EXPENSIVE MISTAKES

This is my itty bitty washing machine.  It might be about 15 inches wide.

You put your clothes in this metal cylinder, which holds about 1/3 of a U.S. washing machine, and then you have to close the cylinder and put down the top lid. 

When I wear pants with two buttons, sometimes I forget to zip them up.  If I’m distracted or thinking about something else (most of the time, this is the case), my auto pilot just tells me to button and zip—two motions.  Well, that’s what happened when I did my laundry last Thursday.  I put the clothes in, and then put down the lid—two motions, just like at home. 

Result….I jammed up the washing machine because I didn’t close the metal cylinder.  The machine had to be removed from the apartment and taken apart to put everything right again….all of which cost me 70 euro—about $95--and  a great deal of embarrassment.

I won’t be doing that again.

P.S.  No dryer.....I hang my clothes on lines outside my apartment....a bit of a pain, especially when you forget to bring them in when it rains, but they sure do smell good.

ISCHIA--ISOLA MAGNIFICA

I'm in love with an island.  Mind you--I've been in love with islands before.  I'm a bit fickle about islands.  But I think Ischia is the most beautiful island I've seen (that I can remember, anyway).  

It lies at the north end of the Gulf of Naples and it's a volcanic island that was originally settled by the Greeks sometime in the 8th century BC.  In its early days, it was a trade center.  Over the centuries, various warring Italian states claimed ownership, and it was common for pirates to hole up in the mountain caves of the island throughout the 15th century.  

Ischia's population is around 60,000, and these days, it primary industry is tourism.  It's knows for its thermal spas, which are frequented most by Germans and Asians.  Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor was filmed on this island.

I went to the island with classmates Isabelle (from Switzerland), and Kathy and Michelle (from New Zealand).  It took an hour by ferry to get there from Sorrento.  We were approached immediately by Philipo, otherwise known as Pippo, a native of Ischia who spoke English quite well.  He made us an offer that was too good to refuse--a tour of the island in his white Mercedes for only 120 euro.  We decided fairly quickly that this was preferable to jamming ourselves into a bus with other tourists and fumbling our way around this fairly large island (17 square miles).

The charming Philipo and his very clean Mercedes:

Isabelle is a very good photographer and her pictures might better capture the incredible beauty of this lush, tropical island.  Sometimes you just have to be there!  I'll post some of her photos when I receive them.  Our first stop was the famous Castello Argonese, which was built on a rock near the island in 474 BC by Hiero I of Syracuse.

We proceeded on a tour around the islands, with stops at various scenic points that offered great Kodak moments:

This last photo gives you some idea of the lushness of the island.  It was once called "The Green Island", and, wherever you go, there is a luxury of trees and flowering bushes.  

Even the signage on the island is more beautiful than elsewhere.  There are painted ceramics signs like this one that designate shops and shows maps of various destinations.  This one is a map of the island.  

Here's an odd formation we saw along the way called Il Fungo (the mushroom):

After a 4 hour tour of the island with Philipo entertaining us with his great humor, teaching us new Italian words, and touting the many positive attributes of the island (he should work for the Tourist Bureau), he dropped us off at a restaurant with a beautiful sea view, where we had a lunch.  The parting photo beside the restaurant (Kathy and I bought floppy hats along the way):

Then we browsed the shops on our meander back to the harbor to catch the ferry back to Sorrento.  What was most wonderful about Ischia was that there were hardly any tourists there!  We were most surprised, especially Michelle and Kathy, who had also been to Capri where the streets are as jammed with tourists as Sorrento is.  And, in their opinion, Ischia is more beautiful than Capri.  (Yes, I know we're tourists, too, but we do get sick of the crowds of ourselves here.)

I fell in love with Ischia, and I plan to return to tour the castle, as well as some beautiful gardens there.....maybe when my friend, Grace, comes to visit me in October after her Mediterranean cruise.  

WEEK 2 CLASSMATES

This won't mean much to anyone reading this post.  I just want to remember my classmates from week 2 at Sant' Anna Institute:

The bloke at the back left is James from Londre, England.  James is an electrical engineer, and this was his fourth time at the school.  The tall fellow next to him is Bill from Denver.  He's here just one week also.  His wife speaks fluent Italian, so he's trying to catch up with her.  Next to him is Ulrica from Germany.  In front of them are Michelle and Kathy from Aukland, New Zeeland.  

The row to the right:  Fermina (on my right) is a student teacher who was observing our class.  On my left is Isabelle, who is from Switzerland, and then there is Lesley, from Cornwall, England.  She is the only one who advanced with me from our little class last week.

Our grammar teacher this week was Bianca, who ran out before I could get a picture of her.  For conversation, we had Domenico, who is an absolute riot.  He had us playing silly games all week.  And you can see his silliness in these pictures:

It was a good week of learning--I'm more able to put sentences together and understanding more and more of what the instructors are saying.  Va bene!

GOOD NEIGHBORS

The apartment next door to mine is a vacation rental like mine, and an Aussie couple, Diana and Paul, moved in last Thursday.  I find the Aussies to be a very friendly people—quite outgoing and fun-loving.  I’ve been chatting with this couple for the last few days, and they graciously invited me to join them for boat ride along the Amalf Coast. 

Paul and Diana had rented a boat.  They picked me up at the loading dock in the marina after school, and off we went.  They had motored around Capri in the morning with a young Aussie couple they met at a restaurant a couple of days before.  Here are my boat mates:

Captain Paul and first mate Diana

Jessica and Alex

Just south of Sorrento, we saw lots of shoals like this where people were sunbathing and fishing.

All along the Coast, you see many of these small stone towers.  Centuries ago, they were used by warring Italian states to watch for enemies attempting to attack by sea. 

My niece Shelley might recognize this lovely town perched on the cliffs.  It’s Positano, where we spent our last two days of vacation several years ago when we traveled together here.  It’s also the place where in the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, where Diane Lane went to track down the hot Italian guy she had met.

Some miscellaneous shots along the way.

  

We went as far as the coastal town of Amalfi and then headed back at breakneck speed to get the boat back on time.  I have bruises on my tush from that return trip!  Back at Marina Grande:

All in all, an absolutely delightful afternoon along the Amalfi Coast, courtesy of a very gracious couple from Down Under.

I MIEI AMICI NUOVI (MY NEW FRIENDS)

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou…..a fitting phrase in Italia.  Since I don’t have a “thou”, friends fill this need to be with others some of the time.  I left behind some very good friends, and here I begin again to find people with whom I can share life experiences.

Many of you know that I had been writing to some people in Italy for the last few months.  Perhaps the person I came to know best is Tina.  We have shared many thoughts and feelings with each other over the last few months via email, and I have been looking forward to meeting her for a long time.  I wrote also to her husband Donato for a while; but he was in the process of preparing for retirement, and training someone to take his job kept him very busy.  So we hadn’t written for a while.

My greatest pleasure so far has been spending the last two days with Tina and Donato.  They drove here from their home in Puglia, on the opposite coast from me and a bit south, to meet me.  I was so delighted that they extended themselves to me in this way and brought the hospitality of Italy with them.  May I introduce you to my first friends in Italy…………..

We shared bread and wine……………..

Tina had not been in Sorrento before and Donato was here only once on business, so we roamed the streets together for a bit of shopping.  There are many, many narrow streets like this in Old Sorrento, lined with shop after shop………….

We discovered some ancient Roman remains…………

and roamed around the Marina Grande where I live.  As we sat enjoying the fresh sea breezes, we watched some young people and their families exiting the church.  Tina told me the youngsters had just taken their first communion.  Some parents had hired this decorated horse and carriage for the very special occasion that this represents…………

That pink building the the background is where I live, and one of the balconies you see in front on the second floor is mine.  From there, I watch the comings and goings of tourists from many countries, as well as the daily life of the locals.  

Tina and Donato couldn’t find a hotel in Sorrento with an available room, so they stayed in a town nearby.  I rode with them to their guest house, and by accident, Donato chose a road that turned out to be the scenic route, up into the higher hills along the coast.  The views were breathtaking, but, alas, I didn’t have my camera, and there was really no place to stop for panoramic shots anyway.  I will have to hold it in memory for a long as I can. 

This week, Tina and Donato will go north to the home of their son Nicola in Modena.  He and his wife Daniella, are expecting their first child, a girl, very soon.  It will be Tina and Donato’s first grandchild.  The word for grandchild in Italian is "nipote", which is also the word for niece and nephew.  I don’t know quite how they know the difference when speaking. 

Donato speaks some English, which helped our communication, but I had a great opportunity to practice speaking Italian and learn some new words.  It was amazing to me that, most of the time, we were able to communicate pretty effectively.  We shared many laughs over my mistakes and life in general, and I had just a marvelous weekend with my first Italian friends.  They are very, very simpatico.

LEARNING THE LINGO

I walk to the language school, which located at the top of those cliffs that define my little cove.  Here are some highlights of my walk.  I don't know how well you can see them, but there are some feral cats playing in the fishing nets that cover "who knows what".  These cats abound in this little fishing village.

There are 61 stops from the beach level to the top of the cliff.  As you can see from these pictures, there's quite an incline, and along the way, there are a couple of spots where you can catch your breath and pray to the Virgin Mary that you make it to the top!

Stop and pray.

The last stretch.

I’ve attended five 4-hour language classes, and talk about being lost.  The classes are taught completely in Italian, and we aren’t supposed to speak English at all (but we do a bit).  When we ask, “Cosa significa (Italian word/phrase)?”,  the instructor usually does a bit of pantomime herself to try to avoid giving us the English word.  That doesn’t work all the time.  There are only 3 other people in my class—a woman from England, another from Quebec, and a young man from Austria.  They are all here for only two weeks, so I’ll be meeting new classmates often.  Here's a picture of my first group of classmates.

All the teachers and administrators are quite young, and they dress very casually.  I was surprised that the instructors wear jeans most of the time.  Here's Nuncia, who I like very much.

I’m developing a bit of an ear for the language and can pick up parts of conversations….or so I thought until I tried talking to the plumber who came to fix a leaky toilet, increase the water pressure to more than a dribble, show me how to adjust the water temperature and how to run the mini size washing machine.  He was very patient when I finally turned to the language translator on my Kindle Fire and asked him to type in what he was trying to tell me.  The other three people in my class are more advanced than I am, but I’m hanging in there.  I can put sentences together better than I can understand what others are saying.  

The acoustics in the classrooms at the school are really poor—very high ceilings and no carpet, so there’s an echo when you speak loud.  I have trouble distinguishing what the instructor is saying when she speaks loudly.  When I ask, she willing tones it down, and then I do much better.  I love the instructor who leads our conversation class, but am a bit intimidated by the one who teaches us grammar.  We had a substitute teacher for that part for the last couple of days, and I much preferred her.   From what I can gather, we can expect instructors to rotate in and out.  

A woman I met at a meet-up group in Ann Arbor (for those of you who know her, it’s Janice Pearson) and her mother have been in Sorrento for a few days on their Italian tour.  We’ve had dinner twice and I think we’ve run into each other on the streets 4 times in the last five days.  Sorrento is a small town, but even so, I thought this was pretty extraordinary and so did they.  Old Sorrento is a charming place, with narrow streets lined with a bazillion shops.  There are several piazzas in Sorrento.  Here are a couple of shots from the largest one, where you can hire a carriage for an old-fashioned tour around the city.

It amazes me that people on Vespas are allowed to drive on the narrow streets of old Sorrento.  You see people from 16 to 76 zipping around on these little motorcycles, and they don't seem to follow any particular traffic rules.  You have to be alert at all times.  I’ve seen no stop lights here.  There are pedestrian crossings at intervals, but I’m told you need to be very sure that a driver will actually stop before you put a toe out.  The graveyard is apparently populated with people who assumed that the traffic would stop for them!  The streets in the old town are made of large stones, and sidewalks of small bricks, and walking can be hazardous when you’re on the part where there are large stones (like on the steps above).  It would be easy to turn your ankle.  

In the marina where I live, there is a bell tower that marks the time on the quarter hour (most of the time).  There are people outside socializing with each other and children playing until late in the evening, and one of the restaurants has live entertainment on Thursday evenings.  (Volare, oh, oh.)  So it’s very noisy at night.  Today a feral kitten decided to camp on the landing outside my apartment, and it is meowing constantly.  I didn’t have anything to feed to it, and I couldn’t get it to come close to me, but tomorrow I’ll look for some cat food if it's still around.  It may be hungry. There’s also a baby in the apartment above me that doesn’t like to go to sleep and protests by wailing for a half hour or so most nights….not very good sound proofing here.  I was happy to learn that Italians recycle paper, plastics, and glass, but not so delighted when the recycle truck picked up a collection of glass bottles right below my apartment at 1:30 a.m. this morning.  I think living in downtown Ann Arbor for the summer was good conditioning for me—I got used to noise. 

The married couple who have been my penpals for several months will be coming to Sorrento this weekend to meet me.  I’m just delighted that they’re going to extend themselves in this way.  They don't speak English, so I'll get lots of practice in conversational Italian, including, I'm sure, the gestures that enhance Italian communication.

La vita dolce!

LIVING WITH LESS....AND OTHER ADJUSTMENTS

(Written on 9-3-2012)

Those of you who have traveled abroad know how spoiled we are in the U.S. with conveniences and luxuries.  I love my apartment but here’s what I don’t have that is pretty standard at home:  a clothes dryer, a dishwasher, a microwave, air conditioning (nor a fan), Wifi in the apartment, good knives, and counterspace.   And while there are two televisions in this apartment, there is no cable service included in my rent. 

Those of you who know me well and have put up with my griping about the small amount of kitchen counterspace I had in my condo….well, that space would seem luxurious here.  

Going to a supermarket here is a bit like going to a country grocery store in the U.S.  There are 3 or 4 central isles, a very small produce section on one side, a fresh meat/dairy section on the opposite wall, and deli meats/cheeses, and higher end butcher cuts of meat at the back.  Of course, all the product information is in Italian, so you just have to guess what some things are.  On my first trip there, I was able to find everything but butter.  Because there are so few brand choices here, it’s possible to miss a major item like butter.  I also couldn’t find Kleenex.  I did buy some on my second trip, and here, they are somewhat like our napkins.   

There is nothing here like a Walmart or Meijers.  There are specialty shops for everything.  Today, I wanted to buy hand lotion, so I stopped at a pharmacy.  I pantomimed what I wanted to one of the clerks, and she gave me body wash.  The clerk at the register must have overheard, because he asked me if it was hand cream I wanted, so I did walk out with the lotion.  I also wanted to buy an adaptor for my computer, so I had to find an electrical shop.  The hours of the shops are very different.  They are open from 9 or 10 to 1:15 p.m. or so.  Then they close until 5 p.m. and stay open until 9 p.m.  This is not true of all shops, but the service shops, like pharmacies, telephone stores, electrical shops, etc. seem to operate on these hours.  The shops that sell clothes and gift items items of interest to tourists are pretty much open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., as are most restaurants and food shops.

I stopped at the post office, and the mode of entry to the building is quite unique.  Only one person can enter at a time.  A glass door slides open and you step into a glassed in area.  The door behind you closes and then the one in front of you opens.  This is a scanning process for security purposes--they must have had someone "go postal" here, too.  Then you have to select one of four options on a kiosk, and it spits out a numbered ticket.  When you see that number appear above the station of one of the several clerks, you get served.  Of course, my limited Italian didn't help me to know what button to push and I selected the wrong option.  I got my stamps anyway from a nice clerk who took pity on me.  There were others who just ignored my obvious confusion and avoided eye contact with me.  (Some things are the same in all countries, I guess.)

I finally found out how I can access the Internet from my apartment without signing up for a service.  Some of you may know that you can purchase a device that looks something like a memory stick and fits into a UBS port—it allows you so many megawhatevers of internet time.   The one I purchased today will be usable tomorrow, so I can start posting here more regularly.  Now I just need to figure out how to download pictures from my cell phone (believe it or not, I’m now the owner of a smart phone!) to my computer.  The instructions are in Italian—no English ones available I’m told, but can’t believe it—and my intuitive powers have never worked on electronic devices. 

Fortunately, I’m an adaptable creature and have taken all these cultural differences in stride.  I beginning to feel a little confident in my ability to navigate this town, and like the locals, I’m looking forward to the end of the busy tourist season in mid-September, so the streets aren’t so crowded.