Half A World Away: The Ordinary is Unique Again and Lunch with Kate Middleton

Susan:

Wednesday, Feb 7

A student’s disparagement of the increasing repetition in her (strongly encouraged) journal had a familiar ring to it. Since classes have begun we have all fallen into a predictable rhythm: class, outstanding lunch :), some days more class, studying, adventures in laundry or grocery shopping or coffee shop lounging, dinner. I suggested that familiar routines aren’t such bad things, though. There’s comfort in creating a structure to venture out from and return to, not to mention beauty, and certainly amusement, in the details.

For instance, Jeff and I missed a turn on our walk to the co-op and using our ‘just enough to be dangerous’ Italian, we asked a grandmotherly type how to get there. Well, you know, there’s a fair amount of gesturing that happens here plus she used her cane and her cigarette for emphasis, so we got the gist (and the direction to turn in) no problem. And? We finally remembered our shopping bags! (Small charge if you need the store’s plastic bags.)

We also did laundry which is just a little more of a deal here; longish wash cycles and discouraged use of the dryers (pricey electricity), though allowances are made for a collective load of jeans. We were assured we would be amazed by how quickly things dry on the drying racks......................................................................... :)
You must empty water out of the collector under the dryer after the cycle (yes the dryer) and sometimes empty the water out of the washer when it gets a bit tired. Also you’ll see in the photos - I figured out why it’s so chilly in the laundry room.

Finally, at 9:40 we attempted to get a slice of pizza at the awesome hole in the wall Pizzeria Yummy Di Incandela Maria Rosa, or Yummy’s, as it advertises itself. Listen up American pizza joints, Yummy’s has figured out how to make a whole pizza with, if you wanted it, each perfectly topped and separated slice having different toppings. You can also buy just a single slice. Note: they have a potato and sausage offering that’s killer. Further note: They of course close for a bit in the afternoon and reopen for the evening. But the closing time for each day on their hours sign has been blacked out. They close when they feel like it, which last night was before 9:40.

So on to L’Appennino’s, the pizza place on the ground floor of our building. Just as great pizza, even better crust Jeff says, a little more upscale and pizza by the whole pie. So we suffered through a shared potato, red onion, gorgonzola, and three other cheeses pizza, a draft, and a front row seat to our enthusiastic pizza maker, as excited about life and our pizza as the soccer game on tv.

Thursday, February 8

The school brings in local lunch guests periodically to enhance the students’ cultural experience and give them a chance to talk with a variety of folks in a more relaxed setting. I mentioned Andrea, the opera singer, who visited us last week.

Today it was none other than not-that-Kate-Middleton, haha, and her father, Bill. What an interesting and lovely pair. He’s from New Jersey originally, married an Englishwoman. Now he lives here with Kate and her family who are living a quite busy life hither and yon. They have a B&B nearby and run a farm among other things. Check her and her amazing photos out... https://www.facebook.com/oliveoilandraspberries/

This guy turns his back on the laundry room...

Inside the door, tile steps built over wooden steps...

See the clothespins hanging in space between the railings? Those are attached to clotheslines running between the railings. Note those round holes in the wall with light coming through them...