They speak English here!

I had planned a day trip to Hogwarts, but apparently a travel banned had been placed...tickets were expensive, anyways.

My adopted Italian family + Sherene. Gabrielle is hiding behind the water in the corner, then Elisa, me, Lorenzo, Romano, Alice, and Sherene.

A stow-away on the way to market...

My last stop on this epic European journey was to London to help Shayna get settled for her year abroad.Despite spending a full six days there, I failed to see even half of what I wanted. Hyde and Regent Parks got left by the wayside, I could have spent the entire day at the British Museum, and I didn't get near Bath for the Jane Austen Festival. That said, I really enjoyed London and want to go back (maybe before Shay leaves).

While the first day was stressful and comprised mostly of doing errands with Shayna. After that things perked up a bit. The next day we saw Troilus and Cressida at the Globe - standing like any true Shakespearean era peasant. Following this, I drugged myself with benadryl for my bugbites, which still are plaguing me!

The British Library (at which I totally would have studied had I still been in school), British Museum, and Food For Thought veggie restaurant took up most of Friday. I had the brilliant idea to sign up for a 10K on Saturday, but got a bit lost running there in the morning and ended up tacking on a good four miles before reaching the starting line (and I still ran my fastest 10k - 55:35, I know I'm slow). After walking the 3 miles back, Shayna and I went to see Billy Elliot on stage. Billy was a pretty darn talented 14-year-old gymnast, dancer, and singer rolled into one!

My last day we went to the Columbia Flower market (so cute) and Brick Lane (so much Indian food). Absolutely fantastic morning, followed by Harry Potter VI in the afternoon (a bit of a disappointment).We ended the day at Gordon's Wine Bar, where I got very tipsy (Shayna would argue drunk, and that I am the cheapest drunk ever) off of a glass of Fat Bastard Rose (hehe). I left the next morning, stayed two days in Berkeley, and now I am back in Seattle...on the prowl for a job.

So now my travels are over, but hopefully it won't be too long before my next adventure starts!

No ti preoccupa, ho una nuova posta (this is probably very grammatically incorrect). Sorry for the month-long dry spell...anywho, there is really no way I can quite do justice to my time WWOOFing, but I will try to recount a general overview of my experiences.

The first "farm" was more of a family vegetable garden and olive grown. A British man with an Italian wife, who had lived a for a good 10 or more years in England, owned the Umbrian hillside house and land. I shared the downstairs room with a French girl around my age and interested in Naturopathy. These nine days were not what I expected and didn't sit well with me. First of all, let me just say children. One of my few tasks for the first four days or so was to look after three 2,4, and 6 year old spoiled and ill-behaved boys. For most of you, this is explanation enough...for the rest of you let me say that this is not something I normally agree to for pay, not to mention as a volunteer on an "organic farm"! Ok, besides this, I hate feeling unnecessary, and here there really was not enough work to keep two WWOOFers satisfactorily engaged outside of an olive harvest season. That said, I did enjoy lazing by the pool in the afternoons and reading, picking ripe figs when the urge struck me, and the crazy Scottish-Italian music of Lou Dalfin we heard one night in Orvieto. Still, I was quite pleased to move on to the real farm near Bologna.

Had all three weeks been like the first two I would have said this experience was perfect! Elisa and Romano started this small organic farm in Livergnano two years ago as a way to begin a new family lifestyle, as they both had worked on research ships in the past and found this occupied too much of their lives. I adore their three relatively-well-behaved children (Gabrielle 4, Alice 6, Lorenzo 8) who didn't speak any English, so our conversations were short but still expressive. They were very imaginitive and much more self'sufficient than the other boys. The first two weeks I happily worked with Sherene (Shayna's age, from London, Israeli family...hehe) to prepare dried herbs and havest produce for market. I learned from Elisa about the use of these different wild and domesticated herbs as well as the difficulties of starting an organic farm - financially and logistically (pests, weather, labor, etc). It was really a happy existence in the beautiful hills of the Bolognan outskirts.

Romano returned at the end of the second week from 40 days at sea - needed to earn money for the farm debts - which added some days of excitement. Then Sherene left to return to University in Edinbourgh, and I acquired a new WWOOFer from Norway (20-year-old guys - artsy) and a Swiss couple with whom I didn't feel as much at ease. THEN, all my mosquito bites managed to get infected and starting itching and hurting unbearably...the war zone on my face and legs is the aesthetic manifestation of this tragedy. Anyways, I have really enjoyed the abundance of tomatoes, zucchini, and figs; the constant sounds of chicks following their mom; and the kitten named after Oliver...a previous WWOOFer and Disney movie.

Despite not keeping a well-updated log of my thoughts and impressions, I think this month has given me some much needed time to think, and I feel more comfortable with defining the essense of small-scale sustainable agriculture. It also reinforced my dislike of yound unruly children, particularly boys (although Alice and Lorenzo are lovely) and I loathe dogs (they bark, lick, jump on you, and eat chicks). I definitely don't want to own or work on a farm, but I do want a nice garden and the share with others the benefits of eating locally and sustainably grown food (including animal products). This entry is much too long, but I encourage comments and questions. Tomorrow I leave Bergamo to fly to London for a week with ShayShay before heading home.

- Ciao Tutti!