Arrivederci Italia!

I'm happy to say that I can now drive a car with a stick shift! Throughout my time here I have been slowly learning how to drive Elisabeth's Fiat Panda. It's a 5-speed and Elisabeth took me out once to show me how it works and after that she's sent me off on my own the rest of the times. Since I started I've gone to pick up the new helpers and also just run errands around town. It's something I've always wanted to learn and I did it! Since my last update on Wednesday I've gone to see a movie in Rome with Elisabeth, Catherine and two other people, had two other helpers come here, went to visit Perugia, and cleaned out a well.



We went to Rome to go see "Total Denial". It's a film about the conflict in Burma between the people of Burma and Total/Unocal Oil companies. Very interesting film made by one of Elisabeth's good friends, Milena Kaneva. The theatre was in Campo di Fiori and afterwards we all ate dinner in the middle of the square, it was a ton of fun.





Two other helpers also came here Thursday night, and I'm happy to say that they are still here and doing just fine, unlike Camilla. Their names are Katie and Emi, and they both go to school at Bennington College in Vermont. Katie is from Boston and Emi from Washington D.C. Very nice girls who should fit in just fine here I think.

The three of us went to Perugia yesterday (Sunday). Perugia is a international university city in the middle of Italy. All four of Elisabeth's children went to high school there and Timothèe, her son (17 y/o), is there now. After visiting there for a day, it makes me wish I studied there. Perugia is a awesome city with quite a few international students and just seems like a great place overall. Emi's cousin is currently there and we met up with her from the train and she showed us all around the city. If anyone reading this is thinking of studying abroad, check out Perugia!



Today Timothèe and I cleaned the well that filters the water from the river. It was about a meter deep and filled with dirty water and rocks about 1.5 meters high. Quite a job but it ended up being somewhat fun for some reason, not really sure why. I also learned today how to siphon from a hose. Pretty simple, but I'd never done it before (dirty/sandy water does not taste good by the way). We got it all done by 11am in about 4 hours.




Finally, as some of you may know, tomorrow is my last day here in Orte! I'm happy and sad at the same time. I've had quite a bit of fun here, but I am excited for my next place.......Purbach, Austria! In Purbach I am staying with a woman, Tascha. I'm not sure how old she is but she was a former HelpXer, and now she is trying it out as a host. I think for most of my stay I will be helping to restore a house that she has. Different than here at the farm, but should be fun nonetheless. She also lives right near an awesome lake!

The rest of my trip is planned out like this for those who are curious......June 24/25 - July 10th in Purbach, Austria.....July 10th - July 27th NOTHING.....July 27th - August 10th in Tutzing, Germany...August 13th - August 31st in Almeria, Spain.....August 31st - September 17th in Vila do Bispo, Portugal....and finally September 17th - October 5th in Castlehaven, Ireland!!!

That's it, if anyone has any good ideas or suggestions for countries to visit between July 10th and July 27th I'm open to visiting anywhere and checking if there is a help exchange. Let me hear your ideas! Have a great nice everyone, talk to you next from Austria!!!











Oh, and today we also made bread, plum marmalade, and nocino liquer. Here are the plums before the marmalade...