I've been slacking...

Sorry everyone. I haven't posted in 10 days! I am ashamed of myself! :) Now I must fill you in on the last 10 days....

Last weekend, I went to the mountains again with Ipolita and her family. The weather was much nicer this time, a little warmer! We arrived earlier than last time since my lesson was cancelled, so we ate at the house. We had pasta with pesto, which was made from the ingredients grown in Ipolita's garden. It was delicious! :) We relaxed for most of the afternoon. Her children were doing their homework/playing games. I taught one of her daughters how to play chess. Then we played checkers. Her daughter beat me both times! :) We left in the evening to go to the grocery store and get pizzas for dinner. The pizza parlor was family run, cute and quaint. It had a wood burning oven and one person was making and cooking the pizzas. I got the margherita, her daughter got the marghertia shaped as a teddy bear, and they got the porketta (roasted pig) (a speciality of the area). The crust was a little thicker, which I liked. It was good!

After dinner, we watched a television program that is on, I think, every saturday night from 9-12pm. It's a singing competition show for children. Every week, the children sing and there is a winner for that week but they continue to stay on the program until the end of the season. I like that concept better than kicking people off each week, especially for children. At first, I thought the show wouldn't be that great. It started off rocky but it got better. I ended up sitting there all night watching it! lol. They even had opera singers.

The next day, we had the traditional Italian breakfast. We had coffee, toast with jam or Nutella, or cookies. I had toast with peanut butter and jelly. :) Then we got ready and went to the market. After the market we went back to the same place we went last weekend to pick chestnuts, hoping there would be more on the ground. There were a few more. We got a couple of buckets filled.

After we picked the chestnuts, we went to a neighbor's home. She makes fresh cheese (ricotta). We visited her and saw her animals. She had sheep, cows(maybe, I can't remember), and chickens. Usually Ipolita will get fresh eggs from this neighbor as well, but the chickens weren't laying as many as usual. Apparently because it is colder now or because of the change in daylight.

When we returned home, Ipoilta's husband made cocktails for us. He decided on the "White Lady," which was made up of cointreau, gin and lemon juice. It was good but strong, which I like! He put out some snacks to go along with it.

After the cocktail it was time for lunch. We had the antipasti and then pasta with gorgonzola, cream and walnuts. It was delicious and I will definitely try to make this someday!

After the pasta, we had the veal scaloppine and fruit salad (grapes, apples, walnuts and pecorino/parmesan cheese). They were delicious! I was so full by this point! Then we ate some of the chestnuts that we had picked! Then of course, after dinner we have coffee and dessert. I was very full!

We cleaned up and that is when I heard about the earthquake in Turkey. My cousin texted me to ask if everyone was ok. We found out that also at the same time a popular motorcyclist from Italy had died in a race. It was a sad moment.

We returned home to start another week of work.

This week we started another course outside of the school. Not sure if I am supposed to say where but its a car factory of an Italian brand... I have to wear this bright neon yellow vest that says "visitatore"and a badge that says the same thing. Everyone there definitely knows I am a visitor! :) I only have to wear it until I get my id card, hopefully it won't be that long! :)  The class went well though. I think it will be good year.

Halloween is approaching. We will have a party on Halloween for the kids at the school. I am looking forward to it!

I hope you are all well and I will try to write sooner next time!