Weekend #3

The weekend was quite busy and I had a pretty good day teaching on Monday.

Friday was pretty low-key after our busy day on Thursday and our cooking lesson that ran fairly late. I stayed at home and caught up on some American television for most of the day. It’s amazing how nice it is to hear an American voice after solely foreign tongues for a few weeks.

Speaking of…later on Friday I walked a couple kilometers to meet up with two other language tutors in the area. Right now there are several of us in the Montecosaro/Civitanova area – so far all female and all American – and I just got another email today from a girl who arrived last week. I don’t think any of us realized how nice it is to speak our native language without having to slow down, pick simpler words, or translate into Italian until we got there and met.

The flag hangs from the school building I teach at in Civitanova AltaUsually I’m not too quick to pick up friends, but the three of us really hit it off and met up again last night. Somehow I managed to get crammed into the back of a Smart car (yes, they have “backs”) for a rather wild ride around the area trying to find a restaurant for dinner. We were largely unsuccessful, and an unexpected encounter with railroad tracks has left me with bruises on my butt and the top of my head, but it was a lot of fun to spend time with people who are culturally similar and speak the same language.

We’ve begun planning a trip to Florence for two weeks from now and I’m really looking forward to returning. Neither of them has ever been to Italy before – and in fact for one of them it’s her first time leaving the United States – so I’ve been trying to put together a tentative itinerary that hits all the best spots in our short time period. It looks like we can take a non-stop bus to Florence right from Civitanova Marche, and my host family has very graciously offered to drop us off and pick us up.

After meeting up with the girls on Friday night I hurriedly walked to the minimercado and then home to make dinner for my host family. They have a pretty hectic Friday night most weeks, so I offered to prepare a meal. They asked for “American” food, though in all honesty I’m never really sure what that means. I thought about making hamburgers, but instead made what has now probably become my “signature dish.” I seared some beautiful filet mignon until it was medium rare, made some creamy mashed potatoes loaded with butter (something they never use for cooking in Italy, apparently) and some braised spinach with pancetta affumicata (the closest thing they seem to have to American-style bacon) and onion. I topped the steaks with a brandy-cream-mushroom sauce that everyone loved. In fact, the veggie-phobic kids even enjoyed the meal. Chiara even tried and LIKED,  the spinach and mushrooms. Her parents looked like they were going to go into apoplexy.

On Saturday morning we went into Civitanova to see the great big market they have every Saturday. I had expected a decent size gathering, but not the several city blocks full of everything you could possibly imagine. We picked up some deliciously spicy salume, some little sausage-y things that are delectably salty and savory, I bought a beautiful jar of regional honey, and I fell in love with Italian citrus. I haven’t yet found grapefruit – which are by far my favorite citrus – but they have these beautiful Sicilian oranges (arance rosso) and these Mandarino Italiano that are positively divine. I got some of both plus a few clementines and I was happy as a clam. I also tried porchetta, which is essentially the Italian pork version of a Turducken. It’s all sorts of cuts of pig, herbs, and fennel all wrapped in pork skin and slow-roasted. It is extremely salty, amazing paired with some crusty Italian bread, and even better washed down with an ice cold beer.

We made a quick stop to check with a  local mozzarella-making joint if we could pop in next Saturday morning to watch them make mozzarella (uhmm…yes, please!), and then went to pick Chiara up from school (yes, some Italian children go to school on Saturdays. You feel bad for them until you realize they only go to school from 8am-1pm every day). While we were waiting the last few minutes for Chiara to get out of school we walked around Civitanova Alta to take pictures.

Our next stop was the Grotte di Frasassi, a spectacular series of caves filled with the most breathtaking stalactites and stalagmites. Usually I would freak out at the idea of going into a cave, but these were so enormous inside it felt more like a cathedral. I was pretty aggravated that they forbade photos – I could have gotten some amazing shots – but was calmed by just how amazing the cave formations were. I was again quickly irritated by the extremely rude and loud Japanese tourists on our tour, who expressly disobeyed the no-photo rule and used flash photography all over the cave, even though the tour guide yelled at them repeatedly to stop.

I couldn’t believe how incredibly rude and disrespectful they were. Sure, I think the no-photo rule is dumb – but it’s there because moron tourists use flash photography and ruin natural wonders. Anyone with half a brain would know not to use a flash in an environment like that, but because of stupid people who do, we have rules that prevent responsible people from taking pictures. And, even if I think it’s dumb, I abide by the rules. I was horrified at the completely boorish behavior the entire group displayed.

All that aside, the caves were so amazing it’s hard to explain. The pictures I’ve found on the internet do nothing to fully  depict how grand and impressive the stalagmites are. Thinking of how they’ve been built up over millions of years is truly humbling.

Makes you realize just how small and temporary a human life is in the grand scheme of things. The caves were discovered by climbers from Ancona in the 1970s. They were walking on a still day and noticed some brush moving about in the mountains outside Fabbriano. When they very carefully lowered themselves into the giant caverns, they found these amazing formations. Talk about the find of a lifetime.

On our way back to Montecosaro we stopped in Porto Recanati for some tasty pizza. It’s amazing to me how late Italians eat. When we got there at 8pm the place was empty, by the time we left at 10:30 or so there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. Mind-blowing. My American tummy still wants to eat at 6pm.

On Sunday we went to Fabio’s parents house out in the countryside. Oh. My. Goodness. Where they live is so beautiful I can’t even put into words. They have a very modest home, but they have land. Olive trees, grapes, animals, gardens. It’s so amazing. I can't believe I forgot my camera. We had lunch there and we drank wine they made from their grapes, ate food cooked in olive oil from their olives, ate tortellini cooked in tomato sauce grown from their tomatoes, ate beef from a cow they raised and slaughtered – it was pure bliss. I tried explaining to them how amazing and special it was, but I’m not sure they understood how much I really enjoyed it. Oh! And we also drank port, or “vino cotto” made by Fabio’s uncle. Fabio’s mother wanted to make limoncinni (a sweet for Carnevale), but didn’t because the recent ice and snow has ruined their lemon tree.

It’s really so sad seeing what the weather has done to this area. Their lemon tree was more than 50 years old – now it’s dead. They’ve lost olive trees and grapes. A neighbor’s barn roof caved in – and that doesn’t even break the surface of what’s happened to this region. Climate change is going to be getting even more difficult to cope with as the years go by. Very sad.

While I was at Fabio’s parents house I got to look at his parents wedding album. It was like watching a classic, black-and-white Hollywood movie. It was so beautiful. They both looked like movie stars. Seeing such a beautiful event captured in such a stunning way was very moving. I felt honored that they would share such a special time with me. After everything Fabio’s father departed to play cards with his friends down the street, something he does every Sunday – and probably because by about that time all the kids are running around screaming like banshees. I don’t blame him for leaving! He made sure I was coming to Sunday lunch next week and even invited me to participate in slaughtering a cow next month. I readily accepted. I am definitely starting to feel like part of the family. The other language tutors seemed a little surprised that I accepted the invitation to help with the slaughter – and I’m sure many people may feel the same way – but I am of the firm belief that if you are going to eat meat, you had better be prepared to kill the animal yourself. I am interested in the process involved and will respect it as a learning experience.

After dinner we went into Civitanova to the supermercado so that I could buy a new blowdryer and brush. I forgot my round brush and my blowdryer reset itself - and will now not turn on because the power isn't the same as in the US. I'm sure it will work when I get back to the US, but not now. And I'm definitely not going until May without a blowdryer. While we were there Fabio bought a 5-liter jug of Rosso Piceno – a man after my own heart.

Monday was pretty quiet. I went to school, taught my classes, and came home. I’m having difficulties with one of the teachers. It’s a long story best left to another post focused on teaching.

Today I’ve been at home planning our trip to Florence week after next. Tonight I’m going to attend a Carnevale masquerade for the kids at the church. I can’t wait to see them running around in their little costumes. Then for tonight I’m making hamburgers for dinner – YUM. Can’t wait to see their reaction to an In-N-Out style burger.

Whatever they think, though, I’ll be in seventh heaven.

Cooking Lessons in Italy

Andrea mixing the fresh ricotta fillingFabio’s best friend, Andrea, owns a self-service restaurant in Civitanova Marche called Sandwich Time. It’s a pretty cute little place with a nice selection of fresh and traditional Italian dishes. I admit I’m a little wary of self-service places in Italy after a particularly nasty bout with foodborne illness last year in Rome, but Andrea’s place is legit – I think your worst issue would be gaining too much weight from eating the divine tortellini.

Demonstrating how to roll out the doughHe occasionally holds cooking lessons at a restaurant store in Porto Sant’ Elpidio and he was nice enough to invite me to one on Thursday night. I wasn’t really sure what to expect – and my grasp of Italian is still fairly limited – but I was up for the challenge.

Rolling out the dough for my tartWe arrived a few minutes late, what with our already crazy day on Thursday. The class was just starting to roll out some prepared puff pastry for a savory, ricotta-filled tart. Andrea demonstrated what he wanted us to do with his own piece of pastry, offering a dialogue along the way. Even without being able to understand about half of what he said it was still fairly obvious what was going on – there’s only so many ways to make a puff pastry tart.

Making my tart - and the olive oil guy lurking behind usWe started by rolling out the dough, layering either Prosciutto Cotto (fresh ham), Prociutto (cured ham), or cured salmon along the dough. Then we topped it with a mixture of fresh ricotta, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant, and bell peppers. One tool that I did really like, and will consider adding to my kitchen, was this little pastry cutter roller thing that slices little separations into the dough so you can stretch it out over the top of the filling.

Pastry roller thingy on the tableIt’s so much easier than attempting to hand-build a lattice top or any number of other techniques for covering a filling. Just zip it over the dough, gently separate, and cover. The only downside is that I might be tempted to make too many pastries and end up as big as a house.

My tart before cookingBrushing the pastry with a beaten eggAfter making the tart a gentleman delivered a rather long-winded talk about olive oil – how the olives are grown, terroir, the processing of the olive oil, the difference between chemically processed oil and cold-pressed oil, etc. I didn’t understand about 99% of it, but judging from the rather pained looks of my fellow lesson-takers, I wasn’t really missing out on much.

Lovely, golden-brown tartsI think Andrea was waiting for him to stop talking before moving on to preparing the next dishes, but he just kept going, so Andrea began cooking again while he was talkingTaking out the steamed artichokesThe commandant of the carabinieri (military police) mixing ricotta filling. He showed us how to make artichokes in a traditional Roman style. Italy has it’s very own artichoke that is exceedingly tender and completely without the furry center present in California-grown artichokes in the US. I definitely want to try my hand at making these before I go home. He peeled off the tough outer leaves of the artichokes, soaked them in a lemon water, separated the inside leaves a bit, seasoned them with salt, and then filled them with an herb oil. The herb oil contained marjoram, a pinch of mint, garlic, salt, and a nice extra virgin olive oil. After that he placed them cut side down in a large pot and seared them for a  few minutes. He then added some of the lemon water, covered the pot, and let them steam for about 15 minutes.

Roman-style artichokes

When they came out they were tender, just slightly acidic, and filled with this amazing herby flavor. Totally delicious.

Cured SalmonSalmon crudite

He also prepared a cured salmon dish. I guess the process they used was to mix one part sugar and one part salt, rub it all over the salmon, and then let it sit for two days. I know there were other steps involved, but it was hard to understand the process without speaking Italian – and it’s something I’ve never done myself. Some people used the salmon pieces as the base for their ricotta tart. Andrea used more of it to create this dish with an aioli-type sauce, croutons, and some fresh greens. I didn’t catch what was in the sauce, but it was delicious. A great interplay of salty, sweet, acidic, and just a touch fishy – yum.

We had some wine and a few desserts traditional for Carnevale (which is being celebrated as I write this), though we didn’t see them prepared, and didn’t end up getting home until after 11:30pm.

All in all, a pretty amazing experience. I really enjoy taking cooking classes and it was refreshing to see one in a new country – and to discover not all Italians are master chefs and need cooking classes too!

Also, a big thanks to Maria Carla - my expert photographer while I participated in the class!

Sightseeing, Sun, and Prada

The port in Civitanova Marche at sunsetYesterday was definitely the type of day I had been looking forward to when I first decided to come to Italy

The day started off well with four lovely classes with my students and a nice walk around Civitanova Alta with my English teacher.

When we got home from school we had some delicious pizza that I bought on my walk with Cristina and I took a few minutes to jot down a quick post about my morning at school. Then Maria Carla offered to take me sightseeing around the area since it was such a beautiful day.Palm tree silhouettes in Port Sant'Elpidio

When I came to this region of Italy I really knew next to nothing about it. I’ve been to most of the big tourist-y places in Italy, but never to an average city. What I didn’t realize about this area in particular, however, is that it is like the outlet capital of the country. There are outlet stores for shoes, clothing, purses – anything clothing or accessory related you can think of. It was very convenient when I needed some warm boots; we just popped over to the factory outlet store of the company my host dad, Fabio, works for and bought some great, all-weather boots for the snow.

When we started driving around yesterday I began noticing signs for all sorts of luxury goods outlet stores – including Prada. I mentioned it and Maria Carla asked if I wanted to stop. Umm…yes, please!

I didn’t really hope that there would be anything I could afford at Prada, even at factory outlet stores, but I still wanted to check it out. I love really high-quality items, but I’m never willing to pay full-price. Well, it turned out that this place was just made for me. They have all of their final sale items from last year’s collection and stuff this year that is almost gone. There were several different styles in my size, though sadly not in the most gorgeous little pair of black pumps with ruched leather on the sides. I did manage to find the most comfortable, medium-heel pumps in cream. As soon as I put them I felt like I’d slipped my foot into butter.

The best part, only €100 – the equivalent of $130 at the current exchange rate. Uhhmm…hello! So, of course I bought them. I thanked my husband last night for my Valentine’s Day present. He said he knew I’d love them. Ha! Love that man.

I can’t wait to go back a couple more times and see what other wonderful things I can find.

Beach boulevard (lungamare) at Porto Sant'ElpidioAfter Prada we drove a little farther south to Porto Sant’Elpidio, a little beach town popular in the summer. Even in the last throes of winter it was still an absolutely gorgeous little place. We got out and walked along the beach for a little while. I took oodles of photos of all sorts of things. The sea here smells different from what I’m used to at home – although it’s so subtle most people probably wouldn’t notice it unless they grew up near the ocean – but it was similar enough to offer a great deal of comfort. I love the water. I can’t imagine ever living away from a large body of water and being able to visit the sea was quite nice. The Adriatic is this amazing shade of light blue I’ve never seen before. It’s quite extraordinary.

"The Francesco"I can’t remember how it got brought up, but we started talking about 4 year-old Francesco’s tendency to watch television with his arms crossed behind his head and his feet crossed. It’s really quite amusing to see.

I decided that would be my new photography pose for Italy, so Maria Carla happily took some photos of me striking my new favorite pose.

After Porto Sant’Elpidio we drove back north to Civitanova Marche where we puttered along the little port area. It was so pretty at sunset I just couldn’t believe it. I can’t wait to see how the sunset changes with the seasons.

The beach at Porto Sant'Elpidio with Ancona in the far backgroundApparently Maria Carla and Fabio used to walk along the little port wall when they were younger – I can see why, it’s terribly romantic.

I also started noticing the graffiti along the retaining walls. When I was in Italy before I took pictures of graffiti because it is very interesting here; not the scrawl of gang signs and whatnot present throughout most of the United States. Here it’s almost an art form. I look forward to capturing some more of the graffiti during my time here.The Francesco in Civitanova Marche

When I move to stay with my next host family in March I’ll be within walking distance of most of Civitanova Marche and I can come down to the water whenever I want. Talk about total bliss.

After all of this we went to pick up Francesco from his school, stopped at the minimercado to pick a few things up, I offered to cook dinner on Friday, and we went home to eat a quick dinner. At dinner I tried two new kinds of charcuterie and straciatella – not the soup, the cheese. It’s like the beginning process of mozzarella. It is rich and creamy and amazing and guaranteed to give you a heart attack if you eat it more than once per year. Delicious.

Fabio’s best friend, Andrea, is a chef who owns his own restaurant. He was hosting a cooking class nearby and invited me to come along and participate. There’s no way I could turn that down, so Maria Carla took me over after dinner and we had all sorts of fun until about 11:30pm! That, however, is another post entirely. I can’t wait to go back and do another class on pasta making!

Monument near the sea in Civitanova Marche

I made contact today with one of the other language tutors currently in Montecosaro. She is teaching at the primary school. We’re going to meet up with another language tutor at a café later this afternoon. There are a bunch of us here right now working in the schools. Apparently several of the schools have the same headmaster and he’s brought over a bunch of us for this three-month period. It will be nice being able to share our experiences and to learn from each other.

The café is about 2km away, so I’ll walk there. Hopefully I’ll find something else wonderful to take pictures of along the way. I really can't imagine how that wouldn't be possible...

Ciao!

Second Day of Classes....and SUN!

My second day of classes went just as well as I expected it would. The vast majority of the students are very well-behaved and eager to learn. The rest are tolerable – aside from that one class yesterday. I think if that continues the way it’s going next time I see them on Monday, I might have to have a conversation with some people.

All of my classes today were with Cristina, the first teacher I made contact with before leaving the US. She seems to be the main English teacher and I can see why. She controls the class very well, gets the students to be productive, and is fluent in English herself. I will enjoy working with her over the next three months.

On Thursdays (or, Giovedi, for anyone paying attention), we have a one-hour break between 9 and 10am. Cristina normally takes a walk around Civitanova Alta to buy some bread for lunch and get a coffee. Today I accompanied her and it was nice to get some fresh air. I got some Ciabatta to go with dinner tonight and a great big pizza to reheat for lunch. We agreed today that next Thursday when we go for our walk that we will speak only in Italian so that I can improve. We’ll see how well I do!

The weather has turned quite beautiful here in the Marche region. The skies are blue the sun is warm and the snow is melting – yay! In fact, it’s gotten so nice that I’m a bit concerned the snow might melt too fast and cause flooding. Today we’re going to drive around the area so Maria Carla can show me some more sights. I’ll bring my camera and hopefully get some good shots.

I’m hoping on Saturday to visit some nearby caves with amazing displays of stalactites and stalagmites. I’ve seen pictures and it’s SO pretty. I can’t wait to see it for myself. Maria Carla also invited me to a musical performance in Ancona on Sunday. She is going with some friends and invited me along. It will be my first adults-only adventure and I’m greatly looking forward to it.

I’m hoping to get out and try some new foods, too. Yesterday Maria Carla made some gnocchi with gorgonzola that was just amazing. I’m not a huge fan of gnocchi – in fact, I avoid it whenever I can. Usually it’s soggy or too chewy or just plain unpleasant. Not this stuff. It was perfect. Creamy and smooth with just the right amount of chew to it. I stuffed myself silly, I won’t deny it. I’m definitely going to have to figure out how to make gnocchi like that at home.

First Day in Class

Today was my first day in the classroom. It was…interesting. My teaching hours go from 8 am until 1 pm. Had I been writing this summary after my 12 pm class, I’d be glowing with pride and excitement about how amazing this experience is going to be and how incredibly lovely all the students are.

And I still am…but it’s tempered by the awful experience in my last class. I have never before encountered such an unruly, disrespectful group of children (all educators and parents, feel free to laugh at will). I remember when I was in school (for the few years I wasn’t homeschooled) whenever we had a guest speaker or someone new in the classroom we were all on our best behavior – and that was certainly the case for my first four classes – but the fifth class didn’t get the memo.

They were so rude and disruptive that I finally just stopped my lesson, told the teacher that she should take over, and sat down at the side of the classroom. She proceeded to yell at them for a few minutes, but considering how little control she had over them for first 50 minutes of the class, I doubt it made any real change.

All that aside, the rest of the experience was positively wonderful. Some of the classes were more shy than others, but all participated and tried their best. I really look forward to working with them through the course of these three months and teaching them all I can.

Tonight I’m going to try and put together some presentations about information specific to their lessons, to try and tie in some new information to what’s presented in their textbooks.

For one class I’ll be working on something about the public transportation system in Washington DC. They’ve been studying London’s Underground system, so we’ll talk about the Metro. For another class I’ll be putting something together on the American education system: how ages are separated, the various grades, different types of schools, etc. For another I’ll be putting something together on leisure activities in the US.

The other teachers also seem very nice, though only a few speak any English. Most of what they call “support teachers” have a decent grasp, so it’s nice to make small talk with them. Support teachers work with special needs kids outside of the classroom. I met two of those kids today (though I don’t remember their names). One was on the Autism spectrum; he is highly functioning and participates in some classes. Another is extremely developmentally disabled and has private lessons with individual teachers. I’m not overly familiar with the way special needs programs work in schools in the US, but so far the individual attention afforded each child appears to be extraordinary here in Italy.

Another thing I found pleasant about the school was the technological access. Each classroom has its own computer with internet access and an interactive multimedia board. While I was telling each class about where I was from and various things about American states, I could use Google maps and just drag my finger across the board to move things around. Very cool!

Also, in the morning around 10am some very lovely ladies make all the teachers and assistants coffee from a moka. It is divine. One of the ladies is apparently very well known for her cooking and is currently compiling her own cookbook. I hope I get a peek at it. I’d love to see some traditional Italian recipes.

Tomorrow is another round of classes, though only four this time. Hopefully I manage my sleep a little better. I fell asleep last night before I could chat with the husband, and then woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5 am. I obviously didn’t want to be awake an hour before I even needed to get up, so I went back to sleep. Then when I woke up at 6:30 I was groggy and entirely uninterested at getting out of bed. Let’s hope we don’t repeat that tomorrow.

And let’s hope my four classes tomorrow are as wonderful as my first four classes today.