vino per 3 euro or less

Tues 13 Jan 2009

Ciao!

It's been a few days since I last wrote, so I have a bit to recap. Also, I just noticed I labeled my last two entires as 2008 instead of 2009. Filling out my permit to stay (or something like that) document today was the first time I actually wrote 2009. That's going to take a bit of getting used to.

So. I'm alone in my apartment for the first time. It's strange, since that means the TV isn't on in our living room blasting MTV or the "AllMusic" channel that my roommates tend to religiously keep blasting. I'm sitting on one of our metal/wooden chairs in the kitchen, feet up on the marble windowsill where I sat the other day writing in my written journal, with the lights off and natural light and scenery from the cloudy day outside creeping through one of the many windows in this apartment that's taller than I am. This would be a great place to blog all my entries if we got internet in here. Maybe I'll try the internet cafe again later and see if the internet still "no funcionado."

*******Sunday********
Zipping back all the way to Sunday. Stefano had warned us the church bells right next door might wake us up. I can't remember if I was up already or as a result of them, but they surely rang Sunday morning. 8:44 a.m., said the little travel clock on our chair-turned-end table. I probably only lay there for a few minutes, but I felt fidgety and couldn't get back to sleep. Got up, wrote said journal entry on the window sill, went back to bed and read a while, got up again for sheer fidgetiness. By 10:30 a.m., all my roommates were up and we went to explore and be touristy in Viterbo.

Took a bunch of photos (hopefully, wifi will soon be found and flickr account created) and found the open-air market with white tents that had given us free samples the day before. Sure enough, those same guys were there with those same free samples. We partook. We were all in agreement that the stand had some quality 3 euro red wine, so I took it upon myself to try to purchase a bottle.

Now, the guy selling it didn't know any English. He was bald, probably in his late 30s or early 40s, with a black jacket (like everyone else) and a friendly smile. Language class doesn't start until tomorrow, so I pretty much still don't know any italiano, other than what the idiot's guide left in our apartment had educated us about pick-up lines. But somehow, we got involved in a fractured, half conversation that we think covered how we were students studying at the university for a couple months, his dream to either go to New York or that he went there and was some kind of fisherman, and the eventual purchase of wine. Frankie had told us days before to introduce yourself and be friendly with vendors, because in the future they'll give you discounts. So, I told him, somehow, my name.

Once he realized, he told me his. Then he stopped, gave me a signal to wait a moment, and started writing something behind the counter. He handed a piece of paper to me. On it, he had written "Biagio" and a phone number. I tried to explain I had no phone, but took it anyway. From the way he gave me the number and the context of our conversation, I think it has a different stigma than someone giving you their number at home. Still, that was a first.

We spent the rest of the day getting ourselves lost and found downtown (Viterbo really isn't all that big after all) and finding a restaurant to eat at. We ate around 2:30, normal lunchtime here. I got pasta, the other three gals pizza, and we didn't bother with the price fix menu. I have no idea how italians successfully down their four and five course meals twice a day here. After that one bowl of pasta that was probably half the size of an American bowl from a restaurant, I couldn't eat for the rest of the day. None of us were able to eat dinner.

Walking around a bit after their siesta (pausa something... I'll let you know when I remember) is common here, and we tried it. It was dark, and Christmas lights were up. The long, dripping ones were everywhere, and a few feet long. The streets were filled with couples and groups walking, and it was gorgeous.