No Screens

No luck in the screen department. Panorama, Auchan, and SME do not sell ANY type of screens for windows. We were going to go to Leroy Merlin (like Home Depot) but it was a 20 minute walk across the autostrada in 95 degree weather. No thanks, I prefer mosquitoes. I did, however, buy Scrabble and 5 DVDs that were all on sale at SME. I accept and am well known for my horrible and corny taste in movies and this sale had a lot of old classics, so I indulged and purchased: "Splash", "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", "The Incredible Journey", "Oscar", and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". All excellent picks!!! Giuseppe, who is a huge film buff and can pretty much name the director of every film ever made laughed every time I chose a new DVD. He bought two old Woody Allen movies. Not withstanding his knowledge of films, he knows nothing of Hollywood gossip so I took it upon myself to inform him that Woody married the adopted daughter of his former lover, longtime girlfriend, and mother of his two children, Mia Farrow, here in Venice.

It has been so hot recently. Two days ago we went to the beach and the water felt like a lukewarm bathtub. This afternoon we are expecting thunderstorms, so some relief might be in the future.

Screens

Today Gius and I are going to SME (a mix between furnishings, appliances, and home improvement store) in hopes of getting screens for my windows. Why don't Italians use screens? With the mosquitoes they have?? I don't even really get bitten by mosquitoes, but I hate hearing them hover over my ear just as I'm falling asleep...

Windows and shutters are actually used in Italy as opposed to America where in most houses windows do not get open and shutters are for decoration. Perhaps it would be too much of a pain to take to move the screen to open and close the shutters? Perhaps Italians want to be able to lean out of their windows to talk to their neighbors or send a basket down to the street on a little rope? When I ask my Italian friends they often just shrug... but then again, they've lived their entire lives without screens, so why change?

Mi Manchi, Alpi Eagles

As you know if you have read my last couple of Posts, I go down to the Amalfi Coast a bunch of times every year, which means somehow getting to Naples. Sometimes I take the train, sometimes I fly. The train is annoying. It takes about 7 hours, and I have to change in either Bologna or Rome. If I am lucky the first train is on time and so I don't miss the second one. When I get to Naples I either take the hot, dirty, and slow Circumvesuviana to Sorrento, then wait for a bus to Positano. There are about 16 million people who do the same thing, which of course makes the whole journey horrible, and that's if the roads are open. If the roads are closed, I recommend swimming from Sorrento to Positano. If my schedule coincides with a ship, I pay for a taxi or take the bus to the port, where I get one of the two or three ships that goes to Posi. Both of these processes take forever, and since train prices have gone up recently, it made more sense to fly. It would all be a bit better if there were more connections in that area, but more connections might mean more tourists, and I dont want that either. So...

AlpiEagles is the name of the low-cost airline that flew from Venice to Naples. I could usually get a round trip ticket for 100 euro. Alitalia, in order to compete, kept its prices low too. Well now, AlpiEagles has gone out of business, so Alitalia has hiked up its prices and I'm sh*t out of luck, as my grandma would say. Round trip tickets are about 250 euro, but hey, the train costs 150.. Ridiculous. UFFA!!!

Escape Artist

So the other day I woke up late with the boyfriend, Giuseppe. We both had a day off of work. We got up, opened the windows, made breakfast, and basically did nothing for the following two hours. Daphne was wandering in and out of the house, as she usually does.

I never let Daphne out when I am not home. there are too many tourists and stupid kids in a country that does not treat animals very well. When I am home I let her out a bit and try to keep an eye on her-- she tends not to stray too far from our "calle". In the year and two months that I have had her, she has "escaped" a couple of times-- once into the garden of my neighbor and other times into nearby buildings. I have always found her after an hour or so.

So after Giuseppe and I decided that we wanted to spend our afternoon in Padova, we got dressed and he went out to get Daphne so that we could close the house. He looked in her usual places--mostly being my neighbors' windows, but she was not to be found. Okay, not totally unusual. We started going up and down the nearby streets, looking in corners and on window sills. Still no cat. We went to all the surrounding squares. We asked the shop owners and little old women who all know Daphne. Nothing. One old crazy lady said she saw Daphne an hour before, but who knew....

So Gius and I are both fire signs (I'll get into the whole astrological thing later) but we tend to exaggerate, worry, and generally be dramatic. We came home, knowing that Daph tends to return on her own. We prepared a pasta al pomodoro half-heartedly, thinking about all the tourists and stupid teenage boys and the possible "guai". After three hours, still no Daphne. Out we went again, doing the same rounds, this time knocking on all of the "portoni", the big entrance doors to the buildings, hoping that she had gone in one and not been able to come back out. We listened for her meow. Nothing.

We came home and started making "Lost Cat" signs on the computer, choosing which photos to use. After about 15 minutes, Gius, not able to sit still, went out again to look. Soon after he called me from his cell.
"Come to the restaurant storeroom! I can hear her meowing!"

Sure enough, she had been locked into a nearby restaurant's dark, dank storeroom. They had closed it after lunchtime, and it was now almost 6 o' clock. Luckily, 15 minutes later the owner came back to open up for dinner... and Daphne came home.

The Beginning of a Love Affair

Ciao a tutti,

Well every summer I go down to Positano as often as possible. I have been doing this since I was 20, so this will be my eighth summer visiting my favorite place in the world. It seems that many people have this same sentiment regarding Positano. I am not alone in that "feeling" that I get when the bus from Sorrento makes that last dangerous turn along the coast and Positano comes into view. My heart starts beating faster and I overload on anticipation.

The first time I went was during a summer I was spending in Tuscany. I had just arrived in Italy, and I COULD NOT WAIT to go to Positano. I was doing a language program through my university, and our very first weekend I planned a trip together with 5 other female friends. It was early May. I did all the research for rooms, trains, and buses.

Six 20-year old American girls, all who spoke at least some Italian, at the very beginning of the tourist season, when the Italian male is full to the brim ready to release his hormone-drenched pick-up lines on freshly-arrived targets is an experience unparalleled to any other I have had in Italy. And I have been around Italy.

Needless to say, we had a blast. The town was rather empty, and we were offered boat rides and dinners and "passaggi" on the motorini when it was still custom in Positano to go up the street the wrong way on your scooter.

Now, after years of watching the same boys do the same thing I just sit back and laugh, and enjoy the fact that some things never change.

I live for the energy that seems to spill over the Positano mountainside at about 9pm. That is my favorite time of the day in Posi. The sun has gone down and the town lights up. You can hear the music, the laughing voices, and the clinking of wine glasses from the restaurants along the main street and you can just FEEL that something is going to happen. The cars start coming in, parading down the street, observing the scene. This exciting beauty.

I went back one more time that first summer, and then again the next year after studying in Padova. The year after that I moved to Italy, and well, I have been going at least once a month from May to September. Sometimes I make a last-minute weekend trip and sometimes I stay for several weeks. I have a bunch of friends there, and one of my closest friends here in Venice is from Positano. I feel at home there, and every year in May I come THIS CLOSE to quitting my job and moving there for the summer. And every year there is some new British, American, or Australian living there who has done just that, many because of some new Positano boyfriend they met over the winter. Sometimes I get borderline jealous thinking that someone else could not love being there as much as I do, but alas, such is life.

I have come across many people, both in Positano and through various blogs, who feel that same way about the town. I think its a mix of the kind people and the beauty of the place that are so convincing. Italy in general has a way of capturing foreigners, especially women. In fact, most of the Italian expat blogs are written by women, and I will go into that later....

Some people feel about Venice, Florence, Rome, and Tuscany the way I feel about Positano. Being in love with a destination is much like being in love with a person. Sei perso.

Perhaps if I am a good girl and say my prayers one day I will get the chance to live there. At least for a bit.

Calcio

Growing up in America you are surrounded by sports. Unlike so many European nations, the USA has many very popular televised sports: football, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc. Certainly unlike Italy, female sports are much more encouraged and popular. I grew up playing soccer, softball and ice hockey. My Dad always watched football on the couch. Funny then, how I never followed any televised sports until I started watching soccer in Italy. I am obsessed with the UEFA soccer tournament and have come to truly appreciate soccer. Tonight's game will be very interesting....

This pic is of Toni. Italian men are so beautiful. Sigh.

Simplicity

Everyone says that living in Venice is "scomodo", literally, uncomfortable. There are no cars, few supermarkets, no strip mall-- or any malls for that matter. As I posted about before, moving anything that you cannot carry in your hands is a challenge. Housing is expensive, small, and old. So why do I find it so damn SIMPLE?!

I have a teeny tiny little apartment on the ground floor. My front door opens up right onto the street and all my windows face the street. I can just sit in in my house with the front door wide open and not worry about anything. I do this daily, while the cat wanders in and out as she pleases. I can walk to the supermarket, the tabacchi, the alimentari, the vaporetto (water bus), the panificio, the take-away pizza, the pasticceria, and the fruttivendolo all in two minutes. I can walk everywhere! Venice is a small city, and the farthest points form me are no more than A 30 minute walk through one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The water bus is always on time (no traffic back-ups!) and the city is one of the safest in the world. I feel quite secure walking around at 3 in the morning alone, and I am a fearful person. 8 year-olds walk to school by themselves or with friends.

When I get hit by island fever, I walk 5 minutes to the train station or 10 to the bus station. Padua trains leave every 30 minutes and take 30 minutes. Buses for Mestre leave every 5 minutes and take 10 minutes. I often go to Padua and Mestre, and less often to Treviso, Jesolo, and Verona.

Venice has its own beach, the Lido island, that is 30 minutes in vaporetto form my home. In an hour you are in the Dolomite mountains.

My monthly public transportation pass, which includes all vaporettos and all buses to the mainland costs 33 euro.

My life here is so simple, and it has to be the thing that I appreciate most about living in this city. I feel like I am living in small town America in the 1960s where the kids rode their bikes to their friends' houses and everyone went to the soda fountain and the local high school football games.

Of course I miss the convenience of America. I miss good take-out food, I miss huge multi-plex cinemas and I even miss shopping malls. I miss 24-hour supermarkets. I don't miss the creepy feeling of walking through that supermarket's parking lot at midnight. The small-town feel of Venice comes at that price, though, and I believe it is worth it.

Technical Difficulty

Does anyone know how I can get my Title "Girl in Giro" to go on the bottom part of my Header photo?

My First MEME

I can't wait to become an active member of the blogging community. I found this MEME on "dove mi porta il cuore" and I thought I would give it a try! Not strangely, two of my pictures are of Positano.... More on that later.





a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Thanks to allthe lovely artists who took these pictures:

1. black and white, 2. Maryland Blue Crab, 3. school, 4. Turquoise's Mosaic - April 8th, 2006, 5. TRL Photobooth - Heath Ledger, 6. Positano, 7. Positano from the sea, 8. 14th August 2007 / Day 226, 9. Stretching... ♫♫, 10. Self Portrait Artist Interrupted, 11. I view these days as I do rainstorms: I don't know when they're coming, but afterward, there's a rainbow. So I just let it rain..., 12. Mont Saint Michel

Murano Glass

In response to the comment left below on an old post, I thought I would do my best to inform tourists on ways to spot the authentic Murano Glass in a vast sea of many fake glass shops with products made in China.

Almost all "serious" glass is from Murano. By "serious" I mean collector's items. The more expensive a shop is, the more likely the glass was made in Murano. That is not to say that all Murano glass is expensive. You can by trinkets for as little as 3 euro. The best shops are those that either make the items in the shop--you often see a person sitting in the back with a flame, making small items, or stores that sport the this logo in their window. This association guarantees that the products in the specified store are actually made in Murano, even though there are many authentic stores that do not belong to the association.

The most common-sense thing to do is to AVOID the most obvious tourist shops. If a store sells masks, glass, maps, Venice t-shirts, and magnets, then the glass (like the other products in the store) is most probably not from Venice. Try to find little shops that only sell glass! There are many glass boutiques where artists create jewelry and vases of their own design. These pieces are much more unique and very special. One of my favorite jewelry designers are the Sent Sisters, who have a small shop in Dorsoduro. Supporting the local industries is fundamental in a city as fragile as Venice!

Yey! Comments!

This is very exciting! I had my first comments on my blog yesterday! Someone actually read it! Thanks to the both of you for your encouragement!

Entering the blogging world is very exciting. I have been making the rounds through many different blogs, most of them having to do with expats in Italy. It is so amazing to see what people are doing in this country. And their blogs!!! Some people have gone all out and I am impressed to say the least! Pictures, links, stores, feeds, conventions, everything! I never knew!

I have been living in Italy for 5 years now. My first year I was in Padua, and the other four I have been in Venice. I never moved here thinking that I would live here forever, and I still don't know for sure. One thing happens after another, and before you know it, your life is in Italy and the idea of leaving it to move home would be the equivalent of losing a leg in some senses. It becomes a part of you as I think any foreign home would. I know that in America I will always have my hometown, my family, my culture, and my language. I will never feel out of place. I have lived in Italy for 5 years and I still feel like the USA is home, but I reckon that if I leave Italy, I would not have those same ties of family, language, and culture that connect me.

I have lived here pretty independently. I was 22 when I moved here and I found my first job out of the yellow pages and was very lucky that it worked out marvelously. I found a room in an apartment with some students, and made some friends. A year later I moved to Venice to do a Masters Degree and have been here ever since.... I will try to fill in the history as I go along!

The photo is of my cat, Daphne. I speak to her in Italian, with the occasional word in Venetian. She likes to sit in other people's windows, behind the bars, where I cannot reach her. She is a teenager by cat standards, so I attribute this behaviour to the fact that she is in her rebellious adolescent phase.....

Thanks again for visiting!

My Slow Start

OK, I realize that I have been starting slow on my blog, but since noone is reading it, it shouldn't be a problem. I am going to try to write regularly, and then perhaps someone will come? I tried searching my blog on google though, and I could not find it. I thought I had made it public on "settings" but I will check again! I will also try to add more photos, but my camera is not working, despite it being brand new.... I will try to do better!