My First Italian Root Canal

After several days of persistent toothaches, Tuesday night it got so bad that I went to three pharmacies (all closed) and considered going to the emergency room. I was light-headed and nauseous from the pain. I finally went back home after picking up Marcus and his parents at the train station and dug around for my leftover pain-killers from my wisdom tooth adventure last December. No luck. I took some migraine medicine and was able to fall asleep. The next morning, I called my dentist and asked if they could squeeze me in and they did. As it turns out, (I'll leave out all the details) I had the beginnings of an abscess. My dentist explained that while my fillings were belli, they require the use of a paste which can kill the nerve if it gets too close. I guess that's what happened. The nerve was dead and infection was beginning to build up. So, he cleaned out the canals by hand (the first time I got a root canal it was all using machines) and medicated them, hoping that it would kill the bacteria. I have antibiotics just in case. When I went up to pay, their computer system was down so I have to go back next week. This is just the second time we will have used our newly purchased Italian health insurance. Gulp. We'll see how much it will cost. So, my first dental visit in Italy gets a thumbs up, even though I nearly punched the dentist and came close to crying. If you're ever in the neighborhood and looking for a good, reliable dentist, be sure and check out the "Dental House". Yes...that's Italian but run by the Dutch.

Top 10 Differences Between Camping in Italy & the U.S.

10. No building campfires.
9. There is a quiet hour from 2-4 pm where you can't even drive your car in the campground.
8. Even the pool closes down during the quiet time.
7. In the evening there is corporate dancing to loud techno/pop music.
6. There is a bar on-site where you can get a shot of whiskey or a stout espresso.
5. You can order fresh pasta at the bar to be ready the next day.
4. Even while camping, the main dish eaten is...pasta. (No Dutch girls, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.) (The picture at right is of an Italian vending machine - olives available!)
3. 95% of campers are in campers (as opposed to tents).
2. Most campers are 'seasonal' campers which means they are there for the WHOLE summer season - they even bring major appliances and do landscaping around their campers!

1. And the number one reason camping in Italy is different than in the U.S. ... they all wear bathrobes to the bathroom!




MY favorite part of our last camping adventure was getting to stop by the nearby UPIM store.
(This is for Heidi :) )

Amare Terra Mia

Tonight, Brian, Marcus and I met up with some friends at Piazza del Papa to hang out and spent a wonderful couple of hours freezing our tails off, sitting on the stone steps in the shadow of the Pope's statue, listening to some great world-genre music by the group Piccola Banda Ikona. (That sentence was simply WAY too long.) One of the songs, Amare Terra Mia, written by Domenico Modugno, from what I gathered, had to do with the pain of leaving one's homeland, one's terra, to move to another place in search of work or a new life. An ode, if you will, to the immigrants of the world. The lead singer, Stefano Saletti, was quick to point out that while Italy is now the scene of much immigration, it was not too far in the past when many from here were packing up suitcases and heading off to foreign shores to start a new life. Somehow, I really connected with this song...

Ladybug Liquor

Last night we had two Italian friends over for dinner. Here, it is customary for the guest to bring a gift or something to contribute to the meal like a bottle of wine or a dessert. Last night, they brought dessert. Made in a small, inland, Marchegian town, they brought delicious pastries. Inside, they are filled with cocoa, nuts and raisins and on the outside, on top, they are covered with a red frosting made from a liquor made from the "wings of ladybugs." Huh? Alchermes is the name of it and we're still trying to figure out if our friend is telling the truth or pulling our proverbial leg. In the meantime, we keep eating them and don't suffer any adverse side effects...except for this white, spotted, rash...

A Rough Afternoon

First off, I smelled something burning. I was in the living room and I could tell it wasn't food but didn't think much of it until I saw Harrison's little wooden Thomas train. Yes, it seems our little 2-year-old wanted to see what would happen if he drove it into the little blue flames on top of our stove. Fortunately, he was not hurt. That can not be said about what happened next.

Haven had just gotten up this morning and found a euro under her pillow. The tooth fairy had come and made the switch. One front tooth down, one to go. Silly parents, we thought the next one would come out a few weeks or months from now, but no. Her big brother Jacob had something else in mind. During an altercation in her bedroom, Jacob got mad and punched her in the face. Heather called me from the back side of the house saying, 'It's an emergency!' I ran and overheard Jacob saying, 'I punched her and knocked two teeth out...' After a moment of looking at him funny I took Haven into the bathroom and had her wash her mouth. I glanced at her mouth and saw that only two were missing. 1+2=3. Something wasn't adding up. I asked her if she was OK and through sobs and tears she whimpered, "How much will the Tooth Fairy give me for this one?" Dang capitalists! I asked frightened Jacob where the teeth were and he led me to Haven's room. He handed me one tooth and one small piece of white plastic. OK, so he only knocked out one tooth. "You knocked out your sister's tooth!" Whew...after a LONG speech about 'With great power comes great responsibility' the punishment was handed down. No video games for 5 days. For Jacob, that will be enough. For Haven, well, she now has permission to sing a Christmas song early which is ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN in this Casey home. How was your day?

We say Wee for the Wii!

At least since January, Jacob and I have been salivating over Nintendo's latest console release, the Wii. You've probably seen the crazy commercials that show old guys boxing the air and the like. Well, back in May we made a 'Wii Jar' and the kids started saving. They did SO well. Allowance money, extra chore money, spare change, started adding up. They didn't ask for any extra goodies from the store. Jacob even sold his old nintendo and a couple games. Well, they were still a bit shy of the price tag, but when I picked up Jacob's report card the other day (we had to wait and pick it up at the administrator's office because we missed the day they handed them out in June), he did SO well, that I told him we would make up the difference. It is lots of wireless, family fun and will surely get us into shape as well. If you're in the neighborhood, come on by and give it a try.

Pistachio Flavored Coffee House

Tonight we hosted our monthly coffee house and it went well. Twenty Italians participated with us Americans. (Not sure about the grammatical structure of that sentence.) We have been having live music lately which gives it a different feel, but this time we just had music playing and we sat around and talked, played games and drank milk-shakes. Our friend Francesco brought a DVD with his new short film (see post below) and we showed it three times throughout the evening. He had invited friends and brought several people he had just met off the street to come watch. We had purchased pistachios and pistachio-flavored gelato to give the evening a green theme as well (see previous post about his film). There was lots of good conversation. I really enjoy sharing with people our idea of church or community and challenging them to look at it from a different angle. I was also really sharpened by some of Francesco's thoughts tonight on what we call in our churchy circles 'integrity'. He, in his own, poetic way, talked about the need to say what you mean and do what you say and about his passion to learn from people. I also met a new guy, Nicolas, who works in a pizzeria downtown and he told us to come by and try their specialty from Taranto, the puccia, which incidentally, in my native Chile, means 'darn it'. Also, not to be forgotten, one of Francesco's friends, Lorenzo, showed up for just a little bit. When I introduced myself I knew I had met him before but he was sure we hadn't. I kept talking to him and figured it out, even if he didn't remember it. In the summer of 2002, he and his friend Alessandro (both scratchers), invited me and two short-termers from a CIY group to try a kebab. Long story short, our team owes this young man a HUGE debt of gratitude. Lorenzo, this kebab's for you!