First Day of School

Susan:

9:00-10:30: All of us were promptly in our seats for the start of Italian 101 with Antonio, our teacher who hails from Angiari (Sansepolcro's rival town, apparently). Jake is taking the class for credit along with the students. Jeff, Betty, John, and I are auditing for the obvious benefit of being able to talk about town. Time went by in surprisingly quick fashion as we worked to force a new language into variously aged brains. Mi chiamo Susan!

10:30-12:30:  Second class... Learn to Travel, Travel to Learn. I sat in on this one with the students. It's all about comparisons of cultures, discussion of perceptions, expectations, ideologies, etc. How to "have an open mind but not let your brains fall out."

1:00: Perhaps the best lunch we've had yet. We felt we had earned it. :)  And perfecto, the sun shone through the windows for what felt like the first time in days.

Post lunch: Students made flash cards (on an app) for Italian, Jeff and I continued the process of picking out house colors, towel bars, and more from far away. Doesn't everyone do that? Did I mention that my carry on bag warranted being pulled from the conveyor belt and inspected by hand ? For two reasons: 1. A coin purse bulging with donated leftover Euro coins from traveling family, and 2. The Sherwin Williams paint fan deck that I brought along to finish selecting room colors. Who doesn't travel with one of those?

Post, post lunch: While Jeff toiled away with class prep, I went on a walk with Betty out of the city and up into the hills. What lovely views the surrounding cities have of each other. She pointed out Angiari in the distance, as well as another town, and said when we visit Angiari this weekend that we'd have the same view of Sansepolcro. We saw olive groves, Chestnut trees, and enormous Cypress. Also, walked by the mansion type house that Buitoni pasta began in and ran from for quite a long time. For a while it was the largest employer in town. It has, of course, been bought out by Nestle, moved elsewhere, and the home is getting ready to be sold. We wrapped up our walk with tea from a pastry shop.

While we were out, the students, Jake, and John took yoga. Between the senior citizen, various uncoordinated folks, one student with a broken, casted thumb, and a relatively small room, that was apparently an enjoyable hoot.

I had hardly sat down back in the palazzo, coat still on, when John suggested that he take me and Jeff around the block to introduce us to some of his friends. That was an amusing treat. John is an impressive study in how to just throw oneself out there. He knows a fair-to-good amount of Italian and has no qualms about diving into a conversation, making mistakes, learning, asking about peoples' families, making jokes, introducing us over and over as the Professore and... (? honestly I have no idea; I don't think he was using the Italian word for wife - haha). We used our very basic Italian a lot (Piachere - pleasure to meet you!). The butcher/cheesemonger and we pantomimed and learned new words. We sampled prosciutto and pecorino (and learned that sheep = pecora, hence pecorino is cheese from sheep's milk) and took home gorgonzola with fruit in it that was *mwah.* The meat and cheese guy definitely fell into the category of folks who feel certain that if a foreigner can't understand you, you just need to talk louder. :) Also, no sooner would we point out to John that we were holding up the customers behind us, then he would pull them into our conversation also. There's no being an introvert on a walk with John. We met the button shop proprietor and admired the carved ceilings and building adornments in her store. We also met the kitchen store woman and her daughter (niece?) and the two women running one of the fancy clothing stores. I think that was everyone.

From the afternoon walk...



Monastery that Meredith used to stay in...



View from above...



And Jake deemed this noteworthy from lunch...



Ciao!