Well, I've proven to be quite the delinquent blogger but, in my defense, we've been very busy. It's been over 3 weeks since my last post and a lot has happened including 2 weddings, a trip to Italy and lots of happiness.
June Nuptials.
To many people's surprise, one of the weddings was ours. Pedro and I pushed up our wedding date and tied the knot at Copenhagen's City Hall last week. Our little wedding was an intimate affair which included about 30 local friends who came out in the rain to toast us. We had only ONE WEEK to prepare, so things were as casual as you can imagine. Pedro, master of all things, actually did ALL the organizing. The only thing I had to do was get some flowers and pick up something to wear. Easy enough. To make my mother proud, I insisted on wearing a white dress with something new, something used, something blue, and something borrowed. I don't think we did half bad for such little prep time.
Our apartment is now filled with beautiful flowers from the wedding and smells absolutely yummy!! Love it.
Spanish Nuptials.
We are now starting to plan another event with our families and friends in Spain later this year. It's important to us that we also share this special time with our loved ones from all around the world. It's not too bad to have 2 parties and 2 anniversaries. It will definitely be interesting to bring my American, English speaking friends and family to Murcia in September. I guarantee there will be a lot to write about after wedding #2.
Italia.
Other big events over the past few weeks included a trip to Bologna and Tuscany. Pedro studied at the University in Bologna and still has friends there. We stayed with his simply lovely friend, Francesca. She was a great tour guide and showed us all around the city. The university in Bologna is the oldest in the western world. So much history there! The hardest part is picking which photos to share. Here are just a few of them...
just what I need. MORE gelato.
Old stomping grounds. This is the street where Pedro lived while studying in Bologna.
Open air market fun.
The Hoff is everywhere.
The best part about these party posters with David Hasselholff on them is the description is "Disgusting party."
This is where Pedro used to meet all his dates.
unfinished church.
and MORE gelato.
In front of one of the old Medieval gates to the city.
Lunch with Pedro's darling friend, Rita (center). Good people. Good food.
From Bologna, we took the train to Tuscany. Our initial scooter plans were canceled due to (1) Pedro's knee injury and (2) it was supposed to storm all week. I can't imagine riding a scooter through the mountains in a thunderstorm. No, thank you.
TUSCANY.
The wedding was in a little village in Tuscan mountains called Lagacci. Little is an understatement. There are only 38 people who actually live in this village, but there were about 200 at the wedding. Like all of Italy, it was absolutely gorgeous. Everywhere you look could be in a calendar.
the men cooked pizzas the night before the wedding.
I watched.
Lakers fans are everywhere.
We stayed at Pedro's friend, Stefano's house over the wedding weekend. Beautiful home tucked in the mountains.
View from the bedroom.
Half Spanish, Half Italian Party. The bride is actually from Pedro's hometown in Spain and the groom is from Lagacci. I thought that I would be able to communicate a little since half in attendance were Spanish, but Pedro was invited on the groom's side... so it was all Italian, all day and all night. Plus, the Spanish side also had a thick Murciano accent, so that was difficult for me as well. I guess if I didn't joyously devour the boxed wine the night before, I might have been in a better disposition to deal with yet another foreign language and uncomfortable situation. But, as it was, I woke up with a splitting headache (which I conveniently blamed on the high mountain altitude) and in no mood to play charades for 15 hours straight. Pedro kept urging me to go make friends so he could have normal conversations with all his old buddies. I was an epic failure. Some of the guests spoke English, but it was still difficult for me to understand them and it's very awkward to jump into conversations in Italian. The only way I saw for me to communicate was to start new conversations in English, but I just kept imagining myself interrupting some very important and interesting conversation about politics and about ideas that will change the world, to make some dumb commentary on the weather. With this probably implausible scenario running through my head, (as it was probably just regular small talk as well) I took another route and just remained quiet unless spoken to. For 15 hours. Yes, the wedding was ALL day. Or, Pedro would translate for me, but let me tell you, after a few hours of that, it is not a fun scenario for anyone involved.
The wedding started at 10 am, when the groom was brought in on a tractor and the bride dramatically led in on a horse. After the ceremony, we all went down the mountain and got on an old train from the fifties. The train took us into town where we had a nice, LONG, huge feast. Later, we all piled back onto the train and made our way up the mountain. The battery in Pedro's friend's car died, so we ended up getting a special escort with the bride and groom. Everyone gathered at the town's only bar/cafe/restaurant for cake, drinks, etc. I think this may have been one of the longest weddings I've ever been to. I actually left at one point, took an hour nap, and then came back to the party where guests were still going strong. People didn't get to bed until after 1 am. I felt like I ran a marathon (or what I imagine running a marathon might feel like since I'm too lazy to actually do one). For me, as beautiful as Tuscany is, this wedding was a little like torture. It wasn't until Sunday that I made some nice connections with other guests who told me they actually wanted to practice speaking English with me. And their English was quite good, so it wasn't painful to communicate. Why didn't I try harder the night before? I looked at my language deficiencies as a burden to everyone around me, when some of the guests actually wanted to speak with me. Next time, I will try harder, no matter how grumpy or inadequate I may feel. I guess there are lessons learned everyday. I'm learning to take every new situation that I'm thrown into during a life with Pedro as a challenge, rather than as a problem. Because, life with Pedro is the opposite of boring, so I might as well have the right attitude to enjoy it. Meanwhile, for those of you who know me, imagine me being quiet for 15 hours AT a Party! Not something you'll likely see happen again. It was definitely, hands down, the LOUDEST wedding I've ever been to, so that helped my situation. When guests weren't taking turns singing and clapping, their standard conversations were almost all at shouting levels. So, I don't think anyone noticed the quiet American. I was content watching and taking photos.
To be continued...
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