Monday 9/12 @ 4:15pm Sora, Italia
On Friday morning, I went to the Uffizi Gallery. It was neat seeing works by Michaelangelo and di Vinci, especially some of the stuff di Vinci started but didn't finish before he died, because you got to see a few different "stages" of how he would go about working on a piece. After about two hours and several annoying run-ins with a Japanese tour group, I finished and turned in my audio set and headed back to the hostel. I packed for a little bit and waited until 220pm, when Kathryn's train was getting in. I went to the train station to meet them and when I saw her, I ended up running up to her and we both were having quite a loud reunion. Some italian boys started mocking us and screaming, but neither of us cared that much. I ended up taking a taxi with Kathryn and her mom to their hotel and we spend a couple hours talking while they both got their stuff organized. Around 5pm, we headed into the city's center and walked around for a bit, and eventually we found a nice restaurant where we sat outside by the Medici's offices and the Uffizi Gallery. After a really nice dinner, we walked around a bit more and got some of the best gelato (I got white chocolate and fig). Around 930pm, I walked with them back to their bus stop, which wasn't far from my hostel, and then I went back and got ready to head to Sora the next morning.
The next morning I caught my train to Rome at about 1045am and got there around 1215pm. The metro I needed to take was literally under the train station, so before I went downstairs and got something to eat and then got on the metro to the bus station. The bus ride was two hours long and took us away from Rome and into the mountains in southern Italia. Most of the people slept on the way, but I listened to music and watched every thing go by. After I got to Sora, I took a taxi to the first workaway I'm doing, at the ItalyFarmStay. When I first arrived, I was introduced to the other volunteers and took my stuff upstairs. When I came down after a few minutes, they already wanted to teach me to play rummy. Apparently during the down time, they love to play rummy, so I learned and did pretty well on my first try. I'll have to teach them some other games.
The volunteers are split into two groups. As of right now, there are 9 total (there were 10 my first night but a girl left the next morning). 3 of the volunteers (I'm one of the three) are at the main house where we do a lot of dishes and sweep and mop and then do outside work around the house the rest of the day. In two weeks, when they start picking grapes, we'll help out there, since they want to get them done as soon as they are ready. The other 6 volunteers are at La Moe, which is just a plot of land the people who own the farm have. They live on it in tents and only do about 3 hours of work a day. The people at the actual house do a little more, but we also get a bed and meals. La Moe have to pay for their own food. The family who owns the house and the hotel are Antonello and his wife Linda, and Antonello's mother and father. Antonello and Linda have a baby named Vera, who is super cute. Antonello pretty much runs the business aspect and Linda is in charge of room stuff. Guiseppe, Antonello's father, is definitely a farmer and he'll be the one you find taking care of all the animals and in charge of grape and olive picking. Maria, the mother, does all the meals and sort of supervises the cleaning.
My first few hours I learned several things about the family. Antonello likes to joke around with all the volunteers and is pretty fun to hang around with. I've had all my meals by Linda and she is really nice too. Guiseppe is also really nice, but he doesn't speak a lick of english, so it will take a little longer before I can understand his jokes. All the volunteers however told me about Maria before I even met her. Apparently, she picks and chooses if she likes you, and if she doesn't then there is really nothing you can do about it. They also all told me that since I was a girl, she pretty much wouldn't like me. Well, every night at 630pm, the three house volunteers have to meet downstairs to set the table and help get ready for dinner. The first night, that is when I met Maria. She was in the kitchen and I asked if there was anything I could help her with and she immediately started me on cutting up carrots. She asked me a few questions and after those few questions, I'm now certain I'm her favorite. Apparently, her daughter lives in San Fran, so when I told her that I was from Texas, she asked how far it was from San Fran and I was like, oh just a few hours flying. Point 1. Then she asked me my name and I was like Stephanie and she said that is her daughter's name. Point 2. It is now my second full day and she just loves me. She calls me Steffi and while she still asks me to do work, one morning she made me tea and then before lunch during the cooking class she was teaching with the people staying there, she poured me a glass of wine. And today at lunch, I finished my pasta and before I could say no, she had my bowl and filled it up again. I guess it's good to be on the boss lady's good side lol.
Also, another surprise when I got here.... there was a girl from Grapevine, Texas who is one of the two other house volunteers. And we know some of the same people. I think she was stunned when I started naming some people I know from A&M that went to Grapevine and now we like to joke around with the other house volunteer, Gavin. He's from the UK and he also gets his fair share of hits on us too. Like last night, the whole time at dinner we had an arguement about silverware. For being a 21 year old boy, he uses his knife and fork perfectly, and both of the girls, being from Texas, pretty much don't use a knife and eat with our fork in our right hands. I think he was having fun calling us uncivilized and that he felt like he was eating with a bunch of babies. And we were having fun asking him if he used a knife for EVERYTHING. Which he pretty much does.
The night I got there, it was a girl from Ireland's last night, so the volunteers at La Moe had a "party" which was pretty much jsut drinking wine and playing a game called Ninja. Everyone stands in a circle and you yell "Ninja!" and everyone jumps back and makes a ninja pose. Then you try and get people out by hitting their hands and after you've had soem wine, it gets pretty funny. We played for like 3 straight hours and everyone just thought it wa the best game ever. And the next morning I was sore from striking so many ninja poses, but I definitely had made some new friends.
And besides all that, everything each day is pretty much the same. The 3 house volunteers wake up around 730am and eat breakfast. Then at 8am, we start doing work and don't end until lunch. Each meal is a big deal and Maria has at least 4 courses. All the volunteers, Guiseppe, Linda, and Aontello always eat at one end of the table and the rest of the guest fill in after that. And of course, each meal has the wine that Guiseppe makes and it is pretty good.
This afternoon during the large break, I pretty much have been walking around and taking pictures. I also made friends with the donkey, Leia, and the horse and her baby. The baby, who I call Baby, is my buddy and he likes to give me kisses when I feed him hay. There are also two dogs (which I can barely say their names so I won't type them). Both are sweet, although one is like 17 years old and if you pet her in the wrong spot, she squacks like a chicken. So when ever you hear her squack, then you know someone is petting her. But even then, she'll still come back up to you to pet her more. Then the boy dog is a little younger and has one snagle tooth, so he just looks ridiculous. The dogs here aren't like our doggies at home. They pretty much eat leftover people food and there isn't any sort of flea or tick control, so the poor things have both of those (the boys from La Moe spent awhile one day getting most of the ticks off, so they are a lot better than they were). One night, we were outside and we look over and the boy dog had a whole chicken in his mouth and was just carrying it around like a toy. Bella would be in heaven, but because I'm a good owner, she will just stay in Texas, eat dog food, and take her heartguard/fleaandtick medicine every month. I mean, she may think she is missing out on the "good life" here, but as long as she has squirrels and rats in Texas, she will at least get a taste of the "good life" (well, the only way she will ever get a 'taste' is if she runs a little faster and plans a little better on squirrel hunting). Also, Guiseppe told me that sometime this week, I am in charge of giving Leia a haircut. I've never given a donkey a haircut, but it should be a new experience. Lucky for me, she is more of a dog than the dogs are, so it shouldn't be too hard.
