I just realized that today is 9/11. I don't think it means much to these Italians but.....I did a little contemplating about where I was when it happened and my action and feeling after. Also how that day changed all of our lives here in U.S. forever. Security everywhere has changed and how I look at Middle Eastern people.
So this is my first full day at the ocean in my little home. I spent much of the day reading and sleeping on and off. I went for a walk and realized now more than ever how important it is that I get a car to use. Scooters are abundant with very young boys driving them. The wind is constant which is nice but on a scooter would be a bit scary. So tomorrow I have asked Claudio to take me to Brindisi to get a FIAT.
Filomina took me in her jelopy of a car show me the real downtown Villanova, about a mile down the road. Yesterday I was thinking that what I saw outside my apartment was the downtown Villanova. But the real downtown has so much more.
Because this is a town with several residents including many children who stay out well past midnight, making a lot of noise, sleep was very interrupted. So today I caught up on that. But tomorrow I will venture out with map in hand and possibly revisit where I lived for 7 weeks 6 years ago----Carovigno. Going back there will be strangely interesting.
Ostuni and Gallipoli are definitely on my agenda.
Last night I went to a restaurant very close called Holiday Osteria di Mare & Pizza. I had a homemade pasta with seafood (mussels, clams, sea breem and squid). It was very good.
During the day here there arrived many elderly women with beach chairs in hand to sit by the beach. No swimming here. Waves are too big for that. And what I remember from previous visits is the women who in my mind should never wear such sparse clothing wear very sparse bikinis. And they are tiny bikinis where the bottoms are hardly noticeable; getting covered by well you know...bulges.
But I realize that we Americans are so obsessed with our perception of what women should look like.
After all we all can't look like Jane Fonda.
Filomina has 4 children. She is 56 yrs. old. She has a PHD in Psychology. Each of her 4 children have either a Masters deg. or a PHD as well. Her husband is Vincenzo who is a Veterinarian.
Her son Lorenzo is also a Veterinarian. Then there is Marco and Claudio. Her daughter is...oh I forgot. It'll come to me. They own and rent out several properties.
Tonight I will walk to a restaurant noted for seafood about a mile walk. It is called GLI ARCHI.
Giovanna. That's the daughter's name. It's also the name of my apartment. I think Filomina named each of her apartments after her children.
I ate at "the arches" GLI ARCHI tonight and because of the language barrier, I ended up getting almost the very same dinner as I had last night. Homemade pasta (spaghetti) with seafood. But it was good. I just couldn't get my Google Translate up fast enough to tell the waiter what I wanted. The internet service is not only weak but it goes in and out a lot.
Because I sat outside under a veil of some kind or vine, not grapes, there were several cats looking for a hand out. I know it doesn't rain much in this part of Italy so outside dining is typical. I did have a chocolate souffle' (Kim) and it was very good. Not as good as the one in Las Vegas. Another very typical dish here is pizza with arugula and fresh tomato on top. I had just arugula and fresh tomato salad.
I wash my clothes at the end of the day in the bidet next to the toilet. It is really just an oversized, oval shaped sink with a stopper and a faucet. Works very well for this task. I have a plastic clothes drying rack on the sidewalk outside my bedroom door. With the breeze that constantly blows, my clothes dry reasonably quick. I like living this simple life with no tv, no washer and dryer or air conditioner. There is no oven or microwave. Just a 4 burner propane stove.
People, usually couples sit outside at night on there tiny little porch. At night also children play in the streets. Teenagers jibber jabber with each other on the street and socialization with each other is very common. There are many Gelerteria's selling gelato. As of yet I haven't had any.
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