Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Weather or not...

Last week people were swimming in the hotel's pool which I can see from my patio. This week we've had storms move through which include sunny early mornings, big black clouds moving in midmorning and downpours at mid-day, right when it's time to pick up Dante from school . And it's been chilly. We can even see new snow on one of the highest peaks we can see from here.

While back in the States many (including me) would dash from car to school or store and back again without an umbrella, here an umbrella is a MUST! They thoroughly believe t hat if you get wet (through sweat or rain) and then there's a breeze, you'll get sick.

Well, I'm sick. The first thing the Doctor asked me when he saw me was "Did you sweat recently?" (this was last week, before all the rain arrived). As fervently as we believe that germs are transferred on a shopping cart handle and resistance lowered by too much stress, the Italians believe getting wet and then a chill is all you need. And, of course, you can always make the connection (well, I sweat every morning that I walk these hills for almost an hour, and living on the side of a hill, well, we get more wind than most places). Who knows, maybe there will soon be scientific evidence that they're right!

A little background...

A life-long Long Islander, I find myself now living in a small village about an hour SE of Rome. From my patio I see the Apennine mountains and a number of other small hilltop towns, as well as olive groves, grapevines, oak trees and fields. We've built a house here after living upstairs from my in-laws for a year. In the interim we've been back and forth to New York, working some, trying to sell the house there. Let me begin by saying the obvious--living in Italy is WAY different from vacationing here! Here's a bit of our daily story, what keeps us busy, what I'm thinking about. Hope you find it interesting!