Milan & the concert

Journey to Milan
Autumn and I caught a train into Milan from Varese on Tuesday night (6/20). We were arriving in Barb's car as the train was approaching, and literally had to race beside the train to make it on time! The train we were on was very old, had velvet red seats and the windows opened completely! It was awesome, but very hot without the Air conditioning.

Arriving in Milan
We made arrangements to stay with a girl named Sara, a couch surfer, for 2 nights. When we arrived to Milan, we had a difficult time finding her street because the street signs are extremely hidden. If there is a sign at all, the street name is engraved into cement on the side of a building.

Finally, after 20 minutes of searching within a 2 block radius, we found her apartment -- and it was extremely close to Central Station! She lives on the 3rd floor of a no-elevator building, so it was a very hot walk up to her "flat" (as they call it here).

Sara was extremely welcoming! She greeted us with a warm smile and was so nice during our entire stay. She shares her apartment with one other girl & it is set up very nicely! Everything was white, with accents of color throughout each room! It was so much fun and a very different scene from the farm we have been staying at!

First Night in Milan
After changing clothes, Sara took us to a Sicilian pastry shop with one of her friends. They introduced us (and treated us) to Sicilian Granite (similar to a slushie with ice, but a much stronger flavor). Autumn and I tried Coffe & Chocolate flavor. It was pretty good, but very strong! Also, we tried a pistachio cannoli, which was REALLY delicious!

After dessert we headed to dinner with more of Sara's friends! We went to a trattoria (a special type of italian restaurant). Autumn and I got two dishes to share: a steak dish and an ear-shaped pasta dish with crab meat. Both were fantastic! Dinner lasted for a little over an hour, and then we headed to "Porta Ticinese."

Porta Ticinese is a very lively street in Milan. It was crowded with people late on a Tuesday night, mostly college students and at each end of the street there is a giant cement arch. We walked around, dodging both people and cars on this busy street! Eventually we made it to the Canals. It was really nice to walk by the water & there were even some fish!

At the end of the night, we took a tram home. It was really cool & similar to the "T" in Boston. Basically, it is an above ground train that uses the roads. For me, it was fun to be on the train and have cars driving right next to it.

The first night was unbearably hot. Mosquitos were worse in Milan than they are on the farm! Autumn and I didn't get much sleep that night. We tried to avoid mosquito bites by sleeping under a sheet, but that made us too hot!.. So, we ended up spraying ourselves with bugspray at 4:00 a.m. so we could sleep in peace. Let's just say it was HORRIBLE!

First Day in Milan
We slept in until about 9, and were able to check our email in bed! We were so grateful to finally have an internet connection! I was also able to skype with alyssa (best friend) for almost an hour! (We are in the process of signing the lease to an apartment in NYC and it has been difficult without internet for me).

We then headed to the Duomo, a famous cathedral & plaza. The cathedral was very large and beautifully detailed. Around it was a plaza with shops, vendors & its famous galleria with designer stores. We browsed around in the strong heat for a while, then paid €8 to ride an elevator to the top of the Duomo Cathedral! It was awesome at the top because we were amongst all of the peaks, basically walking on the roof! We were also able to see out over Milan which was really awesome. We stayed up on the roof until we couldn't bear the heat any more, then headed down & back to Sara's to get ready for the concert at night

The Concert
When we first arrived in Italy, Autumn and I bought tickets to see Paolo Nutini and Florence & the Machine in concert. They played at the Civic Arena in Milan. We arrived at 630 and waited for about an hour in line to enter. Finally, once we got in, we found seats & bought ourselves each a €5.00 beer! (the one and only for the night!). It was an outdoor arena, and as the night progressed, mosquitos multiplied & annoyed us! The concert was great though! It was my second big concert EVER (my first being John Mayer & Ben Folds Five in Milwaukee a few summers ago).

Florence had a very beautiful voice & great stage performance. She wore a flowy white dress that blew in the wind while she danced around stage! It was really cool.

Paolo Nutini was really great too! He has such variety in his music, and the rythm was different with each song he played! I really enjoyed it. He was pretty drunk on stage though, and when he spoke between each song, we couldn't understand what he was saying!

When we got home that night, Sara had left a fan out for us! THANK GOODNESS! We were so grateful to have it, because it was too hot the night before!


Second Day
We woke up at 7:30 to get breakfast with Sara's roomate & two neighbors before they went to work. We ate at a small cafe down the street called "Danys Bar." I tried my first european, chocolate croissant (SOOOOOOOOOO delicious!!) and a cappuccino. We sat at an outdoor table, so we enjoyed breakfast with a cool morning breeze!

After relaxing back at the apartment, we decided to explore a bit around Center Station. We first headed to a famous Pizza Place called "Spuntino Pizzeria." They serve only Margherita Pizza & Lasagna, and they serve it well! We each got a big slice and enjoyed every last bite! The pizza dough was soft and the cheese melted over was so delicious! YUM!

We walked around town, window shopping and admiring all of the shoes that we couldn't afford to buy! After a few hours, the sun was too hot, so we headed back to Sara's to pack up, check our email and meet up with her at the train station.

At the train station, Sara greeted us on her cute red bike with a smile and a bag in her hand! She had picked up a quick dinner for us -- pancerotti (basically soft, fried dough filled with pizza sauce & melted cheese!!) It was so tasty! She also took us to an amazing Gelateria called Chocolat, which was very close to the station. We enjoyed our last gelato with Sara, and it was possibly the best gelato in italy so far! I got chocolate chip/vanilla and chocolate! It was really nice.

We sadly said our goodbyes at the train station, and headed back to Varese.

Of course, the train was running slowly, and we arrived in Varese just minutes after the last bus to the farm had departed! What luck we have! So, we called up joe & enrico who came to pick us up in the rain! While waiting (and playing rock, paper, scissor for the first shower), we ran into two Missionaries from Las Vegas & Seattle. We made small talk and left them on their way.


over all, Milan was awesome! We had a wonderful time & can't wait to return for our last night here in Italy!

The Lumberjack's Fault

So, I haven't been able to update my blog in a while because a couple of weeks ago the internet stopped working. Some lumberjacks were working behind the house cutting down trees and a tree fell onto the phone & internet line.

For the past 2 weeks, the family has been calling the company to come fix it, however italians are slow and they still haven't come. I hope they fix it before we leave!!

It has been hard without it, but we finally found an internet cafe for €1.50 per hour. We can only come into town a few times per week, but it is enough to check our email and do the most necessary things on the web.

I hope to update more on my blog as soon as possible!

Weather Forecast

Throughout the past week, the weather has been all over the place. During the day its unbearably hot (80-90+ degrees). It is too hot to stand outside, let alone work -- so normally we get the afternoon to relax, out of the sun.

Crazy Thunderstorms

There have been 2 crazy thunderstorms, although one was crazier than the other. The first, and crazier one, was a few nights ago around 3 AM. The sound of the thunder woke me from my deep sleep. It was like I had my ear pressed up against the ground (from below) and a train was passing right above. Each rumble was equally loud, surprisingly long and very frequent. The lightening lit up the sky like a constant stream of flash photography. It was so bright that I could see it with my eyes closed in bed! The rain was pouring down onto our porch like a bottomless bucket tipped on its side. The wind blew so violently you could hear it whistle amidst the rumbling thunder. It was awesome! I stayed awake watching & listening until I naturally fell back asleep.

The next morning when I woke up, the plants were knocked over & it was obvious something had passed through. Barbara told me it was worse in the town. Supposedly there was grape-sized hail mixed in with the rain that had damaged cars and windows. It was incredible!

I really like thunderstorms, so long as I am safely inside! Its especially nice at night :-)

Gardaland Waterpark Adventures!

On our day off, we decided to venture into Milan to find a waterpark!

The Journey to Find the Waterpark
Long, and difficult. We arrived in Milan by train (40 minute ride) and began asking for directions to "Gardaland." Everyone we asked responded with something different, so we became easily confused. Finally, one bus agent clarified the difference between "gardaland" and "gardaland waterpark," which are in two different towns. He wrote down the directions for us in broken english for the subway/metro and we bought a subway ticket for 1 euro. We took the subway to a town in Milan called "Primatoccia." There, we waited for the public bus in hopes it would take us to the waterpark. When we got on the bus I asked the busdriver what stop we needed to get off, he mumbled something I didn't understand and I took a seat. After a few minutes, I realized I should probably clarify and asked him again. Our stop was next!

When we got off the bus, we looked around at the very empty, residential/nothing town around us. We were in the middle of nowhere! We began walking, ran into a chicken on the road, passed a very stinky barn and eventually ran into a dead end with a highway! We looked to the right of the highway -- Nothing. We looked to the left of the highway -- Gardaland Waterpark Sign!

Our Day at the Waterpark
Tickets were 12.50 euros for a half day (we arrived at 3 p.m.). We were greeted with a smile upon entering and directed to the "dressing rooms" to change (small closet sized stalls outside). We checked our bags in the "guardaroba" for 3 euros and headed to the park! It was awesome! There were so many different pools, lazy rivers, crazy rivers, water slides, tubes, a children's pirate cove, singing & dancing... everything you can imagine! [click for photo] We started by cooling off in a pool and headed right to the first waterslide. Much to our surprise, it was faster than it looked and we slid very quickly to the bottom with no way to slow down and water in our noses! It was fun, be we opted for a slower, more windy slide next time around. We spent a few hours just swimming, going down the slides, being splashed by giant buckets of water, and using the tubes to go through the crazy river! It was such a fun day :-). We also bought some ice cream while we were there because we just couldn't resist haha.

The Journey Home
After all of the confusion in finding the park, we figured it should be easier to get back. We were directed to a different bus stop by someone at the waterpark, we hopped on and it stopped for 25 minutes at the next stop! It was the end of the loop, so we had to wait for it to turn back towards Primatoccia where we got on. From there, things worked out smoothly until we got to the Milan train station. We arrived and bought our tickets only moments before the train was to depart at 7:30 p.m. We waited and waited and waited on the train until it finally departed around 8:15 .. It was delayed because of a train ahead of us having problems. So, when we finally arrived into Varese at 9:15 we were shocked to find that our bus to the farm was no longer running! The last pick up was 8:58 and its the only bus that passes the farm! So, we asked some strangers to borrow their phone & called barbara to see if someone could pick us up in town! Thankfully, her mother, Rita, came to get us & we didn't have to even walk down the mosquito-filled, dark, rocky driveway! Yay

It all worked out in the end and the day was wonderful :-) I'm so happy we made it to the waterpark! :-)

Lago di Como & Bellagio!

Today I woke up at 5 a.m. to get ready for a day at Lake Como! We arranged for Enrico to give us a ride to the bus terminal, and had to be ready by 7 a.m. because he leaves for work at that time, and our bus to Lake Como leaves at 8 a.m.


It was an hour long bus ride to the the lake, and upon arriving we headed right to the ferry port so we could get to Bellagio!


Bellagio & the ferry ride [click for photo]
It was about a 2 hour ferry ride to Bellagio, making stops along the way. We sat inside this time because the sun was so hot, but we could see everything out the window! Lake Como is very similar to Lake Maggiore in that there are amazing sights along the shoreline. We also saw a beautiful hotel called "Grand Hotel Tremezzo," with a pool floating on the lake! We later found out its about 400 euros per night to stay there! [click for photo]

When we finally arrived to Bellagio, we wandered through the streets and shops. [click for photo] I found a lot of cute, yet expensive, things that I wanted to buy.. like leather bags and jewelry, but I refrained. We were there for about an hour before taking a 1 hour bus back to Como.

Brief Visit in the city of Como

We didn't spend a ton of time in Como due to time, but we did make it to the Cable Car up the mountain. [click for photo] Unfortunately, we couldn't see much on the ride up the mountain, but when we arrived at the top, there were some pretty good views of Como and the lake! We took some pictures and headed back down after an hour. [click for photo]

Before getting the bus home, we stopped in a Pizzeria and had our first restaurant style Italian Pizza! [click for photo] We ordered an Onion pizza and what we thought would be pepperoni, but to our surprise ended up being a yellow pepper pizza! They were both a thin crusted delight!

We only had to walk 2 steps to the Gelateria next door for dessert! I tried a new flavor called "torrone" without having any clue what it would be. It was so delicious, but I couldn't figure out what the taste was, so I googled it when I got home and found out it was nougat. Yummmy.

Pool Day!

Today we had the afternoon off and with the weather so beautiful we have been craving to swim. Unfortunately, the pool overlooking the lake has been permanently closed :(.. Joe and Barb searched the internet for a different pool, and after finding a sports/country club, barb drove us all the way there! (so nice!)

It was 9 euros to swim for the day in the 2 outdoor pools (we also could have used the tennis courts, gym etc... ) It was really quiet there because it was a monday afternoon, so we set up two lawn chairs next to the pool and lotioned up with sunscreen. [click for photo]

After heating up a bit in the sun, we jumped right in to the cold water and swam around for a while. The water was unbelievably clean and it was so refreshing to cool off and wet down our hair. We did this multiple times -- heating up then jumping in to cool off. We noticed that a few other people used the outdoor shower before and after getting into the pool and found it so strange; we just assumed it was weird italian culture. We also noticed that nobody else was swimming around like us, except one guy with a swimcap on.


After about 2 hours we jumped in one last time before we would leave. Right after, an empoloyee came up to us and began saying something in Italian that we didn't understand. She then proceeded to nicely say, in english, "You must rinse off at the shower before getting in and if you want to swim around, you must wear a swimcap over your hair." Clearly, we hadn't done this at all the whole day and everyone was watching us. On top of it all, Autumn was wearing her american flag bikini! haha. [click for photo] The whole situation was just funny, and although slightly embarassing, we just laughed it off.



Coincidence:
A few days earlier, Autumn and I were on the bus sitting across from a young couple. The strange thing was, the boy looked to be about 20 and the girl looked to be about 12! I'm sure the age difference wasn't that large, but her young face and tiny body took us by surprise next to an older boy. We ended up staring at them pretty much the whole bus ride. ----- Funny enough, TODAY at the pool, we looked to our left and of all people, the young couple was lounging by the pool! We found it so strange that we had seen them a second time, and I think they definitely recognized us as well. So weird! [click for photo]

The swimming pool was great! It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, especially before the rain comes later this week. Also, we were able to taste some more delicious italian cuisine while working in the restaurant tonight! -- Pasta with mint pesto sauce, delcious chicken veggie stew and homemade tiramisu for dessert! We're writing down as many recipes as we can and will hopefully practice them with barb before we leave this summer! YUMMY.

BBQ, Country Music & Line Dancing!

Last night Autumn & I helped work at the BBQ that Enrico & his wife Tella were hosting here on the farm. [click for photo of us] There were 34 guests from their country line dancing class (and their instructor was from Missouri!). They set up the patio outside with long picnic tables, bales of hay, a horse saddle and a DJ table! There was also a large space left open for dancing. [click for photo]

The Food
The antipasto plate was a delicious cold pasta salad with bow-tie noodles, basil, coconut flakes, olive oil, cucumbers, red peppers, and some spices (we now have the recipe!) [click for photo]
For the BBQ they grilled pork chops, german hot dogs (wuster), and their home-made sausages [click for photo]. It was my first time trying sausage -- and I didn’t like it so much :-/. However, I did love the german hot dogs! YUM.[click for photo]
For dessert they cut up a giant watermelon (anguria). I love watermelon, and it fit this occasion perfectly!

The Music/Dancing
There was a DJ playing all pop country songs while everyone line danced! [click for photo] It was awesome to watch because everyone was dressed for the occasion and having so much fun! Their instructor is an extremely tall blonde woman, from Missouri, as I mentioned before. We didn’t get a chance to talk to her, but were very curious to find out how she ended up as a line-dancing instructor here in Italy! We were really hoping they would play the watermelon crawl, considering it was the ONLY dance Autumn and I know how to do, but they didn’t :( .

The whole night was a blast (even though we had to work). People danced late into the night until the rain came around midnight. It was very amusing to see how excited everyone was to line dance! I remember learning a few songs/dances in our high school gym class, but I can’t remember them! It would have been fun to join in though!

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Monday we hope to make it to Lago di Varese (the lake of our town). Supposedly there is a pool we can swim in next to the lake and the weather forecast looks sunny! yay

Lake Maggiore

Although we had originally planned to wake up at 7 a.m. and go to Lake Como to see Bellagio, our alarm clock didn't go off, so we settled for a closer adventure to Lake Maggiore & it was wonderful!

At 10:30 a.m. we took a 40 minute train ride to Laveno, a town along the "shore" of the lake. From there, we bought an all-day ferry pass for 18 euros [click for photo] & hopped on the first one to leave! [click for photo] Lake Maggiore is beautiful! There are scenic views from the ferry along the shoreline, clear blue water (with no seaweed!), and the weather was perfectly hot!

Isola Superiore dei Pescatori
Our first stop was Isola Superiore dei Pescatori (Superior Island of Fisherman), about a 50 minute ferry ride from Laveno. We ate at an outdoor restaurant right as we stepped off of the ferry, and were lucky enough to be seated right by the water with a beautiful view! [click for photo] We shared a variety plate of different fish from the lake, and it was delicious! [click for photo] The service was a bit slow, but we didn't mind so much because we had such a nice view. After eating, we explored the small island. There were skinny alleyways that led to more restaurants, tourist shops and the other side of the island. [click for photo] There was also a very small beach on one end, but the sand was coarse & rocky and we didn't bring our swimsuits! It was fun to browse in the small shops scattered throughout the island, as well as the street vendors selling all kinds of touristy things!

Isola Bella
Our next stop was Isola Bella. It was similar to Isola Superiore in the fact that there were small alleyways & tons of street vendors, although a big part of it was the Palazzo Borromeo, which is a large palace that contains many gardens within. [click for photo] We explored around and even got some gelato! (this time I got a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of nutella flavor).

We then got back onto the ferry in hopes to go see Santa Caterina del Sasso, however we went in the wrong direction & ended up all the way back at Laveno. So, because it was later in the day, we headed back to Varese on the train.

It was such a wonderful day! I loved riding around on the ferry [click for photo], eating delicious fresh fish (and then gelato), and admiring the beautiful views surrounding the lake! It was great!

---------------------------NEXT DAY---------------------------

This morning we woke up and cooked our normal farm fresh egg based breakfast. Shortly after we had finished eating, Rita (barb's mother), asked autumn to run down and check if the chickens had some more eggs. She then proceeded to freak out a bit because she didn't realize that we were eating 3 eggs each per day. She has a client that she sells 50 eggs to each week, and I guess we ate too many eggs over the time we have been here because there were only 22 left. She never did mention this to us, so we didn't know, but we'll have to talk with barb to find a solution to this dilemma.

Exploring Varese & Sacro Monte

We were lucky enough to hitch a ride up the driveway AGAIN to go into town on our day off. Rita (barbara's mother) was going to do errands, so we hopped in the car and off we went! Unfortunately we didn't realize we would make multiple stops before arriving to town haha..

Exploring Varese

Upon arriving, Robin guided us to the "info point." Here, they have information on events in Varese, as well as a map! On the down side, the map is not very detailed.. so Autumn and I spent the next hour wandering through tiny, cobblestone pathways from plaza to plaza. The only way to orient ourselves was by plaza names (when we came across one), because those were fortunately labeled on the map!
After a bit of wandering, we had our first taste of true italian gelato (in italy that is). I got "latte e menta" and "cioccolatto," milk/mint and chocolate. I really enjoyed the chocolate, but not so much the mint :-). We then wandered into a small cafe to find something more substantial, however after sitting down to analyze the menu and figure out how to ask for the things we wanted, they were all out of most things! There was no salmon for autum, and although they did bring me milanese... it was small, and not very delicious. So, we each got a plate of tomatoes & fresh mozarella, which held us over for quite some time.

Sacro Monte

After exploring, we got on a bus to Sacro Monte, a high point in Varese with a beautiful view of the city. We accidently got off the bus at the wrong stop, and didn't realize it until it had already left! So, we sat on a bench for 40 minutes waiting patiently for the next bus to bring us to the right place! When it did come, it was about a ten minute bus ride up a very windy road! We hopped off the bus, took some pictures of the view and hopped back on (in hopes to not wait another 40 minutes). It was very beautiful. We could see most of the city and even some snow-covered mountain peaks!

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When we arrived home, we re-arranged the room we are staying in. Robin had already left to return home, so Autumn took her double bed, and I moved my bed closer. We also swept because I accidently dropped a lamp & glass shattered everywhere :( Oops!
Rita kindly offered me some delicious anguria (watermelon), but when I attempted to eat it at the table outside of our room, I was attacked by mosquitos! I had to finish it alone in the kitchen :(...

----------------------------------NEXT DAY----------------------------------

Last night, Rita asked us to be awake & ready by 8:30 a.m.! Yikes, that is earlier than we have ever been asked to wake up. Low and behold, we were up and ready, waiting in the kitchen for someone to come give us a job to do! We had a very unproductive morning because it is difficult to communicate with Alessandro (Barbara's shy brother).

We ended up scraping a little bit of cow poop, feeding a few animals and then asking barbara for our next job. She set me up with the lawn mower in her garden. I spent a couple of hours mowing the grass with a push mower. It wasn't so bad because it was a beautiful day & we were able to take a water break every 30 minutes or so. However, I saw one of the BIG BLACK SNAKES today!!! It was while I was mowing, and I screamed and turned off the mower. With no exaggeration, the snake was about as round as an oreo and 2 feet long! I am no longer so fond of the garden...

My terrible afternoon

We stopped working in the garden around noon because Barbara says the sun is too hot to work midday. I took some frizzante (sparkling water) to the patio and sewed a pair of autumn's pants for about 15 minutes. I then started to feel a bit nauseas, and it only got worse as more time passed. My stomach hurt, I was a bit dizzy, and all I wanted to do was lay down. So, I went inside and relaxed on my bed for a few hours.. I felt so sick and I didn't know why...

At one point, I asked Autumn to google some information on Sparkling water. That was what I had been drinking all day, and aside from that I only had one egg and some yogurt! So, she checked it out and found out the bad effects of sparkling water... Basically, it is not good to drink a lot of it (like I had done), because it leads to dehydration, and it is very acidic due to the carbonation. I think the fact that I drank so much, in place of natural water caused me too feel very sick.

So, after laying down for a few hours to rest, I felt somewhat better by 4 p.m. (when we were suppose to meet barbara for more work). Unfortunately, she had a meeting with an advertising guy that lasted until 6, so we wasted a bunch of time waiting for her in the kitchen, clueless as to why she was not there. Then, when she finally did come, she sent us to ask Alessandro what we needed to finish in the barn before the day was done. He said "feed the horses," but we needed him to prepare the mix, which he said he would do. We asked him multiple times, but each time he was distracted by something else and we ended up waiting around for an hour in total. In the end, we didn't feed them -- he did.

It is a bit frustrating to work with alessandro, only because he is shy and hard to communicate with. He speaks very quickly because he is nervous and doesn't tell you what to do unless you keep asking and follow him around -- but even then it's hard. So, we asked him tonight, what we can do when we wake up in the morning, and he told us to feed hay to almost all of the animals.. So, we'll do that and hope for a better day tomorrow!

Busy Sunday in the Restaurant

Sunday is the busiest restaurant day of the week. Today, there were 30 people for lunch (that is less than normal). They all came at 1 p.m. with prior reservations, and there were 5 tables of guests.

Autumn and I helped prepare the antipasti (appetizer) plates today! It was so cool. Barb lays all 30 plates out on the kitchen table and we add each type of food, one by one, in a decorative manner. Once the guests arrive, they are seated & we bring them all their own antipasti plate. Everyone eats the same thing, which makes our lives a LOT easier! For the main meals (pasta & meat), we bring out one giant serving plate to the table and everyone serves themselves. It is much easier that way because we don't have to bring out individual plates.

Once everyone is finished eating, we must clean up the dining room, bring all of the dirty dishes into the kitchen, and load them into the dishwasher. Their dishwasher is very small & washes the dishes VERY quickly (only 2 minutes!). We then dry each dish by hand and put them back into the cabinets.

I really love being in the kitchen with everyone. They're always laughing, letting us try their delicious food & having fun.


"Military Men"

Every Sunday, Joe, Alessandro and a few other guys play war. Basically, they all dress up in camo outfits, trek into the woods with their fake guns, and play something similar to paint-ball. Joe told us that Italy is the only country (that he knows of) where you can't play paintball! Supposedly, they don't like the paint marks on the trees or something... so instead, they use tiny, plastic balls as "bullets." After lunch today, Joe let us try out his gun. We only shot at a wall & into the field, but it was still cool!


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I finished the night with my italian book in "la prima sala" (the first dining room), just studying and writing down useful words/phrases. Autumn and I are going to quiz each other and practice a little before bed tonight. I understand a lot of the italian I am hearing, and surprisingly have been able to communicate what I want to say (for the most part), but I want to be better! I want to speak more fluently and more easily! So, to the books & the barn we go! ;-)

A domani!

Restaurant & Sheep Shaving!

The Restaurant
Last night was our first time working in the restaurant. Luckily, there were only 8 guests total (normally there are 30-60 or more!). Barbara and Joe cooked all of the food [click for photo], Autumn and I transported it & cleared dishes from the table, and Aunt Marianella was the hostess & did most of the talking (considering our italian isn't great). There was a group of 6 that we started serving at 9 p.m. for dinner & they didn't leave until well after 11 p.m.! AH

This is how the meal went:

1. Antipasto (appetizer) [click for photo] - a plate decorated with numerous things: seasoned peppers, a few types of sliced meat, sliced/grilled zucchini & eggplant, cheese, fried dough and fried leaves [click for fried leaves photo] [another fried leaves photo].
2. Pasta - different everytime! Could be seasoned with different flavored sauces, and different shaped noodles!
3. Meat/vegetarian substitute - Last night was roast beef with potatoes & cabbage.
4. Dessert - Almond flavored cake with a white cream & chocolate sauce drizzled over the top.
5. Coffee - Tiny, itty bitty cups at the end of the meal.
6. Optional shot of Liquor - supposedly helps with digestion

It was a bit stressful trying to understand the guests, and reach over the table to clear/give plates. (Keep in mind it was our first time EVER waitressing!) Hangin out in the kitchen was the best part! Barb & Joe let us try a little bit of everything they made, and it was all extremely delicious! They have a small t.v. connected to a video camera that looks over the dining room. They use the camera to see when guests are done eating & when we need to bring out the next plate.

The strangest thing I tried was called "Salvia." [click for photo] Basically, it is a minty-tasting leaf deep fried in some kind of doughy/breaded outside. We also tried the pasta with red sauce & peas, fried dough with a tomato based sauce, and a few other things from the menu! It was fun except for the fact that I was extremely tired & the group of 6 left very late!

Sheep Shearing

A man that shaves the sheep was here today. Barbara says they only do it once a year, so Autumn and I were able to go watch! First, Maximiliano & Alessandro had to run around the sheep pen and catch a sheep to shave [click for photo]. Next, the shaver-guy takes an electric razor, similar to the kind a barber would use to cut men's hair, holds the sheep down awkwardly [click for photo], and shaves all of the wool off! [click for photo] Of course, the sheep were "baahing" and squirming all over the place during this, but they run away freely once they are shaved. They look so funny! Also, I discovered that black sheep are male and white sheep are female. It was crazy to see the giant pile of wool when he was finished [click for photo]. They don't use it for anything - supposedly nobody really wants it!

Cow Checking?

The guy who does artificial insemenation for the cows was here. He didn't actually impregnate any cows, but we did get to watch him stick is whole arm inside the poop hole to check if the cow is ready! YUCK. It was really disgusting.

Tiny Children

Barbara's family was visiting today and her 3 nephews were here. I don't know exactly how old they are, but my guess is 2, 4, & 6 years old. They came with Autumn & I to feed hay to the wild horses, and had fun climbing on piles of logs. Unfortunately, neither of us knew enough italian to really communicate with them, so when it was time to return to the house, we had a bit of difficulty getting them to cooperate. We kept repeating "Ragazzi, andiamo a casa!" (boys, let's go to the house!). They began to follow until they were distracted by climbing along a steep hill shouting "Tarzan/Tarzanino" and beating their chests. We didn't know how to say "get down," so we crossed our fingers, yelled what we did know how to say & prayed they wouldn't fall. The oldest came across a big snail, which thankfully excited him more than the climbing and we helped them down & back towards the house. He told me he loves to eat snails, and he let it crawl all over his hand until we returned home.

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Tomorrow, Sunday, will be the busiest restaurant day of the week! Wish me luck & I'll share with you all the interesting things that happen to us or the delcious food we try!

Exploring the Market

Our first day off!

Autumn and I woke up early and successfully lit the stove to make our literal "farm fresh eggs" for breakfast :-)! They tasted normal to me, but it was cool to know they came from the chickens on this farm. Afterward, we sat patiently on the porch waiting for the rain to lighten up so we could head into town. As we headed towards the LONG, rocky, uphill driveway, Joe offered us a ride in his jeep to the top where the bus stop is! -- thank goodness because it was a long hill!

The Market
The bus costs 1.05 Euros each way, and it dropped us off right by the market. It reminded me of the "feria" in Argentina, except instead of selling used things, it was all new. It is an outdoor market with vendors who sell many of the same things (clothes, accessories, household items, trinkets, shoes etc..). We saw so many things we wanted to buy, and although most things were reasonably priced, we had to save our money for the things we needed most. We bought most of what we needed, though didn't find everything today. It was fun to browse & the weather was nice.

Carrefour - The Grocery Store
The grocery store was right around the corner from the outdoor market. We headed there next to buy our bathroom supplies & a few groceries! In order to use a shopping cart, you have to put 50 cents into a lock to separate it from the other carts, and you lock it back up when you're finished to get your money back. We definitely needed a shopping cart to help with our bags & what we were about to buy. We used a dictionary to help us translate while shopping [click for photo.] We bought some delicious Kinder "bueno" bars, which are hazelnut/wafer filled chocolate bars! (They were a favorite of mine in Argentina). For dinner tonight, we got some chicken breasts (for some reason, there aren't many food options in the house right now, and I wanted something other than ostrich meat!). We also bought foccacia bread to eat after shopping because we were STARVING. (I got tomato/herb, autumn got onion/garlic). We ate them outside on two cement car-blockers, then searched for the bus home! [click for photo]

The journey back to the farm
We came across a ticket booth that sells bus tickets a bit cheaper in packages. When I entered, there was only one woman working and I asked her if she spoke English (in Italian). She shook her head "no," and I proceeded to search my brain for bus-related italian words to successfully buy us 10 bus tickets for 9.70 euros. We then waited for our bus at the stop outside of the ticket booth.

On the bus, there was a very old man who had lost (or was robbed of) his wallet. We figured this out after watching him for a few minutes. He was very angry, shouting in italian at the people around him and even patting down a few people, accusing them of stealing it from his pocket! He even asked if he could search one woman's purse & shopping bags, then proceeded to shove his hand inside of the bags. It was crazy! Autumn and I hoped he wouldn't approach us, and thankfully he didn't. After a few stops, he got off the bus -- wallet-less.

We ended up missing our stop, but luckily the last stop was next. We got off there and walked back to our stop (about 4-5 minute walk) with our HEAVY bags. We then walked down the secluded, rocky, long driveway to the farm. When we got back, we looked at our purchases and took a nap listening to the rain outside our windows.

Dinner
Autumn and I cooked dinner together tonight! I prepared the chicken using a few tricks my lovely boyfriend Joe has taught me over the past 2 years :-). I seasoned it with salt, pepper, freshly chopped garlic & onions, and a little bit of butter. I had some pasta and tomatoes on the side. [click for photo] It was outrageously delicious! After dinner, we sat in the kitchen and talked with barbara for a while -- it was really nice.

Fino a domani! (until tomorrow)

Day 2

This morning, Autumn and I couldn't figure out how to light the stove to make eggs. So, I settled for some cornflakes and milk, although I didn't like the taste of the milk :-/

We started the day by feeding the horses hay. We used pitch forks to separate the hay from the big hay bales and then proceed to feed the horses in their stables. We did this by yelling "back, back, back" really loudly at each horse until it moved its head away from us. We then pitched some hay over the door and into their individual stables! [click for photo] Once each horse was fed, we swept the excess hay back into its compartment. Also, Autumn & I were able to brush the baby horse! It was so little and it loves to be brushed!

For the rest of the morning, I went back into the barn with Joe to scoop some cow poop while the other girls & Autumn cleaned out a storage room filled with random things. I chose to scoop poop over clean the storage room because I feared the many spiders within! The only thing different about the scooping today versus yesterday was that the cows were IN their stables today & I had to scoop around them! It was a bit frightening because they are so huge and close to me, but I did my best to remain calm.

Next, I set the sheep free from their pen & scooped away their poop until lunch time.

My interesting lunch:

I decided to eat some left-over stew today that appeared to have beef, chick-peas and potatoes in it. It was really tasty and reminded me of Mom's stew from back home. Once I was half-way done eating it, Barbara kindly informed me that I was eating Ostrich Meat - the giant, ugly, mean birds which I seriously dislike! I couldn't believe it. Everyone laughed at the face I made, but I finished my plate regardless of me being grossed out -- after all, it tasted like beef before I knew it was ostrich..haha.

After lunch we had a few hours to rest, then we fed more hay to the Horses & the ponies :-) I love the ponies! [click for photo] They look like midget-"emo"-horses because their mane is very long and covers one eye haha. [click for photo]

After work today, I walked around the farm and took some of my own pictures (I have been relying on autumn until today). It was so nice to see everything on my off-time. My favorite little kitten on the farm kept me company on my walk and then Billy, the dog, ran around with me while I visited the ducks, deer & goats. It was so cool. When I went into the barn, all of the animals were sleeping! The cows were lying down and didn't move much as I walked around. The pigs on the other hand---- YIKES --- as soon as I walked towards their pen, they jumped up and started angrily & loudly oinking at me. If their mission was to get me out of there, it worked!

It has been raining a lot today, and everything is wet! The rain also makes our room a bit cold/musty... but I'm doing my best to ignore it. Tomorrow, Autumn and I hope to go into town for the market. Robyn says we can find some fairly cheap things there, but it is only on Thursdays! So, I hope to get some of the following necessities while there:

• Cheap, disposable T-shirts (to work in)


• Sweatshirts (didn't bring any)


• More long pants to work in


• Anti-itch cream for the mosquito bites!


• SOCKS! (ours are being ruined)


• Working Gloves (to protect my hands from blisters)

along with many other things & maybe even some carrots to feed the bunnies!

Until tomorrow -- Buona Sera

Day 1

This farm is amazing. Autumn woke me up around 11 a.m. and soon after we got dressed in some dirty clothes, borrowed some big rubber boots and headed towards the barn.

Job 1
Setting the horses free into the field for the day. I was in charge of standing at the beginning of the road next to the stables to make sure the horses didn't escape down that road. It was absolutely amazing when the 7-10 horses came around the corner RUNNING head-on in my direction. At first I was scared and wanted to run because I didn't know if they would stop, but as they got closer they turned into the field. It was the best way to start my day. The horses (cavalli) were so beautiful and graceful as they ran... so excited to be free from the stables.

Job 2
Cleaning the cow barn. Joe handed me some poop-scraping tool and sent me into a stable to scrape cow poop. Yes, I have a picture [click here] to prove it haha. It was one of the most disgusting smells I have ever been around for an extensive period of time. As much as I was grossed out... it was kind of fun! Autumn was in another stable doing the same. We scraped poop for a few hours, then washed the stables down with a hose (well, joe did that part) and then we covered them with fresh hay. Once that was done, I took a bunch of trips back and forth with the shovel, feeding the cows - it was awesome.

Late Lunch Break - I didn't have anything too exciting for lunch today.. Just some pasta with red sauce & some salad. It filled me right up though for my first meal of the day!

Job 3
Going to find the "other" horses. I don't know what is different about these horses, but they weren't the same as the ones in the stable from earlier. We walked through the field and down into the muddy woods along some old train tracks for about 20 minutes in search of the other horses. They are allowed to roam further and according to Robyn, they tend to congregate near the abandoned train station through the woods. It was really cool to see them free & grazing in the open. We had to gather them to put them back onto the path towards the farm. We did this by clapping our hands and yelling one of two things: "eh" or "andiamo" (let's go). They followed alongside us until we got to the path [click for photo] where they ran ahead. Once we climbed up through the woods and back across the field, we had to walk to a different field because they didn't come all the way home. Joe sent Autumn, Robyn and I to do this on our own. Yet again, it was AWESOME. We ran into the field near the horses [click for photo] and herded them back to the farm! So cool.

Job 4
Herding the sheep. This process was much simpler and quicker than the horses. For some reason, I guess sheep follow orders better. Once we got them into the pen, they started "baahhing" at us really loudly, it was hilarious! Right next to the sheep pen was a donkey! I don't think I have ever seen a donkey in real life, but it was so cute! And it made the "hee-haw" sound extremely loud. I realized today, that of the many farm-animal sounds we read and learn about in kindergarten, I haven't heard many of the real animals make the noise---until today-- and it is way cooler!

Job 5
Feeding the ducks, some big spotted birds, the deer and the goats. The ducks hang out by a little pond with a bridge that goes over it. It is such a nice little walk. [click for photo] As we continued, the deer were on our right.. very small and very skinny. They don't use the deer for anything, they are just there for fun. It was really cool to see them so close! Next, Joe took Autumn and I up a hill to a large bird cage. Inside were some pretty, big, spotted birds. I don't know what they're called but I almost had to go inside the cage with them to feed them (we all know my fear of big birds lol).. Luckily, Autumn volunteered. Last, but not least we fed the goats. There was a baby goat and it was super adorable (like all of the other baby animals around the farm!)

That was the last of our jobs for our first day, but I would say it was an eventful, amazing, fun-filled day at "Goccia d'oro Ranch" :-)

The animals I have seen on the farm are:
Horses (all kinds & babys!)
Ponies (the midget-looking horses) [click for photo]
Cats (So many, everywhere! I love it)
Dogs (so far i've only seen 2 -- Lupo & Billy)
Cows, Bulls & Calves [click for photo]
Pigs (Much bigger than I could have imagined) [click for photo]
Piglets (playful and adorable!)
Chickens (getting used to them)
Deer (skinny with white spots, just like bambi!) [click for photo]
Goats
Ostriches (Huge, Ugly, Scary, Mean-looking) [click for photo]
Ducks
Sheep
Donkey [click for photo]
Bunnies (white & brown ones)

and... autumn JUST told me there are big black snakes somewhere. I hope she is lying, but in the case that she isn't--- HELP!

We ended our day with some home-made pizza! Barbara prepared the dough earlier in the evening and we each topped our own pizza to our preference. [click for photo] There was even FRESH delicious mozarella! Yummy :-)

Tomorrow shall be yet another eventful day!

The Summer Begins

After an entire day of traveling, 9 hours of delays, a few panic attacks (due to the delays) and some expensive meals in London, I was picked up at the Milan-Malpensa airport by Enrico & Joe (live/work on the farm), Robyn (helper from NYC) and Autumn! I was so glad to see them waiting for me... I hadn't expected them to pick me up. It was midnight by the time I arrived, and I really appreciated them taking the 45 min. drive to save me from a long night in Milan!

Autumn, the other helpers and I are staying in a large room off of the main house/restaurant. We each have our own twin sized bed and a drawer in the dresser. Between my suitcase & the drawer, I have a place for just about everything. Right now there is only one other helper staying until the end of June. Her name is Robyn and she is from NYC. She has been a great help to us, explaining everything from what we must do on the farm to what plants to stay away from to avoid a burning rash!

So far I have met the following people:
Barbara - who we were in touch with via email leading up to our arrival. She is very kind and welcoming & speaks some english.
Joe - Barb's husband. We spent our first day entirely with him. He also speaks a LITTLE bit of english.
Enrico - Barb's brother. He was the kind soul who drove me to and from the airport due to my late arrival! He doesn't speak any english, but I was able to practice a few italian words upon arriving.
Marinella - Barbara & Enrico's cousin. Haven't spent much time with her yet.
Robyn - another helper like us from NYC. She will only be here until July 1st.

I plan to update more as the days go on. Miss you all!