Thursday 9/15 @ 1045pm Sora, Italia
Tonight's dinner was a mess, which was even harder because we have had the last two nights off. Tuesday night, me, Michelle, and Gavin were able to walk into Sora to eat pizza and gelato. It was nice walking to town and it only took about 30 minutes. We spent about 3 hours there and I was glad that I didn't have to do dinner dishes. Last night we also got the night off since no guests were eating at the farm and we ended up going to a festival in Pescosolidio, which is the closest town up the mountain (Sora is the larger "city" down the mountain). At first I wasn't going to go because I hadn't been feeling that well because of allergies, but then they finally talked me into it and we also got a ride up there, which was really nice. No one is really sure what the festival was celebrating, but pretty much everyone comes out and eats and drinks on the main street while music is playing. We had gnocchi and viiiinoooooo. After eating, we walked up to where the church was and from there you can see the whole valley with Sora in it. The joke with the other volunteers is that I've done a lot of stuff (walked to Sora, gone to Pescosolidio, hiked to the Mogli), but it has all been in the dark, so I have no idea what anything looks like in the day. Well, I saw the whole valley, but I still haven't actually "seen" the whole valley.
Dinner tonight was a complete 180. Maria sometimes plays this game with the volunteers where she uses every dang dish in the kitchen and then we have to clean it while only using 5 loads of the industrial dish washer. Well, tonight she played the game, and she also left hidden dishes in places we don't normally look... including a whole pan of tomatoes in the wood-burning oven, which we didn't find until right before we thought we were done. On nights that she uses all the dishes, it takes us almost an hour to clean up after dinner. Usually, dinner takes about 45 minutes and then we start cleaning, but tonight, the guests at the table just wouldn't stop talking, and we had to sit and wait until they were done talking, which meant 30 extra minutes were added to our night. It is frustrating, especially when you know you have all that work ahead of you.
Work in the morning was a little better though. After about 2 hours inside, Guiseppe came and got me, and I joined Michelle in the field pulling up old tomato plants. It was dirty work, but I enjoyed it. The best part: we got to feed ALL the plants to the donkey and the sheep, which they loved. At one point, I'm walk by the pin and Leia, the donkey, is standing in a giant circle of plants just munching on them... I've never seen a happier donkey. Another time, Michelle and I were throwing plants over the fence and the sheep were already so consumed with the ones on the ground that they didn't even notice that we had throw a bunch more on top of them. So, about 4 sheep were just covered in tomato plants and looked pretty much like they were in heaven. After working, I picked some old tomatoes off the ground in the field and took them and gave two to Leia, two to Stella, and one to baby Geppette. Geppette and I are buddies and whenever I go to visit, which is about twice a day, he comes over and gives me kisses. I think he likes the attention and Stella, who also wants attention, always sticks her head in the way, so I give her a pet too. Leia isn't concerned unless there is food.
Also, For those curious, here is a run down of what I ate today:
Breakfast- This is definitely the least complicated meal of the day. It is just the volunteers eating at 8am and we usually don't talk at all. Today, I had two slices of bread with nutella on it and one slice with peanut butter, which I found and am currently hiding in a secret spot. Sometimes in the morning if Maria is in a good mood, she'll make me tea or coffee, but it is too much effort to make it myself so I usually just fill up my water bottle.
Midmorning - When working with Guiseppe, you get a break every 20 minutes or so because he brings you over a different kind of grape that he wants you to try, so I eat soooooo many grapes. At one point, he also brought over figs for Michelle and I and Michelle told him she didn't like figs, so I got hers too lol.
Lunch - Lunch today was just 5 of us, but I swear Maria made food for 10. We pasta with a little fish in it and Guiseppe and I both put some hot peppers in. Then, there was the usual tomato salad which I'm not a huge fan, but it is covers in olive oil and basil, so I always have a piece EXCEPT today, Maria then brought out slices of ricotta, so I put some ricotta and tomato on some bread and ate that. Then she brought out meatballs, which I tried but it wasn't my favorite. And of course wine. Some of the other kids don't drink wine with lunch (and sometimes dinner), but the way I see it.... I'm not turning down wine!
Dinner - Today, we had pasta with tomato sause as the first dish. Then she brought out salad, the same meatballs from lunch, potatoes and peppers, and some kind of fried squash. And vino. Each person only has one cup in front of them, so I take my water bottle to the table so that my one glass is filled with wine and not wasted on water, of course!
Each day is pretty much the same. We eat a lot of vegetables, pasta, and olive oil is on everything. And there is bread at every meal, but it doens't have much taste and is sort of there if people want it, but isn't any sort of actual part of the meal. Today was different than most because I actually ate the meatballs, but so far, most days I haven't had much meat. And people from all angles are forcing tomatos on me, so I've started eating them, even plain.
