Week 2 at Il Sasso - Italy

I need to buy more aspirins! The good news is that there are some words in Italian are the same as in English,like:
computer
yogurt
cappiciano
pizza

So, I know those words :)

The rest are all jumbled in my head. I hope something comes together by the end of the month. I did hear that a few women from my class went out together this weekend and made a mistake like I usually do. They were telling someone that they were taking a class at Il Sasso,and pronounced Sasso wrong - so they ended up saying they were taking a sex class instead of a language class. Thank goodness that wasn't a mistake I made! Of course now that it is in my head, it will probably come out my mouth one of these days here.

Back to our daily life here, when Seyour and I take our walk at 7:30 am, there are always workers sweeping the road and a truck picking up trash. I usually bring my trash out to the street and drop it in one of the bins along the street because I don't know how to ask Fiorella where to put the trash.

Seymour has learned that when he has to go to the bathroom, he will find very few trees or bushes so he actually has just used the street. I have already gone through a roll of poop bags here. Seymour is getting to dislike some of our walks and I will post pictures by tomorrow of his typical morning. Even with his complaining, he is a great travel companion.

Tonight Fiorella is having a dinner party for her son. I don't know if I am invited or not since I can't understand what she is saying, so Paulina said she will ask.

Yesterday Fiorella let me do laundry at her house. (I may have already said this, I'm forgetting what I'm writing) Anyway, I got to see what was behind the door on the first floor - the washer room. It is interesting that the room was cut out of rock, so it is a little like a cave. She does not have a dryer, so she gave me a large drying rack to dry my clothes. Since I almost always hang my clothes out at home, this was fine. It was great having clean clothes!

Seymour and I are done with class for the day so I'm going to drop off my books and computer and walk to the supermarket to get him more dog food. I wish they also sold doggie toothpaste because I can hardly stand Seymour's breath!

Even though I've been walking up and down these hills for over a week, I am still tired by the time I get from the supermarket to our house. Paulina did show us that there is actually 2 elevators in the park that will save us some walking on the hills. Siena had 3 escalaters to get from the bus part way up the hill to town. I guess I'm not the only one complaining about the hills!

What I*ve Learned So Far In Montepulciano

Musings:
1. There is no ice - anywhere. That is an American thing. They figure that if something came from the refrigerator, it is cold enough.
2. A/C is rare. I guess one just gets used to the heat and stops sweating. I'm not sure if I will be here long enough for that to happen. I'm sure my hostess is wondering why I need a fan every night and I hope she never takes it back until I leave!
3. I'm not sure if it is everywhere, but when we ate dinner, they first served the pasta, then the salad and meat, then fruit or dessert. It seems that you don't drink with meals. Wine seems to be served before a meal - and probably after, also.
4. I was told that the fruits and veggies here are almost always organic.
5. I did look at some real estate prices. The lowest price I found for a small apartment was 120,000 euros. I think it was a very small apartment outside of the city walls.
6. Montepulciano is known for it's wine and special grapes - and is also very touristy. So, I understand that most of the shops will close in mid-September. I expect that the grocery store will stay open.
7. I love that they have trash containers all along the streets. I see people put out small plastic bags of trash in the mornings and the trash trucks come by and get them. I'm not sure if it is every day.
8. I have seen liter bottles of water at people's doorsteps. I don't know if they are delivered or where they magically come from. I want to find out more.
9. There are many dogs here and just about all are on leashes, thank goodness. As I said before, Seymour is the smallest dog I've seen so far.
10. Every place has allowed Seymour in, so far. Or if they have said otherwise, I haven't understood them.
11. I think that curly hair will be "in" soon. Many people here have curly hair. It makes me happy!
12. If you don''t have your own bag at the grocery store, they charge you 10 cents, which is about 15 cents American. Of course, I keep forgetting to bring my bag.

More later. My head is exploding with Italian words but few are sticking enough to use.

Montepulciano, Italy

I have started doing a little research on our trip to Italy. My language school is in Montepulciao, Italy (where they will allow me to bring Seymour to class) and I wanted to find out a little more about the city since we will be there for 4 weeks. Here are some interesting facts I've found:

Twilight Saga: New Moon used Montepulciano as the City of Volterra,the city where the Volturi live. I'm a Twilight fan so I can't wait see where they filmed!

Montepulciano is a major producer of food and drink. Montepulciano is known world-wide for its fabulous wine. Wine connoisseurs consider its Vino Nobile among Italy's best. I am glad that I won't have a car. I just have to be careful not to drop the wine - or Seymour!

Montepulciano is also known for its pork, cheese, "pici" pasta (a thick, rough, chewy variant on spaghetti), lentils, and honey. So much for thinking I'll lose weight because we will be walking most places! Seymour is a big cheese fan so he may end up gaining a bit of weight, himself. He will have to be careful, though, because some of the hotels limit pets by weight - under 10 pounds, usually. He's at 7 pounds 4 ounces right now!

The trip is feeling more real. I think I need to start doing a little more planning. We do have 3 months there and I don't want to miss anything important!

Italian Lesson - Number One

I had my first lesson on "Italian for Travelers" tonight. I'm taking this 7 session course to prepare me for my 4 week language course in Italy. Oh boy, is it difficult for me! I think I'm the worst in the class. When we repeat phrases all together, I am OK but when she asks us individually to say something, I cannot pronounce a thing! Luckily I have until next Monday to practice so maybe I'll get to next to the bottom of the class. I'm so glad I'm doing this. I feel more comfortable feeling stupid in the USA than in Italy. Unfortunately I will still need to figure out on my own how to say things like:
"Can I bring my dog?"
"Do you have a room that allows dogs?"
"Can the dog ride on the bus . . . train. . .?"
"Where can I walk my dog?"
"Where can I buy dogfood?"
"Do I need to clean that up?"

I have seen none of those phrases in the course book. So much to learn!

Learning Italian in Italy - With a Dog

I just sent in my deposit for a 4 week language class with Il Sasso in Montepulcaino, Italy. Here are a couple of pictures previous students took of the area - very pretty.

The city is between Rome and Florence but so far, I haven't found it on my basic map of Italy.

I have signed up for their Standard course, which is 3-4 hours of language lessons 5 days a week. The 4 week course is 600 Euros. I also asked to do the homestay with the single woman with a dog. I sure hope Seymour will play nice. This is also the place that said Seymour could come to class with me. If you want to read more information on this city and language school, their website is http://www.ilsasso.com.

Since I will be flying in to Rome, I plan to stay there for a couple of days before I head out to my language class. They give directions on how to get there - take train, then bus, then walk. Oh boy, that will be interesting for someone with no sense of direction and little Italian. I am taking that 7 session course on Italian for Travelers before I go, so I hope that will give me a few good words to use!
It's getting more real -