My Italian class today was frustrating. I have no idea what the teacher is saying when she tries to explain things. We got a page of verbs to conjugate, and that I could actually do…but as she was going around the class having everyone read what they wrote, she would skip me because she knows I don’t know what’s going on, but I actually had the answers to the questions that she skipped me on! And of course, the one question she finally does ask me is one that I have wrong.
After class I stopped at a trattoria down the street and got a panino. It was sooooo good. Huge hunks of homemade mozzarella on a giant slice of homemade bread. For dessert I had some of the sweet bread that was set out for snack. A vegetarian would do very well here- with all of the great breads and pastas and fruits and vegetables (they’d be missing out on some great meats as well, but I suppose they wouldn’t know the difference). People who would not do well here are those allergic to gluten and dairy (sorry Liz :/)
I have a confession. I’ve started reading The Two Towers… It’s the only book in the Villalta’s library that is in English. I knew Dan would be proud, though. After reading some Tolkien instead of doing homework, I went up to the roof for awhile to real some Paul, and it was beautiful.
Wednesday dinner was excellent- we had several types of sandwiches: on “French” bread with either lettuce, swiss, and a type of smoked prosciutto (which I actually don’t really like) or lettuce, swiss, and hotdogs that had been sliced down the middle. Also, there were giant, breaded and fried balls of rice with what was either sausage or chicken…but very good. There was also some country friend steak, as well as the usuals of salad and potato chips. Dessert was cups of fruit with apples, kiwi, and banana in sweet orange juice. Also, as a post-dessert dessert, we had a fancy, enormous slab of dark chocolate with nuts. The movie was Kung Fu Panda and I loved it just as much in Italian as I do in English- and I actually finally learned a little Italian from it I think!
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The next day…
Now I’ve had a very satisfying day and have a very sore bottom. There is much to tell..
This morning I finally met up with Karen (from my church) in Pozzuoli. I piled into her car with 3 of her kids (I’m not sure how many she has- I know it’s at least 4) and she drove me out to the stables where she keeps her horses. The stables were very cute. They had their own section to themselves, which she took over 2 years ago from the trainer that her kids were taking lessons from when the trainer went back to England. There are stalls for all of the horses, but they stay most of the year in their little paddocks that go up a hill into the woods. I was introduced to all the horses and they were all very nice (Tory- I don’t know if you read this, but for your sake- they were some of the nicest horses I have ever met…). One of my favorites was a little pony mare, about 9 hands?, named Fragallina, who just get’s to wander around the stable at her own will. Karen’s kids went off to paint some fences while they waited for their jumping lesson later, and Karen and I saddled up and went for a trail ride. I rode Ziggy, a pony with a strong resemblance to Pegasus- extremely white and beautiful and very full of energy. I thought I would look ridiculous on him, but he seems very big for his size (he’s right on the edge of being a horse). He’s very stubborn (and loves to head-butt you), and next time I ride him I will have to take a crop- he had his fair share of control on that ride; luckily he only used to it snag a couple of bites of trees here and there and to take off at a gallop every now and then when he knew it was safe to… haha.
The trail was crazy- it was small and overgrown and it winded up and down steep hills through the woods. Good thing Ziggy knew where he was going, because I had to lead since Karen’s horse kicks if anyone gets behind him. It was beautiful, though. At one part of the trail, there was a cool stone wall that ran next to the path. A little further down, I saw on the other side of the wall was a huuuuge crater with plenty of plants, trees, grass- you get the idea. Karen told me that one of the Kings of Naples would bring tigers, lions, giraffes, elephants, etc. and put them in that crater so that he could hunt them, as if on a safari, without leaving Naples. Pretty crazy. However many hundreds of years later, there were many holes in the wall, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there were any tiger families living in secret in the woods that we were riding through..
It was shortly after this that there was a spot in the trail that didn’t have an sharp turns or steep hills (but it was not at all flat or open, and the path was scarily thin), that apparently they usually let Ziggy speed up on, and he took off at a gallop. They ride a very tight-reined English and Ziggy by no means has a soft mouth (I wondered if he could even feel my yanking at all), so there was nothing I could do but let him go, keep my heels down, and try to anticipate the turns so I didn’t fall off. I had never actually gone above a walk on a trail ride, so it was quite a new experience for me, and it was a lot of fun.
Eventually I got Ziggy to slow down, and we cooly emerged from the woods (as if we had never been in an uncontrolled, head-long gallop at all), and there was a huge meadow at the top of the mountain we had just climbed, with a view of fields, villages, villas, and the ocean. It was gorgeous. We let the horses graze for a while before moving on back down the mountain towards the stables. Ziggy was much calmer with a belly full of grass and I didn’t have to be in a constant fight to keep him at a walk and to keep his head from the vegetation.
When we got back, we untacked and then I got a chance to ride Hollywood. He is not at all a pony. He’s around 17 hands, a bay with great muscle tone, and he used to be quite the jumper in his day (like 1 and a half meter jumps?!?!). He was owned by an extremely rich family in Sorrento and was imported from France. You can tell he used to be worth quite a few euro. They worked him really hard, though, and you can see the affects on his gate- it’s a little bit choppy now. He was retired young- only 14 (he’s now 22)- and Karen pulled him out of retirement a couple years ago for mostly arena work (he’s a little too much horse to take on trails- if he takes off like Ziggy did and you fall off, it’s not going to be pretty). He was trained in dressage and is very responsive to leg cues, and he does not have the tough mouth that Ziggy has, so no yanking is necessary (although he does get extremely distracted while you’re working him…they suggest riding him with spurs to remind him that he’s in the arena). The problem with Hollywood, and the reason I love him, is that he’s very smart. You can tell when you look his eyes that he’s smart, which makes him beautiful, but a very bad horse, haha. He’s always pushing buttons and seeing how much he can get away with. I hope that he and I get along.
Although I was frightened most of the time, it was good to be riding again. (Karen said that I was a good rider because I’m not afraid …ha!) My balance needs a little improvement and I need to get used to these horses (and my bottom needs to get used to the saddle! ye gads), but I liked it at the stables- it was nice to not only be speaking English, but speaking horse (with Karen, not the horses- I’m not that good. I’m no Monty Roberts). They are going out of town to their house in the mountains for Easter, but I am meeting up with them when they get back on Wednesday to go back out.
Afterwards, I had to rush back to the Villalta because I had plans to go to the beach with my Belgian friend! I got back, changed real fast, and ate lunch real fast (but not as fast as I needed to- there were some high school girls visiting the Villalta to see if they wanted to live there next year, and I talked to them for too long and I was late meeting Erika). Lunch was excellent, even though I was eating it as cold left-over’s since I was late getting back from the stables. 1st- Gnocchi di patate in tomato sauce, and small slices of bread with either tuna spread on them or “pink sauce” with toothpicks stuck in the middle. Main- slices of beef and roasted peppers and eggplant. Dessert- a giant slice of cake that was ice cream, whipped cream, and shavings of dark chocolate.
The beach was gorgeous- not at all crowded since the Italians still think its winter, with nice sand and huge, beautiful cliffs on either side of it. The water felt good, but was a little cold, and we didn’t bother with swimming. We layed on the beach and talked, and it was a very nice afternoon.
When I got back from the beach, no one was at the Villalta because they were at church for the Maundy Thursday service and I couldn’t get in, so I walked down the street to the bookstore-Feltrinelli. I love that store. I could stay there all day. I bought the Italian version of Good Wives for Elisabetta (the book that she read to me to practice her English on our way to England) so she could actually enjoy the book and know what she was reading, and as a sort of good-luck-with-your-operation present (it turns out that Elisabetta has cancer. The good news is that it was caught early and can all be removed- they are operating this weekend, so please be praying). I also bought The Great Gatsby for myself, because I just can’t help myself when I’m in a bookstore, and it was only 3 euro!
When I got back, Elisabetta was not feeling well and she asked me to prepare dinner (the cooks had cooked everything ready, I just needed to heat up what needed to be heated up- but it sounds fancier saying that I prepared dinner..) Anyway, the dinner I prepared was excellent: One course- a big platter with tuna in middle and with rays of fresh tomatoes, of hardboiled eggs, and of green beans beaming out. There was also a big plate of sandwiches on fococcia bread baked with tomatoes on top, filled with swiss, spinach, ham, prosciutto, and cooked peppers, surround on the platter by spears of hunks of swiss and the left over country fried steak. I think there was more food, but I was too preoccupied with the above mentioned. Dessert was cups of sliced pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, and apple in juice.
After dinner, some of us went out to pray and stay awake (because the apostles couldn’t!), and I’m really glad I went because it turned out to be a tour of the churches near us. It was incredible. The night was full of incense, ornate alters, vaulted ceilings, painted domes, intricate carvings, gold, artwork, beautiful, fresh flowers, etc., all in the light of tons and tons of candles. We went to 5 churches, and we were never at any of them long enough for me to be able to pull out my Bible, because in the ten minutes that we were there, I was so caught up at looking at the church itself. It’s common in the south of Italy to go to several churches on the Thursday night of Holy Week, stopping to pray for a little time at each, while the story of the last supper and the visit to the garden are being read at each. On this tour of churches, I learned about the rosary and was invited to the home of one of the girls sometime- she lives where The Passion was filmed! And she met Mel! And she saw some of the filming of the movie! She said there are a lot of cool caves to see.. I’m pretty excited.
Now, I am exhausted. And it hurts to sit after my rough ride through the woods today (apparently I need more cushion on my rear… I don’t know how all this pasta hasn’t given me all I need and more).
Tomorrow at noon, I will go to my church’s good Friday service. Before then, I need to do some homework. After church is lunch, and after lunch, I leave for Enza’s! I don’t know what to pack, but I’m used to being the fashion sore thumb by now.. no big. I won’t be able to write for several days, but when I do, I will be able to tell you how the Italians celebrate Easter, and hopefully I will be able to tell about Amalfi! (We are supposed to be going to the coast this Saturday!)
Okay, Ciao!!!
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