TravelStream™ news feed for member khorsman on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/khorsman en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:05:43 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1228045800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1228045800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1228045800/tpod.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:05:43 -0500 You're going to South Korea??

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

Well our time is almost over in South Korea. Yesterday we left Yeongju and headed to another temple. It was built into the side of a mountain, and we had to climb a lot of stairs to get up to it. But it was so beautiful. It was snowing, and it was especially beautiful with the snow. After that we had lunch which was some kind of rice and vegetable mixture called bee-bong.

From there we drove to see 2 of the most beautiful scenic sights in Korea. We just stopped, walked around, and of course, Trent and Jong took lots of pictures. I don't know if I mentioned that Trent and Jong are both really into taking pictures. Jong has an old-style polaroid and film camera, so he has taken a lot of cool pictures with it.

We made it back to Seoul in the evening and ate pizza at the Mr. Pizza by Misoo's apartment. The pizza was really nice. The crust was stuffed with sweet potatoes. They have a different style sweet potato in Korea that is really yummy. It is not orange, it is yello. The pizza was good, but we filled up really fast on it. Mr. Pizza's slogan is....Love for Women. That really cracked me up. It has to do with them having healthier pizzas, so they are targeting women who do not want to gain weight. Something tells me i could still get fat on thick crust, sweet potato pizza!

After that back to Misoo's. Her mother had prepared sushi rolls and strawberries for us. I found out that Misoo's father has been buying strawberries for me everyday because he saw how much I liked them. How nice is that! We sat at the table and hung out with Misoo's family. They are such a lovely family.

So a few final reflections on South Korea.....

*The people are amazingly nice. They are also polite.
*Appearance is very important to Koreans. Plastic surgery is very common. Many women get eyelid surgery if they don't have good solid eyelids. And for other things too. Driving down the street there were several plastic surgery places up and down the street. Everyone here thinks Misoo is too short, and have told her she needs to wear high heels. I think she's just right :-)
*Korean men love fancy, luxury cars, and they take a lot of care with their cars.
*Toilets vary from quite clean and nice (luxurious with heated seats!) to quite dirty and gross. I don't mind the in-the-ground toilets, as long as they are clean, but some weren't clean.
*You can eat soup with noodles and slurp like crazy (I love that!).
*I am glad we came with MIsoo and Jong. They made the trip so amazing, and helped us to see a lot of Korean culture. It wouldn't have been the same if we had come on our own.
*My favorite part was staying with Misoo's family, and seeing the differences between how a 26-year-old single girl in Seoul lives compared to a 33-year-old single girl in Bloomington. In some ways very different, in some quite similar.
*I have had so many crazy dreams while I have been here. Last night I dreamed Barack Obama was my neighbor in Bloomington. There were secret service all over the place! Not to mention my roof was collapsing and I was dying to talk to Sharon at work to get the name of the guy that remodeled her kitchen to fix my house. I also dreamed my sister and I were in a big fight, and I was so so sad.
*Kimchi abounds. If you don't like it, maybe don't come to Korea (just kidding....).
*Thely make really yummy pancake things that remind me of elephant ears, but aren't all spread out, they are the size of a pancake and so dense, not crunchy like elephant ears, but they have a filling that is pure yummy cinnamon goodness. You buy them on the street. I LOVE them.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now. It is 7am. I need to shower, finish packing, eat breakfast and call American airlines to try to get an upgrade (I don't know if I can sit for 12 hours, so it may be worth the upgrade). I am anxious to get home and finish out the semester at ISU and have a bit of a break where all I have to do is work everyday.

See you soon!
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Yeongju, Korea Rep.

Wow, it's hard to remember everything I've done since I last wrote. Yesterday morning we set out northward to visit a place called Nahme Island. It is very famous to Koreans and Japanese because a popular drama was filmed there, Winter Sonata. THis drama's leading man is a Korean man that Japanese women are totally in love with because he is so sensitive and caring in the show. Some women even have divorced their husbands because they are not being treated as well as this man would. His picture is all over the place in SEoul. Trent and I both thinks he looks like a girl.

So before getting on the ferry for the island, we ate a traditional meal for the part of Korea we were in. It has a fire on the table where they cook chicken, muishrooms and rice cakes. Then you mix it with rice and cook it. It was a cold, rainy day when we went to the isalnd. WE just walked around and saw the sights. It was quite beautiful, but not much to do, and freezing cold. After that we headed back to the pension for the night. WE made our own barbecue there with pork, mushrooms, rice and cookies. The pension was pretty nice, BUT.....our bathroom had no sink and the shower was basically the whole bathroom. This is a first for me - no sink at all except the kitchen sink. There was a bowl in the bathroom that I guess was a makeshift sink. So when I showered this morning there was a very wet bathroom as the result. Also, I haven't mentioned, but since i've been here, the only towels that they have are very small - the size of a hand towel. I"m not kidding. ONe day Trent and I had to share one of the towels that was the size of a hand towel. It is not so comfortable. I am used to my lush and cushy towels that I can wrap up in and dry off.

So we headed off this morniong to visit Jong's home town which was about 3 hours from Nahme Island. Right off I needed to go to the bathroom, so we stopped in CheongCheon. I for the first time that I Recall in all of my travels turned down a bathroom because it was too nasty to use. While I realize that before refusing a bathroom, many factors come into play, namely, how badly do I need to use it versus how gross is it. I won't describe why/how it was so gross, but you know I don't have very high standards in this area, so just take my word for it. It was so bad I didn't even take a picture of it ---that's bad!

Before going to Jong's hometown we went to Andong which is a city that has preserved many traditional Korean homes. It was quite beautiful and interesting to see the many houses. After that we went to Yeoungu which is JOng's home town. First we went to his house. His grandfather and great grandfather built the house over 40 years ago. It is a traditional Korean house, and very beautiful with beautiful grounds. We met his grandmother who is 93 years old. She has 11 children! She was so nice and so hospitable. WE had tea, cookies, and an apple at the house. Jong's family right now is in Seoul, so we did not see them. AFter visiting her, we went for Korean barbecue. It was awesome! The beef was very yummy. We are starting to get tired of kimchi. I had only one bite of it today. I do like it, but I don't always want it at every meal. Yesterday I had it even for breakfast!

Now we are staying at Jong's sister's house for the night. HIs sister is in Seoul right now, so it is free for the weekend. WE didn't stay at Jong's house because it has traditional toilets and showers and is not comfortable for divas like Misoo and I :-) Tomorrow we head back to Seoul and then Sunday we fly home. It has been a great trip so far!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227783600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227783600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227783600/tpod.html Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:09:53 -0500 You're going to South Korea??

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Seoul, Kansas, Korea Rep.

The time is going quickly! In just a few short days I will be on my way home. Yesterday we went to another palace which was very beautiful. The palace has a secret garden which was so tranquil and pleasant. After that we went to a live performance called Nanta. This is a comedy/percussion performance using kitchen utensils. It was very fun and entertaining. Trent and I both got pulled onto the stage which was very very funny. I think we were one of the only caucasians in the audience which made us sitting ducks for sticking out in the crowd. Trent even had a fake Korean wedding while he was on stage. On this trip I've had the pleasure of seeing him dressed up two times. Once in traditional Korean garb of a security guard, and now for his Korean wedding. Hilarious!!

After Nanta, we went to a traditional Korean shopping area called Insadong-gil. There we looked at tea sets and many Korean handicrafts. Oh, but I forogt the highlight of the morning. Before we left Misoo's apartment for the day, we had tea with her mother and sister. It was a lovely experience. Misoo's whole family is just completely and utterly lovely. They treat each other with a high degree of respect which I think is a lost art in America (if it ever existed...).

For the evening we met Jong's family at the hotel intercontinental for a very upscale buffet (not old country buffet :-) His family is in Seoul for the next week. They live 2 hours from Seoul. We met his mother, father, sister, niece, cousin, and aunt. It was his mother's birthday. His family was so so nice. His sister speaks English very veyr well, so it was nice talking with her. His father also speaks English pretty well, and he loves to visit and get to know people. He was one of the less formal Koreans I have met. But not in a bad way, in a very nice way. They make a very cohesive family which I really loved.

When we returned home last night we went to bed early (9 o'clock) because we had to leave early this morning to go to another place where Misoo had an English entrance exam and interview for graduate schoool, but....Misoo received VERY good news last night that she was admitted to her first choice graduate school for speech language pahtology. This was a HUGE acccomplishment as only 10 people get in out of 50. And she really wanted to go to this school in particular. So now we don't have to get up so early and get on the road which is nice.

I am excited for today because we are leaving Seoul and venturing out into other parts of Korea. I can't wait!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227707880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227707880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227707880/tpod.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:55:50 -0500 You're going to South Korea??

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

Yesterday was a long and fascinating day. We started the day by visiting a Buddhist temple. Misoo explained that November is a very busy time at the temple because many children are applying for university and/or taking exams. This is extremely important to the Korean parents, so they come to the temple to pray that their children get into university. There were a lot of people there. We went during the prayer time, which is I think at 4am and 10am every day.

After we toured the temple, we ran across a wonderful event. The members of the temple were making a mass supply of kimchi for the poor people in Seoul. Kimchi is a very traditional Korean food that every family has at almost every meal. It is basically pickled vegetables, but the most traditional kind is made from cabbage, shrimp, red pepper sauce, leeks, and maybe a few other things. They used to make it in early winter, and it is a fermented food so this would last them all winter when there were no vegetables growing to eat fresh. So they mix all this stuff up and put it in basically rubbermaid containers and let it ferment away. People have a special kimchi refrigerator in their house (it's not cold...). So it's a big deal here. It is spicy and pretty tastey once you are used to it. While its not my favorite, I have enjoyed it. So the making of kimchi for the poor was a huge occasion. There was probably 200 people at least helping to make it. They had gigantic tables full of cabbage and the red pepper mixture that they were rubbing on the cabbage. They were all wearing rubber aprons and gloves. It was quite a display. Misoo said she has never actually seen this being done, so it is a real treat. Then...when we were leaving the temple this man invited us to try the kimchi that they were all making. So he led us over to the 'making' area, and some women hand-fed Kimchi into our mouth. I guess the red pepper sauce stains your hands or something, so we couldn't touch it. It was fun!

Then we drank from the mountain water at the temple. It was kind of gross because everyone (yes EVERYONE) drinks from the same plastic cup. I almost had to refuse to drink from it, but I went for it. I'm not a germaphobe, but it kind of freaked me out in a big way. Oh well, I am still kicking and feeling well, so I must not have any extreme viruses or anything.

After the temple we went to this gigantic underground shopping mall. It was a very tiring experience. And it really was very similar to American shopping malls. We ate lunch at Kraze Burger which is a Korean Burger chain. No msg, no preservatives, no microwaves, just good solid beef :-) It was very yummy. Then we shopped and visited a Korean department store, that out of 10 floors had only 1 for men, and 1 with clothes that were within the realm of affordability. After that we went to a street in Seoul where everyone goes to buy furniture. Trent wanted to see the furniture. We ran into a very famous Korean fashion designer while we were there. He wore all white and had his face painted white. He looked like Dracula, seriously. Kind of scary, Misoo said this is not a traditional way to look in Korea.

Then we met Jong in fron tof his apartment for dinner. We ate Korean street food. I pictured this to be like eating a hot dog on the street in Chicago or NYC, but not so. These appeared to be family run, mom and pop joints. They have a whole little kitchen going on. It is on the street, and very small booths that are protected from the cold by tarps. There are a few little tables for people to sit at. So we ate street food for dinner. We had more rice cakes, little fried yummy things that I have no clue what they were, and eel which was not gross, but was so tough I only had one piece. It took forever to chew. WE also had soup with fish cakes (which also aren't gross even though they sound gross). We shared everything. Meaning..we all eat off the same plates that are in the middle of the table. Koreans love to share food. There were 3 older Korean mean at the table next to us who talked with us a lot. They were in the Korean Basketball league. One was the vice president, one a director, and one an international referree. The one in particular was very talkative (and maybe very drunk as well). He talked with us for a long time, and he also bought are whole meal. The whole meal was only like $15 which is really quite amazing. We did not have drinks with this meal which was odd.

After dinner we went to the Korean bathhouse. Not what I expected at all. I thought it would be like the turkish baths minus the turkish women in their black lace underwear bathing you. But it is really a place men and women go to socialize naked (I'm kind of just kidding...). In the women's area, it was all women in their underwear or naked watching TV, bathing, going to the sauna, talking, eating, etc. Then there is a mixed sex area. When you go to this area they give you a uniform to wear. Men's is blue shorts and a grey/blue t-shirt, and women's is the same except pink. There you can go to different saunas (salt, charcoal, oxygen) and also a refrigerator room. It is also quite interesting.

After that is was 9 o'clock, and we all went home and went to bed! I was so tired.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227617040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227617040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227617040/tpod.html Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:45:38 -0500 You're going to South Korea??

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

Well this morning I am well-rested. And ready for a breakfast of fruit and vegetables.

Yesterday was a great day. The weather was really nice. Probably in the 50s I would guess. We headed out on the subway to the old part of Seoul. We were going to do a hop on hop off bus tour, but it was not running on Mondays. So then we took a cab to the National Folk Museum. It was nice and showed the history of Korea on one wall. Very big accomplishment considering the first entry on the timeline was 700,000BC. We learned about the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1900's. Both Misoo and Jong's grandmothers speak Japanese well, and do not like Japanese people very much due to the occupation. I think the Korean's were not allowed to be educated (I could have misunderstood this), so Jong's grandfather opened his own school so that he could learn unofficially.

Next we met Jong for lunch in an old but trendy part of Seoul. Tons of restaurants and nice shops. We ate at a great, traditional Korean restuarant. The whole meal took only about 20 minutes from ordering to being done eating. We had cold noodle soup in a nice broth with vegetables in it and a hard boiled egg. It was very very good. They serve this soup in metal bowls. Then they brought out kind of a burner contraption with seasoned beaf on it and rice cakes that were delicious (nothing like the Quaker kind, nothing at all). They looked like big white larvae, but tasted like heaven :-) Jong cut the meat up with scissors, and we all just eat from the skillet. It was realy good. The restaurants always give you cold water, which is so nice and refreshing. I am trying to get the hang of chopsticks. I'm not doing too bad. Sometimes I get the hang of it, then all of a sudden I lose the knack, so I hope to be consistent by the end of the trip.

Then Jong went back to work. We shopped some, and then had dessert. which was green tea waffles with green tea ice cream. It was warm and yummy. After that we went to this giant palace. I loved it. It had reallly nice lines and form to it. The buildings are all one story, but beautiful, colorful and having a very calm presence. After that we went to a traditional village (a pretend one in the city), and we received a free private tour from a lovely Korean volunteer woman. We learned about traditional households. Then we went to the Namsum tower (probably not spelled right) for dinner and we went to the to pof it to see the city of Seoul all lit up at night. It was very beautiful.

We were home at 8pm. So tired. My feet were sore. I am too vain and have to wear my cool boots around which isn't the best for my feet. I slept so well last night.

Need to go. Almost time for breakfast. We just ate breakfast. It was a salad, cucumber, tomato, chicken, rice soup, coffee, hard boiled egg and sweet potato!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227537060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227537060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/5/1227537060/tpod.html Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:47:47 -0500 You're going to South Korea??

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

Well we made it to Monday morning! We left Chicago on Saturday at 11, and we arrived in Seoul at 11pm on Sunday evening. Our flight from Chicago to Tokyo was 13 hours!! This is SO long. I watched the dark knight, the xfiles movie, mamma mia, 5 episodes of the office, an e true hollywood story, and an episode of Mad Men. I think that covers everything that I watched. A lot of TV. Tokyo aiport was great. The people there were so friendly, helpful, and polite. Maybe the nicest airport people-wise that I have ever been to. The toilets were unbelievable. Tons of buttons. I got into a bit of situation with the toilet already. I decided to try the button that showed a behind with water sprinkling, and I thought it would be water for just a minute. It turns out I had to push another button to get it to stop, but it took me awhile to figure out how, so I was quite wet by the end of it. We slept off and on at the aiport - we had a 5 hour layover.

Then we headed on to Seoul. My first toilet experience at that airport was interesting also. They had a button that said 'etiquette button'. I wanted to push it, but I didn't. I was worried someone would come running if I did. I asked Misoo about it, and it is indeed what I suspected. Anytime you are going to make a noise in the bathroom that you want to hide, you push the button, and sound comes out to cover any unseemly sounds. I will push it when we are at the aiport on the way back just to see what is is like.

Misoo and Jong picked us up at the airport, and drove us to Misoo's parents apartment. By the time we arrived it was almost 1am. We were soooo tired. Misoo mother waited up for us. She is so nice and so sweet, and she looks younger than any 50 year old I have ever seen in my whole life. Like so young she could be on one of those Oprah's that are all about how to look young. She looks about 30. So I have decided to pay attention to how she eats and lives so maybe I can stop the damage that has already started.

Misoo's family's apartment is wonderful. It is all wood floors and cork floors. The floors are heated. So are the toilet seats!! Seriously, that is pretty nice. They have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and kitchen. It is on the 6th floor of an apartment building south of the Hahn river. We slept really really well. Misoo's family is so kind to us. We met her father and sister this morning. We had a great breakfast. I think it was Trent's dream breakfast. Plenty of fruit and vegetables, soup, tea, etc, many wonderful things. Her whole family eats breakfast together every morning. She said this is not a typical Korean practice, but her family is very family-oriented. She also said it wasn't a traditional Korean breakfast, but it is what her family eats every morning. Her mother likes to be very very healthy. I hope to lose a few pounds on this trip :-) Misoo's family is so kind. Her parents don't speak English, but they tell Misoo to tell us things. They told us to feel very comfortable, and to say what we are thinking. If we don't like food, don't eat it, etc. Her mother said that she feels so comfortable with us because Misoo has told her so much about us the last few years.

So we are all showered up and ready to head out for the day. I am not sure what is on the agenda. Misoo is our tour guide while we are here, so we don't have to plan very much at all.

Hope everyone is well!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218874980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218874980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218874980/tpod.html Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:28:05 -0400 Cooking and Eating in Italy

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Varenna, Lombardy, Italy

I think I don't have very long to write this entry. I made it to Varenna last night late. It is GOREGOUS here. I have a view of the lake and mountains from my room. The air conditioning is heavenly! I slept better last night than I had the whole trip.

I counted my mosquito bites, and I have at least 49 at this point. I am an itching mess. I don't think George Clooney willl be all that interested in me when he sees the bites, the bruises, the scabs, etc.

I had my last cooking lesson yesterday. It was great, but I can't write much about it. I watched the Olympics with Maggi and Gio, and it was fun. It was gymnastics, and whenever the gymnast did a good landing, they would say 'brava!', and it was so sweet to hear.

I spent all day traveling yesterday. Michele picked me up and took me to the bus station. i was very motion sick, so I ended up puking next to the bus stop. But then I felt better. I hate motion sickness. Then bus to Florence, train to Milan and then train to Varenna. It was dark when I got here, so it was such a beautiful surprise tow ake up and see the mountains and the lake. I don't know what I will do with my last day here. I do not want to leave. I would like to stay at least 7 more days. Darn that work and school. Oh well.


Ciao Belli!
Krystal
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218716700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218716700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218716700/tpod.html Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:49:31 -0400 Cooking and Eating in Italy

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Gaiole in Chianti, Italy

In case I haven't mentioned it lately, I LOVE Italy. And I LOVE the Chianti region especially. And I am LOVING the de 'Mari family. I think I've finally hit my stride here. I have a lovely routine and now I don't think too much free time. It just takes a few days to change your way of life. But unfortunately, tomorrow I will be leaving.

So, I had 2 big falls in the last 2 days. I'm sure I needed some humbling, so falling twice did the trick. The night before last I had to go the bathroom in the middle of the night. Now, this is ordinarily not something that requires much agility. However, here I have about 16 tiles stairs to go down, then open my door. Then down another 2 stairs. Then turn left and down another 2. So I forgot the 2 in the middles, and I totally fell. No one knows about that one as it was the middle of the night, and my thump was not overly loud. But I have a huge bruise on my hip from it and was pretty sore from it. Then yesterday afternoon (after 5 o'clock of course) I went for a walk to a convent that was 20 minutes away from the house where I am staying. I went down a gravel road for awhile. It was dusty and hot. I was wearing my straw hat (as required by the papa) and bees would not leave me a lone. I think they were loving the straw hat or something. Anyway, I was just to the convent, and there was a break in the gravel with some steel structures to support the road (excuse my very untechnical terminology) and tehre was a gap of about 1 inch. As you can imagine where this story is going, I tripped and fell forward in the gravel. My hand was bleeding, my arm was bleeding, my knees were barely bleeding. I was sweaty and hot and had this silly straw hat on, and I was dirty and dusty. I was very proud of myself as the blood didn't even phase me. I knew I had to get back to the house to clean up and get out of the heat. So I walked 20 minutes back and got some alcohol and cotton balls from La Mama Paola. I think this is the first time since I was really young that I fell and was all skinned up. It hurt so bad putting the alcohol on my scrapes and scratches. Needless to say, last night was yet another somewhat not great night of sleep. My arms are aching, my hip is aching, and I got a ton of mosquito bites last night. While I will miss Chianti, I look forward to having an air conditioned room with no mosquitos.

It is another hot but lovely afternoon here. The girls are in their room listening to Vivaldi. It is pretty funny. J Lo, Vivaldi, you know, it's all the same. Oh, and the girls went swimming in the neighbor's pool yesterday. I am SO JEALOUS. I need to get over myself and ask if I can swim there. And Jannell, if you were here, I would definitely take you up on the swimming offer.

So today was probably the best class yet, and also the best food. It was a family from Connecticut. The mom is a gynecologist, they have one son 27, one son 14 and a daughter who is 17. The mom's family is from Italy, and her 82 year old mother also participated in the class. We made tiramisu (I am ready to make this one in bulk for anyone who loves the stuff). Then we made a broth and sauce for chickent o cook in. The chicken still had some feathers on it. FRESH!! Does fresh chicken even exist in Illinois? I am not sure. I will be visiting the farmer's market when I regturn looking for chicken with some feathers remaining.

Then we made a porcini mushroom sauce and a tomato sauce. THEN....we made fresh homemade pasta and ended up with spinach ricotta ravioli with a light tomato sauce and tagliatelli pasta (which is a very FAT noodle= with the porcinin mushroom sauce. This was a HEAVENLY meal. The fresh pasta was unreal. And we had a special guest chef today that led our class. He was quite demanding, but also very sweet. He would bark orders at us in Italian quickly and we would try to figure out what he needed and try to meet his demands (typical male, huh...). Then the rest of the family from Connecticut came to have the meal, the grandpa, dad and younger brother. We had about 17 people at the table. I love these big family style family dinners. They are wonderful.

This is the life. Drinking wine, drinking espresso, eating fresh wholesome food, napping, reading, etc. It is a bit of a conspiracy against me I'm sure that my iPod only allowed me to watch 30 seconds of 24 last night. And I cannot get onto my work email from the laptop they have here. Don't worry, I don't read work email when traveling, but I do get an occasional personal email at work that I like to check in on. So I don't even get a brief glimpse at any disturbing work emails! This is a good thing, but I found it to be highly annoying. The second night here I actually spend about 30 minutes trying to get the work website to work. I was trying to navigate through Windows Vista, in Italian no less, turning firewalls on and off, trying to make sure ports were listening, etc. But nothing worked. I can't even get to country's main website. Who knows....what a pain. I finished this highly stupid book yesterday called 'delicious', a romance about a stupendous cook back in teh late 1800s whose food drives people mad it is so good. Now I am reading a book by a Turkish author called snow. It might be a bit heavy reading for vacation.

I still have no razor blades. I am hoping no one holds it against me. We are going into the town of Greve today to look around and go to an exceedingly good wine shop (so I am told), so hopefully this town is big enough to have a good solid grocery store.

What else...if you're wondering how I get to blog so much, there is a laptop with wireless here that is basically for my own personal use. I made Paola and Simonetta promise that they would not let me spend too much time on it since I am in a spot that I should not be ignoring the beauty of for the ugliness of the computer. So I spend 30 minutes or so a day. This is reasonable I think. Especialy since I am not allowed out of the house between 2 and 4. Still TOO HOT!! Right now my laundry is being done. When I fell yesterday my staple skirt that I had been wearing a lot got yucked up. So I guess it was a sign that wearing the same skirt 4 days in a row was over the top. So now I am waiting for it to dry, so I can start wearing it again. I must say though that I think clothing wise I packed better on this trip that I even have before. My suitcase weighed even less than my backpack usualy does, and it has a much heavier structure to it.

Ok, well I should go back to reading my Turkish book and enjoy my last 24 hours here in Poggio San Polo. I think I will be able to upload some photos later today.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218630960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218630960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218630960/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:58:48 -0400 Cooking and Eating in Italy

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Gaiole in Chianti, Italy

Hello all....Life continues on in the countryside of Chianti. More food, More wine, More fun with my Italian family de 'Mari. Yesterday afternoon I napped. This is a daily thing for me now, but today I am trying to not nap because I have not been sleeping well at night. Last night I moved my mattress to the floor. It seemed to help a little bit, but I still was pretty agitated when I couldn't sleep after 2 hours of trying. Yesterday afternoon I went with Simonetta, Maggi and Giocanda to Radda. Radda is a small town nearby. It is where the girls attend school. They are like me and a little bored in the country, so they wanted to meet up with friends in Radda. So we dropped them off and explored Radda and some other towns. In Radda we purchased insect repellent to try to help my problem with mosquitos. Giocanda also gets eaten alive by mosquitos. They say we both have really good blood. Giacanda right now is yelling and running through the house. She is not happy about something. So now her papa just came out of his room and is yelling so that she will stop yelling. I think the 2 girls are fighting over who gets to use the other computer. Giocanda has the hotter temper, but she is also younger, and Maggi purposely gets her younger sister all rowled up. Those older sisters, always causing trouble.

Anyway....I also have learned that Italians believe instgead of itching bites, you should rub onion on them. So last night I kept applying repellent which smelled of lemons and citronella, and rubbing onion on the bites I have already acquired. It may have helped a little. It definitely made me smeel interestingly.

So anyway we visit RAdda, another town nearby that starts with a V, and by the end we also visited a 3rd place which was a convent and church, and the convent was turned into a hotel. By then i was very sick to my stomach form all of the driving along hilly, windy roads. We went back to Radda and picked the girls up and had gelato. Then back to Podere Le Rose for dinner. Last night was another light dinner of prosciutto, melon, vegetable salad, crostini and fruit salad called Macedonia with homemade gelato. I simply cannot get enough of the homemade gelato.

I think part of the reason I am not sleeping well is I am used to sleep in very cold conditions. I always crank up my air at night which makes for me a very pleasant sleeping environment. The humidity and heat is hard to sleep in. But I am being quite a drama queen about it. It isn't THAT hot. Like when I lived in an apartment in Normal and my air was broken, I almost coulned't exist without air when it was 90 degrees. Here it is MUCH more manageable because this house is over 800 years old and made of a very thick stone which definitely helps keep the house cool.

Another new thing I learned yesterday while we were cooking. We were listening to the group Il Divo, with the very cute italian looking men that aren't italian. Anyway I realized that Divo is the male version of the word Diva. So now when a man is being a total drama queen or very demanding, we can tell him he is being a divo. No longer should the term be saved for women when we know that many men display this quality just as much as women. After Il Divo, Maggi put in a J Lo CD, so the rest of the cooking lesson was serenaded by J Lo. Pretty funny.

So this morning we had two other students in cooking class. They were about my age, and both doctors from CAnada. One was a general surgeon and one an anestesiologist. They were very nice and interesting to talk to. I look forward each day to who might be coming for class because it definitely livens things up. They were more polite and enjoyable then the guests that attended on Monday. Today we learned to make gnocchi. I LOVE gnocchi. I will definitely be making it when I return home. Oh, and by the way, it sounds as if there are high expectations for me to cook for EVERYONE when I get back, so please be patient and my house cannot fit my coworkers, my friends and family all at once. It is simply not big enough, so this will take some time.

We also made a loin of beef that was roasted in a pot and was stuffed with fresh herbs. Mmmmmmm. Very tastey. WE also had giant red and yellow peppers filled with bread crumbs, capers, olive oil. This was actually amazing. I loved it. We also made fresh tomato sauce for the gnocchi and also panne cotta with melted dark chocolate for dessert. Oh, and also crositin with pesto on top. And the pesto Paola puts green beans in for the consistency. You can't taste the green beans at all, it just tasted like a normal basil type pesto. This was all very delicious. I guess I am in my little routine now, blogging every afternoon after our big lunch. When it cools down I get to help Paola go cut down some lavendar in the yard. I am not sure what we are using it for, but we shall see. Since I am trying not to nap today, I must think of ways to entertain myself until dinner time. They practically won't allow me to go wander the countryside until after 5 o'clock. THey say it is TOO hot. They are right I realize, but I am dying to walk to a neighboring village.

Each of the past few trips to Italy, I have met wonderful new friends. This is what I miss on this trip because while I have made lovely Italian friends that I enjoy immensely, I also miss making close American friends who like to travel like I do. It is hard to explain, but Jannell and Lauren, you were amazing traveling companions. Seriously, I think of you two whenever I am in Italy. And my old friend Kelli Kelli :-) Aniyway, now I am being sentimental. This happens when I travel and see beautiful things, meet wonderful people and eat amazing food. It makes me quite pensive. ANd I wish Trent were here and that we had a rental car and could drive all over the countryside together.

So two more days here, and then I am off to new adventures. Jet setting to Lake Como to search for GEorge Clooney or one of his comrades. Ha! Just kidding. I hope to relax, not be bitten by mosquito bites, sleep with air conditioning and have a beautiful swimming pool which I CAN jump into.

All right, I will stop rambling. I hope everyone is well in Illinois and beyond. See you soon!

Ciao Amici!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218539820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218539820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/khorsman/4/1218539820/tpod.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:42:58 -0400 Cooking and Eating in Italy

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Gaiole in Chianti, Italy

So I wouldn't necessarily say I am bored, but I am realizing how overstimulated I have been nback in Bloomington. Between working full time, school full time, Trent full time, etc I have not had a lot of time to myself. We finished our cooking class yesterday around 2. I took a nap, I read some of my book, and I even watched a tv show on my iPod (is that legal to do in Italy, I don't know, but I did it) even though my iPod kept rebooting every 5 minutes spontaneously. even worse is what show I was watching - the secret life of the american teenager. I like that show. I probably shoulnd't. It probably is a very silly show, but I think I am hooked. I am quite embarrassed to admit this, but I know my sister will at least find this quite hilarious. ANd I am also hoping to find someone else who is a fan. Amber, of course if is not the quality of high school drama found in Veronica Mars :-) I went for a wondeful walk in the countryside for about 1.5 hours. As I was heading out, the father basically forced me to wear a straw hat. He kept pointing at my head and talking all animated like, and then finally sent one of his daughters to get the hat. So I went walking in Chianti with a straw hat. Not my normal style,b ut I guess that it fit. The neighbors have this gorgeous swimming pool, like the kind you see in swimming pools, and it looks out over the rolling hills. I am so jealous. I would LOVE to swim in it as it is VERY hot.

Last night we had a light dinner of caprese salad (fresh tomatos, olive oil, basil and fresh mozzarella). It was Squizito!! We also had crostini with different toppings and something else that I can't remember right now. We sat and talked at the table for quite awhile. The sisters (Paola & Simonetta) told me what they liked and didn't like about that day's cooking class, and especially the guests. It was quite funny. They were quizzing me for additional information that I had picked up on during the class. They were quite fascinated by the in vitro twins, and the divorced father who was trying to figure out how to kill his ex-wife. He was JUST JOKING: Not so funny though I suppose....

I learned the family's name is not Le Rose, it is de 'Mari. And the daughter is not Giovanna, but instead Giocanda. I think. THe sisters were also telling me about how their papa luigi sometimes irons his own clothes which is quite shocking in Italy. THe neighbor lady is 80 years old and can barely walk, and she insists on cooking for her 50 year old son. THey said she would think it was disgraceful that her father does any help around the house.

The food has continued to be outstanding. I may not actually gain weight here because the food is a lot of vegetables, and the portions very reasonable. But the jury is still out on that one. All of the ingredients are organic and grown in their own gardens. They don't refrigerate eggs. And they give me some kind of yummy cake and espresso every morning for breakfast. I LOVE IT!!!! Today I had a private cooking lesson. No other students. THis I really enjoyed. ANd for those of you wondering, I have been quite proficient using knives while cooking. Mainly the mezza luna which is dull and I definitely need to get one for my house since it requires two hands to use and will help me to not hurt myself with knives like I usually tend to do (by accidnet, I can be very careless when I am cooking). I have been very careful. Very very careful. We made a crostini with herbs and tomatoes on it. Then we made kin dof a flan type of dish for dessert. WE also made shells stuff with a mixture of yummy fresh things (pasta shells). I told LPaola that my sister makes something similar but with jarred alfredo sauce, chikcen and broccoli, and she looked quite puzzled by these ingredients. But I thought it showed my sister is quite advanced and lovely in her cooking :-) WE also made turkey scallopine with really old, properly created balsamic vinegar, made traditionally and only the italians make it. And we had hollowed out tomatos with a egg-tomato puree concoction in it cooked, kind of like a frittata. It was all so good, and it is lovely to eat so many fresh products.

So now we have eaten, and I am going to go take my afternoon nap. THen we are going to a vineyard for a tour and wine tasting, and then maybe to a small town to window shop. I am hoping to get something for the mosquitos and a razor. I am getting to be quite european in the shaving department, but only because I forgot a razor and I haven't had access to a store in a few days. I am excited to do this as I really was a little bored yesterday because I have no access to civiliazation. And going from being so busy to having nothing to do is quite startling. I decided to give up on one of my books. I almost always love to read john irving when I travel, but this book is not catching my interest, 'a son of the circus'. Maybe I should press on, but I am almost to give up for a easy romance or something. So you all are getting bvery long blogs as the result of all of my free time :-)

Well I am running out of useless information to share with you, so I will go nap for a bit. I have a couple of hours before we leave for our afternoon of wineries and italian villages.

See you later....
Krystal
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