Alright, now that I’ve properly vented about the atrocities of the Italian train system, I can tell you all about the lovely host we’re staying with. The property is gigantic, she has a very successful veggie garden, a few (and by that I mean about 40) olive trees, and several houses. It apparently used to be habited by monks many a year ago. The host herself is a very wonderful, well versed and very well-traveled woman, I would guess in her 60s or 70s. She has two sons that I am aware of, one who I will meet this weekend when he comes up from Naples (he spends his weekends here, but works there), and the other has been here with his wife and some others for a yoga seminar. There are also four other HelpXers here, so it’s been considerably more social than our last host. Not that her conversation was wonderful, but you have so many people to talk to here.
Our first day of work, we started with pruning olive trees. If you know anything about olive trees, please don’t comment to tell me that I chose the wrong time to do this, because we know. Basically, some of the trees (mainly the ones around the edges) have been a bit neglected for a year or two, and desperately need pruning. Unfortunately, they’ve already started flowering, and once they start doing that, you can’t prune them any longer, for risk of preventing fruit (olives). Well, it’s of a double edged sword though, because if we don’t prune them, they don’t fruit, but if we do prune them, the trees will go into shock and definitely won’t fruit. I guess they’ve accepted the fact that they won’t be expecting many olives this season, and would rather prune them anyways rather than having loads of work next year. I don’t blame them, but I must admit it’s quite grueling work. Given the nature of the olive tree, the best branches make sort of an umbrella, so if you need to get to the base of the tree to cut out all the extra branches that are sprouting from the roots, you have a lot of bending over to do.
Last night they had an inauguration for a mosaic piece done for their big marble terrace, all a bunch of yoga business that I didn’t quite understand, but regardless it was beautifully done and made for a very enjoyable evening. There were about forty or so people there, we met a nice soon to be med-school student from Ohio working at a B&B in a castle here in Rapolano, and enjoyed some songs by two of the people in the yoga seminars. Wonderful voices, it was very lovely.
Yesterday started a bit more slowly, but with olive pruning again. After that though, it very much turned into a lazy relaxing day for everyone. The yoga seminar people and some helpers who wished to join did some meditation, another helper enjoyed a massage she won for figuring out the number of triangles and petals in the mosaic, and I just enjoyed the quiet. Afterwards, a combination of us went to a natural hot spring, which was stinky with sulfur but very enjoyable, and then out for pizza. It was really a very pleasant evening and I really needed it. The day started with a bit of difficulty for me; I was tired for some reason, despite what I thought was enough sleep, and I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the work. To be honest, I think I was feeling a bit homesick. Enjoying some swimming, some pizza and some wonderful conversation really put me back into the swing of things, and I think I’ll be better for it today. Unfortunately the yoga seminar people invited us to join in their yoga class this morning, but when my alarm went off I stretched out to release some tension in my back, and fell right back to sleep and missed it. I’m a bit bummed, but alas, its not like I can’t do yoga by myself.
Also, a little side note: there are a lot of accents here at the moment, but a plentiful one is English. I’ve begun thinking with a British accent. Seems a bit silly, but I did start dreaming in French while we were in Nice, so I guess it’s not all that unheard of. I hope I come home with a cool accent!
Parlez Lentement. 