“A pearl is something precious that one doesn’t want to lose.”

(“Una perla è qualcosa di prezioso che non si vuol perdere.”)

I am more and more confused.
I went out with Marianna today – Marianna is my dearest childhood friend, a person that I have known since I was born. She has just come back from Australia, and she will leave for Germany soon (her mother is German) – we are both quite the globetrotters.
We went to the town centre today; between a quiet shopping session and an ice cream, we talked for long about living abroad and traveling. We both agreed on a fact: for some weird reason, we love our hometown, and the more we stay abroad the more we appreciate it. Even with all its flaws and problems, there is no place like Verona for us.

(That reminds me of some British writer that maintained “…there is no world outside Verona’s walls..”)

So I asked Marianna if she would live in another country, and she said no; even though there are very few possibilities for a good job in Italy, abroad she said she would miss “something”. It is precisely that ’something’ that I am investigating, since I feel the same. It is related to the way Italians “live” their towns and the land, the traditions we have, the different daily little rituals that make us what we are.
Those small things give me such a serenity, and a great calm. They make me want to live here.
Also, the people: as much as I love American people, their open and friendly attitude, their great hospitality and kindness, I will never be American. I was born and raised here, and here is where I belong to – and I cannot forget that.

I do feel the need to travel – often. But instead of living abroad for good, I feel more the need to “evade” and visit some place new once or twice a year.
Do I have opportunities here? Yes, I do.
Are these opportunities as good as those in the US? No, not even close.
Is it worth to accept a job that is not as good as what I could have in order to live where I can be happy, with the people I love? Probably.

It’s a tough decision, especially after experiencing what I would be missing if I come back.
But alas, I am a strong person and I would probably be abe to deal with that.
Only time will tell, for now I will just reserve the flight back in December.

Nice weekend in Cervia, at the beach, with Marta.
After a nice salsa night on Thursday (on the Lake of Iseo), we stayed home on Friday to rest and left on Saturday morning around 10 am. We found  bad traffic and then got lost several times, and it took us 4 hours instead of 2 to get to the coast; however, the trip was a lot of fun, and we passed small towns with funny names – like Porto Fuori, which will remain in our memories for a while. It gave us something to laugh about, and our jokes did the rest!

We arrived in Cervia, went to the beach, suntanned a bit, went to our hotel in Cesena, prepared and went out at night – dinner and salsa night at a place called “Bar Rumba”! I met great new people, some good dancers, lots of fun guys and girls – Marta’s friends. I danced a lot, had fun and enjoyed the cool weather.
Sunday, we spent the day at the beach, had a great pizza for dinner and then came home – no traffic this time!
I love going out with Marta because of her energy and happiness, it makes me smile constantly. Also, she is a spontaneous person, and I love that – her honesty too, since I hate hypocrisy.

But last week wasn’t only salsa.
Daniele, as a special person, deserves special words. Daniele, in a word, is class. And here I will switch to Italian because it’s still hard for me to use English in a beautiful and appropriate way.
Daniele, dicevo, è classe declinata al maschile, che tanto si accorda con la mia costante ricerca di eleganza e grazia al femminile. Uscire con lui lascia in me le stesse sensazioni che si provano sentendo un profumo inebriante ma delicato, o bevendo un vino dal gusto solido ma ricercato.
Amo la sua capacità di organizzazione e la sua affidabilità – e amo le sue preferenze in materia di letteratura, musica, cinema. Persona su cui poter contare sotto numerosi aspetti, partner piacevolissimo per un ampio spettro di attività, e uno dei miei interlocutori preferiti, discreto ma colto e fermo nelle proprie posizioni.

On Wednesday, Daniele and I talked a lot – lovely evening at my place, looking at pictures from our recent trips. Then on Friday mom invited him for dinner, and we ended up having card tournaments (Canasta again!) and nice chatting. We stayed on my stairs (outside the main door) talking quietly until 6 am – precious memory to keep.

I am not sure I can renounce to people like Marianna, Marta, Daniele.

Tomorrow Maël is arriving at the train station, at 7.27 am. He will stay for 3 days. I am not too happy to have a guest in this period, when I need to do some soul searching and experience my country and the people I love as much as I can – but it will be nice nevertheless.
Then on Friday, leaving for Spain with Marta!

Barcelona and Valencia should make a great trip, and many more pictures to upload

Musica: Carmen Consoli, Eva contro Eva
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black