Monday, September 27, 2010

Alberobello, Pizza, and a Strange Thing Called "Autumn"

Yesterday we went to Alberobello, a small town near Martina famous for it's trulli. In Alberobello they were having a celebration for the Saint of the town (no, I don't know the name of the saint, I wasn't paying attention to that, just how pretty the town was =D). We walked through the historic center or the town and literally every single building was a trullo! I think Martina Franca is quite beautiful, but Alberobello is amazing! And I just realized I should probably explain what trulli are =). They are round pointy old building thingys. Sounds awesome, yes? Haha, I'd better post a picture XD
This is me and some trulli. Now imagine them everywhere in a giant valley like thingy. It is quite pretty. But that actually wasn't the best part of the day =).

That night we went to my host dad's sister's house in the "country side" (I say that with quotations because it is quite near the town, I think country side just means they have a house instead of an apartment, in America it would just be considered a different neighborhood). And it has a pizza oven!!!!! Like one of those big firey ones! I think this description is also lacking so I will put a picture here too.
The man it my host dad's sister's husband. And they make the best pizza I have ever tasted! Well, I've only had two pizzas since I got here, and both have been billions of times better than pizza hut, but these pizzas were amazing nevertheless =). I ate the potato pizza, with potatoes and a little cheese, and the tomato pizza with little cut tomatoes sticking up all over it. Yummy =). And I will also have everyone know that here in Italy they put tuna on their pizzas. And not only tuna, it must be a tuna, onion, and caper pizza. I did not try this one because first of all, it was tuna pizza and second of all, I'm pretty sure my breath would have stank for days. I'm not sure they didn't make this pizza just for the purpose of making one's breath repulsive. But anyway, awesome pizza.

My school is (from what I hear) typical Italian, meaning amazingly boring. It makes me want to stare out the window at the laundry drying on our balcony. Seriously. I miss my clothes dryer =(. Anyway, I joined a whole bunch of other classes since the first day, and I love them all (needless to say, I'm talking about the people in the classes, not the actual lesson its self. I'm not crazy). And the good news is, my Italian is getting better and I could probably understand a class in Italian if a teacher decided to speak clearly and loudly. Like that's ever gonna happen XD. 

But I can say really simple things in Italian without thinking now. However the trouble is when I actually need to say something it is usually something I don't know how to say. So everyone thinks I don't speak/ understand them when they speak and will either think it's better to try and speak to me in very,very broken English or extremelyyyyyyyyyy slow Italian. Like patronizingly slow. AFS volunteers tend to go with the patronizing option. Even after I tell them I have studied Italian for five months (in Italian! with correct verb tenses!) they continue like this. Quite annoying. Aw well, they are the ones sounding stupid when they do it. And I can't really tell whether people are speaking English to me or not anymore. People ask me how much Italian I speak with my host family and I really don't know, I understand it all so what does it matter?

It is also getting cold here. Am I the only one who thought "Seasons" were a myth??? This "Fall" thing is really weird. And I need to buy a sweatshirt. For less than $80 preferably (everything is incredibly expensive here!). And a winter coat. And a scarf. And gloves. And thick pajamas (didn't know thick pajamas existed until last night, I thought people in cold places just put on more blankets and were fine in winter). And anything else cold people wear. Soon, because I'm already a cold person. 

Anyway, Italy is awsome. That is all I have to say.

3 comments:

  1. Emily,
    I LOVE your blog posts! You always make me feel like I'm back home - even when you're talking about places I have never been to, like Alberobello ;)
    I am so glad to hear you got a chance to eat real Italian pizza cooked in a fire oven! Isn't it the best thing you have ever had? Yummy! ... Hopefully Brian and I will have a pizza oven of our own one day and I can make you real Italian pizza whenever you want ;)
    Keep up with the great job you're doing - both in writing your blog and living like a real Italian!
    Buon dovertimento!
    Elisa

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  2. Hey this is Sandra and I hope that you're having fun in Italy! I'm jealous that you have delicious pizza and we're stuck with Pizza Hut and Domino's. WAAHHH!!!

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  3. Do they sell Thai food in Italy?

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