Male di testa?

So it's come to my attention that I lead a pretty interesting life. How did it come to my attention? That I'm not really sure of, but this week has been quite a trip. First off, I don't know if I mentioned I've been having some problems at work with lack of teamwork, others not pulling their own weight and in particular, this one guy at my work, Domenico, who is originally from Naples, is on work release from the near-by prison. Of course, that being said, I must say, he is, normally, a really nice guy and everyone gets along with him. To put it briefly, he was sent to prison because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and his friend had to return a favor to the Mafia, and thus Domenico's friend, while with Domenico, 'finished off someone' and although Domenico hired the "Johnny Cochran" of Italy, he was still convicted as an accessory. Anyways, back to my story, Domenico, Marco (my boss) and I had a talk on Sunday after Marco noticed I hadn't talked to Domenico in nearly a week. So after that talk, things got instantly better at work. Luckily things got better because Last night we had a big banquet with 50 people and there's no way we would of gotten through it if him and I were at each other throats.

Also this week, I did go grocery shopping. Not sure if I mentioned this before but I will none-the-less. The biggest grocery store in Volterra is outside the walls and down the hill. It takes me under 10 minutes to walk down there but 15 to walk back up. Well while there, I saw they had a microwave on sale for 40 euro. I thought it was great seeing as it even had a built in grill to toast bread and what-not. Well there was no way I could get it back up the hill with the back pack I had with. Thus, the next day, while at work, I decided I was going to somehow buy the unit and get it to my house. It didn't occur to me that I could of asked my boss, who goes to this grocery store 3 or 4 times a week to buy stuff for his restaurant. So after my morning shift, I took my foldable-luggage-2-wheeler and talked down there. I must of eaten some dumb-pasta that day because I didn't even recollect on the fact that there's quite a few steps I need to go up (in addition to the normally non-step steep incline). Well after alot of sweat and over 20 minutes and taking a longer way back, I finally got it to my house. I am so glad that it worked when I plugged it in because I really don't want to repeat that trip now that I know what it entails.

My next story comes from... well, Thursday. After a long battle with what ever has been infecting my hands and mouth area, it came to me that I should go to the dermatologist. After going to three different doctors, I found one who spoke some English. He told me that it sounds like I have an allergy and that I should have an allergy test done. Mind you I'm not covered by the government provided insurance seeing as I'm not here legally and thus don't pay taxes and thus am not entitled to coverage. So this test will not happen, but that I did not tell him. However, he did prescribe me a steroid and a cream for my lips and another for my hands. And, of course my luck ran out seeing as he was the first doctor to charge me. I talked with him for 5 to 10 minutes and it costed me 50 Euro. Of course I don't feel so bad seeing as I talked with my friend who moved here from Washington DC, and she said he charged her 70. By the way, her name is Annie and if you want to read about her story, check out www.tuscantour.com. So my hands were looking alot better until I worked that banquet and even with rubber gloves, my hands were still covered in sludge.

Which brings me onto my final story. As mentioned twice before, yesterday we had 50 people for a banquet at my work. These people paid 50 euro per person and thus we gave them a seven course meal (literally 7 courses). The people arrived at 8pm (which is the time everyone in Tuscany and maybe Italy eat dinner) and we were not ready. I was just putting table cloths on the tables as people arrived. But once things were going, they went rather smoothly. There were four of us working, my boss Marco, Domenico, that 18 year old girl that's always in the way but now doesn't work for us but rather is now testing the patience of the professors at the university in Pisa. Well, Domenico had to be back at the prison by 11. Well we were just serving the sixth course when he left. And of course the 18 year old girl (funny how she doesn't have a name) had to leave around midnight seeing as she has school tomorrow (I guess its normal to go to college 6 days a week here). So that left me with a huge mess to clean up by myself. Normally I'd get aggravated but I kept my cool and made Marco "an offer he couldn't refuse" (quoted from Godfather I). I told him that he could go home like everyone else and I would clean up the whole place, but he must give me tomorrow morning off. He took my offer however, he didn't go home but rather did help a little (between drinking beer and eating biscotti's). Well it took me about 2 and a half hours and Marco suggested we leave, but I was just about to mop the kitchen, so I told him 5 minutes more. So then, I took the trash can out of the kitchen so that I could mop the area in which it normally stands. Well I mopped its area and then was bringing the trash can back into the kitchen with my back to the Dutch doors. And wouldn't you know it, I backed right into a bucket of grease that was off to the side but still near the door. The damned grease got on my new Italian suede tennis shoes and on my new socks also. I immediately took off my shoes and walked through the kitchen bare-footed to the sick to wipe my shoes. I didn't know what to do seeing as I was nearly done with my job. so I stood at the sink and just laughed and kicked myself in the ass (bare-footed). So my boss hears the laughter and is now standing in the doorway as I finish mopping the kitchen bare-foot. He didn't find the situation as funny as I did but its things like this that lead me to believe I live an interesting life. I mean who else do you know, that has slept on a table at his favorite bar, slept on the floor of a bathroom at an monastery (now banquet facility) or mopped a Tuscan restaurant kitchen bare-foot with his boss watching behind him?? So after work, around 3 am, I walked the 175 steps back to my house bare-foot watching for any piles of dog shit along the way.

Anyways... sorry for such a long blog, just haven't had much time, as you can see from this blog, to write other blogs this week. Hope everyone is well and hope I get some good comments!!

Ciao tutti!!

Troppo vino!?!? DIAH!!!

Another week another blog... Again not much has been going on here. This week again I went to the hospital because those bumps on my hand are back, but now are making the area around my lips really red and my one eye itchy. I call it bumps 2.0. The doctor there said it was due to the acid and a certain protein in the red wine here and my body is not used to having it so much... So that was Tuesday. He said not to drink for 10 days and it should go away by itself... Well yesterday (Friday), after seeing no improvement, I went to a doctor here in the city walls. He came recommended to me by one of my American friends who now lives here in Volterra. Unlike the other doctors, he spoke a little English (I do mean a little), and he told me it was some kind of infection and that I need another cream, which he gave me free of charge. So we'll see where that goes. Damned health!

This week I've studied a little bit of my Italian and also found a program online that the US State Department uses to teach its personel other languages. So I ordered a trial and hopefully that'll help. Its no longer summer so staying in and studying a bit more might be easier. By the way, that program can be found at: http://www.therosettastone.co.uk

Otherwise, only two and a half weeks till my parents arrive and I've been kinda picking the dates we'll go to Florence, Venice, San Giaminano and maybe Siena. Also they were thinking of doing a winery tour. And if they're interested, my friend owns a cheese farm/factory and we might be able to get a tour of that.

My other friend, Fausto, was trying to get me a job there. The owner is thinking of expanding business and exporting into the States, thus, that's where I'd come in, taking samples around the US to different markets and distributors, then coming back here and getting the products shipped. Maybe in the witer him and I will talk because he's interested in me and, not that I've ever been a big fan of money, he's got alot of it. Also, he'd pay for all my flights back and forth to the US. This idea of Fausto's would be good for a while to get Giavonni (the owner of the farm) planted in the US, at which time I can hopefully get into my field... but who knows.

Stop me if I mentioned this before but another friend of mine suggested, seeing as I love Volterra so much, so work on bring college students here to study much like I did 2 years ago. Thus I'd talk to professors here, set up accomidations, day trips, etc etc... and take a piece of the action. The students could all be from one school for 2 or 3 weeks and the following month it could be a mix of students with a concentration in something like art, architecture, sociology, archiology, etc... But for this to happen, I'd need to speak better Italian so I could talk with the politicians, professors and hotel owners to make deals with them. I'd also need to learn how to make a presentation on DVD or CD for the universities to learn about what I have to offer.

Anyways, I need to get off here and go get some groceries. Hope everyone is doing swell. Take it easy and again I look forward to your comments.

Ciao tutti!!

Diah Veria!!!

Today, I have realized I'm in a "catch-22" situation (follow the link for a brief explanation of what exactly that means). The two problems at hand are first, I need to work to live, however, I am not happy working at a where I am and want to try to work in something more in my field since I enjoy what I do, the second problem in the situation is that I need to study and work on my Italian more (related to my field especially) in order to advance in the work place. The overall problem is this though, I have no time for both work and study it seems. I get up in the morning and go right to work. I get off of work around 4:30pm and usually have things to get done or I am so tired from work that I need a cat-nap. When I go back around 7:30, I work till about 10:30 and eat a quick dinner and go home (typically). I haven't been going out much lately since I haven't been feeling 100%. Thus another problem, I feel alone and sad since I don't see my friends much.

To sum up what I think I just wrote, there's not really just 2 problems but rather 3 or 4. Something's got to give somewhere but each leg of this three legged stool is dependant on the other two legs; one leg failing means the whole system collapses. I think this situation has become increasingly agrivating to me and today I actually asked myself, for the first time, do I really want to live here? It passed over once I left work but I know that I the cycle has to stop somewhere.

Where do I go from here? I did have my first trip to the hospital this week. Monday, I left work and walked the 20 minutes downhill to the hospital (outside the city walls). I waited in the waiting room for nearly an hour and spoke with the doctor (who didn't speak a word of English) for 5 minutes. Then I took the 20 minute walk back up the hill into the walls of Volterra. I like that it costed me nothing (just 3.40 for the cream he perscribed me). I guess you might be wondering what was wrong with me, and to tell you the truth, I don't really know, and the doctor didn't tell me what it was, but I had ugly red bumps on my right hand. They were there for probably 4 days before I went to the hospital and it bothered me seeing as many people see my hands handle their food at the restaurant I work at. But within a day, the bumps were hardly noticable. My hand is back to normal now, just the usual cuts from knives at work.

Anyways... I need to get some things done and take a shower before I go back to work (the catch-22 again). So I leave you all... Hope I will have better news next week sometime. Thanks again for the comments all!

Ciao tutti!