Jeff in Puglia: Lecce

I need to do an update while I can. Whoever says that southern Italians are lazy is just making a stupid stereotype. I thought this week would be really slow at work but that hasn’t been case. We’re still plugging away and getting as much done as possible. I think in the US I saw more of a ramp down of work when a long holiday approaches. Along with this point I would like to point out my friend Marco Russo. He’s commented on the blog several times. He has a full time job here with the Italian company and he has another job in a store. When he’s working 2nd shift here (2:00 PM to 10:00 PM) then he works in the store in the morning. On those days he’ll put in over 10 hours easy. Then just last night my neighbor had a problem with the Christmas lights I put up. They weren’t working so I went over to find the problem light, which I did because I'm handy like that. While I was there she was working on the computer and talking to her boss on the phone. It just seems like I know a lot of people that are hard working. Most of the people that have their own small business are working 6 days a week. When I first arrived I tried to go out with a waitress in one of the bars. It just didn’t work because she worked 6 nights a week from 7:30 in the evening until they closed, which on some nights it wasn’t until 3:00 AM. Anyway I guess I’m just trying to make a case against stereotypes. Enough preaching.
Tonight I’m going to Lecce for second time this week. I went Tuesday after work to get the special Olive oil from Olio Claudio. My family and friends have grown attached to their oil, but if I’m such a good customer then why I didn’t know they were closed on Tuesdays? UGHH. I never even imagined that Tuesday would be closing day. I drove down thinking the day they are closed must be Monday or Thursday. That’s much more normal but nooooo I was wrong. Then I called a friend who lives in Lecce to see what he was up to and he was still at work here in Brindisi, which again reflects the point I made above. At this point I’m really regretting this trip to Lecce. I thought maybe I’ll get some photos of big nativity scene in Lecce. Every year they make a big life-sized scene in the remains of a Roman theater in Piazza Sant’Oronzo. And also every year it’s a little different. When I arrived at the theater I found that I forgot to put my memory card back in the camera. AAHHH. I was going to get something out of this trip so I walked all the way back to the car (luckily I had a spare card in my computer bag for work) and then back to get these photos below.

The Whole Scene for 2007! There's orange and olive trees down there. Keep in mind usually it's as bare as parking lot down there. Everything you see has been added just for Christmas.