Bajardo

Hi everyone,

I am sorry I havent been in contact with any of you since I arrived in Italy. we dont have a computer up in the village! the village we are living in and restoring houses in, is about 45 minutes by bus up from San Remo. You can look on a map of where it is. Its about 30 minutes from Nice, France and Monaco. I cant explain how perfect this town is. Bajardo (pronounced By-ardo) is made up of a maze of stone walkways with houses lining and joining each other. I cant describe the way it looks besides just pure perfection.

Arrigo is the man who is the owner of the houses we are working on. He is such a nice guy and really has a passion for antiques and restoring things back to their original quality. The houses are gorgeous! I have been brushing old wooden beams (which are really huge tree trunks) with a wire brush and then repainting them with dark brown stain. The other projects I will be doing is repointing (touching up the grout that is between the stones in the walls) and repainting old street signs. The days go by quicky and I dont get bored, even when Ive been staring at the same tree trunk for 5 hours.

My days are like this:
I wake up at 730, have some coffee and cereal, and meet the boys (see below) at the restaurant in the square for another coffee. We dilly dally until about 830 or 9 and then start work. We break for lunch at the strike of 12 (there is a town clock and we actually drop everything when we hear the chimes) and cook a great meal and relax until 230. Then we get back to work until the stike of five. I work Monday through Friday and have Saturday and Sunday to explore, go hiking (BEAUTIFUL trails but have to be careful of the wild pigs), take the bus into San Remo for necessities... take a siesta...

Ive fallen in love with the place and the people very, very quickly. I will stay here as long as it feels right, regardless of my visa.

There is currently one other volunteer here. Her name is Terry and shes from Boston. We have had some really great conversations and have formed a really nice friendship. Shes about 45 and we have shared quite a bit of the same life experiences, even though our ages are very different. She has been in Bajardo since March. She only planned on staying for a few weeks. This place sucks you in!!!! She has been seeing a local man here and she spends the nights and weekends with him, so I have the house to myself.

Even though Terry and I are the only volunteers, there are several other people we work with. Jimmy is a 30-something English bloke that works construction with us. He drinks too much and has the eyes of a drunk, but harmless. His parents came to visit a few days ago and they expressed how much better he is, that they thought they were going to lose him to drugs because of a terrible relationship he was in with a woman in England. He is happy and I think Bajardo has healed his heart a bit, which is good.

Max is a wonderful man that is pretty much in charge of the work that is done on the houses. He doesnt speak any English, so our relationship is based on: Ciao Max, va bene, tutta bene, and lots of smiles and laughter. Hes a FABULOUS cook and I have been eating so well here!

And then there is Michele. Michele is Max's 25 year old son. Yeah. He is lovely and I have developed a crush on him very quickly. He doesnt get drunk, he reads poetry, he cooks so well, he is teaching himself how to play the violin, he looks rather perfect with his shirt off, and well, he is kind. Very different than anyone I have ever met. He is gentle and caring and really pretty wonderful. He is shy and I think he might feel the same way about me, but I really have no idea. We only share lingering looks and smiles and both seem sad to say goodnight and leave each other.

At home I dont have a problem telling someone that I have feelings for him, but with Michele, its different. I really enjoy the way things are now -- maybe the first time Ive actually experienced romance. He is learning english, slowly... last night he translated a poem from a children's poetry book (kind of like Shel Silverstein) for me. It took us about a half hour, but it was fun and we both laughed a lot at how many times we had to look up the same words because we had forgotten them. I think Im going to try to find the book in English somewhere.

Yesterday Arrigo called me and asked if I could do him a favor. He runs a school and summer camps for Italian kids wanting to learn english. He asked me if I would do him a favor and go to a camp in a town near Milan for a week. I was hesitant to leave Bajardo and Michele and my new friends, but I would do anything for Arrigo, so I said yes. So now Im in the city, San Remo, getting my information for the next week. It should be interesting. I will be working with 5 year olds from 9am to 6pm!!! YIKES. I will only have 4 of them, so it wont be terrible. I miss Johnny, Sam, Ethan, Olivia, Bella, and Audrey so much that this will be a nice hold-over until I get to see them again. The best part is that I will be staying with a family, so I will be comfortable and get to meet some more wonderful Italians.

My mom asked me if I love Italy more than Greece, but I cant really compare the two. I have fallen in love with both of them for their own specific qualities...

During one of our great talks, Terry recited this quote for me and Id like to share it with you all because it is really wonderful.

"Ask not what the world needs. Instead, seek what makes your heart sing...Because what the world needs most are more hearts that sing."

Love you all!
Hillary