That's amore!

Listening to the sounds of churchbells ringing and watching as little Italian ladies hang their clothes out to dry on their windowsills…seeing elderly Italian men congregate outside cafes or walk down cobblestone alleyways leisurely with their hands clasped behind their backs…we smile proudly at them as they admire our Camille and may even stop to pinch her chubby little cheek. We love taking part in these Italian ways of living and savor the last few weeks we have left to enjoy them. In light of the fact that we will be leaving so very soon, 27 days from today to be exact, I have convinced my husband to shed his Saturday couch potato ways and explore something new with me every weekend. Whether it be by going to a town we have already visited and finding something “new” to enjoy or by going to a new place, there are countless things we have yet to experience here.

     We began a few weeks ago while my mom, aunt, and uncle were visiting. The base was offering a tour to the town of Taurasi in the province of Avellino. A winery tour, lunch, and transportation were included at the cost of $80 per person. I felt that it was a bit overpriced considering that we could drive ourselves to Taurasi so we decided to set off on our own adventure. Having no idea as to which winery we could visit or where we could have lunch, we were determined to just wing it. I might add that it is winter and considering the much of Italy ironically shuts down (apparently, people decide to take a three month vacation in the off season) not to mention the fact that we went on a Sunday, the odds were not in our favor. The drive was incredibly scenic as we drove through hill towns to reach Taurasi. It truly felt as though we were in Tuscany. We joked about the fact that although we passed countless houses and farms, not a person was to be seen anywhere. We drove by a winery that looked quite large and decided to stop and see if it was open. Unfortunately, after ringing the bell several times and even calling the number on the advertisement in front (hoping I could communicate in my broken Italian) we realized it was closed and needed to move on. We drove onwards and stumbled upon a tiny Italian winery. To this day I have no idea as to what it was even called! There was almost no signage and it was obviously a family run business. We walked into a small room with several wine barrels and silver tanks. The woman spoke to me in rapid Italian and I tried to make out what I could and translate for the group. Her brother was quite the joker and told me about how he has three daughters, a wife, and a mother in law he lives with which drives him to work at the winery, in other words, drives him to drink. We sampled both their table wine and typical, more expensive aged aglianico wine which is indicative of the region. We’ve learned that the wines are aged for a minimum of three years, one of which are actually in the wood barrels. I was impressed to learn that I am a huge fan of Taurasi’s (these days I’m not much of a red drinker). After our brief “wine tasting” we stumbled upon yet another gem, the restaurant “Ristorante da Pino”. Again considering that so much appeared to be closed in the town , we expected to have trouble finding a good restaurant. Comically enough, we were the only ones lunching in this restaurant and were pleasantly surprised to learn that our hostess, waitress, and co-owner of the restaurant who was basically a one woman show had previously lived in Australia for 13 years and was fluent in English. She was extremely charming and knowledgeable, teaching us about the wines and food of Taurasi. Not to mention, at 22 euro a person for wine, antipasti, first course, main course, dessert, and coffee, it was a steal. We went home that day with our bellies full and two new bottles of wine at 14 euro a pop. $80 a person for a day of wine tasting and lunch?! We’ll do it ourselves, thank you very much!

Last weekend we went to Rome, Orvieto, and Frascati for a much needed romantic weekend without Camille for the first time to celebrate our three year anniversary. I’m still in awe that these three years have flown by! More to come on that trip in another entry.

I had heard of a cute town in a neighboring region to where we live from my friend Kelly. The town, Caiazzo in the province of Caserta, offered us a short getaway this morning. Once again we felt as though we were miles and miles away from the noisy streets of Napoli as we drove through the green countryside, passing vineyards, farms, and orchards. We approached the sleepy town of Caiazzo and parked in a lot with beautiful views of the region. In the distance, snow capped mountains loomed above us and the sights were breathtaking. Quite honestly, I cannot begin to count how many breathtaking views we’ve seen since we arrived in Europe three years ago!

 There is not much to do in Caiazzo. No castles, museums, or famous duomos. It is simply a locals’ town, yet it is beautiful, old, and offer’s gorgeous views. Italian living at it’s best. An ancient olive press sits at the center of the town, surrounded by small cafes and old Italian men having their daily morning chat. We had a cappuccino in one of the cafes and meandered through the town. I found it charming that these signs served as the signage for the majority of shops and services on the main road.

 I watched as the townspeople greeted us and each other with “Buon giornos” left and right but found it charming, yet again, that they all seemed to know each other. Such is the beauty of an Italian town. Quiet does not exist even in the quietest of areas as anywhere where an Italian woman is present is a place where chatter will inevitably be heard!

    Camille greeted everyone we approached with either a “hi” or a “tow-tow” (ciao, ciao). I love that children do not discriminate! J We stopped at a pasticceria (Italian bakeries and also Ben’s favorite places to be in) and came across a pastry called a Chiaccere. I had never seen one before but they are essentially Italian versions of churros. Camille enjoyed hers while Ben enjoyed something yummy and blueberry filled. I just took pictures and snuck pieces of Camille’s while she wasn’t looking.

 

On our way home we passed Umbrella Pine trees, my absolute favorite trees here. They are ridiculously tall and beautiful. Almost reminding me of a tall, elegant old Italian lady. I will miss seeing them line the freeways as I navigate my way through towns and dodge crazy drivers left and right.

Tomorrow we join our good friends for their farewell at an Agriturismo and are really looking forward to the huge Italian family style lunch with so many of our friends and the “family” we’ve formed here.

In a few short months Ben can go back to his lazy Saturdays. For now, we plan to live each weekend to the fullest and experience all that la dolce vita has to offer to us! As for now, we are off to collect wine for our “wine shipment” to be collected on Monday. A little remnant of “La Dolce Vita” to appreciate when we have returned to the United States for good. 

79 bottles and counting! 

The Newest Feldman Neapolitan Experience: Olives and Naples Mutts- written in Nov, 10

So much has occurred in the past month that I don't know where to begin! We've moved, visited Germany for the first time, welcomed Mom and Dad Feldman to Italy, tried to get settled in our new home (and are almost there!), and most recently- went olive picking, and invited a new guest into our home...

Meet Luigi Feldman, 9 lbs of energy and love!

I expected to go downtown for lunch on Saturday (mmm, sushi) not expecting to come home with a dog! Much less, a stray. Ben has been persistent over the past year and a half with his requests for a dog. For those of you that know Athena, then you know that she requires an absolutely ridiculous amount of attention and is more of a human than a dog. She certainly wants nothing to do with other dogs and only likes to play with people. I thank Ben for spoiling her. Hehehe. Anyway, we went to our new favorite sushi restaurant, Kukai, and decided to go for a walk near Piazza Plebiscito afterward. It is always a flurry of activity near Via Toledo downtown and a great people watching experience. We were walking back towards the direction of the car when we spot a strawberry colored creature behind a bench, greeting another dog. The first thing that comes out of Ben's mouth? If that is a mini Golden Retriever, I'm taking it home! I had made the mistake of telling Ben about a miniature Golden Retriever that I had seen walking through downtown and he's been adamant on finding one for us ever since. This was no mini GR but he sure was cute. It's really hard to describe what kind of a dog he might be- we think there is definitely some dachsund, but he has chihuahua ears, and his body looks like he might have some Corgi. Luigi is the epitome of a "Naples mutt." Once Ben followed him all over the street and had him in his arms I knew it was love at first sight and there was no going back! We had watched as he approached shops and street vendors only to be shooed away. He went up to other dogs and was told to take off because they were not allowed to play with him. Every time we see one of the hundreds of innocent stray dogs on the side of the road as roadkill, or walking around the streets scrounging for water or food, or being yelled at by street vendors to get lost, it breaks our hearts. This was definitely one that Ben was not going to let get away. And apparently I'm a softie because no matter how determined I was to be a one dog family, I had to give in! Two accidents in the backseat on the way home, a full preventative flea and tick bath (Luigi is the cleanest stray I have ever seen, no dirt and certainly no fleas or ticks), and some new gear later, Luigi officially became a Feldman. :)

On the other hand, if dogs could talk I have a strange feeling that Athena would have told us to leave Luigi in the streets. The queen wants to be as far away from him as possible and tries to attack HIM every time he attempts to play with her. We have already become accustomed to the sound of her growling and snapping at him over the past few days. As you can see in this picture, she wants no part of it.

We took Luigi to the vet today for his full exam. The vet scanned him and confirmed that he has no microchip, no diseases, and is an extremely healthy 8 month old. If it weren't for his strange habits, I would question whether he is really a stray. He likes to find corners in the house to sleep in and "take shelter." I've found him hiding napping behind the couch, next to our large potted plants, and underneath tables. He also yelped bloody murder today- I'm not kidding when I say you could probably have heard his cries well into the parking lot-when the vet gave him his vaccines and told us he thinks the dog must have been harmed because he is very fearful of anything remotely close to painful :( Taking in an extra animal is more work, especially when you travel often, but we are incredibly happy to have rescued one dog from the dirty Neapolitan streets. He is now clean, well-fed, and attached at the hip to Ben. Ben is happy to have "a man's dog."

As for the rest of our weekend, we had the opportunity to go on a day trip to an olive grove and olive oil factory! We went to a small Italian town just outside of Benevento to a private olive orchard with our friends, Chad and Amber. The scenery was beautiful- the trees were filled with olives and the color of fall was everywhere. Here are a few pictures from our trip:


Ben decided to sample an olive fresh from the tree and decided that our guide, Maria, was right. Olives in this form are not tasty! They must be cured and salted if you choose to eat them or they have a mighty strong aftertaste!

Olive picking is no longer manual labor! They have fancy schmancy machines that you rake through the trees.

The process of olive oil production:

Ben was holding my Vitamin Water bottle and jokingly asked the worker if he could have some olive oil. The guy filled it up with fresh olive oil, free of charge!

After a long, yet interesting, day of learning about olives and olive oil we took our two bottles of delicious olive oil and made our way home to our doggie crew. This was definitely an eventful weekend in the Feldman household!

La Dolce Vita

As I lay in bed early this morning, a sense of panic grips me with the realization that we have just over a month left in Italy. It’s incredibly ironic that if you had approached me just over a year ago, I would tell you that I couldn’t wait to get out of here. What can I say, these day trips to Positano grow on you!

Ben and I counted the number of countries we’ve been to in the past three years and counted 16. Crazily enough, I know that we must have forgotten one or two in there, and this doesn’t include different trips to various cities within these countries. I guess you could say that our little Camille is a world traveler. I don’t even flinch when we’re getting ready to take her on a flight anymore. That is, a short, two hour flight. Ask me again when I’ve just taken her on a journey from Virginia to San Francisco which would be 8 hours +. Sadly, it feels like we’re not much closer to family in California since it will still be a production to get there. Either way, we will still be in the US and I know that once I am over the reverse culture shock, it will feel wonderful. Camille will get to know her cousins during our frequent trips and Ben’s (hopefully, not lengthy, deployments). On the other hand, the bright side is that we will be closer to Ben's sweet parents and family on the East Coast and are very much looking forward to quality time with them! Boston is only a 2-3 hour trip by plane!

Over the past few days we have been househunting in Virginia Beach. It’s amazing what technology can do these days, we conducted a FaceTime (for all of of you non-mac users this is similar to Skype) call with a potential landlord at her beautiful home overlooking a lake. She was able to give us a “tour” of her home in real time! We had originally planned to wait until we got to VA to do our search but after looking online, speaking with realtors, and consulting with friends in the area we’ve realized it may be to our benefit to have something lined up by the time we get there. Dragging a jetlagged toddler through numerous houses for rent in addition to testdriving new cars doesn’t seem like our cup of tea. It’s been exciting looking at  potential homes! Base housing, though a good size at 1,600 sq ft, does not come with any additional add-ins and getting away from these white walls and white tile floors will be great. We’re now down to two favorite properties, both within a ten minute drive to Ben’s work. I’ve always reasoned that the shorter the commute, the more time we will have him home with us, so I’ll take it.

Meanwhile, it’s been a bit different here. The movers packed up our furniture, put it on the crates, and sent it off across the world. I relished even the time I was able to converse with our movers because I know the experience will be quite different on the other end! There’s nothing like the feeling of conversing with a culture that is so excited to be using what knowledge they have of the English language. They are so proud of themselves when they can express themselves in English and I love practicing with them. They are also so welcoming of pets and babies- each morning when Camille would wake they would greet her with huge smiles and play with her for a minute before resuming work. To Camille it doesn’t matter if you speak Italian, English, or Japanese. This little diva just loves the attention. Even Luigi was like royalty, as he pranced through the house nosing about everyone’s business while they packed. The movers would always stop to pet him and play with him.

What have I learned from my time in Italy? I’ve learned how to be a wife, a mother, and overcome cultural obstacles. I’ve learned a new language (no, I’m by no means fluent but I can communicate properly) and how to live a more simply when it comes to everyday life. Who needs modern conveniences when you can travel through Europe and learn about numerous different cultures?  And take advantage of shoe markets. ;p I’ll take leather boots at 30 euro anyday over 7-11 or gasp, even Whole Foods, anyday!

I’ve learned how to love a culture that I found so difficult to relate to in the beginning. And to find joy in my interactions with them. Even now, I jump at the opportunity to leave “Little America” and go out in town as often as possible to be around them. I’ve learned how to drive when I primarily refused to. Yes, it does feel like a video game sometimes- how to get from point A to point B without hitting anyone, anybody, or getting lost- but I’ve done it. And above all, I’ve learned how to put stresses of a job aside and focus completely on the one most important priority in my life: my family. While I’m incredibly sad to leave our friends, American and Italian, behind, I know its time to start the next chapter in our lives and move on. I’m going to make the most of the time we have left – every day of it- and embrace what’s in store for us in the future.

The first year that we were here you could say I probably went to Ikea about 10 times in search of furnishing our #1 home and #2 home here. Since then I have not gone anywhere near the place. This morning I will be going with a friend to help him find furniture for his next three years here. While I am able to look back fondly at the memories Ben and I have created during our time here, someone is about to create his.