Community Togetherness, Castle Ghosts

So, Denise and Giacomo were supposed to come back from Verona today, but their power steering exploded! Everyone’s fine, but alas, they’re still in Verona.

I went clothes shopping with the circolo gang this afternoon (Carmela, Bea, and Giuseppe). Didn’t actually buy anything though.

There was a town meeting for Citt� Aperta tonight. Citt� Aperta is a local festival where the vineyards and restaurants invite everyone to come check out what they’re doing, and what their town has to offer. I attended and took diligent notes of what I imagined they were saying. The biggest topic of discussion at tonight’s meeting was the pullman car they’re renting for the day. There was much argument over which route the car should take, since it’s too big to fit through the town’s main streets (hellow, you can barely walk through the town’s biggest streets!).

Afterward the meeting I went back to the circolo for a gelato and to try and learn Sevens, the game all the old guys who only speak Piemontese play (yeah…good luck with that one, Shira).

I didn’t remember until I got halfway up my driveway that I hadn’t left any lights on in the castle (afterall, Giacomo and Denise were supposed to have arrived earlier that evening). After standing there for a few minutes trying to gather up the courage to walk through the pitch-black cortille, I decided to go back to the circolo and borrow a flashlight. (The castle is scary at night in the dark sometimes!!)

Well, I went back into the bar and the entire place looked up at me. Somehow they all knew why I had returned. (Maybe I have “chicken” written on my forehead in Italian or something).

To make a long story short, the entire circolo escorted me back to my front door. *laughing out loud* I didn’t even ask! While I was trying to figure out how to say “Can I borrow a flashlight because it’s dark and I’m scared” they all just got up and got their coats on!

I felt like such an idiot walking up the driveway again with a Piemontese entourage; but I’d rather be a safe idiot than a dead one. So I sit here writing this, thanking the darkness (that scared me earlier) for hiding the tears of happiness that this curious people keeps evoking.

Do you know what it feels like to be so completely embraced by an entire village?

I do; it’s wonderful.