Thanksgiving in Italy...

...is odd. First of all, I don't agree with the holiday itself. Thanksgiving day is based on a bunch of lies. However! The holiday encourages family gatherings and forces people to think about things they're thankful for - even I forget to be thankful for the joys in life sometimes - a reminder is good.

Second of all, even though Thanksgiving pushes people to spend tons of money on shit they don't need (decorations, cards, early xmas presents, unhealthy food), it still fuels the economy, which means it helps people's jobs. Of course, the treatment of turkeys in mass factories makes me want to vomit and denounce the entire holiday - but it does spark debate on vegetarians and animal treatment, which is good.

Third of all, some families are probably better left apart. When people don't get along, it makes 'gathering' comparable to visiting the dentist. However! Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that forces people to set aside their differences and make up, which is good.

Therefore! I'm officially a walking contradiction. Maybe spending Thanksgiving in Italy, for the second time, is making me miss the good things about Turkey Day but also making me realize the bad things as well.

l'Italia del sud (Southern Italy)

How does the North-South argument creep it's way into every country, town or territory? More so than East-West, North-South implies differences surpassing accent cadences and seasonal produce choices. The North-South argument involves local pride and local pride sits right under family values on the list of most important things in life. When people don't have a sense of pride about their home town, whether they originated there or not, they seem to be missing a sense of confidence in their character.

The invisible pressure of Northern or Southern Italian pride can be detected the second your white sneakers hit the cobble stone pavement from the airport or train station. When I stepped foot in Venice for the first time 18 months ago, I was shocked to discover a bustling city of fast moving people. Where were the Tuscan hillsides and shmoozing Italian men relaxing on street corners? They were South of me, along with my intelligence. 

After all this time however, the most South I've ever ventured is Rome. Not that I'm complaining, but I see many travels of Southern Italy in my far future. Since I suffer from this predicament on a daily basis, finding out about the South coming to the North in the form of a food festival was paradiso to my eager traveling soul; I was jumping up and down in my knee high Italian boots. 

The festival took place in Piazza Bra, a stone's throw from our apartment. Once nighttime quieted the Veronese streets, we headed out in search of a couple things: gourmet cheese, hand picked olives, tasty wines and free sips of flavored liquors. I could hear the rustic southern Italian music from our porch because the band was extremely loud, but after sampling wine and liquors, I found myself listening to it as if I bought the CD a week ago. 

The tents were simple white constructions with handmade signs. Various food or bottles of wine, liquor and oils were on display like pieces of art. And everyone, I mean everyone, spoke louder than the band played and in accents typical of Italian cartoon characters on old Warners Brothers shows. (See video at end.)

This bread was at least two feet long and one foot wide.

(Candy.)

Found a perfect white, creamy cheese with spicy peppers mixed in it. 

Giant, green, hand picked olives are in my hand.

Mark found some great Sicilian wines and a liquor made from cantaloupe.

The end result - a perfect Friday evening in the North with my Southern cheese 

and olives, Sicilian wine and a little journal writing...tranquillo!

Video footage of live band...

Czech Republic...Fluff Festival 2009

Our recent trip to Czech Republic was exactly what I needed. As I mentioned in my last blog, I felt like I had run out of epiphanies, which is hilarious. Czech Republic renewed the passion missing in our European quest. (I also realize that I'm completely cursed with a writer's mind: analyzing, searching and constantly striving for anything that sparks powerful emotions.) So my starving mind gratefully gobbled up a mound of new thoughts and ideas that are going to regurgitate onto the paragraphs below.

I know the point of this blog is to keep in touch with our family (that includes friends) while we're overseas, but the point of us moving to Europe was much more than a future photo album. I refuse to repeat stories about a great meal or a clever run-in with a crazy local person without including how and why he felt a certain way about that situation. I've seen different places around Europe now, spoken with different international people and experienced more than I thought possible after landing in Venice over a year ago. And after visiting Czech Republic and being exposed to once again, a different side of things, I'm completely baffled, and not scared to admit it.

What's so hard about describing this however, is the immediate bias most people generate about this type of festival atmosphere. Whether it be a liberal agenda thing, a hippie powwow or whatever else that gets people to reject this group information swap - it doesn't make it any less significant to the people involved, or to the people listening. Tattoos, Vegans, Politics, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Drugs, Alcohol....I could go on, but it's these highly sensitive subjects that were presented and discussed at this music festival. The bands presented their opinions on stage and through their lyrics. Booths were set up with information about various subjects. Movies were screened in a cinema tent and every single person was talking in whatever language they could to share their ideas.

Meat eaters and non-meat eaters is a subject I've grown up with because my aunt's family is vegetarian, then I went and married myself a vegetarian, so the subject continued. Most of the festival goers were vegan, but not everyone. I decided to eat vegan the entire weekend and educate myself as much as possible on both sides of the vegetarian story and it has made meat hard to swallow for me.

Since we've returned, I've been searching the internet for pro-dairy and pro-meat eating sites and the information points to humans being supreme and meat/dairy being necessary (even though our bodies can survive without it - but watching animals get slaughtered doesn't make me feel supreme, it makes me feel like shit).

Ignorance was mighty bliss for me before learning what I have so far. I understand the obvious argument of meat for survival (and I haven't made any decisions about my diet lifestyle) but I am going to keep learning about the process of the meat and dairy industry, their slaughtering techniques, the use of hormones and the effect these farms have on the environment, as opposed to vegetable growing. I know North Carolina is always having issues with the pig farms.

(The pic below is the festival's vegan kitchen, ran by a Czech based animal rights organization. The food was incredible and practically free if you paid by euro.)

Also, most of the festival goers were straight-edge (non-drinkers and non-drug users). There were 6-7 American bands over the weekend - all but one were straight edge. This movement has been going on since the eighties when kids wanted to see punk shows but weren't allowed in because of drinking laws. The infamous "X" on underage hands was invented to allow fans into the clubs, along with the philosophy that keeping your mind clear was a greater threat to corruption rather than giving in to escapism. Obviously, this argument falls under the same category of (what I see as) non-arguable subjects (religion, politics, and yes, vegetarianism - yikes!) but this is what everyone explained to me and I definitely respect it. We still drank a few beers throughout the weekend, as did many other people, but the peace remained, no drunken fights or straight edge arguments.

Outside of all of these highly sensitive subjects - we also got to see a side of the Czech Republic most tourists don't see. The town we were in is called Rokycany and sits about an hour (by car) east of Prague. The town is very (very) small and about twenty years behind in terms of mostly everything. However, the people embraced the motley crew of the festival, estimated around 7,000 this year, with open arms. They opened up their community pool each day for everyone to shower and lounge before the bands started and the scarce local people wandering around the town would glance our way, smile politely then get on with their business.

The oddities of the trip - there was only one restaurant in the town center and we couldn't find one café anywhere! The only hotel in town allowed us, and many other groups, to dine in their restaurant every morning to drink coffee or eat breakfast even though we weren't hotel guests. The waiter would bring us free bread, jam and orange juice, and refilled our coffee cups before they had the chance to be empty, then would charge the whole table an amount in Koruna that added to about 3€ a person.

(Pics below are from the pool - practically a lake. This was always are next stop after coffee.)

(Below is the nightly party tent - yes, sober hardcore punk rockers danced till the sun came up while singing Michael Jackson songs and boogying to techno music.)

(Below is the hotel that served us coffee bright and early everyday.)

(Cigarette machine in the hotel.)

(Pit stop worship center.)

(On our way back to camp, we stopped to play soccer with these boys - made their day. One of them was blasting American rap music from an old cell phone so the guys showed them some cool ways to shake hands goodbye.)

The drive home was long. We missed our exit for a gas station in the middle of nowhere in Germany (people who have driven long distances in Europe probably know that turning around for a missed exit is practically impossible), which resulted in us running out of gas. Nice people helped us out within twenty minutes.

Then we started the car and the battery was dead. All three of our cell phones were also, dead, it was midnight and none of us spoke German - we were in a desperate situation. We ended up getting a wrecker within two hours who jump started the rental car, but then told us the battery was completely fried and wouldn't make it to Italy. We risked it, arrived in Italy at five in the morning and are now in dispute for a full refund. Knowing Italy, it won't happen.

Our drive there however, was perfect. We made a pit stop in Munich to drink a beer at the famous Hofbrauhaus - first beer hall in Germany apparently.

So that's what's going on for now. We had plans to attend Oktoberfest in September, but we might stay home to save money. I'm not sure if we'll have any travels coming up until the big move home. I hope everyone is doing well, none of us have any reason to not be doing well so hopefully you're all waking up happy. I know this blog was long, but I wanted to share what's on my mind with everyone. Life has a funny way of taking side roads off the main highway sometimes.

We love everyone so much and look forward to Christmas more each day! Talk to you all soon - The Munday's

So it goes...

I've skipped a few weeks to write a new blog, not exactly sure why, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I've run out of epiphanies. Not that every update blog should house some sort of weekly or monthly realization - maybe ending all these ditties with a dumb joke would also provide enough motivation for readers to reach the end - I don't know.

Then again, my analytical mind appreciates when everything has reason and purpose, makes accomplishing whatever it is more worthwhile. But, an update blog has been past due for a couple weeks now...so I'm going to squeeze in the past monthly activities, post some new pictures and attempt a few quirky comments along the way...if you reach the end - perhaps a dumb joke will be waiting.

To begin, the above photo was taken at a vegan festival here in Verona - shocking I know - Northern Italians that are vegan?? We were surprised as well, the turn out was actually descent and the food was incredible. Munday's choice to become vegan has made him extremely happy and us girls at the house have really benefitted from it. Maria (our roommate) and I, are still meat eaters, but the vegan diet, when properly followed, is incredible.

And to be frank, or honest, or just 'Amy' for a quick second - I will never agree that being vegan is an unhealthy choice. For one, being vegan is not always a protest against people that eat animal products; it's an individual choice that promotes eating more vegetables, fruits and lower fat alternatives for protein. 

And two - there will always be healthy vegans, and unhealthy vegans, because that's the way of the world. So if one more person tells me that being vegan is unhealthy - I'm going to list off all of the unhealthy, overweight people out there that are meat eaters. Plus, there was a cute dog at the festival (owned by the owners of our local vegetarian cafe) who was running around rampant begging for food and kept getting confused at why nobody would comply:

Our next adventures were spent with an American visitor, Errol, who is the owner of Blue Flame Tattoo in Raleigh, NC. Errol, like all of our past visitors, brought good times, a great attitude and an adventurous spirit  - as well as this guy, Chuck Norris:

Munday, Errol, Maria and I also enjoyed our very first official gondola ride in Venice!

(Yes, those are cans of beer. We chose to ride in class and represent only the upper most echelon of sophisticated ladies.)

More pics from the gondola ride:

We also took Errol to our popular Lago di Garda and the towns Desenzano and Sirmione, which required a boat ride, which required more beer.

(Piazza in Sirmione with Munday and Errol.)

(Our first pit stop was at this resort - beauuutiful - can't describe how amazing it was.)

(Cin Cin! on the boat.)

(Eat your heart out Titanic.)

(Italian card game on the train ride.)

The next thing that happened was July 4th. We had a small house party/dinner thing. I cooked burgers, both beef (Dad's famous recipe!) and bean based vegan burgers that were delicious. The crowd was pretty international to say the least, especially for an American holiday dinner: American, German, Australian, Scottish and, of course, Italians present. 

Munday speaking with a friend/customer and Luca, our neighbor and fellow tattoo artist.

Friends: Felicity (Aussie), and Paul, our Scotsman who very graciously assured that the fridge didn't run out of beer. ;)

More great friends, Stefania (hand raised) Ivan (neck tattoo), and of course, Mark, our local crony.

Poster children for the non-existing organization for People Who Never Want a Corporate Office Job - we're assuring our permanent positions proudly and happily. ;)

Maria, our roomie.

Well that's about it, that's what we've been up to and what's going on with us. Couldn't be happier but couldn't be more excited to come home! Looks like our departure date will be around December 10. We might make a few stops on our way back to the US so I'll be in touch about permanent dates. Our next trip is in three weeks, we're going to Prague, Czech Republic, for a music festival on July 24.

Oh, and here's a dumb joke for those of you that reached the end of my nearly endless blog:

A Texan farmer goes to Australia for a vacation. There he meets an Aussie farmer and gets talking. The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, "Oh! We have wheat fields that are at least twice as large".

Then they walk around the ranch a little, and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle. The Texan immediately says, " We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your cows".

The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a herd of kangaroos hopping through the field. He asks, "And what are those"? 

The Aussie replies with an incredulous look, "Don't you have any grasshoppers in Texas"?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo - Love and Miss to everyone!!

1 Year in Europe...

The one year anniversary of our big move to Europe has arrived, and I can't help but feel contemplative about it. Perhaps it all started on our honeymoon, or the day we met, or maybe moving to Europe has been in our plans all along, who knows, but we'll never be the same, and we've never been happier about our risky decision. Brandon and I both had tumultuous years leading up to our first encounter and then extremely busy years afterward. Between carrying on our relationship, driving our careers, planning a wedding and deciding what was next after that, I'm not sure much breathing or reflection time was allowed.

Then we went to San Francisco for our honeymoon, took a few deep breaths, had hours of reflection and many, many, good long talks and realized we were ready for a change. We met Beppe later that week in the Haight district, finished off a fabulous vacation and came home with desires for a different location and a different lifestyle. Neither of us were searching for ourselves, or for greatness or for any other typical bullshit excuse for making such a huge decision, we just wanted to be happy. Why the hell not was our daily motto, we (obviously) hate the feeling of having to do anything a certain way because it's expected, making this opportunity perfect.

Brandon moved first for about a month while I lived with my Dad and failed miserably at trying not be an emotional girl for three weeks. I cried, and cried, and cried, and cried. The whole situation was overwhelming - I missed my husband dearly, I knew I was going to miss my family and my friends, I was scared to death about moving to a foreign country when I'd never even left the US before, and I was just plain and simple, freaked out. Even though I always felt like the type of person that wanted to be different without a care about what society deemed appropriate - I couldn't believe I was actually following through with it on such a large scale.

The day before I left, I cried even more, said goodbye to my sisters, said goodbye to my dad, then said goodbye to my two best friends, and I cried and cried and cried before going to sleep that night. When the morning came however, I felt oddly okay, ready to leave, and excited, as if all the crying and emotional breakdowns just needed to happen for me to be able to let go of the past and say hello to my new life with my new husband. 

As you all know, I had a lot to let go of, and it wasn't easy: my family, my friends, the leftover emotions, and the physical pain, literally, from that dreaded night in November four years ago. Everybody, including myself, repeats those wanted changes they long for in their heads everyday; to lose weight, to be more positive, to stop and smell the roses, to work harder, to eat healthy and blah, blah, blah - but maybe we all have to let go of something first before we can allow change. And for me, letting go happened in its most pure physical form - uncontrollable, relentless, ugly, snotty sobbing. But then I was okay, I boarded three flights, a Venetian city bus, and a sweaty second class regional train to Verona, Italy and brought on that big need for change with a vengeance.

Now a year has past and the changes that have taken place, despite the obvious of living in a foreign country, actually surprise me. For one, I realized Brandon and I were always happy, so 'searching for happiness' quickly became irrelevant - we were just really, really stressed out and needed a break. Another realization, also connected to irrelevance, was discovering the hang-ups that occur in different societies, a result of which, makes these hang-ups altogether irrelevant to both of us now. 

For example, American society has hang-ups about two things that Europeans don't think twice about: nudity and drinking. (Refer to the youtube clips about Janet Jackson's breast reveal at the Superbowl a few years back, seriously? Get over it. And drinking wine before lunch, only brings good things to an otherwise normal day.) Although, Italians have hang-ups about two things Americans don't think twice about: working too much and fashion. (Nothing is ever open here, ever. And going to the grocery store requires a well thought out outfit, preferably with a designer bag and the perfect casual, but not too casual, shoes.)

In all however, the most surprising change is our excitement to return home. Maybe traveling, partying in strange cities with strange people, discovering odd things about different cultures and, most importantly, realizing that life doesn't have to be so damn stressful, brought on a feeling of satisfaction and a longing for home. We truly miss our families and our friends. I really do think that unless people take advantage of the love around them, that there's no way they will ever be able to love or appreciate anything else. Traveling has made us realize what's important in life and what's not. More travels are ahead still however, the summer is new and the fall is bringing us to more countries so Cheers! to everyone, enjoy a beer before noon today, don't freak out about provocative advertisements, wear whatever you want to the grocery store and work as hard as you play this week. 

Pisa, Bagni di Lucca (Tuscany) and Florence...

...eight trains, three towns and three days. We couldn't avoid Pisa or Florence any longer, but Tuscany in between just added to the contemplative ambience of the adventure. Our other goal on this trip was finding great vegan food - a surprisingly easy and tasty venture. (Folks down South are definitely more keen on feeding vegetarians than the confused meat eaters in the North.)

The trip began in Pisa where we joined other eager tourists leaning against the air, pretending to fool the prospective of camera angles everywhere, something that's never been done before. Lunch was enjoyed at a ristorante called Da Bruno. The waiter, an older Italian man, was actually excited to offer their various local 'vegano' cusine - bruscetta, vegetables (lots of mushrooms) and bean soups. I found this restaurant online because of their wide assortment of vegan food, like most Italians, they're proud of their region that just happens to be filled with fresh vegetables and legumes.

(P.S. This thing is pretty crooked, seems like it could fall at any second.) 

We hopped on the next train to Bagni di Lucca after this, apparently nicknamed the Switzerland of Tuscany. The picture at the top of the blog is from this town. Our bed and breakfast, Villa Rosalena, sat on the side of a mountain right above a river and down the road from the tiny town center. Bagni di Lucca is known as a refuge for British artists (including Byron and Shelley back in the day) so obviously, I was struck with its beauty and inspirational vibes. 

Thermal hot springs, caves and grottos were everywhere here, as well as one of the first casinos ever built in Europe in 1800's: 

The bed and breakfast, Villa Roselena, was also found online because they cater specifically to vegetarians. The owners were Irish and it wouldn't be possible for me to describe how gracious, hospitable and elegant these people were. Breakfast on the first day was fresh baked bread, couscous salad (with strawberries, white raisins, walnuts and cinnamon), garden grown fruit and a plate of garden grown grilled mushrooms, cherry tomatoes on the vine and grilled potato souffle with rosemary - incredible and beautiful.

Day two was a fruit salad, more fresh baked bread, then a warm cinnamon apricot bruschetta on home-made brioche (italian croissant). This town was extremely tiny but the British influence was everywhere. British flags, English language on signs, etc. and Brits on vacation mixed in with the locals. One very un-British thing however was the cheese rolling tournament we walked up on during a festival on the main street. This was oddly comical yet taken very seriously by the locals. We enjoyed a seat next to the action, sipped on a (traditionally Northern) spritz (how posh of us) and pretended to understand the drunk local men hollering in dialect at the table next to us. 

Dinner was at a local pizzeria on this same street. The owner, in typical Italian fashion, was boisterous while introducing all the vegan/vegetarian options at his restaurant. Their selection of great beer was also a plus, but the quality of the food and vegetables, not surprisingly, was over the top. Our favorite dish here was fried mushrooms - not breaded - just mushrooms quickly fried in very hot oil, turning the outside of the mushrooms crunchy but keeping the inside gooey like fresh french fries - wow.

The rain kept us mostly indoors the next day, reading, drawing and sleeping with the windows wide open, which was great because we rarely just relax on our vacations. Our Irish host also brought us this to aid in our relaxation: 

(Gestures like this always renew my love for the hospitality of B & B's.)

Our fancy dinner was spent at restaurant overlooking the river (see the top pic too). They were serving my favorite wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo) and gave us the best seat in the house. I indulged greatly in fish and cheese here because it was too good not to, but Munday was served an incredible three course meal and was treated, once again, with a great pride at their ability to accommodate vegans. 

The following day, we headed to Florence, land of the Renaissance, and about five billion American college students. I had two goals, one was to see Michelangelo's David and the other was to see Elizabeth Barrett Browning's tomb. Both were happily achieved and our fabulous time, in between the tourist spots, was enjoyed at various cafes and resting spots out of the sun. 

The city was smaller than I imagined, after having been to Rome, Milan and Venice, I expected grandiose modern city life mixed in with history, but that just wasn't the case. The buildings were far from modern, historical fountains and sculptures were on every corner, artists and students walked every inch of the streets and nobody was in a great hurry to do anything. Even the Americans seemed overly relaxed outside of their quick excited chattering with each other.

Florence therefore was everything it has probably always been - an epicenter of learning, nationally and internationally, which is inspiring. Even the famous David, just like the city, was large but not overwhelming, historical and yet also inspiring in his own way because of how truly beautiful he really is. Beauty in Michelangelo's day doesn't seem far from today's attitude of what constitutes a traditionally attractive male. Artists of course surrounded the statue, sketching, not too furiously, the contours of David's thin but muscular frame and saddened expression (apparently an interpretation of his face right before defeating Goliath).

Pictures weren't allowed of course, but here's a few others from Florence:

The train rides home were long but we made it through another weekend of travels and brought home lots of quiet happy thoughts. Traveling has changed both of us in so many ways, enlightening, educating and thought-provoking about how we want to live our lives. Some things become completely obsolete (television, drama, judgements about what other people think and stress) while other things suddenly rise to top of the life list (being happy, learning about the world, making friends and enjoying as much as possible of everything). 

Our only hardship is being so far away from family and old friends. Traveling does provoke that need for 'home' and being around those people that know you inside and out. We miss everyone everyday and are really looking forward to being home again when that day comes. I hope everyone takes advantage of the love they have around them because everything else is nothing without that.

Love you guys a lot...I might indulge in a nap now...I think traveling is adding years onto my young life. haha ;) Ciao Ciao and don't forget to update us on your lives too! We enjoy hearing from everyone when possible and I hope you're all happy...