Into the next week.

Well, it appears the next week has begun with a bang.


I am still struggling to figure out how I will be able to travel when I really can't even convince housing that I would like to live in an apartment and not the Navy Lodge.  As with all things I am discovering, the Italian time is a whole different way of living.  Reality is suspended as Italians celebrate not only their holidays, and religious holidays, but also now American holidays.   I find that I struggle with the concept of taking a month long vacation in the hottest month of the year.  August to me has always been a month to hide in the recesses of an air conditioned building.  '


Not so here.  They love to feel the sweat.  Its their way of knowing they are truly alive, living and breathing each moment to the fullest.


Which certainly brings up the lack of deodorant question.  


But these laid back people have the most beautiful country and it is of that of which I must write.


Saturday brought a lovely wine tasting tour of the vineyards on Mount Vesuvius.  The Neapolitan culture can aptly be described as a culture that lives on the edge.  One of the most active volcanoes has houses built almost to the top.  The many vineyards that creep up the sides of the mountain relish this complexity, and the vineyard owners claim it gives the soil the richness from the lava and ash that is then laced throughout their wines.  One sip of each one and you have to give them credit for their fearlessness; the wines are magnificent and they are bred with the knowledge that if the volcano erupts, the delicious tastes will be lost forever.


I have to say that one of my great delights in this world is trying different wines.  I love to notice the different tastes and textures of the grapes and to learn their heritage.  I love how I feel when I sip a crisp white wine or the calm that washes over me when the first taste of a warm red wine (or rosso as they say here) crosses my lips.  And I certainly chose the right place for the exploration of such tastes.  If you turn around any corner here, their are vines of grapes being grown everywhere.  Landlords of apartments I looked at had their apparatus for  the making of wines pushed to the side to let me in to see their places.  Wines and pizza are the official tastes of Napoli and I have to say, who needs more than this?


I have been blessed to have made wonderful friends so far but like I said before, the struggle of working shifts while everyone else I know is working Monday through Friday is certainly an unanticipated challenge.  I just know I need to make the most of every minute off.


Wish me luck in my adventures this week!