Tuesday, April 10, 2012

THE DAY AFTER EASTER IN ITALY



Only 2 more days of vacation for Peter. I don’t feel bad for him, though. He’s really looking forward to going ahead with his program.

I decided to go back to la lavanderie to keep up with our dirty clothes. There was another street market going on. Honestly, you can buy absolutely anything you need at that market. Today, there were all sorts of cheeses that were tempting. I wasn’t going to be surprised to see Peter coming home with some of those. However, the surprise was that Peter showed up at la lavanderia in just a few minutes. The town was in party mode. Peter had brought me some yummy pasta he got at the street market. All was good!

Peter and I walked out to the BigStore for an electric toothbrush for me. Mine wouldn’t charge on the converter here, and it’s really old anyway, so it may have just been on its last leg! Peter had bought some great photos of the town in the 1920’s, and we found some frames for those. They will look good on our walls. The owner has put 4 pictures in the house, but it’s still very bare. On our walk back home, we stopped by Hotel Cavalieri to retrieve our pan, but we were told to come back tomorrow. They were still enjoying the lamb Peter made for them.

After a brief chat online with Cati about where to post my journals and pictures, Peter and I went out hunting dinner. No hamburgers at Boglione’s. No wonderful pasta at Boccandivino. No yummy fish at Boccabuono. Every restaurant was closed! We finally ended up at Caffeteria Chiavassa and enjoyed a pizza before the place closed for the night. It was good to be there and see our friends there. It’s been a while, and we don’t need their internet connection any more since we've moved into an apartment that's 3 blocks away. On the way home, we vowed to visit Chiavassa more regularly. There are good people there!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

MY GOD, MY GOD, WHERE ARE THE POMEGRANATES?

You know you have a choice about how you respond to a situation when you are attending a Palm Sunday service in a Roman Catholic church in Italy in Italian, of course!

I recognized the service, no problem; but, we have had only 3 Italian lessons. The first thing I translated came out as "My God, my God, where are the pomegranates?" That's when I chose to enjoy the service WITHOUT trying to translate every word. I was used to being in church on Palm Sunday. I was used to communion. I was used to sharing the peace. I knew some of the tunes of the songs and could hum along or sing the English version very quietly. I could fill in the blanks of the sermon. The people were very welcoming, and most tried as hard to communicate with us in English as we tried to communicate with them in Italian. It was a lovely service and a lovely experience.

So, this week, we decided to return to the church next door for the Easter service. The famous translation of today was, " That peacock needs a vacation!" But, I was prepared to put my "progressing Italian" aside and embrace another beautiful service with beautiful people in a beautiful building.

Our relationships in Italy are not determined by our situations here, they are determined by how we choose to respond to them. We would not have changed a thing.

Buona Pasqua!

Colleen