Friday Sept 4th / Saturday Sept 5th

Friday morning was a bit...scattered. I got to the cantina and was told to hose down the floors by the tanks and under the press. So I started to do that and was spray away trying my best to get all the grape stinks to roll in the same direction rather than scatter out even more. Then about halfway through that job I was told to stop with the water and start with the floor squeegee. So I stoped short of finishing the first job and started in squeegeeing the floor. Then I was told to stop squeegeeing because they were about to wash the tanks from the top and this would just cause more water. So while I was waiting for them to wash the tanks I started to sweep up the skins from under the whole press area (picture 12 of the work album). Then I was told to stop there because they were going to run through more grapes and it would be better to wait unil later to clean it up. So I stoped there and started to mop the small area where they do all the record keeping and computer work for the weighing of trucks when they come in with grapes or grape juice. This was the only job I was able to complete that morning! Sarah came to pick me up from the cantina and took me on a shopping adventure at the market in Ronca just down the street from the cantina. I got bread and socks, and a few other items I just really wanted...including a pair of Italian leather heels that were on sale because right now all the stores are chaning from their summer lines to their winter lines. Beautiful, beautiful shoes. :)

Friday for lunch I brought the boys my tomato sauce and spaghetti. I also had the bread and fresh parmesan cheese to grate on top. Four boys, Daniela, and I were able to eat ALMOST all of my creation. They seemed to like it and no one has been sick from work, so I think I did a good job. Friday afternoon I spent in the office helping Daniela. She works a lot with budgets and the organizations that run controls on the winery. I mostly helped her check invoices, but it still helps me to learn a little more about the transportation of wine and all the rules and regulations wineries have to follow.

After work Daniela and I met another worker from the winery at an enoteca (wine bar) close to the cantina for the happy hour Spritza. They are pretty serious about their happy hours here. I feel like everyone goes after work to have just a drink and eat some of the free amazing appetizers that the bars offer. I love it! Later that night I went with Daniela to her friend's birthday party. I got to have my first taste of an Italian birthday cake, it was good, but I missed the icing! The cake was a yellow cake that had a creamy custard type fililng with strawberries in the middle. We also had some other snacks and I was able to try a type of chip that was shaped like egg noodles and looked like the fried wonton pieces you get from the Chinese restaurants with your soup. They tasted kind of like a mild cheese. I also saw, for the first time in Italy, tortilla chips and pretzels! I've been missing my preztels like crazy and ate just about the whole bowl.

Saturday was a pretty laid back day. I haven't been feeling well because the weather is changing and my sinuses have my throat, nose, head, and ears all acting up. So Saturday I slept in then spent the morning by the pool (but not in it because the weather changed last week and with one rain it went from super hot all day to just plesantly hot during the afternoon hours). I came in for a few hours to plan my trip to Veince which will be this coming Saturday, then I went back out by the pool. Then I came in and got ready for teh evening. I went to eat with Sarah at a restaurant Trattori Fattori (different Fattori than Antonio's family). I didn't get the whole meal because by the time she called to see if I wanted to go, I had alread eaten my dinner at the house, but I did get dessert. It was just a tiny scoop of vanilla gelato with an amazing raspberry and blackberry compote. You could tell that it was good because not a single one of the three of us uttered anything until we had scraped our bowls clean of all the deliciousness. After dinner we went to the same bar that Dainela and I had been to for happy hour. We had a drink there and then headed home for the evening.

Today (Sunday) I've been here trying to update you all the best that I can. Tonight I have plans to go with Danilea to have a Spritza then we're going to eat pizza with Agusto and Alessandro and Alessandro's girlfriend. I'm actually looking forward to pizza because I haven't had it since last week and that's unheard of here.