We found wine in bulk at the local wine shop. Only in the country where wine is soo good and so cheap can you buy it by the liter, 3 liters at a time to be precise. Here is the picture (a sinistra - to the left) of the jug that you can refill as many times as you want. Full jug costs ~4.20 Euro or about $5.41! That is 4 bottles of wine for less than an hour of work at minimum wage.
Work is going very well. Settling down in one place has allowed me to really focus well. There aren't distractions here.
Tonight we were able to go into town and take part in a sweets festival - La Festa di Dolci. For 2.50 euro entrance we could walk around and eat all the locally made treats. Our favorite was a riso(rice) fried nugget of yummyness. It's a 3 day festival, so we will be back to see what is going on tomorrow.
We are really enjoying the language; Tamara is picking it up really well, I suck but am trying.
Each day brings new promise of things of old, present, and future. I really miss the life I had at the beginning of this year and the friends in my life. I am always looking forward to new opportunities as they present themselves.
[Jefferson] 5. Travelling. This makes men wiser, but less happy. When men of sober age travel, they gather knowledge, which they may apply usefully for their country; but they are subject ever after to recollections mixed with regret; their affections are weakened by being extended over more objects; & they learn new habits which cannot be gratified when they return home. Young men, who travel, are exposed to all these inconveniences in a higher degree, to others still more serious, and do not acquire that wisdom for which a previous foundation is requisite, by repeated and just observations at home. The glare of pomp and pleasure is analogous to the motion of the blood; it absorbs all their affection and attention, they are torn from it as from the only good in this world, and return to their home as to a place of exile & condemnation. Their eyes are forever turned back to the object they have lost, & its recollection poisons the residue of their lives. Their first & most delicate passions are hackneyed on unworthy objects here, & they carry home the dregs, insufficient to make themselves or anybody else happy. Add to this, that a habit of idleness, an inability to apply themselves to business is acquired, & renders them useless to themselves & their country. These observations are founded in experience. There is no place where your pursuit of knowledge will be so little obstructed by foreign objects, as in your own country, nor any, wherein the virtues of the heart will be less exposed to be weakened. Be good, be learned, & be industrious, & you will not want the aid of travelling, to render you precious to your country, dear to your friends, happy within yourself. I repeat my advice, to take a great deal of exercise, & on foot. Health is the first requisite after morality.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a quote! Thanks Dad :)
ReplyDelete