Yesterday, first of all, was gorgeous. It made such a difference on our impression of the place and our moods. It was rainy today but we're hoping that yesterday was a glimpse of the weather turning. The flowers are starting to bloom and it's a touch warmer...so hopefully... We began our work yesterday in the vineyards which consisted of about nine of us, four wwoofers and five Italiani, slowly working our way down these long rows of vines, vine by vine, and training each vine: bending it at a right angle and tying it to the wires strung down the rows. Not too difficult and with the beautiful weather it was really enjoyable. We definitely didn't do it correctly at first and would often get stopped by Leo or Lisabetta to show us the right way. Half the time, I didn't know why they wanted me to cut a vine or tie it at that particular place or whatever but I just do what they tell me to do. Maybe someone will explain it later? Non lo so. I'm by far the slowest one. Leo and Stefano can do two and half rows in the time it takes me to do one. I don't really know what the deal is... Today we finished the second vineyard (having to take several breaks as the rain came in and out) and then started work on this huge lawn in front of the house where Brian and I are staying. Leo and Stefano are using weed-eaters to cut the grass and the four wwoofers have to rake the cut grass and load it into the back of the trailer on the tractor. It's pretty ridiculous. I mean, get a lawn-mower. I don't know if that's what we'll be doing tomorrow or not, but it will take forever, whoever has to do it. It's very strange to be a foreigner. The foreigner feeling when you're just traveling and sight-seeing is not so bad; just kind of part of the exciting and interesting experience. When you're trying to really live in a place for a while, the feeling is different. It's definitely more lonely and confusing and frustrating trying to communicate and work alongside these people. Even with that, I'm so glad to be here with Brian. I would hate to be doing this by myself. It would just be so lonely. Together, we laugh and joke around and have a good time. I wish we could have taken pictures in the vineyards or at any of the amazing lunches that Lucia has been cooking for us but we don't want to come off too touristy just yet...

Con affetto,

Jessica and Brian

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Sunday was an okay day for a birthday. The weather was dreary and cold. Not a soul was around. We woke up too late for breakfast so we walked into town to grab lunch. Silly for us to think we'd find anything open as it was between 1 -4 pm, and as anybody who has known ANYONE who has been to western Europe knows this is the time when everything closes. Needless to say, we found nothing. So, hungry and tired, we walked back to our 'WWOOFer kitchen, whose stock was expectedly low as we arrived unannounced on a Friday leaving little time to stock it. By some birthday miracle, we managed to find some zucchini, grape tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, capers, spices, pasta, day old bread, and some farmers cheese - which translated into a tasty meal that we ate in our humble little kitchen. After lunch we went back to our house, or the bottom floor of the house we live in. It was cold, so we turned our space heater on that conveniently enough, overloaded the power outlet and blew out the electricity on the entire floor of the house. We then spent the rest of the evening transferring our things to a tiny little cabin of a house on the other side of the property where our space heater would work. Eventually, someone caught wind that it was my birthday and gave me some salami and a bottle of wine made from our property as a gift... i'll post some pictures later. Eventually, we made it out for a nice dinner at a fancy shmancy ristorante in town. Food was great, as expected. Walked back home and stared at the millions of stars that finally decided to come out.

When the sky is clear, this place is beautiful. But rainy days are for the birds.
Thanks for all the birthday messages! It means a lot to know that people are thinking about us and wishing us well.

I'll let Jess post about our first day of work... on the vineyard

A Presto

Brian

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Yesterday, when we arrived at Villa Lina, we were first greeted by these four big white dogs that we love. They are very comforting. We also met Katrina, the girlfriend of the son of Paola who owns the farm from Miami, Joe, another wwoofer from Texas, Grace, another wwoofer/office worker, Stefano, worker on the farm, Lucia, the sweet little cleaning lady and cook, and Leo and Lisabetta, the head man on the farm and his wife. Katrina took us on a tour of the farm which is fairly large, has several houses, and larger ones to rent, several pools that are pretty gross right now, ponds and fountains, goats, olive trees, and kiwi trees which is the main thing grown here. She also took us to our living quarters which is part of Paola's house. (Paola is away until April 10 on her honeymoon). We have our bedroom, bathroom, a large living area with a fireplace (yea!) and kitchen for our use. After touring the farm, we ate lunch with Joe and Katrina in this little tiny building that is really a kitchen that just stands alone where we will eat all our meals with the wwoofers. Last night, we walked into Ronciglione (got lost a little bit), found the piazza and the fountain (thank goodness again). We ate dinner at Arcadia, a little pizzeria/ristorante on the outskirts of town very close to Villa Lina. Yum. Monday we start working at 8:00 and have been assigned to help in the vineyard. They think it will be fun for us because the vines are very young and we can learn how to bend the vines, etc. I just hope it will warm up some! Brian says it's not that bad, but I'm definitely layering up and running the space heaters a lot. We got a little homesick last night after arriving at a place that feels more permanent but are excited about how much we will learn. Hopefully our Italian will continue to improve. Sometimes we think we're pretty awesome and then...other times we don't. We just realized there is a working TV in here in the office and so we're watching soccer. Typical. We have so many pictures but can't post them all here. Check the rest out on Picasa by clicking "Photos" above!

Much love,

Jessica and Brian

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Where to start... We've been a little scattered the last few days and haven't had time to blog like we should have but I'll try to catch us up. In Roma, we enjoyed our stay at the hostel Alice in Wonderland, tried to adjust to the time change, learned about getting along with your spouse while traveling, worked on our Italian, saw some sights, got lost a bit, and ate some of our favorite foods. Overall, a great time. We had planned to spend this first month traveling to France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, etc., but realized that Rome would be the most southern of all those places and it was pretty cold. During the middle of the day, it would be allright, but at night, very cold and getting down around 40-30°. This, we decided, would not be an ideal way to travel and sight-see. So, we called Villa Lina and they said we could come on a month earlier than we had planned. Just a hop, skip, a metro line, another small train through a type of Italian ghetto which I didn't know existed here, a bus ride through gorgeous country (thank goodness), and a jump later we arrived at Villa Lina. It is definitely a farm and in the country while at the same time, picturesque in a way that only Italy can be. Just a note on style, while in Rome, I noticed that everyone dressed monochromatically in black or gray then add a splash of color like an orange scarf or pink tie but once we got to the country, you start to see a lot more color and jeans and browns-just like in America. City mouse vs. country mouse. You're welcome for that. Here's some pics from Rome...

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The weather in most of Europe is still relatively cold. Spring comes about a month later here, so we've decided to head straight to Ronciglione and put off traveling for a month or so... We'll make a proper post when we get there. We will be at the Villa Lina www.villalina.com

Jess and Brian

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Great time in Florida. Days spent with the fam mostly. Cooking, cleaning, relaxing, watching Blues Clues, Madagascar Dance Parties.... normal stuff. Sebi was A LOT of fun to be around ... sweet little boy. Cruz basically slept and ate the whole time. He didnt have much to say, but cute nonetheless. Jen, thanks for your sisterly love and hospitality. We miss you. Mo, as always it was great to see you - glad I could show you a thing or to on the bball court. Farzaneh, thanks for the Tahdig recipe and all your delicious Persian cooking. Happy Iranian New Year. Lets see if I can remember the recipe...

1 cup basmati or jasmine rice, 1 1/2 cups of water, butter, saffron, egg yolk, 2 Tbl of yogurt, salt. Cook rice with butter and salt then separate in half. Mix half with egg yolk, yogurt and saffron and spread at bottom of nonstick pot. Top with chicken or something else and remaining rice mixture then cook in pot with lid wrapped in a towel for 45 minutes on lowish heat until edges turn orange. Then break off bottom crust of rice and serve separately.
Is this right? If not please add your comments! For anyone interested in a short film about the cultural history of Iran, check out this link courtesy of Mo's mom, Farzaneh.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5356229498218843348&hl=en

Enjoy the pics from our time in FL.
To see more photos then what's posted, click the photo tab at the top of the blog.

up next... Roma.

B

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Some of you have pointed out that you don't know how to comment on our posts.
Look for the yellow post-it note above each post on the right side.
This will take you to the comment page...

I've created a picture for you.

-B

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Welcome to our blog. We are two newlyweds, Brian and Jessica, who have decided to delay the conventional path of home ownership, dinner parties, and parenting... for at least a little while. NOT running from it - postponing it. With this site, we hope to keep up with those who care to keep up with us. We love you, we think about you, and we miss you. Please feel free to email us at bstrutz@gmail.com and jessicagracepresley@gmail.com.

pray for us.

Brian & Jess

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