First things first: There are skeletons in Ascoli.
The locals have been doing construction on the streets ever since we arrived in Ascoli and last week, on the street next to the Piazza where the fruit and vegetable market is held, they happened to stumble across the bones of three skeletons of who I assume were previous Ascoli residents.
I have no idea who the people were; all I know is that the Ascolians have been walking on their remains for hundreds of years.
I went to take a few pictures of the archeologists digging up the bones, making graphs of the area and taking pictures. Just another day in Ascoli.
Once again, classes rolled steadily by. Nothing new about my classes to report except that they’re almost done, which provides equal measure of happiness and sadness.
On Wednesday Manlio, a guy that lives in Ascoli and works at a travel agency near the school, came in the UNH office and spoke with Diana, the program assistant. He had heard that there were American students studying in the building and was looking for someone to speak English with as he plans to go to Australia in a few months.
Ben, Phil and I were in the computer room when he came in. Manlio asked if any of us were busy the next day around lunchtime to go and have lunch and talk in Italian and English. Phil did most of the talking and told Manlio that he and Ben were busy with classes during lunchtime the next day, but that I would be free. I agreed and we made plans to meet at Bistro, a café on the first floor of our school, for lunch.
Thursday at 1, after Italian class, Manlio and I met and had sandwiches at the café and talked for a couple hours in English and Italian (Okay mostly in English and about 15 minutes in Italian) about politics, American school systems, Italian school systems, girls, our jobs, the world financial crisis, Obama and McCain, Berlusconi, our families, and what countries we’ve been to and want to go to, and also what we want to do in the future.
It was great to talk to an Italian about his life in Ascoli. Once again I must say that Italians are not much different from us. They have the same worries, fears, successes and failures; it’s just in a different language!
At the end of our lunch, Manlio invited me and my friends to his friend’s house for dinner on Saturday night. I agreed, and started rallying the troops.
Although everybody initially said they would come, 7 of us total minus Ben who was in Finland for the weekend, only 3 of us went. The other four were sketched out by Manlio’s invitation. They didn’t understand why he was inviting us all over for dinner. I did my best to explain that Italians were very hospitable and generous, that this offering was a cultural extension that they would otherwise never experience; they wouldn’t budge. Their loss.
Point of interest: When given these unique cultural opportunities, take them!
So, on Saturday night Phil, Cameron and I went to Manlio’s friend’s house and had a meal of pasta, sausages and pork roasted on an open fire, wine and roasted chestnuts for dessert. All the food was great, except the chestnuts weren’t nearly as good as they looked. They lacked flavor and consistency. Now I can say I tried them though! At dinner were a bunch of Manlio’s friends, and we talked, half in English, half in Italian about a bunch of stuff.
It was a really great night. I’m happy that Manlio came to the office because I wouldn’t have been given this great experience otherwise.
Friday, I went to Urbino for the day with Chelsea and Samantha, two other students from the program. Urbino is a small town three hours north of Ascoli. We took the 6:08am train from Ascoli Piceno to San Benedetto, and then took a second train from SBT to Pesaro. As there is no direct line to Urbino, we had to take a bus from Pesaro to get to our final destination.
When I got off the bus from Pesaro around 10, it was pouring. The girls had umbrellas; I forgot to bring mine and had to use a five euro newspaper I bought in San Benedetto to keep me dry for 15 minutes before I found a store and bought one for 2.50 euro.
It rained all day, and the mountains that surround the town and are supposed to highlight its beauty were not visible because of the massive blanket of fog that was set over the city. Still, it was a great day.
We walked around, and went to Palazzo Ducale, once the massive home of the Duke of Urbino, and now a Renaissance art museum. We went for lunch at an osteria and I had pasta with wild boar meat for my primo piatto and lamb stew Urbino style for my secondo. We shared a bottle of wine and a plate of olives, also done in the Urbino style as they were marinated in wild fennel and garlic.
Unfortunately, after lunch we found that most of the stores and sites were closed for midday break, so we walked around and did what we could do. It was a nice daytrip to another area of the Marche region. On the way home, we bought a bottle of wine and some cookies to ease the long ride home. I suggest doing this for long train rides.
Saturday and Sunday and today, Monday, it rained. All day. Nonstop. The antique market was in town, but there weren’t nearly as many stalls on account of the rain. Hopefully it’ll clear up soon. I’d really enjoy some sun before heading back to the New Hampshire.
And, I’ll be heading back soon. This past week I changed my flight to come home December 8th to December 3rd. Don’t ask my why. The agent on the phone said the fare was the same and I’d just have to pay a penalty from the airlines. She said she had my credit card number on file and asked if I wanted to switch it right then, without hesitation I said yes. Since then, I’ve thought about a million and a half reasons why I should have stuck it out until the 8th, but one big reason it’s good that I’m coming home on the third is that I really miss my family. It’s going to be great to see them.
Alex
PS: Thursday night at Laliva, Marinella taught us how to make meatballs. Grandma Rose: you might have some competition when I get back in town!
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