So its has been a while since I've been able to send updates, that is in part because they keep me VERY busy here, also in part because they only have internet access on their computer for one hour per day...so my time online is spent making plans and sending a few important emails (this post being one of them!)
La Veccia Posta is located in a very, very small village. I think there are maybe 12 different families that live here. But it is not a lonlely village as from its hilltop perch one can see about 10 other villages of roughly the same size adorning various hilltops. It feels like classic Italy here. None of the locals speak English, old folks sit on benches and cast you glances with raised eyebrows when they can't place where you belong, and the countryside is endless.
It is absolutely beautiful. A complete escape from suburban life. I think this is the best place for me to finish a whirlwind of a trip before I go back to my whirlwind life (well, my whirlwind of establishing a life as I have no home, job, or stuff to go back to!)
Laundry swings from lines as you walk down the street and you can stop at any peach tree if you're hungry for a snack. There is a beautiful silence that overwhelmes this part of the world, except when a tractor pulls by with its harvest for the day or the hilltop churches from all the towns chime to let the townspeople know how far away the lunch hour is.
Everything is really beautiful, quaint, and wonderful. But the work is hard. I've now been here for 5 days and we spend at least 8 hours each day doing some type of work for the farm. I've now become a skilled picker of apples, grapes, peaches, cucumbers, basil, zucchini, and tomatoes. I think I diced about 10 pounds of apples today to make a pie. I've learned to make green tomatoe jelly (strange but delicious) and I've come down with and gotten over a horrible stomach flu (probably from the fact that all of the food is from the farm, so it has lots more bacteria than I am accustomed to).
I have lots of time to think here, not because I am alone but because most conversations that happen around me are in Italian. But I am slowly, ever so slowly, able to understand bits of the language. My limited Spanish has helped me some with the vocabulary and I find that if I really pay attention I can get a grasp of the subjects that they are talking about. It's tough, but it's exactly what I was hoping for.
On my second day here I secretly baked traditional chocolate chip cookies because I found out that it is my host mom, Annemie's, birthday. Though she caught me in the act of baking, she and the entire family (and everyone who comes to help on this farm, daily there are new random people that do this or that around the farm) loved them! Of course they had always heard about these cookies and they have purchased those ones from the store that are hard and not at all like home made ones. So I think I got in with them by that little effort right away. Reminder though, they do not use cups, tablespoons, or teaspoons for measurement here. Without acecss to converters, I just kind of guessed at the amounts of things I was putting in and after about an hour of adding more of this or that (oh and they dont have brown sugar either) I actually managed some decent cookies! I was very proud.
Tonight we have the true birthday celebration, with lots of food (that we prepared the last two days), someone is bringing an accordian, I've set up my travelling tent for the kids, and I am very excited that my (seemingly) coworker and friend Lisa is coming for the party. She WWOOF'd here a year ago from Germany and found a boyfriend and has stayed for over a year now. Im so happy to have her as she's the only person near my age, and one of the few people that speak English.
Overall I am very happy. I am working on getting used to the quiet, solitude, and hard work but overall I think it's exactly what I was hoping for. I'm starting to make plans for my return to London at the end of the month from where I then fly home! I still dont know that Im ready to go back to life in the States, but I do know that I have 2.5 more weeks to enjoy myself here. And that I will do!
Updates will probably be infrequent, but I'll do my best!!
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