Its June already! I feel like time is passing me by. Since I last wrote I’ve done a bit of travelling. I spent a week in Greece with my classmates. Definitely somewhere to go back to! We were situated in Thessaloniki. A beautiful city, with ancient ruins, a harbour and buzzing with history, good food and simply enjoyable.
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| Sunset in Thessaloniki |
My only problem was that I did not speak any Greek. I think I would have had a richer experience if I was able to understand some of the jokes and proverbs that the producers were saying rather than hearing a diluted translation. Although the fact that it is quite a big tourist destination many people around spoke English, I found myself reverting to Italian when shop vendors asked me a questions.
Six months into living in Northern Italy I can slowly begin to say that sono italiano, I am Italian (well I’m becoming Italian to say the least). That is because I can now understand the language- well quite a lot! I had my last Italian lesson this past Thursday and I've realised that I really like the language and the people, their food is a given like. Who doesn’t like Italian cuisine?
I found myself at a party last week and everyone their spoke Italian. Solo italianao- only Italian. Well some of them reverted to English for a few sentences when my face expressed incomprehension of the conversation. I made it through the few hours with my basic vocabulary, rudimentary grammar skills. Somehow the Itailan speakers were gracious enough not to laugh too much at my attempts of using correct Italian grammar but actually corrected me and praised my attempts and encouraged me to continue speaking.
I find myself thinking in Italian, well only for shopping purposes. A friend of mine pointed out that our shopping and food Italian is close to excellent. We can order food and drink and do our grocery shopping comfortably without any hassle. When it comes to real life, that’s another story. But I’m working on that. I stumbled upon a book, Labella Lingua: My Love Affair With Italian, The world’s Most Enchanting Language by Dianne Hales. I relate so much to the experiences of navigating the Italian language and the people. It’s a complex but worthwhile process.
As E.M. Forster once said, “Love and understand the Italians, for the people are more marvellous than the land”. I share this sentiment. As an anthropologist you learn that it is the people who shape your experience. Learning about food culture here in Italy not worthwhile without the addition of all the characters you meet in the process.
For example, going to the local shop for frutta e verdure is not just a trip for seasonal vegetables and fruit, there is always a conversation with the shop keepers and a smile and a pleasant arrivederci e buona giornata/serata/domenica- goodbye and good day/night/Sunday,when you leave the shop. The same goes to visiting the butchery. The singora at the macelleria is always willing to tell me how to cook a particular cut of meat. A while back, I got a cut that was “solo per bolito” only for boiling or a stew. I paid for my cut of vitello-veal, and off I went to make a stew. When I returned about a week later the singora asked how my stew turned out. I replied, with recently acquired knowledge of the use of the past tense lo stufato era buono- the stew was good.
At the moment I think the busiest shopkeepers are from the gelaterie- ice cream shops. With the heat of summer gracing us here in Northern Italy, there is a constant demand for cool, refreshing and sometimes comforting gelato in all flavours. I’m partial to the fruit flavours especially, fragola, lampone e frutta di bosco- strawberry, raspberry and berries. After my friend’s persuasion; because of her love for the flavours, pistachio e nocciola- pistachio and hazelnut are growing on me. The safest option is always fior di latte, I would describe it as vanilla, but so but better and creamier!
So here I am writing and throwing in the odd Italian word and thinking in Italian, not to mention listening to some Italian music in an attempt to make sure that by the time I leave Italy sometime in the near future I'll have understood the Italian people as well as their food. But for now, arrivederci.
