After Jess and I's night on the town we were the laziest little things that ever lived.  We woke up at 11:00 am and did absolutely nothing.  Then we decided, "Hey let's go to Florence."  Jess messaged her friend Meghan who was actually Simona's Au Pair from two years ago.  I heard some of Jess's stories and I really wanted to meet Meghan.  Set off in the Zom mobile around 4:00 when we wanted to leave at 2.  Like I said, we were really really Lazy!  We actually weren't going to Florence for Sunday night because Meghan was going to her boyfriend's house in Prato which is right outside of Florence.  It was weird going from Prato Nevoso, to Prato.

Meghan & Jess being busy

We got to Prato and I have never seen more Chinese people in one place!  Come to find out China had a bunch of factories here and the people just stayed.  They just changed the law 2 years ago that Italian had to be spoken and taught in the schools.  Crazy.  I haven't seen one Chinese person since I've been in Italy and here I was practically in Little China.  After meeting Meghan and her boyfriend Ricky in this Mega mall parking lot that had an H&M (Jess and I were too broke to even spend any money) we followed them to the place that we'd be staying. Now Prato is an older city where there's a medieval wall around the center of it. Ricky lived in the middle. 

Our beautiful meal

We followed them, but then we accidentally passed them. We thought we could just make a box following all the one way streets back to the house, but alas we could not. Jess and I got super lost and were about 15 minutes away from the house by the time everything was said and done. Ricky and Meghan had to rescue us from the Police station and hospital that we found ourselves at.  That night we had a lovely dinner, but both Meghan and Jess are vegetarians so it was a no meat kinda week. We all pitched into cut veggies for the vegetarian lasagna.  It was actually really good and Ricky made these amazing potatoes.  He's actually a very good cook and Meghan and him were such a cute little couple.  I approve Meghan!  I approve. :) 

Veggie Cutting is Hard

I will say that I was a little nervous staying at the house though for several reasons.  Number one being I have never met Meghan in my life and I wanted her to like me!  Number two, her boyfriend and his two roommates were Albanian.  I have no problems with Albanians.  I met a lot of nice ones since I've been here in Italy, but ever since I saw the movie "Taken" I can't get the bad Albanians out of my mind.  I just have never met any of them, but I was stupid, because it was perfectly fine.  Ricky was as nice as he could be and the roommates didn't really even talk to Jess or I.  Then we ran into some problems with sleeping.  Not anything terrible.  No complaints here, but problem number one though was, we slept on this pull out couch that I thought was comfortable

Jess looking crazed

but was really super small to fit two people.  Jess and I were pretty squished, especially since we tried not to touch one another while sleeping.  Very cramped.  Number two the apartment was pretty hot in the evening so we had to open the window. Normally window opening is fine with me, but tonight the mosquitoes were out and ready to attack. One thing about mosquitoes and myself is that they absolutely LOVE me. I'm not bragging about this Not one bit because it's awful. As I lay there in the little bed I could feel them biting my face as I tried to sleep. So I put the covers over my head and tried to get some shut eye. Problem with this was, I left my hand outside of the sheet as I tried to hold it over my head. I fell asleep finally but when I woke up in the morning my hand and wrist was covered with bug bites. I had 7 on my right hand. They were murderous itchy but what can you do!? They feasted on my flesh while I was trying to have a goodnight sleep. Dang mosquitoes!!  

One of the fun guys we met this season

From what I've observed here in Italy, Italian men are completely different from men back home.  For several reasons.  Number one, they're not embarrassed to hug/kiss another man (on the cheek that is).  When they have heated discussions they get very close to one another's faces with numerous hand gestures.  There's no homophobia like at home where you can't do this or that, for fear of others thinking you might be gay.  It's completely different here and I kind of like.   Secondly, the men are extremely flirtatious and have a tendency to make you feel like a goddess instead of a slob in jeans and a t-shirt.  I have to say, I kinda like that too as long as they're not old and creepy.  That's a different story....

All the Italian guys we had to pass

The night of Jess, Mattia and I's exploration, Jess and I headed to the land of wine and truffles.  The Lunghe Hills.  We had taken a small road trip before to Alba and the surrounding areas, and wanted to go again as we had access to a car.  We were on a bit of a time restraint so we just went to Dogliani which is closest to Mondovi.  On our way there we stopped at this place called Cantina del Dolcetto di Dogliani where we saw many cars, so we stopped in.  When we got in the parking lot there were a bunch of Italian men just standing around looking at us like we were aliens.  We hurriedly made our way to the building where we looked in the windows only to be beckoned inside by a nice Italian man named Matteo.  Matteo was super nice and let us try the wines of our choice.  He also took pics with us.  He then asked for my number and facebook and Jess was no help at all.  She just walked away as Matteo and I had a "conversation."  He didn't really know English.  We exchanged phone numbers, but I seriously don't know what we were going to talk about.  I can talk to

Matteo our new friend

Italians way better in person because you can use hand gestures and body language.  On the phone you don't have any of that, so conversations are pointless.  Twice I tried to have a conversation on the phone with an Italian dude and it didn't work out so well.  I got frustrated and just gave the phone to Mattia.  Anyway, Matteo was super nice and like I said before, he made Jess and I feel like we were the most beautiful women on earth.  You know, being exotic Americans that spoke English.  Haha...the story continues with nice Italian men encounters.

 04-28-2012

For the past several days Mattia and I have been going outside, taking sticks, and whacking down all the dandelions that are still white.  You know the ones I'm talking about with the seeds still on them?  I seriously have just as much fun as he does.  I don't know what it is about destroying stuff, but it's just fun.  Jess was coming up from Sestri with Valeria for the day as all the ski instructors were meeting in Prato.  Her and I were going to tool around the Alba area since Mattia's Nonne were also coming up from Genova.  When Jess arrived I decided to show her the little road that Mattia and I frequently walk/bike down.  It's this little gravel road that leads out into gorgeous fields which are surrounded by mountains.  It's probably my favorite place in Villanova.  This began our morning adventure.

Jungle Killer at Work

We each selected a stick and started striking down all the dandelions.  The fields were full of them!  Jess was all about it too and we were all having a blast.  At one point in time Mattia seemed to be getting bored so he turned into the foreman and started yelling, "Work, WORK!!" at Jess and I.  No problem Master!  It was really funny at the moment.  Since we pretty much wiped out all the dandelions in one of the fields we decided to walk down this old road.  On our way, the three of us turned into explorers.  We gave each other explorer names and for the rest of the morning we were to be referred to as such.  If you used our real names, we wouldn't respond.  Mattia was dubbed as "Jungle Killer".  He received powers when he struck down all the terrible vegetation that was growing in our way.  Jess was given the name of "Tree

Jungle Killer & Tree Hugger

Hugger".  She's a vegetarian so it seemed to fit. :)  She received powers by hugging trees.  I started out as being "Wind Rider", but after awhile the name didn't seem to do our exploration justice.  In order for my name to be changed Tree Hugger and Jungle Killer had to put their sticks on my shoulders as I knelt.  Haha....my name was then changed to Bush Whacker which seemed to suit our exploration better.  In our adventure we came across a ton of bees in their little boxes where it looked like someone was gathering honey.  We soon got out of there as none of us had the power not to get stung.

Mattia by the Lake of Nonsense

On our walk it seemed that Jungle Killer needed to go number two.  We tried to seek shelter for him in the Woods of Glory, but alas the woods were full of mosquitoes.  None of us escaped unharmed.    In the Woods of Glory however, we found these magic tiles.  They were actually beautiful blue Italian tiles that someone had smashed all over the road.  I thought it might make a cool craft project, so we collected all we could.  Not sure where they are now though.  All of us explorers were starting to get tired, and our powers were waning.  We had to cross one more obstacle on our way back to our "ship" (which was the house).  This obstacle was the Lake of Nonsense.  I seriously just came up with these names on the fly and they were a little ridiculous.  But still fun. :)  We crossed passed the Lake of Nonsense with no problem, although we heard some crazy creature screeching at us.  I think it might have been a bull frog.  We finally it made it back to the ship where the Nonne were awaiting our arrival.  I have to say it was a pretty fun morning.  Jess kept saying that if she were five she would've absolutely loved it.  But I'm 24 and she's 25 and I think we both enjoyed it as much as Mattia.  Whoopsy!

So you know that bucket list of things I want to go and see on the side of my blog?  Well this week I was able to put a big green check mark over the picture of the Matterhorn.  That, my friends, made me very happy.  Let me start at the beginning of my Cervino/Matterhorn experience.

We left town around 2:00 on the 24th.  Simona got Mattia from school early, even though the teachers and nuns weren't very happy.  Mattia has missed a good amount of school this winter due to sickness, skiing and the chicken pox.  The teacher said he was really behind, but he's five.  How can you really be behind in coloring and finger painting?  It's pre-school, not University.  We couldn't let a little school get in the way of our adventure!

Forte di Bard

On the drive to Cervinia we passed about 3 different medieval castles.  I mean these things were cool.  In the Vallee d'Aosta, which is a province of Italy like Liguaria, Piemonte, and Tuscany, it is completely surrounded by mountains.  During the Roman days these fortresses were placed in key mountain positions in order to fend off potential invaders.  Simona told me a story of Forte di Bard and how Napoleon threw manure on the ground for his army and carriage to pass through under the nose of the Italian guard.  He slipped right by without making a sound and the people of the fort didn't know the difference.  Once we made our way to the top where Cervinia was located, I was amazed to see the amount of snow present at the end of April.  In Virginia, any thought of snow pretty much stops in February.  We maybe get a dusting in March but that's rare.  This was very unusual to me.  Once we arrived we hung out with Simona's brother, Roby who I had never before.  He plays the guitar very well and him and I chilled in the living room just sitting with him on the guitar and me singing.  It was nice because it reminded me a bit of home back in the apartment when Josh would come over and Micah and him would be sitting on the couch just singing their little hearts out.  I just love singing to a guitar.  It's fun. 

Running into the Tree

The next morning was our big ski adventure.  When I woke up the first thing I did was run to the door where there was a window at the top to look and see if the Matterhorn was visible.  The day before it was snowing and we couldn't see the tops of any of the mountains.  But today was different.  I got my first view of Mt. Cervino.  In Italy it is called Cervino and in Switzerland it is known as the Matterhorn.  I never knew that.  Simona's brother is a ski instructor as well, so he had to go off to a lesson. Once the three of us were ready we set out to the slopes. It was a little difficult getting there as we had to ski down this little windy slope that wasn't really a piste at all. I fell on a little turn and felt stupid. Then Simona thought we should take this little trail that veered to the side so we wouldn't have to walk as long in our ski boots in

Mattia a lil stressed

order to get to the gondola. That's when I almost ran into a tree and fell off this little snow cliff.  Needless to say I was a little stressed about the whole ordeal. I was intimidated enough as is, because I am a novice skier. I'm not that great. I go skiing about once a year. Simona is a professional ski instructor and has been on skis pretty much since she was born. (Okay I might be exaggerating a little here, but she's good). Mattia is five years old, but he has been on skis since before he can probably remember.  I was the odd man out.  After all of our trekking through the snow and trees we finally made it to the gondola.  Poor little Mattia was upset because I think he was stressed too.  Once inside the gondola he started crying because he was skiing at a place he wasn't use to and the morning was stressful.  I wanted to sit right there and cry too.  Once we were up and skiing, he was fine.  I think it was just the thoughts that got him all in a panic.  That's what I tend to do.  Stress myself out by thinking things I shouldn't.

One of the many ski lifts.  This one was 2,866 meters above sea level.

The Matterhorn

Mattia & Simona

At the top of the mountain which I thought was the top and turned out to be well...not, we got a coffee and got rejuvenated.  In order to get to the actual top, we had to take another 3 chair lifts.   We got outside the bar and there it stood in all its majesty, the Matterhorn.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I got out my camera and started snapping away because in Cervinia, the clouds like to congregate at the top of the Matterhorn so you never know when you will or won't see it.  I'm glad I got the pictures when I did, because by the time we made our way down the mountain it started to snow and you couldn't see any of the mountains let alone the Matterhorn.  I have never skied in a place so gorgeous before.  The snow was brilliant and was just like sugar.  In Prato the snow has been very bad when we had it just because of the temperature.  Every time I skied in Prato it was just like skiing on ice chunks.  This was something totally different.  We met up with Simona's brother and one of his instructees and zoomed around everywhere.  You could probably be at this place for an entire week and not ski the same trail twice.  It's that big.  I got a little nervous one time because I thought I was going to loose Simona and Mattia on the ski lift and I ended up loosing the lens cap to my camera.  I'm still mad about it.  Stupid me. 

Roby, Mattia and Simona on the Slopes

View at the end of the day

This place is like no other for many reasons.  Number one being the resort spans two different countries.  Once at the very top of the mountain you can see Switzerland.  Which unfortunately was all we were able to do as the Swiss side was closed due to high winds.  Zermatt, Switzerland lies at the bottom of the Swiss side. You can ski from Italy into Switzerland and in  order to get back into Italy you have to have your passport.  How cool is that? I really wanted to ski into Switzerland, but like I said it was closed. :(  Oh well, I guess that just means I'll have to come back.  The trails range from beginner to intermediate which is right up my alley!  I loved them because they weren't too steep.  Roby took the others on one of the difficult trails but I opted out because I didn't want to fall and smash my big camera since I had it in my backpack the whole time.  I only fell once on the slopes and felt pretty good about my skiing.  Simona made me take this awful drag lift where you have to put this thing in between your legs in order for it to pull you.  If you fall off it, you're stuck.  I freaked myself out, but once I got on it I was fine.  Simona just likes to make me squirm.  That's why she made me do it. :)  I kept up with everybody pretty well and thought I was doing good.  But that was up until we got to the end of our day.  Mattia had a headache and I was getting

View from the ski lift

tired after skiing for four hours.  We had to take 3 different lifts to get home, and then ski down a trail that was 11 Kilometers long which is about 4 miles.  By that time it was snowing and the air was definitely colder.  I did fine up until the last hill which was a murderous steep thing that stood in my way of warmth and food.  That's when Simona gave me a lesson in skiing.  Haha...I felt like such an idiot who has no idea what they're doing.  I had seen the kids in ski lessons many times doing exactly what she was teaching me.  These were 4 and 5 year olds and here I am 24.  Well, it's never too late to learn.  Thanks to Simona I made it down fine without a broken bone.  The snow on that slope was awful icy too.  It doesn't look that bad in the picture, but I'm telling you it was steep.  We also could hardly see anything because the sun was gone and the terrain was completely white.  The ski was white, the clouds were white, and obviously the snow was white so any bumps or holes in the terrain were unable to be seen.  I also was an idiot and put mascara on in the morning.  My eyes were watering so bad and mascara was running down my face.  I looked like a beauty for sure. 

My steep scary slope

 Once we got home and were eating lunch I asked Simona if she thought I could be a ski instructor jokingly.  She just looked at me and said, "No."  So then I pushed it and was like, "You really don't think I could be?"  She looked at me again and said, "No, you're terrible." and then smiled.  Mattia reaffirmed it and said, "Yes you're terrible."  I just laughed.  And here I was thinking that I did good all day!  I also thought it was funny because in the south you would never come right out and say that.  You would butter it up and say something like, "Well Allison, you are talented at other things.  You would be better off trying those."  Not just a plain "No. You're terrible." Oh well...at least I try.

Cappuccino & Maracchino YUM!

 

The posh little Cafe'

My fireside spot

After eating and taking a shower, I got my shop on and headed into the little village with the car that Simona graciously let me borrow.  I found some postcards and two new pins for my map!  YEAH!  I also went to this little ski lodge bar and got myself a marracchinno.  Simona took Mattia and I there the day before and the same guy that was sprawled out in front of the fire place last time was there again.  Well, I wanted to sit by the fire place too because it was the coziest spot in the whole cafe.  He was hogging three chairs.  It was obvious he didn't want anyone to sit there but I was determined.  So I asked him if I could sit next to him in a little winged-back chair.  He looks at me like I'm an alien and says, "Yes, but there are many other tables to sit if you want."  I politely said, "No.  I want to sit here," and plopped my little self down.  HA!  He should learn to be more friendly.  It was a wonderful day and it ended with Roby's friend making us delicious pizza with homemade crust and five different types of gelato (strawberry, cream, cookies and cream, coffee and pistachio).  YUM!  My Cervinia experience was AMAZING!!!  Next time I'm in the neighborhood I will be skiing into Switzerland!

The view from the Grill

When I think of Italy, I immediately think of beautiful scenery, pasta, pizza, and cheese.  My mind goes straight for the food.  I never think of Italians having barbeques.  Barbecuing is for Australians and Americans.  At least that's what I thought till I went to my first Italian barbeque today.

The Food

This barbeque was definitely NOT for vegetarians.  We drove up to Prato after stopping at the grocery store and picking another fellow local Prato Nevosoer up in Villanova.  Once we got there

Mattia and Giovanni

Mattia and I went over to the wood grill and saw what they were preparing.  This one thing of meat looked like it came from a dinosaur.  It was HUGE!  There were only going to be 25 people at the cook out but it looked as if we were going to be feeding a whole army. At the grocery store Simona bought about 5 Kilos of bread which is equal to 11 pounds.  That's a lot of bread!   I knew
absolutely no one, and after awhile of standing around and looking awkward I pulled out my Kindle and started reading.  Mattia had a found a friend named Giovanni and they were playing together.  Simona was off talking to some of the other locals and that left me with my Kindle.

I will also note that we got there at 11:30 in the morning.  We didn't leave till about 5:00 pm.  It was a LONG barbeque.  Everybody sat down and chose their seat at about 1:00.  That's when I made a huge mistake.  I sat next to the two most obnoxious Italians I have met since I've been in Italy.  The one guy was wearing a typical Italian Guido outfit of an Adidas track suit.  The other guy sitting next to him was his Guido friend who had a ton of hair gel.  Seriously...I couldn't have sat in a worse spot.  I asked Simona if she knew them, and she said no.  She had never seen them in Prato in her life.  Then why were they here at a barbeque for Prato locals?  Neither of us had a clue, other than they were seriously getting on my nerves.  The one guys laugh was like nails on a chalkboard.  They were either tipsy or completely drunk which only made matters worse.  They looked like they were only 17 or 18.  They kept whispering to each other as well and that also made me uneasy.  They might have been saying something about me, the little English girl who didn't know Italian.  I seriously had to get a picture of these guys for my blog, so halfway during lunch I slipped away to the car and grabbed my camera.  I wish I had my little pocket Canon to be less conspicuous but alas, it was broken, so I had to get my Canon T1I, which is anything but small.  I snapped about 3 photos without their knowledge just so I could document.  I could go into business as being the paparazzi. I was that good. :)

I kept telling the girls that with all the drama that went on this year at Prato Nevoso, we could have our own MTV Reality show called, "The Nannies of Prato". I think it really could have been a hit. Maybe.

The weather in Prato was seriously unpredictable this season. To say the least, it was pretty bad. We didn't get our first real snow fall till about January 31st. February was a decent ski/snowboarding month and then everything melted. Really kinda gross. Throughout the season we experienced some ups, downs and just nutsyness, but I wouldn't trade any of the times we had for all the money in the world. It's interesting how when you throw six women from all different parts of the globe onto one tiny tiny ski resort, the strange results that come out of it. People you might not necessarily be friends with back at home, become some of your best friends because they speak ENGLISH! English is definitely hard to come by in Piemonte, Italia.


We had our official last weekend together as a group of Nannies on April 7th. The lifts were closed and there was no snow to be found. We were suppose to have Spring Splash the day after Easter where you go down on skis/snowboard over a big pool of water and see if you can last without falling in. That got canceled, because like I said no snow. All of us Nannies have been leaving at different times throughout the year due to different events. Like I said...there's been drama, we could have our own TV show. :)

When I arrived, there were only three of us. Me, Jess G, The Canadian, and Amy the Australian. My first night out in Prato with these two girls proved to be very interesting. It was a nice "welcome to Prato" kind of present. Both were use to Prato as they had been Nannies the year before. I was just a green, naive little Noobie. Around Christmas time we added J. Berg who is also a fellow American from Vermont. She was off gallivanting around Colombia, by herself mind you, for about a month. This girl has been everywhere! Colombia, Thailand, Norway, and backpacking Europe, all by herself. She's crazy, but in a good way and I strive to be more like her. All three of these girls worked at Prato last year, so they were all friends before and like I said, I was the "new girl". It was difficult to get use to at first because they would swap stories about last year's adventures and I just had to sit there in silence, as I had absolutely nothing to add to the conversation.

Then came Anne. Little South African Anne. She had been in Prato for the whole month of January before she found the four of us. Poor thing. Anne was my saving grace while I was in Villanova. During the ski season the family and I would stay in Villanova from Tuesday to Friday and then go to Prato on the weekends. During the week Mattia would be at school, so that left me with 8 hours in a town of 6,000 people with no car and nothing to do. Anne had to take the girl she watched to school, so in the morning her and I would do daily shopping trips to Mondovicino. Anne was good company, but definitely not good for my wallet.

Lastly, we added Megan to the group. Megan was an Au Pair of one of Simona's friends and we ended up getting in contact over text messaging. The first weekend Megan was in Prato she was literally swept off her feet by one of the snowboard instructors. We were suppose to meet at this place called Sporting and then once she got there, she tells me this story about how this guy Ivan, picked her up and snowboarded with her down the slope on the way to Sporting. Needless to say, they're still dating.

So that's all the Nannies. I've had a stinkin blast with all of them and like I said, I wouldn't trade the experiences of this ski season for anything. My favorite night would probably have to be the night that J. Berg, Me and Amy went to Cuneo and danced the night away. It was super fun, and something I won't be forgetting anytime soon!


Jess G was the first one to leave. She left in mid-March and it was sad to see her go. I wasn't able see her off as the girls went to the sea for the weekend and I had to stay and watch Mattia. Anne was the second to leave. She was suppose to stay longer, but her family really didn't need her anymore, and paid to have her flight moved up. Then we had to say goodbye to Amy. The Hotel she was staying at closed early due to the fact there wasn't any snow and she was kind of stranded for a week. She worked it out though and now she's safely home in Auz. So that leaves just the three little Americans left, although we're strewn all over Italy. I got to see Jess last weekend, and hopefully I'll see Megan next week. So it's not a total goodbye yet. It has been a good season in spite of no snow and I'm looking forward to the day where I might go to Australia, South Africa, and Canada to meet up with my fellow Au Pairs again!