It's hard coming home

I miss Italy so much already. And even more so, my family. I had a really rough trip back, complete with delays, mix-ups, and tears. Work is a struggle as I strain to catch up during a very busy time, and I'm lonely suddenly having so much time to myself after spending 24 hours a day with my family. I'm tearing up now thinking about it.

But let's focus on the positive, shall we? I'd intended to be better about updating the blog while I was there so as not to forget anything, but I'm afraid I wasn't diligent enough. Here are some highlights. I'll try to add more as I think of them.

All of the men there walk with their hands held together behind their backs. It's charming. Like they're trying to appear as though they're sizing everything up for some reason. All of the women under 50 wear tight pants and long boots with spiked heels. I don't know how they do it!

I bought knitting supplies for my sister and taught her how to knit. In the store, I wasn't quite sure what to get, and a very sweet Nonna helped me out big time. The only English word she used was "together" when I expressed that I wanted to buy two colors of yarn to use at once. She pointed out that the yarns I picked were made of different materials and helped me find the right needle size. She was amazingly helpful and sweet, even adding up the total for the woman at the register!

I loved walking, sight-seeing, and shopping in the smaller towns. The larger foreign cities are not for me. Too dirty and touristy. I prefer the charm of what feels like a more REAL Italian life. I wasn't very happy in Florence. It was cool (and hard!) to climb up the 400-some steps of the bell tower next to the duomo, which was closed for some kind of construction. Great view, even though my legs were jelly by the time we got back down to the bottom. I was disappointed to find that nobody else wanted to pay to go in the church with me where Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli are buried. That was our second destination, and I'm afraid I was pretty cranky for the rest of the day, though I kept it to myself.

Although Florence felt a little bit like a bust, I did find a cute, cheap ring from a street vendor, and a fantastic, not-so-cheap leather jacket, which I love. One of the buttons came off yesterday, but I'll sew that sucker back on with some upholstery thread, no problem.

I very much miss the ease of slow Italian time and vacation life. Every day we'd sleep until 9 or so, make breakfast, clean up, go walking, shopping, etc, play some games, cook and eat a little more, play some cards, watch a movie, and go to bed. The perfect life! Dad went to early morning mass a lot. I only went once, but it was nice. Peaceful. I laughed when I heard the line in "While You Were Sleeping," but I think that I, too, prefer to hear mass in a different language. Something about it makes the experience more spiritual for me. Probably because I can interpret the words and actions however I want.

This post is pretty lengthy. Check back for more about Rome, Deruta, the fam, etc. I'm off to cheer up!