Changing My Ways

There are pros and cons of living in Italy. 

Pros…

1. The food is so fresh and you could NEVER find food in America so delicious.  You literally make everything from scratch, and would not dare buy frozen veggies.

2. There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking an alcoholic beverage at anytime of day.

3. There are very beautiful places to eat and drink in the mountains or on the sea (the beach). 

4. Cheap cheap cheap to fly everywhere throughout Europe once you are here.

5. You just FEEL the history behind every building and try to capture it with pictures that don’t even do it justice. 

Cons…

1. Everything is about MONEY MONEY MONEY!  People either talk about having or making money.  The fashion here is SO expensive.  Chucks are 100 euros or 120 dollars.  Insane for a pair of tennis shoes!

2. Speaking of fashion; everyone wears heels and nice clothes out, even to go to the supermarket.  Our American sweat pants wont cut it :) This would not be a problem besides the fact that THIS GIRL likes to wears jeans with rainbow flip flops or toms everyday! I literally have to wear heels to go into town, and usually want a couple glasses of wine to help me walk in them.    

3. #1 on the Pros above. I will explain why…

I wasn’t feeling too good the other day, and what usually sounds good when you are sick? A can of Chicken Noodle Soup of course!  I had a fever and asked Marco if they had soup on the go.  Of course he chuckled and called me a “Stupid American”.
So...

Emily went to the market and got a big piece of cow meat, some celery, onion and carrots to make me fresh broth.  Yes… FRESH BROTH.  It was delizioso of course, but this "Stupid American" wanted something quick and easy.

I had a discussion with Marco that night about how I know our food is not very good in America- actually ex that- not good AT ALL compared to here, but sometimes I just want something easy peasy, and not have to make a HUGE meal for lunch and dinner every night!  Mind you this is a man who is a phenomenal cook; explained it perfectly to me.  Cooking is just not for the food, but the culture of cooking.  All Italians eat big homemade meals twice a day with wine because that is their passion.  That is how they were raised and will continue to raise their children.

It finally clicked.
 No more thinking about calories, no more thinking about time at the grocery store everyday (even though I still HATE grocery shopping), no more thinking about the time it makes the meal, and especially for me, no more thinking about how many pans I am going to have to clean when lunch and dinner are over (I am a huge neat freak and have to clean after every meal right away).

Again, this is one of the major challenges of moving to a new country.  I said I wanted to learn a new culture, but when it really comes down to it, you really have to change your mindset. This was just hard to do when you are sick :)

I have been here a month this tomorrow already!  I can’t even believe it! 

Me and Emily are now going to go eat free food and wine at a winery.  Yum Yum…. I want to ask the owner if I can give free English lessons for free wine.  Sounds like a good trade to me!

Thank you everyone who is reading this blog.  I feel very humbled by your support.

Ciao,

Meliss

Amsterdam

When I first went on the plane to go to Amsterdam the male flight attendant was sooooooooo nice.  He first brought me (only me) a cold compress because it was super hot.  Then he brought me his favorite yogurt for free.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him I am lactose intolerant so I ate the whole cup :)  He thanked me for my pretty smile and pretty earrings. hahaha I think he was German, but the people next to me were cracking up.  Good start to my trip!

I met up with Matt Reincke… a family friend…. and his friends who are all in the American Air force stationed in Germany.  We had such a great time walking around bar hoping.

We went to Anne Frank’s house where she lived for two years in hiding.  Was very humbling to be there.  You feel so much history being in Europe, and how horrible the war was for so many people.  It was such a small area where Anne and her family had to hide.  Down below them was still a working business that used to belong to her father, so they had to keep still during the day without speaking a word.  They couldn’t even open a window a crack just in case someone would see. 

After we were all a little glum we decided to go to the Heineken Factory :)

I LOVED IT!! 

I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the good ol green beer.  It is a playground for adults.  You learn about the history, have a show about how the beer is made in a room that moves around like a little roller coaster, and of course drink Heineken!  There were probably about 20 different rooms you can go into to do fun activities, but my specialty was pouring the perfect Heineken beer.  Nobody could do it BUT ME!  I guess all those years serving beer after beer finally paid off!  I didn’t win anything except bragging rights, but that’s good enough for me!  

We had a lot of fun in Amsterdam but there was still so much more I wanted to do and see…. I guess I will just have to go again someday.  I think it would be fun if my sister, Brian, and Meesha were there with me.  I thought of them a lot while I was there…. maybe it was all the beer I drank that reminded me of our Saturday doesn’t matter days and Sunday fun days.  Woohooo!

It was Marco’s dads 75^th birthday the other day so we celebrated Italian style with yummy vino and Tacchino or Turkey.  Marco’s parents don’t speak ANY English and I don’t speak ANY Italian so let’s just say I was mentally exhausted by the end of the night.  I had to pull out my translator book about a million times just to tell them what my sister does for a living exactly haha  They are so nice to me and we still find the same things hilarious even if we don’t speak the same language. 

Oh and Marco’s parents watch this Italian soap opera EVERY single night and you aren’t aloud to talk while it's on.  Marco’s dad is very into it and didn’t think it was amusing when I was laughing at an intense dramatic scene.  If only I could speak Italian and tell him I’m a lover of Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless back home. We have a connection and he doesn't even know it :)

Sorry it took so long to write about my trip.  I have quite a few new adventures being planned.... very exciting!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday.  I am very jealous of those of you who get to watch football today... I'm going to die without being able to watch my favorite sport!!!!!  GO PACK!!!

Ciao,
Meliss

Where in the world do I live?!

So this is a short blog to show you where I live.

We are moving soon so I don't have to sleep on the pull out couch anymore... can you say

YAHOO! 

Hopefully we can find a place in this same area just a little outside of Treviso. 

I seriously love living in the country, but still close to all the little shops.

It takes approx. 15 min to drive to the heart of Treviso.

If you are reading this and know me well, you know that I am a social butterfly

BUT

I also love my alone time:)

I have been taking these bike rides with my iPod in to not only enjoy the scenery, but to talk to God and help me get through my homesickness.  I cherish this alone time very very much.

I know I know, I have only been here a couple weeks, but I miss my family, my Oscar, my friends, and the convenience of America. I embrace this new culture as much as I can, but my first reaction to some things is to compare it to MY home.

Please pray that I can continue to open my mind to a new lifestyle.

Here are a couple videos to show you how beautiful Italy truly is.

I hope you enjoyed.  I almost fell like a hundred time haha

I will be blogging 

about my trip to Amsterdam this week!!

I love and miss you all my dear family and friends.

Ciao,

Meliss

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Carbs, Meat, Carbs, Carbs and more Meat.

I am trying to listen to my stomach when it tells me, “MISSI YOU ARE FULL!!” …. but I can’t!  Like I said before, people go grocery shopping EVERYDAY for fresh food to cook for their daily lunch and dinners.  Breakfast isn’t very big here.  Usually you eat a croissant or as Italian’s call it, a brioche con marmalade, con crème, or con chocolate with a café.  Italian’s eat a pasta dish for lunch, and some kind of meat for dinner.  They eat pork, steak, ginny foul, or even rabbit.   I on the other hand have to eat little meals every couple hours so I still eat my cereal with soy milk and bread with jam in the morning.  Coffee just doesn’t cut it :)

Marco has cooked me two pasta dishes that have actually been my favorite meals here in Italy thus far.  Fresh clams, muscles, shrimp, and scallops.  Ahhhhhh I was in heaven. 

See how much pasta is on this plate?  Yep I ate it all.  No guilt.

We buy fresh cut prosciutto and sopressa (salami) every couple of days for snacks.  This is my favorite with cheese:)

So we went to downtown Treviso to the Farmer’s Market.  Reminded me of Mexico, but a little different.  It sells fresh fruit, cheese, and clothes.  I also am including some pictures of downtown Treviso.  I seriously love this area…. so much small town culture.

First Gelato!!

Here is a huge steak I got that was freshly killed. Just Kidding but it is very fresh meat.  They don’t add very much spice to their food because they say it loses its natural flavor.  We went to this restaurant that is up in the mountains owned by this cute little Italian man.  Him and his family own this winery and cook all this delicious food themselves.  He let me go around the cantina and take pictures.  I want to ship those old barrels home with me!  He said I can have them if I can get them to America. They actually just throw them away after their picking season… can you believe it? Also, the son might come get English lessons from Emily and I.  His son is in charge of the wine and he said we can go help pick the grapes and learn the Presecco making process in a couple weeks. Very exciting for us.  

  

Oh and something so funny.  Italian’s think that if you are directly in front of a fan or use the air conditioning you will get sick.  Today we were driving and the air conditioning was on Marco and he got mad Emily wouldn’t turn it down.  It was 90 degrees outside with 65% humidity, so you could say we were a little hot, ANYWAY, Marco put a scarf over his belly saying that he was getting a stomach ache from the air being too cold on him. Hahahahaha Needless to say me and Emily were cracking up.  Marco’s mom wears a scarf around her neck when she goes to the grocery store because she said the cool air gave her bronchitis.  Oh man that seriously makes me laugh.  I guess all older Italian’s swear by this.

I am so thankful God is allowing me to experience this.  I am being tested in several ways, but pray I am here in Italy for a reason.  If only to meet great people and equally teach English and learn Italian.

Ciao,
Meliss