Who knows where I’ll be tomorrow…

hey everybody! Just a quick note to let you all know that I’ve started selling my jewelry and random crafty stuff (soon to come) on the Internet. You can find it at:

http://meelskies.etsy.com

Take a look! I’ll ship anywhere.

Yay!! It’s really exciting for me. I’ll keep putting stuff up as I make new.

I thought coming back to Italy and shopping for a one-person household instead of two would be much cheaper, and I could get away with miniscule spending for delicious wholesome meals. Instead, I am beginning to wonder if Dave ever really ate ANYTHING while he was here…

I have been back for one week and have made three trips to the grocery store. Granted, I did have a lunch party yesterday and fed 10 people, but I used mostly things that were already in the house (flour, cheese, potatoes) and a few things that I did go out and buy (strawberries, leeks, green beans — if you are wondering, it was all combined to form one giant quiche, home fries, green beans and strawberry pie for dessert). So, ok, if I don’t want to spend tons of money on food I shouldn’t feed other people. Understood. But how do you explain 62 euros on groceries in 3 trips this week? That’s about how much Dave and I would spend together.

I HAVE bought some pretty kick ass groceries… a giant thing of turkey breast for 3 and change (I have already used half), some exotic things like an avocado and a lime, some really delicious in season fruits and vegetables, and matzo, because it was the same price as crackers but it’s matzo. I’ve got a pretty sexy fridge stock right now… but if I keep spending like this once a week I won’t be able to afford to do anything but eat, and not really even that.

The main goal these days is to eat healthy, super healthy, because it makes me feel good. To me that means more vegetables and fruits – as many as I can pack into one meal –and some kind of grain about twice a day, yogurt every day, and some kind of protein once a day. When left to my own devices, this is how I like to eat. While this is definitely good for me, fruits and vegetables are expensive, and eating lots of them is pretty costly (especially when they are also eaten between meals. I snack a lot. God, I eat a lot). Looking at my food budget I can understand why people glut on grains. Grains and sugar are the cheapest things in the world and you can get lots of mileage from them.

So, help me, people. Give me some tips on getting more out of my food. Am I being too much of a nazi about my grain intake? Should I make a meal list for the week? Input requested, but please note I have a tiny tiny freezer. Thanks.

…because I can’t be bothered to type it all up:

I’ll try to be better with my updates! Enjoy!

Or… maybe less than 10, but that’s still a lot.

1. About 2 or 3 weeks ago we were woken up in the middle of the night by a screaming girl who had had her bag stolen. We went outside to see what was wrong and if we could help. This girl was surrounded by people, not one of which spoke a lick of Italian, and when the police showed up I started to translate. I ended up being with this girl until 4 in the morning, and even went with her to the police station. I remember her saying “My whole life was in that bag!” but it turned out it was just her keys and 20 bucks (he also took her phone out of her hand). Q. What do we learn from this? A. Don’t walk with your head down and your purse dangling off of your arm at 2 in the morning down a deserted alley yapping distractedly to your friend on the phone and letting the whole world of thieves know you are coming. She was smart not to carry too much, but I can just imagine this girl walking down the street looking like a flashing target. Head up girls, walk with intention, and hold your stuff tight against you. Seriously.

2. I got an awesome, unexpected translating job!! I get to go to the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana and decipher about five 17th century letters and translate them for a man in New York who is writing a book about an eccentric 17th century Gesuit named Athanasius Kircher. Look him up – he’s awesome. Hopefully he will intrigue you so much that you will buy said book with my translation in it!! I will put the title up closer to publishing time. YAY!

3. The Vagina Monologues went well. Sold out!

4. I JUST got a job an hour ago at a shoe store. Yay money!

5. Dave and I are going to Turkey from April 6th to the 16th!!

6. I need a new roommate after the 16th and all through the month of May because Dave has to be gone. *sob* Any takers?

7. My birthday is Sunday!!!!

Sorry it is so short — internet time is wasting!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately… I’m studying, but probably not as hard as I should. I should be studying for my many classes and working on my Italian (which is not as good as it should be, especially if I am going to be taking exams).

I’m being distracted by all the art and good creativity in the air. I’ve started drawing a comic book and I’m also considering making some tie bags and other crafty stuff to sell in a market or vintage store out here to help me make some extra cash. In my ’spare time’ I am doing lots of cooking and consulting with Dave about his writing ideas — he has a lot and has been very busy. This on top of looking for a job… the money I have now is not going to cut it (unless I completely forego a plane ticket home and plan to live in a box after the program).

The point is, there’s so much around that I’m having a hard time staying focused. Pop Quiz: How can I do EVERYTHING at once? Any tips for good time management would be helpful.

Happy Birthday Mom!

We have moved into our new apartment, and it is glorious! It is the size of at least three of our old apartment put together, maybe four. There’s a REAL COUCH (Dave pointed out that we haven’t seen one since Christmas in Indiana last year), a balcony, a huge kitchen with an oven and a washing machine, a big desk, a sweet sound system, lots of great books in Italian, and a shower with the best water pressure in the entire country. It costs a little more than the old place, but well worth the money compared to that expensive pillbox!!

We had a celebratory dinner last night to congratulate ourselves on our living situation and the drinking got a little out of control. We ended up carrying a bottle of wine outside in the rain and helping a guy detach a bike that he had been dragging for who knows how long from the front of his bumper. My guess is that he and his lady friend had a few too many drinks as well. We also saw a group of skinheads that looked like they had walked straight out of the movie This Is England, except of course they were speaking Italian. Despite all this Dave and I had some good talks and managed a nice night out of it until the spins arrived. This morning my liver feels as big as China and is probably working just as hard (hyuk hyuk). Never again… until the next time, at least.

So, I am on a job hunt. I have typed up my resume in English and Italian and have started sending it out to various places. Today or tomorrow I may take it to the Paperback Exchange and see if they will hire me. That would be the best job in the world. I want to work there, provided I do not spend all my earnings on books I have no time to read.

Besides looking for a job I have also made contacts with the Florence International Theater Company, and will hopefully be typing up the subtitles for their upcoming Vagina Monologues show on Valentine’s Day. I am hoping to help them work on a project they are doing with Holocaust survivors in Florence, writing down their stories and turning them into a play. I’m not going to have a lot of time (I already don’t, and then with a job!?!) but I want to do something because I feel like this is a really excellent project.

Last thing, I have two very good friends in Seoul who are blossoming as artists. Travis has had his website up for a while now, and in fact has a book for sale of some really excellent Polaroids and Polaroid art. The guy is growing in so many directions I can barely keep up. Bella has become one hell of an amazing painter and has really come into her own over the past year. I am so proud of them both. Take a look at their websites and see how amazing they are!

http://annabelfenn.tk/
http://www.travisleestreet.com

Also, for those of you in Korea, keep yourself posted on the art scene here:
http://seoulartcollective.tk

I thought something was off!

Here is a post I wrote soon after our arrival, and I guess I saved it without posting it. Sorry guys!

**************

…and we have arrived, safe and sound, in Florence! The plane ride was traumatic as both of us were sick, and being sick not only made us tired and cranky but it also made it impossible for me to pop my ears, so every time we landed I was writhing in pain and crying into Dave’s shoulder. It was juvenile looking, I’m sure, but it hurt really bad. Anyway, I’m ok now, don’t fret!
We had a layover in Moscow for about two hours. I would recommend the Moscow airport to no one. First of all, there are no clocks. Dave made a comment about how it makes sense to have no clocks in casinos because they want you to lose track of time, but in an airport there should be clocks on every wall. Second, I think smiles have not been invented there yet. People did not even seem to be friendly to their own friends. There were Russian people getting ready to go on some hot vacations, and even they looked totally unhappy. I have never felt so unwelcome in any place. We were glad to leave (plus we were also sick and cranky and really really sleepy). I’m sure other places in Russia are not like that, but the airport sucked.
Rome was also kind of bad. We were so exhausted and ready to bicker when we finally arrived – I give Dave and I both a mental pat on the back for not going for each other’s throats. We were adults even though some trying stuff happened, like almost not finding our luggage, having to carry all of it up stairs and escalators and onto trains and stuff, and then getting scammed by a shady cab driver who looked like a shyster the moment we met him anyway. We were so tired we didn’t even care. Everything got better once we got to the hostel. If anyone ever goes to Rome, I highly recommend the Little Italy Bed and Breakfast. The owner, Rene, was very nice, the room was big, clean and comfortable, and he let us leave our luggage in the room after check out to go out and get some stuff done. It was 30 euros a person which, believe it or not, is a good rate. Anyway, we got there, paid up, and went straight to bed.
Getting to Florence the next day was like a breath of fresh air. After the unfriendliness we had seen in Moscow and Rome, the people in Florence all seemed to be our instant best friends. The taxi driver who got us from the train station (Lorenzo!) had rock star hair and spoke better English than both of us. He was funny, well informed, and HONEST. We got stuck in traffic and he turned off the car and the meter. He told us all about everything we passed and had us laughing pretty hard. It was so nice to bask in some good Italian charisma.
We had to wait an hour and a half to get our keys, but finally we were taken to our adorable little room. It is both adorable and little. Really little. We are going to look for a new place already, because it is too cramped for two people, and it seems that we are not allowed to have company. Anyway, it will do for this month.
We have been here for a few days and are doing well. We got to see my friend Phil – he grew up here and happens to be visiting right now. We’ve walked around a lot and seen a lot of famous places already. We even went to a museum and got phones and library cards. The only problem is that everyone seems to want to talk to Dave. He has already had about 3 or 4 random people walk up to him and ask him questions, and then he has to tell them he doesn’t speak Italian. I have been there for it twice. One guy started telling him how Florence was beating the crap out of the Naples soccer team, and then another time an old woman asked him what day it was. No one has said anything to me, not even once – apparently Dave looks more Italian than I do!

So, now the adventure is beginning. I start school in half an hour. I’m going to get off my butt, send my computer home with Dave, and see what I am getting into. Am I scared? Absolutely. Excited? Yes, that too. I think my guts are about to rebel. I’ll be sure to update later this week and let everyone know more about this whole restoration/conservation course thing. Wish me luck!

So, it is the beginning of our third week in Florence. There is a good bit to tell. First, we are currently living in a very small apartment close to Santa Croce. This is good for 2 reasons:

1. My school is one block up. I am right in the back yard.
2. There is a Chocolate Festival in Santa Croce this weekend!

The Chocolate Festival is pretty awesome! There are people from all over Europe, not just Italy – there was a woman from Valencia selling crushed cacao nibs with sugar and rice flour, and she pretty much explained all of it in Spanish. It was awesome. Spanish and Italian really are so similar. Also, there was a booth selling Torrone (a sort of traditional Italian nougat with nuts in it) made in Sardegna using only honey. There were a man and a woman running the booth, and the man was in traditional dress, and while we were walking by they turned on some traditional music and this guy started dancing! He was wearing this little skirt (traditional garb, I imagine) and doing this dance that he said was of Scottish origin… which reminds me, after I write this I am going to Wikipedia Sardegna and figure out why there were Scots there at all.

There are tons of booths, all with mostly the same sort of thing – dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, hazelnut chocolate, coconut chocolate, 3 layered bricks of chocolate as big as the bricks of the pyramids, Torrone of all different flavors, hot chocolate with rum and strawberries, chocolate liqueur, flavor filled chocolates, liquor filled chocolates, chocolate covered dried fruit, chocolate covered fresh fruits, chocolate animals, chocolate scissors and locks, chocolate Simpson characters and (cover your eyes, children) even little chocolate penises. Sorry to be so graphic, but you really should know. ☺ There are also booths with baked goods, like the famous Sacher Torte (2.50 a slice) and almond/walnut/pistachio slabs dipped in chocolate, and there were a few booths with chocolate complements like milk and wine. One booth was wine and home made beer! I wanted to get some beer but one (giant) bottle was 11 euro, and we just don’t have that kind of money right now. However, I do have 2.50 for an excellent piece of Sacher Torte, and Dave is out getting it for me as I write this so we can have it for breakfast. Everyone should have a Chocolate Festival close to home.

…But on to more important things! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have locked down our new apartment! It is on Borgo De’Greci, also very close to my school, in between Santa Croce and Piazza della Signoria. It is a little more expensive than the expensive place we are in now, but it is SO MUCH BIGGER so it is worth it! We have a big bedroom with a balcony and windows that open out over a small hidden piazza so generally it will be very quiet. Our kitchen is huge and it has an oven and tons of space. We have a washing machine, hurrah! The lighting in the whole house is a million times better than the lighting in our current place, and every room has a desk to work at since the woman who usually lives there is a professor. The living room has 2 DVD players, a fold out couch (remember that, visitors!) a great stereo system and (if we can find it in the closet) a printer that scans and makes photocopies!!! Also, the professor is going to leave a bunch of books so I will never have to buy another book in Italian, AND she is leaving us a ton of movies…. In every language except English! Ha! Eh, anyway, it’s still cool… Matt should have a GREAT time when he comes to visit, being the polyglot that he is *ahemcomevisitmattahem*. Speaking of visitors, not only do we have the fold out couch, there is also another mattress underneath the bed and two twin mattresses. We could start our own ghetto hotel. ☺ A warning to all who visit: we are at the top floor and there is no elevator, so pack light!

In other news: We watched the inauguration in real time at a bar near to us that was full of Americans. It was glorious, all of it. We sat there and held hands and nodded to President Obama, and everyone was on pins and needles as they are when history is about to be made.

School is going all right. I think it is time to start studying. I am catching less because things are getting a little harder. This week was a little odd – classes were not really full of enough stuff to be called classes (one guy just sat and chatted for 2 hours because it was obvious he didn’t have anything to teach) or they were ridiculous (Museology, where the docent talked to us like we were high schoolers and made us read out loud – she has since been deposed and we will have a new teacher Monday) or they were cancelled (there was no class at all Friday so we went to the Chocolate Festival!). I think Thursdays are going to be my favorite. I have class with Prof. Claudio Paolini, a man who is most definitely doing what he was born to do (History of Artistic Techniques) and Professoressa Forcucci (Theory and Techniques of Restoration), who talks too fast for me but also seems to talk too fast for the Italian students. It’s ok though, I am doing extra reading on the subject so I can understand a little better – mostly I am not understanding because of vocabulary. General ideas I am getting, while that seems to be the hard part for the other students. I like Prof.a Forcucci, she is really funny and robust and she knows what she is doing. I’d rather her have to go back and explain stuff than not really understand what she is teaching us. She talks fast because she is passionate about her work, and that is totally forgivable.

That’s it, that’s all I’ve got for today. I’m going to eat my torte. Later, The Internet!

Well, it was a rough week but a great one too. After I wrote about that first class, I went to my next class — Marketing. It was like a punch to the face. The next day was Law, and THAT one was worse. My head was spinning, full of stuff I didn’t understand and not just because it was in a different language. Doubt began to set in, which made my stomach hurt like someone had sewn a cat in it.
Then I had class with the first professor again. It was as if the sun came out and told me to my face that things would be ok. Thursday we went on a field trip to the Horne Museum and looked at some restored works of art close-up. My professor (Prof. Paolini) got on his knees and totally manhandled this restored trunk, turning it over so we could see the bottom. He is a spindly little man who looks like he would have trouble lifting a pencil, so it was kind of shocking and a little painful to see him grappling with this VERY OLD AND PRECIOUS MUSEUM PIECE in the middle of the museum itself. I wonder if he would have done it if there had been a docent in there. This guy’s fingers were all over everything, and he kept shining his very bright flashlight on stuff – all things that any visitor would be kicked out for. I felt like we were doing something wrong just watching… which was kind of awesome, hee hee! I’m going to get to touch stuff in the museum too, yay!

I want to assure all of you, by the way, that my Marketing class seems to be getting better. I had two this week, and while the first one was rough, the second one was much better. I’m understanding all right (it must be because I am American and Marketing is in my blood!) and the teacher is bending over backwards to help me (Prof. Guglielminetti, he has the world’s longest name). In the first class I thought he was going to be kind of a jerk and a hard-ass (concerning assignments), but it turns out that he is actually really cool and man, does he want to help me. He said I could take the final test in English, he’s found books for me, and he even set up a folder for me on the main computer where I can find all of the lessons in English. He actually asked me to check them to see if his English was ok. I was really surprised. It’s making me work harder in class – I don’t want to disappoint this guy. I was going to turn down the opportunity to take the test in English, but now I think I will so I will be sure to know all the terminology and concepts in English and thus be able to use them better once I go home. See what a good student I am!?

I also wanted to comment briefly on my Techniques in Restoration class. The teacher (Prof.a Forcucci) looks like my friend Bobby’s sister all grown up, and I really like the way she talks. She has kind of a robust laugh that should belong to a trucker. Luckily I have a decent base in this subject thanks to the studying I did in Korea, and this first lesson was all about how to use a manual camera so I was able to sit back and relax while the Italian kids broke their brains trying to figure out what a light meter does. Thanks, Uncle Gerry! Thanks, high school photography class! The next class should be harder, but that’s ok. It was kind of awesome to know what was going on even better than the other students at least once.

Beyond school, we have been searching for a new apartment. We found one, but then the people in charge sprung a really high finders fee on us so we were unable to take it. Dave found another place that we went to see yesterday – central, big, utilities included, oven and washer, AND a fold out bed and extra mattress for lots of company! We told the woman we wanted it and she said she would have to think about it. We should know by Wednesday. I will keep all of you updated. If we get it, you will have a free place to stay if you come to visit!

I have a bad cough. It has been waking me up nights and I have bought some cough medicine to help clear it up. Any advice on cheap home remedies would be appreciated.

That’s it for this update. We have been eating extremely well, and today we are going to have Sunday Brunch so I have to get off the computer and get ready to go. Florence is great! Until next time, faithful readers!