I had been feeling a little run down lately and not much in the mood to write. It was exactly one month ago today that I left Austin. It’s been an intense month.

Last Saturday night, we climbed into my new car and drove to Toano to listen to the all-male choir Vocilassù in the ancient medieval pieve of Countess Matilda. The church a sits atop the highest hill in Toano and is found by going up a long, narrow dirt road cut like a shelf into the hill barely wide enough for my little car. There was a parking lot a ways down the hill, but since Karen was on two crutches I parked as far up the road as possible, where a heavy chain blocked the last 50’ or so. The concert didn’t start for another few hours and we were the first people there, so I had plenty of time to get my car parked as close to the side of the road as I could to get out of there easily.

It was good that we had arrived early because by the time that the concert began, the church was filled with people from wall to wall. The music that the choir sings both traditional and original religious pieces in a style similar to Handel’s oratorios.

At the end of the concert, as everyone filed out of the church, the dimly lit evening had turned to pitch black and the courtyard was illuminated only by a high-wattage outdoor light that served well enough to walk down the hill without falling off the side. My car, which had been the only one there when we arrived, was now the last in a long line of cars twice as big as mine, but parked the same way. How these people thought that we’d be able to get out of there parked like that is beyond me.

We both got into the car and I attempted to make a three-point turn so that I wouldn’t have to try to maneuver down the hill in reverse. The crowd of people walking down the road, which was now even more constricted because of all of the other cars parked along the side, made going in reverse far too dangerous. I slowly nudged the car up the hill, then back a few inches, then forward a few inches, then back a few inches, slowly trying to turn the car around in the space of a closet. Forward again, then back one inch, two inches, three inches, THUD. I tried going forward, but couldn’t move. I got out of the car, which seemed strangely lower than normal, and saw that the back two wheels of the car that I have yet to pay for were dangling off the edge of the cliff. I got Karen out of the car just in case it decided to complete its journey, and with the help of a couple of passersby, we pushed my little Hot Wheels car back onto the road and pointed in the right direction. I didn’t see any damage on the car so we got back in and drove back home. I prayed that word doesn’t get back to Alessandra that the “Americano” drove her (soon to be my) car off the cliff.

We went back to Toano the next day and attended Mass at the same church, this time parking down the hill in the parking lot. The Appenino Reggiano festival was that afternoon and we planned to stay in town most of the day. After Mass, while we were looking for somewhere to eat, storm clouds closed in and we knew that rain was coming. We went down to the restaurant on the outside of town and had lunch while a light summer sprinkle turned into a downpour. We spent a good two hours in there while we waited for the rain to stop and I talked to the waitress who spent a few months in Kentucky and who spoke a little English. The rain didn’t seem to let up and we figured the festival was canceled, so we just drove on home.

My savings had finally arrived from my bank account in the US into Karen’s account at the local bank, so I could now withdraw the money I needed to pay for the car, title change, and insurance. Our first stop was at the local car dealership run by a guy who looks like he was born to sell used cars to change the title to Karen’s name (since I don’t have a codice fiscale) and get insurance. The title change was €450 and the insurance on this cheap little car is €880/year! After that painful experience, we went back to Gova where I paid Remo, Alessandra’s father, €1200 for the car. While test driving the car with Alessandra last week, I understood very little of what she was telling me about the car, but I did understand very clearly the number un mille due cento, 1200. Even though others had told us that they wanted €1,500, I thought that she was hoping to get rid of it and was offering me a deal. Turns out she was telling me that the engine was 1200cc and her and her mother had to come over to collect the rest. I understand just enough Italian to be dangerous.

Karen went with me to Casina on Tuesday to sign the lease on the apartment that I had chosen. Since the Immobiliare does everything possible to keep you from meeting the landlord ahead of time to avoid getting stiffed on their commission, I was finally able to meet who I’d be living next two for the next few years. Ivo’s an 83 year old farmer and WWII vet who took an instant liking to me simply because I’m American. In some form or another, I’m getting the credit for the Americans who liberated him from a German POW camp in WWII. I laughed it off, but he seemed as serious as can be. If both him and his wife are as kind as they seem, I think this is going to be a really nice place to stay.

This evening I went to find a little town on the other side of the river called Farneta. Karen’s neighbor, Germa told me that the butcher there has the best salame anywhere, which of course is enough to light a fire under my butt. All Karen gave me for directions was that it’s on the lower part of Quara and that there’s a bridge. I had no idea where that was, so I drove into Quara and took a road that looked like it went down. It wound around the mountain and went all the way down to the river where it led to a narrow bridge only that goes into Modena and wide enough for one car. Continuing around the curves, I miraculously arrived at a larger road that took me straight into Farneta. Well, it would’ve been miraculous if the butcher was open, but it was a pretty drive anyway.

I came back home where Karen said that she got a call from Telecom Italia a few minutes ago to inform me that DSL access would be available when my phone gets hooked up. Unfortunately my VOIP router isn’t working and needs to get replaced (under warranty, hopefully), but I’ll have broadband internet access. That turned my whole day around.

I still can’t believe it’s only been a month. I still can’t believe everything actually came together. I still can’t believe it’s not butter. What a month.