THE SAN VENANZO TOWN DINNER, or, JUST CALL ME OLIVIA!

On Saturday night we’re going to the town dinner and dance. As mentioned previously, Mauro, our geometra, had told us about this event last week, and had said we would need to make reservations down at the macelleria. Art stopped in there the other night to give them our money, but found out they are only taking names, and you pay at the door. He was also told that it cost 20 euro per person!!! Ouch! We thought it was 10 euro, so that means dinner will cost us 40 euro which is, right now, a lot of money for dinner!

After a lot of thought, we both decided that we just HAVE to go. First of all, Mauro practically invited us personally, although he certainly never offered to pay our way. But, we have been living here since September, and haven’t really gotten involved in the community. We don’t go to church on Sunday, and that could certainly be a missed social opportunity. And we haven’t really done a lot of shopping here, just the odd piece of meat, loaf of bread, or kitchen gadget. The purpose of moving to a small-ish town was to get to know the people. This would help us to feel more at home, and also to learn Italian faster. So, now is the time!

When Mauro stopped by again yesterday (they are still trying to figure out how to stop the humidity caused by the hot and cold pipes of the termostifone from seeping through the kitchen wall above the cook top), I thought it was a good opportunity to ask how I should dress. There was always the danger that Mauro would answer in explicit detail and that I wouldn’t understand one single word, but it was a chance I had to take.

So I asked simply, “per la cena a Sabato, per la donna, que vestito?” More or less, “for the dinner on Saturday, for a woman, what should I wear?” And his answer was one word…which is NEVER the case with Mauro! Trouble was, I couldn’t understand the word! Finally, after several repetitions, I got it.…“GREASE”! “GREASE”? For added emphasis, Gioberto told Mauro “John Travolta”. “And I left my poodle skirt in the states!” I muttered to Art! Who’d a believed that our dinner in San Venanzo would be a THEMED event, and with a late 50’s, early 60’s theme?! (When exactly IS “Grease” set? Anyway, Mauro proceeded to say that yes, I could wear jeans, and also “bianco e bianco”, pointing to my feet. Meaning white shoes and white socks. Okay, I can do that! Art has penny loafers, and will do the white socks, penny loafer look. Whether this will seem “retro” to the Italians remains to be seen.

Tomorrow afternoon we have a wine tasting in Perugia, so we’ll just stay in the area. We can get some lunch and maybe stop in Obi to get the brackets I need to hang the two wall hangings we have. We decided to hang a piece from Greece in the living room. The other piece is a quilt my mom made for us to use as a tablecloth on the small kitchen table we had in our previous house. I was so glad I brought some stitch witchery back with me…I made a rod pocket out the fabric I cut off the sheers in the bedroom, and brought an extra café rod, so I can hang it as soon as I get the brackets. The quilt has green in it, and lots of apples, so we decided it would be perfect for the kitchen, but where? Then Art suggested we hang it over, as in to cover, the small wooden door that houses our electric meter, assorted connections and the large key we use to turn off the water when we leave for long periods of time. Perfect! For the few times we need to access this space, we can simply lift up the quilt! The rest of the time, we can enjoy a piece of art that reminds us of my mom.

The wine tasting is organized through the language school…we were afraid it might get cancelled…it required a minimum of eight people, and until two days ago, we only had seven. Luckily, a few new people started in school this week, and we now have nine people signed up. Should fun, and hopefully productive, as long as the wines we like are reasonably priced!