Buon Natale
Well, we are rugging up for a cold, possibly white Christmas here in Verona. Got the trip to the supermarket tomorrow to buy our Christmas dinner – turkey and roast veggies, and of course chocolate pudding/cake of some sort with mascarpone and a good bottle of Valpolicella (the locally grown wine) red. Snow is expected on Boxing Day, so will be a good mountain bike ride I’m sure!
Christmas is pretty special over here. Not as much commercialism as there is in NZ, which is quite nice. But the atmosphere in the centre of town is pretty cool. Lots of families out with children running round like Michelin-men at night enjoying the stunning decorations and lights. I must admit, it does feel a bit more ‘right’ in many ways than the beach-bbq-beer atmosphere you are no doubt enjoying at home! Yeah right! I hear the weather is meant to be poo on the 25th!
The plan is to spend the week mountain biking and climbing (if the snow allows) and perhaps get in a few days skiing. We plan to head up to near Arco for the mountain biking, and maybe try and talk some of our bouldering friends into a 2-3-day trip to Varazze – over on the coast near Genova.
Life has been pretty busy the last few months since arriving back from NZ. Trying to get my trials underway, which is proving ‘fun’ – the Italian style of doing things is certainly testing, unless you just chill and add a month to the expected time-frame! I have been doing some lab work in another town – Padova. An 80 minute train ride each way. Commuting is not fun. Especially in winter. I am waiting for the day i fall asleep and don’t wake up in time and end up in Milano or Venezia by accident!
Hopefully they have sorted out my residency – another policeman came to visit the other day. Not sure what he wanted, as he didn’t speak any English, but I eventually understood that the problem was that the postman could not find our mailbox. Hmmmm. So perhaps it will come soon?
Climbing is my saviour yet again. I have made some good friends and go bouldering with them at the local new gym several times a week. Which is great – my Italian is improving in leaps and bounds. I can now converse in a mixture of Italian and English with them, and they are great sports when it comes to me making the same grammatical errors over and over again! Even learning a few dialect words, albeit slang. Been in a couple of fun boulder comps – won a month-entry to the gym at one, killer prices here, so quite handy. Have been out on the rock again – a pretty hard-core undertaking in these temperatures – as soon as the sun goes down behind the mountains (around 3pm) it is bitter! Still, when you’re hands are numb all the holds feel like buckets right? I got a few interesting looks – was the only female out there – they say women don’t climb outdoors in Italy since it is too cold for them! Pfff – hard girl from the south I am I guess.
James is training hard for the Gold Rush. Lots of long rides up in the hills. We are getting to see some pretty amazing places and know the area better than most locals now. We bought Garmins (GPS units for our bikes) – which are absolutely fantastic – they open up a whole new world of roads and trails and take all the hassle out of going on an adventure beyond the edge of the sweat-soaked soggy map that is stuffed in the back pocket of your cycling top. He is making a statement with his flash-as Avanti Monza – the other day a dude jumped on behind him and drafted for about 10km, then James dropped him – best thing was he was on a De Rosa and dressed all in team gear - ha (if you are not a ciclismo, read: James was the man, and kicked some guys arse who was riding a Ferrari, when James was riding a beat-up datsun). James is also doing some work now and then. Of course it is hard when it is not light enough to ride till around 8am, but the nebbia (fog) doesn’t clear (if it does) till around 10am leaving only 6 hours of riding time....He has been working really hard actually, so we are both looking forward to a nice fortnight break.
Yesterday was funny. I was riding along the cycle path behind a little old lady on a tiny wee green bici, and thought “ah – the perfect photo”. So out with the phone, lined it up, click. Unfortunately the brake on the hand that was still on the handlebar does not work so well, and the little old lady decided right then was a good time to stop right in the middle of the track. Hmmm. Lucky i know ‘sorry, very very sorry’ in Italiano! I guess i’ve done my chips with Santa?
So, we are thinking of you all sunning it up, enjoying your summer breaks, jandals and pukekos in ponga trees and all that. We still have half a jar of vegemite and an unopened packet of gingernuts in the cupboard, so it’s all ok.
Buon Natale, spero sara fantastic
Un bacio,
Emma and James