Last night was so great! The De Renzis threw a party for their artist friend who died last year and since I filled out most of the 1,100 invitations to this party, I had no moral qualms with filling out one for myself. The guest list for this party was for the creme of the crop of Italy. Baron this, Duke that. Princes and Princesses. I mingled with the best of them! It was held in a big palace in downtown Florence with all of the artist's pieces on exhibition. There was free wine and pastries and lots of hand-made jewelry and prints of the art for sale. The proceeds went to a foundation for artists. Afterwards was a dinner in a classic italian restaurant with long tables and plenty of vino. My friend Domenico, Fabio, and the richest lady in all of Florence, Marianna, formed our own little table on the side. I spent quite a while talking with Marianna. She was very smart and interesting! I also met this amaaazingly gorgeous woman who was half English and half Italian and she is a teacher of english. We spent quite a while talking. It's too bad that I still don't know if I'm coming back or not. I've asked Caterina several times to please, for the love of god, to just tell me if I should buy a ticket back after Christmas or not. Every time she avoids the question or tells me she'll let me know as soon as possible.
Well, now it's Satuday morning. I have the most harrowing and torturous day(s) of travel ahead of me. Senti: Right now it is 11:41 Saturday morning. First, I will take a bus from Montespertoli to Florence. Then, I will take a train from Florence to Pisa. Then I will take a plane from Pisa to Stansted airport in London. Then I will take a coach bus from Stansted to Heathrow airport in England. Then I take a flight from Heathrow to Shannon airport in Ireland. Then I will take an international flight from Ireland to New York City. Then another flight from NYC to Houston where hopefully Joey will remember to pick me up at 23:50 from the airport. It's going to be horrible, but totally worth it to see my wonderful, wonderful family and friends who I've missed so much. See everyone soon!
Well, now it's Satuday morning. I have the most harrowing and torturous day(s) of travel ahead of me. Senti: Right now it is 11:41 Saturday morning. First, I will take a bus from Montespertoli to Florence. Then, I will take a train from Florence to Pisa. Then I will take a plane from Pisa to Stansted airport in London. Then I will take a coach bus from Stansted to Heathrow airport in England. Then I take a flight from Heathrow to Shannon airport in Ireland. Then I will take an international flight from Ireland to New York City. Then another flight from NYC to Houston where hopefully Joey will remember to pick me up at 23:50 from the airport. It's going to be horrible, but totally worth it to see my wonderful, wonderful family and friends who I've missed so much. See everyone soon!
posted by J.B.K. at 4:37 AM
1 Comments:
Hey again,
I posted a comment when I first saw your blog about living at the castle (I actually think it was an earlier entry, but I have since discovered your subsequent posts and read them with interest). I'm wondering what you decided to do in the end. It was both discouraging and refreshing to see how thing were with Leone and Caterina, in particular, for you - in my case Leone was only about 5, but already one of the most stubborn, hard-hearted kids I've ever met (I love kids and he and Virgie were the only ones with whom I really struggled to connect emotionally, despite my best and continuing efforts and affection for them) - I have a scar on my hand from him scratching me over not wanting to bath one day! And he spoke NO English when I first arrived, which made things even more difficult.
Caterina was just as you found her to be, when I was there - I didn't know whether I was coming or going, and I was constantly striving to please her. Eventually I was venting about the situation to an American friend in Florence and she told me, "You know, you sound like an abused wife!" And I realized that she was right. I was constantly making excuses for Caterina, hoping that one day I'd 'get it right', and I was so confused by the warm and generous spirit which showed itself in between rages... It really was, in a way, an abusive situation. It was encouraging to read that you managed to keep your spirits up in spite of it all, and I think that you were very philosophical about things which is great, although I was sorry also to hear that you were having as rough a time of it as I was.
To add to the angst of my situation there, V&L had an older sister (Caterina's daughter by her first husband), Margherita - she was seriously disabled and I helped her personal caregivers with her and so developed a special relationship with her as well. She passed away during my time there (in fact resulting in my staying on for a while after my notice had expired - I had intended on leaving the job around that time).
All this is just to say, in case you feel a bit crazy about it all (it's hard to process afterwards as it is such a unique situation and not many people can relate!), hope you're in a better situation now and enriched for the experience, even though it was a difficult one! I was 23 when I lived in Castello Sonnino, too. I went back to Italy and lived there after getting married but didn't look the family up because I couldn't be sure of my reception, even though I left on good terms - I just didn't want to go through the grief of all the moodiness again, even though I was curious about the family and would have liked (in a way) to see them all again.
Hope you've managed to return to Italy, and perhaps to a better situation there!
Arrivederci,
-Tracy
Post a Comment
<< Home