Hmmm, where to start?

Well, how about I just start with what I did today. Eventually all the things I have to tell you will come out. If you have any questions about what I'm doing, etc, just leave a comment. Sound okay?

This morning I got a ride to Petraia at 7:30 with Marco. Marco is in charge of general care of Petraia's gardens and fields. He is my neighbor too! He has the cutest little two-year-old named Anna! Anyway, Petraia is about 20 minutes from the apartment. I have driven to it with a few different people, mostly Italians, and I have to say it is the funnest when Marco drives. It is slightly nerve wracking as Italians ignore both speed limits and the lines on the road. While Marco does both of these things he drives like he's in a nascar race, smooth and zippy. Ha! I love it!

It is already my 4th day working at Petraia so I went off and fed and watered the animals. Today was the first time I did it alone!

Here are some of Petraia's animals:

In one pen is the wild turkeys and the meat chickens. They are friendly and happy. There is also a spot in their pen that houses the doves/pigeons...they are so pretty sounding.

Here are the rabbits. I've named them. Don't ask where the names came from...I have no idea. This one is Stern:
And this one is Howard. They're still afraid of me and run away when i come near. But aren't they cuties?

In the rabbits pen is a spot for the Quails. They're goofy, but the create the most precious little eggs. There weren't any today, but if there are some tomorrow I will take a picture!
Here are the geese. They hate me. But I mean, what geese actually like humans. I'm not scared of them. Well, I kinda am, the hiss really mean!
There are also ducks, laying hens, and lots of lizzards. The lizzards are always around in the garden and stones. I've named them Berkley. I can't tell them all apart so I just gave them one name and it's like I have a friend where ever I go. Even the ones in town are named Berkley.

This afternoon I worked in the sera...this is the big greenhouse. I first weeded it and then Cornel and I made a fence for the peas to climb up. I like working in the sera.

It wasn't too hot in there and the view out the door is amazing:

This is Cornel, I will introduce you in another post. But this is the begnning of our "fence".

And here it is completed.
Of course Mario, the stone cutter who is at Petraia building a wall, had to come in and check Cornel's work. Mario had some strong opinons about how Conrel was making the fence. It was hilarious. I will post more about Mario later, too.
That was my day today. Lunch was stuck in there, which is a whole 'nother story, as well as more weeding and more new italian words.

And that my folks is all I have energy for tonight. But more tomorrow, I promise. A week has gone by already and we have a lot to catch up on!

But one more thing! This is the house/restaurant. This is just the back. Uh, can you say "gorgeous". More pictures coming of it too!

Caio!

I'm Alive...

And well! I'm sorry I didn't write earlier...it wasn't 'cause I was too busy...or because I don't love you...it was because I had no internet! And I sure have missed writing to you! But I'm back! Until I get some more pictures and more organzined this will just be a short post...a teaser.

Not to worry...I will be back.
P.S. I just did spell check on this post an almost ever word is spelled wrong...the spell check is in Italian!

Aha! Tricked you!

No, I am not writing this from Italy! I am writing in my usual spot in Charottetown with the weather network on and Tracy beside my singing "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. I was supposed to be in Italy at this point but alas Charlottetown is full of surprises and dumped 30 cm of snow on us! My flight was cancelled as was all flights leaving Charlottetown. But as with most things you're patient with in life it worked out fine. I got to spend one more night with Tracy watching movies and eating mac'n cheese and garlic shrimp. The revised plan is that I leave from Charlottetown at 11:55 and get to visit not only the Toronto, Frankfurt, and Florence, but the Halifax and Rome airports too!
So, you'll have to wait another day to get some good pictures...unless I decide to chronicle my airport adventures, hmmm.

The Farmer's Market and my first KISS!!

I have been working at the farmers for the past 7 months and have loved it! It's taken me this long to get pictures of the people I work with though, so here we go.

Firstly, this is Kim who is my boss and who I work with every Saturday. Kim is from Holland and smokes the salmon himself and its probably the best smoked salmon that exists in this world. I feel completely confident in saying you have never tasted such yummy fish. Here is Kim and I at the booth where we spend our Saturdays:

Our neighbor on the right is Steve. Steve is hilarious. He's German and bakes bread. He also makes the most delicious whole wheat chocolate croissants. Yum. Here is Steve and Me (he's usually wearing this tweed suit jacket, it adds to the 'Steve' look):

And last but not least, Garth and Peggy. They were my neighbors on the left. Garth loved to give me parsnips, potatoes, and carrots. We've have had an endless supply of them in the apartment since the winter. They are also a source of endless entertainment on Saturdays, Peggy and Garth are not married but bicker like a married couple, it is hilarious! Here we are:

Now, you should know that if Garth was not in his late 60's and missing teeth I would marry him. He is charming, sweet, and kind...and loves telling dirty jokes. We have fun. I had to say goodbye to him yesterday and it was so sad....he kept saying "I'll miss you, girl." Awwww.

On to the kiss, right? Are you ready?

I had my first kiss on Saturday, not from any hot and young market boy (there are a few of those) but from this guy:

Yup, I printing out the wedding invitations this afternoon!

Cuppie Cakes!

This is gonna be fun...are you ready?

Okay so remember these from a couple weeks ago?

They were awesome, until these came along:

And these:

Extra cute!

We also went a little crazy with the left over melted chocolate:

And then even a little crazier:

Yum!

Ohhhh, you thought I meant the cuppie cakes? They were yummy too!

Signing off for now!

I love you guys!

I had been expecting a package from back home before I left for Italy but I never expected this:Walking home from the post office I could not stop smiling! As I passed people and they saw my beautifully decorated package they smiled too. I didn't open the package right when I got home, instead I just stared at it.

And then I opened it. There is only one thing better than actually being with your family and that is receiving a package from them. Seeing their writing and touching the things that they just touched days ago.

Thank you! I love you all!

P.S. Didn't someone's Grandmother once say "If you make faces like that one day your face will just stay that way"? I better be careful.

Pitas!!

Yesterday we decided we would have Tuna Melts for supper. But, wait, what were we going to eat them on? We didn't have any bread (I was supposed to make some earlier!!), we didn't have bagels, we didn't have anything suitable to be a tuna melt base. So, we made pitas.
I had seen something about homemade pitas on a different blog and thought they'd be fun and exciting to make. They were!

Here I am patting out my little pita balls.

And rolling.

Watching the pitas puff. I was excited.

Wow, I pull of a really good 'crazy' face....and this was actually one of the 'good' ones.

These are the finished pitas. They turned out pretty good for the first attempt. There is still some tweaking that needs to happen, but was was pretty happy, and the tuna melts were delicious!

Oh, and one last picture. One pita didn't work out so well, so I made a mask out of it. I'm planning on taking it with me to Italy and going to a masked ball in Venice.