Last Weekend together

Dree, Me, and Douglas
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Alright, since my last entry was somewhat negative and dramatic about living with so many people, in all fairness, I need to share the wonderful things that come from living with 12 people. Firstly, you’re never bored. Secondly, just as you find people you don’t get along with, you also find those that you do, whom you wouldn’t have otherwise.

As I've said before, Dree and I clicked very quickly after meeting. She’s an incredible inspiration to me. Although she is older, she, like I, decided she hated her job (working for the Australian government) and wasnt happy in the four year long relationship she was in, and so she decided to buy a one way ticket to Italy and wwoof for a few months until she realized what it was that she wanted out of life.  (Mirror image plus a few years, right?!) We spend most of our working time together as well, as we both kind of took on roles as “den mothers.” (Hence the meeting we held) Not what we signed on for, however, as the oldest women in the group and the most organized and take charge, it was bound to happen. In any case, when there is free time to be had, we choose to spend it together since we’re both pretty laid back and not in any serious rush about anything. Kicking back with a cappuccino or drink and people watching is our scene and we do it quite well.

The cutest piazza
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One night after a long day of sickle work together, we decided at lunch that we both needed some beers after work. So around 8ish after we both were showered and refreshed, we walked to Melegnano, the closest town to our farm for some cold beers on tap. It’s about a half an hour walk, but completely worth it. The beers were cold, the air was cool, and the people watching was prime. We sat outside, chatted, and drank our delicious beers. Ok, ok, I know, we’re in Italy, we should be drinking wine. However, after using a 20 inch sickle for four consecutive hours in one day in the sun, wine just doesn’t cut it. An ice cold beer is far more pleasing to the palette. Plus, it was “happy hour” and so they had the greatest array of free food out that we helped ourselves to that consequently became our dinner.

International Jenga
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We ended up being there for a few hours drinking, talking, and laughing. I learned so much about Australia and about Dree. For instance, the biggest things that she feels Australians remember in their lifetimes are Princess Diana’s death and Apollo 11 landing on the moon. (The topic came up as I had stated that Americans will always remember where they were when Kennedy was shot and when 9-11 happened) It was sooo interesting to hear about how big of an impact the moon landing had on Australia. Apparently the satellites that broadcast the landing were all Australian companies and there was a bit of confusion that went on during the actual landing that caused chaos amongst those broadcasters. I also learned a lot about Australian government and policies and many other things about the country I wouldn’t have known otherwise. We had some great conversations over some great Belgium beers. Then as the sun began to set, the sketchy Italian men spotted the two of us and we were hounded by a few different men to have drinks with them and to go back to their apartments for “spaghetti”, ha. We were polite and let them buy us beers and entertained their mundane and stereotypical pick up questions, before we decided to start on the 30 minute trek home. When we got back to the farm we stayed up late with a bottle of wine and some amazing cheese continuing to talk. She is probably one of the most interesting women I have ever met; I was just fascinated by the places she has gone and the people she had met.  She gave me great tips about travelling and getting the most out of it.

We're so funny... at least to us.
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Needless to say, I love talking with this woman.  Friday night before dinner, we cracked a bottle of wine out on the property grounds relaxing after a long day of work, and she told me all about the aboriginal communities and history of Australia. Fascinating. She also told me about the prejudice and hardships she and her family faced being Italians in Australia when she was growing up. By the time we sat down to dinner, we were working on our second bottle of wine and could not stop laughing. There we are, almost 15 years apart in age, drinking cheap Italian wine (which would be considered very good in America), and laughing about nothing. I remember sitting there at dinner and just feeling so content and so at home. Even though I was sitting with so many, most of whom I will never see again, it all just felt so right and so relaxed, and so comfortable.

Late into the night...
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Saturday, the first day to our weekend the six of us spent the afternoon together. The six being the half of the group that all get along well and all enjoy each others company apart from being put into forced interaction situations. Again, there are 12 of us, but the other six kind of do their own thing and don’t really hang out with Dree, Peter, Po, Doug, Tom and I. So after we had planted fennel and cauliflower all morning, we all spent the rest of the day drinking beers in the sun, playing ping pong, playing poker, and eating a massive lunch together.

Just one of many more... loaded on facebook because this picture loading application is the worst!!
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After lunch we all cleaned up and made our way into Melegnano for dinner and drinks. We asked Fang to join us, as her friend Joon had left for the weekend. It was so much fun. We found this amazing little bar with the best outdoor seating overlooking this beautiful and busy piazza, and we all drank, ate, and enjoyed each others company.

Peter and Po are very liberal. To the point of claiming to have socialistic views, and although I definitely consider myself liberal, their views are not quite my political stand point. It was, however, interesting to have political discussions with them as they both are very intelligent and opinionated. When the discussion turned towards conspiracy theories and their opinions that Apollo 11 never happened and that 9-11 was all a coverup, I politely held my tongue and listened to their stand points. They were certainly interesting and well thought out and being that I have not thought much about US conspiracies to this degree and therefore had no educated responses to their claims, I just listened to what they had to say and did my best to move to more appropriate conversations related to the amount of drinking we were doing. Its not that I don’t enjoy conversations like that, I just believe there is a time and place for them and being that we were with Dree, an Australian, Tom and Doug, Brits, and Fang Chinese, I wanted to shift the conversation to something that included all and was a little less heated. Po, being a Political Science major at one of the top ranked schools in the US, was getting quite heated. As her voice and animation started to rise, especially towards my diplomatic responses and commentary, I busted out my camera and started taking pictures, which lead towards many fun and entertaining pictures to be taken by all. I still think she may be a bit upset at a couple of comments I made about how people seek out “conspiracies” about everything, but oh well. Again, parts were interesting, however, while relaxing on a beautiful evening with some great company, people watching, and drinks, I like to keep conversations less angry. Maybe that makes me a stupid compliant American, or maybe just a person who knows that there are many horrible things that happen in this world that we dont and wont ever know about and of the importance of being educated, but being that forceful and persistent to “educate” is not my style.

Post work beers
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By this point we all had quite a few drinks and some great snacks (free happy hour snacks in Italy are infinitely better than the shitty fried food at American bars. Olives, fresh bread and tomatoes, mini Panini’s.. ) and were feeling quite good. We shifted towards more fun conversations while we laughed and people watched as the piazza began to fill with locals. I sat back and looked into the piazza and had an “ahhh” moment. A wave of happiness swept over me as I looked out into the streets and crowds of people and thought to myself, here I am, I am in Italy. I’m eating and drinking on the street with great company and I am so lucky and happy. Feeling that content is still quite foreign to me. It’s almost like I’m waiting to get hit with a reality stone, like “damn, I have to go back to work on Monday morning…”, but I don’t! Hooray! Haha.

Poker with rocks.. way more entertaining
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It was a beautiful night, cooler than it had been, and we have a wonderful view of this gorgeous lit up piazza that was filled with locals and amazing people watching. Despite the few conflicts that I have faced living with so many, I have also made some great friends. Even though the intentions for my Sat afternoon were to relax by myself and catch up on emails and get a jump start on school, I had a far better time spending it with everyone else. Again, I didn’t expect to be with so many others so soon and its been a wonderful experience. I will miss having someone around all the time to chat with, play cards with, or grab a coffee with. Its been a great introduction to the whole woofing experience.

Fang, Dree, and I
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