The Irony

Oh, the irony! There are a number of festivals that go on this time of year. One of them is the Castagne Festival in Preggio. I went to it the weekend before last. The excitement! The adventure! The... unexpected... ness.

I did not know what kind of festival it was until Gino got us into the car and we left for Preggio. Apparently, he'd forgotten what kind of festival it was until that morning.

Castagne, my friends, is Italian for chestnut. As mentioned in the previous blog, I am allergic to chestnuts. I broke out in hives in second grade on Christmas Eve and found out that Santa was not real... it's ok, I just remember being to itchy to care that my parents were stuffing my stocking.

Since then, my curiosity has been satisfied as to the flavor and nature of this curious dark brown nut. But it is very difficult to explain to someone who does not speak English that the reason that I was not participating in the wonders of chestnuttery was not because I was being picky or a fussy American, but that simply I could not eat them. So I just lived with Gino calling me a "fussy American woman."

My roommate, dear Grace, the same weekend went to the International Chocolate Festival in Perugia. I can't completely say that I am jealous (no sarcasm. Honest.) Apparently, as it was the first weekend of the festival, it was over packed and there was not much variety in the kinds of chocolate they had. In other words, she said that most booths sold the exact same brands. She did buy some Italian Hot Chocolate. Italian Hot Chocolate is very different from American Hot Chocolate. American Hot Chocolate is like... flavored water in comparison. Italian Hot Chocolate is basically hot chocolate pudding. It thick, frothy and amazing.

It's ok. I am glad I went to the Castagne Festival. I still had fun, I just couldn't eat much there. We did finally find something without chestnut in it, lamb on a skewer. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

About food here, big surprise, everything is Italian food. (Duh, you're in ITALY! Enjoy the food while you can!) But friends, there is only so many ways that one can fix pasta, and I have had them all here, I am sure. Actually, everyone is getting sick of Italian food. I broke down last week and bought a pack of Oreos (they come in boxes of four packs... this is nice because that way one does not serial eat Oreos). This week, people were making hamburgers and steaks in the kitchen We don't get steak a whole lot at Tonino's (the place we eat every night), so everyone who was not a vegetarian was drooling over the variety of red meat in the kitchen this last weekend.

I personally made some chili. It was slightly too spicy, but I enjoyed it anyway. I didn't get many takers on it though :\ It isn't really all that much fun to cook for oneself I learned. There has to be someone to enjoy it. It's like art. Art for oneself has a place, but usually it is restricted to sketchbooks and journals, where it's more of a processing than actual 'art.' Art is meant to be enjoyed by more than one person.

And now for this weekend. I've gotten really bad at taking pictures on this trip. It's difficult since all of the places seem to run together and there are very few that really stand out in my mind. This last weekend we went to Voltarra and San Gimigiano. I think that San Gimigiano will definitely forever stand out in my mind. First place, it is the location of "The World's Best Gelato." No joke. This place has won the World Gelato Competition two years running. I must say, it was pretty good gelato (but again, I am really over gelato, also. Give me Ben and Jerry's. Please.)

Second, it is the home of not one, but two Museums of Torture. We went to both. I thought it would be a fun Halloween activity. Friends, I do not recommend them. It sounded so cool at the beginning... until you realize that people actually were tortured in these ways and are still tortured in some of the ways displayed. The best/worst part were all the wax figures that were being mutilated in various ways. It is enough to turn one's stomach. I was already feeling rather ill from the bus ride over. It was an odd mixture of revulsion and fascination, which is, I am sure, the feeling that most got from walking in there... probably the entire purpose. I just felt sorry for all the kids going in there with their parents.

(And now on to something completely different...) The other night we watched the bronze pour. That, my friends, was exciting. They had been preparing for it all weekend. They had to do a burn out, first. This is when, once the wax pieces are set inside a plaster and brick dust mixture, all of the wax is burned away leaving a hallow mold in which to pour the bronze. This took three days of watching the flame/temperature, making sure that it did not go out or vary. Then they melted the bronze and poured it. It was spectacular. I didn't get any pictures, but there will be another bronze pour on Friday night, so maybe I'll get some pictures then.

It's crunch time. We are getting ready for our exhibition and all of our classes are winding up. This means that I have a test and a paper on Friday and on top of that, I should be working very hard on The Boyfriend. Oddly, my "downtime" right now consists of drawing, which I find ironic since I find drawing very frustrating. My final project in drawing is... drawing people sleeping... like actually sleeping. Not just modeling as sleeping, but in their beds... sleeping. This means that I have to either wait until they are asleep, or do as I did this morning and get up at 6:30 to catch some of my friends asleep. Don't worry, I asked permission about twenty times to do so. It's kind of an awkward assignment I have chosen for myself, but I like it.

ok... should be in Italian right now (blah)...

Over a Sea of Clouds

(This is a long one, but I promise... it's worth it. It even has pictures! Read it on a break or something...)

Sunday, for me, seems to be the best day here. All good things happen on Sunday. This weekend, we stayed in Cortona... well, most of us did. Groups of people went elsewhere, but I stayed in Cortona. It was nice, but I was feeling rather depressed. It seems to happen a lot to me on Saturdays. I thought maybe it was because we were traveling on Saturdays and thus had no downtime, and so Sunday always seemed cooler, comparatively, because we could finally take a break. Apparently, not so.

But anyway, on Sunday, we went to La Celle. This is the monastery where St. Francis lived. Grace and I woke up at 5:30 AM. I was almost convinced by my body not to wake up and go. But Grace convinced me that it was a good idea. So I dragged myself up and grabbed my camera and headed out to meet our Art History professor in La Piazza della Repubblica (the main steps of Cortona that are in movies and pictures...). It was all dark as we left the city walls and Orion was high up in the sky. (I found that he only comes out here in the very early morning. The rest of the time, he is below the horizon.) We started on our hike.

Lexi, my walking partner...

I am a slow walker. I don't like walking very fast, and fortunately Lexi (one of the twins) doesn't either so she walked with me. It was nice, except that because it was so dark, we kept losing the rest of the group. The road was straight, so we couldn't really get lost. Unfortunately, Grace, who started with us, did. She likes to take pictures (and a lot of them) so she often falls behind. She told me she had a lovely adventure on her own, though.Cortona from a distance

This is the valley just after sunrise

Friends, I don't know what is wrong with me, but I seem incapable of wearing sensible shoes on hikes. Like any true native Southern Californian, I love my sandals. Do I love any particular sandals? No. I love my flip-flops. These brown flip-flops have been where no flip-flop has any right to be. They told me not to wear them on our trip to the Roman Forum. Did I listen? No. I wore them anyway. They told me not to wear them in Carrara. Did I listen? No. I wore them anyway. They told me it was a forty-five minute hike to La Celle. I should have known to wear some sensible shoes. Did I? Not at all. My feet were free and breezy all morning. Now you are expecting to hear some terrible story about how I fell and twisted my ankle because I failed to wear proper foot gear. Gottcha! Haven't hurt anything yet... (Knock on wood.)

It has been very rainy so the clouds and mist had settled into the Tuscan Valley. We were above the cloud line though, so while it was clear, we got to look out over the blanket of mist settling into the crevices, with bright flecks of gold where streetlights were still shining. Then we got to La Celle. La Celle is extremely scenic. It is not hard to imagine how St. Francis got so close with nature. There is a waterfall which goes right through La Celle. They have a rose garden there and bridges. It's exactly how one would imagine a monastery to be, only prettier.

This is a waterfall inside La Celle.

Naturally, there isn't any water right now, but I thought it was a cool pic.Pretty vines...

Some friends in the courtyard of La Celle

We went to Mass... that was a bit of a let down. Lea, my art history professor thought there was going to be chanting. Not much chanting. It was very... anti-climatic. But that's ok, because then we got to walk home.

We walked back with Lea, Devon (the other twin), Caitlin (a new friend) and Laura (the first person I met upon arrival in Italy). Fall definitely is in the air, and chestnuts have been falling off the trees. Chestnuts are weird. They fall off in spiky pods which break open to reveal the chestnut inside, which when you roast those, reveal the actual chestnut... nut. I get very antsy around chestnuts, though, because I'm allergic to them, but the other girls were excited to pick them up and play with the pods. We walked back much slower, and we were able to enjoy the Tuscan scenery. Looking down on the clouds was even better on the trip back. The sun was shining over the sea of clouds. It looked almost as if we were seeing the valley from an airplane, only there was foliage around us. It was breathtaking.


Later, Gino, our seventy-some year old gardener, took my roommate, Heather, who I roomed with in Rome and Florence, and myself to a festival in a town which is part of the brotherhood (?) of Cortona. (Towns are set up very differently here in Italy. They have regions, communes and then I think what they call 'brotherhoods.' Cortona is the capitol of this brotherhood, but part of the Arezzo commune, which is located in Tuscany.) Gino is an odd duck. He is kind of a mix between a creepy old man and a grandfather. He compliments all the ladies, sometimes a bit inappropriately (we chalk this up to Italian culture and very broken English), but at the same time, is always very helpful and kind. He owns a cat, named Bella, who he treats very affectionately. Bella loves Gino back and follows him everywhere. Bella also likes people in general and will often walk into the study room and fall asleep on the sofas, waiting for someone to pick her up and/or pet her. This makes me happy.

The festival was a lot of fun. It's harvest season, so there were a lot of people there. There were some people grape stomping, Grace and Heather bought a bottle of wine each (we all agreed it is pretty good, but then again, this wine is also practically just grape juice...) We bought bread and cheese and walked around. Gino insisted that I dance with him to one of the bands playing. He's a pretty good dancer, actually. He's the best leader I think I've had since the TA of my ballroom/swing class last fall. Gino also invited me to go dancing with him later this semester. I don't think I will... while he's a good dancer, it was kind of awkward.

Dancing with Gino...

It rained again today. It's been rainy and beautiful. I love rain. The wind has really picked up, making the windows fog and the clouds roll. Today, my drawing class took a field trip to a bar (cafe) where we drew one of my classmates. I drank cappuccino (becoming a serious addict) and we ate pizza, and listened to jazz. It was great. I feel like I did a very good job. It's nice to feel good about one's art.

(because I'm sure you all have just been DYING to see what I've been doing... here's a sample)

Our model and fellow student, Rory

I don't think I'll ever get over how beautiful God's creation is. Truly, He is the greatest artist of all.

Psalm 8

A psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

² From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

⁵ You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:

⁷ all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,

⁸ the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Sorry for the length... a lot happens in one day...)

As an added plus... this is my Boyfriend. He's on his side in this picture.
This was taken last week... he currently doesn't look like this anymore.
I'm not going to show you pictures of the plaster model because I want it to be a surprise,
but if you all ask very nicely, I might put up pictures of the runners up.
(AKA the clay models of the ones I didn't do AKA my little Frankenstein's Monsters.)

What things may come!

Oh friends, I am so excited. Many exciting things happened this week. Thus the excitement.

First, we shall start with Sunday... which really started on Saturday. My dear roommate, Grace, has the most fantastic voice. She has also been going through a difficult time with something that happened to her before coming to Cortona which really was wreaking havoc upon her spiritual life. She had a revelation that we should all, as Christians, come together and have our own sort of worship service on Sundays since all the churches here are Catholic and in Italian.

She also had the revelation that we have not only to realize that God has given us grace, but accept it. It was exciting that she was excited about it. I hadn't seen her so happy or at peace since being here. I was encouraged. God's grace is something I definitely have issues with. We had a mini worship jam in our room. I think it's so cool. We have pretty similar ideas about what worship should be: fairly organic and as not showy or about me as possible.

We spent all of Sunday together for some serious roommate bonding time. There was an antique market in town. Grace, I found, loves antiques. I kept losing her among the perfume bottles and old photographs. I found a pair of antique leather boots for 20 euro. My sister will be tremendously jealous when she sees them. They look about like a pair of hers, only older and with a slightly higher lift... and definitely cheaper.

A dark cloud set on our day though as we were walking back, one of our professors approached us and told us that a tourist had died right in front of our dormitory, just a few hours before we started back. Several students were witness to the occasion and had been there as our resident artist tried to revive the man. He was 80 years old and here with his wife, who was invited inside as several students tried to comfort her. Many students were very shaken by that event. I would have been too, I'm sure, if we had been there.

Grace and I met Pecos, another student from Westmont, at the top of the hill. We had a long conversation about what happened and about life and God. A psychiatrist from a nearby town came by yesterday and talked to the students. I wasn't there, but I heard it was a good time of sharing.

Now for some fun stuff, on Monday, we cast our plaster models for sculpture. Then on Tuesday, I had the privilege of breaking my plaster mold loose from his plastery bonds. Oh, the excitement my friends! To see my model coming loose from all the rubble, seeing an arm emerge, then another, then another... then the head... oh it was so exciting! It was like he was being given air after being submerged under water for a long time, almost as if he were coming to life.

And THEN, (really... this has been quite the week...) on Wednesday, we cut and stomped grapes from our vineyards. That's right, I wore a pair of shorts and a tank top, got to cut beautiful green-white grapes with peachy colored veins in thick, succulent bunches, off their vines into crates and from the crates into a huge bucket (it can fit up to... five? Grown men...) with a spigot and squished them with my feet. It was disgusting and amazing. They don't really squish between your toes as you might think they do, no, it all just seems to instantly turn to juice, even though all the stems and seeds are there. They brought sandwiches, pizza, potato chips and pesto from town. We ate them and had an amazing time of togetherness.

The fun doesn't end there, my friends. Oh no. Today, we got our stones! YES! We got our beautiful alabaster stones on which we will be working for the next month. Good heavens! I cannot tell you how excited I am. My hand currently is sporting a blister and a bruise from where I held the hammer, but friends, I could not, I think, be happier than at this moment. I am currently calling him my "boyfriend" since he did give me a huge rock. He is amazing, my rock. He is, I think, the biggest rock in the group, and very heavy. But how exciting! I chipped away at the bottom of him all day.

Oh wait! Not all day. No. Today, my friends, I also had my very first experience with figure drawing... the nude kind. It was not bad at all. I rather enjoyed it actually. I got to draw with vines charcoal and I love drawing with vines. I have decided that I don't mind drawing so long as I get to draw with either charcoal or pen. For some reason, I just like those mediums better than graphite. Graphite pales in comparison.

It has been a great week thus far, and it isn't even over. Tomorrow there is a Toga party for someone's birthday.... I think it sounds great. This afternoon, I also spent some time in our orchard with one of my friends. We have walnut trees and persimmon trees and fig trees and pear trees here... and the orchard ALSO has a fabulous view... I cannot tell you how blessed I am. Blessed blessed blessed.

I hope your week was as blessed as mine was.