I have noticed lately
- That the Italian "Uh Huh" meaning "Yes" sounds exactly like our "Uh Uh" meaning "No." This could be a problem when you say, "Do I stop the pump now?"
- I now speak with the Italian grammer structure to my Italian friends...IN ENGLISH. This is normal because I remember this happening with Spanish as well, but if I come to you and say I am going to the house of Antonio in stead of Antonio's house, don't be surprised.
- Another fun habit I have picked up on is I think a dielect habit. When my friends finish telling a story they say "e basta" meaning "and stop" can you guess what I say at the end of my stories now in English?
- I have been shocked and made to blush several times by the amount of nudity I find in public. I have seen advertisments in local newspapers, magazines, TV that don't include the black censory blocks. A little different way of thinking then US publicity huh? The first time I saw an uncensored adverstisement I stoped and made sure the newpaper I was looking at wasn't a dirty nudie magazine...nope, it was the local paper from that morning! I don't know if I can get used to that.
- Not only in Italy do I need to learn a new spoken language, but a new hand gesture language as well. The way they say "number 1" with their hands looks more like that thumbs up to me. The "come here" looks more like they are shooing something away from themselves. The equivlient to our middle finger involves the whole arm and a slapping motion. They also have a few I haven't figured out what they mean yet, but I see them use them all the time.
Also new photos in Days at Work, Casa Fattori, and Out with Friends!!!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
New Routine
Monday 13th was the start of what I believe is a great routine for me. I have found a solution to always having to ask for something to do and ending up cleaning. I found this routine on Monday because that is when the harvest of the Garganega grapes started. This is pin pointed as the busiest time of the year for the Fattori winery. For approximately 15 days the Garganega grapes will continously flow into the winery. So I found a place where I could actually help. Something I can do that I can interact with people. I can do this without having to completely understand everything. I can do this without messing too much up, but I still feel like I'm literally making someone's job more pleasant. So here's my plan: When I come to work in the morning I ask for something to do. I usually clean something or have a project until lunch. I go to lunch and when I get back from lunch the tractors have started to roll in from the fields full of Garganega grapes. That's when I take my spot on the weighing station. When the tractor rolls up I take the first weight. Then I test the sample of must for the grade of sugar. Then I take the second weight. Then I try to figure out how to spell the name the farmer has just rambled off to me. Then I record the amount of grapes in a journal that helps everyone to keep track of how many of what kinds of grapes are going where in the cantina. It's actually really fun. And like I said, I feel like I'm acutally helping without being a hassle for anyone.
Other than just enjoying being helpful, I love the fact that everyone is happier when I'm around. It's like my smile is contagious for them. Everyone who comes in or sees me says to me, " You are always smiling!" My reply to them is, "I'm in Italy, life is perfect, why shouldn't I smile?!" I also enjoy seeing the farmers ineract with each other. It reminds me so much of spending time up at the Dawn store during the lunch rush watching the farmers talk about the weather and discuss politics. Oh and when something goes wrong, you can bet that every single one of the people gathered by the weighing station run to "help" and by that I mean they run to the problem to see what's going on and then everyone just stands as the few people who actually know how to fix the problem go to work. I love people watching!
I've come to the point in my trip where I'm very frustrated with the language. All I want to do is understand! I just want to be able to KNOW and be sure of what is going on around me. I hate that I feel like I know what I'm doing, but I can't help. I also hate that most people in the winery must think I'm stupid because I have to be told about ten times before I know what I need to do. This is also frustrating because now that the other intern is here and she is Italian it is so much easier for them to turn to her and tell her what to do...this results in me 1. Not learning Italian 2. Not learning my job and 3. Just being frustrated. I know it comes with the territory of being in a new country with a new language, but sometimes it would be nice to feel like I was "in the know" of thing. I mean even something as simple as going to buy groceries can be a mess when you can't understand what people are saying to you. Siiiigh, this too will pass and one day I'll wake up and say, "Remember when I had no clue what was going on, so I just smiled and laughed all the time?"
Other than just enjoying being helpful, I love the fact that everyone is happier when I'm around. It's like my smile is contagious for them. Everyone who comes in or sees me says to me, " You are always smiling!" My reply to them is, "I'm in Italy, life is perfect, why shouldn't I smile?!" I also enjoy seeing the farmers ineract with each other. It reminds me so much of spending time up at the Dawn store during the lunch rush watching the farmers talk about the weather and discuss politics. Oh and when something goes wrong, you can bet that every single one of the people gathered by the weighing station run to "help" and by that I mean they run to the problem to see what's going on and then everyone just stands as the few people who actually know how to fix the problem go to work. I love people watching!
I've come to the point in my trip where I'm very frustrated with the language. All I want to do is understand! I just want to be able to KNOW and be sure of what is going on around me. I hate that I feel like I know what I'm doing, but I can't help. I also hate that most people in the winery must think I'm stupid because I have to be told about ten times before I know what I need to do. This is also frustrating because now that the other intern is here and she is Italian it is so much easier for them to turn to her and tell her what to do...this results in me 1. Not learning Italian 2. Not learning my job and 3. Just being frustrated. I know it comes with the territory of being in a new country with a new language, but sometimes it would be nice to feel like I was "in the know" of thing. I mean even something as simple as going to buy groceries can be a mess when you can't understand what people are saying to you. Siiiigh, this too will pass and one day I'll wake up and say, "Remember when I had no clue what was going on, so I just smiled and laughed all the time?"
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
I've been a busy girl...
Sunday night was a lot of fun. I got to see yet another beautiful city here in Italy, Vicenza! We went out for a spritz on a beautiful hillside, then we went into the city to a church that is famous for the miracle of the healing of a plague. We missed the festival of M'Donna by one day but I was able to see the pictures in the paper and it looked like a big deal. Italians in Vicenza even get this day off work work (and for anyone wondering, no, Italians don't celebrate Labor Day). From this church's courtyard at dusk I was able to see a beautiful landscape of Italian cities. Unfortunetly, it didn't translate onto my camera very well so you'll have to take my word for it. After taking in the beautiful sites we went to a bierreria (I think that's how you spell it). None the less, it's a place that has more beer than wine and serves amazing pizza. After dinner we went back to the center of Vicenza and had a apperitif at the oldest bar in Vincenza. I felt like I was walking down into a speakeasy from the '20s! Afterwords we went to a gelatoria by my request because everyone in Italy grows up with gelato and no one else thought it sounded quite as delicious as I did. The person behind the counter was very friendly and offered the Toffee gelato. I was so excited because it's been hard for me to ask for anything with carmel because the Italian general word for "candy" is "carmelo." It was delicious, and when talking with the man behind the counter I found out that he has cousins in Canada. Oddly enough, I feel like I've heard that quite a bit from many of the random people I've talked to in Italy. I wonder if that's the "in" place to live for Italiains...Hmmm...
Okay so now for Monday Sept 6th...oppsy, I'm behind again. Sorry guys, but it's been super busy here. I should've known!
As it is harvest time many of the surrounding cities are having their city festivals. Monday night I went with Daniela to Soave Versus in the walled (yes, that's right it's inside of what looks like a huge castle) city of Soave where they grow the Soave grapes and make Soave Classico. A lot of the surrounding winemakers brought in their version of the Soave wine the taste out to the large crowd of people. You could walk from booth to booth and talk to the different wine makers and see what they did to their wine to make it taste the way it did. I thought it was neat to compare all the different flavors. They also had food booths that were offering local specialities and I was able to try a smoked salmon, a stock fish, a custard dessert that is made from the must they use to make wine (concentrated grape juice more or less), a typical bread they serve at Christmas time, and biscotti. I also got to try some more of the local cheeses and freshly baked bread, which is fantastic no matter what country you're in. There were a lot of people there for a Monday night, and of course in true Italian style all of them were very nicely dressed! I met a lot of people too (being the social butterfly that I am). I met someone from Sardinia who makes corks, as well as another one of our winemakers that we used to carry at Vino100. If anyone remembers Inama wine, that's the one! It's still so crazy to actually meet the person who produced a bottle of wine I knew so well! Inama's wine maker invited me to his cantina so that I could see a different set up as well as see how they make red wine, since Fattori only makes whites at the moment. I'll keep you updated as to when I go on that trip.
Tuesday 7th the second intern for the season arrived. Her name is Giulia and she is from the North East part of Italy. She is in school to be an Enotologist and is on a month long assignment for her last year of school. She is staying in the house of Antonio as well and has been great to have around for company. She understand English and when she speaks slowly I can understand her Italian. We make it work, and sometimes when neither one of us knows what's going on, we just say Non Importa and move on! Also on Tuesday, I FINALLY got to clean out one of the tanks. I was so excited to actually be able to get inside! First you have to rinse off the entry way so you don't get all musty, then you must rinse the entire tank clean with a high powered hose, then you spray the whole thing down with more or less Bleach, then you rinse the whole thing off again, then you have to clean the floor under the tank you just washed out. Quite the process but I loved it. However, it was a "be careful what you wish for" situation because after one tank came another, and another, and another...I was tired by the end of the day! That night we went out for pizza in honor of Giulia's first day. One of the many Italian traditions I've come to love is the after dinner coffee and aperitif, right now lemoncello and sambuca have been the favorites and grappa (the local Italian liquor) I still can not even get my nose close to. Ew.
Wednesday 8th has been dubbed part 1 of a 2 part labeling fest. Giulia and I were in the Maggazin for a total of 12 hours putting importer labels on 162 cases of wine.
Thursday morning Giulia and I were told to clean the outside of some of the bigger tanks in the cantina. Okay, no problem...so we thought. We had hose shenanigans for and hour and a half before we even got started cleaning on the tanks. It was ridiculous. First the hose that was up in the catwalk where we needed it didn't have the correct attachment piece on it. So we started to take the piece from another hose but was told to reattach it and take the piece from a different hose. So we started to take the piece from the other hose but couldn't get it to come off of the hose. So then we were told to just take a whole other hose up to the catwalk...well when we found the hose we needed and got it up to the catwalk it ended up being too short. SO we had to take the short hose back down, search out a longer hose and drag it up the catwalk and FINALLY we could start to wash the tanks. Thursday night we all went out to a Bar/Gelatoria for drinks. I was able to taste two of the local wines. I'm still so amazed at how cheap the local wines are. €1.50 for a glass, and the best part is...it's actually GOOD! However, one of my friends told me that restaurants will still mark up their prices quite a bit, just like the do at home, so you have to be careful in touristy areas. One of the wines smelled like cat pee and was light bodied like a some Pinot Grigos can be and the other was more similar to a Soave with rich bold flavors, heavy body but not a lot of smell. Both had their ups and downs for me but I actually drank the full glass of the non-cat pee- smelling one.
Friday was part 2 of the labeling fest. We had to wait until Friday to finish because we ran out of labels the first time around. Giulia and I didn't mind the easy and clean work on a Friday and had fun passing my pocket dictionary back and forth between the two of us as we tried to have a decent converstaion. I learned a lot of vocabulary that day! Friday night we went out for another co-workers birthday, Giorgia. We drove about and hour to eat pizza on Lake Garda (where I'm told George Clooney has a house). I'm sure the view was beautiful but since they wait until 10:00pm to eat dinner here all I could see was a big black spot and some lights of houses on the opposite bank. The pizza I ate was the best I've had so far, all veggies, but all soooo fresh and I never would've thought to put riddicco on a pizza, but it was my favorite part! After dinner we had the birthday torta. This one was better for me than the last Italian birthday torta I had tasted. This one was made of layers of phyllo dough and a cream filling that tasted to me like it was egg nog flavored (probably the nutmeg). They also sang to Giorgia the Italian birthday song. I have no idea what the words are but I did reconize THE Birthday Song tune. After dinner we went out the door and around the corner to a disco called Hollywood for some dancing. We had a good time dancing as a group of 8 girls, but the place as packed full in each and every dance floor area. I was lovingly dubbed, by the sister of the birthday girl, "America" for the evening. I really didn't mind, it's not like anyone could hear her calling me that over the blasting music from three different areas anyway!And I'm still amazed at how much fashing sense and effort Italians put into looking their best. On that note, you should see their faces when I tell them I don't iron my clothes...ever. It's a great shock! We got home at 5am on Saturday morning.
Saturday I slept until 12:30. I got up and had breakfast/lunch then went for a run. A long run. I went up the hill to the Donna in the Wall (a statue of sorts that someone has placed in a hole in the wall by the road), down the hill to the road, into the city center of Ronca, back out and to the opposite direction to the Cantina. This took 45 minutes. THEN I took a pit stop at the cantina. I used the computer for about and hour and just as I was leaving the cousin of Antonio, Enrico who frequents a pair of bell bottom pin stripped hippie pants, pulled up on his tractor and asked if I wanted to have a coffe. I said sure and hopped on the side of his tractor to ride the 100 ft to the coffee bar. After coffee I got set on my way back to the house, another 30 minutes. By the time I got to the house I was steaming hot; took off my shoes and Mp3 player and jumped straight into the pool. The water was sooooo cold due to the recent rain. After I got over the cold water shock and jumped in a few more times I did some yoga stretches by the pool overlooking the grapevines and the hillsides of Italy...peaceful. After a shower, a phone call home, and about two hours of journaling to make sure I didn't miss anything for this blog, Guilia and I went with Daniela, Agusto, and Alessandro to the Monte Forte wine festival because this is where our friend Masimo lives and is now working. This wine festival was more spread out than the one in Soave. There were many streets you could walk down and many booths you could visit. There were crafts, food, and of course plenty of Wine. After the festival we went for pizza then off to bed because we knew we were getting up early the next day to go to the beach!
Sunday 12th Daniela, Agusto, Alessandro, and I (Giulia decided to stay in bed when I knocked on her door at 9:30 am to see if she was coming) went to the beach in Venice! It took about and hour and a half to drive all the way to the beach, and once we got close the traffic was just about bumper to bumper. However, the beach was BEAUTIFUL and it wasn't as packed as it can be since it's the end of summer and most people have already taken their holidays. We spent all morning playing in the waves then laying out in the sun. Then at 3 we decided to walk into the town to have lunch. We ate a regualar restaurant and we all had FISH, finally! I had a spaghetti with Vongole (clams) and other seafood, including mussels, prawns, and squid. I also got to try some of the fried fish (more so a Japanese style of fried than fish fry catfish style)mountian that Daniela ordered. It was all so delicious and hit the spot perfectly. After dinner it was back to the beach (hard life, I know) then we the sun went down and it got cold we headed to a beach side bar and had the wonderful Spritza. After our Spritza we headed out to walk around the shops in the town and then Daniela and I had gelato while the boys ate pizza. Then it was time to leave the beautiful warm beach behind and head for home. I vote this to be my best day here so far.
Okay so now for Monday Sept 6th...oppsy, I'm behind again. Sorry guys, but it's been super busy here. I should've known!
As it is harvest time many of the surrounding cities are having their city festivals. Monday night I went with Daniela to Soave Versus in the walled (yes, that's right it's inside of what looks like a huge castle) city of Soave where they grow the Soave grapes and make Soave Classico. A lot of the surrounding winemakers brought in their version of the Soave wine the taste out to the large crowd of people. You could walk from booth to booth and talk to the different wine makers and see what they did to their wine to make it taste the way it did. I thought it was neat to compare all the different flavors. They also had food booths that were offering local specialities and I was able to try a smoked salmon, a stock fish, a custard dessert that is made from the must they use to make wine (concentrated grape juice more or less), a typical bread they serve at Christmas time, and biscotti. I also got to try some more of the local cheeses and freshly baked bread, which is fantastic no matter what country you're in. There were a lot of people there for a Monday night, and of course in true Italian style all of them were very nicely dressed! I met a lot of people too (being the social butterfly that I am). I met someone from Sardinia who makes corks, as well as another one of our winemakers that we used to carry at Vino100. If anyone remembers Inama wine, that's the one! It's still so crazy to actually meet the person who produced a bottle of wine I knew so well! Inama's wine maker invited me to his cantina so that I could see a different set up as well as see how they make red wine, since Fattori only makes whites at the moment. I'll keep you updated as to when I go on that trip.
Tuesday 7th the second intern for the season arrived. Her name is Giulia and she is from the North East part of Italy. She is in school to be an Enotologist and is on a month long assignment for her last year of school. She is staying in the house of Antonio as well and has been great to have around for company. She understand English and when she speaks slowly I can understand her Italian. We make it work, and sometimes when neither one of us knows what's going on, we just say Non Importa and move on! Also on Tuesday, I FINALLY got to clean out one of the tanks. I was so excited to actually be able to get inside! First you have to rinse off the entry way so you don't get all musty, then you must rinse the entire tank clean with a high powered hose, then you spray the whole thing down with more or less Bleach, then you rinse the whole thing off again, then you have to clean the floor under the tank you just washed out. Quite the process but I loved it. However, it was a "be careful what you wish for" situation because after one tank came another, and another, and another...I was tired by the end of the day! That night we went out for pizza in honor of Giulia's first day. One of the many Italian traditions I've come to love is the after dinner coffee and aperitif, right now lemoncello and sambuca have been the favorites and grappa (the local Italian liquor) I still can not even get my nose close to. Ew.
Wednesday 8th has been dubbed part 1 of a 2 part labeling fest. Giulia and I were in the Maggazin for a total of 12 hours putting importer labels on 162 cases of wine.
Thursday morning Giulia and I were told to clean the outside of some of the bigger tanks in the cantina. Okay, no problem...so we thought. We had hose shenanigans for and hour and a half before we even got started cleaning on the tanks. It was ridiculous. First the hose that was up in the catwalk where we needed it didn't have the correct attachment piece on it. So we started to take the piece from another hose but was told to reattach it and take the piece from a different hose. So we started to take the piece from the other hose but couldn't get it to come off of the hose. So then we were told to just take a whole other hose up to the catwalk...well when we found the hose we needed and got it up to the catwalk it ended up being too short. SO we had to take the short hose back down, search out a longer hose and drag it up the catwalk and FINALLY we could start to wash the tanks. Thursday night we all went out to a Bar/Gelatoria for drinks. I was able to taste two of the local wines. I'm still so amazed at how cheap the local wines are. €1.50 for a glass, and the best part is...it's actually GOOD! However, one of my friends told me that restaurants will still mark up their prices quite a bit, just like the do at home, so you have to be careful in touristy areas. One of the wines smelled like cat pee and was light bodied like a some Pinot Grigos can be and the other was more similar to a Soave with rich bold flavors, heavy body but not a lot of smell. Both had their ups and downs for me but I actually drank the full glass of the non-cat pee- smelling one.
Friday was part 2 of the labeling fest. We had to wait until Friday to finish because we ran out of labels the first time around. Giulia and I didn't mind the easy and clean work on a Friday and had fun passing my pocket dictionary back and forth between the two of us as we tried to have a decent converstaion. I learned a lot of vocabulary that day! Friday night we went out for another co-workers birthday, Giorgia. We drove about and hour to eat pizza on Lake Garda (where I'm told George Clooney has a house). I'm sure the view was beautiful but since they wait until 10:00pm to eat dinner here all I could see was a big black spot and some lights of houses on the opposite bank. The pizza I ate was the best I've had so far, all veggies, but all soooo fresh and I never would've thought to put riddicco on a pizza, but it was my favorite part! After dinner we had the birthday torta. This one was better for me than the last Italian birthday torta I had tasted. This one was made of layers of phyllo dough and a cream filling that tasted to me like it was egg nog flavored (probably the nutmeg). They also sang to Giorgia the Italian birthday song. I have no idea what the words are but I did reconize THE Birthday Song tune. After dinner we went out the door and around the corner to a disco called Hollywood for some dancing. We had a good time dancing as a group of 8 girls, but the place as packed full in each and every dance floor area. I was lovingly dubbed, by the sister of the birthday girl, "America" for the evening. I really didn't mind, it's not like anyone could hear her calling me that over the blasting music from three different areas anyway!And I'm still amazed at how much fashing sense and effort Italians put into looking their best. On that note, you should see their faces when I tell them I don't iron my clothes...ever. It's a great shock! We got home at 5am on Saturday morning.
Saturday I slept until 12:30. I got up and had breakfast/lunch then went for a run. A long run. I went up the hill to the Donna in the Wall (a statue of sorts that someone has placed in a hole in the wall by the road), down the hill to the road, into the city center of Ronca, back out and to the opposite direction to the Cantina. This took 45 minutes. THEN I took a pit stop at the cantina. I used the computer for about and hour and just as I was leaving the cousin of Antonio, Enrico who frequents a pair of bell bottom pin stripped hippie pants, pulled up on his tractor and asked if I wanted to have a coffe. I said sure and hopped on the side of his tractor to ride the 100 ft to the coffee bar. After coffee I got set on my way back to the house, another 30 minutes. By the time I got to the house I was steaming hot; took off my shoes and Mp3 player and jumped straight into the pool. The water was sooooo cold due to the recent rain. After I got over the cold water shock and jumped in a few more times I did some yoga stretches by the pool overlooking the grapevines and the hillsides of Italy...peaceful. After a shower, a phone call home, and about two hours of journaling to make sure I didn't miss anything for this blog, Guilia and I went with Daniela, Agusto, and Alessandro to the Monte Forte wine festival because this is where our friend Masimo lives and is now working. This wine festival was more spread out than the one in Soave. There were many streets you could walk down and many booths you could visit. There were crafts, food, and of course plenty of Wine. After the festival we went for pizza then off to bed because we knew we were getting up early the next day to go to the beach!
Sunday 12th Daniela, Agusto, Alessandro, and I (Giulia decided to stay in bed when I knocked on her door at 9:30 am to see if she was coming) went to the beach in Venice! It took about and hour and a half to drive all the way to the beach, and once we got close the traffic was just about bumper to bumper. However, the beach was BEAUTIFUL and it wasn't as packed as it can be since it's the end of summer and most people have already taken their holidays. We spent all morning playing in the waves then laying out in the sun. Then at 3 we decided to walk into the town to have lunch. We ate a regualar restaurant and we all had FISH, finally! I had a spaghetti with Vongole (clams) and other seafood, including mussels, prawns, and squid. I also got to try some of the fried fish (more so a Japanese style of fried than fish fry catfish style)mountian that Daniela ordered. It was all so delicious and hit the spot perfectly. After dinner it was back to the beach (hard life, I know) then we the sun went down and it got cold we headed to a beach side bar and had the wonderful Spritza. After our Spritza we headed out to walk around the shops in the town and then Daniela and I had gelato while the boys ate pizza. Then it was time to leave the beautiful warm beach behind and head for home. I vote this to be my best day here so far.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Little observations
Now it's time to fill in with some random stuff:
One day some people came into Antontio and I could understand that they were farmers and that they were talking about their grapes. I asked Antonio if they wanted to sell their grapes to him. He said that they were only asking his opinion on whether or not to harvest their grapes yet. He told them to wait a couple more weeks because of their type of grape wasn't supposed to be harvested just quite yet. I thought it was pretty cool that random people just come to him for advice like that. I saw it happen again with another person as well.
I went grocery shopping with Sarah one day. I wanted to buy one package of fruity gum and one package of minty gum, and I thought I did. When I went to open what I thought was blackberry gum, I ended up with anise flavored gummy candy. No big deal, I would just open my minty gum...no, it was a package of mint candy. I'm learning every day. Sarah ended up giving me a package of her gum.
Most Italian children live with their parents until they are married. This is much like it is in Mexico. I came on my own to Italy and I have lived on outside of my parent's house since I was 19. It's hard to imagine still living and depending completely Mom and Dad (don't get me wrong, I know they would let me in a heartbeat and I know they are always there if I need them, but where's the independence of being a grown up?). But at least now I understand how many of the Italians from the disco the other night could afford all their Prada and Gucchi clothing and extremely expensive shoes, they don't have rent bills or phone bills and any money they work for is all for play! It all makes sense now.
Also from listening to converstions between my friends I've realized that divorce is on the rise in Italy. Most of my Italian friend's parents are divorced. It's sad to think that the divorce epidemic is spreading all over the world.
Politics/ religion are both very strong subjects in Italy. Best to steer clear of them...just stay neutral, smile, and nod.
Doors in Italy are Push to go in and Pull to go out. This must be the opposite way as many of the doors in the US because my instinct tells me to Pull to go in and Push to come out...I've ran into a lot of doors lately.
The salutaion of kisses on the cheek. Two in Latin America, Three in Italy. Also be very clear as to which side you choose to go to first. Most Italians go towards the right first, but some of them will choose the left and if they do you're stuck in an awkward dance of back and forth with someone you are just meeting for the first time. Also a problem I had when I came back to the US from Mexcio is that I would meet someone or see a friend or family memeber and go to kiss their cheek and get a strange look from them as if they were saying "why are you in my bubble?" So consider this your warning for when I return home!
Okay, that's all for now. Sorry to bombard you all with 4 posts in one day. It might always have to be like this though, so maybe if you read a post a day I'll have more for you by the time you're ready for a new one. This coming week should be pretty exciting. In the catina we're switching from Pinot Grigio grapes to Chardonnay. Thursday I have plans to go to Verona, and Saturday I have plans to go to Venice. We'll see how it all plays out! Check the albums for new pictures! :)
One day some people came into Antontio and I could understand that they were farmers and that they were talking about their grapes. I asked Antonio if they wanted to sell their grapes to him. He said that they were only asking his opinion on whether or not to harvest their grapes yet. He told them to wait a couple more weeks because of their type of grape wasn't supposed to be harvested just quite yet. I thought it was pretty cool that random people just come to him for advice like that. I saw it happen again with another person as well.
I went grocery shopping with Sarah one day. I wanted to buy one package of fruity gum and one package of minty gum, and I thought I did. When I went to open what I thought was blackberry gum, I ended up with anise flavored gummy candy. No big deal, I would just open my minty gum...no, it was a package of mint candy. I'm learning every day. Sarah ended up giving me a package of her gum.
Most Italian children live with their parents until they are married. This is much like it is in Mexico. I came on my own to Italy and I have lived on outside of my parent's house since I was 19. It's hard to imagine still living and depending completely Mom and Dad (don't get me wrong, I know they would let me in a heartbeat and I know they are always there if I need them, but where's the independence of being a grown up?). But at least now I understand how many of the Italians from the disco the other night could afford all their Prada and Gucchi clothing and extremely expensive shoes, they don't have rent bills or phone bills and any money they work for is all for play! It all makes sense now.
Also from listening to converstions between my friends I've realized that divorce is on the rise in Italy. Most of my Italian friend's parents are divorced. It's sad to think that the divorce epidemic is spreading all over the world.
Politics/ religion are both very strong subjects in Italy. Best to steer clear of them...just stay neutral, smile, and nod.
Doors in Italy are Push to go in and Pull to go out. This must be the opposite way as many of the doors in the US because my instinct tells me to Pull to go in and Push to come out...I've ran into a lot of doors lately.
The salutaion of kisses on the cheek. Two in Latin America, Three in Italy. Also be very clear as to which side you choose to go to first. Most Italians go towards the right first, but some of them will choose the left and if they do you're stuck in an awkward dance of back and forth with someone you are just meeting for the first time. Also a problem I had when I came back to the US from Mexcio is that I would meet someone or see a friend or family memeber and go to kiss their cheek and get a strange look from them as if they were saying "why are you in my bubble?" So consider this your warning for when I return home!
Okay, that's all for now. Sorry to bombard you all with 4 posts in one day. It might always have to be like this though, so maybe if you read a post a day I'll have more for you by the time you're ready for a new one. This coming week should be pretty exciting. In the catina we're switching from Pinot Grigio grapes to Chardonnay. Thursday I have plans to go to Verona, and Saturday I have plans to go to Venice. We'll see how it all plays out! Check the albums for new pictures! :)
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.
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.
Wednesday Sept 2 and Thursday Sept 3rd
I added more to the end of the post before this, so make sure you read my updates there before you move on to Wednesday!
Wednesday morning I came in and had a project right off the bat. They needed someone to enlarge the map of the winery's pipelines and tanks system. Augusto chose me, partly because it would something I could actually do, and partly because I wasn't being much of a help anywhere else at the moment. So I went to work with a ruler and a pencil and tiny sections of graph paper taped together and tried my best to keep it to scale. In the end they were pleased with my map and I kind of understood a little bit better the whole system. Kind of. At least I understand there at certain tanks for fermentation and certain tanks for cooling juice. The cooling system, Antonio explained to me, is a new system for Fattori this year. It helps to stabilize the natural fermentation of the juice, and then they run it through a machine that kills all the natural bacteria so that they can control how much and what kind of fermentation the juice gets and are able to achieve the flavors and body of wine they want. After lunch I went to work on cleaning the control panels for the pressing machine as well as the metal safety bars. There's been a lot of cleaning lately and from what I understand I think we're getting ready to switch from the Pinot Grigio harvest to the Chardonnay harvest. Also there are a lot of controls on Wineries in Italy so I have a feeling things have to be kept pretty spotless. After cleaning I got to help Alessandro make the yeast for a batch of juice that had just come into the Cantina. First we had to get two large tubs. These large tubs got half filled with water warmed to I think 40 degrees Centigrade. Then we added large amounts of yeast. I got to use my WHOLE arm to stir the yeast into the water to get it dissolved. Then we gave the yeast a little bit of sugar and a lot of yeast food. All of that also had to be stirred quickly with my entire arm. I had yeast all up my arm, in my watch, in my hair, on my face, in my nose, all of over my shirt and I smelled of freshly baked bread. It was a blast! After mixing and feeding the yeast we had to let it grow. So the two large tubs got poored into one ginormous tub and an air tub was inserted to help the yeast turn over and move around so it could all get some air. Once the yeast was active enough and the must (grape juice) was at the correct tempture Alessandro started to add the must to the yeast little by little. Once the must was tempered into the yeast he moved the must/yeast mixture to a tank so it could ferment to about double it's size. Then later that night he moved the doubled yeast/must mixture to different tanks to start the fermentation process in larger tanks of must. Whoo...I learned a lot of Wednesday!
Wednesday night Antonio was in London to receive an award for his Molto Piane Soave so I decided to make a mess of the kitchen at the house... :)Sarah had brought us more tomatoes from her garden. Is it possible to overdose on Lycopene? I had to think of something to do with these tomatoes. My first thought was salsa, but I hadn't seen any tortilla chips in Italy yet so I figured I'd make a tomato sauce for pasta instead. I also decided that I would make an object language lesson out of it as well. So before I started I looked up all the vocabulary that I thought I might need for my cooking experience and made flash cards with them. Then as I made my sauce I forced myself use the vocabulary, I wouldn’t get a pot unless I knew how to say "I need a pot," (Io ho bisogno di una pentola). It was a slooow process...about 4 hours worth of cooking and learning, but it was fun and useful and totally worth it. In the end I ended up with enough pasta sauce for an army and about 50 new words added to my Italian vocabulary.
Thursday morning I was put to work cleaning the osmosis machine. Unfortunetly I didn't clearly understand exactly how it works, but it helps to seperate water from the juice...I think. I'm going to have to ask for clearification on that one. Thursday afternoon I spent being Agusto's ombra (shadow) because there wasn't a whole lot to do. Not too much to report of Thursday.
Wednesday morning I came in and had a project right off the bat. They needed someone to enlarge the map of the winery's pipelines and tanks system. Augusto chose me, partly because it would something I could actually do, and partly because I wasn't being much of a help anywhere else at the moment. So I went to work with a ruler and a pencil and tiny sections of graph paper taped together and tried my best to keep it to scale. In the end they were pleased with my map and I kind of understood a little bit better the whole system. Kind of. At least I understand there at certain tanks for fermentation and certain tanks for cooling juice. The cooling system, Antonio explained to me, is a new system for Fattori this year. It helps to stabilize the natural fermentation of the juice, and then they run it through a machine that kills all the natural bacteria so that they can control how much and what kind of fermentation the juice gets and are able to achieve the flavors and body of wine they want. After lunch I went to work on cleaning the control panels for the pressing machine as well as the metal safety bars. There's been a lot of cleaning lately and from what I understand I think we're getting ready to switch from the Pinot Grigio harvest to the Chardonnay harvest. Also there are a lot of controls on Wineries in Italy so I have a feeling things have to be kept pretty spotless. After cleaning I got to help Alessandro make the yeast for a batch of juice that had just come into the Cantina. First we had to get two large tubs. These large tubs got half filled with water warmed to I think 40 degrees Centigrade. Then we added large amounts of yeast. I got to use my WHOLE arm to stir the yeast into the water to get it dissolved. Then we gave the yeast a little bit of sugar and a lot of yeast food. All of that also had to be stirred quickly with my entire arm. I had yeast all up my arm, in my watch, in my hair, on my face, in my nose, all of over my shirt and I smelled of freshly baked bread. It was a blast! After mixing and feeding the yeast we had to let it grow. So the two large tubs got poored into one ginormous tub and an air tub was inserted to help the yeast turn over and move around so it could all get some air. Once the yeast was active enough and the must (grape juice) was at the correct tempture Alessandro started to add the must to the yeast little by little. Once the must was tempered into the yeast he moved the must/yeast mixture to a tank so it could ferment to about double it's size. Then later that night he moved the doubled yeast/must mixture to different tanks to start the fermentation process in larger tanks of must. Whoo...I learned a lot of Wednesday!
Wednesday night Antonio was in London to receive an award for his Molto Piane Soave so I decided to make a mess of the kitchen at the house... :)Sarah had brought us more tomatoes from her garden. Is it possible to overdose on Lycopene? I had to think of something to do with these tomatoes. My first thought was salsa, but I hadn't seen any tortilla chips in Italy yet so I figured I'd make a tomato sauce for pasta instead. I also decided that I would make an object language lesson out of it as well. So before I started I looked up all the vocabulary that I thought I might need for my cooking experience and made flash cards with them. Then as I made my sauce I forced myself use the vocabulary, I wouldn’t get a pot unless I knew how to say "I need a pot," (Io ho bisogno di una pentola). It was a slooow process...about 4 hours worth of cooking and learning, but it was fun and useful and totally worth it. In the end I ended up with enough pasta sauce for an army and about 50 new words added to my Italian vocabulary.
Thursday morning I was put to work cleaning the osmosis machine. Unfortunetly I didn't clearly understand exactly how it works, but it helps to seperate water from the juice...I think. I'm going to have to ask for clearification on that one. Thursday afternoon I spent being Agusto's ombra (shadow) because there wasn't a whole lot to do. Not too much to report of Thursday.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Catch up
Wow, long time since I've written. And quite a bit to cover. Unfortunetly when I was smart enough to write it all down in my journal this morning so I woulnd't forget what to write, I managed to put it neatly back in its place before I left the house rather than bring it with me. Ooops. I'll try from memory, but don't be surprised when the next post is stuff I missed in this one. :)
Let's start with Sunday night. Sunday night after updated with you all, I went with Antonio and his girlfriend Fredrica to a restaurant in Monteforte. It was about a 20 minute drive, but well worth it. When we pulled up the place I literally thought we were in someone's home driveway. When we got into restaurant we were the only three customers there. Then Antonio told me it was the owner's last night to be open because he was retiring and his son didn't want to follow in the family business. The owner of the restaurant was our host, our server, our entertainment, and I'm pretty sure he was back in teh kicthen helping his wife cook. But don't let all the fool you. This was a restaurnt of firt class style, right down to the tableside wine service. Fredrica chose (she also makes wine in a town close by the Fattori winery called Soave) an intresting red from Italy of which I can't remember the name of the varietal or the wine maker. It had the body of a medium style cabernet and had the fragrances of tabacco and darker red fruits. I have also noticed that people in Italy (all people, wine makers and non wine makers alike) still smell the cork when they open a bottle. I'm dying to ask what they believe they can tell from it, because I have a feeling it's along the same lines as the Screw cap/ non Screw cap arguement between those who make and love wine. Basically meaning that there are truths to both sides but every side is very passionate about their opinion. The owner was professional and funny, and his food was amazing. The first plate was a special cured pork with a cabbage salad. I ate my salad and let Antonion and Fredrica finish off the pork. Next came a pasta dish for me...it was delicious, until I was chewing on what I thought was a melted piece of cheese only to find out it was a piece of pancetta. I managed not to psych myself out and just put my silverware down ever so slowly and ate my side veggies. For dessert we had what they called a creme brulee. It did in fact have a carmelized topping on it but instead of the neat little white ramekin that I'm used to seeing them in it was really just in a rectangular pile on my plate. It was also flavored with anise and had a little bit of a curdled consistancey, never the less, I ate it all. :) After dessert of course came the coffee. After dinner we went down to San Bonifacio to what has to be the hangout of the town a gelatoria and bar (both coffe and alcohol). There was a 10 page menu of different gelato sundaes you could order. I went simple with a cup of varied berry gelato and a cookie on top. I was so increadbly stuffed after this night.
Monday morning I came to work and was so excited because I got to finaly get my hands dirty and help clean out steel poles that go inside the grape press. The poles fit inside the press and as they come down onto the grapes the skins of the grapes get stuck inside the many little holes leaving to fall down the pipeline only the grape mush and juice. One by one we helped pull the poles down from the press and laid them out on palates so that we could spray them down with colorine and then powerwash the grape skins out of the little holes. I had grapeskins in my hair and on my arms and my pants were wet from backspray from the powerwasher. I didn't mind, I was finally able to do something to help, rather than just stand and watch. But alas, all good things must come to an end and when I was about to help take the poles back to the press I was whisked away to the warehouse to put more collars on more bottles. After lunch, I got to put all the bottles I had collared into their boxes. But first we had to hotglue the boxes together on the bottle, then fill them with bottles, then put in the sepeartor (I'm a champ at that now), then close then up with more hot glue. THEN we stacked them all. Only to find out the next mornign we had stacked them in the wrong direction, so I got to restack them then wrap them in cellephane. I feel like if I see another one of those bottles, with those silly collars that won't stick together worth a poop, anytime soon...it may not be pretty.
Tuesday morning after getting the bottle palate restacked I went to watch Agusto as the farmers were bringing in grapes. Right now it is time to harvest the Pinot Grigio grapes. Augusto explained to me that these grapes are a bit too bulky for our equiptment and the sticks, leaves, and vines like to get stuck in the machine as they come through. So to fix this problem someone must stand down by the machine armed with a stick (basically a broken broom handle) and push the stuff through the pipe that sucks it up and drags it up around the building and into a large pile. To get a better understanding look at picture 14 of First days of Work album. This is above ground and where the farmers dump their grapes. This machine rotates and pushes the grapes through a pipe that leads below the ground where the rest of the machine is. The grapes on vines come out at picture 18 and go into the seperator which is picture 20. The seperartor spins and spits the grapes and skins into one pipe, the juice/must into picture 17 and the stems get sucked out around the back side of the buidling to picture 22. Did that make sense at all? Now you see why I wanted to actually SEE this process happening so I could clearly understand this process. Anywho since we were working with Pinot Grigio grapes I got to stand by the machine and help push the twigs through. I picked just a few stems and grapes out of my hair that evening.
Let's start with Sunday night. Sunday night after updated with you all, I went with Antonio and his girlfriend Fredrica to a restaurant in Monteforte. It was about a 20 minute drive, but well worth it. When we pulled up the place I literally thought we were in someone's home driveway. When we got into restaurant we were the only three customers there. Then Antonio told me it was the owner's last night to be open because he was retiring and his son didn't want to follow in the family business. The owner of the restaurant was our host, our server, our entertainment, and I'm pretty sure he was back in teh kicthen helping his wife cook. But don't let all the fool you. This was a restaurnt of firt class style, right down to the tableside wine service. Fredrica chose (she also makes wine in a town close by the Fattori winery called Soave) an intresting red from Italy of which I can't remember the name of the varietal or the wine maker. It had the body of a medium style cabernet and had the fragrances of tabacco and darker red fruits. I have also noticed that people in Italy (all people, wine makers and non wine makers alike) still smell the cork when they open a bottle. I'm dying to ask what they believe they can tell from it, because I have a feeling it's along the same lines as the Screw cap/ non Screw cap arguement between those who make and love wine. Basically meaning that there are truths to both sides but every side is very passionate about their opinion. The owner was professional and funny, and his food was amazing. The first plate was a special cured pork with a cabbage salad. I ate my salad and let Antonion and Fredrica finish off the pork. Next came a pasta dish for me...it was delicious, until I was chewing on what I thought was a melted piece of cheese only to find out it was a piece of pancetta. I managed not to psych myself out and just put my silverware down ever so slowly and ate my side veggies. For dessert we had what they called a creme brulee. It did in fact have a carmelized topping on it but instead of the neat little white ramekin that I'm used to seeing them in it was really just in a rectangular pile on my plate. It was also flavored with anise and had a little bit of a curdled consistancey, never the less, I ate it all. :) After dessert of course came the coffee. After dinner we went down to San Bonifacio to what has to be the hangout of the town a gelatoria and bar (both coffe and alcohol). There was a 10 page menu of different gelato sundaes you could order. I went simple with a cup of varied berry gelato and a cookie on top. I was so increadbly stuffed after this night.
Monday morning I came to work and was so excited because I got to finaly get my hands dirty and help clean out steel poles that go inside the grape press. The poles fit inside the press and as they come down onto the grapes the skins of the grapes get stuck inside the many little holes leaving to fall down the pipeline only the grape mush and juice. One by one we helped pull the poles down from the press and laid them out on palates so that we could spray them down with colorine and then powerwash the grape skins out of the little holes. I had grapeskins in my hair and on my arms and my pants were wet from backspray from the powerwasher. I didn't mind, I was finally able to do something to help, rather than just stand and watch. But alas, all good things must come to an end and when I was about to help take the poles back to the press I was whisked away to the warehouse to put more collars on more bottles. After lunch, I got to put all the bottles I had collared into their boxes. But first we had to hotglue the boxes together on the bottle, then fill them with bottles, then put in the sepeartor (I'm a champ at that now), then close then up with more hot glue. THEN we stacked them all. Only to find out the next mornign we had stacked them in the wrong direction, so I got to restack them then wrap them in cellephane. I feel like if I see another one of those bottles, with those silly collars that won't stick together worth a poop, anytime soon...it may not be pretty.
Tuesday morning after getting the bottle palate restacked I went to watch Agusto as the farmers were bringing in grapes. Right now it is time to harvest the Pinot Grigio grapes. Augusto explained to me that these grapes are a bit too bulky for our equiptment and the sticks, leaves, and vines like to get stuck in the machine as they come through. So to fix this problem someone must stand down by the machine armed with a stick (basically a broken broom handle) and push the stuff through the pipe that sucks it up and drags it up around the building and into a large pile. To get a better understanding look at picture 14 of First days of Work album. This is above ground and where the farmers dump their grapes. This machine rotates and pushes the grapes through a pipe that leads below the ground where the rest of the machine is. The grapes on vines come out at picture 18 and go into the seperator which is picture 20. The seperartor spins and spits the grapes and skins into one pipe, the juice/must into picture 17 and the stems get sucked out around the back side of the buidling to picture 22. Did that make sense at all? Now you see why I wanted to actually SEE this process happening so I could clearly understand this process. Anywho since we were working with Pinot Grigio grapes I got to stand by the machine and help push the twigs through. I picked just a few stems and grapes out of my hair that evening.
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