I'm Getting a Puppy.

Well, we'll have to back when it's warmer, but I saw my first view of Mediterranean water and beach today! Our group took an excursion to Civitanova Marche, a coastal city just thirty minutes away by train. It's actually the childhood home of our Site Director, Filiberto. It's a bigger city than Macerata, and one not built on ridiculous hills, and today was market day. Here in Macerata, our market is every Wednesday morning. In Civitanova, it's every Saturday morning (though school children can't go because they have school Monday-Saturday -- how terrible...). Market day is a big deal. It's about ten thousand times bigger than the Middletown Milestown Festival that happened once a year where I grew up. There are purses, foods, clothes, toys, scarves, materials, and lots and lots of cheap shoes. Everywhere. So we wandered around the market for a while, ate a fresh pastry with cream in the middle (oh goodness, so yummy). Then we walked out to the pier and saw the Adriatic Sea. In the sunshine, it seemed warm, but in reality it's been in the 7-9C range for a while (which is in the upper forties for all of my readers who are American). Which is really warm for winter, really cold for swimming. The weather has been really amazing, with mostly clear blue skies. Just like in Kentucky before I left, it's been an unusually warm and clear winter (which I am most definitely not complaining about).

They eat so much healthier here (I haven't seen a fast food restaurant since I've been here, except in Roma), and so much of the food is local. At the fruit and vegetable market in Civitanova, I ate a fresh Sicilian clementine. Then I had to buy a whole kilo of them (about two pounds of clementines). I ate two for dinner! They are literally the sweetest, juiciest things I've ever eaten. It puts Cuties to shame (oh, I'm going to be so spoiled when I come home). On the cooking note, I am quite the pro at grilled cheese. Tonight, I even made a panini type sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese. It's practically gourmet, no big deal. Tomorrow I'm going to make pasta, but I will be using pre-made sauce, which is a little difficult to find because all of the real Italians make their own sauce. But already, I'm amazed at how much olive oil I'm consuming. It's a bit absurd, really. Tonight for appetizer for my dinner (slash, food to eat so my stomach wouldn't consume itself while I was grilling my sandwich) I had bread with olive oil and pepper. I don't think it's actually an Italian thing, because it hasn't been served at any of our dinners out, but hey, it tasted just as good at Macaroni Grill as it did in my kitchen. Then I grilled my sandwich using olive oil (does anyone know if our butter is salted or unsalted? maybe I'm a cooking noob but I didn't even realize butter could have salt in it...here's its unsalted, is that different?). If I were five, my mother would tell me I'll turn into olive oil. But, I looked up the health benefits and it seems I shouldn't get a heart attack while eating this much olive oil, so that's nice.

Delicious. Precious. Amazing.

Despite my three hour long Italian class on Friday, the language barrier is still pretty big, but now I'm a pro at saying that I can't speak Italian. Everyone's been really nice about it, and today some people in the market even asked if our group was French or English! It was so nice to not immediately be taken for American. In Civitanova, and in Italy in general, there is an influx of immigrants and so it is not uncommon to see Muslim women and African or Arab men in the cities, often speaking their own language. And because of colonialism, a lot of the African immigrants speak French, which wasn't something I expected, so several of the vendors today spoke French but not English. We communicated in sign language instead. But, music is universal. Our group went to a concert last night by the Macerata orchestra. They played a piece by a local composer, Peer Gynt, and then Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony. It was really beautiful, and we were in the second row, for four euros. The theater was very small and intimate, and the crowd clapped forever. They were trying for an encore, which was so surprising. In America, at least in Louisville, we give a standing ovation just so we can stretch and leave as soon as the performance is done. But again, it's just a more leisurely pace here.

And now the part you were waiting for... Italian dogs. This is one of the biggest differences I've noticed -- the dogs here are so different. First of all, they all look a little fox-ish. Second, they all walk around with their owners throughout the town and are so well behaved. I don't think I've heard any of them bark, some of them even aren't on leashes. One was on the elevator the other day! Third, they won't come play with you. What is this?? I just want to cuddle with the precious puppies I see! Isn't it funny how animals are different in other places, just like the people are? They'll look at you and keep walking, which leads me to believe there is no alternative but to get my own puppy so that I can play with it. Right? I'm sure I can smuggle it home.

One potential dog to adopt?