New blog.

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See you there.

More information

I got more information from Emma, my soon-to-be boss, as to what I’ll be doing exactly during my internship. She said she focuses mostly on property sales and vacation rentals leaving little time for her to focus on another important aspect: tourism. That will be my main responsibility. I will basically organize trips, create itineraries and connect with resources from other areas for foreigners. She also added that she owns a wine bar which has live music and serves local wine. She wants to take it a step further and use her bar to host weddings and possibly create another kind of tourism (perhaps wine?). That’s where my help and expertise will come in.

I can’t ask for a more ideal internship! This is a perfect fit with what I have learned at ASU in the past two years and what I aspire to do professionally. Organizing trips and planning weddings are among the things I enjoy doing. And wine! I am a wine aficionado. Let me tell you — my taste buds have never tasted wine more tantalizing than that from Calitri!

Also, I have mentioned several times how everyone in Calitri is related, right? Well, my grandfather’s cousin, Maria, is married to Orazio, who turns out to be Emma’s grandfather’s brother! How about that?!

By the way, I learned that I will be without internet access at my flat in Calitri but I will have my own desk (oooh!) at the agency with free Internet access…. so I will definitely be in touch while I’m there!

Update on my summer internship.

I finally bought a ticket to Italy. I was able to find one that flies directly to Rome (with one layover in Philly) for cheap through http://www.yapta.com (thanks to Eleanor for the link!).

I leave the day after my finals on May 13th and return on October 29th. That’s right – I’ll be in Italy for five months and half! I originally planned for three months but my friends and father encouraged me to stay as long as I can. I’m young (well, sort of!), single and fresh out of college. The timing really can’t be more perfect.

I will not be renewing my lease which is up on March 31st so in April and the first two weeks of May, I will be staying at either my dad’s or mom’s. I’ll store most of my furniture in a storage room and keep my prized possessions at my mom’s house. My friend, Kim, and my mom both said they would be more than happy to take turns taking care of my dog while I’m gone. So everything seems to be working out the way I had hoped!

If anyone’s considering visiting Italy this year, please let me know! You’d be more than welcome to stay with me in my flat.

I’m overwhelmed with the warm enthusiasm expressed by fellow calitrani about this news!

I’m so glad that it worked out! You will have to take a lot of pictures when you are there!! – Bernedette

What a great opportunity for you..wish I had done this as a young buck….keep a journal and maybe share it with us if you wish. – Roberto

Congratulations! Louise and I send our very Best Wishes. – Al

Congratulations….. Spring time in Calitri… you will love it….Nice apartment…….Auguri… and keep blogging to keep us current with your exploits….. – Vincent

BRAVO! – Elaine

congratulations that’s a wonderful experience for you. My wife Pat and I are planning to spend a few days in Calitri in September of this year will you still be there then? We would love to meet and see you. – Ray

If you need a porter, I can find a red cap that will fit me easily. Congratulations. – Shirley

How exciting! I am so happy for you. Everything will work out for you. You are amazing and have been amazing to all of us. – Barbara

Congratulations Jason!….that is wonderful for you. – Rick

Congratulations. – Madeline & Sal

Allow me to join the chorus of voices congratulating you on your internship. One more reason for me to visit Calitri… – Gabe

Congratulations on your internship, Jason. This is absolutely wonderful. I know you will have a wonderful time and take beautiful photos. (We’ve all seen your work. Great, innovative shots!) – Mario

I am so happy for you. To be in Calitri all those months. – Joy

Congratulations on your internship. What a thrill it must be to grow a hobby into a profession so to speak. And to spend the summer in Calitri getting paid (albeit not very much) to do something that has got to be the thrill of a lifetime. – Richard

Congratulations, so happy to hear good news. – Francine

…just want to add how happy I am for your upcoming internship plans in Calitri. What a wonderful experience for you both personally and professionally. How fortunate you are to have the chance to expand your knowledge first hand and with your own eyes. It’s a rare moment and one you will always cherish. Good luck… – Josie

I am so happy that you have received the internship and that you will be doing it in Calitri. It could not of happened to a more deserving individual. – Alfonso

And from my cousin in Milano:

Sono molto contento!!! Spero di venire a Calitri in questo periodo. – Michele

Wow! Their enthusiasm is inspiring and touching! This probably wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for them… so to them, I owe a huge grazie mille.

In other news, I’m considering the possibility of publishing a book with pictures I will take in Calitri upon my return. There’s a cookbook with calitrani recipes, a history book about Calitri, a book about immigrants from Calitri….so why not a photo book? Just a thought.

Game night

My party last night was a great turnout, as evidenced in the pictures below!

Steph and Ty

Erwin and Randall

Playing the cork game, one of our favorite games.

Madison and Mallory

Brandon, playing '3 wise men'

Jenna and Mara

They were laughing at this.

Siena and Mallory

Madison and Raven

More on my Facebook if you want to see them.

Fun night, indeed.

Mi casa

I spent all morning cleaning my place in preparation for tonight’s game night. My place isn’t always this immaculate so I decided to seize the opportunity and snap pictures of my place while it lasts!

Click on the pictures to see the full image.

Dining Room / Kitchen

Pictures I took while my sister and I were in Europe last year. Sorry the picture in the bottom right is hard to see...

I stole the above idea from the incredibly talented Tara Whitney.

Living Room / Dining Room

Registro dei matrimoni (1765-1801) for Calitri

Luigi Galgano apparently finally got permission from the bishop to publish the marriage records he painstakingly transcribed last year.

Go here to view them. Check it out. It’s a treasure trove for us calitrani!

Internship

I knew about this for a while but I did not want to say anything just yet, in fears that I’d jinx it. But as of today, it is set in stone. I’m going to do what I’ve dreamed to do for a long time — complete my internship abroad.

Not just abroad, but in the very town that my family came from: CALITRI!

I will be working for a tourism agency as well as help out at a wine bar. I will probably leave for Italy right after my final exams on May 12th and then return by August 7th, just in time to be home for the birth of my nephew or niece who is due on the 9th. The woman who I will be working for owns several flats in town and is willing to accommodate me in a small, cozy one for only €200 a month (around $260).

Now, I just need to purchase a flight ticket (I’ll have to figure out how to pay for it!) as well as decide what I should do with my place. My lease is up on March 31st. Should I renew it or keep it and pay rent even if I won’t be there for 12 weeks? And I am going to need to find someone to take care of Siena while I’m gone (god, I’m going to miss her so much). Decisions, decisions.

I never thought in 100 years that this would happen. I have to pinch myself to make sure all this isn’t just a dream.

Crystal

I did a photo shoot of a close friend of mine, Crystal, and her brother, Jon, at the end of November. These pictures turned out so well that I thought I’d share them here.

A few days after this photo shoot, Crystal moved back to her home state of Washington to be closer to her family. We were saddened to see her go… things here in Phoenix have not been the same without her.

BUT she’s coming back for a visit in early February. So. excited.

Change.

Change. I can sense it and I’m sure you can too. The air is thick with it, especially today.

The following are signs that 2009 is going to be an awesome year:

President Obama is officially our president. Wow, President Obama, isn’t that something? I watched part of the historical moment this morning and have never felt more inspired. He’s truly an amazing orator. I especially loved the part where he mentioned non-believers and four other major religions in the same breath.

I’m running away to Europe in 23 days.

I graduate this May. Finally.

I have a very possible summer internship in a place I hold very dear to my heart: Calitri. (More on that later!)

I will be a first-time uncle in August.

And most importantly, my family, friends and dog all are in good health.

Rough itinerary

I met with Kim tonight to go over our upcoming trip to Europe this February. This is our itinerary so far. Click on the blue placemarks to view more information.

View Larger Map

If anyone has any suggestions for places to see or things to do, post them here!

I’m going to be an uncle.

My sister just officially announced to the world that she is expecting now that she has passed the three month mark. I knew about it since the day she found out. I was asked to keep it on the down low but keeping it a secret was next to impossible…

Anyway, I’ll be an uncle to either Stella Cruz or Mason in August. The due date is August 9th, the day before my birthday.

Uncle Jason has a nice ring to it, methinks.

Remembering San Lupo

Recently, three distant relatives of mine, siblings Vittorio, Mariapaola and Nicoletta Linfante friended me on Facebook. Their roots are in San Lupo where my great-grandmother’s family originated. This brought back memories of my spontaneous adventure to San Lupo.

It was around this time in 2001 that my mom, sister and I made a last minute decision to stop in San Lupo on our way to Rome from Calitri. San Lupo is much more tiny than Calitri in terms of square kilometers and population. In fact, the 2001 census listed only 877 inhabitants.

Getting there was quite a challenge. The village rests on a top of a mountain and the only way to get there was a devilishly narrow, wildly winding, one-way highway (or poorly paved trail, more like!) without a railing. Once we got on the highway, my mom and I glanced at each other warily as if we were saying, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea….” But it was too late to turn back, besides the only way down was to drive backwards!

When we finally reached the town in one piece, we were surprised to see how incredibly tiny it was! I recall maybe only four or five cobbled streets, all of which, except for the main street, were far too tiny for cars to pass through. Another thing we immediately noticed was how lifeless it seemed. All shutters were closed, not one soul walked about, everything was as quiet as death. What a drastic contrast to vibrant Calitri!

San Lupo, photo by Lorenzo Ferrara

Not knowing where else to go, we decided to go to the cemetery that we passed on our scary odyssey up the mountain. While my exhausted sister slept in the car, my mom and I strolled around the cemetery hoping to find any Linfante’s (the family name of her grandmother). We were disappointed to find none until we entered what seemed to be a tiny ossuary located near the entrance. On both sides of the ossuary, there were stacks of hundreds of shoeboxes with people’s names written on the front. Naively thinking that its contents were pictures or personal contents to remember the deceased by, I picked up a shoebox and opened it. Well, curiosity killed the cat. I shrieked and staggered backwards when I discovered nothing but decomposing human bones!

After inspecting the ossuary some more, we discovered a good number of Linfante’s. A shoebox read, “LINFANTE FLORENZIO”, another “LINFANTE ELISA”, another “LINFANTE LUPO”, etc. I was dumbfounded and felt a pang of sadness. Here I was, thousands and thousands of miles away from home in a small, eldritch town in the middle of nowhere, looking at stacks of worn shoeboxes that housed our unknown relatives’ remains. What tough, impoverished lives they must have endured…not being able to afford the luxury of being properly buried.

We decided to return to the town in hopes to find a Sanlupesi and see if our relatives still resided there. We drove around for a little bit until we found a man walking along the street. I pulled over then asked him if he knows of any Linfante’s. He cheerily introduced himself as Domenico Di Libero and said that his grandmother was a Linfante! He then said that there was only one Linfante left, an elderly lady named Antonietta who lived in a neighboring town, Cerreto Sannita. He graciously offered to telephone her and then guide us there.

We followed Domenico out of San Lupo and into Cerreto Sannita to Antonietta Linfante’s flat. My mom and I greeted Antonietta and her husband, an university professor by the name of Daniele Biondi. They were very warm and hospitable, offering us espresso and le caramelle while Antonietta and I chatted, trying to figure out how we were related. It turned out that her grandfather, Lelio Linfante, was a first cousin to my great-great-great-grandfather, Emiddio. A bit distant, but a cousin nonetheless.

We were able to stay for only half an hour as the sun was quickly descending and I did not want to brave the dimly lit A1 highway at night. They sent us off with boxes of le caramelle and a teary embrace.

(By the way, Vittorio, Mariapaola and Nicoletta, who I mentioned in the beginning of this post, are Antonietta’s nephew and nieces.)

zu Deutschland, los gehts!

At 11:30 this morning, I received an email from Travelzoo which read:

PHOENIX–JANUARY 16, 2009– We’ve just uncovered a last-minute fare sale on Orbitz for flights to Frankfurt, Germany, from Phoenix. Fly for just $385 roundtrip — including taxes! This fare normally sells for $600-$1000.

My eyes bulged! I knew right there and then that I had to snatch it before it goes up or, worse, disappears. I asked my friend, Kim, if she wanted to go and the answer was, of course, yes! Within twenty minutes of receiving that notification via email, I purchased tickets for the both of us.

We’ll land in Frankfurt the morning of February 14th where we will stay for a night or two. Then we’ll drive a rented car to Amsterdam for a couple of days before heading to Brussels where I have friends and relatives (many Calitrani emigrated to Belgium from Calitri). After that, we may head to Paris. We return from Frankfurt on the 22nd.

I love spontaneous trips like this.

Update on Siena

Siena (note the incision on her right side)

The staff at Scottsdale Veterinary Clinic are the nicest bunch of people you would ever want to meet. This morning, the nurse carefully and patiently went over what needed to be done and gave me an estimate of whopping $575 *whistle* for the excision of a cyst on Siena’s right side as well as teeth cleaning and a nail trim. When I walked in tonight to pick her up, the nurse told me she found a cluster of three masses that were cysts (none of which are malignant, thankfully) on her other side so she went ahead and surgically removed them. She also added that she cleaned her ears. “Oh boy, I hope this didn’t cost me more money,” I thought to myself.

Then came a nice surprise… She smiled then said she managed to shave $300 off my final bill bringing my total to $285. I couldn’t believe it! It is incredibly gratifying to know that there are still kind people in this world. A heartfelt thanks to Scottsdale Veterinary Clinic and especially the nurse, Bethany!

Siena is doing quite well, albeit a bit groggy from the anesthesia. She should be back to her perky self by tomorrow afternoon.

Midnight ramblings

I’m having trouble sleeping tonight. My basset hound, Siena, is going in for a surgery in the morning to have her sebaceous cyst removed and her teeth cleaned. Nothing life-threatening but I’m still worried. After having lost Dante last September, I’m a little overprotective of her.

Anyway, instead of lying wide awake in bed waiting for sleep to come, I’ve decided to blog.

For lunch today, I had what may be the most amazing Gravad Lax (raw cured salmon) I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. I bet you’d never guess where. You ready? The cafe at IKEA! Told you you’d never guess! After taking the first bite, I knew I just had to buy some so I got four packages at a surprisingly low price of $4.99 each. And it’s healthy, to boot!

Gravad Lax

Once Kim and I finished our lunch, we went on a little shopping spree. I feel like a kid in a candy store every time I walk in. I have had my eyes set on their Hopen bedroom furniture but logic took hold and I decided to wait until I win the lottery or something. I ended up buying a couple of frames, lamps and a pot.

After that, I went to pick up my bike…all tuned up and ready to go! I’m excited.

This is second day of my healthy regimen and I’m already feeling more energetic than usual. That could be the other reason why I’m not able to sleep.

Okay, I’m going to bed, or at least try to. A long, busy day awaits me.

Followup

This morning I went shopping for food and came out of the store with nothing but fruit, vegetables and chicken. I was initially shocked how expensive it was; then a friend reminded me that while processed foods cost less, they make you more hungry and want to eat more. Another friend recommended two books, one by Mark Bittman and another by Nava Atlas, that teach you how to shop wisely and cheaply for healthy food. I think I’ll check these books out tomorrow. If anyone else has tips or suggestions, feel free to send them my way.

For lunch, I met with friends at Pita Jungle where I had Chicken Tikki Masala with greens and a huge heaping of brown rice (of which I took a few small bites). Absolutely delicious and filling!

Afterwards, I took my sparsely-used bike to a bike shop to have it tuned up and the tires replaced. It’ll be ready by noon tomorrow.

Then I stopped at LA Fitness to see about signing up for a free two-week trial but, unfortunately, they no longer offer it. I guess they’re overwhelmed with the January “New Year’s Resolution” gym crowd that they have stopped doling out free trials. I’ll just have to suck it up and drive a little further to the Y. They’re offering a yoga/pilates class tomorrow at 10:45. I think I’ll attend.

Ah, it’ll be an hour til 6 so I better whip something up for dinner. Don’t want to break my new “eat no later than 6 pm” rule on the very first day, now do I?

My dinner: salad topped with grilled chicken strips, avocado and spicy peanut vingarette

P.S. If you haven’t noticed yet, I changed the title of my blog to “Un Calitrano Sordo” (A Deaf Calitrano). More fitting, methinks.

My new mantra: “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels”

Today is the day I start eating healthy and exercising more. I’m going to try and drink nothing but water, plain tea and fruit smoothies for the next couple of weeks; that means absolutely no alcohol and soda (even diet). I’ll stick to high protein and try to eliminate carbohydrates from my diet as much as possible. Also, I will try not to eat after 6 pm.

The Y, where I have a free membership, is a bit too far so I may look into joining LA Fitness, which is just around the corner. Like the Y, LA Fitness offers yoga and pilates classes, which I really enjoy.

I have a bike that I have had for three years but used only once. It obviously needs to be tuned up and the tires replaced…so I’ll do that tomorrow then put it to good use! The greenbelt in Scottsdale and Tempe Town Lake, both perfect for bike rides, are only a few miles away from me.

New Gervase, here I come!

Picture spam

Here are some pictures I took in the past week and half that I feel are post-worthy.

New Year’s Eve at Jana and Erwin’s abode

Tyler

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Jana & Julie"][/caption]

Stephanie & I

Erwin

Hiking with Mom and our dogs

Hanna

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="333" caption="Mom and Hanna"][/caption]

Siena

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="View of Phoenix"][/caption]

Drinks and games at Stephanie and Tyler’s

Stephanie & Tyler

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Kim, Stephanie & Dani"][/caption]

Ty, Davey and me

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="bottoms up!"][/caption]

Jag bombers, FTW!

Never a dull moment with these people!

Calitrani on Facebook

Sometime in early 2008, I believe, I started a group on Facebook called “Viva Calitri” for people who have roots in, or are fans of, Calitri. To my surprise, people started joining the group within days of its creation.

Little did I know that a year later, the number of members would explode and reach 1,000. They come from every corner of the world – United States, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, England, Iceland, Slovakia, Sweden, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Australia and even Japan!

Remarkable. Yesterday, one calitrano predicted, “1,000 today, 5,000 next year!”

I have personal ties with many of the members in the group and the story behind my ties with two of them is particularly interesting. One is Justin Cerreta, who I went to middle school with. His aunt grew up with my ex-step-mother and his cousins went to school with my sister. Another is Jennifer Zarrilli, who I worked with at a grocery store when I was 16. Back then, we weren’t aware that we were closely related, much less had roots in Calitri! I swear us Calitrani somehow gravitate towards each other.

Siamo ovvunque!

Here is the link to the Calitri group on Facebook if have Facebook and you’d like to join. But chances are you’re already a member!

Languages

This evening, as I wrote a message in Italian to a friend on Facebook, I randomly wondered to myself — how and when did I first learn Italian?

I thought about it and realized that it all began in sixth grade at Palomino Elementary. I had a teacher named Ms. Tabacca who quickly became my favorite. She taught us many things including culture, poetry and French that have left a lasting impression on me. I remember that she would give us a French lesson every Wednesday, of which I dreaded like nothing else. Being deaf, I struggled and lagged behind. Not only that, my teacher had my hearing classmates practice speaking French while I sat quietly and feeling very self-conscious until it was time to work on reading and writing in French. Oh, how I hated it!

Ms. Tabacca soon realized this and was determined to give me the same opportunity and access afforded to other students. While everyone worked on their pronunciation, she had me memorize an impressive list of irregular and regular verbs as well as their conjugations. Then she taught me about French gender, articles (definite, indefinite and partitive), determiners and so on. I became so immersed in it that by the end of the year, my command of French was probably equivalent to that of a first-semester French college student.

By then, I was completely hooked and continued studying French throughout middle school. My 7th and 8th grade French teacher, Mrs. Hoffman, was so impressed with my French that I was her “pet” from day one. Whenever she asked a question in class that no one could answer, she’d turn her attention to me and say, “Gaston, dites-leur!” (Jason, tell them!)

In high school, my foreign language requirements were waived because I was fluent in ASL so I did not continue studying French. However, it was during this time that I became interested in discovering my roots and being part Italian, I was curious about Italian. I remember being amazed when I noted how similar it was to French. At the age of 16 or 17, I became acquainted with a fellow calitrano, Mario Toglia, who noticed my interest and sent me a whole bunch of old Il Paperino (Italian version of Donald Duck) comic books (which I still have and treasure!). I scrutinized them every night, over and over, until I was able to understand them word for word. I bought books and dictionaries, made flash cards, subscribed to Il Calitrano, read La Repubblica on the Internet and wrote in Italian whenever I could.

A few years later, the Italian Placement Exam at Rochester Institute of Technology placed me into Fifth Year Italian, quite an accomplishment considering I never took Italian before. I went on to complete Sixth Year Italian before returning home to Arizona.

Today, English and American Sign Language aside, I know Italian fluently and have enough grasp of the French and Spanish languages to the point where I can sustain an entire afternoon’s worth of conversation. I’ve also dabbled in German, Romanian and dialetto calitrano. I want to learn Mandarin Chinese, Esperanto, Hebrew, Russian, Latin, the list is endless. So many languages, so little time.

So, Ms. Tabacca — if you ever read this, I want to thank you for instilling the passion I have for languages. If it weren’t for you, I would have never overcome my fear and learned all the languages I know today. I probably would not have gone to Italy as many times as I have. My relatives in Calitri barely speak English. If I weren’t able to communicate with them by writing back and forth in Italian, how would we have communicated? I probably would not have known my Italian-speaking cousins on Facebook, some of whom I talk to on an almost daily basis.

Tu as vraiment fait une grande différence dans ma vie et c’est à toi que je dois tout.

Registrazioni di matrimonio

A few days before Christmas, a gentleman in Calitri gave me a wonderful Christmas gift. He sent me a spreadsheet document listing matrimoni (marriages) that occurred in Calitri from 1765 to 1801. He spent every Saturday morning the past year in the Canonica of Chiesa di San Canio (Church of St. Canio) pouring over the ancient church registers, deciphering old Italian script and transcribing each marriage.

In the span of 36 years, 1,548 marriages took place. I’ve spent the last two weeks entering information from this spreadsheet into my family tree program, which in itself is a painstaking task. Thanks to this information, I was able to break down a couple of brick walls in my family tree. For example, my great-great-great-great grandmother, Caterina Grasso, was born sometime in 1774 in Bisaccia, a neighboring town of Calitri. She married Canio Vincenzo Maria Gervasi around 1793, presumably in Bisaccia, and lived the rest of her life in Calitri. I knew her parents were Nicola Grasso and Rosa Ricciardi from Caterina’s death record, which I discovered about a decade ago. I wanted to go back further on that line but my letters to Bisaccia went unanswered. While scanning the spreadsheet, I was thrilled to discover that Caterina’s parents married in Calitri in 1772 and that her mother, Rosa, was from Calitri. I also learned that Nicola’s father was Angelo and that Rosa was the daughter of Giuseppe Ricciardi and Giovanna Di Muro. It appears that Nicola took his wife back to his hometown of Bisaccia after they married and raised their family there. When their daughters, Caterina and Camilla, were old enough, Rosa made arrangements to marry them off to Calitrani men – Caterina to Canio Gervasi and Camilla to Giuseppe Cicoira.

This is what the spreadsheet looks like. The ones that are highlighted have already been entered in my database, so as you can see, I’m not done yet. I’m hoping to finish by this weekend!

If any of you who have ancestors from Calitri would like information on your ancestors, let me know. Out of respect for the person who sent this, I cannot share the spreadsheet document with anyone as he asked me not to, but I can send you your family tree. He has to get permission from the local Bishop first to publish this information and so far, the Bishop has blatantly ignored his request.

Calitri: 1999 to 2009.

December 1999

It was my first trip to Italy. I was scarcely 19, a sophomore at Northern Arizona University and anxious to meet my newly-found relatives in Calitri. My friend from college, Megan, and I first explored Rome then Torino, Milano, Firenze, Siena and Napoli before spending the remainder of our three-week vacation in Calitri. My family in Calitri and I were overcome with emotion when we were reunited. Tears flowed again the day we had to leave.

Vito Michele, Cinzia, Me, Margherita & Meg Graves

Vito Michele

Michele and Cinzia

Tania, Meg, me, Cinzia, Michele, Antonio and Michela at Gulliver Pub

Cinzia, Margherita, me and Meg

[caption id="attachment_76" align="aligncenter" width="321" caption="Meg, me, Iolanda Gervasi and Cinzia Gervasi"][/caption]

Me, Michele, Antonio, Vito Michele, Francesco, Angela, Michela, Margherita & Cinzia

My grandma and grandpa, holding a flask, a gift from Vito Michele Gervasi

January 2001

After seeing the pictures I took from my trip and hearing all about it, my mom and 16-year-old sister, Pamela, longed to visit Calitri and discover their roots. Also, Italy, particularly Calitri, left such an impression on me. I was dying to go back. So it was decided that the three of us would go together to Europe for three weeks. After landing in Roma, we went straight for Calitri where we spent a couple of days, then headed to San Lupo (where my great-grandma’s family came from), Roma, Firenze, Venezia, Geneva (Switzerland) and Nice (France).

Me, my sister Pamela, my mother, Antonio, Cinzia and Iolanda outside Gulliver Pub

Enzo, son of Peppino, my grandfather's cousin

Mom, me, Iolanda, Vito Michele, Margherita, Cinzia, my sister Pamela

The Gervasi Family: Iolanda, Cinzia, Margherita and Vito Michele.

Mom, me, Michele, Cinzia, Iolanda and Vito Michele

March 2005

Four years was much too long, I decided. Not a single day passed without me thinking of Calitri and the desire to go back became more intense by the day. One day, while I was bored at work, I browsed online for airfare tickets and dreaming….until I came across a good deal: $500 roundtrip from Phoenix to Rome!!! I told my friends, Kim, Ramin and Aimee, of this. They had never been to Europe and jumped at the chance.

We spent two weeks driving all over Italy, from Roma straight to Vicenza then Venezia, Volterra, San Gimignano, Siena, Firenze, Cortona, Montepulciano, Roma, Frosinone, Pompeii and Calitri. Today, when I ask them what their favorite part of the entire trip was, they would say without hesitation, “Calitri!” Of course.

Vito Michele holding up a glass of homemade (his) wine

Vito Michele, me, Aimee and Kim. I was translating, or attempting to, from Italian to ASL for my friends -- not an easy feat!

Kim, AImee, Angela, Francesco, Margherita and Ramin.

Antonietta and Giovanna, owners of Bar Corso on Via Corso.

March 2008

My sister had just married the year before and is starting a family soon. I was wrapping up my last year of college. We both wanted to go on a trip together, one last trip, before our lives got too busy.

It was a dizzying trip…four countries in mere nine days! We started in Munich, then Salzburg, Milano, Zürich and back to Munich. We so wanted to go to Calitri but time and money did not permit us. However, Vito Michele’s daughters, Cinzia and Iolanda, as well as Cinzia’s husband, Michele, live in Milano so we paid them a visit. We were touched when we learned that Vito Michele and his wife, Margherita, made the last minute decision to venture eight hours north by train to Milano to see Pamela and I.

My sister holding Francesco

Me holding little Francesco

Le frutte e i dolci

Vito Michele, Margherita and their grandchild, Francesco

Iolanda and Cinzia

Vito Michele and Pamela

Vito Michele, Pamela, me and Margherita

The entire family

May 2009

To be continued…

Draft Itinerary

My trip to Italy is gradually becoming a reality. Although I wasn’t planning on having a travel companion, a good friend of mine, Kim, expressed an interest in joining me. I’m generally picky about who I travel with but, honestly, I can’t think of a better travel companion than her (well, other than Rachel!). We have traveled together to Mexico, California, Colorado and even Italy back in 2005…and had an amazing time each time.

We will probably start in Roma where I have several cousins that I want to see – Antonio and his family, Ciro and Mauro.

Then we will spend a few days in Toscana and visit the towns that we haven’t been to yet. We’ve already been to Cortona, Montepulciano, Volterra, Siena and Firenze so we will skip those places. Although we’ve already been to San Gimignano, there’s a little, cozy bruschetteria, Antica Taverna, that simply has the best bruschetta my taste buds have ever come across. While we ate there, we befriended the vivacious owner, Sergio Orlandi, who spoke excellent English. He loved us so much that he had us sample wine from a bottle that cost him thousands of dollars. So, needless to say, we will make a pit stop there.

After visiting San Gimignano, Arezzo, Montalcino, Gubbio and Todi in Toscana, we will go straight for Napoli where my cousin Dario resides. Dario is the great-grandson of my great-grandmother’s sister, Maria Luigia. Soon after my family moved here to America, they lost touch with Maria Luigia and her family. It wasn’t until recently that Dario’s family and my family are in contact again, thanks to Facebook.

After Napoli, we’ll go to Capri, Positano and Amalfi Coast for a day or two… then we’ll make headway for the best part of the trip, my ancestral town of Calitri, where I hope to stay for at least a month.

Because I am deaf, I have always wanted to meet other deaf calitrani. I recently learned that a distant relative, Katia, is an interpreter for the deaf in Napoli. Imagine my excitement when she mentioned that her mother, Luigia, is deaf and lives in Calitri. I’m going to make it a point to meet her and hopefully other deaf calitrani. This will give me an opportunity to brush up on my Italian Sign Language!

14 more days until I will be purchasing my ticket!

Destination: Italy

The semester from hell is finally over.  The grades came in last week.  It did not come as a surprise to me that I did rather poorly in all of my classes but at least I passed.  Obviously, my goal of graduating cum laude is out of the window but at this point, I really could care less.

Now I am one credit away from graduation.  Yes, just one.  I’ll be taking it online next semester then do my internship before I graduate sometime this summer.

Because of all the inane crap 2008 brought me, I feel I need to get away from it all for a while and regroup…  So, I have decided I will be going to Italy this Spring for about a month, if not longer.  I will probably spend the majority of my time in Calitri with some time in Napoli, Amalfi Coast, Tuscany and Roma.

I have been to Calitri four times in the last nine years but never for longer than a couple of days.  I want to really experience their way of life, which is best described as down-to-earth and uncomplicated.  I want to just saunter all day long, explore every niche and corner of the ancient village and its surroundings, retrace the footsteps of my ancestors, get to know my cousins (all hundreds of them), take pictures, breathe in the invigorating mountain air, eat cingul’, cannazze’, lahan’, m’gliatiegghij’, aurecchi’ r’ preut and sciliend‘, drink loads of robust Italian (read: authentic) espresso and Zio u’ biond’s succulent wine and, above all, escape from reality and worry about absolutely nothing.

Yes, I think that’s just the medicine I need.

Calitri, are you ready for me?

2008.

Another year roared its way through.  Can you believe it?  2008 turned out to be one of the most stressful, if not THE most stressful, years for me.  It started off fairly optimistic.  I was exercising regularly, eating healthy and shedding pounds.  In March, my sister and I went on a dizzying trip to Europe and visited four countries in a week.  Then in May, Rachel and I ran off to the Bahamas for nine days.  And at the end of June, I visited San Francisco of which I fell in love with at first sight.  In addition, I was excited about going away to Nicaragua and Costa Rica for a study abroad program for five weeks in July and August.  Wow, so far, so good…or so I thought.

It all instantly spiraled downward afterwards.  A week before I was supposed to leave for Central America, ASU decided that the ADA law did not require them to fund for interpreters and told me I could not go.   Since then, ASU and the Office of Civil Rights have completely dismissed my objections, appeals and whatnot to the point where I’ve given up.  This situation was the catalyst of most things that went wrong, including having delayed my graduation another semester.

Around the same time, my beloved dog, Dante, was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer.  His health deteriorated rapidly and he died three months later on September 24 in my arms at the age of four.

Grueling classes this semester, a psychotic roommate, inane family drama and volatile economy certainly did not help things either.

I’m eager for 2009 to bring some changes and hopefully improvements, economical situation notwithstanding.

Take it away, 2009! I’m out.

Hello.

Seeing that WordPress seems to be the blog software of choice these days, I decided to jump on the proverbial bandwagon and set up an account on here.   Lemming anyone?

Not sure if I will use this in lieu of LiveJournal (it’ll be hard for me to relinquish it as I’ve been a steadfast LJer for five years now), but who knows.

Okay, back to cramming for my finals… (yeah, right).