Allison's Wonderland

Today was my first try doing laundry with an Italian washing machine. The washer wasn't completely different. The settings were all written in Italian so I had to have Simona explain what was what. I could figure out the cotton setting and the hot and cold options, but I wasn't sure how to turn it on. The space for laundry was tiny, like everything else in this country. I fit my socks and underwear for two weeks with about 4 shirts, one pair of pants, and my bathrobe. Not too roomy.



After it was finished washing, I was looking for the dryer. Oh wait, there's not one. The dryer consists of about five lines on the balcony with these things called clothes pins. Ever heard of them? This is old school. It has been pretty cold, but during the day it is warm enough to hang up my stuff. I got nervous because there were little spider webs inbetween the lines and my biggest fear is putting on a pair of pants or a shirt that has a little 8 legged surprise just waiting to feast on my bare flesh. Needless to say I will thoroughly check my clothing before putting them on.



Now here comes the other difficult part...where do I hang my skivvies? Okay here are the options:
Option #1 - I can hang them outside on the line to dry for the world to see. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandma's, people from the road . . .
Needless to say, I choose to nix option number 1.

Option #2 - Hang them downstairs on the drying rack with everyone elses clothes so Mattia, Simona, Gianluca and any vistors we might have pop by (there has been at least one every day) will be able to see the bare essentials. This whole not having a dryer thing is really starting to be a problem. Instead I go with option 3.

Option #3 - Hang the skivvies anywhere I can find around my room. I start hanging them on the TV mount that doesn't actually have a TV on it. My desk is looking pretty good so I hang some there. I find two chairs in the corner that make for the best makeshift dryer. I have a little underwear tree chair in the corner of my room. Hopefully Mattia will choose not to play in my room after school. I'll keep my fingers crossed! :)

After our trip to Cuneo, Simona had a meeting in Mondovi. It was my duty to pick up little Mattia from school (escuela). For the past several days Mattia has been wanting to go to the cemetary. Don't ask me why. Kind of a morbid thing to want to do for a five year old. Anyway, I was excited to go because Simona told me I would be really surprised how Italians bury their dead.

Instead of me walking to pick Mattia up, Gianluca drove us to the school in his Audi. Riding in style. I was grateful because it was cold out and our walk from the school to the cemetary was a tad bit far. After we got Mattia, we pull up to this place that just looks like a little walled in area of houses. I step out of the car and am perplexed. As I get up to the gate I see that there is just a huge wall of marble. Instead of taking up the space on a huge plot of land, the Italians bury their dead in marble walls. Each family purchases a "wall" or house looking thing. You will have to view the pictures to see what I'm talking about because it's a little difficult to explain. What I like about Italian cemetaries is along with the name and date of birth and death, each wall slot has a picture of the deceased. I wish we did this in the states, because it goes to show that these people were actually alive and living at one point and time. They're not just a name with a bunch of dates.

We went and checked out the gravesite of the Auraldi's. Gianluca's family plot. His Dad recently passed away in September of this year, so it was very sad. As a foreigner it was extremely interesting though. I couldn't believe the amount of marble, pillars and granite in this one little space. I want to know how much they cost because it seems like they would be hundreds of thousands of euros. Maybe I'll ask. It just seems kind of rude. Anyway, that was my second field trip for the day. Very enlightening for sure.

Three things the Italians know how to do right. I'm sure there is more, but this is what I have discovered so far:
Coffee, Chocolate and Pastries

Here's a picture of my favorite chocolate I have had since I've been here. Guess what everybody is getting for Christmas :)? This is pretty much Nuttella in solid form. Out of this world!



Simona and I ventured into Cuneo today. Of course we had to make a stop at the local bar where I got a cup of coffee and a different Nutella filled pastry then I had before. So yummy!

Cuneo is a decent sized down. About 60,000 residents. As Simona was in a meeting with the Sports Association, I went for a walk. Italian window shopping is splendid. I found some super cute stuff and it made me realize how terrible I dress sometimes. I want to be fashionable and fit in. I mean come on now. :) I also came across this plaza (piazza) where on the balcony there were cardboard cuts of people with Hitler in the middle. Did Hitler speak in Cuneo? He might have. I need to Google and find out. I got trapped in the United Colors of Benetton. Oh my gosh the stuff was super cute. Met back up with Simona and we headed to this church. It was all white inside and had some cool stuff. The picture that I took of the white chair and what looks like a cloth is actually carved on there. It's not a blanket. Kind of cool. After our church visit we went to this English school where ironically enough no one spoke English. The woman wasn't very helpful, but whatever.

We then walked back to the car, but on our way we had to stop and get another coffee. :) We were there at about 11:30 and during that time the coffee shop was experiencing Aperitivo. This is the time of day where modern Italians have an early morning cocktail along with little sandwiches about two hours before lunch. I thought it was kind of cool. I think we should implement Aperitivo in the states. Who wouldn't want little sandwiches before lunch? SCHWEET! I ended up getting this drink called a Marocchino which means small cappucino. IT WAS SO GOOD!!

The lady at the English school, who didn't speak English, told Simona that in order to help me learn Italian, I need to learn and go over 10 Italian words a day. Here's the words that I have to learn. Hopefully this might help you learn too! :)

Aperitivo - Drinks and sandwiches before lunch
Marocchino - Cappucino only smaller
Cucchiao - Big Spoon
Cucchiaino - Little spoon
Piatto - Big plate
Piattino - Small Plate
Bicchiere - Drinking Glass
Bicchierino - Small Drinking Glass
Forchetta - Fork
Coltello - Knife
Tovaglia - Table Cloth
Tovaglilo - Napkin
Tazza - Coffee Mug
Tazzina - Espresso Mug (Small)
Tavolo - Table

To start things off, I had the best meal of my life on Sunday. Maybe not the best meal of my life, but it was super good. Simona's parents came up from Genova and we celebrated Nonna (Grandma's) birthday, because well it was. She was the big 7-0! I don't even like fish, but we had this amazing golden trout fish, this vegetable salad, that looked like our potato salad. It had mayonnaise, eggs on top, carrots, peas and potatos. It was so good! I couldn't stop eating. Then they brought this Foccaca bread (I'm probably spelling it wrong) from Genova which was out of this world. There was regular Foccaca and then there was one that had cooked onions on it. Shaun, you would've hated it. :) I loved it! For dessert for lunch, we had these little pastry things from Denina's Pasticceria (bakery) So good! That's them in the picture. Dinner was just as amazing as lunch & for dessert we had a cake again from Denina's. It wasn't like our cake at home, but was more of a pastry with a flakey crust. Oh yum! I want to go back to Sunday :)

Obviously I miss my family and friends. We're talking about things here people so nobody get their feelings hurt! :)

#1 - Scuttle - That would be my car. I love driving that little thing.
#2 - My GPS - You never know how handy they are until they're gone. :(
#3 - My Bed - My mattress is super comfy. The one here is...well, European. So that means it's very hard.
#4 - Fast food - Doesn't exist here. Italy came up with the slow food movement. www.slowfood.com. I miss mainly Chik-fil-A!
#5 - All my favorite local eateries - The Yellow Submarine, The Cavalier, Rivermont Pizza, Waterstone, Market at Main, Farm Basket, La Carretta . . . the list goes on and on.
#6 - Green Mountain Coffee - I would make at least 2 trips a day down to the Lion and the Lamb while at work for my coffee. :(
#7 - Black Water Creek Trail - I love to bike. There are hills everywhere here!
#8 - People who speak English! - It's getting tough!
#9 - My wardrobe - I'm already sick of the stuff I brought to wear...not good. It has only been two weeks!

And the thing is miss the most is . . . !!!

#10 - My FAN! - I have slept with a fan for almost my entire life and sleeping without one is extremely difficult! I wake up at everything. :(

Pulled from Dictionary.com
BIDET - "a low, basinlike bathroom fixture, usually with spigots, used for bathing the genital and perineal areas."


When I arrived in Italia I was faced with a difficult problem. There was a toilet looking thing alongside a normal toilet and I was extremely confused in how to use this new bathroom device. I had seen a bidet before when I was in France, but never really got how to use it. So naturally I asked Simona the interworkings of how to use a bidet. Now I kinda like it and I want one in my home. The Italians have it right...here are my reasons why everyone should own a bidet.

#1 - You use less toilet paper. Just rinse off your bum and your set to go.

#2 - It can be used as a low sink. When your feet get dirty, its a lot easier to wash in the bidet then it is in the tub or sink.

#3 - If you're not into showering every day, great way to freshen up without getting in the tub!

#4 - Helps aid in the Marine Corps Shower

#5 - Naturally the warm water feels good on the bum...too far? Maybe but you know you were thinking it.

My five reasons why everyone should own a bidet. :) Now you gotta go out and buy one.

So...I have a lot to write about since last time...Bear with me here. :)
First of all I wanted to show you that I am in fact teaching Mattia "The Face". He's getting pretty good I might add, and its only been a week. I'll have to start teaching all the cousins pretty soon.

I had my first trip to the grocery store yesterday. Honestly I was suprised to see how similar it was in comparison to home. Everything is WAAAY cheaper though. Like ridiculously cheaper. You can get a loaf of bread for like 1 Euro = $1.50 at home. I was surprised to see though that you had to pay in order to unlock your cart from the little cart holder place. When you walked in there was a whole wall of cheese. Dinner and lunch consists of bread and cheese EVERY night. I don't mind that all because I love both of those. You had to get a number and wait in line in order to get service at the deli, just like at home. I did notice that people did not have an idea of personal space. They would just butt in and go wherever. If you didn't, you would not get the item you were looking for.

The coffee aisle did not have any actual real coffee. It was mostly all espresso. There was no Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Chock-full-of-nuts, Folgers, etc. That was disappointing. Everything else was pretty normal...so I guess it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. Oh well...:(



There are other shops around though. They have the butcheria, paneteria, bakeria, etc. The other day Simona and I went to the paneteria to get bread and she didn't have any money. But since its such a small town, the lady let her come back and pay later. Simona ended up having to back three times to pay because first she didn't have any money, secondly her 50 euro bill was too big and they couldn't make change, and then the third time they finally accepted her money! Haha! How weird is that? I probably would've given up on try #2. It was only Euro 3,80. Come now! :)

Simona and I went to a bar this morning for breakfast. Now I know what you're thinking...Simona and I went and got ourselves an alcoholic beverage. Well, you would be wrong. In Italy a "bar" is a place where coffee is served. If you want alcohol you have to go the pub. Although a lot of the bars do serve alcohol, their primary product is espresso.

When I was in Italy in 2008, my favorite meal of the day was breakfast. And now since I'm here again, I have revisited the Italian breakfast, and I'm in love once more. Take a look at this lovely little concoction I had this morning. :)

Italy might not sell peanut butter in stores, but they do serve Nutella!

Nutella filled pastry & a cup of Cappuccino Italian style