Italia x2

hello everyone,

i'm back in italy. i thought the blog was an interesting forum to keep everyone informed of my various experiences and reflections last time around, and so i've decided to see what this medium inspires this time. as i remember writing in one of the very first posts, the title 'in the middle of the journey of our life' (taken from the first line of Dante's Divine Comedy) seems even more appropriate now. 18 months ago, setting out for 6 months in europe, i was heartened in thinking of my travels as part of a shared journey, whose challenges and blessings would be illuminated by those who had been a part of my life to that point, and also as part of the human experience of going out alone to make some aspects of the unknown more intelligible. i felt it was the least invasive way to keep interested parties abreast of that my particular process and its development.

i just wrote a whole paragraph about how fragile the 'our' in 'the journey of our life' can be, and maybe i'll come back to that in a later post, but the blog form encourages leaner fare and the thoughts that i'm developing on that front aren't as interesting or pressing as my most recent observation about italians: they rarely sweat. now, i am still acting under the assumption that if, hypothetically, one were to carry around a 25 lb. pack for an hour with the sun is beating down on an 80°F afternoon, that one might, nay, should expect some sweat collecting in the lower back region and potentially under the straps of the pack. and yet, here in italy, arriving at the home of friends in such a state provokes a cascade of commentary ending with a push out the door and commands to go take a shower and come back for dinner. of course, their company and the meal are more than worth it - even worth the phone call to the absent daughter of one's own age to inform her of one's arrival and an only slightly abbreviated rehashing of the afternoon's commentary - oddio tutto sudato come mai!

maybe i'm the only one around here drinking any water, or perhaps my scandinavian heritage or acclamation to the rochester clime has made me totally unable to handle heat, but on my run today i passed two other joggers who were both wearing sweatshirts. again, it's like 80°, and the young lady was wearing knee length tights and the gentleman had his long socks pulled up over his shins. perhaps the overarching realization about italians, evident in their cuisine, impeccable dress, social interaction, quantity of time spent drinking coffee away from work, is that everything for them is effortless. my northern european, protestant upbringing has given me an affection for work and a particular satisfaction in production (1) - whether it be the nuanced expression of an idea, the aesthetic experience that freshly cut lawn can be, or, when out for a run, ever expanding sweat stains emanating from the chest, back and underarm areas. i doubt i will ever become such a subtle creature as these italians.


Notes:
1. Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.