We have been here about two months and there is some semblance of an Italian routine. Language school has been our primary focus. After waking, taking our coffee or tea, and doing our routine of yoga and meditation, we have a light breakfast then brave the early morning streets of Firenze on our bicycles. There is the commuter crowd, but the tourists are still not up and about. It is fun to ride our bikes across Ponte Vecchio when the shops are just opening and there are no crowds to speak of.
School starts at 9:00 am lasts until 12:30. Both of us have been impressed with the school. The teachers are enthusiastic and knowledgable. Their jobs aren't easy because they have students from all over the world and most of them are in their twenties (and therefore just as interested in experiencing the club life of Firenze as learning the language). Classes are usually initiated by each of us telling the others what we did the previous day (in italian certo). It's not unusual for some of the students to have gotten no sleep or an hour or two before coming to class. We are definitely the oldsters in our classrooms, but have found some common ground (at least in the classroom) and made some friends.
After school, we have our lunch (pranzo) either in a restaurant or at home. We take a little nap (penichella) then get up and do a couple hours of homework. Then we typically do our daily shopping in the neighborhood for groceries or other staples. Most everything is within walking distance. We have gotten to know a few neighbors and local shopkeepers where we buy our fruit, vegetables, and other groceries.
We eat our dinner early by Italian standards (8:00 p.m.). Afterwards we usually go for a walk. Often we trek up to the Piazzela di Michelangelo. It is our urban "Lone Pine" hike (which our Kalispell friends will know). Lots of people congregate on the steps overlooking the city and often there are musicians or other street artists doing their thing with a hat out for tips. We are attaching a few pictures from one of these walks.
Usually the walk ends up in our little piazza at the end of the block. It is a popular place for the locals. There is live music a couple of nights a week and a lot of beautiful people dressed in very stylish clothes hang out between the several restaurants, wine bars and gelatoria. We usually hit the scene at some point in the evening, but it doesn't get going until about 10:00. That is when we are usually heading for home.
Our schedule will be changing a little starting next week. Sheila is taking a break from language school after eight weeks. Joe will continue for another four weeks before taking a break before art school starts in September. We both just took our respective exams for the levels we were taking (Joe level 1, Sheila level 2) Joe got a "B" and Sheila got an "A", so this is a good time for her to declare victory and take a "pause". She is going to try to set up more conversations with some local Italians. There is a website we are both using to set up meetings with local Italians who want to learn English. It seems to be an easy and cheap way to practice. We will let you know. We also have had some neighbors, who are learning English, over for some language exchange. They were very nice and are very knowledgable about Firenze and especially the "little village" of our neighborhood.
We have been taking in some sites and activities. We've taken tours of the Uffici, the Academia, the Friesole Roman ruins and taken in some of the Florence Dance Festival. We had a wonderful day a couple weekends ago visiting a private art collection of site-specific modern art sculptures. It was about 25 miles outside of Florence on sixty acres with a villa. We jumped on the train to Pistoia and caught a cab up to the villa. It was quite amazing! We were able to see this thanks to our tour guide, Katie Dodds from Whitefish, Montana who is going to be a senior in college majoring in Italian and French. She arranged for us to get in on a tour she was giving to a group of Italians. So, of course, the four hour tour was all in Italian. She was impressive and so was the art! Google "Fattoria di Celle - Gori Collection" for more information and photos of this place. Our brother-in-law Doug Calish (who is an art professor and sculptor) said the works of art are like the "top 40" in the modern art sculpture world. We have a few photos for you to see.
Every once in a while we look at each other and just take notice that we are here and are in the midst of this adventure. Besides living in a culture where you don't speak the language well, probably the biggest change has been how much slower our lives are now.
We are both students again and don't have a car, a microwave, nor a clothes dryer. We walk, bike or ride the bus everywhere. When
you don't have a microwave you sit with your coffee and drink it while it is hot. When you don't have a dryer you think a little bit more about whether you can wear this piece of clothing another day or (sniff) not. Neither of us can remember a time in our lives when we spent so much time together, as we have these last 6 weeks. (Interestingly enough that has been by and large a very good thing). It feels a little bit like a college era lifestyle without the identity and angst issues of that age. Sometimes one or both of us get a little anxious about the lack of firm ground under our feet, but we usually rebound pretty quickly. We are having a great time and will report back soon. Hope you enjoy the photos. Joe and Sheila
