Coming to a Close

This is not my last blog, as I will have to write my closing thoughts when I get home, but for now in the ten minutes I have I wanted to update the world on life. The last group of guests is gone, and Claire and I survived pure and utter chaos, by God's grace alone I am sure. In the last two weeks I have gotten to go to Pisa, Florence and tomorrow off to Rome again. I have found myself challenged in more ways then I thought possible and have wondered how the last hurdles are always the biggest. I can not even think of half of the fun stories I have been blessed to live these last few days, including Polenta wars, amazing sunrises and sunsets, toga parties, saying grace with a crowd of strangers (so neat!), getting caught in the middle of giant storms and feeding in pitch black. I have experience more amazing gelato, seen relics from the crucifixion of Christ and am now trying to ignore the fact that this incredible experience is coming to a close.

Lessons of the week:
Too many to name, when i have more time, will write them out

Love and miss you all!

Watch out for that...TREE...again!!

Well, I’ve officially been back at La Ripa for a week, and a fast week it has been! I am currently sitting on Claire’s computer listening to Time of Your Life by Green Day and thinking of how incredibly fast and slow the next 20 something days are going to go by. Where to start?!

How about an update on life while I was gone: We have guests coming!!! Which means Claire and I have been in full gear running around the farm riding six hours a day, six days a week. I am pretty darn tired in the evenings, but watching movies and eating cookie dough is quite re-energizing. Two of our baby donkeys are gone and the other two – Eric and Poncho are still shy…though super cute. Tonka and I are developing a relationship and donkey kisses are my new favorite way to get a smile. Going outside is actually pleasant now – summer has fled and fall is officially here. The trees are starting to change colors into brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow. The coming of fall has brought many rainstorms as it has rained practically every day since I have gotten back. The first few days were the worst – the roofs were literally a drop off point for waterfalls. Intermittently we have had light rain showers and some torrential thunderstorms that knock out the power sometimes! Living at the top of a hill gives us a great view of the thunderheads rolling in and Claire and I marvel at how cool they look almost every day. Even if it doesn’t rain on us we can often see electrical storms lighting up the hills in the evenings with pink and orange flashes of light. It is a good thing Claire like clouds as much as I do…I think half of our feedings consist of conversations about that days’ cloud formations. The rain and cooler weather has been just fantastic – Claire finds the mornings cold, but I happily enjoy getting out of bed early each morning and working as the chilly air nips at my skin. Seriously…I think I must be transforming into a polar bear…I can not WAIT to experience snow again!!!

Unfortunately this new rainy season, while fun, has resulted in us getting caught in many storms while out riding. See, the weather here is extremely unpredictable (or maybe we just don’t understand the weather forecast that we don’t watch on TV). It seems that our clothes are always damp in one place or another. We have finally gotten smart about it and have begun bringing rain slickers. You know the western movies where the cowboys dress in yellow slickers? These are as bad as those…they are big ankle-length bright yellow coats the make us look like giant bananas, big poofy horseback riding bananas. We are trend setters, that’s for sure and as big bananas we are slowly perfecting our cowboy, donkey, fly, frog, and chicken impressions. We at least find ourselves funny…I wonder how on earth we are going to fit back into society when randomly braying like a donkey or squawking like a chicken is normal. It is true!

On a more typical Tracie note, early this week I somehow got something in my eye that hurt so bad! My eye was very red. Normally dust and stuff clears up in an hour or two. This eye thing last three days! And as with all eye problems, that means no contacts. I am too stubborn to listen to logic and I did not want to scratch my glasses, so for three days all I could see was a blur of color. This blindness led to a fantastic reflection on the Road to Damascus and opened a great door to pray to see with my heart instead of my eyes. I really had to trust the horses I was riding (yes I galloped blind through the dense forests) and I really had to pray to not get mad at the fact that for those three days I felt like a shard of glass was cutting my eye anytime I moved it. But I made it and can see again! The mysterious eye injury did not prevail over my good mood, I still laughed and squawked like a chicken on our rides.

I still have to write about the Denver ladies that rode with us before I left to travel with my family and I still want to write about my food movement idea and I am definitely panicking about a job in the future!

Update on the home front. Today is day three of guests, a full day of riding, which means I should be on a horse, not on this computer. I am not being irresponsible, just taking a lunch break since I so unexpectedly ended up staying home. Remember Mini, the new horse Vittorio bought a month or so ago? I have officially decided that he was tranquilized when we went to look at him. I have spent most of the afternoon recovering from a fairly traumatic few minutes and after a couple of hours listening to music and breathing slowly I think I can write this with humor, oh I was so mad at him!! So Mini has severe (understatement) separation anxiety when he sees another horse leaving him. Today we were running a little late getting the ten horses ready for our guests, in my practiced hurry of tacking up ten horses I managed to put a bit in wrong. I tried to fix it on the trail without dismounting. Bad plan, the mare started spinning with one rein unhooked and I had to get off to fix it. Easy fix. I told them to catch up to the group and I would be right there. Amazingly enough (especially for Mini), he stayed still while I get on. We start walking. Car. Oh yes, a car is a nerve wracking thing when your horse is dancing all over the road, ignoring your cues to keep him in a straight line and there is a steep downhill on the other side. Mini decided to start jogging in place. Fine, I tolerated it because I didn’t want to fight him in front of guests. All of a sudden he reared (front legs in the air) and tried to bolt with me. Fortunately I have quick responses, good balance and strong legs. I pulled him to a halt, where in mid stop he spun to the right, pushing is rear end to the left. I kicked him with my left leg, away from the cliff covered with trees and he ignored me. So here we are spinning and rearing in the middle of the road, car watching from a relatively safe distance and the rest of the group unaware that I was fighting for my life. Claire had to fix something and was back at the barn. Suddenly, with great attitude, Mini caught me off guard, backed up extremely fast and crookedly and I could feel us sliding down that steep hill, into a tree. I dropped the reins with one hand, wrapped my arm around the tree and prepared to use it as a stable object when jumping off should Mini actually fall down the rest of the way. You know the saying “see your life flash before your eyes?” I had that moment. In the fraction of a second before I grabbed the tree all I could see was Mini falling on top of me and the two of us sliding downhill until we slammed into one of the hundreds of trees sitting so solidly below us. I am not sure how, but somehow he caught himself. And we sat still on the incline, catching our breaths. I kicked him up back to the road where he proceeded to act stupid. I ended up cantering him home and switched horses, turn around, follow Claire’s texting instructions to where the group was, to be told to come back home when I was about ten minutes away from them. Bugger. So I spent the afternoon to myself and hence the opportunity to write this blog in an otherwise very busy week. I am starting to think I must have a stupid horse and tree magnet in me somewhere...lol.

Okay, moving on...Along with our animal impressions, Claire and I are still working on fly training. They are slowly sort of kind of not listening at all. Hmph. And I write that because they won’t stop landing on me!! Agh!! Stupid flies. I have continued to befriend Tonka and now spend minutes at a time cradling his head in my arms; resting my cheek on his forehead…it is one of my new favorite ways to calm down.

Now, today (Thursday) day four of riding I am ready to go to the internet and post this blog, walk home and realize the things I have forgotten to share, feed, ride more horses and wake up at 5:30 again tomorrow. Woohoo!

Lessons of this week:
- I need a job
- I will always have a soft spot in my heart for donkeys no matter their level of obnoxiousness
- Fall in Italy is amazing – much better than summer I’d say
- I need a job
- The one time you don’t bring a slicker it will downpour leaving you drenched for the rest of your 3 hour ride
- Wet jeans are itchy
- I am not keen on the need a job to support myself idea – AH!
- One should not try to train a horse and take care of a group at the same time
- Excellent TLC 0= ice packs flying at your head
- 7:30 is starting to seem like sleeping in
- Claire and I with all our injuries almost make a whole person with our healthy parts

Ave Maria

Like all good things, they eventually come to an end. In life, chapters close and new ones start. I have to say, my last day in Munich was extraordinarily unexpected and did not go as I intended it to go at all. And these two weeks were an amazing interruption to my La Ripa chapter of life. My last day of traveling started with a four hour train ride from Zurich to Munich, where I had a very brief time to say good bye to my family.

I locked my stuff up in a locker at the train station and headed off on an unknown adventure. Low and behold 3 great things happened. First was experiencing a fair in another country. There was live music, dancing (swing, country and salsa), food (brats, crepes, ice cream and beer), and great people watching. I sat underneath a tree and had a good reflection on where I was in life. I cried a bit and laughed a bit. I cried because my goodbye was too short, because for a moment my future was incredibly overwhelming, because I missed home, and because my grandpa died, I cried because of joy in my life and I cried because I can. I laughed at the dogs and kids playing in the park and I laughed at the ironicy of my life. I took pictures and journaled and allowed myself to just be in the moment…no agenda, no plan, no rush. I ate a brat, listened to a guitarist and watched entertainers put a sparkler on their heads.

At 6 pm I went to Mass. I know Mass is Mass, but there is something to be said for really understanding the words, not just what is happening. This Mass was an ENGLISH LANGUAGE Mass. I needed desperately some spiritual food for my brain. I layed my worries down in prayer and rejoiced in being home again, getting to really interact with other believers. Still, as I left Mass my heart was still kind of heavy, I wanted to share my last few hours with someone, anyone familiar, sometimes you don’t want to be alone and I was strongly having one of those afternoons.

I walked to Marienplatz and saw a huge crowd gathered. It looked like Mass. I asked a lady. Wrong. In her simple English she explained to me that it was a Procession for Mary because it was Mary’s name day…or something of the sort. They were celebrating her. The lady’s name is Hildegard and she asked if I wanted/could join. After a brief pause, I agreed. She gave me her candle just in time for the start of the procession. And so I spent my last night in Munich walking the streets praying the rosary in German and singing German praise songs with thousands of others by candlelight. As I walked and prayed I watched the people around me. Some were wearing cultural clothes (forgot the technical names, but the dresses and suspenders…liederhosing clothes), some current fashions. There were seven year olds and eighty seven year olds. When I turned behind me all I could see was a sea of candles. As I walked and prayed peace filled my heart and I was reminded that my family is all around me…in Christ, in my heart, in a country thousands of miles away, in heaven. And I felt joy that where I felt desolate, God surrounded me with more people of faith than I possibly could have imagined possible in that moment. I didn’t want to leave.

When I looked at my clock I realized that I stayed much later than planned. I had fifteen minutes to get back to the Haupbahnhof, get my luggage and get to my train. YIKES! I RAN through the station and made it on at 9:02, one minute before my departure time of 9:03. I am getting good at this just in time stuff! I found out when I got on that it was running late, lucky for me! So I had time to get settled in before the long 11 hour train ride, 3 hour layover in Florence, 2 hour train ride to Siena, 4 hour wait in Siena, 45 minute bus ride to Tocchi and 10 minute hike home. Needless to say I was tired.

And much to my delight it is great to be back home….where cars don’t wake you up every half hour, where the flies still drive you bonkers and where communication lines are still fuzzy. I am serious; I actually almost missed being covered in dirt every minute, the leaking showers and barking dogs. Who would have thought I’ve actually become fond of this rustic apartment? And as per usual, things are hectic…as in getting a good grumble or two out of Claire and I from Vittorio’s unrealistic expectations. Fall is here and its been raining virtually non stop. The cool weather is a pleasant surprise and a great incentive to keep working.

Lessons of the week:
- Chocolate cures all
- Sometimes you have to go through the valley to stand on the mountain of God
- When you bring something with you for a whole trip and leave it behind one time…that is the one time you will need it
- A minute early is still early
- When you have clothes for warm weather, it will change on you and finally cool off, leaving you chilly
- Flies are obnoxious

Cheese, Wine and Trains

I LOVE SUISSE-ER-LAND!!!

The mountains, the rolling hills of grass, cows dotting the land, barns, and flowers on porches. I love the open country, the trains, the shopping, the chocolate, the hiking, the cheese, wine and locals.

I am so sad that tonight is my last night in Zurich. Sad that tomorrow is my last night in Germany. And yet...I am excited to return home to La Ripa...back to broken showers and stoves, muddy floors, dirt, flies and good memory making experiences.

Today was fun...interesting. Well, let me start with last night...After a day on the top of Mount Pilatus (full of hiking, clouds, swiss cheese fondue and the longest tobaggon ride in Switzerland) we came back to the hotel for dinner. At this hotel free wine is available to our disposal...a dangerous situation for my fun loving family. So, with the idea to walk around town and go to a live music bier garten, we filled coffee cups...yes coffee...with wine, put on the lids and walked out the door. Needless to say it was very fun to walk through old town...comparable to New Orleans or New York with the restraunts, people, clubs and music. Some areas were less than appropriate, but overall a good time. I even rode the randomly placed Ferris Wheel!! In Switzerland, you can not ride with drugs in your system, duh. Fortunately, a tiny alcholic influence is no big. They even let you stand in it! I had a lot of fun. We strolled through the streets until midnight, laughing (or rather, I was laughing at them and at certain occasions joining in with them or walking ahead pretending to not know them, :)) and joking. I slept very well.

Now, today...
Appenzell Switzerland. Do you remember my comment if you can not beat em, join em? I think I am mastering the fine art of not being embarrassed by travelling with a loud crowd. A loud crowd is not a bad thing, it is an opportunity to laugh quite a bit (and turn blush red in between). So, today was basically a day of shopping. We boarded the train at 10:00, now only arriving about ten minutes early. We are getting a little better at this group train travel thing. No one was left behind, no one got on the wrong car (a miracle in itself!).

The train wound through green country side, the simplest way to describe the beauty I was blessed to see. On the way I played Spades with my dad, mom and Cathy and we
were laughing the whole time. See, my mom hates to lose and my dad loves nothing more than to give her a hard time and they both change rules to their advantage in a teasing (slighty very competitive way), it was just pure fun. When we got to Appenzell, we shopped. My mom and I browsed the stores for clothes, junk and random stuff. We skipped lunch to continue our shopping endeavors, planning to eat on the train. And a picnic on the train we had indeed (We also spent a lot of time shopping for this). We had precisely 5, yes FIVE bottles of wine, 3 hunks of cheese (very GOOD cheese), three loaves of bread, and about eight pastries for dessert to share among seven people. We consumed it on the train. It was a very...loud...ride back. Fortunately our car was empty. And I could not even tell you what or why they (I just laughed and took movies) were so stinking loud...I guess things are funnier with wine.

I don't know, words really can't express the experience. Its weird writing out such brief descriptions of experiences so culturally enriching. I was thinking today that I only have about a month left in Europe. And the longer I am away from the states, the more this area feels like home, even without a community for Church, even when I don't speak a word of Dutch or German or whatever the language is now. I just love it, I love travelling. I am glad and blessed that I have decided to stay. I am not sure about coming home...the uncertainties about my future there threaten to haunt me. Pressures of getting a job, starting my life as an adult is intimidating!

One of the best parts of travelling with aunts, uncles, parents and friends is that I have come to not be afraid of getting older (except the body aches), ("older" people are actually pretty fun, also confirmed by guests at La Ripa). I felt able to interact with them as an adult most of the time (not just a daughter) and that has been a huge blessing. My parents and I used to fight a lot (as most teens do), and it is comforting to know that I am growing not only spiritually and personally, but also into a real adult. AHH!! Fortunately I am a kid at heart and still like chocolate from the chocolate bin, stupid jokes, skipping down paths and eating ice cream at 3 am. I am a kid at heart learning to function in a grown up society.

Curently a party somewhere is playing love shack and I wanna go dancing!!!! I want to party, I want to go to a wedding!! I REALLY want to ride a camel and ski in Europe. I need a job.

I think every person should get the chance to come to Europe, and if they don't get the chance, I hope to share my experiences with them or lend a little bit of me that they too may have such an enriching experience. WHICH REMINDS ME!!! I am starting a food movement. I'll have to write about this in my next blog. Stay posted. Now, I need sleep.


Lessons overall (some now remembered and others:)

- Never seperate a Munchen from his beer
- Wine on an empty stomach can have a different effect than originally planned
- Europeans are overall very well dressed
- Have I mentioned that Italian stores sell a ton of purple and yet few wear it?!
- Most cities are MUCH cleaner than America's cities
- Americans take a lot of what they are given/have for granted
- History is COOL
- I like Appenzell, mild cheese and Riesling
- European vacation: $$$
- Swiss chocolate: $$
- Getting cheered at from a Bachelor party, eating Swiss cheese with your parents, and yodeling at the top of a mountain: priceless

Sardines on a Wire and the Holy Grail of Hiking

Well, currently I am sitting in Zurich, Switzerland in disbelief that I am on the last leg of my traveling adventures before heading back to the farm. The last few days since that first/second night in Munich have gone by so fast! I have traveled to Salzburg, Austria where I saw the birthplace of Mozart and film locations for the Sound of Music, seen the "fairy tale castle", the sight of a miracle and seen some amazing landscape via trains. And while there are so many stories to be shared, yesterday is by far one of the best days I have had to feed my outdoorsy/adventurous spirit. I am also experience "sea-legs" (when you feel like you are moving on solid ground!) from those train travels and the craziness of yesterday.

The town of Garmish is a quaint area nestled in Germany amongst jaggedy topped mountains. It has a load of shopping, woodcarvers, ice cream, authentic Bavarian music and food, cobble stoned streets and frescoes on the outside of all its older buildings. Yesterday we took a cogwheel train to the top of the Zugspitz mountain - the tallest mountain in Germany. From the top you can see the mountains of Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. Of course, there are no giant signs to mark these terrain changes, but they are there, I know...I stood in Germany and Austria at the exact same time!!! (that doesn't happen every day!) And...I didn't even need my passport! But moving on. The actual highest point has a golden cross on top of it. To get to the cross you have to climb on a VERY narrow ridge of rocks that are ice-slick from weather, other people, and who knows what else. Me, being me...decided that I absolutely had to conquer this opportunity. Rock scrambling to a cross on THE highest point in Germany?! HECK YES! So, in my Chacos and windbreaker I trekked past the "leaving safety area" sign and started the necessary descent leading to the ascent. Fortunately for me the path had been modified a little bit with a cable to hold on to and a steel ladder. But even so, my heart was pounding as I looked at the sheer drop below me on either side. It was even better that for half of the trek my dad and uncle came with me! As I left them behind for a realistically very stupid adventure, my "must can do" spirit kicked in. As I grappled for good footing and ignored my freezing hands (It was 27 degrees F!), I slowly made my way to the cross. When I made it, staring at my mom, aunt, and other family across the way, I felt a glee flow through me. I love the feeling of accomplishment. I yodeled softly out loud to myself and admired the view. Going back was actually very scary, I lost my footing once and that cable kept me from falling to certain death. The german speakers around me kept pointing at my chacos and looking at me like I was crazy. I am. When I was safe back in the safety zone, I had my first adrenaline rush of the day.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the ski slopes, eating lunch overlooking the mountain ranges and taking pictures. On the train ride back down I wanted to do some more hiking. After about oh, ten plan changes the final result was my mom, dad, Jane and Gary coming with me. We didn't know where we were going or what we would find. We strolled along a stream flowing with beautiful, clear blue glacier melt water and climbed up and up. About twenty minutes into the hike three turned around and my dad and I continued the adventure. One of the things I have come to love most about hiking in Europe is the Crucifixes planted along the way. They remind me to stop and give thanks to God, which I did many a times. A few of the inclines were steep and hard, but...I kept going, my dad right behind me. A couple of times we almost turned around. You see...the last train back to Garmish left at precisely 5:37...we HAD to make it back on time. Around 4:45...an hour into our hike the trail narrowed. I told my dad I was just going to go two switchbacks up to see what was there and would come back. I suppose I took longer than intended (I went 4 or 5 switchbacks) because after a pause, when I turned around...there was my dad. So more from my curiosity then anything we kept going up and up. Alas, we came to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, at the base of a gorge. The view into the valley was absolutely incredible. And after a small entrance fee, we passed through a gate into THE holy grail of hiking. What I saw in this gorge took my breath away. Words and pictures won't do it justice, but I will try. Keep in mind that this is a place NOT advertised, it is a place (we later found out) known only to locals. A place we had NO idea we were hiking to. So you can imagine the glee and joy I felt when I walked into a pathway carved into the side of a giant rock wall. It followed into a tunnel in the rock and then zig zagged from one side the other rock wall using old wooden bridges to connect each side. Below the water sprayed path (yes, we were that close) lay rushing falls carving crazy patterns into the gorge...layers of rock. The gorge walls were covered in moss, trees and waterfalls. All you could hear was the rushing water splashing again the rocks, our pathway. As you looked up the sky was white from the light beaming down onto us, most of the vision covered by these looming rock gorge walls. Truly, it was incredible, one of the most beautiful breath taking places I have seen in a LONG time. Unfortunately by the time we found this treasure the time was 5:15. Turning around we BOOKED back to the train. We RAN. High on adrenaline and the excitement of our find and having an experience I could share with only my dad, I could only laugh when we were JUST in time for our train. We made in with a whole minute and a half to spare.

After that we had a great dinner at a local Bavarian restaurant with live music and dancing...beer, wine and delicious food. The day was wonderful. Tomorrow we are hiking again. My legs are SORE...I hope they will last long enough to take me on another amazing adventure.

And as always...there is SO much more to share, sorry that is rather short...internet time is almost over, or I would keep babbling. Love and miss you all!
Oh, and the ride up to the zugspitz was literally a crammed car where we were as packed a sardines...hanging above 7,000 feet in the air like that is nerve-racking!!

These are all I can remember right now (it is getting late!)

Lessons:
Always look around the next bend
Hiking is a great way to get an adrenaline rush
A minute and a half is still in time
Beer is better with lemon

Also: never seperate of Munchen from his beer.

Weinershintzels and Biergartens

Oh Munich...

Actually, there is so much to say, who knows if I will even be able to write it all out now!

Train stations in Italy with parents is just funny, in Italy the most time you need to get to a train station before your departure is fifteen minutes. We got there ONE HOUR early. Oh boy. I taught my mom to use her phone and well, long story short even with that much time we nearly missed our train. Talk about an easy way to stress your dad out!

As far as languages...German is extra foreign, I am not even going to try. But after a full day of adjusting to being around parents again (which kind of means surrendering independence) I am enjoying myself...it is not often you get the full opportunity to watch your family through a foreign country! We really should have cameras. Prime time TV quality over here.

Today was the first full day in Munich, and while most people would think being the only "young" person in a group of six "old" people (your parents) would be incredibly boring or something of the sort, I have found that once you accept the fact that you are going to be embarrassed and start laughing with and or at them, it is actually a very fun and cheap way to entertain yourself.

We walked through some part of Munich to biergarten number 1 (largest in Germany?) where we had a very delicious lunch and lots of beer. I actually LIKE beer! Well, the lemon kind...I drank the whole thing! A first for me...woohoo! My family is in short...loud and crazy. My mom questioned him on just about every item on the menu and my aunt made a relatively complicated special order. I am sure he was thinking "dumb Americans!" My dad played a practical joke and my aunt tried to hook me up (oh boy). I have a feeling this will not be the first time.

So sober or not, we walked/rode the tram to the Englishergarten and ANOTHER biergarten...no beer for me this time. At this point the off color humor started to come out and it took all my self control to not roll my eyes. I think I failed. Either way, I started laughing at them...if you think I can be ridiculous...well, now I know where it comes from. The best part of the day was trying to exit the park. See, this is the largest city park in the world...bigger than City Park in New York. My mom has no sense of direction and my uncle likes to follow the maps. Well, when there is a map on every corner and intersection...we ended up stopping A LOT. I actually laughed every time as my mom became conducter of the maps with her long old style umbrella. I laughed even harder when small drizzles became the cause of needing to fluff out the umbrella. Parents.

After finally getting out of the never ending garten (which was BEAUTIFUL), we headed to Old Town Munich. I stopped for ice cream with Jim, a crucial part of my diet and in that short five minutes, the rest of my family left us!! So we fended for ourselves as we braved the foreign streets of Munich. Using our stupendous landmark mapping skills we successfully took ourselves AROUND the ENTIRE hotel, reaching it from the completely opposite direction. I would say that with the three mile detour we burned off that ice cream. However on the way we found pubs, a market, the T Mobile tower, some Subway sandwich shops and the like. Even a McDonalds...gross. The best part of this excursion was when Jim took a detour to his room and I came up without him. I successfully led the group to believe that he was lost somewhere in Munich. Hmm...at least we all got a good laugh. The joke will be over at the reading of this blog.

Tomorrow we are going to Hopbraughouse...the most famous biergarten...I can not lie I am a little scared. My family is loud and crazy and a complete mission to embarrass me as endearingly as possible. Most young people experience Europe with friends, I am thrilled to be experiencing another side of Europe..the side that reveals the non parental part of your parents...and at this point, if you cant beat em, join em. If I am not loud enough, maybe this trip will help me relax a little and learn to have fun with my parents. After all...when things go wrong great stories arise.

So with that, I hope I somewhat did justice to these last few days, especially as I only had a short time.

Lessons:
Rain is good
Ice cream = detours
Lemon beer is great
Crazy parents = free entertainment
Jokes on parents even more fun!

Firenze!

Firenze...Renaissance...Michaelangelo (So sure I probably spelled that wrong!)...pasta, gelato, Ponte Vecchio (The only bridge in Florence to survive WW2!) and shopping. As I sit at the hotel and my parents nap I finally have a chance to write. I'll have to update on the wonderful group of riders from last week (quite the experience!) at the end of these two weeks, but for now a wonderful adventure is about to begin. Here in Florence there is leather goods galore and street vendors on every block. The problem with being locked up away in a Tuscan farm is that you forget that a whole other world exists. For the next two weeks, it is my joy to be able to rediscover my sense of adventure and wonder in the world as I embark on an adventure in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as I get to experience brats, beer, yodeling, hiking, chocolate and castles, and as I get to have more Tracie lessons (such as dresses on a windy evening can lead to many undesired Marilyn Monroe moments)!!

So...with that in mind, today is only day two of my big European adventure. In these two days I have rediscovered the glory of a clean bathroom floor, clean bed sheets, and the glory of no bugs in your ears...that my parents are not a figment of my imagination, grilled vegetables are the best invention EVER, I still have an amazing ability to slur my words when I get excited, and my version of a short cut is usually the longest route imaginable. I am finding shopping a great way to spend my time (cute handmade earrings, and silk scarves...who can pass them up?). But even more then the shops of treasures I can not afford, I have enjoyed meandering the streets, museums and Churches. It fascinates me to sit in a pew and think of all the people from nearly 700 years and before that have been there before me. The art, the history, the holy and quiet places to reflect are all part of the magic I love about Italy.

Last night I had the blessing to wander the streets at night with my parents and Claire. I got girlified for the first time since Rome and loved walking the streets feeling human and feminine! After dinner and gelato, when my parents left, Claire and I wandered near the bridge and came across an amazing singer who was rocking out on his guitar just outside the Uffizi Museum. He was playing songs from Led Zepplin, U2, the Beatles and some of his own music. As I sat and listened, staring at the tower looming above my head, staring at the stars, watching the people around me and listening, I experienced a "pinch me" moment. I thought of all my friends and family in the States and made a note of the moment so that they could also experience such a peaceful evening in the middle of the busy lifestyle of Americans.

For the next two weeks, even though I will be traveling with parents, aunts, and uncles and the like...I am away from people my age, from Claire, from friends at home. I am resuming travel according to Tracie...which basically means getting lost, causing trouble, being ridiculous and silly, making mistakes, meeting people and having the adventure of a lifetime! Lets just hope after a few weeks of travel I return to work and the US! So far I LOVE LOVE LOVE Europe!

Thank you to all who actually take the time to read my thoughts and stories and never stop supporting me! All my love,

Tracie

Lessons of the week:
In the dead heat of summer there will only be a breeze when you wear a dress
Italian waiters are CUTE!
I still can not read a map well and will most likely take the longest route possible to any destination
Chacos are more comfortable then flip flops
Eat more gelato!
Calamari is actually delicious when cooked right! (Like in Pesto Linguini!)
And many more that I can not remember right now :)

Circle of Life

A training session on Mini

This is a fuzzy pic of Eric the donkey!

Okay, I am trying out a new way of life: simple, relaxed, completely uncomplicated, which for me is really hard because I am by nature an overthinking, silly and ridiculous girl.

On the road to Tocchi there is an abundance of wild berry bushes that no one takes care of. They are coming into bloom and the blackberries are so ripe, sweet and delicious. Every time I go down that road I stop and eat a few. They are usually dusty and hot from the sun, but somehow amazingly refreshing. I spend the next few minutes after passing the bushes picking seeds out of the grooves of my teeth. Tuscan blackberries, wild Tuscan blackberries…they bring great joy to my life, and I can’t even really say why…I just love eating them on that dusty road, on that part of the ride. I never fail to smile in complete enjoyment. I wish I could package the experience and ship it home.

I also wish I could package and send home the experience of donkey’s braying at 3:18 in the morning. Just before leaving for Switzerland, Vittorio brought us a bunch of baby donkeys to train. Well, four – two males, and two females. We have named them Poncho, Ewic, Galena, and Ducky, bringing us to a total of 6 donkeys when you include Rusty and Tonka. Oh donkeys. Donkeys are social, and putting them in individual stalls helps them bond to us, but causes a lot more vocal rukus. Ewic is not your typical donkey, he is a bohemian donkey, complete with a little beard. Our socializing attempts are relatively successful, as in…Claire has been kicked once, and no donkeys have gotten loose. Fortunately we have thirty one pages about how to train a donkey, so we should be experts by the end of the summer. I almost feel inspired of how to become famous…they have dog whisperers, and they have horse whisperers…maybe I could become Tracie the Donkey Whisperer this summer and then sell my fantastic technique!

Remember Giovanni the Pig Chef from 4th of July? Well, I guess he was in need of more pig. The night we got back from Switzerland Giovanni pulled out his gun and pointed it at a mother boar, which was right in front of Agatha and Tosca (two of the horses). Claire yelled “Don’t shoot the…” and before she could finish her sentence there was a loud BANG, the boar was no longer standing. They dragged her away and buried her in our straw in the barn. What?! I know crazy right? So for a day and a half we had a dead boar in the hay barn underneath the straw. I wonder if Disney had any inspiration like this when he had “Circle of Life” written for Lion King.

Since getting back from our vacation, life on the farm is…well, typical La Ripa. Kitchen ants have replaced the flies, lizards now decorate our window screens on random occasions, our shower still leaks, and the stove still randomly leaks gas. Side note: When you light a gas stove after it’s been leaking, it tends to have an explosive type reaction to the match. I am convinced that if I don’t die from the horses, metal in our water, or our stove nearly burning my hand off, then I will certainly die from some other cause, duh! Hay bales still have more personality than I thought possible, providing opportunities to laugh as we try to move them with our hands, feet, and elbows. They are a great playground, a great climbing wall.

In the last two weeks I have had three awesome Mass experiences. First was on August 15 for Holy Day. Mass was being held in Tocchi at their Chiesa (Church) and afterwards Padre showed me some frescoes behind the sacristy that were over 600 years old! They were so super cool to see, a hidden little treasure in the hills of Italy. On August 16, the Palio was going on, so I had to find my own transportation to Mass. Taking a look around, and with Claire’s help, we stepped back in time, back to the days of no cars. I rode to Mass. My sturdy steed carried away to meet my savior! It was fun, and I laughed at it, I enjoyed it, and yet, despite my wishes to live in the horse and carriage days…I am a modern day girl and have a greater appreciation for the speed of cars. Getting there by horse is one hour one way (short way), plus tack up and untack time versus ten minutes by car. Crazy. Yesterday I went to Mass in San Lorenzo at a simple church with only six pews, white stone walls and one small crucifix. I have noticed here in Italy that sometimes the simple churches take my breath away more than the glamorously decorated churches. It is true, less can be more. I walked away from Mass with the Holy Spirit in my heart…a breath of fresh air!

Lessons of the week:
- Italian commercials are so ridiculous they make my ridiculousness look normal
- Through all the laughs, adventures, tears, and fun I think of home a lot and take time to appreciate the blessings in my life. It is true, I am living a dream, an opportunity that I am incredibly blessed to have. I have found many challenges along the way, of how to be more independent, to rely on my own common sense (yes, I do have it!), to persevere in difficult situations when I want to sit on the ground and cry. I have found appreciation for communicating through body language and facial expressions, for ovens, fast food, Target, cars, milkshakes…for luxuries that I do not have here. Wishing that I had more clothes with me, or that I could just go for a ten minute drive to get toothpaste, or being hungry because we can’t cook anything when our stove is broken has given me the opportunity to appreciate my life, to reflect on what life might be like in a poorer country (not just visiting, but living there). To offer the times I don’t feel human or feminine up in prayer for those who don’t even have a choice to shower or brush their hair, or look in a mirror, to embrace their humanity is an honor and opportunity I never expected to have. I guess in being dirty nearly 24/7, and eagerly awaiting a room with no dirt on the floor and clean sheets has increased my appreciation for amenities available to me in America. In Peru, I remember the look on a little girl’s face after we washed her hair (it was matted and looked as if no one had touched in months, I think it had been months, we had to cut out her hair tie). I am starting to get a small understanding of what it might have felt like. Some days I feel so unfeminine wearing the same clothes, dirt tan lines and dirty hair (I can and do wash it, but its gross again within 12 hours). I don’t mind it too much, and it is not miserable, in fact I am lucky to have free rent, to have a mirror, a table, chairs, a bed, couch, running water, refrigerator and now a paycheck and food provided. I am blessed to have a shower available and an opportunity to work internationally. It is often tempting to complain, but in the large scheme of the world, of the economy, I have nothing to complain about. God is with me, I have food, shelter, family, friends, and faith. I panic a lot about my future, the idea of a career, its easy to stress about what will happen when I get home…very easy. But at least I have a home to go home to, friends to laugh with, family to share life with, and a God who won’t lead me astray.
- Yelling out loud will not stop bugs buzzing in your ears on trail rides

Switzerland!!

Switzerland.

AHH! I don’t even know where to START on this blog, on this adventure, on this phenomenal birthday trip. I think it is inevitable, I have a lot to type, this memory document, and story sharing is just going to be long….editing that, it is long…about 5.5 Word Document pages. For those who love my novels…enjoy! Those who have better things to do, sorry to keep you from them! :)

DAY ONE
I woke up at 5:30 am on Thursday August 6 for the start of vacation from vacation. Amazingly enough everything went smoothly as we traveled by train from Siena to Florence to Milan to Brig to Zermatt. It was fun on the train from Siena to Florence to see such a mix of locals and tourists, people talking in French, English, Italian and German, some on the phone, some talking to family members on the other side of the train, and others sitting quietly looking intently at their travel books and maps. In Milan I practically got locked in a bathroom and had to ask a chef to first unlock the door so I could get in, then fiddled with the door to lock it and then get out (which took a good 5 minutes), and then had to ask him to help me relock the door. Silly. Riding the train from Brig, Switzerland to Zermatt, Switzerland gave me such a sense of freedom, of relief and thrill to be in the mountains again. It was a small train, red that had maps of its tracks by the windows that could be rolled down. I had my head out the window the whole way enjoying the cool, brisk, clean mountain air and the incredible scenery as we climbed up and up and up. The ride kind of reminded me of a train ride I took in Alaska that brought us to the Canada border. As the mountains passed us, I really did want to start singing! On the ride we met a Swiss local whose name I can not remember. He took some pictures for us, pointed out the tallest complete mountain in Switzerland (Mt. Dome) and told us the “must go to” bar, which happened to be up the street from our hostel! As we came closer and closer to Zermatt I became very giddy…finally after about twelve hours of traveling we were in our little alpine town!

Getting off the train, the first thing I noticed was the Zermatt train station sign – must take picture. As we walked toward the town I squealed in delight. No cars, fresh air, cute buildings, horse and carriages for transport and tiny electric taxi cars all surrounded by mountains shooting to the sky dotted with huts and flowers. Heading toward the hostel, past the Church, at a point on the bridge over the river a perfect view of my sought out land mark came into view. THE MATTERHORN!!!! (4478m)

Sidenote: Growing up in Southern California, I practically grew up at Disneyland. One of the rides there is the Matterhorn, designed after this very mountain, 1/100 of its real size here is Switzerland. At some point in my youth I decided that I was going to see it in real life…definitely a bucket list item. At some point in my super youth I was terrified to ride the Matterhorn – it was a big roller coaster with monsters in the dark…NO WAY JOSE! My dad used to try and bribe us to ride it with a lollipop. Since those days in my youth I have always wanted to see this landmark of Disneyland (the first part of the park you can see from the freeway) in real life…the real one.

So, as the real one came into view that evening you can imagine the joy and excitement that filled me. I was definitely going to have to find a lollipop and take a picture. We admired it for a while and then continued to find the hostel, appropriately named Matterhorn Hostel. My first impressions: okay, this won’t be so bad…as we were crammed in the tiny front office to check in. We were assigned a room and a bed (I had bed J53). The hostel had its own little restaurant, a (yes a) bathroom on the second floor, some more bathrooms, showers and a lounge in the basement, and a third level with our room – J. All levels are connected by spiral stairs. I think I bonked my head on the ceiling six times going up to and leaving our room from the slanted roof hovering over the top of the stair case. As you walk up the stairs to the room we stayed in the back wall is painted bright blue with yellow polka dot bubble letters spelling CAMP. I had to smile…this hostel had a personality all its own. In our room I had the bottom bunk and a locker. The beds had sheets, one flat pillow and a wool blanket folded on the foot of the bed. From these first glances I decided that a hostel is best described as “dorm meets hotel meets camping.”

After changing out of travel clothes, both of us were starving and decided to go hunting for food. We ran into our train friend along the way (It really is a small town…you can walk from one side to the other in 15 min) and asked where we could find cheap Swiss food. He started laughing and looking at us like we were crazy. At that moment we realized that unintentionally we picked one of the most expensive ski resorts in Europe, hmm…we would have to make do. And we did! We meandered back down toward the train station (there is only one main road) and stopped to look at every menu hoping to find a good deal. Naturally the place we chose was right across from the train station and Italian. Even more ironically, in our desires to escape La Ripa and the flies, the table we sat at was by a flower pot and consequently…flies, which was humorous on one hand and really annoying on the other. I think I laughed more than anything…until the bugger dive bombed into my tomato soup and couldn’t get out. Then I took pictures and smiled. When our tummies were full of pizza, soup and chocolate we wandered around town, drooled over the fun closed shops, got a map of the trails at the hostel and planned our hike for Friday.

DAY TWO
Well, life is pretty unpredictable and Claire and I are both spontaneous. When the alarm clock went off to get an early start, I evaluated my tired body and the purpose of this vacation – rest. After conferring with Claire, a unanimous decision was made – GIRLS DAY OUT! Which in laymen terms means a day of getting dressed up, shopping the irresistible stores and taking silly pictures. And shop we did, after breakfast of course. The thing with starting a girl’s day out early is that all the shops are closed. This was okay with me because it meant once again as I ate I got to experience the beautiful sight of a town coming to life. I bought an apple strudel and sat down on the steps of a closed store. I watched as locals bought pastries at the bakery, bread was delivered to doorsteps, runners jogged up the street, shopkeepers set out goods for the day, and as the streets slowly filled with other tourists. The day heated up to a pleasant 60 degrees and as we meandered through the stores we tried on goofy hats, mused over “funny cows”, gasped at the incredibly overpriced goods and drooled over all the items we wanted and couldn’t afford. “If I had a million dollars…” was a frequent quote. As always, shopping is a very tiring, hunger initiating sport (it takes skill to find good deals) and soon enough we were hunting menus again. We ate at the Pub recommended by our train friend. HOLY MOLEY!!! I have never had a better burger. It was juicy, flavorful, seasoned with thickly sliced bacon, a special sauce, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and it was TRIANGLE shaped! How cool is that?! We shopped some more and I found a totally awesome, unique keychain. Or rather, Claire spotted it, and I bought it. It is a hand carved wooden fondue set. I even got it engraved with my name for free, making it a great addition to my collection! A few hours and some yak fur beanies (so cool right?!) later we spotted a great deal for a fondue meal. Spontaneously we had my dinner celebration early. We ate at a little restaurant called Café du Pont. The fondue choices: Cheese and House Specialty. We got the house specialty. What was the house specialty? Cheese with herbs. HAHA, big difference eh? I have not laughed so hard in a while. We placed our cameras with timers on the table to get pictures with the fondue. Other customers were laughing at us, and we laughed at them laughing at us and laughed at ourselves, at our ridiculousness. I really like the napkin, and so I kept that too, it is sitting in my journal, waiting to be scapbooked as my first Swiss Birthday Fondue napkin (It has a picture of the restaurant, cool!). For dessert we had crepes and watched people. Later the clouds started to roll in and the temperature dropped. We sat on a bench by the river and had a great heart to heart, leaving a smile in my soul. Life doesn’t get more content then that.

DAY THREE – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!
I woke up trying really hard to comprehend that another year has flown by incredibly fast and reflecting on everything that has happened so fast, from being a nanny in DC to being rector (MC) for a retreat, to graduating college, it has been a very blessed year. I also woke up to gray clouds and drizzling skies. Major bummer and yet kind of nice, I do love rain. So we donned our raincoats and hit the shops again. We started with breakfast at our bakery, and this time I got cheese bread. We walked to a bench on a side road and watched people walk by. Then the coolest thing happened! Not five minutes after we sat down a band came to where we were, set up and started playing some really fun Swiss music! I loved just sitting there listening to them! Then, when we got up to leave we saw a group of men walking around with alpine horns (the tall ones that you see in pictures) and we got to take pictures with them (the horns, not the guys unfortunately, haha)! Shopping was a success and as we ended the day I got to journal for a while and we ate at the hostel for dinner. During that dinner there was an international ski jumping competition on the TV. I have decided that I am going to learn this sport! After dinner I went to the phone booth and the best part of my actual birthday day was getting to talk to my mom, aunt and grandma all at once and having them sing happy birthday in a way that only they can. Thanks Mom!

DAY FOUR - Sunday
I am considering Sunday my actual birthday because it was filled with a lot more excitement, it was the day I wanted to have on Saturday...we climbed the Matterhorn! Way cool right?! I woke up to blue skies and Mass waiting for me. I can somewhat follow along in any Mass because it is the same every where around the world, but this Swiss-German language Mass was the most challenging yet!! And the most beautiful, I did not know that yodeling could sound so graceful!! Part of the reason Mass was challenging was because it had so many tourists wanting to hear the yodel choir and so no one really knew when to sit or stand, or anything…and I was confused because I don’t think it wasn’t quite in line with the Church. Now, I don’t consider myself a theological expert by any sorts, but I have to question…is it ok for a woman to give the homily? I didn’t think so… But all the same, it was Mass, again my heart was at home and it was great to give thanks to God for all of these blessings!

After Mass, Claire and I wandered to find lunch before the start of this parade. And that is where we started our climbing the Matterhorn adventure. Today, or rather, this Sunday happened to be the 40th (or 400th, can’t remember) Folklore Festival of Zermatt. It is held every year in the second weekend of August and we had no idea! It started as a small town parade and now it has evolved into a huge event and has around 10,000 spectators! Because of the parade, some of the tennis courts were turned into a mini fairground with little rides, games, and food booths. Near one of the booths was a sign that said Matterhorn. Intrigued, we went to check it out. In my skirt and chacos, I started the ascent, up and up until we made it to the top…of the little kid scale Matterhorn! Haha. And after a rough climb, our hunt for food continued. Mmm, Swiss brats are AMAZING! So, we had brats and fries while listening to music and watching little kids mill about with toys and candy. I loved it!

After lunch, we headed back toward the train station to watch the parade. On the way we found home made ice cream. Definitely can’t pass that up. So I had home made swiss chocolate ice cream in a hot, fresh waffle cone. HOLY MOLEY again! I practically drooled, it was some of the best ice cream I have had in my life! And so the afternoon consisted of witnessing Swiss alpine culture. Participants of the parade wore clothes from their area of Switzerland and bands played cultural music. We saw flute playing, alpine horn playing (which I got an amazing picture of!), St. Bernard dogs, goat herding, and firemen handing out roses and spraying audience members with water from the hose! Through it all I got to try wine, grapes, swiss cheese and candy so that after the parade I finally got my lollipop/Matterhorn picture!

As if that was not enough excitement, Claire and I decided that we had to spend at least a little time hiking in the mountains. (The main reasons people go to Zermatt is to hike and ski (even in the summer!...too bad its so expensive!)). Changing our clothes, we hit the trail and I must say…it felt so good to have my lungs burn from thin air! We got to one point that gave an awesome view of the Matterhorn, but unfortunately the clouds were rolling in again and covered it. Bummer. So instead of continuing our hike, we plopped our cameras on a rock and twirled in the fields like Maria in the opening scene of Sound of Music. Lying in the grass after falling from dizziness, I sighed a breath of contentment. The grass was so plush, so cool, so fresh! I felt like a little kid, again I wanted to start singing!

As the sun started to set, we sadly had to head back into town, where we had our last Swiss dinner of those amazing triangle burgers from the pub. As we finished dinner the sky started to thunder and lightening flashed through the sky. Quick – we need chocolate! Bummer, all stores are closed now. So I got one more crepe, a chocolate one. And eating a hot chocolate crepe with your fingers as rain falls on your face is really a very fun thing, I would highly recommend it. The night ended in the lounge of the hostel, watching Collateral with other guests, writing postcards and journaling the many thoughts in my head.

DAY FIVE
This day came very begrudgingly. I hate going home after a great weekend. We packed up our bags, said goodbye to the Matterhorn (covered in clouds), had one more pastry from our Bakery and hopped on the train from Zermatt to Brig, then Brig back to Milan, Milan back to Florence, and Florence back to Siena, where we had dinner from the grocery store and waited for Vittorio to pick us up because we didn’t make it back in time to catch the bus.

On the train from Zermatt to Brig, I recognized the feeling I had in myself…it was one of utter sadness to be leaving the mountains. It is a feeling I get every time I leave Copper Mtn. especially after time with family, every time I drive home from a retreat, every time I come home from a day trip to Estes, Winter Park or the like. And as I left the Swiss air, I rejoiced in the excitement that 2009’s ski season is just around the corner. In Brig we got to try free real Swiss cheese, which was soooo good, before finishing our journey back to La Ripa…home sweet home, back to flies, cobwebs, ants, and now even an occasional lizard. And as sad as it was to come home, it was kind of nice to rekindle my spirit in its love/hate relationship with La Ripa. I guess you could say Italy is seeming more and more like home now.

RANDOM Zermatt Thoughts
Okay, I am very impressed if you are interested enough to have read this far…go you! And as this blog is also for my own memory sake, there are a few things that must be noted on from this weekend that I have not had time to journal, that I would like to share.

At the back of the Church there is a Climber’s Cemetery that is open to the public. I believe the name is pretty self explanatory. Walking through it, what surprised me about it was the ages of people, a lot of them were 24 – my new current age, and one of these youngsters was from Denver. Standing before that particular tombstone left me with a heart of sadness, a moment of silence and a moment of gratefulness to be alive and healthy, especially with my sometimes very stupid ideas. I also noticed that a lot of the end dates were in August, which left a lot of room to mourn and pray for the families of these deceased. Maybe it stuck out at me because so many of the days were so close to my birthday. Almost all of the causes were from the Matterhorn, with a few exceptions from other mountains in the general vicinity. I have climbing the Matterhorn on my bucket list, a lot of people do climb it successfully, but I might have to rethink it…very carefully.

Okay, that is depressing, moving on to more random thoughts from this Zermatt trip. My overall hostel experience was a good one! It was kind of weird having to go to the bathroom to change because all rooms were co-ed (super weird!), and stumbling through the dark in our room because some people went to bed at 6 pm was interesting because I am definitely not a graceful person. It seems like the harder I try to be quiet, the more likely I am to make a big banging noise on accident. Haha. I didn’t get to meet as many people as I thought I would, I guess we just had a quiet room. Its okay, I have plenty more opportunities!

Lets see here, after hunting every store 5 times I finally found the perfect Matterhorn key chain which led me to the conclusion that I should be a key chain designer in Zermatt…it is hard to find a great unique one (exception being my awesome wooden fondue one!)! Umm, what else…I love Zermatt and I will go back again someday. I will ski on its slopes and I will hike to one of its huts. Yes, I am going to be the seventy five year old hiker. Swiss Chocolate really is amazing, “funny cows” are hilarious, I want to blow in an alpine horn, and this really was a phenomenal birthday that I will not soon forget.


Lessons of the weekend:
- Swiss alps really make you want to sing “the hills are alive with the sound of music”
- Hostels really are just a place to lay your head at night
- When planning to stay in hostels, bring your own towel (camping type one is probably best)
- After Tuscan heat, cool mountain air is amazingly refreshing
- Italian can seem like your home language after experiencing an extra foreign language like Swiss-German.
- Tre uomo photo – I can communicate in Italian!


And I am sure there are many gramatical errors, and there is just so much more to add to this, and pictures, hopefully soon!

Tutti Bene! (All Good!)

As I think about the 4, days I have left as a 23 year old, I can’t believe how fast another year has gone by since my last birthday! Eating pizza with Erin and Bryce in Old Town Alexandria Virginia seems like barely yesterday! As I think of all the time that has passed since I last blogged, I can not help but smile, and it has been a good week full of more adventures and some good ol’ ridiculous fun.

Every adventure will teach us something if we allow it to and amongst the many adventures I have had out here, the biggest lesson that I am learning relates to everybody, to life, to a *gulp*…career. Are you ready for the silliest lesson of all? You have to make life fun, you have to take the daily chores of ANY job, any activity and bring fun into it. I have known for a long time that I need fun in my life, it is a crucial part of my health; what I have learned this week only confirms that knowledge. I can be the one to make the fun…it doesn’t always have to come from someone else’s creativity (although that is sometimes even more fun!). Whether you are in a big city alone, lost in the woods, in the middle of tim-buck-two with one friend, or at a party with all your closest friends, the only way to make it something special is to create memories. Generally speaking, the best memories are of spontaneous fun. Even at work, it is possible to turn drudgery into memories, great memories. Let me explain:

1. Monastery – Wednesday afternoon we again visited Siena. Today’s mission: clothes, souveniers, gelato, groceries, check email for advice on a big decision, more memories. Mission accomplished. Nothing of drama happened that I can remember except one silly moment. Since the afternoon was more relaxed without any major agenda, Claire and I found a spot in the shade under a tree in the grass outside of San Domenica. I was doodling in my journal, and Claire taking pictures of the pigeons. As we stopped our activities and just rested in the moment we were suddenly taken by surprise in a most unexpected way!! Out of nowhere we both felt cold water falling on us. The sprinklers turned on! I jumped up at a speed I did not know I was capable of. We must have looked pretty silly. And then before we were even out of the grass the sprinklers turned off. Only us…haha. The day went by quickly after that. Thomas picked us up to take us to a Benedictine Monastery called Monte Oliveto Maggiore…way awesome!! It kind of reminded me of some retreat centers in Colorado, filled with pine trees and shaded paths and the whole area had a certain peace about it. We stayed to listen to the monks pray Vespers (I couldn’t really join in due to language barrier and really not knowing the parts…even in English). Even though I could not verbally join in, my heart did, and again I was able to marvel at the universal-ness of the Catholic Church. They carried the same tune that I’ve heard at Vigil Praise (flat tune with small fluctuations per line). How cool is it that so many religious pray the same thing every day?! Prayer and praise is constantly happening throughout the world, especially with the time zones…LOVE IT! After Vespers I prayed some more and then got to meet one of the monks…he was from Africa, so cool!! During that chat I realized that Thomas views himself as my father figure while I am out here, which put a smile in my heart...I am very blessed indeed. On the drive home Claire and I both took tons of pictures and even saw a real life sheep herder with his staff and dog…fun! Oh, side note: The word Torre means tower. The monastery had a restaurant in its tower. Torre is my favorite contrada…at first I thought we were visiting the spot the contrada was named after. But then I learned the translation and well, it was still an awesome tower. :). means Tower. Another side note: While in Siena souvenir shopping, I finally bought a flag…for Torre…so excited to wear it in 2 weeks at the Palio!!
2. Grain fights – Our grain is delivered in the back of a trailer, like a flatbed trailer. Middle of last week we were running low and when you are skimping while feeding to try to make the grain last as long as possible, seeing a full trailer of more grain is a very exciting thing indeed! Frequently on grain delivery day (or hay delivery day for that matter) you can hear either Claire or I yelling across the courtyard…WE HAVE GRAIN!!!!!!! (or HAY if that is the case). Wednesday night, upon returning from the Monastery, we had grain…WOOO! After our fun drive snapping pictures of the country side, Claire looked at me and said, wannna? YES! So out came the camera and into the trailer we climbed. Well, half way in, Claire had the ingenious idea to make grain angels instead of just taking a snapshot. So…I changed the setting to video and we made grain angels. (FYI – that video is hilarious! I hope to share it soon!). After realizing that our attempts were an epic fail, we laughed. Claire became an instigator (not me, for once!) and threw grain on me! I threw some back on her and by the end we were both rolling with laughter, covered in dust and grain sticking to our hair and clothes. Definitely a great night. The next morning…
3. Hay bales – Going along with being camera happy, both Claire and I have been wanting to take a picture with the hay bales in the barn for a long time. Last night (Sunday night) when we got a new load of hay, we decided to do something about this desire. We set up the timer and my battery died. Of course. Plan B. On Claire’s camera we started to have some serious fun. What started off as a climb onto the bale as fast as you can to sit and pose before the timer ends quickly turned into a pitchfork fightin’ face makin’, jumpin’, laughin’ good time. I think I jumped off the hay bales at least five times. Side note: I am terrified to jump off a tiny wall, and suddenly after one spontaneous adrenaline sparked leap off the bale I have found that I really enjoy flying through the air from heights…even if my landings are a little rough. Miraculously, I sustained zero serious injuries. To say the least, we now have about fifty pictures on the bales…yay!
4. Rain ride – During all this fun it has been ferociously, nearly unbearably hot. Imagine this heat and then waking up one morning and looking into the sky to find giant thunderheads and a cool breeze in the air after four weeks of this intense melting heat. Nice change eh? And then…as you start your morning chores you hear that first rumble. Sigh of contentment. That is how this morning (Monday) started for me. After feeding, we went for a ride with the rolling dark clouds threatening to let loose, hoping to get wet. Mission accomplished. The sky poured buckets on us and smiling from ear to ear we rode down the road. As we walked on the tree covered path I looked ahead to the mountains now covered with clouds and watched the rain fall, feeling the water seep into my jeans, drip off my helmet, into my eyes and roll down my face. I heard the patter of it finding its way to the ground through the trees and marveled at the freshness of the air. When we got off the main road and onto our favorite trail, we cantered. I love this trail anyways, but cantering/galloping with water pelting your face, the drops falling from your eyelashes and the sound of the rain drowning out the pounding of hooves all the while ducking under low branches and watching the green bushes flash by you as you run over the grass covered trail is a whole other ball game. I could not stop smiling. PRAISE GOD! After an hour and a half I was a drowned rat, content as could be, even on the cold side for once and completely thrilled that I chose to enjoy the rain in person and not from behind a window.

So…moral of the story? Bring fun into everything you do!! I mean really…what is more fun then riding horses in the rain, in the mountains, in Italy, more fun then making grain angels or jumping off of giant round hay bales?! I guess my adventurous side is bound to find something…sky diving? Swimming with great white sharks? Learning to jump on skiis? Walking the streets of Africa? Feeding wild giraffes? Who knows...maybe something will happen this weekend…because my 24th birthday is in FOUR days! Yikes. Thankfully Vittorio is letting us take a long weekend to go travel. After much searching for the perfect destination the last few weeks, it has been found. I am going to see the real life Matterhorn!!! I can not wait! I am sure that this weekend is bound to be full of adventures because well, I am me...ridiculous, spontaneous, and crazy…and I love living a great story. It will be my first time staying in a hostel, and that is bound to have some story in itself!

As always, there is so much more that I am sure I have forgotten, so much more I wish I could put into words, and so much more that would draw this entry out into a novel. (Although I bet by now all these blogs could be a novel…hmmm). Oh yeah, more for my own memory sake…this week we also galloped through a field of cows! It was fantastic going face to face with a bull on a horse…I was a little nervous, but my trusty horse kept me safe. . For those of you who have lives to maintain while supporting me out here by reading these stories, I am going to end it here…the important events of the week have been shared. So…as my future is seemingly nothing to be afraid of (which I give full rights to myself now to allow that to change as time goes on…), as I get ready to celebrate another fantastic year of life, and as I count my blessing and the adventures I have been blessed to have so far, all I can say about life is TUTTI BENE!

Lessons learned…some of which I apparently needed to learn again, haha…noted by a *:
- MAKE LIFE FUN!
- *Church is my universal/global home
- Cows are fun, especially in fields…I still want to go cow tipping
- Food in Siena is much better off the beaten track…never buy food in any city at a restaurant near a tourist attraction…overpriced, small serving, mediocre quality.
- *It will still rain whenever you are in dire need of doing laundry
- *Never wait until all your clothes are dirty to do laundry…always have a spare outfit for when you get drenched in the rain and all your clothes are wet in the washer…and when you don’t have that spare outfit, smile about being wet all day due to your lack of thinking ahead, haha
- Flip flops are AWESOME!! (both in the mail and to keep your feet clean)
- You will never really get used to early alarm clocks
- I still LOVE rain (almost as much here in the summer as snow in Colorado!)
- Spontaneous grain wars are a blast
- Custom timers on cameras are a great invention!

Watch out for that...TREE!

Do you ever muse over how some weeks or days can be incredibly long, slow and uneventful, while others can be full of adventure and wonder? I’ve been wondering that these last few hours. This whole week was hot, dreary and slow for me in anticipation to get a solid response from Vittorio on a request we had. The last two days, despite having not heard from Vittorio as planned, have been refreshingly adventurous, eventful and beautiful.

Given, adventure is easier to find when you are not doing the same ol, same ol, but sometimes it appears even in the same ol same ol. Side note: currently (as I type, not as you read, :)) I am eating gelato from Sinatti Pasticcerie – prodotti artigianali, where I brought home apricot, mint, chocolate chip and coffee flavors...random mix, but SO good!! How did I get this gelato all the way here to La Ripa? That story is to come…

Before I embarked on these Italian adventures, Lara gave me an assignment to use this time to know myself. Last night Claire was watching me journal…and giving me a hard time about my perfectionism – aka needing the lines on my blank pages to be straight, the date in the upper left hand corner, all my writing the same size. She challenged me to write diagonally – humph – I never refuse a challenge. So now my journal is no longer orderly. Why the heck am I sharing this? Because it confirmed that I am a walking contradiction to life. I live inside the box and outside the box at the exact same time. I march to a beat of 7, 5, 2, 12, 9 while all the other penguins march 1, 2, 3, 4 (reference to a childhood book I loved growing up called Slappy the Penguin). I am a random perfectionist, I am finally admitting it - there are some things in life that have to be in order…including Rummikub cubes! ...and some things in life that are just random, such as my thoughts, actions, bedroom, some of my things, mostly my thoughts. (PS – the apricot is really good – I am eating it for each of my readers right NOW! Or whatever flavor from above you wish… ) Besides the fact that I have perfectionist tendencies, I have also learned that I am still ridiculous, still injury prone, and still able to find humor in any situation…yes, my blog title has a purpose…but before I get to that, I have not mentioned food in a while, and so it is that time in my blog’s life to once again to share on the adventures of my taste buds!

After a week of low motivation and extreme heat (UGH!), Claire and I have both been in dire need of a change, of excitement, to “go out on the town” (in quotation marks because there really isn’t much of a town to go out on around here, especially with bus limitations). Thursday, after a great lesson, Anna offered to bring us pizza up from Ferraia…yay! I love pasta, but change is always good. And then later she said we could go there, for fresh pizza (in our heads, for a night out)…double yay! Sad confession: we were fifteen minutes late because we were getting dressed up (which means clean hair, clean jeans and one piece of jewelry)...hey, when you live in sweat, dirt and grime, any excuse is a great excuse to put on nicer clothes! Despite our tardiness, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had dinner with Anna, Stefano (the cook…who helped me make pasta a while ago), and Tatiana (another full time employee at Ferraia…super nice!). The 5 of us chatted and had some delicious pizzas (random topping combinations of potato, rosemary, eggplant, peppers, sausage, olives, onions, pesto, and I don’t even know what else). When we had our fill of pizza, wine and ice water, we helped them clean up in the kitchen after the guests who ate before us (28 of them!). During that time I discovered the amazing-ness of a 2 minute dishwasher and I definitely started to feel more refreshed to tackle the rest of the week.

After that dinner, we forced ourselves to go on a morning/afternoon ride yesterday – an exploring ride! I was riding Saturno – the three year old loose brick wall that I spoke about a while back. We went down to the river and went left instead of right (the road less taken). It was beautiful! Tree shaded paths, ferns sprouting around the trail, moss covered rocks, grassy patches. Then in the middle of nowhere an abandoned building that was roofless, covered in ivy vines and trees hugging its walls, and lined with arched doorways appeared out of no where. SO COOL! We spent some time riding in and out of the doorways and taking pictures before continuing on our way. We came to another fork and chose the lesser traveled one, again – forging our own trail now. The ground was covered in purple flowers and bright blue dragon flies. We weaved in and out of trees, ducking occasionally to miss a branch and humming with contentment to ourselves. As I was weaving, I tapped the wrong brick on Saturno – he didn’t go where I wanted. Before I could comprehend what was going on I felt a big SMACK to my forehead and shooting pains in my back. The stupid horse ran me into a very low branch on a very badly placed tree. Stunned, I managed to get out of the tangle of branches. Ow. For a few minutes I was not okay – seeing double, lost contact (equating to blindness), and shooting pains. I managed to find my contact on Saturno’s mane and realize that my yelp was more out of shock then pain. As we headed home to bandage me up, I started laughing and singing that infamous song “George, George, George of the Jungle, strong as he can be!” although in my head it was more like “Trace, Trace, Trace of La Ripa, silly as she can be!” All I could say for most of the ride home was “Look Out for that Tree!”…I may have hit my head harder than I thought. As the double vision disappeared we realized we made a wrong turn and so we wandered through the peaceful forest (disrupted with my singing) until we finally made it home. Yay Siesta time!

Speaking of Siestas…I have officially started utilizing that time in the day to learn to play the guitar. I can now play C, G, D, A and E minor chords! The transitions are rough, but you know…I’m learning! I still can’t sing well, in fact I seem to be more talented at blurting out random words to random chords! Anna and Claire seem to enjoy listening to my very poorly composed, sing only once songs. Fortunately, my singing may not be limited to these million dollar compositions…Claire has lots of patience, can hear a beat, and is teaching me to sing. Under her tutelage I might be able to rescue my vocal talents from the landfills…she at least has hope in them and seems to think they are rescue-able.

Okay…ready for random story 2?! It’s pretty intense, I left you hanging earlier…but now the time has come to share how on earth I got this delicious Mint gelato! You may, or may not find this story entertaining, *smile*. It started simply enough. Woke up and fed the horses. Came in and had Claire’s awesome pancakes (I think I would starve or get very bored with the same thing over and over again left to my own devices) which sadly also means our syrup is gone. Oh well…very worth it. (PS – did you know that peanut butter on pancakes is awesome?! I hate peanut butter! What is happening?! First coffee, then tomatoes, now peanut butter?! What is next…peaches and strawberries?! Bleck.) Anyways...Thomas came to pick me up for Mass and we went to San Domenica in Siena. Mass was held in the lower Church and it was beautiful…if felt like Mass – I felt home. The Chapel itself had gothic style brick ceilings and walls decorated with beautiful stained glass windows. I was too entranced by the crucifix to really notice what pictures were in them. The whole experience is hard to paint in typed words, the only other thing that can be shared simply is that the celebrant, Fr. Alfred White was from New York, which was comforting for some reason.

After Mass, as Thomas and I walked to get him coffee, I could hear drums in the background. I watched the skyline full of pigeons and narrow roads up ahead, we were moving toward the sound. We walked down a cobble stone alley, past a restaurant, and up another road (past the white wine gelato shop) and then we saw them. How could I forget my camera?! Amidst the old buildings, orange roofs, and endless stone walls…here in the streets was the celebration of a contrada. Not only that, the Torre contrada – my favorite contrada. They had on medieval costumes, they were twirling flags, beating drums (1,2,3 fast, 1,2 slow), townsfolk dancing behind. Thomas and I walked next to them on our way. I felt a grin spread across my face...for thirty seconds I felt part of the magic, walking side by side with a drummer, entranced by the flag throwers, excited to celebrate. The drummers and flag throwers are all boys, the youngest that I saw looked about 12 and the oldest about 50…so diverse in their unity to celebrate! But what were we, I mean they celebrating? I asked Thomas. Cool history lesson! Each contrada has a patron saint. When it approaches the feast day of their Saint, they march through all the streets of Siena…praying to, celebrating, honoring their Saint. Who was getting such an awesome procession today? St. Anna and James Major. This wasn’t a show for tourists; it was a genuine procession of prayer and celebration...costumes and everything! I have a flyer from it (some of the best souvenirs you can not buy in a store) that has made me question - why don’t parishes honor their patron saints in America in such a cool way, or better yet…at all?! Hmph.

Moving on. Due to the sidetrack of this celebration – coffee was no longer needed, time was slipping by and Thomas was awake. We started to drive home. Snap. His car battery died, leaving little ole me (I am gladiator don’t forget) to push his car through the streets of Siena. I did it! I was surprised how easy it was…until I realized that the car was probably in neutral and I probably wasn’t THAT strong, bummer. We continued on our way and as always Thomas showed me another beautiful back road. This time consisted of a little windy road shaded by big overgrown trees that straightened out into fields of sunflowers and old buildings...to wildflowers and rolling hills in the distance. As we drove I smiled again, to my right was sunflowers (Big and tall, some small…some lost their petals and others seemed to be consumed with petals…all beautiful) Side note: Erin – I think of you every time I see these, I know they are your favorite and every time I wish I could share the moment with you! Well, I am always thinking of someone from home, but, well, anyways…to my left were tall (insert name here) trees…like in a Tuscany postcard. Someone pinch me, please. As I was lost in my surroundings, Thomas pulled into a very randomly placed parking lot. Surprise! He tells me this is some of the best real gelato. I walk in, try some flavors and buy some. We drive home. I know, pretty simple way to acquire it, huh? Be honest, were you expecting something more dramatic than running into a TREE?! :) haha.

And as always, there is so much more to share…but these are the highlights (rather detailed highlights, might I add!)…I have to save something for when I get home!...like Mini training, bugs in the ear, eagle sightings, kitchen adventures, and well… ;) (And I only put that list for future reference for myself…I have the memory of a goldfish, or maybe even worse!)

Actually, if you are bored at work or something, I will share the bugs in the ear story…it is rather humorous. If you don’t have all day to read my musings; then consider your self caught up on my life for the moment, scroll down to lessons. Last week we took the ponies for a walk down to Ferraia. Claire ran in to check her email. All of a sudden I heard a buzzing in my ear, thinking it was a fly I shooed it away. It came back, switched to my other ear. Back and forth it went. (it is quite a shame no one saw this, really…) As I got more agitated I took off my hat and started swinging it around. This made the little bugger even more mad. The ponies started freaking out at my flailing arms and crazy hat. So from the outside I imagine this is what I looked like: some girl holding two wide eyed ponies flailing her hands all around her head with a Japanese tourist hat, screeching and grumbling, yelling “stupid bug, go away, no seriously…I am telling you…GO AWAY…I am warning you…BUG!...argh….ponies stop that!...NOW!...BUG!...I…will…get…AHHHHHHHHHHH”...at which precise moment you see a serious head banging movement and eyes bulging out of the girls head. The stupid bugger flew INTO my ear. Still swatting I start to walk away from this thing that is now following me. (really, I must have looked ridiculous). The ponies won’t move. So now here I am swatting at this thing and playing tug of war with two stubborn little ponies and getting no where. Panting, I place the hat back on my head, take a deep breath and try one more time, at which precise moment the bug goes away and the ponies walk like nothing happened. Ridiculous. Thankfully the stupid thing didn’t go deeper…into my ear canal, I would have freaked out even more. Lol.

Lessons of the week:
- Watch out for that…TREE!
- Saliva is a great way to save dry, dirty contacts
- Ice is actually a special treat when you have not had it in a very long time
- When in Italy…don’t be picky with your food…saying you don’t care, or you are open to anything when choosing pizza toppings is the BEST thing to say…ALWAYS try new things, new concoctions…very pleasant things happen in your mouth…Italian cooks are generally better at choosing flavors than me.
- Pushing a car is not as difficult as it might seem…or I am just suddenly super strong! :)
- Playing rock paper scissors for who makes lunch is a bad idea – I usually lose and my lunches tend to be unrecognizable – burned cheese is usually involved.

58 euro syrup?! What?!

Here are some San Galgano mayhem pictures!

She shoots, she scores! Claire – 13, Tracie – 2, Flies – 0. Claire is a hand-eye coordinated fly killing genius! We have had no new strange critters and the fly population in our house is quickly decreasing…mostly in part to the geniusness of my Raid skill and Claire’s swatting skill. The war will be won! (Is it sad that I find entertainment is updating on the bug killing?!)

Here at the farm I’ve started giving riding lessons to Anna and Mini has become my project horse. Last night I tried cantering him for the first time. It was…interesting. I felt like a sack of beans flapping my legs, kissing, and bouncing through his uneven trot. I have a long way to go before he is ready for beginners. Teaching Anna is lots of fun, and very educational for my own growth. I am learning that I am a stubborn “hard ass” and won’t put up with BS. As in, I hate it when people don’t make an effort and it makes me crazy to simply be ignored. It amazes me that despite this stubbornness, at the end of lessons Anna will give me a hug or randomly tell me that she loves me. It amazes me more that when I call her out on her dis-respect of me trying to help her learn to ride she actually listens and changes her attitude. It amazes me the most that despite my “hardness” we still laugh and have fun. I’m hardly a perfect teacher for her…I think I am learning more from her about who I am, and how to help through love, not control.

Anna’s favorite phrase is “I don’t know”. My dad used to get SO mad at me when I would answer questions with that answer. I have a much better understanding of that frustration now, I see some of him in me, and I appreciate his efforts to try and get me to say more beyond that. Dad, how did you do it…how do you get a pre-teen to talk beyond “I don’t know?”

So, if you didn’t know, I am terrified of the dark. No, I am scared of being in the woods alone at night. A few nights ago I tackled that fear. I took a ride by myself at twilight to pick up Claire’s hard drive down at Ferraia. I can’t lie, it was a little scary. But as I sang to myself (there was no one there to listen) I kept the scary thoughts away (you know the ones that say a vampire is hunting me). And then I started to enjoy myself! I let my hair down, closed my eyes and asked Saturno to canter. Cantering when you can’t see more than 5 feet in front of you with fireflies dancing is an amazing feeling. I felt the breeze in my face and the even rocking of his gait below me. I couldn’t help but smile, it was a fairy tale come true! I think I conquered my fear that night. I feel safe on the back of a horse…even the three year old that almost threw me a week or so ago, especially at night, it was like riding the whole way with my eyes closed, except not, and I love every second, especially the silence of the crickets and the whisper of the trees.

Sundays still remain my favorite day – a day of complete rest. Today we went to Mass at San Galgano and afterwards walked around the Abbey – open air cathedral ruins. Claire came with me today and we had a blast walking around, taking ridiculous pictures and admiring the beauty of the history, of the scenery. We played on the hay bales and admired the building from the 1100s. They even had the sword that San Galgano thrust in the stone still in the stone…Yea St. relics!!
But beyond that, I am smiling and hanging my head in shame as I hesitate to share the appalling truth of this story, the ultimate motivation for this blog. At the same time, it is so ridiculous I can not pass up keeping it in silence, with only Claire to share it with. Folks, I present you the fable of the rare and delicate 58 euro maple syrup:

It started off innocently enough. We took a day trip to Siena on Wednesday afternoon, did some shopping at the market, ate some gelato (I had vino bianco (white wine), which was SO good!), had some pizza while overlooking the Duomo, did some more shopping, and navigated through piles of tourists. As a side note, Claire makes rock star French toast. Unfortunately, the last two times we have had it, there has been NO syrup, which is just wrong!! So for two weeks we have been on a mission to get syrup. On Wednesday, on our way out of town, we went grocery shopping like we always do. We couldn’t find syrup! On top of that, the lines were long and we lost track of time. As we hurried through the cashier, we had to literally run/walk super fast with our canvas bags and week’s worth of groceries in tow to catch our bus on time, which leaves at 6pm! Phew, 6:10 and the bus is running on Italian time…we made it! We knew there was some syrup for sale across the street, without even thinking of the time, without even thinking, period, Claire runs to buy it. Bus comes. Bus tries to leave. I run out yelling “Wait! Cinque minuto por favore, mi ami”…as I point towards the door and my bags, probably looking like an idiot. The bus driver points at his wrist and the clock…he has to go. Fine. I wave him off. STUPID! Naturally, one minute after the bus pulls away, Claire comes running up. We missed our bus. Ridiculous! We call Vittorio, Anna, Thomas. No answers. Finally we learn that Vittorio is in Florence with an unknown return time, Patrizia’s car is broken, Thomas has company at his apartment. We are stuck. Taxi? Super expensive. As the clock ticks we play sticker tag with the fruit stickers and munch on cereal, we refuse to pay for a taxi. Sadly, as 10 pm approaches and Vittorio is still not answering his phone, we need a plan B. Hitchhiking is not an option, sleeping at the train station doesn’t sound like fun. Taxi it is. 5 euro syrup, plus 50 euro taxi ride, plus 3 euro tip equates to 58 euro syrup. How embarrassing. The next day we have French toast for lunch and the syrup tastes stupendous. We treat the bottle like it is made of gold and roll our eyes at each other while laughing. Only us.

Lessons of the week:
- Cold showers can feel better than hot showers
- Wind is AMAZING in this heat (I hate wind!...usually)
- Missing the bus for syrup makes for a great story
- Night rides are more relaxing than scary
- Being ridiculous is just an awesome part of being Tracie!
- Never underestimate the usefulness of large Japanese tourist hats
- I need to learn to say “I don’t know” in Italian
- It is amazing how many meals you can stretch spaghetti with meat sauce into!
- Watermelon Sundays are awesome Sundays

I am Gladiator!!

Warning: I have not proof read this, but wanted to post it...please excuse any grammatical, spelling, random thought errors! :)

In case you are interested, here is a blog I forgot I wrote from 2 weeks ago (June 27th and 28th): Even though it is outdated, still a keeper for the memory books!

I realize in the many new experiences and stories I have hardly talked about the main reason I am here – my job. Or at least, not as in talking about the horses and the “Italian Way.” Italian way being having different supplies, more limited and more expensive than the US. Example: Swat in America is five dollars, tops, here we saw it was twenty five euro!!!

Side note: Today we turned on the TV to try and find the forecast (failed) and stumbled across MTV, which was playing in English Michael Jackson’s song Black or White…random! (until later last night when we saw that this week is Michael Jackson week) (UPDATE from current times…now realize that it was from his death…funny we didn’t find that out until oh, last week!)

In riding the same horse for nine years I have come to know her very well and she doesn’t challenge me as much as she used to. I know when she is being silly and when she doesn’t understand. She is a seasoned, well trained horse with good days and bad like any of us. Out here, riding younger, less well trained horses has given me a greater appreciation for all the time I put into knowing and training Precious. Sometimes I wish she were here. On the same hand, riding so many different horses is challenging me to be a better rider – mainly in the department of patience, calm, and accepting that I am less experienced in the problem shooting training department. There is a saying in the horse industry that “a horse is always honest.” Given, you can have a poorly trained horse, but for the most part in the honesty of a horse, it is humbling and hard to recognize my faults, or at least to try and see what I am doing wrong, or could do better. I find that I don’t trust unresponsive horses. Today (Saturday June 27, 2009) on the way home, I was riding a three year old, Saturno, and he grabbed the bit, ducked his left shoulder and pulled a hard turn on me…thankfully I have a strong seat, but I nearly came off…it shook my nerves! It was hard to not get mad at him! Saturno is young, so he gets some slack – but his responsiveness is that of a brick wall with a few loose bricks, and it is unpredictable which bricks are loose…not so much slack in that department.

Last semester we had a woman’s night at Church and the speaker, Dr. Kim spoke of two emotions – fear and anger – and all the side effects they can have. The best cure? Deep breathing. I never thought I’d actually use it!!! After all, I am NEVER scared or angry. I have used that “trick” more often this month than I ever thought imaginable. Oh that night I was not feeling good, sitting at the commons on the back couch next to Allie, Michele and Ashley. Another lesson that is actually applicable out here is HALT – when I feel my emotions getting out of control, I think of this acronym Monica taught me. Am I hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired? 9 out of 10 times, the answer is yes to one of those. Who would have thought I’d actually utilize the wisdom taught to me by others?!

Speaking of utilizing information, as Claire and I try to make this place into a more efficient stable we are realizing the value of business plans and budgets that exist (or in our case don’t exist…). I have decided that having the materials you need to take proper care of the horses, a stated business plan, and job descriptions are completely overrated, along with clean floors, ovens, microwaves, toasters, dish washers, bathtubs, normal refrigerators, freezers, dryers, function-able screen windows, bug free living quarters and cars. Side note: Why job description? Claire and I have recently received a request/goal/need to have done task of…training donkeys. I am sure one of you giggled out loud. Well, every time I think of it I laugh. Do you KNOW how stubborn they can be? After trying to get Rusty in the stall, I can only laugh at the tasks Claire and I are now in charge of: the care, training, and conditioning of 13 horses, 2 ponies, 3 donkeys, and 1 mule…along with an endless to do list of cleaning, organizing, and more cleaning. Busy much? Yes.

I frequently laugh at our desk…a mixture of random lists…you could say we have mastered the art of to do lists: what needs to be done when the vet comes, what do we need to talk to Vittorio about, what to do next time we get to the internet, what do we need at the store, what places do we want to see when we take our day trips, what needs to be cleaned, what needs to be done around the barn and probably at least four other categories of “to do/get” lists.

The last few nights we have been hearing really weird noises in our wall…I assumed it was just a horse fly caught somewhere. I was wrong. Last night we were watching a news clip on the Palio and we heard the noise. Claire looked above her head and we found the source…a scorpion. EW. She grabbed the Raid and well, that was the end of that. As I have mentioned before, here, bugs are our constant companions. We have ants in the walls of our living room and seem to be constantly battling with the flies and (now) scorpions (hopefully that’s just once though). Luckily, the both of us aren’t easily grossed out and find our constant horse-like swatting pretty funny. A can of Raid is by far the best investment made thus far. We have been waging war with the ants and victory is imminent! Updates from the front to come soon.

And every now and then I get to go on little adventures. Today Thomas took me to run an errand and we ended up in the kitchen of a little old woman, who gave us sheep cheese and bread…it was pretty good and another awesome cultural experience. (Yes, I had to mention food!)


Current day: July 13, 2009

Water soluble paint – water based paint; sprite – tonic water; 2 o clock – 4 o clock; 9 o clock – 10 o clock…they are all the same, right? Not exactly.

This week has been a week of a whole lot of bleck! Bleck meaning “stupid stomach flu disease, virus infection of GI tract, keep you in bed, force you to memorize route to il bano (to prevent hitting walls at night), nauseating sickness.” It started off innocently enough…and then hit me out of nowhere…beware of hitchhiking ghosts!!!
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STUPID FLIES! They keep landing on me and I wish I had a top technological gun that would shoot darts that chase them and stab them through their miserable little bodies. I can’t quite explain it, but there is something about them that will make you go absolutely crazy. Maybe its just the general grossness associated with them, maybe it’s the feeling of a light *annoying* tickle when they land on you, maybe it’s the buzzing that never leaves your ears. Either way I am growing more convinced that a great torture device would be to stick someone in a room crammed with them for any length of time. Claire agrees. Yesterday we got a fly swatter in IESA. Is it bad when buying a fly swatter is just about as exciting as getting that new dress that fits just right or a new car? Well, even if it is, this is life at La Ripa, I could not stop smiling, so excited to start swatting flies!!

Okay, now that I have had my vent session about those most annoying black buzzing things, I figured now would be a great time to write about oh, you know…my job! Typical me…writing about adventures and travels and I haven’t even really shared what I am doing day to day. Silly me. Well, as always there are up days and down days and this week was definitely a big drop on the roller coaster week. Monday was great, went to look at a potential horse for a beautiful evening trail ride and laughed nearly the whole time, we had conversations ranging from how I am a caution sign to how Claire is an antique lightstand. Life was good.

Tuesday we finally go to shop for options to obtain much needed barn items and did research on donkey training (31 pages!). We also went to look at a potential horse for Vittorio to buy. He was beautiful. As Claire and I watched him move and looked at his overall health and chatted to each other, Vittorio talked to the trainer, in Italian which equals cluelessness in my world. All of a sudden we realized he bought the horse! Fastest purchase…ever…at least in my books. Minion (now affectionately known as Mini) is a 6 year old bay Anglo Arab (meaning he is 60% Arabian), moves beautifully and is just good looking! He is also only half trained, which means Claire and I have another project on our hands. I am actually very excited about this project, it should be a lot of fun and a great learning experience. The disadvantage to having a new horse is that Vittorio is a business man. He wants to make money, he will only keep a certain number of horses. He told us on the drive home that we had to choose 1 or 2 to sell…in Italian language that essentially means slaughter. :/. We were very quiet on the way home, rather depressed for a few days. How do you choose a horse you have come to know and love to be processed for some sort of food? They are all good horses. Needless to say, we were depressed for a couple of days. I wrote about the issue of horse slaughter in my Capstone class when we talked about ethics, I understand that it is actually a very logical method of horse population control – I would be okay with it in the United States again. However…I am not okay with choosing the horse, I am not okay with a horse going simply because someone doesn’t want to pay for it anymore. I am not God, don’t like choosing who lives and who dies. Deep breath, moving on. That night I started feeling queezy.

Wednesday – Queeziness starts to increase, stomach aches on the rise. By night I have stopped eating, or at least anything of substance, mm bread. We watched Gladiator – awesome movie!

Thursday – I am full blown sick in some way or another, I won’t share the details, but I was bed ridden. Phrase “I am Gladiator” arises. See, feeding horses when you want to lay down/sit/bend over every 3 steps is miserable. As I woke up to feed, I thought of Russell Crowe killing the emperor with a wound in his side. Surely I can kill hay bales with a sore stomach! (The adrenaline rush might be a little different, but it could work, right?) And so my gladiator training began. I am Gladiator I said, trying to fight the misery. Mission? Pretty much a fail, I was useless beyond forcing myself to help feed. My meal all day? 1 bowl of white rice – plain (not a great substitute for chicken noodle soup) that led to a great reflection on hunger in third world countries. We also picked up Mini…yay! Vittorio told us that there is a lady who might be interested in one of the horses to do therapeutic work. I am hoping that she will want Frieda, it would definitely save me from growing in ways I don’t want to grow.

Friday – too sick, still not feeling well enough to go to Montigiorni like we planned (they were having a medieval festival…how cool would that have been?! Stupid stomach.). We stayed home and prepped for Saturday and then went to Siena. Saturday we were supposed to have 12 12-14 year olds for a day camp. YIKES! Hopefully my stomach wouldn’t act up…I was on the hill back up to healthyish! Vittorio brought us paint so we could paint the horses, way fun! The only problem? We asked for water based, he brought water soluble. I have a funny feeling you can’t wash acrylics off of horses. But you know, they are all the same, right? Also that night I asked for Sprite for my tummy, they gave me tonic water…ew.

Saturday and Sunday – stayed in bed all day and it was marvelous. Camp was cancelled, the kids were not coming. And so life at La Ripa is back to normal - horses are breaking pens, Rusty is bothering Nutella again (this time we just said deal with it…no energy to fight that one!!), the dogs still won’t stop barking, two more halters are broken, and the sun still shines with random thunderstorms.

Update on the front: Claire has found only one more scorpion (on the shower curtain) and the ants are gone…yay! We have fixed our screens so keep out unwanted extra critters. As the frustration showed earlier…the flies are our most current threatening battle. However, armed with Raid and a fly swatter they are starting to submit to our ferocious attacks and determination. Mercy is no longer a game factor…the flies must die!

Currently we are cleaning the Med room – aka the secret lab of Dr. Jeckyll. How so much junk has fit in one room is beyond me. The courtyard is currently swarmed with microscopes, bunson burners, flasks, incubators, needles, saline solution, betadine, saddles, tubes, harnesses, reins, tarps, 1000 copies of one horse’s pedigree, and a whole bunch of other random and unidentified items. It’s a slightly overwhelming picture and task. In the midst of trying to decipher this secret lab of sorts, we did find some awesome tin helmets that we can’t wait to wear! Now I really can be a gladiator! HA!

With that, I hope these 2 in 1 blogs have not been too long and well, I guess I failed in describing my job, but hopefully hearing my week has been entertaining enough. Maybe someday I’ll get to it.

PS – Every now and then (like just now) these giant silver fighter military airplanes fly over us and all you can here is the roar of their engines far before you see them and long after they are gone. I’ll try and get a picture, I think my military fan readers would love them! I don’t know much else about them beyond they are big and intimidating and really cool!

Lesson of the week:
Always overpack!

Love you all,
Tracie