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

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

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

 

All or Nothing – tutto o niente

Ciao a tutti,

I’ve been having a bit of a struggle lately with my italian, really just trying to get back into the habit of incorporating italian practise into every day life. I think the main problem for me, is I only have two speeds, all or nothing. And the problem is, when I give my all, like spend all my time learning italian, I want to use it all around me, at home, at school, when I’m with my one friend I actually have in london, and the problem is, they aren’t into it as much as I am. They aren’t excited about learning this bella lingua as I am. Why can’t everyone in the world just want to learn italian like me? Or really, just the people that are around me everyday.

At the moment, I think I’ve been filling my italian void with other things, I am quite a self professed nerd, and Game of Thrones addict. (maybe I should watch GoT with italian subtitles to help out my language learning) and have recently been spending a vast amount of money of something called Pop Vinyls. It’s basically a cheap collectable that looks something like this:

Hodor?!

 

This is where all my current funds have been going too, although it got rather bad and Matteo had to sit me down and tell me I needed to stop, so now I can only spend half the money I have made on ebay selling extras I acquired. haha. But now that I’ve stopped being so addicted to collecting these little toys I’m trying to get back into this thing called italian!

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t been doing absolutely no italian, when I’m out in public with Matteo I try to speak italian to him, so it’s like a secret language, and I have gotten myself known to the parents at school who are italian. (I lavoro as an admin assistant at a primary school and Children’s Centre) I’m pretty sure a few of them think that I can speak fluently, and I just try to wing it when they actually talk to me in fast italian, and I pretend I know what they’re saying. But still, to me I don’t feel like I’m getting very far.

In August I have two weeks off school during the summer holidays, so after chatting with Matteo who is currently already in Italy for a week (not fair!) I can go there without Matteo for a whole week to try to get a grips with this language. His family are all on board with me coming over to spend time with them for a week, that way I will have to speak the language, because I will have no Matteo there to be my english crutch. I am thinking I might do an intensive italian course while in roma, but mamma said I didn’t have to do it, that she was happy to show me round and spend time with me the whole time. But I guess that depends how much I can improve in the next 3 months. Because if I’m making no vast improvements, I will be spending a lot of time just using random words that probably won’t make much sense to get my point across. But I cannot wait! Because then I’ll come back to work for a week, and we will then be going back to Italy for 3 weeks in september! so I’m really hoping it will then make a difference for me with my language abilities!

Well I better get to doing some fast studying hey?!

 

Ciao!

Anna

two new saints today!

Ciao a tutti,

Allora, oggi marks a big step in any catholic’s life, when both Pope John XXIII (Papa Giovanni XXII) e Pope John Paul II (Papa Giovanni Paulo II) became saints just hours ago!

It’s really quite a big deal! And these two amazing popes, played such a big part in moving the catholic church forward.

When I look at the life of Papa Giovanni XXIII, whom everybody just thought was going to be a caretaker pope, he surprised all, by calling the historic second vatican council. He is affectionately known by italians as il Papa buono or the good pope!

For me, only the past 17 months or so is where I have started to find quite an affection for il Papa buono, as he was far before my time, it was the second time I was in Italy in January 2013, when I was staying with Matteo’s family, and I found out that is great nonno  actually worked for Papa Giovanni XXIII, now that is amazing, as soon as Nonna found out I was a catholic, she showed me straight away the framed photo of her papa with Papa Giovanni, and then she went on to give me a pair of rosary beads that were from Papa Giovanni XXIII, now that just meant to much to me, considering she didn’t really know me that well, but it just meant the world to me, so that gave me a real desire to learn more about this il Papa buono! 

 

 

Then there is the beautiful John Paul II…

I went to a high school named after him, so we learnt a lot about him, he’s the one pope, other than the recent two, that was actually around in my life time… for any 25 year old, we have only seen 3 popes, John Paul II, Benedict XXVI and Francis, but none have been quite like John Paul II (I mean I love Francis, and I think very fondly of him, and he will probably create a legacy just like John Paul II, although for now, it’s JPII for the win) I mean, Papa Giovanni Paulo II was one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, he was Pope for 26 anni! Now that is a very long time to serve as Pope! And he was the first non-italian pope since the 1500s! He visited 129 countries during his reign as pontificate, beatified 1340 people and canonised 483 saints, more than the combined tally of his predecessors over the past 5 centuries. And he really called for religious unity, not just christian unity, but unity between all faiths. And he must of been pretty special because Pope Bene waived the 5 year traditional waiting period that existed before Pope John Paul II was beatified!

He was just such a beautiful beautiful man! As they called him shortly after his death Pope John Paul II the great!

 

 

It is unbecoming of a cardinal to ski badly – Pope John Paul II

It is unbecoming of a cardinal to ski badly – Pope John Paul II

I wish I got to be one of the 800,000 people gathered at San Piedro Piazza today, unfortunately I haven’t been very well this weekend! I keep getting that horrid la febbre di primavera! Finally just starting to feel better today, had to go home early from work on friday, and I have never had a sick day off in the whole year I have worked there! Arrrrh! 😦

Well looked like everyone in roma had an amazing experience of the canonisation of two amazing men!

Ciao a tutti! 

A dopo!

xx

Anna

Credit: Catholic Memes

 

Buona Pasqua miei amici!!!

Ciao a tutti,

As we are coming into Pasqua, it is so nice to see the warmer weather and tempo, it is my secondo anno on this side of the world, and as Nuova Zealanda is coming into autumn, we are now thriving in Spring.

Unfortunately I did catch that dreading febbre di primavera or spring fever, and not the good kind! The one rare occurrence the other half had a Sunday off, I was unfortunately stuck to the bed. But luckily I had an amazing carer, who didn’t actually believe I was ill until I took my temperature! (I think I’ve now past on my febbre di primavera to him though… oops)

It’s weird for me to think back on my past Easters this year, it’s hard when you’re so far away from everything you know, as well as not being around family. I think maybe next year I might have to go to Italy to celebrate it over there, at least I’ll be surrounded by the comfort of my Italian family that I found through being with Matteo, but still, I at least have Saturday with him, on another rare occurrence that he isn’t working!

In New Zealand, basically everywhere would be closed tomorrow, being that it’s good Friday, no public transport would be running, and you can’t buy any alcohol. It’s hard for me to imagine that there are still shops going to be open tomorrow!

This Easter will definitely be a different one! Last year I was singing in an Easter play with a few people from a church I was attending, unfortunately it took me over a hour to get there, so while I loved the sense of community and friendship I had built there, it was just to hard to travel that far, unfortunately I don’t feel the same sense of community at the church that is only a 10minute walk away. I remember I asked the priest if they had any choirs, and while they did, he just seemed really grumpy that I didn’t know who he was telling me to go at see. So it sort of put me off, which is a shame. But I guess we can go to the vigil on Saturday night, it’s much better to go with someone rather than alone right?

Although it would definitely be a dream of mine to spend Easter at the Vatican! Maybe one day hey? haha

It will definitely be a different Easter than usual, but I will make the most of it! And even have roast chicken! At least I can start eating takeaways again, since we both gave it up for Lent! But really can’t say I’m missing it at all!

Allora, Buono giornata e buona pasqua!!!!

Ciao

Anna x

not trying actually works….

Ciao a tutti,

Mi scusi I have been a bit of a no show these past couple of weeks. I have been taking a break of actually trying to learn italian, and I was thinking about it this afternoon as I was walking to il stazione di treni and I came to the conclusion, I actually use italian in every day life. More than I could imagine.

From the little ciao bellissime at lavoro to the beautiful donne that are either madre di bambini or coworkers, to randomly getting asked to say something in italian to my colleagues, where I said lo vuoi un sapere un segreto (probably spelt ridiculously wrong, but I’m sure Matteo will get me to correct it later) only cos I actually knew how to say “do you want to know a secret” and they thought it was amazing, even though when they heard it through their ears, they actually had no idea what I was saying, they just went on to say “everything sounds better in italian”

To the emails I send to Matteo while sitting at the computer, which I ALWAYS write the first email in italian, even though it’s probably only like 5 or 6 lines wrong, if I ever accidentally sent it to someone else, it would be a secret language they wouldn’t understand.

It is amazing, that even though I haven’t actually studied recently, I am amazed at how much italian is already apart of my everyday life. And you know what…. that is pretty exciting!

I mean, you get down when you feel like you’re not getting anywhere with your studies, when you feel like you’ve hit a wall, but if I think back a year ago, even 6 months ago, my brain definitely wasn’t bilingual… but now, you know, it kinda is. Even if I’ve got a long way to go, my brain thinks in two different languages now….

When I see the days of the week written somewhere, I automatically translate them in my head into italian, then back to english, or now when I sing that beautiful Frozen song All’alba sorgero, the italian version of let it go, when I sing it in my head, I’m singing it IN italian! (which I may even film myself and put it on here, when I build up the courage/have the space to project my voice)

It is so encouraging, that after a couple of weeks of taking a break, I came to the conclusion, that it doesn’t matter anymore, I can still understand, think and speak italian, even if it’s not much, it’s not going to disappear anytime soon, it is apart of me now, and I’m not going to let go one bit!

A dopo!

Buona notte xx

Anna

random crow like bird.