Adapting to different cultures is usually difficult and confusing, and quite challenging. Take the standard Italian greeting of a kiss on both cheeks. It’s really not as standard as you might think. Because many people here only touch cheek to cheek while kissing the air. And in many business or formal settings, a kiss on […]
Our Towns is really our Tale of Two Houses. Ah, the complex fascination of life overseas (challenging, frustrating, but so blessed)! In fact, new acquaintances often ask, “So where are you from?” Our response? “Um, do you have an easier question?” So, to cut a long story short… Having lived all over the USA and Italy, with a […]
One by one they filed in, sitting around the smoky fire in the dark, dingy room. The entire village, it seemed, wanted a look at us — the Americans. While I in turn, through teary, smoke-filled eyes, examined them. Our new town folk, for this was our new home. A village from another era Life in that isolated […]
Once upon a time we were a middle-aged couple hoping (against all odds) to buy our own home. We realized that the odds really were against us, so we tucked it into the drawer of Nearly Forgotten Dreams. You know, the one filled with all those dreams you can’t quite let go. The ones you […]
Visiting Italian villages is a unique and sometimes confusing experience. Expect people to stare at you as you walk down the street. But don’t let it give you an inferiority complex. It’s not that you’re strange or funny-looking. They just don’t see many outsiders, and people everywhere seem to have curiosity in spades! Life in […]
There is only one road leading to the isolated town, our summer village. A place little touched by time, technology, or by the frenetic pace of getting ahead. Thirteen years had passed since our last visit. And though fewer and older, the inhabitants somehow seem to have remained much the same. Many of the old and wrinkled […]