I thought my first blog might have been a touch negative so I figure I should take the time to tell you the good things about Rovigo. Since most of my time is spent working, I’ll start there.
The Office: At any given time there are around 6 of us in the office. Me, Snap (my Italian sidekick), Romeo from Australia (comes by his name because he’s married to Juliet from Australia), Pierre from Canada, Jose the Carnivore from England (he lives in Mexico), Tex from Houston, Bugsy from Las Vegas, and Sophia from Italy. A fairly diverse group wouldn’t you say? Pierre, Jose, Tex, and Bugsy are really supposed to work offshore but because things aren’t running very smoothly out there yet, they have the pleasure of working here in Rovigo for a while. We never lack for conversation and have a great time learning about our cultural similarities and differences. I’d say the common theme among anyone not from North America is American Football….they don’t get it. Yet they do get soccer, and actually like it - go figure. And you should know they were all very interested in our recent election. Anyway, I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to work with.
On top of that, the company pays for lunch! Yea, it’s an Italian thing, and I’m not complaining. Artichoke comes into town every day and has lunch with us (not paid by the company and that's him in the picture in the office.) So we’re one big happy family. Except Jose the Carnivore. But that’s a whole other blog about the food which won’t be included in this one since it doesn’t fall in the ‘good things about Rovigo’ category. I have purposely not used the more general description ‘good things about Italy’ for those of you who are sensitive about anything Italian. We did find good food in Bologna but so far, that’s it.
The Weather: We were fortunate for the month of October, before the end of daylight savings. The temperatures were warm, no wind, and we would frequently meet at the corner bar (coffee / pastry / sandwich shop – they are called bars here) after work for beer and potato chips. Comments on the beer also don’t fit in ‘good things about Rovigo’ (or Italy for that matter.) Once you’ve had beer in Spain………
The Train Station: Rovigo happens to be on a train line that can take you directly to Venice or Bologna in just under an hour. Fairly inexpensive, too. Rome is just 3½ hours away on the high speed train. We’ve been to both Venice and Bologna, well to Rome and Florence too but not by taking the train from Rovigo. So when all of you come to visit, you’ll have easy transport to any place you want to see in Italy and beyond.
The Wine: They sell it from the tap! In bottles also of course but it’s more fun to buy it this way. In Italian it's called Vino Sfuso or its plural form, Vini Sfusi. You bring in your own bottle, plastic water bottle or whatever, and they fill it up on the spot. If you don’t have your own bottle, they will provide one for free or you can pay up to 2 euros for a 5 liter glass jug. The wine is cheap, too, maximum price we’ve seen is 2.10 euros/liter. There are lots of wineries in this area but I must say, Tuscany wine is my favorite. If you ever see a Brunello di Montalcino, try it. A little pricey but good. I’m told the grapes for this wine are grown on only one hill in Italy. It was an Italian who told me that so I’m guessing one hill really means one region. Muy delicious. Also Nobile di Montepulciano. I think it's the oldest wine from Italy, dating back to the 700's.
Plants and Trees: The trees here are really beautiful. There is a wide variety of colors and types and now with the leaves changing, they are very pretty. Everyone puts flowers in their windows and yards and I do love flowers. Persimmon and pomegranate trees abound. And by the way, some of the farmers have planted what Artichoke says is winter wheat so there isn’t as much dirt anymore.
And last but definitely not least – The Gym: Artichoke and I have been trying to fight old age by going to the gym for cardio work and lifting weights. We started in Houston before we moved to Spain and kept it up in Spain. This doesn’t mean we look any better but we definitely feel better. And it gave us justification for all the beer, potato chips, and olives we ate in Spain. Not to mention the pizza and Thai food. But I digress; this isn’t about Spain is it? I miss Spain. Spain was almost perfect. It had good pizza, Thai, Indian, La Cabaña (my favorite restaurant), Mexican (believe it or not and luckily we didn’t find it until about 2 months before we moved), the place in the square that had good beer, olives, and garlic, the golf course that had good beer, potato chips, and olives. Again, I digress.
Ok, back to the gym. This place is probably less than 2 km from our casa as the crow flies. It takes less than 5 minutes to get there and we’re having so much fun! We’ve definitely raised the average age of gym-goers and we’re quite the novelty, not speaking Italian and all. But the best part-----we have a Personal Trainer for FREE! The first night we went, I swear he was afraid we would have a heart attack or something. He kept a close watch on our heart rate and wouldn’t let us do too much of anything. But we’re on our 3rd week and I think now we’re his personal challenge. He's trying to build up Artichoke's chest and reduce my butt. Good luck! I’ll call him Antonino. Anyway, Antonino and his brother Maurizio own the place. Maurizio speaks absolutely no English and Antonino speaks enough to get by so he’s teachingme us Italian and we’re helping him with his English. (Note: Artichoke’s Italian is better than his Spanish, bless his heart, he tries.) We're taking kick-boxing also and the Italian translation for it is feet-box. We're not very good at it so it may not last. We met Antonino and Maurizio’s mother the other night. She came in around 8:30 p.m. to workout – gotta be younger than us. They own a bakery where the boys work in the mornings and then they run the gym the rest of the day. They have even invited us to a ‘gym dinner’ in a couple of weeks and we’re definitely looking forward to it.
Well, I hope you’ve learned a little about our life here. I’m a firm believer that if you concentrate on the good, it will multiply. And if you concentrate on the bad, it will multiply. So I’m not going to concentrate on the fact that we don’t have an icemaker in our fridge and they don’t sell ice here; no caffeine-free diet cokes; no diet tonic; no internet at the casa; no decent malls (nothing even close to Dillards or Macys); no Bloody Mary Mix (like Spain) – and it’s not that I drink Bloody Mary’s, it’s just that we can't get it; no menus in English; no restaurants other than Italian (however I’m told Venice & Bologna do); no limes; no fritos; no hamburger buns; and they serve cold bread. We asked for warm bread last weekend and the waitress brought us toasted slices of French bread – cold toasted slices of French bread.
The Office: At any given time there are around 6 of us in the office. Me, Snap (my Italian sidekick), Romeo from Australia (comes by his name because he’s married to Juliet from Australia), Pierre from Canada, Jose the Carnivore from England (he lives in Mexico), Tex from Houston, Bugsy from Las Vegas, and Sophia from Italy. A fairly diverse group wouldn’t you say? Pierre, Jose, Tex, and Bugsy are really supposed to work offshore but because things aren’t running very smoothly out there yet, they have the pleasure of working here in Rovigo for a while. We never lack for conversation and have a great time learning about our cultural similarities and differences. I’d say the common theme among anyone not from North America is American Football….they don’t get it. Yet they do get soccer, and actually like it - go figure. And you should know they were all very interested in our recent election. Anyway, I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to work with.
On top of that, the company pays for lunch! Yea, it’s an Italian thing, and I’m not complaining. Artichoke comes into town every day and has lunch with us (not paid by the company and that's him in the picture in the office.) So we’re one big happy family. Except Jose the Carnivore. But that’s a whole other blog about the food which won’t be included in this one since it doesn’t fall in the ‘good things about Rovigo’ category. I have purposely not used the more general description ‘good things about Italy’ for those of you who are sensitive about anything Italian. We did find good food in Bologna but so far, that’s it.
The Weather: We were fortunate for the month of October, before the end of daylight savings. The temperatures were warm, no wind, and we would frequently meet at the corner bar (coffee / pastry / sandwich shop – they are called bars here) after work for beer and potato chips. Comments on the beer also don’t fit in ‘good things about Rovigo’ (or Italy for that matter.) Once you’ve had beer in Spain………
The Train Station: Rovigo happens to be on a train line that can take you directly to Venice or Bologna in just under an hour. Fairly inexpensive, too. Rome is just 3½ hours away on the high speed train. We’ve been to both Venice and Bologna, well to Rome and Florence too but not by taking the train from Rovigo. So when all of you come to visit, you’ll have easy transport to any place you want to see in Italy and beyond.
The Wine: They sell it from the tap! In bottles also of course but it’s more fun to buy it this way. In Italian it's called Vino Sfuso or its plural form, Vini Sfusi. You bring in your own bottle, plastic water bottle or whatever, and they fill it up on the spot. If you don’t have your own bottle, they will provide one for free or you can pay up to 2 euros for a 5 liter glass jug. The wine is cheap, too, maximum price we’ve seen is 2.10 euros/liter. There are lots of wineries in this area but I must say, Tuscany wine is my favorite. If you ever see a Brunello di Montalcino, try it. A little pricey but good. I’m told the grapes for this wine are grown on only one hill in Italy. It was an Italian who told me that so I’m guessing one hill really means one region. Muy delicious. Also Nobile di Montepulciano. I think it's the oldest wine from Italy, dating back to the 700's.
Plants and Trees: The trees here are really beautiful. There is a wide variety of colors and types and now with the leaves changing, they are very pretty. Everyone puts flowers in their windows and yards and I do love flowers. Persimmon and pomegranate trees abound. And by the way, some of the farmers have planted what Artichoke says is winter wheat so there isn’t as much dirt anymore.
And last but definitely not least – The Gym: Artichoke and I have been trying to fight old age by going to the gym for cardio work and lifting weights. We started in Houston before we moved to Spain and kept it up in Spain. This doesn’t mean we look any better but we definitely feel better. And it gave us justification for all the beer, potato chips, and olives we ate in Spain. Not to mention the pizza and Thai food. But I digress; this isn’t about Spain is it? I miss Spain. Spain was almost perfect. It had good pizza, Thai, Indian, La Cabaña (my favorite restaurant), Mexican (believe it or not and luckily we didn’t find it until about 2 months before we moved), the place in the square that had good beer, olives, and garlic, the golf course that had good beer, potato chips, and olives. Again, I digress.
Ok, back to the gym. This place is probably less than 2 km from our casa as the crow flies. It takes less than 5 minutes to get there and we’re having so much fun! We’ve definitely raised the average age of gym-goers and we’re quite the novelty, not speaking Italian and all. But the best part-----we have a Personal Trainer for FREE! The first night we went, I swear he was afraid we would have a heart attack or something. He kept a close watch on our heart rate and wouldn’t let us do too much of anything. But we’re on our 3rd week and I think now we’re his personal challenge. He's trying to build up Artichoke's chest and reduce my butt. Good luck! I’ll call him Antonino. Anyway, Antonino and his brother Maurizio own the place. Maurizio speaks absolutely no English and Antonino speaks enough to get by so he’s teaching
Well, I hope you’ve learned a little about our life here. I’m a firm believer that if you concentrate on the good, it will multiply. And if you concentrate on the bad, it will multiply. So I’m not going to concentrate on the fact that we don’t have an icemaker in our fridge and they don’t sell ice here; no caffeine-free diet cokes; no diet tonic; no internet at the casa; no decent malls (nothing even close to Dillards or Macys); no Bloody Mary Mix (like Spain) – and it’s not that I drink Bloody Mary’s, it’s just that we can't get it; no menus in English; no restaurants other than Italian (however I’m told Venice & Bologna do); no limes; no fritos; no hamburger buns; and they serve cold bread. We asked for warm bread last weekend and the waitress brought us toasted slices of French bread – cold toasted slices of French bread.
Ciao,
Snowflake
P.S. Coming soon... an account of the worst haircut experience in my entire life.....Linda, can you come to Italy?
