Let's begin with a riddle: what do the internet and the kitchen sink have in common? Answer: They were both broken. They're both things I need. Fortunately, I believe both are back now, but it was pretty inconvenient the past few days. Other than this, I really like living here. It's great having a common space and 3 Italian-speaking roommates who are home a lot. We don't talk to each other all that often, but just hearing the conversations is excellent. Like I mentioned before, I really like having life around me.
Yesterday there was rain...it stopped and cleared for long enough to convince me to go out for a ride...then it started and wouldn't stop so the ride got scrapped. This allowed for some time to watch the end of yesterday's stage of the Giro d'Italia (in Venice, I think).
There was also time for a side trip to one of the places where one of my Italian friends works. It's a small family farm operation 25 minutes by car from here. The family lives in a gorgeous, very old and big farmhouse and they raise animals for their meat. I didn't see any of the live animals, but I did get to see where they hang up the carcasses and remove meat from them. It was a very clean, white place. They needed to harvest a couple of pieces of meat...so I watched. Dark red blood spotted the perfectly clean, white floor of the large refrigerator. This is the closest to this sort of thing I've ever been. I explained that in America, I'm a vegetarian because it's hard to get meat that is treated this well there. They should see the movie "Food, Inc." What a world of difference. Here, take no issue consuming meat.
I met the family, a few generations live there (including a super cute little girl who I talked to, she didn't know that I can't speak her language) and were all very nice. There was a solid 1/2 hour of Italian flying back and forth about the meat, the price of it, etc. I'm now catching most of the words, but still piecing together the concepts is tricky. I felt like it was years ago when I would accompany my dad on some business and he'd be talking about some stuff that I didn't understand, but I was happy to be there anyway.
A Lesson In Italian
Forgive me if this is a repeat story. One of the things the guys say on the road when we're riding bikes is "occhio" which is a direct translation to "eyes" and also "look out!" Of course in this context, they mean watch out for a car or pothole or something. The first time I heard this, I was so amused. How funny it would sound if we shouted "eyes" when riding our bikes and watching out for something. It's stuff like this that makes learning a new language so much fun.
I've been running a lot of expressions past my Italian friends. Seems there are a lot of direct translations. "Casa dolce casa" means "home sweet home" and it sounds like they use the expression. There are others that go directly, as well. Superstitions are also quite similar, but I understand that Italians tend towards being a bit more superstitious than Americans. One story is that a black cat crossed a guy's path so he stopped and waited a 1/2 hr until another crossed his path. This particular guy was on his bike, apparently the car behind him had done the same thing.
Day before yesterday I visited my favorite bike shop and my favorite bike mechanic. He has the best English of anyone I know here who's Italian. It was nice to be able to rap about bikes freely in English for a little while. He's from elsewhere in Europe and has worked in bike shops in Spain and England so he could give me perspective on racing and the scene in Italy. He said it's super serious here, the racers are very particular about everything where it comes to their bikes, eating, etc. Interesting for me to hear, because what I've seen here so far is a scene that is much more relaxed than what I see in the U.S. at amateur criterium races. And it's far more relaxed than U.S. pro racing. Then again, I'm not starting the Gran Fondos at the front.
School Update
At this point in school, we've learned passato prosimo (he has done something, I had given that to someone), imperfetto (When I was a child, I was eating when), futuro (I will do that someday, they will see the movie), trapassato prossimo (they had felt, I had been), future anteriore (will have been, they will have done it), reflexivo (mi lavo = I wash myself) and other small yet very important (and tricky) concepts. Verbs are coming, understanding is really getting better but conjugating a verb and using it properly in conversation is hard for my mind and then spitting it out adds a whole new level of complexity.
I am really enjoying classes, still. The teachers are talking much faster than they were at first, and I'm understanding about 90% of what they have to say. Not having tests or much homework is fantastic and is as it should be. I'm pushing myself for the reasons why I want to be here. It keeps my relationship with classes and this language positive, though I have quite often been frustrated with myself in remembering everything I want to and expressing myself the way I want to. It's good, though, I'm trusting this frustration will keep my head in the game and continue to push me to improve.
With that, it's time to post this, study for awhile and ride a little later assuming the weather is okay. I'm afraid to look. Tomorrow is the crazy Gubbian Festival I've been looking forward to seeing since I heard about it last summer on tour!
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