How quickly things change.

I hadn’t planned on writing a post during these two weeks as this blog is about living in Italy and I am not currently in Italy! However, my first day in Berkeley, California was an eye opener for me so I thought I would share some thoughts.  I am amazed at how much my life has changed in 5 short weeks in another country. In no particular order, here are some observations that struck me and I jotted down the first day I was in the US after a 5-week absence. I type them up while on the plane to see my family whom I have missed very much. So looking forward to Julie, my partner in crime, coming back with me!

1)    My travel day was long, very long.  From the time I got up until the time I was sitting waiting for my baggage to appear on the luggage merry-go-round was 25 hours. I had crossed nine time zones as I flew to Chicago and on to San Francisco airport. Soon after I sat down at SFO, a young couple came and sat next to me and they had an adorable little girl, probably about 3 or 4.  She was chattering away and they were talking to her and it was very sweet. She kept smiling at me so she had my attention.  It took me a good ten minutes to realize they were speaking Italian! I understood enough of it to kind of know what they were talking about.  This had been my new life, hearing people talk, not getting a lot of it but getting better at picking up some information content as time went on. It was beginning to sound less like background noise and more like language. Mind you, I still have a very long way to go but I smiled with pride when I realized that this new language was at least starting to “sound” normal to me and it was what I expected to hear. Realizing I now understood all of the other conversations around me was the weird part!

2)    After a good nights rest, I decided to plug my computer in and figure out a running route so I could explore Berkeley. I had arrived late so didn’t really have much of a feel for anything yet. I had to search for my “American” plug adapters to plug it in!

3)    Once the computer booted up, I pulled up a browser and typed in “maps.google” so I could see the area.  The Italian google site (google.it) came up as the default. I had to force it to go to google.com.

4)    After finding a good route on Google maps, I turned on my GPS watch to get ready for my run. It was totally lost and initially came up that I was in Italy! It also said the time was 9PM, although it was noon in Berkeley. That wasn’t a reminder I needed.

5)    On my run, I noticed several things. The streets are very wide here!  The cars are big and we park with tons of space between our cars. In Italy, it is rare to have more than 3-4 inches of free space on at least three sides of your car, often four! Double, triple parking happens all the time. If there is more than 5 or 6 inches a space, somebody will pull in at least the front of a scooter or bike. Space is not wasted.

6)    After running for 45 minutes or so, I saw a bank sign. It said they time was 1:05 and that seemed odd. I am getting used to “13:05”. The temperature was in °F as well. I am starting to know that 29° is a very nice day but 32° is getting a bit hot. So far, I have witnessed 39° (102°F) and it was 42° (107.6°F) in a car one day. Agosto could be miserable especially without AC. Most places do not have AC.

7)    People drive slow here. They stop at stop signs. They stop at stop-lights. Lanes mean something. If a car is not parked near the curb up near a stop-light, that space is not used as another lane. Motorcycles don’t pass cars on all sides while they are moving or not. Seem to be fewer cars with scrapes down the side. There are a lot fewer Fiats! Nobody parks perpendicular to the curb here.

8)    The shower in my hotel room was huge!  I am not that big of a person and I do not know how a big person would fit in the showers I have seen so far in Italy. I have to say, in “average” person I have encountered in Italy, outside of the airport anyway, have been thinner than the average person in America. When I arrived at the airport in Rome, I remember noticing the “average size” had increased over what I had grown used to.

9)    Wash clothes and big, puffy, absorbent towels are nice. I have missed them.

10)In the afternoon, I set out for a walk to meet a friend. I had to stop and get money from a cash machine. I got a couple $20’s and a $10 and as I put them away realized how nice it is when the currency is a different size, shape, and color. Once you get used to them, there are lots of clues to its value of your money without having to search for the number on it. Later when I got change, I realized that I have grown used to “change” in your pocket being worth something. The €2 coin is great and buys a lot!

11)There are microbrews in every style are everywhere here!  Boy I miss that. :)  Looking forward to exploring the beer scene in Rome.  Looking online, I know it is much better than I have seen in Monterotondo-Scalo where I have been living.

12)Even when you are in a place you have never ever been, it is much easier to get around and feel comfortable when you know the language. My goal is to get to the point where I feel that comfortable in a new town in Italy.  

Away for two weeks

Just a brief post to let anyone that is following this know, I am heading to the US to a meeting for a week and then to Maryland to take care of moving family various places.  When I return, Julie will be with me and ready for lots of adventures!  Maybe I can get a guest post from time to time.

Until then...

arrivederci!

Jim

Does a beer geek survive in a vino country?

If you know me or read "about me" (http://frommontanatoitaly.blogspot.it/p/about-me.html), you know I have a passion for beer.  For the past month, I have been staying in a long term residence Hotel on a busy street/highway in Monterotodo-Scalo, a bedroom community outside of Rome, Italy. Where I live is a fairly industrial part of town, near the train station, so not exactly a beer mecca.  That said, I have made out pretty well.  In future posts when I am living in Rome, I am certain I will find some great pubs, beer shops, and even homebrew equipment shops. I know this as I have been looking them up online!  But for now, this is the kind of beer I have been finding.  If you are on untapped (http://untappd.com/, you can follow the details of what I have been drinking. My user name is, "Sawitzke".

As expected, when I walk by a pizza place (all are sitting outside of course) the majority of people are drinking large (500ml) bottles of Peroni.  Probably the second favorite is Heineken, yes in the nasty green bottles that are always skunked.  People seem to love it! But if you prefer the taste of fresh skunk in your beer, I guess that is your right. It's a socialist country after all! ;) And yes, sadly I have confirmed that the Heineken is skunked here too.  It was the only beer choice at one of my work parties.  That said, there is a ton of interest in the fact that I brew and people are interested in learning about beer.  People are asking me weekly when they are going to get to try my beer.  The equipment is now here, somewhere in storage.  I won't get to see it until I have a permanent place to live, probably in September.  So if all goes well, I will serve some hefeweizen (a quick beer to make and clearly popular here) in October!  The other item of note is, we have beer every Friday....at work.  There are bottles of beer/booze in the lunchroom all of the time.  Clearly alcohol is viewed differently here. It is the 22-30 year old grad students that are buying the beer so I can't give them too hard of a time about buying the cheap stuff in bulk. A grande (500ml) bottle of Peroni is like 70 cents!

So back to Peroni. The surprise to me is how many "different" beers that Peroni makes (http://www.birraperoni.it/home/ and see below a photo from their website).  The whole list is a bit deceptive as they are owned by SABMiller and  so is Pilsner Urquell etc. but there are Peroni beers that I had never seen before. Clearly, the craft beer market is heating up here and even the big boys are trying to make sure they tap (pun intended) into that. I have tried several of their "birra artigianale" (craft beers) and can sum it up with one word, "meh". Nothing special so far. Same goes for Birra Moretti.  Clearly they have a preference for STRONG beer. Everywhere seems to have what they categorize as "double pilsners" which are high alcohol yellow fizzy beers. Probably the best common one is Ceres Strong Ale from Denmark.

So what has been worth drinking that I can find within walking distance, my current mode of transportation?  There have been a number of decent hefeweizens from Germany including Franziskaner Weissbier and Domfürsten Weissbier. Other German finds that you can't get in Frederick include a true Bock, Kenner Bockbier, and a zwickl, Kenner Zwickl.  I know, I know, that last beer looks like a play on my name but it isn't!  I had only tried one before, one I judged at a comp one time so this was the first commercial zwickl I have had. A zwickl is a fresh, unfiltered beer. It is kind of loose category and can be an ale or a lager.  Traditionally, they were not even bottled. They typically have low carbonation and the key thing is to serve it unfiltered and fresh.   The one I tried was basically a cloudy, German-style pilsner.  I liked it.  Kind of like a pilsner with more body, a bit yeasty and flavorful. Another very common beer to find here is a Radler and several of them have been German or Dutch.  A radler is often a pilsner missed 50/50 with lemonade.  They are very refreshing when it is hot and low alcohol so easy to consume (like 2-2.5% is typical. The original beer would be twice that).  I have tried several (as it is hot!) and my favorite was a grapefruit radler (Pomelo Radler) from Dreher, an Italian company. Julie is going to love how easy it is to get a Radler as she enjoys that style! Not sure she is up to drinking 500mls of it but I will get her training.

Dinner one evening, about $3, Radler included

There also has been a pretty decent selection of Belgian (or Dutch versions of Belgian beer) beers!  Most common is Belgian blond (Monastère Bière Blonde, La Chouffe), Belgian pale ales (Abbaye de Forest Blonde) and witbier (Laurentius Kloosterbier White Blanche among others), but I have also found Saison Dupont Biologique! This tasty saison was only $5.30 for a 750ml bottle.  IF you can find it in Maryland, it would be easily cost 4x that.

There are many small stores around me and most carry only 4-5 different beers.  Typically, you buy by the individual can or bottle but occasionally you see a 3-pack, rarely a 6-pack, or you can buy the whole case....often for cheap.  That is how the grad students buy the Peroni, cases of the 500ml bottles fill our cold room at work! The biggest grocery store near me has a much better selection, a full row or probably 50 kinds of beer and featured the ONLY IPA I have seen so far.  It was Long Hammer IPA from Red Hook. Not the best IPA around but when you haven't had one for weeks, it tasted pretty good.  It was expensive. It was on sale and I suspect it was because nobody was buying it. I bought the last 6-pack.  It was 1.96 (euros) per bottle which today works out to nearly $13 a six pack!  So the Saison Dupont was a much better value.

Best beer selection near me

Best beer selection near me

The other thing of note is ALL beer in every store has been sold warm.  The stores actually have very little cold storage space, likely since electricity is so expensive.  When you buy beer at a restaurant, however, there is a cooler right up front so you can pick out what you want which is nice.

So although it has not been beer heaven so far, I am not going thirsty either.  Clearly the beer scene is changing here and fast.  With places like this: http://www.beer-shop.it/, where you can get beer from all over the world (including Frederick's own Flying Dog) shipped to you, it is not long before there will be cold beer in every store.

After this, I need a beer!

Ciao

Um, is it contraband?

Today's post is just an odd observation at the grocery store the other day.  I had gone to the biggest store within walking distance as I had noticed on a previous visit they had lots of items, including fans. It has been in the 90's and a fan sounded good.  There is AC in my room but they won't give you the remote to turn it on.  I am sure they would but then you have to pay for the electricity for the room (in my hotel room).  Electricity is expensive here so people avoid using it.  I am trying to "be like the locals" so am going without for now.  It is supposed to be much hotter in August so I had better get used to it.

One little part of the store was like a mini Best Buy with TVs, computers, cell phones, and small appliances including fans. I got a floor fan for about $15, not bad. Also in this area was a locked cabinet.  I was surprised to find it full of suntan lotion!  As it is very sunny here and I walk everywhere I thought I should get some and was looking at it. A woman that worked there came by and eventually I realized she was asking if I wanted something from in there.  I said yes and she came back with a huge key ring and unlocked the two locks on the cabinet.  Important stuff!   I purchased a fairly standard size bottle of their highest SPF, 20, and it was about $15. YIKES!  No wonder they had it under lock and key.

They must have it stolen a lot as she got it out, had me follow her to the desk where she wrote down the long UPC code and gave it back to me.  She explained to me, in broken English, what do with it. So after paying for all my groceries, they rang up for my lotion and gave me a special receipt to return to the sensitive items desk where I picked up my prized suntan lotion.  At last you are mine!  I will never look at it the same again. I hadn't realized just how precious it is. I have since found it in other stores and it was not under lock and key.  However, it is always very near the checkout so they can keep an eye on it.  From what I can tell, not many use sunblock here...they are very tan.  Maybe they just can't afford to use it???

Under lock and key....sun block.