Fully domesticated ?

I have been made into a stay at home, fully domesticated mom. I had an idea to buy a small poinsettia plant for each teacher. Ago has 6 and Jujee has 4. Augustin "built on" my idea saying we should make a flower and put a chocolate in it. Wellllllllllllll - since he was so gungho and I had some time, I went for it. I MADE teacher presents. ARGGGG. What was I thinking? I was in a bad mood after the first one! We have them done with the additional 6 for all the bidelli( sp?) (janitors).

Note to self : do not be tempted again - you do not like crafting.

Chow for now!

JT

Piemonte - foot of the mountains ( piede dei monti)

Probably not too many have heard of the Piemonte region in Italy - though you may have heard of Turin or Asti a couple of the main cities- and maybe if you are a wine person the village names of Barolo, Barbaresco might be familiar. Here is a little bit more about the area and what we have experienced so far.

Italy is divided and subdivided into administrative sections as follows: region, province, municipality, and fraction. Piemonte is a large region in Italy ( other examples are Lombardi with Milan, Lazio with Rome, and Veneto with Venice ). SB: I have yet to understand exactly the boundaries of the state vs region vs the provinces as far as governance - but probably it has to do with politics back when Cavour was working to unite Italy. There is still politics over how autonomous each region is - you can read up in wikipedia or elsewhere to delve into the intricacies of it all.

Piemonte is known for the food and wine. Carlo and I have definitely explored the gastronomic offerings here and have enjoyed it very much. The white truffles are world famous and cost (like$6 per gram so a grape sized one would be about $30). There is always rumors hat here are not possibly enough truffles in Alba for the world demand and so they may be coming from elsewhere. I like this saying about this: "the only one who can guarantee a truffle's origin is the dog".

There are other typical regional dishes that I have written about before. ONe that is popular right now AND goes well with truffle shavings is fonduta. Fonduta is not like Swiss fondue but rather is simply fontina cheese, melted with milk overnight then warmed and combined with egg yolks. Sort of the richest cheese sauce you could imagine. My fav fonduta dish is over a flan with some sort of vege like asparagus, cardoons, or artichokes. Many have it over simple gnocchi.

In order to "combat" the great food, Carlo and I have taken advantage of the hills surrounding the river valleys ( Po, Tanaro, Belbo) for hikes and biking. When the weather is nice, there are just tons of bicyclists on the roads- in the proper spandex and super kitted out road bikes of course! Italians are always attired and equipped splendidly - no matter the activity. Also lots of motocyclists - gain kitted out royally.

On Monday, for example we plan to walk to Barbaresco and have lunch at Antine www.antine.it/ - then walk back home. About 12 K altogether.

The capital of the region is Turin ( Torino). I love Turin. It is perfectly sized for exploring and abut an hour or so away from here. It has some of everything. It was at one time the capital city when the Savoy's were in power so there is a richness and beauty of the city. I love the covered promenades throughout the center around an radiating from the couple of main piazzas. There are a couple of palaces to tour, many upscale shops, several excellent restaurants, and well I have only been there two times so far. Looking forward to more visits! The Savoy also had other minor palaces here and there throughout Piemonte and of course the royal hangers-on has their castles and villas near the Savoys. This makes for some lovely castles and palaces to visit. Also the skyline is beautiful with the castled hilltops everywhere. We found a little castle in Coazzolo http://www.coazzolo.com/ that is also a B&B - lovely soaring rooms to stay in and you can see our house across the river valley!

We have not yet explored the Alps in the North and West of Piemonte but we will go through the next region north (Valle d'Aosta) and into France to Chamonix next week and plan to do skiing in nearby resorts after the holidays next year! I am looking forward also to some hiking and camping in the western parts or perhaps Valle d'Aosta next spring!

Chow for now & Buon Natale, and Felice Anno Nuovo!

JT

macro versus micro business

My friend Maria asked about why we have so much fresh, local produce whereas the US has so many resources and space and mainly does not have these things...though there are the farmer's markets and that slow food movement is creeping into high-end, gourmet foodies' thoughts and haunts...it is not a widespread thing and in fact organic, local food is sometimes considered as elitist!

I think there are a couple of contributing factors: the micro businesses that fuel Italy's economy and our particular location in Piemonte.

Time has sort of stood still it seems where all the agri -businesses are still quite small and generally family owned. This is true too for restaurants and retail. Note that there ARE big businesses here. The french it seems have learned how to do big business successfully in Italy - they have the big grocery stores: LeClerk, Carrefourre(sp?), and perhaps EsseLunga as well. Further from where we are there is Ikea and the equivalents of Home Depot and Best Buy. But, in Neive lower there is a shoe store, several butchers, several bakeries ( some it seems just storefront someone else's products?), and in Neive upper there are two small markets as well ( kinda of not so good but anyway...). This for a town of 3000!. Then also there is the weekly market - very much like the markets we have - but well not so pricey: The market is: four or five fruit/vege, a fish, a cheese, a meat, four or five clothing, a candy, a hardware, a fabric. The people who use the market are not just the hipster, foodies but the regular residents young and old. In the town 5 km away there is a slightly larger market very similar to Neive's each Thursday. In larger Alba ( 30K people), there is a market twice weekly - and quite a bit larger. It seems to me this is just the way of life that has gone on for very very long time and never changed. Italy kind of skipped the 50-60-70 bigger is better thing. There is some downside too....like the food is *very* provincial here - yeah you eat locally and pretty much only locally- i made some "unsual" pasta sauces that were simply different than the 4 that are here on every menu...( one with basil and lemon, another with sausage and onions only - so you get the idea).

Our particular location too has some influence since 1. it is an agricultural area known for producing fruits and vegetables - not a big city, 2. it is the world center and origin of the slow-food movement ( eat fresh and local is a main mission) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Food and http://www.slowfood.it/ Oh of course the location's climate and soil are the reason it is an agricultural area - but one has to include that very basic thing...

Wine too is small, family businesses. It is surprising, if you have visited wineries in california or even some of them in Oregon, to see how small and unostentatious ( I made up that word ) the wineries are here.

Well that's my babble on this topic!

chow for now-

JT

Missing it or not?

Don't miss the Portland winter weather goddess: "you'll get sunshine when I am good and ready to give it to you - like March or....perhaps May - hhhhhahahahahaha." (evil laugh). It is not warm here now but the sun does come out very clearly and shine for a day or more.

Missing filtered coffee - i like my "watery" coffee, espresso is the caffeine shot not the coffee sipping whilst watching the fog lift ritual.

Missing NPR on nearly all the time ( except for the music shows on OPB - don't care for them s'much). BBC tv is just not the same.

Missing tumble dryer - though not as much as I thought.

Missing unscented laundry soap - eau de Dash "Meadow Fresh" is my new cologne :P

Don't miss driving on I-5.

Don't miss our drafty house - the Neive house is so well insulated, the temp fluctuates mere points of a degree over hours!

Don't miss fast food (and...people I worked/lunched with know I am no food snob when it comes to food choices!)

Missing ordering online ( shipping here is prohibitive)

Missing buying at US prices :-(

Don't miss US wine prices :-)

Missing spicy foods

Missing friends and family

(tunnel+bridge)^85

The drive from Neive to Antibes is mostly autostrada quite easy driving as long as you look ahead for slow trucks pulling out from the right and ultra fast cars zooming up on the left. First drive South on a flat, wide drive then over the pass in the Apennines’. There were inches of snow there today during our drive. At Savona you turn left and the coastal highway drive begins. The scenery is inspiring, sweeping views of the Med and inland between the crags of the Apennines’ as they dive into the sea. The road is tunnel after bridge after tunnel after bridge with no “solid” road anywhere. The temperature to has risen about 10 degrees and there are patches of sun warming instead of the clouds and fog. Then you hit the Grimaldi tunnel and suddenly all the license plates have ‘F’ instead of ‘I’ and the driving is a little less…exhilarating. You are using the “sortie” instead of the “uscita”. Then sortie 44 and in a few minutes you are in the slightly shabby 2 star you have chosen for a base to explore Biot, Grasse, Antibes and the other villages of the Cote D’Azure.

A tout A l’heure!!

JT

Learning Italian - Part 1: Intro, and Julian's path.

4 of us here in Italy, each of us learning Italian in different ways. This post will be a work in progress noting my observations of how this process happens for each of us. Yes, each of us - although you'd never know it from hearing me speak Italian as perfectly and modestly as I do, even an ingrained "mother tongue" gets rusty in certain subtle (and not so subtle) ways when you are removed from "the culture" in the way I have been for the last, oh, 30 years. More about that later.

So, each of us learns differently in striking ways. Let's start with the kids. Everyone always tells you "the younger they start learning a new language the better", or "that (whatever "that" is) is the perfect age to learn". But what do they really mean? Here's what they mean (I think): the big difference is whether you already know how to read and write another language, or not. This is, in my opinion, the big difference between Augustin (8) and Julian (5). They are both making unfathomable strides in their capacity to understand and speak - and, in Augustin's case, write - the language. But in not-s subtly different ways.

Julian is not beginning to randomly insert complete sentences in Italian in regular conversation at home. Not a word here and there. He doesn't struggle to think about something he wants to say. He has internalized a situation from school, and a canned sentence - in his case, a series of sounds - that goes along with that. Because he parses no words in those sounds (or at least only has a tenuous concepts of separate words) he does not bother wondering "am I pronouncing this one right", "does this end in 'a' or ''o'" - he blurts it out. Naturally. For example: we were playing Legos (of course) the other night. I was messing around with a construction he made. He nonchalantly said to me, "No Daddy, non si fa cosi', guarda: si fa cosi!". Wha? Did my kid just speak to me in Italian? Perfect intonation, pronounciation, and all the other -ations. "Not like that, look, like this!". BOOM! Obviously something that came from a teacher (thankfully none of his speak any English) in a classroom situation. In the evening, going to bed he says "Giu' la testa!" ("Put your head down!"), something he obviously picked up at school at naptime (he loves that....). These fully formed, conscious sentences are the culmination of three months of full immersion at school. Julian is quiet and shy and we more than once we wondered if his propensity for isolating himself would mean he would not learn as quickly or as much as Augustin. Boy were we wrong. He is always sensing his environment (just as he is at home when his brother takes over the environment, on the surface, but he is right there with the conversation, even if he doesn't appear to be. A few weeks ago we got the first few glimpses that his brain was working overtime. Once the lights are off in the evening, and the boys are still awake, he would whisper in himself random snippets, half sentences, unfinished, in Italian. Over and over. The same three words. Next night, a different few more words. Like the brain, which had already learned them, was trying to hook up to the speech motor systems for output. You imagine that at the input end there was a similar adaptation where the eardrum was drumming strange noises into the head and at the other end the brain was waking and asking "what the heck" and sharpening its listening circuitry. OK I am engineering here. Anyway, a fascinating hidden process went on between the initial contact, a few months of apparent disengagement, to now, where he naturally is compelled almost, unconsciously to say it in Italian. Sometimes I think he doesn't even realize he used Italian, and surprises himself once he sees our reaction and realizes what happened. This also is happening at school, also out of the blue; the teacher yesterday reported that he walked up to her and announced "E' finita la colla" ("There's no more glue"). Just like that.

Sticking still with Julian for the moment, I will introduce another thread of thought about this, namely that personality has much to do with the ability of one to use a language as anything else. Julian is shy and somewhat of a perfectionist in certain things. In fact, I am reminded that he was really not into speaking in English way back when he started talking. He would rather just point at things he wanted untli one day we suspected that he actually could talk but was not doing so out of ? shyness? (lazyness?). We forced him to ask for what he wanted by name and lo and behold, "Pasta" came out. Julian also tweaks 7 pieces of legos for hours until they are perfectly exactly arranged in the very shape he means them to be arranged. Symmetrical, color balanced and 'fully upgraded' as he calls his ships. And so it id with Italian. He is not going to say anything until it's right. And when he says it, it is. When I made a game-quiz the other night asking what fall fruit we are likely to encounter more of in the next few weeks, and gave the clue that it began with ... C ... A ... S ... Augustin had already come out with a half dozen different semi-on target option, when Julian, quiet until then, nailed it with 'castagne'. 'What the heck?' I am not sure how he knew that.

Which brings us to Augustin. In the next post.

My first run-in with Italian healthcare and an emergency room

To be honest the worst part was the symptoms of nearly fainting, rather than the wound itself.

Went to the emergency room for the first time in my life here in Italy in Alba ( pop ~ 30K). I had punctured my hand between thumb and forefinger. Although the cut was not actually very big - i had no idea how deep plus my hand was twanging as if my fingers were plugged into a socket and I had no feeling in part of my index finger. OK so triage-wise I was not a code red, but anyway off we drove to Alba. ( I spent many minutes at the house sitting outside in the cold air trying not to faint between the time of injury and time of driving to Alba.)

The clerk at the emergency room (pronto soccorso) asked for basic identifying information to register me ( insurance info was not asked for). I was in the emergency waiting room with a few others at 5 pm on a Thursday. Two elderly people came in by ambulance while I was waiting. I wanted perhaps 20 minutes then was seen.

The visit was fairly routine, the doctor (or nurse not sure which ) looked at the wound, cleaned it, asked to put in a stitch - which I refused as not necessary (did not want more fainting symptoms), and then they consulted, by phone, an orthopaedic specialist about the lack of feeling in my finger. The visit cost 30 Euro. Had I been an official resident or Italian citizen it would have been free. If I had seen specialist it would have been 60 Euro.

To follow-up with a specialist about my finger is pretty much like the US timewise unless I want to pay a private clinic ( probably three times the cost for me as if I used the specialists at the public hospital). It takes months to get an appointment. I found this to be the same in the US when I was following up with a specialist for my wrist - about two months to get an appointment.

That's it for now!

JT

bathroom fixtures

OK for those of you who are sensitive, you may find the following poopoo caca talk objectionable.

There is apparently an entire blog web page or fan page of some sort devoted to the love of the use of the bidet. Bidets are pretty much in every bathroom here (in houses not so much in public facilities.) Well, except for the public toilets that are squat pots...seriously. I had to go to ehow.com to even figure out how and what exactly the bidet was used for. I had questions like how do you use the soap they have and how in hell do you get dry? I still do not know exactly... but even the how to pages said be careful cause some faucets will shoot a strong jet. OMG talk about drips on the khakis!!! One how to page made me laugh: it showed pictures of how to squat or whatever with a person in the picture fully clothed, and the text had the caveat "...of course you would do this without your pants on." sheesh - REEEEEEEEAAAAALYYY???

Anyway, it seems the bidet is a love it or fear it fixture. It seems to me to take up extremely valuable real-estate while being used only rarely but I could be mistaken - on that latter assertion ( i have not asked anyone personally about their usage patterns). Until I saw the web pages devoted to the bidet, I thought it was a vestigial fixture there just because it is posh or extravagant...but now I know there are devotees. Here is a quote I found from a tongue in cheek article advocating for the bidet- on a tongue in cheek website that is "your #1 news source for your #2 business" :

"Usually located adjacent to the toilet, the bidet provides a level of cleanliness that just can't be achieved with mere wiping, douching, or showering. The user adjusts the temperature and water pressure of the bidet, and then sits or squats on the fixture. With the flip of a lever, a jet of water surges reassuringly over the user's sensitive anatomical features, providing a sensation of refreshment and rejuvenation."

Now let's talk toilets....OK? In the US, we have a bowl with that a deeper well at the bottom of the the bowl that leads out .Toilets here have a higher sort of shelf part in the bowl at the front then the deeper well at the back. Only the deeper well though is filled with water – the front higher part is dry. Imagine now some little people and how their output does not fall into the well but well in front of it on the shelf. OK? ( The shelf is like ahem a landing pad and no water to smother bathroom odors and right skid marks galore! My kids laugh about it. Every toilet has a toilet brush next to the toilet to….clean the bowl after use! GEEZ!!! I just don’t geddit. People who have experienced toilets here and in the US say that in the US there is too much water and …um splashing. Well I think there is a place here for some ingenuity some INNOVATION even ( or is that word so 2008 ?). Come on people let’s have a self-cleaning, non-splashy throne invented – and of course low flow too!

Last thing about bathrooms in Italy – public bathrooms are totally 700% gross only to be used in extreme emergencies and usually only the womens is bearable at all. Yes I am a girl and so you may think I am being all girly and needing clean everything but please believe me – we are talking yuckier than the worst porta-potty at a well used camp site you can think of. It is here in Italy where, in having two little boys, I am actually thankful that there is an alternative to the free public toilets: public toilets where one needs to PAY .50E or 1E for the privilege.

nuff said on THAT topic eh?

JT

School days...dear old golden rule days

Julian is in scuola materna ( preschool) along with other 3-5 years olds. The preschool is provided for everyone free of charge from the government. ( not sure which level provides what between national, regional or provincial and comune/city governments) Here is Neive, the preschool runs from 8:10 - 4:20, though one can opt for half day and in fact the times seem rather flexible. Tuesdays and Fridays are always half days. The class right now has the mix of all the preschoolers, but as the year progressed the group will spend more time divided into the three age groups ( 3, 4 and 5 which correspond to preschool, preK and Kindergarten). My experience is with a preschool in Portland that was highly organized with a medium emphasis on anything academic before kindergarten - more emphasis on learning to socialize etc. Here chaos seems to reign? This may change as the kids get into the year more I am not sure? I hope so. From what I can tell, the Pandas - which are the kindergarteners like Julian- mostly already know how to write their name. Perhaps they will learn more writing soon as we have just been asked to bring three notebooks for Julian. The kids all - except Julian- 1. eat with bibs, 2. take naps. Julian was appalled the the thought of using a bib! There are about 15 kids per class and the teachers team teach - at least right now. None of Julian's teachers speak English.

Today Carlo and I went to the preschool to teach a little English, It was fun and the kids were smiling but shy of course. One thing I noticed was that during coloring time, some kids were coloring the hands purple or green and the teachers would tell them your hands are not purple - and have the kids use pink color instead! Same with hair black or brown not green.

Augustin is in the Scuola Elementare. He has five teachers for the various subjects that they do. The kids though stay in one classroom. He has three workbooks and multiple notebooks with prescribed colored covers per subject for them. He also has a homework diary. Strangely not all homework assignments are written in there? Confusing to me. He is learning Italian and cursive writing in addition to the standard third grade topics ( history, geography, science, math, and reading and writing )but is opted out of religion. Recently, his writing assignments included descriptive writing, fictional writing and an essay about a time he felt embarrassed. The science is rather theoretical like what is science and how do scientists work etc etc. No hands on sciency stuff so far. Math seems standard math stuff - right now large columns of addition and subtraction. Augustin has 17 in his class. His classes run 8:05 - 4:30 - though like Julian Tuesdays and Fridays are half days. Some of Augustin's teacher speak English. There is an English teacher too and obviously she does.

Neatness is big here...with each paper pasted into the quaderno ( notebook). Also parents have to sign the diary at times acknowledging receipt of a note or form letter or whatever.

It seems that the playground has "rules" more similar to when I grew up rather than what I have noticed these days in Portland public schools. A little more rowdy let's just say.

Altogether, things seem fine at the school. As always, some of the things I notice may be particular to Neive or to smaller towns ( Neive has ~3000 people) in Italy rather than to the more cosmopolitan areas.

Well them's the school observations so far....

JT

Lets do lunch

It is difficult to land in a bad restaurant in Piemonte, even in the wine country tourist towns like Barbaresco. Like Portland, one finds the restaurants' menus reflect seasonal ingredients. Right now, mushrooms and chestnuts have come into season and the hunters are taking rabbit and wild boar while plums, tomatoes and zucchini are waning. The truffle season is starting now too - peaking in mid-October I think and of course the grapes have been pressed and are being bottled over the next weeks and months ( and years for some wines).

Traditional cuisine has a tremendous influence on the menu as well. Some regional specialties include:

mozzarella di bufala: fresh buffalo mozzaralla (very prevalent)

vitello con tonno - veal with tuna sauce,

plin - tiny ravlioli "pinches"

carne cruda - aka raw beef,

conglietto - rabbit

Tagliarini ( sp?) with ragu - hand cut long flat egg pasta with beef/tomato sauce or sage butter

Risotto con fungi ( risotto with mushrooms)

Bagna Cauda - "hot bath" dressing of lemon, garlic, oil, anchovies and parsley that is used on meats and braised vegetables ( i have only seen with meats so far)

There is a big influence of the slow food movement in eating out as well as cooking in- enjoy local fresh foods and enjoy their preparation- which started nearby in Bra and is everywhere here in Piemonte. Bra has a slow food school in fact. One thing I saw on the slow food website was that the slow food movement is also advocating towns without neon signs and such ( as neon signs often accompany fast food type places).

For lots of info there is http://www.slowfood.com/ .

The Agiturismo is a somewhat recent phenomenon where the local farmer opens a kitchen and possibly a sort of B&B at the family farm. Lunch at the agriturismo and elsewhere actually starts about 1 and lasts until about 5 perhaps 3 if there is a rush.

There seems to be a distinct lack of vegetables at these meals. In fact this is true at most restaurants here. Caprese salad is available and once in awhile there is some green salad offered - probably at places frequented by tourists.

One definitely rolls out of the Agriturismo with any thought of eating again impossible. This past Sunday our lunch consisted of the following 10 courses accompanied by grissini, a couple bottles of the local red table wine and naturale and frizzante water ( as always!)

10 cold antipasti of lard, salami, coppa and pancetta

9 a quiche with cheese,onion and mushroom

8 deep fried mushrooms

7 veal with tuna sauce topped with shaved mushrooms in light vinaigrette

6 cheese with cheese fondue and black truffles

5 seasoned plin (pasta pinches) with a light tomato sauce

4 filet of beef

3 rabbit w carrots

2 cheese plate

1 tiramisu

Phew. I left with the kids after the pasta as they had had enough of sitting fter a couple of hours. Carlo and his brother were another 2 hours at the meal and they were out early compared to the others there!

Ciao for now-

JT

Autostrada limit=80

Yeah driving is great here as long as there is not too much traffic nor too many aggressive drivers.

Where we are out in the countryside there are no traffic lights and little traffic in fact. I realized this on our first trip into Milan. The biggest holdup is the RR crossing in the lower village that closes regularly - maybe 10 times or so per day?- and is on the route to school. Did I mention the ding ding ding ding of the RR crossing???

The speed limit on the main freeways between cities is 80 and there are people who drive upwards of 100. There are also old Panda's that go about 50. Driving even on straight freeways involves much more action - avoiding the super slow cars and getting out of the way of the speedsters. ( I have been passed by a ford focus wagon going about 110!) Then of course there are the trucks that have a top allowed speed of 50-60 - and some try to pass another - and well the speedsters start flashing lights like maniacs. People have no trouble in following VERY close and or coming up very close behind if they wish to pass.

On the other hand....with the exception of some trucks trying to pass, slow vehicles stick to the right-most lane and indeed cars move smartly to the right to allow others to pass. In other words, those that might hang out in the left lane are not driving in Italy. There are minimum speeds for the left and middle lanes at times ( 55 and 37 respectively)

I like the "fuzzy lanes" both on the freeway and in Milan. I have not driven in Rome perhaps it would too much! On the freeway, one routinely shifts lanes - with or without signals, and some straddle the lanes as they weave. In the city, traffic flows more like a liquid without regard to lanes- are there two or three it is not clear. Perhaps driving in Boston or New York is similar? I cannot remember anymore. The city driving during morning rush was a bit much. The round -abouts are places where the true Italian drivers are separated from the rest of us. Squeezing in here and squirming the car into a little opening is amazing to watch and a little harry to be in the middle of. I just ignored the horn blasts as my French plated minivan made its way through the melee. I must say a breathed easier that morning when I finally hit the A7 ( or A5 or some number like that).

Still you do find it startling when someone drives on the wrong side of the road for a bit in order to avoid a line of cars, and people pass ( aka overtake) very much more and more aggressively. Again maybe West Coast living has influenced my perception of US driving style.

So the minivan - Carlo and the kids are fans. Love the reclining seats and extra space between the boys when we're on roadtrips. I am a 100% true minvan driver. I have hit two things already when backing up - AND i have never is 30 years done anything to a car. This minvan even has an in-dash display and backup warning system!!!! OK OK so things are a bit closer around here. Smaller parking lots and spaces and the minivan is quite huge. But anyway I feel like a middle aged mama...

My fav part of the minvan? When i really get tired of try to understand Italian, I turn on the navigation system and talk to the nice nav lady :-)

chow for now!

JT

Beyond Marcorino

Marcorino is the name of the hill just outside the gates of Neive where the house and a few others are located. Here are a few shots from around Neive.

Blogger is sort of messing with formatting so hopefully my descriptions are clear enough to figure out the few photos.

First there is via Cavour as I walk away for our driveway. The house on the left has been under construction forever. ( THINGS take FOREVER here). The building with green shutters is one of my favorites. It has been renovated from when it was built 300 or 500 years ago or so. The most obvious sign of the renovation is the re motaring of the bricks which makes the final facade so smooth compared to the old.

One shot shows the intersection where we must make a three point turn to turn left every day. The Rocca's who live there have been there since the grandparents generation were in school here. The shot with the Ivy covered building includes also one of the four churches in the upper village ( two are small chapels). There are fives churches if you count the small Macedonian orthodox church - which I only know as a standard looking wooden doorway into a building also occupied by a seamstress. Finally, I just liked the entryway on the pink building.

OK OK it been a whole month already

So as I look back upon this month here is what I think of:

very frustrating to not speak the language or well to speak it like an Italian two year old! Plus if someone *actually* speaks to me - I freeze and cannot remember what little i know. Eeeks. Sometime the abundant wine ( see below) helps in this area.

!(*#&)(!*& paperwork to get anything done like 42 signatures for a bank account and social security number to buy a cellphone! EVERYTHING takes TIME.

Don't try to do anything on Monday - shops and businesses are closed. Efficiency is not especially important.

local wine - yes indeed the wine is good, relatively inexpensive -except for barbaresco ( ~ E30) and anything from Gaja ( ~ E150) and it is at lunch an dinner with any gathering.

local food- very good and fresh, abundance of cheeses, lots of meats, not spicy, lots of fish, most food here is indeed the local, traditional cuisine. Carlo and I did see one chinese take out place in Bra. It had gnocchi!

having family near is nice - I have not loved near family for about 20 years and is it nice

not having friends nearby is not sustainable :-)

The fuzzy driving lanes are not too bad except in rush hour in the city then they are just scary and the drivers seem like "the bad guys"

Moving here is just like moving anywhere one slowly explores further afoot from home - starting with the grocery store and school and on from there...yesterday the Le Clerk 5 km from here, today Bra 20 km from here and next week Torino perhaps ~ 1.5 hr drive??

Chow for now;

JT

Our neighbors to the East and South.

Via Cavour 5

I 've got some pictures to upload & here is the first patch of our house & around it. (R) the view of the BorgoNuovo ( lower village) from the house. The kids go to school "downstairs" as Carlo calls the lower village. There are indeed stairs to walk down to the village. (L) View of the pool with Neive in the background. Note clock tower with bongs on the hours and half hours and when there is a mass and when it is garbage removal day and when it is lunch time and when someone has a caffe and when a dog takes a ...etc etc ;-)

(R) View walkin' out the front door - security gates ( Of Course). (L) walking down the drive on the start of a village walk. TBD Another post with pics from the village.

( R&L) Pics of our house at Via Cavour 5 on the Marcorino -a little hill just outside the entry of the Capolongo ( or top of the hill center) proper. Obviously NOT from the 18th century. It was built in the 50's. Carlo's grandparents Lavinio and Ada were the original owners and Carlo's mother Giovanna and her 6 siblings grew up in this house (and other houses in Neive but that is for another post.) Recently the roof was raised ~ 4 feet to make the third floor livable space with two bedroom and two baths.

Chow for now!

JT

1st guest post from hubby

This morning I had a conversation with the town hall people in charge of tallying school lunches.

Lady: "Well, with 1.5 hours for lunch many kids just go home with their grandparents or whatever".
Me: "Well in the US they had about 15 minutes to eat their sandwiches".
Guy: "15 minutes??? That's not even enough to open a bottle of wine! No wonder the poor guys are forced to eat hamburgers and those porcherie (food fit for pigs)" (I didn't ask if they serve Julian red or white).
Guy: "Anyway, in the South they take 2.5 hours! Things are a lot slower down there."
Lady: "In any case, we are getting a lot of pressure to start serving GMO-free organic foods, there's always something!".
Me: "Well, if they don't learn Italian they will at least learn how to eat well."

Other tidbits:
- Ago's Commandant teacher has told him he MUST wear a jacket in order to transition between buildings at school. He is of course hot from just having to wear his smock on top of the shirt and shorts. I am waiting for the battle about no shorts in the winter.
- He is also to finish ALL the food on his plate. Brings back memories. We used to have stools in the cafeteria that stowed on tracks under the table surface. Those tracks is where all the food went when we didn't want to eat it. No tracks at this lunchroom. It will be interesting. On the other hand, here are some sample menu items:

• Tagliatelle with tomato and basil sauce
• Risotto
• Veal rolls
• Caprese salad
• Pasta with Pesto
• Sole
• Fresh cheese
• Pork loin
• Octopus and potato salad
• Gnocchi
• Frittata

Fresh seasonal fruit is on the menu with EVERY meal.

supermercato

Although there are the small and generally excellent butcher shops and green grocers and bread shops here in Neive and in every town, there are also chain super markets - Conad and Standa are two near here.

First, you need some coins to unlock a cart ( note to self: write about the ubiquitous crime and obsession with preventing it), so if you thought you might get away with anonymous shopping without having to try to actually speak Italian ( like I thought :-) - wrong- you need to ask for change so you can even start shopping.

Oh and before the ‘first’ above, you need to navigate the parking lot – it ain’t just the little old ladies that ”accidentally” go the wrong way down the parking lanes….arg! And of course the parking lot and spaces are all very tiny and there are jams in the lots and etc etc. Chaos reigns in general. Now that I think about it though the parking at the Fred Meyer on Hawthorne is kinda similar.

The stores are pretty nice though - rather like Fred Meyer or Super Target with food and bits of housewares, toys, house fixit stuff, etc. The selection of sweets in every store is HUGE - Italian's standard breakfast is a coffee or hot cocoa with some sweet something - what US hotels would call a "continental breakfast". There is substantial shelf space also for:

*many of varieties of short grained rice ( Arborio, Roma, etc etc

*various sized garbage cans and their plastic liner bags as well as little brooms and dustpans

* olive oils

*bottled water

*pasta – OF COURSE!

On the other hand if you are a soy sauce or refried beans fan, you might have to import from Britain or perhaps find it near a larger urban center. I have not been in a Carrefour for several years but that megastore might have more “alien” foods. The Carrefour near Antibes had like 50 check out lanes!!!

Except for cleaning products, many items are packaged in smaller sized. Flour for example is in a 1 kg package - about 1/2 the sort of standard sized flour bag. Finally, I could not located too many spices ( cumin e.g.) I think they are not part of the cuisine here at all. Also, could not locate baking powder nor baking soda in the few times I have shopped so far. ( I just thought that maybe the baking soda is in the cleaning supplies isle! ! :-) )

There is lots more seafood available. In addition to the fresh fish/seafood counter, there is many types and various premixed fresh selections packaged in plastic. There were toher seafood things that I could not quite ID – it seemed like a selection of battered seafood and seafood cakes – like crab cakes. I did not go too near though as I am not a seafood fan – the smell even I do not care for.

Fresh fruit and veg are like in the US with some variations – with some things being more prominent than the US like fennel.

Last little thing about the super markets – always carry cash or be prepared to abandon your cart because the ATM/credit card processing system can and does go down at no notice. This last seems to be an epidemic in Italy – “il sistema non funziona”

Ciao for now. J.T.