October 25 - November 10, 2014 Getting in a routine, learning the language
Nothing to exciting, just my daily log...
Saturday, October 25th, much studying.
Both the language and preparing for Sunday Church. Had an invitation to dinner, but felt I needed to cancel... just need to slow
down a bit. After all I am
retired!! Then ended up having a very late night, as I Skyped with my daughter and did not get to bed until 2am. Will sure be glad for Sunday afternoon nap
time tomorrow!
Sunday, October 26th, went early to the bus, as the 'fall back' time
happened one week earlier here than in USA, and being unsure of the new bus
schedule, thought would be prudent to get there a half hour earlier to make
sure I didn't miss the bus or at least not be late to church. Well, the first two scheduled buses did not
come at all and by then, I realized I would need to call someone to pick me up
or I was going to miss church for sure.
I phoned Nicola and he said he would pick me up; to wait there, and just
as I disconnected the call, the bus came.
However, it usually takes half an hour, so I would have been about 10 minutes
late, even if I had taken that bus.
Nicola came and picked me up and we made it back just in time. As Marco and Cristina were in Naples this
weekend, Daniele translated for me.
Thank you Daniele! You did a
great job!
Back home by 8:30, and since the apartment only lets us do
laundry in the evenings between 7 - 11 pm, I threw in a load and then had a bite
of supper. Love Sundays. Went to bed early... I was tired from such a
short sleep last night.
Monday, October 27th. Oh my,
lazy this morning. Slept late, then could
not seem to get motivated to do much.
Did finally go out to the market for a while, but mostly stayed in as it
rained most of the day. Making plans for
a dinner I plan to prepare Friday evening.
I do not know why I have been so tired these
last few days, but off to early bed again tonight.
Tuesday, October 28th. More Rain! Beautiful double rainbow this morning! God's promise! I finally received my Italian debit card! I have access to my money now :) Maybe this is not such a good thing... I
spent less before :) . More shopping
today in preparation for Friday's dinner plans.
Wednesday, October 29th, Teresa picked me up
and we went to the organic meat market where she usually shops. I do not have a car, so is too far and not
convenient for me to go unless I go with someone.
We were a couple hours, by the time we made several stops, then she dropped me
off at Mafalda's for lunch.... however, Mafalda was not there! She had gone to be with her daughter that day
and somehow (I think it is called Language barrier) I did not know this, even
though it had been discussed on Sunday that the routine was changed :) Oops! So poor Teresa had to come back and pick me
up, however, since I would be going to Caputo's in just a few hours, I did not
go home, just stayed with them at the Laboratory and did my studies. About 5:30, Teresa then dropped me off at
Nicola's, which is very close to the Lab.
Giacinto and Tonya brought me home. Anna Maria translated for me this evening as
Marco was now in England and Cristina was still in Naples visiting her
sister. Been a week now since I've seen
Marco and Cristina and the kids.. missing them!
Thursday, October 30th. Received word that a dear sister here, Lina
Silvestri (82) had passed away, and the funeral was to be Friday at 4pm.
Today, I had much preparation of the
food that I will be cooking tomorrow.
Teresa and I had purchased a very large pumpkin (I had to lug it around
all afternoon yesterday so I know just how much it really weighed, hee hee),
which I now was hacking up and getting it ready to use in ALL the dishes I
planned to prepare. Halloween for me has
always been about cooking with pumpkin!!!
Been doing this for years :) . Then
I roasted the pumpkin seeds... yummy!
I am finding out there are so many
foods I cannot purchase here in Italy...
sour cream for instance, and they also do not carry all the spices we
have ready access to, such as ginger, cloves (never did find any!) . Many of my recipes I have had to alter or
find new recipes. I get a lot of walking
done anyway, searching the different shops for the things I need!
Also, since I was actually going to
be baking and cooking at Teresa's home, there were many things to make sure and
bag up to take. Anyway, seems like a lot
of things to take... four bags full.
Reminds me of the sheep ... "one for my master, one for..."
Finally, I finished gathering all my
things together, so I wouldn't forget anything in the morning, cleaned up my
kitchen, mopped the floor and now off to bed.
Friday, October 31st. Happy Halloween. Early to rise... (still not any wealthier or
wise), but scurried along as I wanted to get to Teresa's and get the bread
started, since I really wanted to take off in the afternoon and go to Lina's
funeral at 4pm.
By 11:30 am I had the bread rising,
the dessert in the oven and Teresa trying to work around me and prepare lunch
for Luigi and her niece Ilaria (Anna Maria's daughter). Italy is not known for their large
kitchens... actually they ARE known for their very Small kitchens, and Teresa's
is definitely an Italian kitchen :).
Somehow, we worked all morning and evening together in there and it all
was fine! She is the sweetest person and
we have such a good time together, it never even felt small... just close
fellowship :) Finished up the bread by
1:30, then we had lunch.
After lunch while they napped, I did
my studies, then was time to go to Lina's service. Her family wanted a Catholic service, so was
a new experience for me to observe. Anna
Maria, Crengutsa, Davide (flew down from Pisa), Giacinto & Tonya, Nicola
& Mariella, Luigi, Mafalda, Stefano and his mother, and I, and maybe others
(I didn't see all who attended). Was a
very cool and blustery evening. Some of
you may remember Lina was very special to Mafalda. Many many years ago, Mafalda picked Lina up
as she was walking to the cemetery on her way to visit the grave of her young daughter. Mafalda had much to relate to with her, as
she also had two young daughters buried in that same cemetery. Anyway, they became best of friends and was
the beginning of days for Lina. True
sisters.
After the service, I returned to
Teresa's and started preparing dinner.
It was a success! We actually ate
early!! (for Italians that is) ... was only 7:30.... okay for me!!!
What
was on the menu:
Pumpkin Stew (basically chili, only with Cumin
and diced up pumpkin in it, then served in a baked pumpkin)
Witches Brains (cauliflower roasted with
rosemary, thyme, capers, garlic, olive oil, salt)
Salad with apples, mandarin slices, red onion,
chopped almonds, raisins, fresh squeezed lemon & olive oil.
Pumpkin bread sticks (witches fingers)
Pumpkin pie crunch for dessert
Hot spiced cider
Blueberries/Raspberries & mozzarella (made
like a monster face)
Roasted Pumpkin seeds.
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Wonderful evening, with great friends. After they brought me back home and I got
everything put away, showered and got to bed, was a bit late, but had a
wonderful sleep.
Saturday, November 1st.
What, November already??? Up by 8
and out of the house by 9:30 for a much needed long walk... too many calories
yesterday!! Walked for one and half
hours, purchased a few groceries, to make pumpkin bread pudding and some apples
etc, for tomorrow's lunch at Caputo's. Now
blogging and time to start my studies!
Ciao for now!
Sunday, November 2nd. Up fairly early (for this retired person) to
get ready for church. Since it is first
Sunday of the month, was able to catch a ride with Luigi along with Anna Maria
and Crengutsa, so no bus schedules to worry about this morning and also got to
leave the house an hour later. Did miss
my walk this morning though. Also, there
was a marathon in Bari this morning, so many of the streets were blocked off,
and people everywhere, making it hard to get through town. Most stop lights were being manually
controlled by the Polizia, so we had to stop at all but two! Took a lot of
additional time to get out of town this morning. Was also 'Memorial Day' here, so many more
people out and about, going to the cemeteries.
We had a lovely meeting this morning
and extra special to have David Butterworth with us still. He stayed through the weekend after Lina's
funeral. Then the usual lunch at
Caputo's with the three workers, Massimo Caputo, Luigi and Teresa, and Marco, Cristina
and the kids were back from Napoli. Fourteen of us I think. The usual
long Sunday lunch... was 4pm by the time dishes were finished :) . Then Cristina and I had some catch up
visiting to do since she had been gone more than a week, plus I spent a good
portion of time with the kids... entertaining them :) . Really missed them all. Also, had to study at least half an hour...
trying to not miss a single day.
Then in the evening at six we all
went to Mafalda's and since David was still here, he had the meeting this
evening with Crengutsa. After that,
Mafalda had us stay for a roast beef dinner (my first here in Italy!!) Was beginning to think they didn't have such
a thing here :) . Long lunch, long
dinner, long day. Arrived home very
late. Close to 10 pm. I was plenty tired and went directly to bed. David wasn't so fortunate... he was catching
the midnight train back to Rome, then change trains and catch another on to
Pisa / Livorno. I've done that eight
hour train ride before, so I really felt for him... he will be very very tired
by the time he arrives.
Monday, November 3rd. Slept in until 8 o'clock, did my usual
routine, studied a while, then started preparing lunch for Anna Maria and
Crengutsa. Made a scrumptious pumpkin
bread pudding with cinnamon sauce.
Yummy! They came at noon and we
had a wonderful three and half hour visit, then they walked the half hour back
to their Bach.
I needed to take a walk, but started studying
instead and then it got dark before I realized it. Oh well, I wanted to do laundry this evening,
so by the time I made the eight trips up and down the two flights of stairs to
the laundry, I didn't feel so guilty about not having walked today. Then I stayed up much later than I had
planned... sleep in tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 4th. And yes, I did sleep in!!! Way later than I
ever thought I could. Gorgeous sunny day
today and I am heading out for a long walk.
Will write more when I return !
What a great walk. 6.7 km (about 4.2 miles). Saw some friends along the way back... nice
opportunity to visit ! Many
opportunities are not always seen as such, but I am becoming more aware and
being in tune with a "word in season". Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the
learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary:
he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. Proverbs 12:23 A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and
a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
Many thoughts of the Election in USA
today. Something we heard at Petacciato
Conv. in August "If we don't pray for our leaders, we have no right to
complain". Also, if you don't vote
:)
Prepared a late lunch / early
dinner, then hit the studies!
Wednesday, November 5th. Up early to study since I usually leave early
for lunch at Mafalda's, however, today, I opted out and will go later in the
afternoon to Caputo's for the bible study.
Having a relaxing morning!
In the early afternoon had nice walk
to the bus stop, headed to Caputo's, arriving at 3pm. Turned out everyone there was sick except
Nicola and the children. Spent a few
hours playing games and entertaining the children before church. Enjoyed having the extra time with them. Caught my usual ride home with Giacinto and
Tonya. Arrived home early enough to even
wash a load of towels before I called it a night.
Thursday, November 6th, nothing much
happening today. It started raining and
so I never even left the apartment today.
Spent the entire day studying and reading. Love days like this! Made only one phone call today too!
Listening to the thunder today was
awesome. I opened the doors/windows and
just enjoyed it! When the thunder
reverberates through the narrow streets between the tall buildings, it makes
the strangest sounds... rumbles almost nonstop. My daughter doesn't know how tempted I was to call her at 5am her time, so she could hear the thunder too, but I refrained... barely :) . Hopefully will get a bit of a break from the rain tomorrow, as I really
need to go buy some fruit. Only one
apple and one banana in the place....
Friday, November 7th. Great rest... listening to the rain is so
peaceful. It did stop raining for a while
around 1pm, so I walked to the market and got some fruit and few other
items. Then took a short walk along the
Sea.... never tire of that! Now back
home, having a bite of lunch / early supper about 3:30pm. Not much happening... studying and living the
quiet life!! I always knew I would love
retirement and a much simpler life.... Love, love, love it!!!
Saturday, November 8th. Lovely breakfast, sitting with the windows
open loving the fresh clean air after all the rain. Did some baking for tomorrow's lunch, a bit
of cleaning, then before I knew it was time for a bite of lunch.
Around 1:30, I called Crengutsa to
walk with me along the sea. It clouded
up and dropped a fine mist and a few drops of rain on us, but I never really
got wet. Love walking in a warm
rain. The sea was also churning a bit
today. Soooo enjoy living by the
sea! I only ever dreamed of this, now I
am doing it! Awesome! Then I
walked part way back with *Crengutsa to her place, checking out the shops as I
went... never know, might be something I need someday.
*Crengutsa's name is actually
spelled Crenguta, however, in Romania the T is pronounced as ts, and since we
don't have a letter in the English alphabet that sounds like that, in order to
pronounce it correctly, in English it is spelled Crengutsa. In Italian it is spelled Crenguzza,
pronounced like you would pizza.
Did stop at the market on the way
back for a few minor things for tomorrow's lunch. Just arriving back in the apartment now at
3:39. Now I must get back to
studying! Well after my snack... fresh
mozzarella and sweet cherry tomatoes :)
Sunday, November 9th. Lovely,
gorgeous sunny day here in Bari. Much
the same routine today, however, had lunch with Luigi and Teresa instead of
Caputo's today, but did spend a little time there with them in the
evening. Grandma is not doing so good
and is over 90. They had to call the doctor/nurse in tonight. She did not get
transported though.
They have a fruit here called mela
cotogna (quince). I had never eaten it
before, so researched how to use it.
Anyway, after I did that process, I still was not impressed, so I needed
to find a way to use it. I have been
wanting to make some more bread pudding, so decided to use it in that. It turned out very Yummy! Not saying I will do it again, but nice to
find a way to use it anyway.
After church yesterday evening,
Mafalda gave me a bag of what we would call mandarin oranges (tangerines) from
her trees. I had never tasted a tree
ripe one before and they taste amazing!
Also, Nicola gave me some fresh tree ripe pomegranates and the same
thing, the flavor is outstandingly better!
No wonder I found it hard to eat fruit in the USA. The fruit there is so altered and genetically
modified and sprayed and picked green until there was no real flavor left. Man has NEVER improved on anything God
created! God knew what he was doing...
all man has ever done is corrupt it!
Okay, preaching is over :)))))
They also have another fruit here called Cachi or Kaki or Sharon Fruit. We have a similar fruit in the USA called persimmon, however, these don't make your mouth pucker as much as the persimmon when it is a little green. I really like them. Have been eating lots of them.
Monday, November 10th, started scouting
for a Chiropractor. My back has been
seriously out for some time now, but with massages, I was able to get by,
however, now it is not enough and when it start's nagging so bad that I cannot
sleep, I know I have to do something about it.
With Cristina's help, I located one who
came here from California, and has been practicing here for 18 years. He was just as happy to hear an American
voice/language as I was! Says he can't
wait to meet me tomorrow at my appointment and have a visit :) . Same goes for me! Don't get me wrong, I am loving the Italian
language, and am getting better at it (sort of), however, having someone who
really get's what you are saying with all the American nuances, is very
nice!
In 'American speak' we have many
'play on words', many even humorous ones, which is what I am good at :) . Here in the Italian language, all their words
are so mixed up all the time!
Example: We would say I want, you
want, we want, he wants, she wants, they want.
Our word "want" stays the same and means the same every time! WANT IS WANT !
Here in Italian, it goes like
this: voglio, vuoi, vogliamo, che vuole,
lei vuole, che vogliono. (same order as
above). The word 'want' changes!
Then if you are using it with other
words, they may change again... many times they are just reversed, or it
becomes a new word entirely, like: mancanza,
carenza, bisogno, necessita, miseria, esigenze, desiderare, volere, cercare,
ricercare, mancare, avere bisogno di, occorrere. Each of these words by themselves has another
meaning too! Just depends on the rest of
your statement/sentence! Then there is
another whole list of words if you should change the tense of the word to say
wanting or wanted.
This same thing applies to most of
their words! They drop words or combine
any words that end in a vowel when the next word begins with a vowel.
Another example: the word "you" can be any of these
in Italian: voi, vi, ti, te, tu, lei, la,
le, ve, loro. The Italian word "Sono"
means "Are".
Logically in English I would say "sono
voi" for "are you". NOT
SO!!!
In Italian it can be: Sei or Va or Va da or a thousand other ways!
All depends on what "you are" or
"are you" doing...
The words get combined into new words!! Just a few examples
are you going = stai andando
are you willing = siete disposti (here they reversed
the sei and combined it with te)
you are willing = si
è disposti
are you interested = ti interessano
are you really going to = hai
davvero intenzione di . Now drop the to and it becomes...
are you really going = sei davvero. Now put it in the middle of a sentence and it
becomes...
where are you driving to now = dove vuoi arrivare ad oggi . All entirely different words!
Also, this last one really gets me, as it
directly translates as: Where do you
want to get with today !
Every single English word, has
multiple words in Italian and every Italian word has multiple meanings.
I wait = aspetto,
you wait = si attende,
we wait = aspettiamo,
they wait = aspettano,
to wait = attendere,
will wait = attenderÃ
he waits = aspetta,
she waits = lei aspetta,
can't wait = non vedo l'ora
didn't wait = non ha aspettato
No wonder my brain feels
scrambled! As most of you know, I am a
very logical person, but there is really no logic that I have as yet, found to
apply to this. It has been mostly
memorization for me and that makes it hard, since it really comes down to whole
phrases or statements. With a few thousand
of these to learn, I may be a few years at this!!! And people thought I wouldn't have anything
to do here.... Understatement of the year!!!! or should I say years!!!
Okay, I got totally
sidetracked!!! I was talking about
seeing a Chiropractor a few paragraphs back :)
This will be another new experience for me here in Bari... although, he
is American so that won't really count :)
Off now for a long walk along the
Sea on another beautiful sunny 75 degree day here in Bari! Also, will walk downtown to see if I can find
a bookstore, as I want to purchase an Italian Bible... not that I can exactly
read it with understanding :) hee hee.
I'm back. I think I found the bible shop, however, they
were not open. As I've mentioned before,
you can't really tell what the shop is when the garage type doors are all
down. Anyway, there was a phone number
posted, so I will try to call them tomorrow.
Very few shops are open on Mondays.
Great scouting expedition though.
When I came by the vegetable / fruit shop just around the corner from my apartment, they were unloading crates of fresh harvested, still on the stalks, Artichokes. I have never seen an artichoke outside of a store before.
Thinking about tomorrow. Would have been my father's 93rd birthday. I have missed him these last 13 years! Also remembering all the veterans.
On November 11, 1921, President Harding presided over the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknowns, also commonly called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which originally honored fallen American servicemen from World War I whose remains had not been identified.
Congress approved the creation of the memorial in March 1921. To ensure that the identity of the American really was unknown, the bodies of four unidentified WWI servicemen were disinterred from various French cemeteries. They were placed in identical caskets and brought to Chalons-sur-Marne, France, where Sgt. Edward F. Younger, a war hero, selected one of the four caskets at random during a ceremony at the city hall on October 24.
The selected casket was placed on board the USSOlympia during another ceremony and sent to the United States, where it arrived on November 9. The casket was brought with much dignity to the Capitol, where the casket was put on public display on the 10th. An estimated 90,000 people came to pay their respects to the Unknown Soldier—so many that the rotunda was kept open until midnight to accommodate them all.
On the morning of November 11, the newly declared Armistice Day holiday, the enormousfuneral procession for the Unknown Solider proceeded from the Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery. During the funeral at Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater, President Harding gave a speech and bestowed the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross on the Unknown Soldier; other nations also bestowed their highest honors.
The casket was then moved to the tomb, where a funeral service was read, and then officials and dignitaries laid wreaths and other tributes. The funeral ended with the playing of Taps and a 21-gun salute.
At the time of the burial, the tomb had yet to be completed. The marble structure that now stands was installed in 1932 and bears the inscription “Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God.” Unknown soldiers representing the fallen of World War II and the Korean War were laid to rest at the monument in 1958. A soldier from the Vietnam War was interred at the monument in 1984, but through DNA testing the body was positively identified in 1998 and returned to his family.
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Well, no more grand news for today, so will get this posted before it gets too boring and any longer.
Back to the studies!!
Fino alla prossima volta, Arrivederci
da Italia.
