Hanging head in shame (sort of)

This

(pistachio cake)

and this:

(fruit/sherbet sundae)

we're my dinner last night along with a Starbucks coffee.
BUT, I prepared a traditional Turkish breakfast this morning meaning I ate cucumbers and tomatoes. So that kind of makes up for it, right? OK, I also ate bread, olives, a soft hard-boiled egg, and hard, stringy, sour goat cheese that comes knotted like mozzerella (Dad, you are probably the only person I know who that would sound appealing to) with a sprinkling of olive oil, oregano, and hot chilli flakes on top. Turkish breakfast is really winning me over. I mean, olives for breakfast? Yes, please!

My cold night: The Conclusion

Sooo, I woke up this morning...and it was still cold. I couldn't believe it. I was sure I would be sweating. I picked out an outfit for the day and put on my sneaks in anticipation of walking the 3 km to get to Ephesus (despite how it looks, pronounced Efes, like the Turkish beer, which took me 3 days to figure out after having to repeat myself multiple times, with different pronunciation each time before Turkish people knew what I was talking about), opened the door to go outside and down to breakfast...and it was SNOWING!!! Wrench in the plans but at least I managed not to slip and fall down the stairs. Then I come to find out over the course of the day that there hasn't been snow here in either A) 20 years B) 18 years or C) 8 years depending on who I was talking to. Great. So happy I was here for the lucky day. 

 

BUT, the snow did look kind of pretty gracing the tin roof next to the orange tree across the street. But, drat, I didn't have my camera with me at breakfast (and that never happens). So, I finished breakfast and headed back upstairs. Took out my camera and thought I might be able to get the shot out my window...I pulled back the curtin...and discovered it was OPEN! and thus had been open ALL NIGHT LONG. And the previous afternoon. No freakin' wonder.

 

My cold night

 

so-oo-oo-oo co-old, ca-n't fe-el my fing-gers...

Ok, it might not be quite that bad but it is cold in here. I got back from walking around town and having a nice 2 hour chat with my newest Turkish friend, Farat Ali, who has the most expensive Backgammon board I've ever seen and probably ever will (but that's a story for another time). I turned on the heater, pushing the red button just like the man told me to. It said 5--I'm assuming that meant it was 5 degrees F in there. I waved my arms around over the 3 beds in my Empty dorm room to try to decide which one felt the warmest but there was really no difference. The original bed I chose was next to the door, as far from the window side of the room as possible but right in direct line of the wind coming out of the heater so I moved right under the heater, next to window. I knew I had to put my pjs on so they could start warming up. I looked at the heater control, I looked away, I looked again, and I decided to try to make it work faster. Not the best plan. I think for a while it may have been blowing out air that was... on the colder side of the spectrum. 

I chose a bed, borrowed the 2 blankets from one of the other beds and climbed in. I had on socks, flannel pj pants, a t-shirt, a light zip-up sweatshirt, my Peruvian poncho thingy, a neck scarf, a wrap around head scarf, and my newest gloves (the 3rd pair I've bought in the past 2 weeks...) that I can handily type with. I looked at the heater again and now it seemed to say 2 degrees! WTF! OK, got it fixed and now it seems to have warm air coming out.  But it's still pretty cold. My fingers and nose are making themselves known. It's a little hard to move my legs because the blankets are heavy. Ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but you know the feeling. I finally take off the scarves and gloves as I'm confidant I'm on the right track now and it'll start to get warm really fast-- the thing is set to 32 which seems pretty warm to me if my Farenheit degree knowledge is up to snuff.  I finally turn the light out, pull my arms in and snuggle down in. I wake at about 7 when the call to prayer sounds. My shoulders are cold but I can't burrow in enough for them to be covered since the blankets aren't like duvets that mold around your body. I pull the poncho back up to the bed and wrap it around my shoulders and catch a few more winks. 

But why is it still so cold?

To be continued...

 

Helpful packing tips

 Things I'm really glad I brought with me:

1. slippers-- these came in really handy while in Locorotondo at Giorgio's parents apartment when we had to be quiet becuase the Prince was sleeping. Neither of my shoes were particularly quiet. 
2. ear plugs. There's been some snoring. But also, at the country house where I slept in Locorotondo, instead of using screens on the doors they use beads, a la 70's decor. It was pretty windy some nights and those beads could make quiet a racket. 
3. Swiss army knife. I haven't actually used it yet but I feel better just knowing I have it :)
4. a long coat. It's much nicer to sit on cold park benches with an extra layer between you

Things that I forgot:

1. towel-- who knows what some of the places I'll end up staying at will be like?
2. hat and gloves-- um, hello?, it's winter here...
3. clothes for running in the winter-- see above
4. watch-- it would be nice to have a back-up alarm clock in case my phone goes dead and I can't plug it in
5. adapter-- this is so obvious I can't even think off anything to say. Thankfully Laura had one I could use in London and then Giorgio had a nifty one that has retracting prongs so you only need one for many different countries that he let me use and them borrow
   

This is just a test.

New Year's in Italy

Welcome.Happy New Years from Italy!!  Buon Compleanno da Italia!

I've finally got the blog up and (hopefully) running.

New Year's Eve was pretty low key. We had dinner at the usual 9 o'clock and then Giorgio and I watched part of The Help until we realized we only had 2 minutes left to get ready for the clock strike.

He opened a bottle of Brachetto d'Acqua (sparkling red wine), and poured four glasses. His father woke up from the couch, downed his glass and went directly to bed with not a word to the 3 of us gathered in the kitchen. We broke out the leftover panettone and pan d'oro left over from Christmas and listened to the firecrackers exploding in the streets around us. 

After it was safe to go out, we took a stroll into the Centro Storico (Historic Center) with the acidic smell of explosives tinting the air. The pizzeria was closed already but we walked by the trattoria and Giorgio recognized some friends of his that work there enjoying a meal at the end of their shift and we walked in to offer, "Auguri" (wishes). Before we knew it we had been forced to sit and a glass of grappa and a plate of just-jiggly-enough panna cotta with a hefty drizzle of chocolate sauce thrust into our hands.  A little while later as we stood to go as they finished straightening up for the night, Giuseppina insisted we all have a limoncello before we left. We couldn't call it a night without stopping by and checking out the scene at the local bar, BBeP. They had were just starting to clean up after hosting a private party for the night. We hung around to chat while they worked and they gave us a free beer--German, of course.


And then we finally called it a night at 2:45.