After a very active holiday, we have fallen into a very busy time.
That’s because Mike has started studying for the exam to get his Italian driver’s license. As you may know from my previous posts, this is no easy task. It takes weeks, even months to prepare. With my guidance (he jokes about me having paved the way for him), he has developed a study routine that we hope works. Being a project manager, he says “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” And that’s what he’s doing.
There are 7,200 questions in the question pool, and they are all in Italian. Each person’s test randomly selects 30 questions. So Mike is diligently going through the book, chapter by chapter, and answering all of the questions related to each chapter. Once he’s done with this phase, he’ll have read each question in the pool. Then, on his phone app, he’ll start taking random sample tests. When he can consistently pass with only one or two errors, he will be ready to take the exam. That’s the plan.
In the meantime, I’m doing household chores that Mike used to do. And trying to study Italian.
When our son-in-law Lane was here at Christmas, he was able to help us re-connect our vacuum robot that we call "Olaf" and I am very grateful for that.
I hate to vacuum, and Olaf does a pretty good job on the floors.
But that not all that’s keeping me busy.
We are very excited that my sister Carol is coming to visit. She arrives on the 16th. On the 21st, we will drive up north to Oderzo to visit family there. Mike and I will leave Carol and take off for a few days. That’s where my planning activities come in.
We like to visit Roman and medieval towns. So much history. And it’s all around us. When Mike and I were up north for a month in 2018, we were able to visit a handful of them near where my father is from. This year, since Carol said that she just wants to spend time with the family in Oderzo, we decided to take off for a few days. And it’s all up to me to decide what towns to see, what to see there, and where to stay.
I can proudly say, “We are booked.” First stop, Civitella for a few hours. It’s a small walled medieval city. Then to Vicenza for two nights and to visit Palladio palaces. Then to Abana Terme to relax and soak in thermal baths. We’ll meet up with Carol in Mirano where the other branch of our family live and enjoy our cousin Lina’s fabulous food.
But there's more.
We have booked a trip to Portugal in June. It’s an American tour group, so we have to book our own air travel arrangements. I should say “I have to”. I’ve spent endless hours trying to figure out the best way to get to Lisbon and to return from Porto. Getting to Lisbon from Rome actually is pretty easy. The return trip not so much. However, I did find a flight to Valencia, and from Valencia right to Pescara. My “nephew” Eddy and his wife Heather live there. We’ve visited them and they’ve come to Italy to visit us. Actually, they were our first guests in Italy. So if I can finalize the air, we’ll be going to Portugal, then returning with a stop in Valencia.
Our UU friend Joan from Oak Park reached out to us about going to Croatia. She and her sister came to visit us two years ago. We met them in Assisi, stayed at a B&B for a couple of days, and then drove them to our house in Casalanguida for a few days. Anyway, they invited us to join them on their trip to Croatia. It’s booked! But, again, I have to arrange air fare to Zagreb with a return from Dubrovnik. Maybe we’ll just stay in Dubrovnik a few days and take the ferry from there to Ancona, then train to Pescara… hmmmm…
I’m also challenged to keep Mike from spending too much time studying. You know what they say about all work and no play, right? So a couple of times a week, I’ll drag him out to the grocery with me or to the village market. It’s always fun to go to the market. The fresh veggies and fruits, the people. Just getting out into the fresh air.
One of our favorite things to do is to go out to eat. There are endless choices near us.
So, once or twice a week, we are going out. Last week I had a hair cut in Pescara and we met friends who live there now. They are from South Africa and are a very interesting couple. We talked a lot about culture and life styles.
One day we took the whole day off and went to Chieti to visit the National Archaeological Museum of Abruzzo. It had been on our to-do list for a while. Housed in a villa built in 1830 on a hill overlooking Chieti, it contains artifacts found in the area and donated by private collectors. The property also has a Roman amphitheater that was built in the first century A.D. We had a nice lunch at a really cute traditional restaurant.
Another day we took the day off and went to a car boot sale in a cute town named
Archi. I’ve started collecting things to decorate the top of the plain cabinets in the new kitchen. One day, it will be full of interesting things. We had an amazing lunch at a restaurant there, Ristorante Zappacosta. Asparagus and mushrooms in a red pepper sauce. Yum!
Yesterday we went out for pizza with our friend Monica to a restaurant called “Big Mamma”. Good pizza!
One afternoon we had apertifs with a couple we'd met at our cooking class last fall. They are from Denmark and want to buy property here. What an interesting couple -- they've lived all over the world. Such great stories they tell!
Tomorrow a handyman comes to clean the metal shutters. They are really hard to open and close, probably just dirty. But we don’t know how to take them apart to clean them. We need to have it done this week because -- wait for it – we are getting curtains! Yes, now that we are settled and have most (oops, another story) furniture, it’s time to get curtains. I found a family-owned drapery shop nearby, and the owner was very helpful in picking out fabrics. I am really excited about this.
Oh Yes, more furniture. Another of my to-dos was to find a bookcase for the living room. We have boxes of books and knickknacks in the attic that need a better place to live. I finally found one on a website that a friend recommended. It should be here next week. Thing is, it weighs 70 kg (about 150 pounds). So it will be a challenge for us to haul it in (the shipper doesn’t do that). The nice thing is that Mike’s collection of Patrick O’Brian books will finally come out of hiding.
And on another note, Mike and I have decided to finish the attic into a one-bedroom apartment. This will be just for guests. It’s a long complicated process. You have to have an architect and a geometra create the drawings/blueprints, get them approved by the officials at the comune, then find workers to do the work, then shop for a kitchen, a bathroom, and all the furnishings. At this time, we are waiting on preliminary drawings.
So, even with Mike absorbed in rules of the road, we are busy. I can’t wait for my sister to arrive.
Cheers!
Comments