Morning doubts give way to afternoon adventures

I have to admit to feeling a little intimated this morning when I woke up thinking about cooking my first meal here today.  I am used to deciding what I want to eat and then being able to find any and all of those ingredients close to home...the reverse of seeing what is available to eat and then deciding what to cook will take some getting used to.  But, I went back to the local fruit and veggie market and not only did I bravely go back after buying my morning's supply of fresh berries to get some really fresh vegetables that will make up dinner (still haven't quite figured out how), I got to speak some Italian!  I've been feeling like a mute for the past few days, smiling a lot, and nodding along...but this morning I actually strung together a sentence, "Dove posso comprare pasta fresca?"  ("Where can I buy fresh pasta?" If you know that to be wrong, don't tell me!) and even think I understood when I got the answer...we'll find out if I am able to find the parma supermercado in Piazza Pola later today and if in fact they sell fresh pasta!  Not bad for the second morning out.  I think the vegetable seller will become my new friend.  With Stephano the ice cream guy, that will make two...and they won't even know it!


Jim at work today and girls still asleep....it's already 10:30 am!

I finally made the girls get out of bed around noon and we wandered around the city wall through some park areas and back into the town to see how well I had understood where I could find fresh pasta.  I got where I thought I was going and there was no store there.  After asking for more directions, we found our way to supermercado pam in piazza borsa, which turns out to be exactly what I think he said to me this morning.  The language barrier, accent,  and the hearing combined make that sort of mistake seem pretty reasonable.

Scene on our walk today

Julia had visions of taking art lessons in Italy and as we were walking about yesterday we went into an art store and found a flyer.  I asked Guerrino to  make the phone call for me and he learned that there was a class today at 3:30 - and he offered to drive us there (he is super nice!).  So,  I have just left both my girls in an classroom next to an old church under renovation with a bunch of non-English speaking Italian tween/teen girls and a very talkative non-English speaking teacher - all of whom think it is super cool that the girls are from California - doing fashion design sort of art - nothing like the vision we began with. Can't wait to hear how these two hours go for them!  (Rachel did not think she was being left there but this was not an experience one should have alone - I'm imagining they will have lots to say about this!).  

Here is the girl's description of the class:The class was a lot different then we were used to or even expecting. It started out with the teacher giving Julia a drawing of a purse and asking her to copy it (although it was hard to get that much because she seemed to think that the faster she talked in Italian, the quicker we would understand.) No one there spoke English except for one girl who knew a few words. The teacher pretty much ignored Rachel until about a half hour into the class when she gave her an outline of a purse that she wanted her to color in. After Julia finished drawing and coloring of the purse, the teacher wanted her to create the matching accessories which turned out awful. Julia thinks that the work that she made was the worst yet because there was no instruction, no paint (only color pencil), and it required too much creativity to make the designs. Although Rachel's work turned out well, both girls agreed that any art work that they do in the next two month would probably be at home.

While the girls were at art, I chopped fresh vegetables for tonight's pasta with roasted vegetables from the market, then went back to pick up girls.  When they got home I sent them across the street for a little snack of pizza before dinner 

(where they had to manage ordering by themselves in Italian) and then Jim came home from his first day of work - that will have to be a separate blog if he is interested in filling you in on those details, but he had a good day.  And then dinner, and another round of gelato.  My pineapple won tonight - with Rachel's mint a close second she says.

Tomorrow was to be our first trip into Venice but there is a bus strike for 24 hours, so we'll have to entertain ourselves again closer to home.  I'm guessing it will start with fresh berries from my new best friend.