Life is Great in Italia!

September 29, 2006 Another beautiful day here in Belforte. The sun is out and it is warm. I have all the ingredients to make cookies, but will wait until a cooler day so that I can warm up the kitchen at the same time! This afternoon, Larry goes to the dentist! Can't wait to see how that turns out.

On Wednesday, Paola took me to Piandimeleto so that I could pay our gasolio bill. We had 500 litres delivered in early July, but they had never sent a bill. When I went to pay it (625 euro=$795 USD), even though it was months late she asked if I wanted to pay it all or just make a payment! We think we will need to have more delivered before winter so that we don't run out. We have no idea how long it will last, but 500 litres doesn't sound like much! This is what our heater looks like. This one is in the entrance way and there is one in every room of the apartment, some bigger than others. We're not sure how they work. Maybe hot water goes through it or maybe steam. I guess we will find out soon enough!

When we got back to our house, Paola took a pie out that she had baked for us! It is marmelade with nuts on top--not sure what kind of marmelade though. It's hard to remember she is our landlady when she brings us pies, wine, jam, and fresh tomatoes! She always gives us a kiss on each cheek when we greet each other. She did mention that her parents want to sell the apartment and wondered if we would want to buy it. We're not exactly sure what the amount was she said because we each heard something different! When the numbers are higher than about 50 I get very confused. We will have to ask her again at some later date in case it is reasonable and we decide to stay here.

I wanted to show you our door knob. Our door has a knob, but it doesn't turn! You use it only to help close the door. Everytime the door is shut it is locked and you need to use the key to open it. If you shut the door without turning the lock, you need to turn the key to the right while also pushing on the door to open it. If you did turn the lock, then you need to turn the key 2 complete cycles to the left to open it. Some door knobs have a push button in the middle that you need to use for the door to open. Last year I used the bathroom at a bar and I couldn't get the door open and I was starting to panic when I finally tried pushing the button (thinking it was to lock the door) and then the door opened. Our basement door is like this!

Here is our toaster! The bread goes in the little basket (that you see in front) and then you put the basket inside the slots of the toaster. The knob is a timer, but the toaster continues to cook after the timer goes off--nothing pops up!

Last night we went to the Music Bar to have dinner. We had planned on getting two pizzas, but for some reason they said we couldn't because they were out of plates! She told us we could have "un gigante" pizza and she held her arms out in a circle to let us know how big it would be. It didn't look too big so we ordered half salame picante and half napoletano. When it arrived it was much bigger than she had indicated and also we noticed the crust was a thicker style than the small ones. This is how much we had left after eating our fill! The Brazilians came in to eat while we were there and filled the place up. Poor Deborah, our waitress was being worked to death!

Larry just got back from the dentist. He had a very pleasant experience. The dentist even commented that his Italian was very good! The cost of the filling was 60 euro (maybe $75 USD). We don't know if that is good or bad, but the cost of the visit and the temporary filling he had in Hemet was $300!!