Buongiorno! Da quanto tempo (long time no see)!

Ciao miei amici!

Sono speranza! I am hopeless! But I’m sure you can forgive me! I hope! Transitioning back to life in New Zealand hasn’t been hard for me! But I think l’italiano marito (the italian husband) may be struggling a little bit! I can’t believe we have been here for nearly 5 months! And married for 4 1/2 months already! (And I still haven’t sent all my thank you cards out yet… oops)

But while I may have been back in Nuova Zelanda and for me it feels as though I never left… I haven’t let that stop me from learning italian! Because now that I’ve married an italian I want to be able to speak it even more! It has given me a new sense of desire to understand and communicate in this bella lingua!

Before we got married we had decided to write our own wedding vows, and because I knew it would be hard for Teo to get married in a foreign country that he had arrived into 5 days before I wanted to say my vows to him first in italian just for him, then in english for the benefit of everyone else. Since we only had one other italian at the wedding, standing by Teo’s side, his bello cugino Daniele. So with the help of youtube, some disney songs in italian with english subtitles, I even managed to get some rhyming in there, and I will share it all with you now 🙂

Oggi, per la prima volta
Proprio come per magia
Ho la vita che sognavo
Ho sperato molte volte in qualcosa per me
Come un fulmine sei comparso tu
Forse il sogno e già realtà
Chissa!
Abbiamo fatto un duetto
Che sembra proprio perfetto
Tu ormai lo sai più di me
Io ricordo in un attimo quel che amo
La gioia che provo pensando a te
Se la strada non è dritta e ci sono duemilla pericoli
Ti basti solo ricordare che
sono con te
I tuoi problemi sono anche i miei
E non c’è nulla che io non farei per te
Non dovrai scappare
Sul mio aiuto puoi contare
Non sei più da sola ormai
Se le forze uniremo
So che noi ci riusciremo
Mai nessuno ti vorrà mai bene quanto me
Perché il destino ha deciso
Per essere insieme
E nessuno la spezzerà mai
La mia terra e il mio cielo sarai
Anche chi non c’è più ci protègè da lassù
Sei la mia anima gemella
Non vedo l’ora di passare il resto della mia vita con te
Oggi io ho il mio nuovo sogno sente che sei tu
Ogni dubbio va via
Ti voglio sempre al mio fianco
Io ti proteggerò, non temere
Dì addio alla malinconia
Non ti lascerò
Perché lo so che tu sei tutto ciò che
Resto qui
Non andrò mai via
Da oggi tu sei casa mia
Ti amo

reading of the vows

and now in english 🙂

Today, for the first time
Just as by magic
I’m going to have what I dreamed of
So many times did I hope in something for me
Then you appeared like lightening
Maybe my dream is already reality
Who knows!
We’re a duet
That seems just perfect
And you know it better than me
I remember in a moment what I love
The joy I feel I feel thinking about you.
If the road is not straight and there are two thousand dangers
It will be enough only to remember that I am with you
You’re problems are also mine
And there is nothing that I would not do for you
You won’t have to run away
You can rely on my help
You’re no longer alone
If we join forces
I know we can make it
No one will ever love you as much as I do
Because destiny has decided
for us to be together
And no one will every break it.
You will be my land and sky
Even who is not anymore will protect us from up there
You are my soul mate
I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you
I can’t wait to grow old with you
Today I have my new dream I feel that you are the one
Every doubt goes away
I want you always by my side
I will protect you, don’t be worried
Say goodbye to sadness
I will never leave you
Because I know that you are everything
I’m staying here
I will never go away
Starting from today, you’re my home
I love you

con il miei due belli italiani!

It was such a lovely day for a beautiful kiwi-italian matrimonio! But gosh it feels like forever ago now, I guess because it was all so quick, after arriving back here to Nuova Zelanda on the Tuesday to getting married on the Friday, it all happened so very very quickly! But I wouldn’t change it for a bit! It was one of the best days of my life! (And I hope Teo thinks the same too! haha) I know it was hard for him being far away from all la famiglia, but maybe one day when we are a bit more financial we can have a renewal of vows in italy 🙂 that would be very cool!

My beautiful girls on my special day!

After our whirlwind wedding, and just coming back from Italy, we didn’t have much of a honeymoon, but went and saw some beautiful sites around the south island as much as we could before we had to get back into the grind and find jobs and have responsibilities again!

Stop over on the way to Punakaiki

Punakaiki – Home of the pancake rocks

super excited about this blue ocean Nuova Zelanda has!

Stopover on the way to Picton! Time for lunch!

The Picton foreshore!

Some people have too much money haha! But beautiful sunsets!

Charlotte Sounds – Picton

New Brighton Pier – Christchurch! A day where we celebrated Mamma Stefania’s birthday!

getting up close and personal with a Llama at Willowbank Wildlife centre!

So we have managed to do a few things since arriving back in this country! I am reminded how beautiful New Zealand is! Every Country is different and beautiful, but for different reasons. I mean, I LOVE ITALIA! I would move there in a heartbeat if the economy wasn’t so broken and Matteo would actually move home haha! And it is so beautiful because of all the rich history that is within the very walls of the things you see everywhere, and the sea and beautiful views. But then New Zealand is beautiful for completely different reasons, where we have seen, which is the South Island, it is still so untouched by people. Still so raw in its history, and beautiful in just simple everyday views that you see. I love both countries that I like to call mia casa but for different reasons. ahhhh! It’s very frustrating!

But I can now have a conversation in Italian, albeit a very broken, grammatically incorrect conversation, but still a conversation, and if they speak slowly, ho capito! (I understand), and that is thanks to my wonderful italian teacher Francesca! as soon as I got a job here in Christchurch, I went in search for an italian teacher, because let’s face it… Teo is a lost cause for teaching me, and he’s too lazy because it takes me about 3 times of repeating to understand it, and he gets frustrated if I don’t get it the first time! haha! So I have to then pay someone to teach me, and it’s paying off! I am understanding things so much better, even when I am naughty and don’t do my homework until just before I’m heading to my lesson… hehe, but she only talks to me the whole hour lesson in italian, and it’s only if I really don’t get something, that she will break into english. But she is fantastic! So bring on June next year, because we are planning a trip to Italy, and I’m going to blow everyones mind with how good my italian has gotten, even though I haven’t been there! hehe!

Plus I write letters to la famiglia in italy, and Matteo translates them to italian, then I rewrite them in italian, so that is helping too! I have a special box for all the replies I get. So far just Nonna, nonni and Chiappa! But that’s ok! They are all so wonderful! And I love sending special surprises to everyone over there! 🙂 hehe

Well I promise I won’t take so long to write next time!

ciao a tutti!

tua amica

Anna 🙂

Arrivederci Italia….. Bentornata in Nuova Zelanda

Ciao a tutti,

As you can imagine a lot as happened for us these past couple of months. Unfortunately the internet we were using from Matteo’s aunties house (which was the flat below where we were staying) was rather slow where we were, so I was unable to document a lot of the things we did, but I will tell you some more about them later 🙂

Saying goodbye is always a difficult task, especially when you are going half way across the world, it wasn’t like going to London where we could just get on a plane and two hours later be back in Italy. Unfortunately this time, we would be travelling on two planes that are around 12 hours in flight time each, with a forced stop over, so it’s a big difference between Italy – to London and Italy – to New Zealand! ahhhhh! Although it was funny, because Matteo couldn’t understand it that way, because he had never travelled that far before, all his aunties were crying, and the Nonnas were crying, and I was crying right there along with them, and when we left Matteo said to me “They didn’t cry when I moved to London, why are they crying now?” haha, yea I wonder…. It’s a much more expensive trip to New Zealand, rather than a cheap flight from London! Really Matteo…. but I guess as he had never travelled that distance before, it was a much different understanding for him, that it was for me.

But I have to say, Long haul flights are pretty comfy, we were flying with Singapore airlines, and it was absolutely wonderful. Matteo was saying he felt like he was in first class! haha it was awesome 🙂

Got to have some fun while on the plane! Pisolo all comfy in his own seat on the plane! Safety first 😛

After a 12 hour flight from Rome to Singapore, and a 12 hour stop over in Singapore, we made our way this Changi Airport, straight to the showers. It gets a bit expensive if you have more that one shower, like Matteo did at $16pp, but better to be clean I guess! Singapore airport was amazing! I loved the foot massage chairs, I spent so long on them! hehehehehe! And the butterfly garden was just beautiful! We signed up for the free tour of Singapore, and went on a bus tour, and got to stop at the MerLion to have photos. The first thing I noticed when we stepped out in Singapore was the heat and humidity. When we stepped out to see the MerLion, I literally couldn’t open my eyes properly when Matteo was trying to take a photo of me. The humidity was just taking it’s toll so much! I made the mistake of not bringing my sunglasses. Definitely something I won’t be doing again if we ever make it back to Singapore!

As you can see, we are both struggling to keep our eyes open!

After our 12 hour stop over, we were finally on the home stretch, we sat next to a young girl who had a bladder of steel, seriously, it was a 10 hour flight, and they give you so much liquid on the plane, and she didn’t get up once! We were worried because we wanted to sleep, but we didn’t want to get woken up by someone wanting to go to the bathroom, so we were very lucky! We arrived in Christchurch an hour earlier than we were supposed to, I guess due to a tail wind or something. So we were waiting for about an hour for my mother and step father to collect us. I was really surprised that it was sunny, and warm when we arrived, because I thought coming into Autumn it would start to become cold!

My parents finally arrived, it was so nice to see my mummy again! But then we had one day of rest, then it was straight it to last minute wedding organising, it ended up being a rather stressful couple of days that I had to finish all the arrangements. But finally it was D day! The day Matteo and I had been waiting for, it was like a fairytale, it was all quite a blur, from waking up in the morning at my grandmothers, to getting my hair and make up done, putting on my dress and waiting for my mum to arrive to take me to the church, where my God Father was giving me away, and we were saying our wedding vows in both italian and english (and woohoo, Matteo understood 90% of what I was saying when I was saying it in Italian) Then photo time, and party time! hehe! It was a great day! And now for the beginning of the rest of our lives!

Signore e Signora Castellani

After our whirlwind wedding, it was lots of visiting family members, we didn’t really get much of a honeymoon, because we couldn’t afford it, but maybe one day soon :), poor Matteo was feeling a bit like scrambled eggs, because he was going to so many different places all the time, without getting to settle anywhere. We went and staying with my father and his family over the easter break, and then went back home to where my mum is for another few days, we were planning to stay longer, but then decided we just wanted to go to Christchurch sooner, so now we are here in Christchurch, Matteo found a job very quickly, thanks to my wonderful step brother, as a labourer. I’m still looking! Hopefully I will find something soon!

I am just hoping I don’t lose all my italian that I had improved so much after 5 weeks in Italy 😦 but just down the road from where we are living, they offer intermediate italian classes, so I would be tempted to give that a go, after I have some form of income of course 😛

Ciao ciao for now!

Will write again soon

Anna x

Panorama – il supermercato and anything sounds cool if it’s not your language

Ciao a tutti,

Now I love supermarkets in Italy, I just think that all supermarkets should look like the supermarkets that they have here. I mean, you walk in and they have everything, from the cheap clothes, that you would probably only buy to wear around home, if you could even bring yourself to purchase “supermarket” clothing, to the electronics (I know in New Zealand you can’t buy electronics at a supermarket, or in England either), to then having a whole large section set aside for french local produce. And all the formaggi (cheese) it looks so good, and so much cheaper than anywhere I else I have seen to buy my beloved parmigiano, for i’m pretty sure today I noticed it at €1.49 per 100grams. Which is much cheaper than in England where it was about 2GBP+! I probably should of taken more notice of the other prices too. But I was too obsessed with running around decided to buy Nutella – not even to eat, but to take back to New Zealand, purely for the container, I love that over here, they have special edition containers that you can use as glasses to drink from after you have eaten all of the Nutella. I got two last time we were here over summer last year, unfortunately I accidentally broke one a few weeks before we were leaving London, and they didn’t have anymore when I went to check, I think it’s a “spring” limited edition out at the moment. I am a little bit disappointed that there was no italian writing on the glass though!

The Panorama! Italy’s adorable supermarket!

the olio e pomodori aisle!
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani

The pasta aisle!
A whole wall just of pasta! If only every supermarket in the world were like this haha

The book I convinced Matteo to buy for me to practise my italian! It’s full of little comics!

After hiding from Matteo in the supermarket, and then convincing him to buy me a disney comic written book, we finally left the supermarket and made our way back home. We then went to enjoy a beautiful dinner made by his amico that lives across the road (it’s a one way dead end road, so like 10 steps away), with a couple of other amici, as I was sitting around the table with all the beautiful italians that they are, I thought, to me, everything in Italy sounds beautiful, even something like melanzane which is an eggplant of aubergine depending where you are from, all types of fruits and vegetables when said in italian sound so beautiful to my ear, even pentola sounds amazing, and that is a pot you put on the stove! So I thought well if myself, coming from an english country with no much knowledge of this language I think is so beautiful, thinks that even the most plain words sound beautiful when said in italian, does that mean that italians would think the same about english. And it’s completely true. I mean Matteo’s email address is big_cash….. now granted he did make it when he was about 14, I remember when I met him, and teased him about it, because to me it sounds like someone is bragging about having lots of money, but for him, not knowing much english, he didn’t even realise until I came on the scene, that “big cash” is a real douchebag sounding email address. It is because all of his friends call him Cash because of his last name being Castellani, but I’m sure to him, only having a very basic understand of english at the time (like I have currently of italian) it must have sounded cool. Our friend Chiappa, was saying that his nickname when they were younger was called “The Vice” I then went onto explain that a vice was what you put wood in, to make it not move so you can saw a piece off of it. After realising what it was, he cracked up with laughter.

Selfie time with my two Matteo’s! Matteo and Chiappa!

I guess it’s quite funny, that really in any language, we could say the most stupid sentence and it would sound really cool in that foreign language, but quite silly to anyone that could actually speak the language! Languages are weird! Ahhhhhhhh! haha I just wish my brain would work itself properly and make me understand it so much better! I managed to get the mango languages app on my phone and have started to do my italian course on there again. I just hope that my memory will improve so that everything I learn, I can actually remember! Because I mean, I love to learn stuff, if I find out something new about a topic I am quite interested in, I will get on the internet straight away and learn so much about that place, or person, and I will then go on to tell everyone about it, and they will probably find it incredibly boring, but it interests me and I remember it all to go on about it to them, but when it comes to italian, it’s something that really interests me and I want to remember it so much, but it feels like it goes in one ear and out the other! Ahhhhh! Why is that? Why won’t it just stick!

Well it’s getting late and if I want to convince Matteo to do something tomorrow, I need to try to wake up before him. This morning I got a phone dropped on my face to wake me up (he says its an accident, but sure sure) haha.

Allora… buona notte miei amici!

A domani!

Ciao ciao

Anna

Pay it Forward

Ciao a tutti,

I was going through my Facebook feed and doing some light googling this evening, and noticed a post about the pay it forward initiative on Facebook. So I thought, instead of doing it on Facebook, where only my Facebook friends can see it, why not open it up onto here, to brighten someone (or five someones) I don’t actually know!

So here it goes!

I’m participating in the “Pay it Forward” Initiative: The first five people to comment with “I’m in” will receive an absolutely brilliant surprise from me at some point during the calendar year of 2015  – anything from a book, a ticket, something homemade, a postcard, absolutely any surprise!

There will be no warning, and it will happen when the time is write and I will find something that I believe would suit you (after reading your blogs) and make you laugh (or smile).

But there is a catch – you must make the same offer to five other people. 🙂

Let’s do more nice and loving things this year in 2015. Here is to a more enjoyable, friendly and banter-driven year! 🙂

Now are you up for the “Pay it Forward” Initiative?

You may need to private message me on here to send me your address etc, but it will be lovely to do something like this 🙂

Ciao miei amici 🙂

Anna x

la famiglia e la febbre

Ciao a tutti,

Well my first week in Italy is over. And I haven’t done too much, I think the main reason really is because I caught a cold/flu of one of the friends we came to Italy with. So I haven’t been feeling too well. In fact I spent all day in bed today because of it, since I’m all blocked up and struggling to sleep properly at night time.

Oh the joys of being sick, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, it’s still going to screw up your day!

On Saturday we had a nice morning at the family home, then went  out for the afternoon to catch up with a friend from London who was over for a week in Rome, as hi mother lives in Italy. So that was really nice to see him and meet his girlfriend who was here with him. We went to some places that I had never been too before which was really cool.

we met up at Piazza Cavour, which was just across the river from the Pantheon, about a 10-15minute walk from there. Matteo and I arrived about 1 1/2 earlier, so we could have a look around and take some photos, unfortunately the reality of Piazza Cavour, is that there is a monument, some public benches and some stairs to a building and that is it. It did have some cute fountains, which I noticed a gypsy looking lady tossing a coin into one of them. But I don’t think many people do that, as it wasn’t like being at fontana di trevi where the coins are over flowing!

fontana di cavour… I don’t know if it’s actually called that, there were two of them exactly the same.
Photo Credit: Matteo Castellani

The public building in piazza cavour

The big memorial.

At around 2.45pm we finally caught up with Roberto and Andrea, and went across the river more into la città! As we were walking we came across San Luigi dei Francesi or the French Catholic Church in Rome, From the outside it just looked like your usual churches that are everywhere, but from the inside it was incredible beautiful, (as all the churches here are anyway), they even had original artworks from Caravaggio and they were just stunning, I think that is definitely something that makes me love Italy so much more, the amount of amazing artists that came out of this country, and the amount of original artworks that are still in perfect condition that are around for all to see! I mean, I know a lot of people are quite stick in the mud about the artworks and gold statues and all the other fabulous items the catholic church possess, but what I don’t think they realise is that, yes they are already helping the poor anyway, and if they sold all their wonders, it would be a great loss to an already crumbling italian economy, for all the pilgrims and tourists that come to see these beautiful relics and paintings and artworks for free. If they sold them all, they would probably end up with a private collector, hidden away from the rest of the world to protect the item from damage, but at least this way, everyone that ventures to this bella paese gets to experience the wonder and awe of these items that have been around for hundreds if not thousands of years!

Inside San luigi dei francesi
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani

La bella chiesa
Photo credit: MAtteo Castellani

The inspiration of Saint Matteo – by Caravaggio

Then after la chiesa we around a few corners to a “special” coffee shop that was well known for being famous, called Sant’Eustachio. When we arrived there was already a line outside the shop. It’s rather a tiny little caffè for the amount of business they get, which was quite a pain, as it was very squashed once you finally made it inside the shop. But that being said, it was an adorable little caffè and I did enjoy a delicious un tiramisu caffè! 

Waiting outside the caffè
Photo Credit: Matteo

Goodies that you can buy to remember the Sant’Eustachio!
Photo Credit: Matteo Castellani

When we got inside!
Photo credit:
Matteo Castellani

All the sweeties you can buy
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani

un tiramisu caffè
nom nom nom
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani

After we had our yummy coffees, we headed over to the ruins of Torre Argentina where they have the roman cat sanctuary, and wow what they do is amazing, as I’m sure anyone who has been to Rome, understands that there is rather a large cat epidemic, especially in the summer, and What the Torre Argentina Roman Cat Sanctuary does is care for the homeless cats, feed them, spay them, attend to their every needs. What they do is amazing! If we ever move to Italy in our life time, I will definitely be going there to adopt a cat. The cats are so friendly as well! And beautiful! The ladies that worked there were so knowledgable and helpful, I would like to go back if we have a chance!

Enjoying love from one of the many gatti!
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani

Afterwards, we all had to depart, it was nice getting to catch up with some wonderful amici in roma! After we got back home, Papà arrived, in fact he bet us home, as we saw him on our way back from town. We then went to his place, to catch up with him and matrigna. We enjoyed a nice meal at a little pizzeria, where they had karaoke, so I got to sing 🙂 hehe, that was quite fun! Then we stayed at their place on bunk beds. I claimed the top one! It was like I was having a sleepover as a child again! haha!

The following day we went to visit Nonni Anna and Alberto! And we had a delicious lunch, and then got to go through all the old photos of their family. I love looking at old photographs, so much history in them! It was nice to be able to look through them, and see similarities in the family! We then went to the mall, and then it was home time.

Unfortunately I have ended up with a slight la febbre, I slept horribly last night, all blocked up, constantly waking in the middle of the night, so today I spent all day in bed trying to recover, unfortunately Matteo is not a sympathetic nurse, (I think he thinks I must be faking it), but I said to him today, we are in Rome, and I love Rome, if I wasn’t sick, I would be leaping at the chance to go outside and explore the city. I didn’t want to eat much today, but nonna being nonna made me! She even brought me food in bed, she is such a sweetheart!

well this has literally taken me about 5 hours to complete thanks to the joy of the italian internet connection!

I hope we get to explore some wonderful sites tomorrow!

Ciao a tutti!

Anna

Italia a domani!

Ciao a tutti,

I can’t believe these past weeks have crept up on me so quickly. I remember it being early December and finding out my bad news that my visa for England wasn’t likely to come through, and then making the big decision with Matteo to take the leap and move to New Zealand together, as well as push up the wedding and location to the end of March and in New Zealand as well. I remember the arguments, the fears, the pleasant surprises and everything else that eventually came with those decisions, and now that we are here, getting ready to leave London, it all is starting to suddenly feel very real.

I can say that neither of us are disappointed to say goodbye to London, it hasn’t exactly been a pleasant two years for us here, it’s all been mainly work work work, we haven’t been able to afford to see anywhere in Europe other than Italy because the cost of living is so high, and well the English aren’t exactly welcoming, so no disappointments to say goodbye!

I started attempting duolingo again to brush up on my italian, but as per usual when it comes to my language learning skills, I get very exciting for about a week, and go hard out, then I end up burning myself out and stopping. So that didn’t work, but hey 5 weeks in heaven on earth that is Roma, I better pick up something of this bella lingua! I did manage to write my wedding vows in Italian. I’ll show you after the wedding, because I don’t want particular eyes to look on here and have the surprise spoiled! I thought that when we get to say them, we can say them first in Italian, because at least then for Matteo it will be in his language, and he might be pleasantly surprised, and then say them in English for the benefit of everyone else. And thanks to the help of youtube, disney, and some amazing english and italian subtitles on the same videos, I managed to write my vows based on about 6 or 7 disney songs. I just wrote out all the lines I quite liked, then put them all together in a few paragraphs that surprisingly made sense. And then I asked matrigna or Matteo’s beautiful Step mother, if she could read through them to make sure I had the correct tenses etc, she said that her and papà read through them and had tears in their eyes. So they must be alright haha!

I’m currently sitting outside my studio apartment on my laptop waiting for the cleaners. I’m not a very good casalinga, I hate cleaning, I mean I will do it when I have too, but where we were living, it only takes maybe 10-20minutes to clean up, but it only takes like 2 minutes for it to get messy again, and now that we are leaving, there is no way I’m going to get stuck in and clean an oven! haha So we might as well pay someone to do it for us! I think that’s a much better plan! I’ve got all our suitcases packed next to me, unfortunately we are going on ryanair to Italy tomorrow morning, so that means only 20kg of luggage, so we have had to throw a lot of things out. I’ll be sad to say goodbye to my precious electric blanket! At least when we go to New Zealand I am pretty sure we are allowed to fit in 30kg! I’ve had to pack Matteo’s precious XBOX one, and that is just 7kg by itself! ahhhhh! bUt we didn’t want to put it in the 8 boxes that are being shipped to New Zealand, just incase something happens to them! ahhhh!

But anyway, not long now until we are on that little plane on our way to ciampino airport, I’ve never actually been to that airport before, so that will be a nice difference!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic monday!

Write soon

xx

Anna

30 things to do before I’m 30 – experience the #Amalfi Coast

Ciao a tutti, Another wonderful thing I got to experience while on my l’estate vacanze in Italy was the amalfi coast (another item I can cross off my 30 thing to do before I’m 30, only made possible once again thanks to my soon to be father in law Stefano! And to think we only spent 3 or 4 days just out of Avellino… we didn’t even really go back into town once Papà and Mariangela picked us up! Just stayed up in the beautiful mountain side where Mariangela’s mother lived.

View from the street, just outside the door of Mariangela’s mother’s house

View from the street again

That was the first morning, just before we were starting out trip to the Amalfi Coast. To be honest we did get a bit lost, and went through a toll both for no reason. OOPS. Went in and then back out, when Papà realised we had gone the wrong way. We took a wrong turn unfortunately (and we all know what men are like with directions…. they don’t want to follow mister tom tom navman! hehe) Finally we managed to find the right path and get on the road again! And gosh, was the view breathtaking! We then decided to stop at a little town just beside Cetara, which according to the google maps stamp on my phone is called Maiori, which was just literally breathtaking. We managed to get to the public carpark which was up a very narrow hill, and we had to pull over to the rather small side whenever a car was coming back down the hill. But we got there in the end and made our way to la spiaggia! 

Walking down the hill towards the beaches

Finally getting to the beach!

Lots of lovely italians with their beach chairs and umbrellas

As you can see, there is rather a large about of sun umbrellas with lovely italians under them, so we decided to walk a bit further along the beach and found a quieter side of the mare (or sea)… In New Zealand I’m so used to saying Ocean, because it literally is an ocean, but turns out in Italy they only have the sea. I think for kiwis, we say that the ocean and the sea are the same, but turns out that seas are smaller than oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet… Some fun facts for you. 🙂 We had a beautiful day at la spiaggia di Maiori, I had plenty of dips in the ocean … oops I mean sea (or Matteo would say he was having a bath in the sea) , and got a nice sun tan. I loved the fact that you could hire the umbrellas and beach chairs. Unfortunately I think that they were rather expensive. Like €15 or €20 and we got 4 of them. oops! But I guess that is what happens when you go to a tourist destination in l’estate in Italy! (Even if we were at a less populated beach). But just looking out at the ocean… gosh wasn’t it the life. If I didn’t know Italy before, I surely felt I knew if better after that day. Just relaxing by the beach, going for swims in the sea, putting the goggles on and seeing the fishes swimming below your feet. Even feeling the horrible sea salt in your eyes. It was something I really missed, I mean my summer in Italy was the first time I had been to the beach in 2 years, other than the rather windy time I went there in febbraio! It was the first time that I got to literally swim in the open sea in a temperature that made it feel like I was in the bath! It was just such an amazing reality that I was getting to be present in the moment.

View from my beach chair

Going for one of many dips in the sea for the day!

Getting to ready to enjoy some lunch before going back in for another swim

After having a delicious Caprese panino, when then enjoyed another soak in the sun, and dip in the sea, and then made our way around 3pm back to the car to enjoy another trip along the Amalfi coast to Amalfi itself. I couldn’t stop looking out the window at the breathtaking views. I felt like, if I didn’t look, I was missing out on an opportunity to plant some beautiful memories into my brain. We finally got to Amalfi and stopped in the car park, and I ran straight out of the car to the Pier. I didn’t look back, I wanted to experience Amalfi in all it’s beauty and fullness. Words can’t really describe the feelings you get when you see a place so beautiful, I mean it looks like something out of a movie, or out of a fairytale, it doesn’t feel real! But gosh it was. Definitely a place I want to be able to go over and over again. Somewhere I would love to bring my family (If I could ever get mum to get a passport and finally leave New Zealand haha). It was literally like Heaven on Earth.

One very excited Anna on her arrival at Amalfi

Walking onto the Pier in Amalfi

More beautiful views

Beautiful Views

All those houses that you actually see on the films!

Going to Amalfi is literally like finding a corner of the world that is what I like to imagine that heaven would be like. After I had my running away onto the Pier experience, I think put on my tourist hat and had to buy some souvenirs. Which, if you know me, I am the worst person ever to go shopping, especially because I take about 30minutes to decide on one thing, and I don’t think to shop around, I end up paying twice as much for something, that I find in another shop 10 minutes later for half the price… this girl is not a savvy shopper while on holiday! haha. But I did buy an awesome navy sweater with a anchor on it that says Amalfi (I wear it everywhere in London, obviously because it’s super cold) and I bought 3 different sized bottles of limoncello which I still haven’t drank yet. I’m trying to think of how I can take them with me to Nuova Zelanda, because I’m only allowed to take 3 bottles of spirits into the Country before I get stung with duty tax! I might just have to hope my tax refund comes through and post them onto my mummy! But they are awesome little bottles. One is all colourful, in the shape of a shoe, and the other has amalfi art all over it! They are just so cute!

Afterwards we went to the Piazza del Duomo to enjoy an ice cream on the steps of the church, the piazza was absolutely buzzing with life. It was so beautiful to see all the different types of people, foreigners enjoying the new sights, Italians enjoying their august holidays, just the every day little things were all experiences in themselves.

Piazza del duomo!

the men relaxing on the steps, doing typical italian things — ehhhh smoking! 😦

I really hope to return to Amalfi soon. I don’t really think that will happen just yet, but never say never. I will get to see you again soon Amalfi! Just watch out! Anna will be back! haha (I’m sure there a lots of Anna’s there already, considering Anna is one of the most common female names in Italy haha)

Quick Selfie! 

Well I hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip to Amalfi as much as I enjoyed reminiscing about it. I wish I had of kept a diary or something while I was there. Definitely something I plan to do this next trip in exactly one month!

Ciao a tutti!

Anna x

Ciao a tutti – molto tempo che non ci vediamo

Ciao a tutti,

Mi scusa for not writing sooner, I just needed to take a little break for a while from the social media world, but now I am back at full force 🙂

A lot has been happening for me in the mondo di italiano or world of italian. While I still can’t seem to form a proper sentence. I am trying a lot harder. As 2 days before we left italia, Matteo asked me to marry him! It wasn’t a very romantic proposal at all, but I was sitting on the bed at Nonna’s house, saying that I was sad, because we were leaving in two days, and then he came out with the ring. So that’s quite nice. Now we get to arrange a big fat italian wedding!

the ring/ agnello

It has been quite fun getting to plan some things. Matteo’s cugini (cousins) have given us a wedding planner for a wedding gift, so at the moment we are just filling out the questionnaire to send back to her, but it is a bit difficult planning a wedding from here in london, for in rome italy. But I thought it is the right thing to do, to get married in roma, so that even though mamma can’t be there in person, at least she can be there in spirit! And we are planning to go to Nuova Zelanda for our honeymoon and a renewal of wedding vows, as my family are unable to make it to Italia, but it will be nice! Now to count down the days for sabato 12 settembre 2015! 

I have also started attending St Peter’s Italian Church every sunday, I sing in the coro or choir during the mass. I figured since we will be having a mass wedding in italia I might as well start learning the mass in italian! So that is proving useful, and it’s nice to be apart of some form of italian community in london! The only problem is they say the responses so quickly!  But I’m sure I will get there eventually, and start to form some understanding. At least I know it by heart in english, so I know the translations of what I’m meant to be saying which is handy!

St Peter’s Italian Church

I have also started to take beginner intermediate italian lessons on a tuesday evening. I’ve only been to about 3 or 4 sessions so far, but I can understand about 80% of what the teacher Nicoletta is saying, which is definitely progress! And its really quite cheap, only 300 quid for a whole year! So can’t complain there! So hopefully it will mean I can surprise everyone next time I go back to italy! I’m sure I will get there eventually! It just seems like a very long learning process, when I wish I could just know it already now! I guess it gets a bit discouraging when it really doesn’t feel like I have come very far, but then if I look back to before I started to learn properly, then I have progressed so much! So here is hoping!

Last week we had some amici arrive from roma, Luca e Marta, it was really nice seeing them, I always like seeing Luca when we’re in Italia because his english is wonderful, so it’s a nice treat to be able to speak to someone without having to fry my brain, so it was really nice to see him, and I even managed to have a 10 minute italian conversation with Marta about my wedding plans, so that was handy, because I think her sister is a wedding planner, and she works in a wedding shop back in roma, so I will definitely have to have a look when I make it back to Italy. So it was really lovely being able to see them, and it’s always funny being around people that can speak both italian and english, because they can just switch so quickly from one language to the other without thinking. I am super jealous!!!

From back to front: Matteo, Christmas, Marta, Luca and Me – enjoying M & M world in London

Well I can’t think of much more to say write now, but I will start writing some more specific posts regarding the month in italy. As I have some wonderful photos to share!

A dopo!

Arrivederci a tutti!

Anna x

42 Day Preposition Challenge! Days 1 – 3

Ciao a tutti!

So I have actually been doing my preposition challenge on each day that I’m supposed too, just haven’t managed to have time to do that and get on here at the same time.

Doing the challenge is really surprising me with what I actually already know which is fico! Because we have been writing sentences then putting them on italki to be corrected by native speakers, and while of course there are some big mistakes as there would be when it’s not your native language, I’m actually surprised with how much I got right!

Ecco è mio esempi for the last three days and with the corrections! 🙂

giorno uno

Sono di Greymouth dalla Nuova Zelanda
Sono una ragazza di venticinque
Sono una sorella di Jonathan
Lui ha dieci anni
il mio fidanzato Matteo è buona la famiglia!

Sono di Greymouth dalla in Nuova Zelanda
Sono una ragazza di venticinque anni
Sono una la sorella di Jonathan
Lui ha dieci anni
il mio fidanzato Matteo ha una buona famiglia

inglese:

I am from Greymouth in New Zealand
I am a girl of 25 years old
I am the sister of Jonathan
He is ten years old
My boyfriend Matteo has a good family

giorno due

mio nonno era un uomo di grande gentilezza
ho rotto il mio telefono a un accesso d’ira
Mi manchi i miei amici di vecchia data in Nuova Zelanda e Australia
Bello Matteo era molto semplice, lui comprare un vestito di pizzo per me quando lui era di Roma la settimana scorsa!
Matteo è più alta di me!
Mi piaci il film Frozen, è un film della Disney circa una principessa detta Anna e una regina detta Elsa, e un uomo di neve Olaf!

 

mio nonno era un uomo di grande gentilezza dall’estrema gentilezza
ho rotto il mio telefono a un per un eccesso d’ira
Mi mancano i miei amici di vecchia data in Nuova Zelanda e Australia                           Il bel Matteo è stato molto carino/dolce quando, la settimana scorsa a Roma, ha comprato per me un vestito di pizzo.
Matteo è più alto di me!
Mi piace il film Frozen, è un film della Disney circa che parla di una principessa detta chiamata/ che si chiama Anna e di una regina detta chiamata/ che si chiama Elsa, e di un uomo di neve Olaf!

inglese:

My granddad was an extremely gentle man
I broke my phone in a fit of rage
I miss all my old friends in New Zealand and Australia
Beautiful Matteo is so sweet, last week while in rome he bought for me a lace dress
Matteo is much taller than me
I like the film Frozen. It’s a film by Disney, about a princess called Anna and a queen called Elsa and a snowman called Olaf!

giorno tre

Voglio davvero andare alzarsi surf con dei miei amico
Voglio sarebbe andare di puglia in Italia
Dovè le spiagge sei d’ora e il oceano è azzuro e verde
Questa sarebbe fantastica!
Molto meglio di noioso casa di vecchia!

Voglio davvero fare surf con dei miei amici.
Vorrei andare in Puglia in Italia
Dove le spiagge sono d’oro e l’oceano è azzuro.
Questo sarebbe fantastico!
Molto meglio di una noiosa casa vecchia!

inglese:

I really want to go surfing with my friends
I want to go to Puglia in Italy
Where the beaches are golden and the ocean is blue
That would be fantastic
Much better than boring old home!

 

Allora that is me up to day 3, I know I’m meant to be doing day 4 today, but I am too tired today, so I’ll do day 4 and 5 a domani. 

I was working late at lavora ieri and was telling the italians that came in all about doing this challenge, they seemed really excited for me, it was really carino! I had a long chat with one parent before she went to pick up her son about my practising italian, she said I just need to speak it as much as I can (although we all know that’s the only way to go) she said that even if Matteo won’t talk to me in italian, I should just always answer him in italian, that way he can correct it, and I will improve. So you know what! I’m going to take on that great advice and do exactly that. At least I do know some clever phrases like come si dici.. how do you say… and cosa significa… what does this mean…

Ciao miei amici!

A dopo!!

 

Anna

 

Challenge time!

Ciao a tutti,

So as most of you probably notice, I haven’t been so “in” to my Italian as I was 3 months ago, but you know what?! That is going to change! I have decided to actually pay to do (which is big for Anna – to PAY for something haha) but I’m going to do Cher Hale’s  “42 – Day Conquer Italian Prepositions Challenge” Because all those little in between words really are the death of me, so hey…. why not conquer them! And it means I’ll get to be on here a lot more.

I think I just lack motivation, but it’s coming into Summer, mio compleanno is only 2 1/2 weeks away, I have more of a desire to exercise (which tends to happen every estate but then in l’inverno I will be like a bear an hibernate) and am just feeling a general happiness, that I haven’t been feeling to much later! So now I am getting back into it! Giving myself a desire to learn again, to conquer this language, that even though I struggle, I really do surprise myself with how much I naturally know every day.

Sometimes I will speak with Matteo in Italian, to ask questions, or answer him, and I just come out with the correct thing to say, BEFORE even thinking about it and haven’t to translate it from English, to Italian, then back to English like I normally do. After I’ve surprised myself, I’m trying to translate what I’ve actually said in Italian and can’t even remember what it is, but I’ve used it right when speaking to him! So that must be a good thing right?!

Now I just need to save my soldi and practise my Italian as often as possible, so if I do infact get to go and stay with Matteo’s la famiglia in augusto like I’m hoping too, (without Matteo) then I need to be able to communicate with them! And we’re also planning a trip for 3 weeks in semptembre! where we are spending 2 weeks close to the sea. Thinking Puglia at the moment, so that could be exciting!!! But nothings set in stone yet! Am open to suggestions if anyone has any hints! But I was thinking southern Italy will be far cheaper than northern Italy!

Well I’m just at lavora now, so probably should get back to work (I’m on my lunch break, so not being cattivo and writing this while the boss isn’t looking) haha!

Ciao bellissimi!

Scrivere Presto!

Anna x