Learning to love

The last couple days have been so great. Church on Sunday was exceptionally relaxed, and we all ate and hung out at the church for a couple hours after our meetings ended. Love that! Then i got to talk to some of my fam, including my awesome sister Hanna who turned 17!! Woohoo! Happy birthday! I mentioned how I wished she were here, and we both broke out singing "Wish you were here" by pink Floyd at the same time. I love and miss that girl so much.
Yesterday I wasn't feelin too hot, so I just stayed home and cleaned and finished my latest book Song Of The Lark by Willa Cather. It was amazing. It's one of those books where I didn't want it to end because I'm afraid I won't like my next book as much.
At about 6:00 my friend Tina invited me to Family Night at their house, so I hung out and ate with them all evening. It was so great! None of them speak any English, so I was able to practice every Italian speaking and undertanding skill I have ever acquired. And it worked! I loved every minute of that night.
This morning I still wasnt feeling too great, but I went on a run anyway. Didn't help. I went about ten minutes and had to sit down then walk back home. I think i have something wrong with my lungs, they ache all the time.
I went grocery shopping today, and Ella was there too! We walked around the store and laughed and she inspired me to start cooking more. I really wish I knew how to cook, because I have some of the worlds best ingredients at my fingertips, but I just don't know what to do with them! Sad :( I have learned something pretty valuable about Italian food though. If it's simple, it's still amazing. Today for lunch I chopped up some fresh garlic, tomatoes, and basil from my new basil plant (it was cheaper to buy the plant than a bushel at the market, so I was pretty stoked on that hee hee) and I put it all in a bowl with a teenie bit of salt and olive oil, and I spooned it onto some fresh crusty bread. (sort of like bruschetta but not cooked) I let the oil and tomato juice drip into my mouth and down my shirt. I think things taste better if some of it doesn't quite make it in your mouth. The feeling of having the glorious food inside and outside your mouth is part of the tasting experience. I ate it in my front yard with the birds, bees, ants, and my weedwacking neighbor.
I name this post Learning To Love because there are some things that used to bug me so bad when I first got here, but now I kinda love them. Things like my weedwacking neighbor. She has a HUGE olive grove in front of her house, and every day all day she is out there cutting down weeds. It's amazing to me that she has done tht entire field with a weed wacker! I can't imagine waking up to anything but the sound of that thing. Plus all the other neighbors have caught on, so there's usually 3 or 4 of them going every morning, like a little war of trimmings amongst the hills. Who can weed wack the most today? It has become such an Italian trademark thing to me, and now I think it's hilarious :)
I have learned to love my stinky water road, and walking uphill both ways every day, and trying to communiate with my landlady, and tourists, and the bells that wake me up every morning (Cinderella anyone?), and mosquito bites. I love it all. It wouldn't be Italy without these things. These are the things I'm going to miss.