Amica da Australia!

Well, it has been awhile since my last post and it feels like a lot has occurred since then so I'll do my best to remember the interesting bits!

Most importantly, a new WWOOFer arrived one week ago from today! An Aussie, from Perth, named Kathleen. She towers over me at six foot two, likes gelato almost as much as I do, and is constantly making me laugh with her weird Australian jokes and goofy personality. Needless to say, we have a good time!

The three of us have been using our free afternoons to explore the neighboring towns and countryside in search of new and interesting things. Earlier this week we journeyed to Piedimonte Matese to see the historic part of town, really beautiful, and also ventured to uncharted countryside. In town we ate gelato, went on a wild goose chase for vanilla (to bake a cake), got lost in the small alleys of historic town, took to tons of pictures (some are attached) and conversed with curious strangers.

Recently our jaunts in the county have been timed between passing thunderstorms, which leave as quickly as they roll in. Although there have been a couple days where the thunder rolled all day long and days like yesterday when the weather couldn't have been better. We certainly took advantage of yesterday's blue skies having planned a trek to one of the three lakes, Lago di Matese, in the mountains to the west of us (more to come on that adventure...).

On Saturday we got really excited because we thought we had been invited to a '"festivale" in San Potito. We got all dolled up in our city clothes and Rosanna's brother picked us up at seven thirty and drove us to town. Turns out it wasn't a festival, not even close! Oh language barriers. I'm still not even clear on the specifics but here's what I've gathered: there was an Italian author in town (name unknown) who wrote a book (title unknown) and was giving a lecture/presentation on sed book which lasted way too long for someone whose language comprehension is well below par.

The funny thing is at times I found myself looking at the speaker, nodding and even laughing at times when others were as if I knew what in the world was going on. Then I would think, "Shoot these people are going think I understand what's going on and if they try talking to me I'm going to look ridiculous! OK, look at the art on the walls...no don't, that's rude and makes it look like I'm uninterested..." The hour and half presentation went more or less like that and eventually I ended up pulling out my English-Italian dictionary and reading it. And even though the night got off to a slow start we ended up having a really fun night back at the farm.

I'll end with that bit and post more soon on our most recent outings to the mountain valley and cheese farm. Lots of love to all!!