Christmas Shopping and a visit from SANTA!

Yesterday afternoon, I went with Ipolita and her family to a mall. This was my first time to this particular mall. It was much larger than the other malls I had been to in the area. I felt like I was in a real American mall! As soon as we walked into the mall, we arrived at the food court, but in the center there was something familiar. A huge platform decorated like Christmas and an "elf" with a  camera. Sure enough, Santa was there! Or as they say in Italy, Babbo Natale. This Santa Claus was probably more Babbo Natale than Santa Claus since he was definitely Italian :)  The girls wanted a picture with Santa so we waited until their turn. As I sat next to the "elf" taking the pictures, I watched as each child took their turn to see Santa Claus. There were the very young children who were afraid of Santa, the older kids who jumped into Santa's sleigh to sit next to him, the babies who screamed and cried because they didn't know this man with a long white beard, and finally, the kids who jumped in the sleigh with Santa and immediately started having a conversation with him. I am sure they were telling him what they wanted for Christmas. They were conversing so long that the photographer kept trying to tell them to turn and smile but Santa and the boy just kept talking. It made me smile :) The beauty of children at Christmas time.

Afterwards, we continued to make our way through the store. Our first stop, The Disney Store. :) Disney is definitely everywhere. I was tempted to buy something but thought that in a few days I will be at Disney World so what is the point. I enjoyed watching the children's faces at all the Disney products though. I love Disney and am glad to see others do too! :)

We went into some other stores looking for presents for Ipolita's family. Then we came to H&M. I wasn't going to buy anything for myself....who are we kidding here, I always buy myself Christmas presents :) I needed a black winter coat and I looked at H&M a few weeks ago at another mall and none of the coats fit me right. So I just thought I would try one on and see how if it would fit and what it looked like. I put it on and looked in the mirror and loved it. So I bought it :) It was the first one I saw and the first one I tried on. I love when shopping is that easy! I feel much more fulfilled in life after shopping :)

After we went into a bookstore. I wanted to try to find some children's books to bring to America for my cousins. It took a long time. I felt like we were in that store forever! But that is what happens when I am in a bookstore. I have to look at everything. I love books! I wanted to get many things but books are always so expensive! Anyways, we made our purchases and headed for the next store.

BUT, on the way to the next store we passed THE APPLE STORE! You don't know how excited I got. I definitely felt like I was back in America when I saw it. For those of you who know me, I love Apple. I remember asking the store back home before I left if they knew of any Apple Stores in Italy and they told me that there would be a store for repairs and things but only one and in Rome. And, here it was! Not in Rome but only 15 minutes from where I live! I told Ipolita I was happy because now I have Apple 15 minutes away and Ikea 15 minutes away but in another direction! I am so close to civilization! ;) More so than even in America. I lived 3 hours from Ikea and 1 hour from Apple back home. After I controlled my excitement we continued to the next store.

We looked in an few shops for things. Ipolita got a few more gifts. We were in one store and Ipolita was paying. The guy starts speaking to her in English. I was impressed because also when we were at H&M the cashier spoke English to us. They apparently heard us speaking and therefore spoke English back to us.

We went into the big shopping center last (like our Meijer, super Walmart, etc). It was a French chain but  had the same things as every other store. I got a few more presents and food items for myself and then we headed home.

Earlier, and on our way out we saw the Christmas tree and a sand sculpture in progress. Ipolita thought it was interesting they were using sand and not ice. But I assume they probably feel Southern Italy is in the Tropics compared to the North. They were sculpting what looked like the Nativity. It was very nice!

On our way home, we passed many homes with lights on their balconies. They don't have space like in America so people decorate the balconies. It is still pretty and fun to see how people decorate their homes.

The sand Nativity. You can see the animals, three wise men and the angel. I think inside the angel they will have the holy family. 

Overall, it was a successful day of shopping :) We saw the Italian Santa Claus, many stores, a sand Nativity, and many people shopping! And, I came home with presents!

ShowChocolate!

SanPaolo- Naples Soccer Team Stadium (it was near the expo)

Baci wrapper dress :)

Dress made out of Italian playing cards and chocolate wrappers

Saturday, I went to Naples with Simona to attend ShowChocolate- A chocolate expo. There were many stands filled with chocolate. We saw a demonstration of chocolate, an exhibit of Italy entirely built with chocolate, dresses made from chocolate wrappers, and stands selling lots of chocolate. I also saw stands of people selling arts and crafts, other gift like items, and even meat! I told Simona, it isn't chocolate, so we walked past the meat very quickly. As we started going through the stands I told Simona I needed chocolate. So I saw some people buying hot chocolate. But, you must know it isn't American hot chocolate. This is pure chocolate just melted. They don't give you an entire cup full only about 1/3 filled with liquid chocolate. I got my souvenir mug with my "hot chocolate" and I was in heaven. I was content that now I had my chocolate. Simona was talking to someone about joining a memorization course. They were talking for awhile. She felt bad because she was talking but I told her not to worry since I was content with my chocolate. After I finished my "hot chocolate" and she finished talking we continued on our way. We passed by a stand called I <3 Vino. I was happy. Then right after that was the Illyliqueur. Illy is a popular brand of coffee in Italy. They also had free samples of their coffee liqueur. Of course, I had to try it. :) It was very good though! Before I got my "hot chocolate" we passed a stand selling chocolate liqueur and of course I had to try that too! :) I was feeling great by this point! We continued along. After going in and out of the rows of chocolate and making a few purchases we decided to leave.

Italy completely covered in chocolate!

A chocolate lamp- not made from real chocolate though :)

Dog Chocolate

We returned to her home and I got to visit with her grandmother and parents for a little bit. Afterwards, we went to a nearby town for pizza. On the way for pizza, we saw a processional blocking the streets. They were carrying a statue of Mary and many followers were carrying candles. I tried taking a picture but the picture didn't come out. We continued on our way. We arrived at the pizza place. The pizza was great. I had the traditional style pizza with sausage and a neapolitan broccoli. Afterwards, I returned home with my bags of presents!

The processional

Bread wreaths on the Christmas tree at the pizza place

Thank you again Simona and Merry Christmas!

Ogni giorno è una festa

Every day is a party in Italy. I don't know how many times I have stated this but I must continue to share my thoughts on this subject. I will give my reasons below:

1. Every day there are fireworks. Somewhere, someone is celebrating something, whether it is a birthday, a name day, a graduation, a national holiday, a win for the football (soccer) team, a good grade, a new job, a birth, or maybe even a funeral (I don't know if this is true but I think fireworks could also be used since a funeral is a celebration of life).

2. Everything you buy is gift wrapped. Yes, everything. No matter what it is (cookies, crepes, pastries, plates, decorations, other food items, etc), they will hand it to you gift wrapped. Even if it is for yourself. It doesn't matter. The concept that what you buy is important and has value is intriguing. I also like the idea that whenever you buy something you can take it home and unwrap it signifying that again every day is a party, a celebration, because you are opening a gift of some sort.

3. Every day everybody dresses nice like they are going to a party. They are always nicely dressed, clean shaven and ready for a party at any moment. Another indicator that every day is a celebration.

4. Every day there is a feast. Lunch time, pranzo, is considered the largest meal. It makes sense to have the big meal during the day so you can work it off throughout the day. There is almost always two courses at least during lunch. This to me is another sign that everyday is considered a party/celebration in Italy!

5. Every day everyone says Buon Giorno, which means Good Day. They greet everyone with this greeting, although it does change with the different times of day. You walk into any store or building and you say good day. Everyone is pleasant and always acknowledging the people they see. If you see someone you know then you even give hugs and two kisses, one on each cheek. All of these greetings is just another indicator that Italy is in fact a place where every day is a party/celebration!

Overall, I enjoy the motto that "ogni giorno è una festa." It is a good way to live life and I am glad to have experienced it! Living life as if it is a party or celebration ensures that we have a full and meaningful life. It makes us stay positive and be happy. This is certainly how I want to live my life, always smiling and full of happiness.

First Weekend in December in the Mountains

After the Planet Funk concert and work on Saturday morning, I went to the mountains with my boss and her family. Although, I consider her family as pretty much my adopted family here in Italy. We arrived at her house and started the fire and wood burning stove to warm up the place since it is usually about 10 degrees cooler in the mountains than in the city. We had lunch then relaxed. Enchanted just happened to be on the Disney Channel so we watched part of that. I was exhausted from lack of sleep that I just sat in content watching Enchanted. :) Afterwards, it was time to start making dinner. We were making pizza! I told Ipolita's mom that I wanted to learn how to make pizza so she showed me and even let me do some of the mixing and kneading!

Tomato sauce, cheese and oregano pizza

Afterwards, here are what the pizzas looked like. They tasted great! I love fresh pizza!

Corn and cream pizza

On Sunday morning, we had coffee and cookies, the traditional Italian breakfast. I told Ipolita that when I was little and we were visiting our Italian relatives in New York, my mom would never let me have cookies for breakfast or if she did only one or two. I took full advantage of the cookie thing this time and dunked my cookies in my coffee, in honor of my childhood self. :)

After breakfast we got ready because it was Ipolita's mom's birthday. We were going to go out to eat instead of cooking for her birthday. As we were almost ready to leave a neighbor gave Ipolita a huge bag of olives. So we had to sort through the olives and make saltwater to store the olives in.

After we finished the olives, we got in the cars and traveled to the restaurant which was located about halfway between their house in the mountains and their house in the city. The restaurant was located off many small roads and in the mountains. It was very cute, quaint, homey and beautiful! The food was great too! These type of restaurants are becoming increasingly popular in Italy, I am told. They are called Agriturismo restaurants.

We first had the antipasti course.

Focaccia

Local Wine

Salami and fried mashed potato sticks :)

Mozzarella and Ricotta- They bought some of the ricotta and gave me some to take home! It was delicious!

Then the first course.

Homemade pasta with tomato, pancetta (bacon), and arugula- I ate this

Cream of Mushroom Ravioli- I tasted this

Then the second course.

Chicken- I ate this

Lamb- Ipolita ate this

Rabbit- The guys ate this

We could have had fruit and dessert but many of us were too full. We did get a few desserts to share amongst the seven of us.

Ricotta and Pear Tart

On our way home, we experienced an interesting experience. Wild Boar were in the road. I mean an expressway. Not one but 4, 5, or 6. We couldn't count them all! I was with Ipolita in her car while everyone else were in the car in front of us. They slammed on their brakes and swerved to the left. Ipolita slammed on her brakes but stayed in the right lane. There was a car behind us but they were in the left lane. Apparently one of the boar hit the car with the rest of our party but they were still running and moving. I don't think any of them got seriously hurt (the boar I mean). They were racing around trying to get out but they didn't know which way to go! Overall, I got a close up view of wild boar! Thank god our guarding angels were taking care of us otherwise we would have had a major accident because those boar were huge!

Afterwards, we went back to their house in the city to celebrate her mother's birthday with a cake. I was very full but yet I still had a piece of cake and a cookie. Mostly, I had to taste the cookies because I just became aware of a cookie store located very near to my house and I needed to taste which cookies I want to bring to America. :) I also had to try a liqueur that I just heard about. It is called Liqueur Strega. Strega means witch in Italian. Apparently a town nearby makes this liqueur because there were "witches" in this town in the past. They were burned at the stake...sound familiar to Salem? Anyways, I wanted to try this liqueur and I did. It is good. I liked it!

Overall, I had a great weekend with my adopted Italian family :) Thanks for everything, Ipolita and family! :)