and then

My local friends took me out to Porto San Stefano to the sea, a two hour drive for a seafood dinner. I made a huge lasagna for Tina, Miranda and Adrienne (who were arriving while I would be out of town), and then took off for Cinque Terre to meet up with Mike and Eileen. Five days out by the Ligurian sea and a boat trip to Porto Venere were perfectly filled with delicious meals, gelato, and short hikes.

Riding Romero

The next day, I went horseback riding in the country.

Once again riding

Claudia and I went for a long ride in the country, nearly 30km. Beautiful views, a bit rocky in places, steep climbs and fun descending. A perfect Umbrian day.

Jump Borghese

Cristiano and I jumped in the Borghese Gardens.

Locksmith

The lock on my door had been giving me trouble for a couple of weeks, but up until two days ago, it was pretty impossible to open and close from the outside. I called my landlady who had me call the locksmith -- who happens to be married to my landlady's flower shop employee.

Carlo came by at nine this morning with a weathered leather bag filled with tools and started to work right away. I left him to his deed after offering a drink and headed upstairs to work. Ten minutes later, I'm called down.

All fixed. "Monteleone non ci sono ladri." He explained. Monteleone doesn't have many thieves. He continued in Italian. "Therefore, turn the lock just two or three times." (It goes up to five.)

Great, thanks, how much do I owe I ask. He shook his head.
"Nothing, maybe next time I see you at the bar, a caffe."

Are people kind or what?

A caffe to remember.

"Buona Sera!" is what I call out to every person I pass by in the evenings here. Yesterday, it landed me in Sersina's house for a caffe. If ever I wish I had my camera with me, this was the day.

Sersina is 83 years old, with a beautiful elegant smooth face, few wrinkles, the cutest smile, and white hair collected in a bun. She was walking in her front hallway in her blue flowered housedress when I greeted her. She lit up and clapped her hands in delight. "I thought you'd left town" she exclaimed in Italiano. We small talked and then she asked if I wanted some coffee. "Vieni, vieni," -- come in -- she urged me.

We walked up the first flight of stairs where she took me into an apartment and introduced me to her daughter and granddaughter. Then we continued up a second flight, pausing so she could show me her pictures on the walls, the plants, and decor. She invited me into her kitchen -- I stepped into the 1960s. The walls were covered in groovy tiles with a loopy two-toned "harvest yellow" pattern, two old stoves, complete with an old radio from the era.

Sersina talked to me the entire time she was moving. She pulled down her stovetop espresso maker (a standard in all Italian households), then the coffee, and stood by the open window -- shutters apart -- to put it all together. After about twenty minutes of talk and distraction, she lit the pilot to make our coffee.

We sat at the opposite ends of a chrome and melamine table, covered in a plastic table cloth and chatted about the local cats, her family, her home passed down through four generations -- they are the original owners and the home was built in the 1800s, and all sorts of interesting stories.

Sersina sat at the end of the table facing me, the enormous 1960s stove behind her, and the espresso pot on the right burner. Her hands were crossed on the table and she leaned forward to speak with me.

When the coffee was finished, she reached around to turn the fire off. Another ten minutes of chatting until she stood up to go into the salon to collect two espresso cups, saucers, spoons, and a sugar bowl that she carried on a silver platter. I couldn't have asked for anything more Italian, warmer, or inviting than being in her home at that moment.

I know I constantly mention how KIND and NICE everyone is to me. It's just phenomenal.

boy oh boy!

Ashley and Sarah have gone and so have the hopes of all the boys in town. For some reason, they all came out of the woodwork the minute they spotted the belle ragazze. The girls left this morning at 5 a.m. ...and when I opened the door for Stefano, my friend and taxi driver, he pointed to the doorbell: three roses and a note taped to it.

I peeled it off and opened the note, and read in clearly printed English: "Three roses for three beautiful girls. Have a nice journey!"

I turned to Stefano who shrugged with "Italian men."
"It's for them," I explained, and nodded towards my friends. I've been here since January and only meet the optimistic grandfathers. Thankfully, once Ashley and Sarah showed up, all the handsome young guys did too!

La dolce vita 2

Yesterday, Orfeo (far left), one of my favorite locals, turned 80 so he treated Ashley and I to our morning pastries, coffee, and tea. It's constant, the kindness and generosity of the folks here and I find that practically every day, someone offers me coffee, gelato, or whatever I may be having at the local bar & cafe.

I do my best to give back to town what I can. Franco (center right), known as Maestro, is the head of the pro loco here; the town's tourism office. He asked me to take photos during the Festa del Dolce, so I made a cd of about ninety images with video of the marching band. He was pretty pleased, and immediately went out and had every image printed. These guys are so cute.

The Saigon of Marguerite Duras - New York Times

You'll find that the NY Times and LA Times run semi-quarterly articles on Vietnam. I hadn't seen one in a little while, and here it is, from April 30: The Saigon of Marguerite Duras - New York Times

Happy Birthday ESB!

The Empire State Building turns 75 today. Since Friday night, the ESB went dark, so they could light it for one week in white, the original colors of the ESB when it first opened in 1931.

Just last month they lit it up Yellow/White/Yellow for Spring/Easter, Green/Blue/Blue Earth Day and Pink/Pink/Yellow for the Tribeca Film Festival. Here's the lighting schedule for more. I took this photo from my street corner for the Lunar New Year in 2004... also Christmas and Valentine's Day and Independence Day.

Perugia

I jumped in Perugia again.

around

Spent a day in Orvieto and two days in Florence; a sweet break from small town life in my medieval village. When I returned from Florence to my train station, one of the local taxi drivers, whom I've talked to several times when I've been at the station, told me that the bus drivers were on strike. Since people are extraordinarily kind to me -- all the time -- he gave me a lift home, gratis.

Two Year Anniversary

It's been two years to the day since I quit my last "real" job. Back then I worked in a windowless green room with four others in gray-green cubicles surrounded by storage boxes, binders, and fluorescent lighting.

Two years later, I have traveled over fifty thousand miles, set foot on three continents, and today, eaten my way through a lovely dessert festival in my medieval village in Umbria. I wake up to a stunning view, and every evening, enjoy a stunning sunset. Friends come and go, and this place changes their lives too.

Lots of people wonder how I do what I'm doing. To my amusement, many assume I have independent wealth (the answer is, I have none in my pocket, a plethora in my life). Last year, I made a fraction of what I made two years ago (all right, so I only worked three months). But it's all I needed to take five months to live in a foreign village. If you think about it, it likely costs me less to live here than it does for you to live there. I eat local produce, frugally use the natural resources available to me, and I take public transportation.

Life is made up of choices. You choose where you go or you choose where you stay. You choose to work in a place or to leave it, to listen to your heart or to follow the bank. You see my mantra on the column to the right? Life is what you make of it. I know I'm in charge and so are you. We just have to act like it.

La Festa del Dolce

This is the sweet life: we had a two-day dessert festival in town this weekend with stands from small villages all over Umbria with free samples of all their local desserts and wine. Our town got decked out with flags, and a horse parade this morning followed by a marching band this evening. My first stop was our own pro loco and the sweet woman there, Giuseppina gave me a plate full of cakes, cookies, and biscotti. Then she heard I had a friend in town and she filled up a second plate for me to bring home (he's out of town). I wandered the rest of the stands and tasted donuts, cookies, biscotti, and a delicious torta di fiori which had custard, chunks of chocolate, and liquor in a yellow cake base. Yum.

More on housing

Adam sent me an email with the following link, and two simple words: "come back!"

Sounds tempting, Adam, but even with the subsidies, living on a teachers' salary in NYC is just asking for a lot of suffering. And then you'll have to take me to dinner at Blue Ribbon to make up for it. But wait, you guys are leaving for MUMBAI!

Then I got this email from the NYC.gov site. I'm on their housing list and get excellent updates about new "affordable" buildings and units for sale and rent in the city.

HARLEM THREE-FAMILY HOMES AND CONDOMINIUMS
[...] Park West Condos LLC is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for three three-family homes at 533 West 147th, 537 West 152nd, 450 West 153rd Streets and for five condominium apartments located at 539 W. 144th Street. These properties are being offered through the Homeworks/203K Program and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

For more information, go to The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Are the signs pointing to New York?

Listing Square: No Fee Apartments

If you're looking for an apartment in NYC, go to Listing Square: "Listing Square will help you find a 'no fee' apartment in New York for FREE. Our listings include all the information you will need and are posted only by Landlords. We also provide rental tips and links to other web resources that you'll find useful in the process of creating a new home in Manhattan."

They give you exact addresses for apartments for rent directly by landlords and building managers, they fill you in on whether or not you can have pets, tell you everything you have to bring with you, and when you can see the apartments. Save yourself the broker's fee!

more adventures

After gawking at Perugino's Adoration of the Magi and a few small churches, Craig and I stopped in an eyeglass store in Citta della Pieve. We asked about Craig's prescription and the guy working there quickly shuffled us into his back examination room. He gave Craig a quick exam (free, after all, this is Italy), measured his prescription, and cleaned off his glasses. Then, he swept me towards the seat so he could check my eyes when I mentioned not being able to read the charts. He insisted, and sat me down and tested a few lenses on me. "Raise your prescription," he commanded. No reason to walk around unable to see.

Next day, we visited the Palazzo dei Priori and Etruscan museum in Perugia. This time, my new friends Antonio & Laura met us for drinks, and with Spring, all the cafe's had plenty of outdoor seating. We managed not to get sick on the speeding bus on windy roads all the way home.

Tomorrow he's off on his own adventure while I sleep in... or maybe do some work.

Buona Pasqua

Easter is not a holiday to be spent alone. So my sweet friends Marco and Vanessa invited me to their house for a family lunch, then out for a walk in the country, and back to the house to watch "Meet the Parents" in Italian. We didn't get very far with that until they were interrupted, and I left to go to a special market with Marco's mom Barbara and our friend (and my landlady) Daria. I skipped on buying delicious sausages and wheels of cheese, but did purchase a beautiful cutting board made of olive wood.

Name that Tune.

This is just one of those really cool things I have to share. SONGTAPPER lets you tap out a song using your space bar (say for example, you had one stuck in your head and couldn't figure out the name of it)... and it works! You can also teach it songs if it doesn't know yours.

I tried Zip-a-dee-doo-dah and it came up (along with a few others like Clocks by Coldplay).

Then I tried Puff the Magic Dragon. Also worked, but more interesting is that the beats match the William Tell Overture, Yellow Submarine, and Zelda by Nintendo among others. Very interesting!

Good Friday

My little medieval town is well known for the Catholic holiday events they hold, like the live nativity scene at Christmas. For Good Friday, there's a procession with three enormous crosses, Jesus, and Madonna. The town band is out to play, and the entire village walks through the town with candlelit torches.

Hitting a plateau

My caro amico in New York, who taught me Italian for a few weeks -- six years ago -- sent me an email warning me:

"I'm sure you are picking it up rapidly. I bet each day it gets better and better. Be prepared for plateaus. Watching TV helps. Listening to the radio helps too. A boyfriend is probably even better."

And he's right: I've leveled off with what I've been able to pick up talking to the locals. Now I'll start borrowing movies and listening to my lesson tapes. Maybe try to read my cooking magazine I picked up, or Cerami's Fantasmi that I brought along; a gift from my friend Peter in NY who is as much of an Italophile as I. I've never been much of a TV watcher, the radio is actually rather annoying, and well, the boyfriend prospect is in Rome!

Almost in New York

Doing things here that I often did in my beloved NYC helps bring a bit of the big apple to life to my sleepy medieval village. A couple of weeks ago, I was invited by some friends to go to an art opening in nearby Orvieto. Vanessa, my architect friend, had designed the space for Giancarlo Savino's solo exhibition, Mal di Terra. There was plenty of prosecco, wine, and good eats, including a plate of chocolate chunks to be eaten with pastries. Oh, but there was a dog allowed in the gallery. Do you supposed they'd do that in NYC?

Say Yes.

Would you like to spend three unexpected days with family friends in Roma, Positano, and Pompei?

I went down to Rome planning to spend an afternoon there... then Sandy and Lori convinced me to stay overnight with them [note: it's never difficult to ask me to change my plans]. That led to a morning spent in brilliant sunshine on the Spanish Steps while they toured the Vatican, until I received a call at noon.

"We're heading to Positano this afternoon, leaving the next day for Pompei, and we booked a room for you."

Uh, yes. Amalfi coast? Yes, yes.
So there I was, a room with a view.

San Quirico

Last week I jumped in San Quirico. I also made Gianni pull over on the side of the road so we could get some Tuscany jumps in... Cute little town with a wall built in the 12th century, and the lovely Horti Leonini Garden.

Zzzzzs.

Is someone trying to tell me something?
In February, Kirk told me about lucid dreaming which I now realize I've experienced, but never connected it to what he was talking about at the time.

Five days ago, while browsing del.icio.us, I came across an article by Jon Bischke entitled "How to have a 36-hour day" in which he references Steve Pavlina's fascinating article about "How to Become an Early Riser" and about polyphasic sleep. I clicked to these pages in tabs but then I didn't get around to reading them and closed my browser.

A day later, I went to evhead, which I occasionally visit. I've followed Ev's work since his blogger days. Hadn't been to his blog in many months, and there it was, a post that also referenced Steve Pavlina's article. Maybe Ev saw the same article I saw via del.icio.us? It was surreal to come across it twice in two days.

So I read Steve's article and then I started reading about his experiment with polyphasic sleep, and he also references lucid dreaming.

Tonight I found out that this week is National Sleep Awareness Week. No kidding. And now I'm yawning. Did you just yawn too?

Jump Kauai

In December, my friend Michael Grecco took this photo of us jumping in Kauai for my sister's fakefunk jump project. His picture of Jet Li would certainly make the cut. Cool.

Killer Lasagna

I used to disregard photographs by Ansel Adams, thinking... "well, how can you take an ugly picture of a beautiful subject?" It's bound to come out beautiful. After seeing several exhibits of his works over the years, though, I grew to appreciate his printing technique.

Likewise, how can you make a bad lasagna with incredible ingredients? Trust me, there really isn't any technique involved. I sautéed the onions, shallots, garlic, and in with the sausages directly from the butcher's... then the tomatoes, spices, and herbs from my terrace. Simmer for nearly an hour. In the meantime, I also had totally fresh hand made pasta, the freshest ricotta you ever laid eyes on -- not packaged, I had to buy it over the counter by the gram, freshly ground parmesan, and buffalo mozzarella. Into the oven for an hour, take off the cover for 20 more minutes (to get that cheese nice and toasted)... and eccola!

How could this possibly come out bad? I ate an enormous piece. And then I had seconds.

Rilke Letters

I just came across this text, by Rainer Maria Rilke, from his Letters to a Young Poet, a book that Mike sent me when I was in Vietnam -- it was quite a memorable ordeal -- and though I've left it in the States, I'm aching to read it again.

The following text was found on the internet, and so I can't accurately credit the translation (I own the Stephen Mitchell version, who also translated my Tao Te Ching):

"We have no reason to harbor any mistrust against our world, for it is not against us. If it has terrors, they are our terrors. If it has abysses, these abysses belong to us. If there are dangers, we must try to love them, and only if we could arrange our lives in accordance with the principle that tells us that we must always trust in the difficult, then what now appears to us to be alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience.

How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races--the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses. Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are only princesses waiting for us to act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love."

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring Forward

For a week, we're going to be seven hours ahead of EST, ten ahead of California and five behind Vietnam... Italy observed Daylight Savings Time as of this morning so pay attention if you're going to call me!

Starting in 2007, the U.S. is going to extend DST, which was first suggested by Ben Franklin in 1784, to three weeks earlier (second Sunday in March) and end one week later than usual (first Sunday in November). We didn't catch on till WWI. Slow to learn, I guess.

On a grey day in Burano.

How could anyone not be happy living in a place like this? Even on grey days, it's quite colorful.