I did it!!!

This week marks the 3rd Anniversary of my move to Italy (August 29th). This is amazing because there has been soooo many times that I thought I would never make it this long. Why is it a surprise that I’m still here? The reasons can be grouped in two general categories, a big problem at work or being homesick. Somehow I made it through and now I start what is supposed to be another 2 years here. Let’s see how that goes.
I still think about how many phases I’ve gone through. The first phase was exploring Italy. Taking little trips whenever I could around Puglia and random trips to other large towns up North. Then there was the time spent with Paola and doing little else. Now I’m in a phase where I’m hanging out in Brindisi almost exclusively and with the same people almost all the time. It’s definitely strange. I’m still learning about them and they are still learning new things about me. Who would have thunk that it would take 2.5 years of being here that I would then melt in and be making friends? I expected it to be like this after 6 months. Expectations can be way to high when you move someplace new.

Giuliano Palma and the Bluebeaters

The title is the latest in my addition to my music collection. I've heard them several times at parties here and I finally went out and bought the CD Long Playing. It's hilarious. Definitely a good time band. It is officially ska/regggae. They play mainly American songs and a few in Italian. The songs range from the theme to the Munsters to Jump. Did you ever want to hear a reggae version of Van Halen? The most popular with the locals here is their version of "Back on the Chain Gang".

Their website is http://www.myspace.com/thebluebeaters.

So this is the lastest in the list of Zucchero and Jovanotti.

Beach Shot

This is a random shot at the end of the day at the beach. The night before the sunset was great so I brought my camera the next day and, of course, the sunset was boring. I took this picture anyway. Also, this is when everyone is almost gone and good time to break out the Frisbee or play some beach soccer.

Pomodori!!!!

It's tomatoe time. Here we have Nello checking out the tomatoes I bought a few days ago. It was only 1 euro for 3 kilos which is around 6 pounds of tomatoes. I turned most of them into sauce and the others I've been eating raw with cheese or cucumbers or some type of salad. I couldn't resist the bargain.

Last shot for Ferragosto

This is last shot. I know one of the two people is Mariellena but I don't know who the other person was out there. Several people went in and only one was involuntary. It was a little to cold for me. After this shot it was time to go and get some sleep before heading out to the beach this afternoon. I got home at around 6:30 AM and slept for a few hours then when out to the beach this afternoon. It's a rough life.

Sunrise on the 15th

How's this for a cool artist shot. You have to click on it and get it bigger to really enjoy it. The fire is still going and the band is still playing.

Blogger is really getting on my nerves right now. I have a few other photos I want to put up but it keeps saying the site not there or it gets to the end of uploading the photo and does nothing. If I could though Blogger out the window I would right now.

Ferragosto on the beach

This is a shot with the flash on and me it. I have the time on this photo at 4:10 AM I think that's about when I called Mom and also about the time we stopped throwing frisbee. Lori the light up disc was a huge hit. At times we would have about 12 people in a big circle. I was getting upset because I couldn't get the disc enough. The disc did finally go in the sea but I dried it out and it's working fine again.

Ferragosto at the Beach

This year I did THE southern Italian thing and spent the night of Ferragosto on the beach (but sleeping is the norm). Unlike the other sleeping groups we sang (the band was 3 bongo drums, a diggerido (sp) and a guitar) talked, drank, and ate all night. There must have been about 30 in the group and we had have been a terrible bother to those around us.

FERIE!!! BOH!

My vacation so far… The weather is being a big son of a ****. It’s been cloudy or raining for 3 days. The weekend was completely beach free. On the plus side it did cool off. It was so cool that yesterday morning Nello jumped into my lap the first chance he had. Last night I wore shoes instead of sandals. Only 2 great days on the beach so far!
The one highlight was going to the Sagra te lu Purrrpu. The picture of the bottle of wine I bought is below. It was a little scary driving home. I was just into Brindisi (at around 3:00AM) and the Carbinieri appear out of nowhere and pulled me over. They asked for my license. They looked at my license for 2 seconds and said nevermind, ciao. I was really lucky.
I’ve given up going somewhere. I thought of Albania but I just saw in the paper that there are thousands of Albanians trying to go home for August. The port in Ancona was closed and they all went down to Bari and there aren’t enough boats for them so they will probably be arriving here soon. Also Airone cancelled some flights and left tons of people stranded at the airport. I even thought about going to England and look what’s happened there this morning. It's like a trip for me is not meant to be. The only mode of transport that seems to be reliable and not overwhelmed right now is the train (I won't even mention the highways here right now). Maybe I’ll take the train up north or I’ll just hang out here and go to concerts and the beach when it doesn’t rain.
Oh and the match fixing scandal in Italian Soccer has not ended yet. The season is going to start 2 weeks late because the teams are still fighting their penalties in court. They say the season will start September 9th. We’ll see.

Land Rover?

Look at this beautiful new truck on my street. No, it's not mine, it's Maurizio's (from the pizza place). He's been driving a Ford Ka, which I think is the ugliest car out there, and now I know why. He's been saving for this, which is his "dream machine". It seems he's an offroad nut and has already taken it out "fuoristrada".

Sagra te lu Purpu

Finally a new photo from me! Last night we went to the "Sagra te lu Purpu" Sagra is a festival and "purpu" (you really roll the "rrrr") is how people around here say "polipo" which in english means octopus. I had several types of octupus and then bought this bottle of wine for 3 euros. I think the label says it all.

FIAT 500

I almost forgot about this one of a FIAT 500 going through an old stone arch in Toarmina. Kent is very patient to wait and get photos like this. I'm still going to give him a hard time when I want to leave....

More random photos

Another image from L and K's visit. This is a cool sunset photo from Otranto. You have to like the colors of this and place is always one of my favorites to visit. Eespecially in the off season when it's very quiet.

Different view

This is a picture that Lori or Kent took from the top of the monument in Brindisi. It's back across the bay and you can see the columns that mark the end of the Via Appia. The famous road from Rome to Brindisi. One of the columns is only a small block as Lecce has the rest. I'm using this as the background for my work computer right now.