to take my purple Baggalini and backpacks with cool paks in them. One major difference I noticed between this and my local Publix is the children and their behavior. The ones that were there were very quiet and well behaved. Not a single child ran in the (very small) aisles, there was no noise or yelling, no tantrums. Wish I could figure out the secret. Everything was very low tech. I'm starting to learn the money, but when they gave out the total in both lire and euros, I nearly had a heart attack at the lire price.
We also finally got a fan today. It has made a HUGE improvement in our living conditions. No more sitting here hot, stinky, sticky and sweaty. Hopefully, it will also take care of my mosquito problem. I seem to be made of spun sugar to the mosquitos here - they are vampires, I tell you!
Its nice to wear my own clothes - and I made Vanessa borrow one of my dresses, so I could feel better! She accessorized it much better than I ever could.
Tonight we had sandwiches of Italian rolls, proscuitto, salami and provolone (fresh). Potato chips, and of course, Sprite rounded out the meal. We ate it on our courtyard, smelling the jasmine and listening to the bells. WOW. I love it, its such a wonderful way to have a meal!
It was the most amazing experience to ride past the Baptistry and Duomo while digging through my sacks of groceries. I wonder if the people who live here all the time know how lucky they are, to have all that history and art as part of their daily lives? I think they might, they seem very proud of it.
I've been hitting the books all evening. I still can't figure out how my professor wants me to spin a myth of my own. But I did get my iconography memorized, so all is not lost. Need to get back to it, though. I think we're off to get some gelato in a few, though.....
Ciao!
Unfortunately, I accidentally got myself back on USA time, by sleeping till 1:15 in the afternoon! I'm going to try to get to bed at a normal hour here and get back in this time zone. Its playing merry hell with insulin, regular eating times, etc.
We went to an Italian supermarket today, Euviessa. Interesting experience, and yet, some things are the same worldwide. One interesting thing is that to get any kind of unwrapped produce, you must handle it with plastic gloves! Everybody walks around with one gloved hand, ala Michael Jackson, LOL! The next step is to put your bag of produce on a scale and punch a picture of the food, and the scale spits out a sticker with your price on it. My carrot sticker got stuck on my glove, so I had a big hole in it. I was afraid to buy beef, so I went with chicken breast. I got some fresh pasta, and a bunch of Italian cheeses. I love the pecorino cheese, made from sheep's milk and unpasteurized. It was interesting trying to figure out the different detergents - which ones were for the dishwasher and which for the washing machine. We came home (via cab) with about 8 bags full. Oh, and you have to pay a surcharge for using bags - people were bringing in recycled ones, using backpacks, bags, etc. My Publix canvas bags were looking real desirable, let me tell you! Next time, we're going to take my purple Baggalini and backpacks with cool paks in them. One major difference I noticed between this and my local Publix is the children and their behavior. The ones that were there were very quiet and well behaved. Not a single child ran in the (very small) aisles, there was no noise or yelling, no tantrums. Wish I could figure out the secret. Everything was very low tech. I'm starting to learn the money, but when they gave out the total in both lire and euros, I nearly had a heart attack at the lire price.
We also finally got a fan today. It has made a HUGE improvement in our living conditions. No more sitting here hot, stinky, sticky and sweaty. Hopefully, it will also take care of my mosquito problem. I seem to be made of spun sugar to the mosquitos here - they are vampires, I tell you!
Its nice to wear my own clothes - and I made Vanessa borrow one of my dresses, so I could feel better! She accessorized it much better than I ever could.
Tonight we had sandwiches of Italian rolls, proscuitto, salami and provolone (fresh). Potato chips, and of course, Sprite rounded out the meal. We ate it on our courtyard, smelling the jasmine and listening to the bells. WOW. I love it, its such a wonderful way to have a meal!
It was the most amazing experience to ride past the Baptistry and Duomo while digging through my sacks of groceries. I wonder if the people who live here all the time know how lucky they are, to have all that history and art as part of their daily lives? I think they might, they seem very proud of it.
I've been hitting the books all evening. I still can't figure out how my professor wants me to spin a myth of my own. But I did get my iconography memorized, so all is not lost. Need to get back to it, though. I think we're off to get some gelato in a few, though.....
Ciao!
posted by Deb | 2:02 PM
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