With the entire world being able to read the blog, as much as I like to share everything with everyone, it takes too much time and effort to tailor everything such that it can be read by the whole world. Therefore, I've thrown on permissions and only people with logins can read this. This is open to very close family and friends at this point so I will feel a little more free to blog to my heart's content. And post pics to my heart's conent, as well. :)
I apologize for the very long delay in posting, lots has been going on as usual, lots in Italian. As hard as it is for me to speak it, I still want to live in that place and be frustrated when I can't find the right words, the cool part is that the frustration levels and stress levels have significantly declined over the past couple of weeks, in particular.
Last night was a birthday party for the daughter of one of my teammates. For the first time in a social setting, not only was I able to understand, I was able to carry conversation somewhat. I am, in general, talking a lot more and able to connect with people I couldn't understand or begin to talk to not very long ago.
Night before last I went to see Sonny Rollins (dude is 80 years old) in concert in Perugia. There's a Jazz Fest here during July every year, it's cool. I have had live jazz streaming in my bedroom window every night for 2 weeks. I hear it now as I'm typing and it's 1 am.
I meant to get to bed a little sooner than this, I am a bit tired but also a bit wiped out after today. Today was a Gran Fondo near Siena (a place full of Americans in Tuscany...all because of the book "Under the Tuscan Sun." Honestly, it's pretty and the couse was awesome, but I believe Umbria to be greener and prettier. The road surface is better in Tuscany, however. Again, the world champ showed up but I raced super hard and took 2nd. After racing my heart out, the result felt awesome. So did the all-you-can-drink red wine and bowl full of fresh tomatoes at the pasta party. Yum. I even met an American who works for Ciclismo, the company who I traveled with last summer who inspired me to come back here. It's a small world...this is small world story #4 since I've been here.
Gotta fly due to time and lots of homework to do before class resumes tomorrow morning.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Friday, July 09, 2010
Yesterday
Today was a very significant day for me in a few ways and I have to capture it or risk losing the memory. Class is a whole new animal with the teachers talking much faster and course materials being more difficult. 5 hours in a row starting early takes me straight back to my undergrad days in college...yet I'm absolutely eating this up. I'm driven hard to learn for a few different reasons, but primarily it's my longing to communicate better with friends and family here that provides all the incentive I need. My thrist for the language grows with every day as so much more of this world is becoming accesible to me now. Books, news, Le Tour de France coverage here (no Phil Liggett or Paul Sherwin, the men and women are Italian)...you name it.
The significant part of today was that I felt somehow a significant change in my ability to think and speak first thing this morning. I made two calls to people who only speak Italian and the conversations went off without a problem. And I had the confidence to do this. (YEeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!!! I'm leaping inside with excitement.)
Tonight was a sagra (festival of sorts nearby) that ended up being really cool (in a perfect summer night kinda way). There were plastic plates, but I kid you not, it was still the full, typical Italian meal with first plate, second, third, forth, fifth... all tasting quite wonderful. I was asked what a typical good American meal is. Hmmmm....sorry, all, I don't have a good answer. Finally I came up with Thanksgiving dinner. That's the only thing that is uniquely American and fairly standard across the country. When I think of "American" food, all I can think about are Indian dishes, sushi, burritos from Illegal Pete's, salads that I make at home and mom's homemade lasagna. In case you were wondering, I haven't eaten lasagna here that I like more than mom's. Hers is the best in the world. And she claims to not have any Italian blood.
The equivalent of the sagra we went to tonight in America would have been very different food-wise. Hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes instead of two types of pasta, prosciutto, formaggio, bread, wine, pork, pigeon, sausage, salad and dessert. Don't misinterpret...I'm not totally criticizing American get-togethers in this statement. It's simply different. I do appreciate all of the good food everywhere here and I never ask or even think "is this organic?" Or "are there trans-fats?"
Yes, I'm too full to sleep and I have class too early tomorrow! I was laughing, someone asked me about the cuisine and said something about dogs. So I was thinking about the domesticated type, until I put two and two together and realized they were talking about hot dogs. Ha ha, gotta love the nuances that get lost in translation!
I might have mentioned before that group get-togethers are impossible for me language-wise. As much as I love the togetherness (totally, totally fabulous), they've always been a little stressful since I can't contribute anything much...and if you know me, you know I like to participate in group activities! Understanding conversations flying back and forth between so many people has been impossible before and speaking was close to out of the question. One-on-one conversations were much better. Tonight was great. I can honestly say I understood quasi-everything that was said and was able to talk a decent amount as well...it was almost flowing at times. My vocabulary needs to be so much more, but for basic conversation, it's almost there. We had a great time.
The significant part of today was that I felt somehow a significant change in my ability to think and speak first thing this morning. I made two calls to people who only speak Italian and the conversations went off without a problem. And I had the confidence to do this. (YEeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!!! I'm leaping inside with excitement.)
Tonight was a sagra (festival of sorts nearby) that ended up being really cool (in a perfect summer night kinda way). There were plastic plates, but I kid you not, it was still the full, typical Italian meal with first plate, second, third, forth, fifth... all tasting quite wonderful. I was asked what a typical good American meal is. Hmmmm....sorry, all, I don't have a good answer. Finally I came up with Thanksgiving dinner. That's the only thing that is uniquely American and fairly standard across the country. When I think of "American" food, all I can think about are Indian dishes, sushi, burritos from Illegal Pete's, salads that I make at home and mom's homemade lasagna. In case you were wondering, I haven't eaten lasagna here that I like more than mom's. Hers is the best in the world. And she claims to not have any Italian blood.
The equivalent of the sagra we went to tonight in America would have been very different food-wise. Hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes instead of two types of pasta, prosciutto, formaggio, bread, wine, pork, pigeon, sausage, salad and dessert. Don't misinterpret...I'm not totally criticizing American get-togethers in this statement. It's simply different. I do appreciate all of the good food everywhere here and I never ask or even think "is this organic?" Or "are there trans-fats?"
Yes, I'm too full to sleep and I have class too early tomorrow! I was laughing, someone asked me about the cuisine and said something about dogs. So I was thinking about the domesticated type, until I put two and two together and realized they were talking about hot dogs. Ha ha, gotta love the nuances that get lost in translation!
I might have mentioned before that group get-togethers are impossible for me language-wise. As much as I love the togetherness (totally, totally fabulous), they've always been a little stressful since I can't contribute anything much...and if you know me, you know I like to participate in group activities! Understanding conversations flying back and forth between so many people has been impossible before and speaking was close to out of the question. One-on-one conversations were much better. Tonight was great. I can honestly say I understood quasi-everything that was said and was able to talk a decent amount as well...it was almost flowing at times. My vocabulary needs to be so much more, but for basic conversation, it's almost there. We had a great time.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Vacation Update, Happy Independence Day!
I've been doing nothing but speaking and listening to Italian for a week, I'm going to blog in English.
Last week I didn't have class which was really great...I put in some good time studying and found time for a few other extracurriculars. One involved going to an outdoor pool in an amazingly beautiful place not too far from here a couple of times. When it's too hot to do anything else, it feels amazing to bask in the sun and take a dip. Time after the Dolomiti was spent recovering some, it was exhausting on the body (possibly because of the higher altitude). Spent more time relaxing than riding and that was just fine with me.
I met up with Ciclismo Classico when they rolled through town, that was a fun enounter as always. Watched the paper-making process in Bevagna, as well, something I couldn't see when I was on the tour since I was off trying to see the place. Love to hang out for the day with the Americans and (of course) my guide friends. Interesting to see what questions they have and hear their reactions. There's a lot to American culture that I took for granted before and have now forgotten about. I have really gotten into the Italian life here. I've changed the way I eat food (fork in the left hand, knife in the right...apparently it's English, but the Italians eat this way as well), dress, etc. My nails are all pretty now. That's a first in 10 years. When offered food, I have learned that it is important to eat. Never say no.
Today was a great ride, covering some of the roads I saw on the Ciclismo trip (backwards) from Gubbio to Assisi, but not to Assisi. These were roads that weren't riddled with potholes, gotta love that (hard to find around here). On one water stop, some older guy in Gubbio who makes his own wine offered glasses of it to us from his home. Seriously, he opened his front door and let us come in for wine. Another cool part of today's ride (besides the fact that it was a big, fun group) was that I saw a few guys that I haven't seen in a couple of months...back then, I could hardly understand or say anything. Today we could banter on the bike.
Sometimes the frustration of not being able to say what I want to gets to me. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I almost shouted in English and it felt so amazingly good. Now with the language starting to be a little easier, I'm feeling a bit more at ease and (trust me) there's still frustration, but it's not quite as totally exhausting with having to strain to hear and speak. I expect it to take another 3 months before I'm speaking with ease. At this point, I can understand pretty much all basic conversation and dialog of soap operas (yes, soap operas. There's a German one here that I watch with my friend's mom if it's on when I'm at her house).
Something I have noticed is that I have information in my head that I don't know where it's from. Some of the stuff I know is just floating around without a language. Other stuff is in English...some conversations I've had with my Italian friends I remember as having been in English. It's weird. How is it that I can have (in particular one) very close friend who speaks no English? It is just odd. I never imagined I'd be in this sort of situation. I've heard stories from others about people who didn't speak the same language, but now I'm living it daily. In the past I tended to shy away from people who spoke English with a strong accent because I was self-conscious. I give my friends here so much credit for being cool with me not speaking.
Another activity this past week was shopping in a place that looked and felt like an American mall. I don't like malls much in the U.S. I have about an hour worth of tolerance for all of the people, lack of sunlight and not cool clothes. But I totally surprised myself when I walked into the mall...I was overcome with joy at being at a place that reminded me of the U.S. There was a store just like Best Buy, so I spent time drooling over the electronics, computers, etc. It all felt great. But weird to hear Italian being spoken everywhere. It was fun to go out with a girlfriend. If there's one thing a girl needs, it's girl-time. I miss my friends from the US a lot, but have resigned myself to simply not having that sort of dynamic here. But this, as well as everything is beginning to fall into place a bit more. I've been so fortuntate to meet great people.
Classes have begun again and I'd love to tell you how they are, but I can't say just yet...I attended one set of classes yesterday and today (really like the class and professors), but tomorrow through the rest of the month will be another set of classes and profs whom I don't know yet.
OH I totally forgot to report on the small world stories...I have 2 more! The latest is when I went apartment shopping today, the woman who is currently living in an apartment that I might live in during August is from Pueblo. It was funny because I was speaking Italian with the woman from the office and when we went to check out the apartment and this woman opened the door, the lady from the office told me that I had to speak English. Turns out the lady is a bit older and here for a month of Italian classes. Sounds like there's a very strong Italian program in Pueblo. Who would have thought it?
Just finished watching the very end of the Tour and the women's giro. Pretty cool to see Americans racing it who I've raced with in the past (okay, not like we should have been in the same race...I'm a tiny fraction of strength next to these women)...but still, it's cool to see women's racing on regular tv here and see the Americans at the front.
Internet has been broken, I wrote most of this awhile ago but am just now posting it. Hope you all had an awesome Independence Day!!!
Last week I didn't have class which was really great...I put in some good time studying and found time for a few other extracurriculars. One involved going to an outdoor pool in an amazingly beautiful place not too far from here a couple of times. When it's too hot to do anything else, it feels amazing to bask in the sun and take a dip. Time after the Dolomiti was spent recovering some, it was exhausting on the body (possibly because of the higher altitude). Spent more time relaxing than riding and that was just fine with me.
I met up with Ciclismo Classico when they rolled through town, that was a fun enounter as always. Watched the paper-making process in Bevagna, as well, something I couldn't see when I was on the tour since I was off trying to see the place. Love to hang out for the day with the Americans and (of course) my guide friends. Interesting to see what questions they have and hear their reactions. There's a lot to American culture that I took for granted before and have now forgotten about. I have really gotten into the Italian life here. I've changed the way I eat food (fork in the left hand, knife in the right...apparently it's English, but the Italians eat this way as well), dress, etc. My nails are all pretty now. That's a first in 10 years. When offered food, I have learned that it is important to eat. Never say no.
Today was a great ride, covering some of the roads I saw on the Ciclismo trip (backwards) from Gubbio to Assisi, but not to Assisi. These were roads that weren't riddled with potholes, gotta love that (hard to find around here). On one water stop, some older guy in Gubbio who makes his own wine offered glasses of it to us from his home. Seriously, he opened his front door and let us come in for wine. Another cool part of today's ride (besides the fact that it was a big, fun group) was that I saw a few guys that I haven't seen in a couple of months...back then, I could hardly understand or say anything. Today we could banter on the bike.
Sometimes the frustration of not being able to say what I want to gets to me. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I almost shouted in English and it felt so amazingly good. Now with the language starting to be a little easier, I'm feeling a bit more at ease and (trust me) there's still frustration, but it's not quite as totally exhausting with having to strain to hear and speak. I expect it to take another 3 months before I'm speaking with ease. At this point, I can understand pretty much all basic conversation and dialog of soap operas (yes, soap operas. There's a German one here that I watch with my friend's mom if it's on when I'm at her house).
Something I have noticed is that I have information in my head that I don't know where it's from. Some of the stuff I know is just floating around without a language. Other stuff is in English...some conversations I've had with my Italian friends I remember as having been in English. It's weird. How is it that I can have (in particular one) very close friend who speaks no English? It is just odd. I never imagined I'd be in this sort of situation. I've heard stories from others about people who didn't speak the same language, but now I'm living it daily. In the past I tended to shy away from people who spoke English with a strong accent because I was self-conscious. I give my friends here so much credit for being cool with me not speaking.
Another activity this past week was shopping in a place that looked and felt like an American mall. I don't like malls much in the U.S. I have about an hour worth of tolerance for all of the people, lack of sunlight and not cool clothes. But I totally surprised myself when I walked into the mall...I was overcome with joy at being at a place that reminded me of the U.S. There was a store just like Best Buy, so I spent time drooling over the electronics, computers, etc. It all felt great. But weird to hear Italian being spoken everywhere. It was fun to go out with a girlfriend. If there's one thing a girl needs, it's girl-time. I miss my friends from the US a lot, but have resigned myself to simply not having that sort of dynamic here. But this, as well as everything is beginning to fall into place a bit more. I've been so fortuntate to meet great people.
Classes have begun again and I'd love to tell you how they are, but I can't say just yet...I attended one set of classes yesterday and today (really like the class and professors), but tomorrow through the rest of the month will be another set of classes and profs whom I don't know yet.
OH I totally forgot to report on the small world stories...I have 2 more! The latest is when I went apartment shopping today, the woman who is currently living in an apartment that I might live in during August is from Pueblo. It was funny because I was speaking Italian with the woman from the office and when we went to check out the apartment and this woman opened the door, the lady from the office told me that I had to speak English. Turns out the lady is a bit older and here for a month of Italian classes. Sounds like there's a very strong Italian program in Pueblo. Who would have thought it?
Just finished watching the very end of the Tour and the women's giro. Pretty cool to see Americans racing it who I've raced with in the past (okay, not like we should have been in the same race...I'm a tiny fraction of strength next to these women)...but still, it's cool to see women's racing on regular tv here and see the Americans at the front.
Internet has been broken, I wrote most of this awhile ago but am just now posting it. Hope you all had an awesome Independence Day!!!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Le Dolomiti
It is much too late to write up the story of the Dolomiti from this weekend in English or Italian. Pictures are posted on Facebook and all I have to say is that I had a fantastic time with everyone who went on the trip (turned out to be a great group, some teammates, many guys from another team in the area and some family members of the guys as well), I ate some pretty fantastic food and saw the most beautiful mountains...absolutely indescribable. Hard to put in words in English...harder in Italian with limited vocabulary! They close the roads for a day the week before the famous Gran Fondo there, so the riding was great and free. Gilberto Simoni (recently retired Italian pro) showed up for the ride. Cooler yet was to run into a couple who I had met riding to Gubbio a couple of months ago (from a city far from here) who I had wanted to ride with again, but didn't realize we were all going to the same place on the same two days. There were thousands out there, amazing weather and definitely how one could describe paradise. Hope to update more, but no promises...spending the week off from classes doing a lot to improve my Italian and putting some reasonable miles on the road, as well. Buona notte!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Ti Amo e Grazie Mille!
Pensando alla mia famiglia! Buono "giorno di padre", DAD e buono compleanno, Nonno!!! Translation: Thinking about my family! Happy Father's Dad, DAD and happy birthday, Grandpa!!!
Going to switch to English now really quickly. It's late and I have to sleep, but I'm a little wound up after a 7-ish course (molto buono) 4-hour dinner that I just returned home from.
Can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged or Facebooked. There is too much going on to spend the time and I feel everything must be written in Italian. Yes, I'm keeping some sort of journal, much of it is comprised of the pictures I've taken in various places...and I'm pretty well documenting every single gelato I've eaten since I've been here. So far, I've missed 2 gelato photo opportunities.
The highlight of last week was meeting up with Ciclismo Classico in Gubbio and riding with them to Spello. I have pics, will post later (hopefully!) Great time to visit with Frank & Marcello, the same two guides from my trip last summer. It's weird to look back on last summer...Frank reminded me of how little Italian I knew back then (I remember not knowing the definition of va bene, sort of the cornerstone of the Italian language) and now I can understand the full conversation when people speak good Italian (not slang).
Here's a shot with the Ciclismo group as we were leaving Gubbio (Frank took the pic).
We also got together in Bevagna for the opening ceremony of their medieval week. I ended up seeing 3 cousins while I was there that evening. It's cool to have historical ties to a place, but even cooler to have living, breathing relatives in a place who are close enough on the family tree to see the resemblance to the rest of the family!
Here's a pic with me and Prof Piatti. He is a friend of Ciclismo's (lives in Bevagna) and he (via Marcello) helped me to get in touch with my relatives here last summer. We ran into him, as well, Thursday evening after the show. He looks much younger than this in person.
This coming week is my one and only exam for the past 2 1/2 months of Italian classes. I have been great at sitting down for hours at a time studying when there isn't an exam coming up...just when I want to know Italian better. Today it was really hard to force myself to study (and it was raining so it's not like I had an option to do much else). While I was taking breaks from studying, I found myself on Monster.com checking out the work scene in the world. It's becoming time to start figuring out what comes next, though I have a sneaking suspicion it might take more than a month or two to get to where I'm going (which is not yet known).
Reading job descriptions just makes me shutter. Really, you want someone who has a passion for something that is absolutely impossible to be passionate about? And you want him/her to do this meaningless work for all of the good hours every single day? Good luck to the "lucky" candidate. I've received more than one email from friends encouraging me to not re-enter the working world as they are currently in the process of being overly stressed out with their jobs.
I'll leave it at that for tonight. I'm still too full to fall asleep, but I have an Italian newspaper that should make for good reading material prior to shutting off the lights. (Actually, reading in English puts me to sleep, in Italian it wakes me up since I have to look up words and be very actively thinking about each word as I'm reading.)
Buona notte a tutti and THANK YOU to the wonderful DADs in my family AND to the wonderful MOMs who bridge the communication gaps to the DADs!!!
Going to switch to English now really quickly. It's late and I have to sleep, but I'm a little wound up after a 7-ish course (molto buono) 4-hour dinner that I just returned home from.
Can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged or Facebooked. There is too much going on to spend the time and I feel everything must be written in Italian. Yes, I'm keeping some sort of journal, much of it is comprised of the pictures I've taken in various places...and I'm pretty well documenting every single gelato I've eaten since I've been here. So far, I've missed 2 gelato photo opportunities.
The highlight of last week was meeting up with Ciclismo Classico in Gubbio and riding with them to Spello. I have pics, will post later (hopefully!) Great time to visit with Frank & Marcello, the same two guides from my trip last summer. It's weird to look back on last summer...Frank reminded me of how little Italian I knew back then (I remember not knowing the definition of va bene, sort of the cornerstone of the Italian language) and now I can understand the full conversation when people speak good Italian (not slang).
We also got together in Bevagna for the opening ceremony of their medieval week. I ended up seeing 3 cousins while I was there that evening. It's cool to have historical ties to a place, but even cooler to have living, breathing relatives in a place who are close enough on the family tree to see the resemblance to the rest of the family!
Here's a pic with me and Prof Piatti. He is a friend of Ciclismo's (lives in Bevagna) and he (via Marcello) helped me to get in touch with my relatives here last summer. We ran into him, as well, Thursday evening after the show. He looks much younger than this in person.
This coming week is my one and only exam for the past 2 1/2 months of Italian classes. I have been great at sitting down for hours at a time studying when there isn't an exam coming up...just when I want to know Italian better. Today it was really hard to force myself to study (and it was raining so it's not like I had an option to do much else). While I was taking breaks from studying, I found myself on Monster.com checking out the work scene in the world. It's becoming time to start figuring out what comes next, though I have a sneaking suspicion it might take more than a month or two to get to where I'm going (which is not yet known).
Reading job descriptions just makes me shutter. Really, you want someone who has a passion for something that is absolutely impossible to be passionate about? And you want him/her to do this meaningless work for all of the good hours every single day? Good luck to the "lucky" candidate. I've received more than one email from friends encouraging me to not re-enter the working world as they are currently in the process of being overly stressed out with their jobs.
I'll leave it at that for tonight. I'm still too full to fall asleep, but I have an Italian newspaper that should make for good reading material prior to shutting off the lights. (Actually, reading in English puts me to sleep, in Italian it wakes me up since I have to look up words and be very actively thinking about each word as I'm reading.)
Buona notte a tutti and THANK YOU to the wonderful DADs in my family AND to the wonderful MOMs who bridge the communication gaps to the DADs!!!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Ho Capito.
Mi dispiace, amerai a scrivere più qui, ma c'è non abbastanza tempo. Tutto i giorni sono come una settimana, ci sono troppo cose sempre a dirvi!!! La cultura di Italia, la cultura di le gare, come persone allenare per le gare, le modifiche di me stesso...
La settimana scorsa c'era no gare, quindi c'era tempo per le altra attività! Ho visto una bella fattoria con dei animale grande , questa fattoria è il tipo di romanzi della vita Italia. I carni di questa fattoria è più buona per la salute...i animali mangiano erba e hanno molto terrazza per pascolo.
Sono andata in bicicletta tutto i giorni con amici. Dopo, siamo andati in una piscina in Toscana. Il tramonto ha stato bellissimo!!! E naturalmente, abbiamo mangiato una pizza. Sono passato il intero fine settimana con i miei amici Italiani e era molto divertimento. Sì, ho studiato, anche durante il tempo.
Questa settimana, divento una ragazza Italiana. Mio amico mi serve. Oggi mi sono tagliata i capelli a un posto che lui conosce. Domani compererò le robe più femmina. Vestiti di REI (i vestiti che persone indossano di solito in Colorado) non sono va bene in Italia!!!
Oggi ho mangiato con i miei amici di Cina...il cibo Cinese è molto buono e va bene per la salute! Anche divento Cinese...posso mangiare dei arachidi con bacchette.
La ultima cosa per questa blog è: mio amico ed io possiamo avere conversazione lunghe e lui ha detta alla sua madre sta sera che io posso capire tutto conversazione senza slang. Questa è un sentimento strano: quando ho ascoltato bene, HO CAPITO!!! E le parole sono cominciano a fluire per conversazione casuale. Realizzo più ogni giorno come simile la lingua Inglese e la lingua Italiana sono. Spesso provo a indovinare per le parole giusto...è abbastanza del tempo, i Italiani hanno capito che cosa ho detto.
La settimana scorsa c'era no gare, quindi c'era tempo per le altra attività! Ho visto una bella fattoria con dei animale grande , questa fattoria è il tipo di romanzi della vita Italia. I carni di questa fattoria è più buona per la salute...i animali mangiano erba e hanno molto terrazza per pascolo.
Sono andata in bicicletta tutto i giorni con amici. Dopo, siamo andati in una piscina in Toscana. Il tramonto ha stato bellissimo!!! E naturalmente, abbiamo mangiato una pizza. Sono passato il intero fine settimana con i miei amici Italiani e era molto divertimento. Sì, ho studiato, anche durante il tempo.
Questa settimana, divento una ragazza Italiana. Mio amico mi serve. Oggi mi sono tagliata i capelli a un posto che lui conosce. Domani compererò le robe più femmina. Vestiti di REI (i vestiti che persone indossano di solito in Colorado) non sono va bene in Italia!!!
Oggi ho mangiato con i miei amici di Cina...il cibo Cinese è molto buono e va bene per la salute! Anche divento Cinese...posso mangiare dei arachidi con bacchette.
La ultima cosa per questa blog è: mio amico ed io possiamo avere conversazione lunghe e lui ha detta alla sua madre sta sera che io posso capire tutto conversazione senza slang. Questa è un sentimento strano: quando ho ascoltato bene, HO CAPITO!!! E le parole sono cominciano a fluire per conversazione casuale. Realizzo più ogni giorno come simile la lingua Inglese e la lingua Italiana sono. Spesso provo a indovinare per le parole giusto...è abbastanza del tempo, i Italiani hanno capito che cosa ho detto.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Maratona Appennini
Oggi era ancora una altra gara non troppo lontano di Perugia. Questa gara era il più difficile gara di mia vita perché due ragioni...1) 93 miles è più lungo, 7742 feet di dislivello è più salite di quanto io ho fatto in una gara e non sono andata questo tipo di giro in bicicletta in il passato 2 anni. Numero 2) Il tempo (weather) era pazzo! Ho fatto solo 2 o 3 gare in mia vita con pioggia. Oggi, il tempo cambiavo molto, cominciava a pioggia a meno 9 volti durante il gara...A uno punto (chilometri 90), ha stato un acquazzone. Era molte discese technicale ma ho paura durante queste parti. Il tempo era caldo uno minuto, e dopo era freddo.
Lungo storia corto, la gara andava trascorso bei paesaggi, ma era difficile a piacere perchè i condizioni. Sono contenta con la partenza...prima la partenza, Mario Cipollini (un bravo corridore Italiano) ha venuto alla gara e lui diceva. Ho avuto una grande vista davante le altre corridore. Comincivava piove essactamente alla partenza.
Il mio posto era 2° (second) in mia gara...ho ricevuto una maglieta (mi piace) e duo bottigile di vino. Anche, questa:
Dopo la gara (e pasta festa, naturalmente...ho mangiato troppo prosciutto, ma non bevevo vino perché era bianca e nella scatola), noi abbiamo mangiato gelato insieme (con persone di la squadra)...i miei gambe era (e ancora) sono assolutamente stanche!!! I miei compagni di squadra erano contenti, anche, ma nessuno hanno piaciuto i condizioni.
Vorrei studiare adesso, già ho comprato 4 libri nuovi per la lingua Italiana e non vedo l'ora a cominciare leggere. Se non leggi bene perchè il traduttore non è va bene, perfavorè mi chiedi domande.
English note: 1. a corridore is the term for bike racer as well as runner. 2. Cipollini looks larger than life, dude is solid muscle. The world champ woman (M. Gorini) won my race and prior to the race, she had pictures taken with Cipollini. On the podium after the race, I asked her about how she liked meeting him. 3. I wrote this yesterday, but the internet broke and I fell asleep really early!
Lungo storia corto, la gara andava trascorso bei paesaggi, ma era difficile a piacere perchè i condizioni. Sono contenta con la partenza...prima la partenza, Mario Cipollini (un bravo corridore Italiano) ha venuto alla gara e lui diceva. Ho avuto una grande vista davante le altre corridore. Comincivava piove essactamente alla partenza.
Il mio posto era 2° (second) in mia gara...ho ricevuto una maglieta (mi piace) e duo bottigile di vino. Anche, questa:
Dopo la gara (e pasta festa, naturalmente...ho mangiato troppo prosciutto, ma non bevevo vino perché era bianca e nella scatola), noi abbiamo mangiato gelato insieme (con persone di la squadra)...i miei gambe era (e ancora) sono assolutamente stanche!!! I miei compagni di squadra erano contenti, anche, ma nessuno hanno piaciuto i condizioni.
Vorrei studiare adesso, già ho comprato 4 libri nuovi per la lingua Italiana e non vedo l'ora a cominciare leggere. Se non leggi bene perchè il traduttore non è va bene, perfavorè mi chiedi domande.
English note: 1. a corridore is the term for bike racer as well as runner. 2. Cipollini looks larger than life, dude is solid muscle. The world champ woman (M. Gorini) won my race and prior to the race, she had pictures taken with Cipollini. On the podium after the race, I asked her about how she liked meeting him. 3. I wrote this yesterday, but the internet broke and I fell asleep really early!
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Sono qui...
Ciao a tutti! Ho ricevuto molto email di voi relativa questo blog. Dopo molto pensa, ho deciso che è importante avere un blog, ma quando scrivo, devo scrivere in Italiano. Quindi, è possibile che le storie sarà più corti e difficile per voi a capire. Mi dispiace! Ma ho bisogno imparare la lingua Italiano cosi. Anche, se tu sai Italiano e vedi errori, perfavorè dimme sapere.
Oggi ho comprato i libri per Italiano per studenti con conoscenza di Inglese. Sarà bello sapere dove le differenze sono tra Inglese e Italiano. Non vedo l'ora quando comincio gli leggere.
Dopo scriverò più...ci sono qualcosa a scrivere di la fine settimana scorsa e domani, una altra Gran Fondo (gara) ...piove domani...domani è uguale in Italia alla 4th di Luglio in America.
Un grande GRAZIE per noi persone in il militare per voi servizio a noi Paese (mi dispiace, questo messaggio è un po' tardi per Memorial Day).
Ciao ciao e baci!
Oggi ho comprato i libri per Italiano per studenti con conoscenza di Inglese. Sarà bello sapere dove le differenze sono tra Inglese e Italiano. Non vedo l'ora quando comincio gli leggere.
Dopo scriverò più...ci sono qualcosa a scrivere di la fine settimana scorsa e domani, una altra Gran Fondo (gara) ...piove domani...domani è uguale in Italia alla 4th di Luglio in America.
Un grande GRAZIE per noi persone in il militare per voi servizio a noi Paese (mi dispiace, questo messaggio è un po' tardi per Memorial Day).
Ciao ciao e baci!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Full Immersion
If yesterday was the best day I've had in Italy so far, today was the worst (granted it really wasn't that bad, I just one too many difficult Italian conversations). I'm shutting down the blog for awhile, possibly the rest of the summer. I wanted to share this experience with everyone, but the blog and computer severely cut into my Italian time. It's too high of a cost. I really, really, really want to be good at this language and the realization that June is here just hit. One more month...a lot of people are expecting me to be fluent in that time (including myself) and I'm just not there yet.
I'm going into full-immersion mode. I'll talk to family members in English, but September isn't far away. I will get back in touch with everyone else when I get back home. Know I'm thinking about you always, but the thoughts have to be in Italian now. As long as I'm here, I really need to be here: body, mind and soul.
Hugs and kisses to all!!! Ciao e ci vediamo presto!
I'm going into full-immersion mode. I'll talk to family members in English, but September isn't far away. I will get back in touch with everyone else when I get back home. Know I'm thinking about you always, but the thoughts have to be in Italian now. As long as I'm here, I really need to be here: body, mind and soul.
Hugs and kisses to all!!! Ciao e ci vediamo presto!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Magic of Bevagna
Today (yesterday now that I'm posting this, internet was broken, still is) was most likely the single best day of my Italian life thus far. This one is for the story books.
The day began as an average day, I took my time with breakfast, studied a bit and passed time before going for a ride. Today was said to be a bellisima day in the Giro d'Italia...one not to miss. I'd had a ride planned with a friend, but he was tired and interested in watching today's stage of the giro...and it was supposed to rain as well, so we scrapped the ride.
Hmmm, said I to myself, "Self, what shall I do today?" A full day with nothing scheduled and warm enough that if it does rain, I really don't care too much. It's been a burning priority to get to Bevagna to see my cousin (he's in his upper 80s, I had met him last summer when I came to Italy). It was great last summer, I had Marcello (Ciclismo guide) as a translator so my cousin talked to him and Marcello translated. I couldn't understand anything he said and I knew that when I would return, I'd need to have a certain proficiency in Italian.
Earlier this week, I had a nice conversation with the father of one of my Italian friends. Considering the ease of that exchange, I decided that the time had come, it would be okay for me to pay a visit to my cousin.
It's not a long ride to Bevagna, but I felt like I couldn't go fast today. The big discovery of the day was an Italian school bus. It looks fairly different from a school bus in the states (though yes, it's yellow), but the children waving in the back window gave away the vechicle's purpose. For a few moments, I decided it would be totally cool to chase after the bus and wave to the kids. That was the first magic moment of the day. I laughed outloud from the joy of watching those kids as they kept waving. I waved back and gave it everything I had to stay in the draft of the bus. For all I know, one of those little girls will be inspired and ride a bike when she grows up.
A few minutes later I was in Bevagna. I got there during siesta and this is a town that takes its siesta time very seriously so the place was quiet. Seemed to make sense to ride into town, look for a gift of some sort for my cousin and check the place out. For all I knew, I'd find him sitting on an outside bench as many of the elderly can be seen doing every day. Take note: the elderly here grow old together, in their community, supported by each other and their families. And they live an incredibly long time.
I rode over to the main piazza and saw some people eating lunch at some outside tables. I overheard the conversation and it sounded like American English to me, so I strolled over and asked them where they're from. Tennessee. Really cool couple, they come to Italy a lot, even for the weekend sometimes. I tell them I'm from Colorado and we chat for a moment. They turn and tell me that the couple sitting a few tables down is from Colorado. Ha ha! Two days in a row of Coloradoans and Americans, and in Bevagna.
Then, something happened that was surreal: I looked up and took a closer look. I stammered, "YOU WERE MY PROFESSOR AT CU!!!!!!" The couple from Tenessee enjoyed watching my jaw drop and this reunion of sorts. This was Professor Zable, he was one of my two favorite mechanical engineering professors at CU; I hadn't seen him in 10 years. He and his wife had just sat down for lunch so I joined them for a good conversation. It was a very odd full-circle sort of thing: I told the story of why I came to Italy, how I wished there had been more liberal arts classes and study abroad expereinces as an engineering major, etc. I told him about the Sharp Shooters (senior design group members) and caught him up on what everyone is doing with their professional lives. He told me about what's up with the mechanical engineering program at CU--really sounds like a vastly different (improved) program than when I went there.
He and his wife had gone on the Arnaldo-Caprai winery tour and the owner of the winery happened to be in that restaurant for lunch as well at the time. They introduced us and I explained the random situation to him. He was super sweet. I was glad to be able to thank him for the wonderful wine that we got at the Montefalco Gran Fondo a few weeks ago.
I'll post the picture as soon as I can, the internet is broken yet again so it comes on for 2 seconds and is gone again for 10 minutes...
It was time to part, but not yet the end of siesta so I found one of the only open bars and found bread with salt and rosemary on top. Outside of the bar was a bench with two sweet looking older gentlemen. So I plopped down next to them and started talking. Turns out one is 96...didn't look a day over 80 to me, though. Of course, they're both from Bevagna. I have a hard time finding locals who aren't still living in the same place where they were born.
I wished them a good afternoon, went shopping and then headed to where I was hoping was my cousin's house. He had pointed it out last summer, but you never know if it's really on one side or the other or something...
There were a couple of men working in the front yard putting in a new front porch. I spoke to one who looked to be in his mid-sixties and told him that I was looking for my cousin and did he know where I could find him? He looks up at me, tips his hat back (the same kind of hat my grandpa in the US wears) and it's only then that I realize this IS my cousin! And he realizes that it's me, the girl from last summer! He looked so young to me, I didn't recognize him. It's the hat hiding his gray hair. The hair is the only thing on this man that signifies old age. If I remember correctly, he's almost 90. No possible way.
I was able to talk to him and I could even understand a lot of what he said. He started to go into a story about a thief, but the story got too complicated for me to follow. He asked me about my grandma, I was so happy to be able to tell him that she is in great health and she smiles a lot. He spoke about Dora, he really remembers her well, he also asked about their brother and his children (part of this conversation got lost in translation). I met his son-in-law and we spoke for a few minutes. He invited me to lunch in a few days. He said someone will be there who knows some English. I am willing to bet that the English-speaker will only know the words in English that I have no problems with in Italian (frequent occurrence...actually I prefer when the conversation stays in Italian and people re-word things for me to understand better). I will be there, I can't wait.
I handed my sweet cousin the picture of the two of us together last summer, he took my heart. "Sono molto contento che sei qua." This translates to, "I am very happy that you are here."
I couldn't wait to blog this story, so I tried to make better time getting home. But there was one last stop to make on the way...
Today was the birthday of my friend's mother. She has been so wonderful to me, I wanted to do something for her. It also gives me a bit of heartburn that I'm not around my family for their birthdays and Mother's Day so couldn't do anything for the mothers in my family...I figured a nice bunch of flowers for her would be the equivalent of a gift to all mothers, in general. It was a fun experience of going to the flower shop, telling her what I wanted (very simple) and watching her create this amazing bouquet of yellow and orange roses. And the price was incredibly low compared to American prices.
On my way to the shop, I heard a honk from a car. I looked up and it was my friend's father, smiling and waving. Again, I know I'm repeating myself, but being part of a community is awesome and I feel like I have a place in this one. It's the whole "Cheers" concept.
After delivering the flowers and a short conversation, I made my way back home. On the way I ran into my friend...he had already heard about the flowers. I told him about the visit with my cousin and the small world story of my former professor. He appreciated hearing it. He told me about the Giro (bellisima and Ivan Basso is in the leader's jersey so the stage couldn't have been any better for an Italian). I realized that I'd completely missed it after getting sidetracked in la-la land with all of everything that had happened in Bevagna. We parted and I got home the moment a storm rolled through.
There's actually even more that happened tonight (open-air rock band/huge party in Perugia). I went with my roommate and her friends. That was cool to hang with her crowd for awhile. We met up with our other roommates (her bro, his fiancè and our other roommate). They had a bunch of friends over for a couple of days from Rome--5 extra people here, but it seemed to work okay for them. No problem for me, the more the merrier. Back to the concert: I can't understand English being spoken when there's loud music around. Forget it when it comes to Italian. At one point I asked her if the band was singing in English or Italian. English. Ha!
All in a single Italian day...
The day began as an average day, I took my time with breakfast, studied a bit and passed time before going for a ride. Today was said to be a bellisima day in the Giro d'Italia...one not to miss. I'd had a ride planned with a friend, but he was tired and interested in watching today's stage of the giro...and it was supposed to rain as well, so we scrapped the ride.
Hmmm, said I to myself, "Self, what shall I do today?" A full day with nothing scheduled and warm enough that if it does rain, I really don't care too much. It's been a burning priority to get to Bevagna to see my cousin (he's in his upper 80s, I had met him last summer when I came to Italy). It was great last summer, I had Marcello (Ciclismo guide) as a translator so my cousin talked to him and Marcello translated. I couldn't understand anything he said and I knew that when I would return, I'd need to have a certain proficiency in Italian.
Earlier this week, I had a nice conversation with the father of one of my Italian friends. Considering the ease of that exchange, I decided that the time had come, it would be okay for me to pay a visit to my cousin.
It's not a long ride to Bevagna, but I felt like I couldn't go fast today. The big discovery of the day was an Italian school bus. It looks fairly different from a school bus in the states (though yes, it's yellow), but the children waving in the back window gave away the vechicle's purpose. For a few moments, I decided it would be totally cool to chase after the bus and wave to the kids. That was the first magic moment of the day. I laughed outloud from the joy of watching those kids as they kept waving. I waved back and gave it everything I had to stay in the draft of the bus. For all I know, one of those little girls will be inspired and ride a bike when she grows up.
A few minutes later I was in Bevagna. I got there during siesta and this is a town that takes its siesta time very seriously so the place was quiet. Seemed to make sense to ride into town, look for a gift of some sort for my cousin and check the place out. For all I knew, I'd find him sitting on an outside bench as many of the elderly can be seen doing every day. Take note: the elderly here grow old together, in their community, supported by each other and their families. And they live an incredibly long time.
I rode over to the main piazza and saw some people eating lunch at some outside tables. I overheard the conversation and it sounded like American English to me, so I strolled over and asked them where they're from. Tennessee. Really cool couple, they come to Italy a lot, even for the weekend sometimes. I tell them I'm from Colorado and we chat for a moment. They turn and tell me that the couple sitting a few tables down is from Colorado. Ha ha! Two days in a row of Coloradoans and Americans, and in Bevagna.
Then, something happened that was surreal: I looked up and took a closer look. I stammered, "YOU WERE MY PROFESSOR AT CU!!!!!!" The couple from Tenessee enjoyed watching my jaw drop and this reunion of sorts. This was Professor Zable, he was one of my two favorite mechanical engineering professors at CU; I hadn't seen him in 10 years. He and his wife had just sat down for lunch so I joined them for a good conversation. It was a very odd full-circle sort of thing: I told the story of why I came to Italy, how I wished there had been more liberal arts classes and study abroad expereinces as an engineering major, etc. I told him about the Sharp Shooters (senior design group members) and caught him up on what everyone is doing with their professional lives. He told me about what's up with the mechanical engineering program at CU--really sounds like a vastly different (improved) program than when I went there.
He and his wife had gone on the Arnaldo-Caprai winery tour and the owner of the winery happened to be in that restaurant for lunch as well at the time. They introduced us and I explained the random situation to him. He was super sweet. I was glad to be able to thank him for the wonderful wine that we got at the Montefalco Gran Fondo a few weeks ago.
I'll post the picture as soon as I can, the internet is broken yet again so it comes on for 2 seconds and is gone again for 10 minutes...
It was time to part, but not yet the end of siesta so I found one of the only open bars and found bread with salt and rosemary on top. Outside of the bar was a bench with two sweet looking older gentlemen. So I plopped down next to them and started talking. Turns out one is 96...didn't look a day over 80 to me, though. Of course, they're both from Bevagna. I have a hard time finding locals who aren't still living in the same place where they were born.
I wished them a good afternoon, went shopping and then headed to where I was hoping was my cousin's house. He had pointed it out last summer, but you never know if it's really on one side or the other or something...
There were a couple of men working in the front yard putting in a new front porch. I spoke to one who looked to be in his mid-sixties and told him that I was looking for my cousin and did he know where I could find him? He looks up at me, tips his hat back (the same kind of hat my grandpa in the US wears) and it's only then that I realize this IS my cousin! And he realizes that it's me, the girl from last summer! He looked so young to me, I didn't recognize him. It's the hat hiding his gray hair. The hair is the only thing on this man that signifies old age. If I remember correctly, he's almost 90. No possible way.
I was able to talk to him and I could even understand a lot of what he said. He started to go into a story about a thief, but the story got too complicated for me to follow. He asked me about my grandma, I was so happy to be able to tell him that she is in great health and she smiles a lot. He spoke about Dora, he really remembers her well, he also asked about their brother and his children (part of this conversation got lost in translation). I met his son-in-law and we spoke for a few minutes. He invited me to lunch in a few days. He said someone will be there who knows some English. I am willing to bet that the English-speaker will only know the words in English that I have no problems with in Italian (frequent occurrence...actually I prefer when the conversation stays in Italian and people re-word things for me to understand better). I will be there, I can't wait.
I handed my sweet cousin the picture of the two of us together last summer, he took my heart. "Sono molto contento che sei qua." This translates to, "I am very happy that you are here."
I couldn't wait to blog this story, so I tried to make better time getting home. But there was one last stop to make on the way...
Today was the birthday of my friend's mother. She has been so wonderful to me, I wanted to do something for her. It also gives me a bit of heartburn that I'm not around my family for their birthdays and Mother's Day so couldn't do anything for the mothers in my family...I figured a nice bunch of flowers for her would be the equivalent of a gift to all mothers, in general. It was a fun experience of going to the flower shop, telling her what I wanted (very simple) and watching her create this amazing bouquet of yellow and orange roses. And the price was incredibly low compared to American prices.
On my way to the shop, I heard a honk from a car. I looked up and it was my friend's father, smiling and waving. Again, I know I'm repeating myself, but being part of a community is awesome and I feel like I have a place in this one. It's the whole "Cheers" concept.
After delivering the flowers and a short conversation, I made my way back home. On the way I ran into my friend...he had already heard about the flowers. I told him about the visit with my cousin and the small world story of my former professor. He appreciated hearing it. He told me about the Giro (bellisima and Ivan Basso is in the leader's jersey so the stage couldn't have been any better for an Italian). I realized that I'd completely missed it after getting sidetracked in la-la land with all of everything that had happened in Bevagna. We parted and I got home the moment a storm rolled through.
There's actually even more that happened tonight (open-air rock band/huge party in Perugia). I went with my roommate and her friends. That was cool to hang with her crowd for awhile. We met up with our other roommates (her bro, his fiancè and our other roommate). They had a bunch of friends over for a couple of days from Rome--5 extra people here, but it seemed to work okay for them. No problem for me, the more the merrier. Back to the concert: I can't understand English being spoken when there's loud music around. Forget it when it comes to Italian. At one point I asked her if the band was singing in English or Italian. English. Ha!
All in a single Italian day...
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