Cowboy Italiano!

Well, the show last night was amazing. It seemed like the entire town turned out for it. It wasn't a horse show in the traditional sense, but I ain't never seen tricks like 'at, nor do I ever expect to again. The first act was six men and six women on horses performing a beautiful equestrian ballet (I wish I'd gotten it on film) with all kinds of complicated maneuvers. My favorite was the do-si-do, but the crisscross and figure-eights were pretty amazing too. They had one dressage act, and several Italians playing cowboy. One of them picked up a lance and went after a cantaloupe on a stick...then he pulled out his lasso...and then a short sword. Needless to say, the cantaloupe was not in good condition at the end of the night. The most impressive, however, was this crazy guy doing this traditional Italian thing...you just have to watch the video. I can't believe his horse didn't spook!
Today we went to Mass in the big chiesa. It's a bit odd: there have got to be at least seven churches and chapels in town, but only one has regular services. Anyhow, I have never seen a service that was so relaxed. The kids kind of ran wild...A quiet wild, but not exactly a calm wild. One cute little girl was playing peek-a-boo in the confessional, and another little kid followed the old man taking the offering all the way up and down the aisle. Nobody seemed to mind, and lots and lots of people came late and left early, and nobody minded that either. I'm kind of glad that things get a bit chaotic, because the service is really really boring when you have no idea what anyone is saying. I did pick up a little...especially the "Padre, Filio, e Spirito Sancto, Amen."
The best part was the sign of peace...the handshake or kiss on both cheeks and the "Pace" don't need any translation.

Tobacco Road

Hello Ya'll!
I've had a flashback (have I been gone long enough to have a blast from the past of NC?) to my Southern roots...there are fields and fields of tobacco all around Sansepolcro! We went for an early walk this morning before it got too hot. We sauntered down to the Tiber (it's barely a river where we are, but all the water leads to Rome!) and skipped rocks. Then we headed to the farm of a friend of the program directors. The lady was so welcoming, even though we showed up unannounced at 9 o'clock on Saturday morning. She showed us all around, and when her husband came, he took us to their tobacco barn. The sweet smoky smell came pouring out as soon as the farmer opened the door...it made everything a bit hard to see. A log was smoldering and smoking up a storm under a metal pan of water, and you could stick your head in and look up into the semidarkness and see the hanging brown-gold--yellow-green leaves like branches on a palm tree for twenty or thirty feet. It was really really odd to see something that I associate so strongly with home in such a different setting.
We had fun on the way back, looking at all the grapes and fruit trees. There are apples, peaches, pears, plums (damson and regular), figs, lemons, walnuts, chestnuts, olives, and I don't know how many kinds of grapes in everyone's yard. After a late breakfast, we headed back out to the market and shopped around. I got two little chocolate cookies at a pastry shop and some bread for lunch.
Then it's homework time. Anybody know anything about why Mussolini left the Socialist party or how to conjugate verbs in Italian?
Tonight there is a horse show in the piazza where the big tower used to be (the Germans blew it up near the end of WWII) and I'm excited! I'll try and get some good pictures up for you guys.
Arrivederci!

Piano shopping!

Today the program directors and I went piano shopping! After our Italian class, we drove to Arezzo (the drive was quite bumpy, especially in a stick shift) and went to Vieri Niccolini's Strumenti Musicali. They had a lot of brands that I had never heard of before (as well as Yamaha and Kawai), and the one I eventually picked out was a little Petrof upright. He has a nice touch, decent regulation, unfortunately no sostenuto pedal, and a versatile tone that seems to sound good with every style of music. He needs a first name (I like Petrof for the last) and I am taking suggestions. I might name him after someone in the Alberti family, unless someone else has a good idea. He's coming on Thursday, and I'll be drumming on tabletops until then if we can't get something else worked out. Our wonderful cook has offered to let me play at her house, but I don't think that will happen until next week.
I love how the community is so close knit here...I've recognized our architect and our program director around Sansepolcro, and everyone seems to know someone, and if you know someone who knows someone, then you know both someones.
We were discussing people's surprisingly fierce allegiance to their home (for example, no one from North Carolinian likes being taken for a South Carolinian, and no one from Toscana wants to be thought to be from Umbria). I like the way our Italian director expressed it; she said "I think even if I really like another country...I am still so much my country. It's-a something inside of me, my identity."

An American in...Sansepolcro?

I’m here! Or there…depending upon which country and time zone that frames your perspective. I still can’t believe it’s real. It’s so lovely that it looks like a picture book. The houses are the different colors of sunshine at different times of the day, the roofs are weathered terracotta, and the fields are evergreen and golden brown. The colors are less vibrant here; they are delicate, dusty, like the rich tints of a fresco veiled by time. Every country house seems to have a vineyard and a silver-green olive grove on the back hill. I like the city, although it’s difficult to withdraw…everyone’s windows are open because of the heat, and I can hear a baby being consoled by his mother, kids shouting in the streets, the music from the next palazzo over, cars and Vespas, and lots of other unidentifiable sounds. It’s poetic now, but it might not be when I’m trying to get homework done.
I’ve read that the Italians prefer beauty to utility. Judging from the fields and fields of jubilant yellow sunflowers, I’d have to agree. They may be a productive crop, but the view must be one of the main incentives for planting these sun-turners (or followers), as they are called here. Unfortunately, we’re a bit too late to see the fields in their full beauty. Some of them are still gorgeous, but most of them hang brown heads heavy with nutty seeds.
It’s odd how out of place the bits of culture I have brought along feel. I was expecting to cling to my e e cummings and Copeland’s Appalachian Spring as reminders of home, but they aren’t as meaningful. The optimism and enthusiasm, the big skies and open spaces that I heard in the music and poetry last week are hard to find. When I close my eyes, I see narrow cobblestone streets, faded stucco, and bicycles. Even so, there’s American music everywhere! I get more irritated each time I hear English lyrics and pop tunes I recognize. Especially the Michael Jackson tributes in book and music stores! Most of the movies and TV shows playing everywhere are originally in English and have Italian voiceovers. No wonder people dislike American pop culture, since it seems to dominate so thoroughly. Why can’t we seem to export any of our real heritage as well?
All the portions are smaller here…I was expecting the food to be served in more moderate quantities, but it seems to apply to much more. I hope American consumption of toothpaste isn’t another example of our consumerism… The whole “buy in bulk”—Sam’s Club mentality is not apparent in the stores. It must be inconvenient for large families; coming from one myself, I’m used to giant shampoo bottles, jumbo cereal boxes, and big toothpaste tubes. But with the birthrate as low as it is here, perhaps there aren’t many families with more than two or three children. (Apparently the average number of kids in a family is 1.2)
We started classes this morning. Our Italian teacher is excellent; we spent most of our time talking, and I had to scramble to get my notes in. Quite a relief after staring at the ceiling during Spanish. I’m sure the smaller class size helps. Our Italian culture course sounds like a lot of fun, involving a lot of interaction with the community. It’s almost time for the literature/history class now, so I’ll sign off.
Ciao!