What am
I doing with my life? That seems to be the question as of late. On one hand I’m
indulging in all of the wonders that Tuscany has to offer, but on the other I
know that this is not my real life and cannot last forever. Since I arrived at
Cosimo and Maria I have had top notch cooking, coffee, wine, and midday
siestas. It has been a blur of relaxed nights that involve drinking wine and
dancing. The people are all laid back and fantastic company. My fellow WWOOFers
are Pauline, Chom, Cary, Lena, Christa, Jay, Anthony, Taka, and more recently
Tom. Each person brings a special element to life here at the farm whether it
is artistic, musical, culinary, or comic genius. At the end of the day, it’s
all about enjoying the finer things in life here. We work hard and play harder.
Everyone wants to share their talents and ideas and the end result is usually
something wonderful. I’m not sure exactly what I bring to the table since their
talents make me feel a bit inadequate on many levels (especially in the cooking
department). I’d like to think that my sharp wit and lack of shame are good
additions to the mash up and at least serve as minor entertainment. Maybe I
will become more refined from their presence. Having a group of people to
provide for makes me have to try harder and expect more from myself. Usually I
only have to please myself, and I’m not picky. We also do a lot of travelling
around on weekends together which is always a bit chaotic since we are a bunch
of people with no real direction. Its always a good time. We have been to
Florence, Siena, San Giminamo, Livorno, Empoli, Pisa, and keep making more
travel plans. It’s a lot of time on trains playing cards, walking around,
taking pictures, and eating delicious gelato. It’s not all finer things, wandering,
and relaxation here though. When it comes time to work, we get down and dirty.
I’ve
done some pretty tough farm work already since I’ve been in Italy. The August
heat was almost unbearable, but now I have swapped sweat for sticky grape juice
mixed with dirt and burrs. In the field we go out and harvest grapes for about
six hours a day during the week. This is a fairly simple job, but requires
climbing up under vines, into prickly weeds, and picking through the good and
bad grapes. The bad grapes are reeeeeally bad. With the rains recently the
grapes have been especially juicy and explode all over your hands which you
then use to brush the hair out of your face and/or rub off on your pants, which
means everything gets coated with a layer of sticky grape gunk. By the end of
harvesting you always have this great grape funk emanating from you. Francisco
is our boss and he can be a bit severe. He’s the accountable one for everything
that goes on at the farm, but when work is done he is the life of the party
(Limbo champ). Nevertheless, I stay out of his way for fear that I will be the
nearest subject on which he can unleash his eternal irritation. Granted, a few
of us are bad grapes ourselves. Chom for example quite enjoys smashing grapes
in Alayna’s hair and face for his personal entertainment. He’s the worst grape
of all! We are still plotting how to bring down our wrath upon him. Deep down
we really enjoy his shenanigans and those of everyone else. We make the work
fun by acting like complete maniacs while being semi-productive. At the end we
collapse on the grass and watch the clouds. What a rough life.
It’s
really strange. I expected to come to Italy and experience life with an Italian
family and learn about/enjoy their lifestyle, but that hasn’t been the case at
all! The farm situations have never quite worked as planned and instead of
Italians I have become more acquainted with other transient wanderers. It has
been a really great experience meeting other people that are also wandering and
with whom I have a lot in common with or can learn about other places from.
There is a certain kinship between those that are adrift that occurs
spontaneously and almost instantaneously in some cases. When you have nowhere you belong, you rely on
the very essence of life and experience it in its purest form. This kind of
experience opens your mind and spirit to all kinds of possibilities if you are
willing to let it do its work on you. I have found in my life that I never
learn the lessons that I seek out, it’s always those lessons I need to learn
but never knew I needed. You simply cannot plan everything out when you don’t
know what the hell is coming your way, and really that is all of life. You have
to be flexible and willing to change courses, because we are not omnipotent and
nothing is certain enough to be unchanging. The dynamic nature of life can be
unsettling when you fight it, but when you embrace it, so much latent potential
within you is released as you are released from your everyday
(self-imposed)restraints.
Time for more character profiles:
Alayna: I have seen a spirit I’ve always recognized
in my good friend come to be more outwardly expressed. She has gone completely
bonkers in the best way imaginable, and I’m loving every moment of it.
Chom: The previously mentioned trouble maker who is
an incredible cook/ creatively evil mastermind. He’s a total hipster, but also
strangely endearing. We mess with each other a lot, but in the end there is
trust. He even let me cut his hair into a way hipstery new do!
Pauline: She is always livening up the room with
dancing and light-hearted silliness. Her French-ness is expressed in her love
of food (especially bread and chocolate) and carefree love of life attitude. She
is also gracious and even forgave me for eating the last of the Nutella.
Cary: He first won me over with his incredible guitar
playing which sets the mood for every occasion. He is a connoisseur of many
sorts and I always enjoy listening to him talk about the finer things. My
favorite moment was when I got to play bongo drums alongside him to a Black
Keys song.
Jay: The New Yorker who was my go-to guy when first
arriving at the farm. He is incredibly helpful and good-hearted. His grape
stuffed chicken made me want to cry joyful tears of deliciousness.
Christa: Another New Yorker with a vast knowledge of
wine, looking to experience another perspective of wine-making. She brought a
lot of energy and personality to the group. We come from completely different
worlds if not different countries, but I really enjoyed her company.
Tom: He’s only been here a short while, but already I
am endeared to my new younger brother. He has a manic South African flair that
complements my own insanity. We had a lot of fun screaming at the “furries”
while hoeing together. We also had the greatest time in Livorno, the JANKIEST
beach town ever…but that’s another story.
Anthony: A fellow Midwesterner whom is an employee at
the vineyard. His love of Disney and other relatively cheesy music/movies
entertains me. He turns a blind eye when we WWOOFers get a little out of line
and sometimes is even in on the shenanigans.
Jon Paulo: A sixty-some year old man who has worked
on the farm his whole life and harvests with us. He is the designated
lady-killer and enjoys flirting with all the girls, though he is relatively
harmless. We have lots of fun English/Italian banter going on all the time and
he is a spectacular dancer.
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