Where was my faithful friend the hot water bottle last night? I slept with a shirt/wool sweater/fleece jacket/jacket/2 scarves on plus I had 4 blankets on the bed. If someone wants a cure for hot flashes, just sleep in a freezing room. I was curled up all night and verrrrry cold. The only heat was the fireplace in the kitchen.

I woke and walked around to see if yesterday was a bad dream… nothing had changed. I forgot to mention the Marilyn Monroe pictures taped on the bathroom walls.

I met Michele this morning as well as his kids. Ester is 7 years old and the other girl (forgot her name) is 11 and the brother is 13. They are the sweetest things. Apparently I am in the 11 year olds and her brother’s room. I am not sure where they are sleeping.

Michele does not speak any English, so we are talking with gestures mostly. He seems very nice. His wife resides in Rome and is French and English. The children speak Italian and French and a very little English.

First thing I did this morning was search for an Albergo (hotel) in Carife, but there was none. I am looking to stay probably through the week and go to Sicily early. I feel very guilty that I find it difficult to live in their house when everyone is so nice. It is definitely a bachelor pad and could use three days of scrubbing and some major updates. I guess I am not cut out for the Peace Corps!!

Work this morning consisted of putting on labels and cleaning jars, pretty easy. I was told by Saje (not sure of the spelling; he is a Japanese gentleman who works for Michele) that I needed to pay more attention to how I cut the labels. I am failing at label cutting; I am sure there will be more failures.

Carife is a beautiful hill town with breathtaking vistas. It is definitely off the tourist track. I am constantly being stared at from all the guys standing outside their houses… not sure why they are just standing. I found a bar and had some breakfast. I was starving after no dinner last night or breakfast this morning.

At lunch I had another glass of wine, perhaps two. I think I will drink my way through the week. It may be my only choice, since there is no transportation out of Carife. I am really enjoying the kids. They are extremely friendly and like to talk. They are working on their computer with U tube and Pandora and searching in Google. Nothing changes around the world.

Lunch was delicious. It was a large Penne Pasta (looked more like a Rigatoni but they said it was not). The sauce was very good; it had capers in it. Back to work after two glasses of wine. The rest of the day was moving wood (manual labor). I definitely wore off the wine.