Sono senza speranza (I am hopeless)

Ciao a tutti,

How long has it been since I have made an effort to get on here…. clearly too long!

We enjoyed a beautiful 6 week stint in Italy over the italian spring/summer of maggio/giunio. I got to experience my first italian wedding, a trip to the Isle of Capri, I got to see the REAL arche di triomphe (not that pretend one they have in Paris), and I got to spend time with blessed Nonna Rosa! It was absolutely amazing! I cried so much the days before we were leaving, because I didn’t want to go! I will tell you more about the trip in another post (I promise, I won’t leave it forever this time).

On a more exciting note (although a trip to Italy is of course very excited) I brought back a little surprise, I mean the first time we came back to New Zealand I brought a husband home, and now this time, we have brought home a little surprise in my belly 😀 We are expecting a little italian! I have 4 more weeks until we can find out if it’s a little bambina or bambino! But I couldn’t be more thrilled! And hey, it means Matteo will have to start talking to bebè all the time in italian, so I’m sure to pick up more italian then hey!

Well I will write more again soon!

A dopo

Anna

Lilli and Biagio (The italian names of Lady and the tramp) are waiting in anticipation for our little roman!

Visiting Anacapri on the isle of Capri

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

30 things to do before I’m 30 – Go inside an Italian Castle

Ciao a tutti, I was lucky during my italian summer to get to visit a Castle, FINALLY. After our disaster in febbraio last year, when we tried to visit Castello Orsini-Odescalchi in Bracciano about 30km out of Roma (although I’m pretty sure it took us around 1 1/2 – 2 hours to get there) only to find that everything in Bracciano happens to be closed on a lunedi (Monday), I was finally going to be able to pretend to be una piccola principessa in a castello! And all we had to do was get a ride to the centre of la citta di Roma! 

The only view of the castle that I got to see in February 2014!

Castel Sant’Angelo! Finally I got to experience a historic Italian Castle! I remember always being fascinated by the idea of Princes and Princesses and Castles and fairytales. When I first imagined going to Italy, I think apart of the fact that all the historic buildings and structures seemed like something out of a fairytale, made the idea of going to Italy so much more appealing! (It probably didn’t help that as a child my mother and step father used to fill my head with ideas that I was dropped off at the doorstep in a basket because I was a long lost Princess haha) Italy, and it’s history and castles were just all so appealing! Not that Italy had exactly had a monarchy, after they managed to abolish the monarchy in 1946 and send Re Umberto II into exile! But Finally I, Anna (without the king) was finally getting to experience stepping foot into a 2000 year old castle!

My first look at this magnificent Castel Sant’Angelo

The Castle of the Holy Angel, as it is called if you translate the name in English, was in fact originally constructed as a mausoleum by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, in 123 the building works started, for what would later turn into a fortress and a castle for the catholic papacy in the 14th century.

Remains of what was clearly a strong fortress!

I guess when it came to the Papacy and the Roman Empire and what I imagine would be countless sieges, it definitely acted as a strong hold for the church.

All those little doorways had windows, so they most likely acting as a good place to shoot from!

Fun Fact! Castel Sant’Angelo even acted as a prison for the Papal State…  I guess when your whole country is the size of an ant hill, there isn’t exactly room for a prison. haha The views from Castel Sant’Angelo were just beautiful, from the views of la citta di roma to the Ponte Sant’Angelo bridge that leads towards the Castel. It literally felt like something out of a fairytale book. The type of stories that start with C’era una volta…. 

The view at the top of the castel! You can even see the tip of San Pietro in the distance!

View of the Ponte Sant’Angelo… I was a bit worried when taking this photo, there was a small hole on the ground, I thought I would drop my phone and it would be gone forever! ahhhh

From the artillery rooms, to the crazy italian cartoons from back in the day, there was so much to see in this Castel now turned museum. For €10.50 I definitely felt I got my monies worth!

Strange artwork in one of the museo rooms!

There was even a restaurant within the Castel (I can’t remember the restaurant name unfortunately) which made a delicious pizza (but come on, where do you find a bad pizza in Italy). We arrived at Castel Sant’Angelo just before lunch around 11ish, maybe a bit later. And as I’m sure those of you who have been to Italy know and understand that the italian version of “lunch time” is around 2pm. So after a few hours walking around the Castel we fortunately stumbled across this restaurant in one of the upper floors of the building. I remember Matteo being in the il bagno so I remember asking if the table was free in my horrid italian. Pretty sure I even used the wrong word, I can’t remember what incorrect word I used but it wasn’t libero or gratis. oopsie! But the waitress seemed to work out what I was trying to say anyway so that worked out to my favour! And I remember the prices weren’t that bad for a restaurant within a tourist destination!

Enjoying my italian coca cola at pranzo!

My little friend I made while enjoying my lunch! Must of been eyeing up my cibo!

My delicious pizza for the day!

After a beautiful l’estate day in a castel from just out of paradiso, We finally decided to make our way back to the meeting point to get our ride back to la casa.

Enjoying the view from Castel Sant’Angelo

I really hope that during this next trip to Italia, even though funds will be incredibly abysmal because we are having to move to nuova zelanda with practically only the bond money from the flat, I really hope we might still get an opportunity to explore a bit more and see some more castles. Even if they’re just around roma… I’m pretty sure there are more castles than just Castel Sant’Angelo in the eternal city!

All roads lead to Rome right? haha

Ciao a tutti!

Until next time!

Anna x

30 things before I’m 30 – Pompeii!

Ciao a tutti,

I was going through my list of 30 things before I’m 30 and realised that I actually achieved a few of them on my last trip to Italia. 

Although the more I read through this list, the less likely some of them seem, especially now that things are changing, and we are going all the way to the other side of the world. But I guess that when we do finally get to make those trips back to Italia, once we are in Nuova Zelanda, it will be much more special, and we will want to see so much more of this bella paese that I now call my second home.

But anyway you didn’t come here for the above, you came here to learn all about my experience of Pompei…. turns out in italian it’s only one “i” not two, like we english like to write it, it’s NOT Pompeii! but Pompei! I had big arguments with Matteo about this spelling… turns out as a native English speaker, you shouldn’t really try to defend that italians are spelling their place names incorrectly! haha oops….

Quick casual selfie in the carpark!

The view of Pompei from the line to get in!

 

The massive line!

I remember the excitement I felt finally getting to go to an iconic place in history! Considering I did really want to go to Naples, I think that Pompei may be the closest that I am going to get because Matteo is a scaredy cat when it comes to Napoli! It didn’t take long for the line to move, and then suddenly we were in! On a beautiful late agosto di mattina, Anna was finally getting to visit the ruins of Pompei! 

I remember just walking in that entrance and being fascinated straight away, because one thing that fascinates me a lot (which is rather strange really) are the pavements and roads. They are all so bumpy and old, and frustrate me a lot if I am a passenger in a car while driving on them. But then I guess that is part of Italia, and one thing I love so much. Keeping the old along side the new, and it makes Italy just beautiful, in the way it can embrace having both old and new side by side.

Seeing all the latin writings, things like sign posts, and random paintings, everything about Pompei just wanted to make me travel back 2000 years ago to that time, to see what it would be like in those days.

Street signs

The original roofing structures – which are used in most houses all throughout Italy today

Latin Street Signs

Eumachia – The public priestess of venus in Pompei during the middle of the 1st century AD. She funded the construction of a large building next to the public forum in Pompei.

Everything about this city of ruins was amazing,beautiful, fascinating, unbelievable, just to name a few ways of saying practically the same thing. It was just such a truly inspiring place to be in! And what a cracker of a day we picked to go and explore! I remember by the end of the day (we were there for probably over 6 hours) I was completely worn out, my poor footsies were hurting from all the walking we had done! And we didn’t even manage to see everything! I’m pretty sure there was still so much more! Between seeing the ruins of little cities and houses, to the graveyards and the vineyards, and the garden of fugitives in their plaster cast forms. When I first saw the plaster forms of real people killed in the aftermath of mt vesuvius’s eruption I wanted to cry. To see the forms of children, pregnant woman and men alike it was just heartbreaking to imagine what they must of gone through  all those years ago. To see some of them cradled in a ball, or some hugging each other. I had so much compassion just seeing those remains of all those destroyed in the volcanic eruption!

victims in the garden of the fugitives

Monte Vesuvio in the background

Now one thing I absolutely adored when it came to Pompei was the zebra crossings!  The blocks in the road allowed pedestrians to cross the street without having to step onto the road itself which doubled up as Pompeii’s drainage and sewage disposal system. The spaces between the blocks allowed vehicles to pass along the road. To think that 2000 years ago, they had systems such as what we know now as a Zebra crossing is just fascinating!

 

Me standing on the old school zebra crossing!

 

Well I can’t think of much more to say but I will leave you with some more photos of my trip to Pompei! 

I’m was getting very good at the art of the selfie!

The many tourists enjoying the site as much as we were!

My little (or large) italian poster

beautiful view of the ruins

a version of an oven in 70AD

More Latin

Relaxing against a pole from all the walking we were doing

My handsome companions, Papà and Teo

Another stunning view – and to think these were all taken with an iphone5!

Panorama time!

more views of the ruins

Cracker of a day

another temple or something

Artwork in Pompei

Casual selfie by the vineyard

Wishing I could take home some of those grapes

happy times for Anna, Teo and Papà

The site where the graveyard was

Being a bit creepy and taking a rest in a memorial

The amphitheatre of pompeii

Large view of the amphitheatre of pompei

Enjoying being such a small thing in a not very large, but still adorable amphitheatre… I guess it’s not colosseo!

Latin writings just before you walk into the amphitheatre!

Pompeii outside gymnasium! where the gladiators worked out!

The outside gymnasium again!

What would have been a shop or a bar!

Getting tired from all that walking!

More artwork!

More artwork!

Fun times with Teo!

 

I had such a lovely experience getting to view Pompei! And it wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for my amazing soon to be father-in-law Stefano! He is just the best! I am a very lucky girl!

And to finish of the day, I got myself a cute vase with artwork on it, which is currently in a box ready to be shipped to New Zealand. Along with getting to enjoy a granatina al limoni, which was like a fresh lemon slushy! It was delicious!

Me feeling spoilt with my granatina al limoni!

Well folks, that’s all for now!

A dopo!

 

Anna x

Buon Natale, Buon anno e Buona Befana!

Ciao a tutti,

I’m sure you can understand that this is definitely a busy time of year, which is why I’m only getting around to this post now. How was everyone’s natale, nuovo anno and my favourite holiday of all Befana! 

Unfortunately the holidays snuck up on me, like I’m sure they did with everyone. I have been going to a bellissima Chiesa cattolica italiana (beautiful italian catholic church) every week. As a way to improve the language skills, in a format that I am already very familiar with in inglese. It has definitely helped a bunch with understanding at least the mass. And it’s always such a bonus when I can understand the readings of the day. But most of the time that is a hit and a miss. I have been singing in the coro at St. Peter’s Italian Church , I was a bit worried when joining for the first time, as I thought “Oh dear, how am I going to communicate if they all speak italian the whole time”, but luckily only half of the choir is italian, and the other half tend to have italian family members but are english. But I do try to practise my italian whenever I go. As the little old lady who is the housekeeper opens the door,  and even though she see’s be twice a week, every week, she always asks me why I am there. So I always reply with a sono qui per coro, which is probably grammatically incorrect but she seems to pick up what I’m trying to say, or if she doesn’t she understands when I waltz into the choir room. We sang for messa di mezzanotte or midnight mass this year. It was really beautiful being able to sing the usual christmas carols in italian, and learning some new ones along the way. I grabbed a copy of the mass for the christmas season booklet that they had, so I can take it back to Nuova Zelanda with me, so I can so my old choir mistress back home to see if she would like to do any italian songs next year. I think it’s handy to be able to practise my singing in italian and latin, and I hope it will improve my language skills when we go to italian next month (o dio! Next month will creep up on us in no time)

the presepe in the church – pre baby jesus!

La messa finished at around 1.30am, and managed to get home at around 2am, thanks to our wonderful choir director Ricardo, who gave me a ride instead of me having to catch a rather expensive taxi home! Once I arrived home, I gave Matteo all of his christmas presents, and we skyped my mum back in Nuova Zelanda. It was around 3pm over there, as they are 13 hours ahead. I guess that’s what we will soon be, or 12 hours when it comes to Italian time zones! Crazy! Time Zones are so weird! haha. After that it wasn’t long until we woke up again on Christmas morning. And could look properly at all of our toys. Matteo was definitely spoilt! But I wanted to make this a happy christmas because we were both far away from home, and every christmas without mamma is always going to be much harder now. So he deserved it. Plus I had conveniently started buying christmas presents around June, so by the time I found out I was going to lose my job at the beginning of December, I had already bought most of his gifts, including a DSLR Nikon camera (because he didn’t want my preference of a Canon) so that was a nice surprise for him. And will give him a chance to take some beautiful photos in London while we are still here, in Rome before we leave, and then also in New Zealand once we get there! It was a nice quiet day. I am very much looking forward to being with my family for natale next year though. And giving Matteo an opportunity to see what a Nuova Zelanda Natale is like!

Nuova Anno was a quiet one for me. Since not working, I have become a bit of a night owl, because I get to sleep in, and tend to have naps in the afternoon (ohhhh the life), I always stay up until 1 or 2am. So I was up at home by myself, as Matteo had to work, doing a Mossa Fight fitness workout on the xbox fitness. I didn’t even realise it was the new year until I heard the fireworks go off in the park across the road! haha

Now befana didn’t really amount to much for us this year, which is a shame. Next year I really want to give Matteo a little befana stocking filled with candy. He was looking on Facebook at some of his friends and family’s posts, wishing that he had a befana stocking filled with candy. But unfortunately as only he is working, and I have a very limited amount of money that seems to be disappearing rather quickly, even though I’m not doing anything, I didn’t get to do the befana tradition that I wanted to! But hey, befana comes every year! So while she didn’t stop at our house this year, she might find us next year in nuova zelanda! because that is one italian tradition I definitely want to bring with me! hahaha

Arrivederci! 

I hope everyone is sticking to their resolutions this year so far! haha

 

Anna x

Italia a domani!

Italy tomorrow…..

wow, I’m actually going back to Italy tomorrow. With poor language skills, and no one to translate for me. It shall definitely be an interesting ride.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their condolence messages, it is much appreciated! And means a lot!

It will definitely be a rather strange trip to Italia, considering my reason for going early was to spend time with Mamma. But it will still be a nice week I am sure, one of Matteo’s cousins Carlotta will be free most of the week, so I can spend the time with her. Although she doesn’t speak english, and my italian skills are abysmal. Last time we were there, I could get the start of a sentence, miss the vital middle part but I would also know the end of the sentence. It was very frustrated. But I got my phone fixed, and have the trusty google translate app which is pretty hopeless. But hey, if I remember back 20months ago when Matteo and I got together, that was how he spoke english with me, with google translate, so lets hope it will work in reverse with italian!

Me and Carlotta! Who says you need the same language to be great friends! haha

I’m nearly all packed. I have packed mostly for Matteo because when he arrives the following Thursday he only has a carry on bag to take, as we plan to buy a second suitcase in italy to fill up with food on our way home. Although, my suitcase is mainly full of gifts, even more than in the pics below, as I got a couple more bottles of wine to give to the aunties and older cousins.

One side of my bag all packed!

Am just hoping it doesn’t break in the luggage bay of the aeroplane! The presents are full of overpriced goodies from New Zealand, since I had to buy them from over here, I had to pay ridiculously inflated prices. Gosh I cannot wait until September next year when I can go back to New Zealand a fill up a suitcase with all the food that I miss! haha

It feels so weird to be going to Italy alone though, I can just imagine how my conversation will be when Zia Donatella e Carlotta pick me up. Maybe Gaia will be there too, we shall see! It will probably go like “ahhhhh ciao ciao” then the usual kisses of greeting, then I might be able to work out if they ask how my flight was, only because of that song that goes voooolllllaaaarrreeee! then I will reply with a bene bene, then a come stai? And then it was be Blank…. I will end of being a snob, because I have no more structure of sentences. Unless I say my italian is awful, or I feel stupid, because I worked out how to say those ones too! Oh and I missed you! So I guess it may be like a long 2 minutes of conversation before I go back to being like a child!

Now speaking of children, one piccolo person I CANNOT wait to see will be little Daniel! I have lots of presents for him, and learn so much playing with me (which makes me feel more of an idiota because my language ability is that of a 20month year old) but it will be great! He is the cutest little man in the whole wide world! haha

Piccolo Daniel!
Photo credit: Carlotta

At least I can hope in the fact that after a week of no one being able to translate for me, I must be able to pick up something! I’ve got my mango languages course on my phone, so I might just listen to that the whole flight, although I restarted the course again as it’s the same as the computer version, and it’s just basic things that I know, like “how are you, what’s your name, have a good day” which I guess is fine to re affirm, I just hope that it will start with useful things, like “can I have a glass of water” which I know eventually comes in the course, I just can’t remember what chapter!

I guess the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself isn’t it? And while we were there for those 2 1/2 days for such an awful reason, I was forced to speak some italian, and while whenever I attempt to speak it in a group, I get it repeated 5 or 6 times with everyone giggling afterwards and saying che carina which is really quite a put off and makes me feel embarrassed, it did vastly improve. So with a full week without Matteo there to be a translator, it will have to improve!  I think my biggest hindrance to myself is that I’m a bit embarrassed to speak. It’s not that I don’t understand, it’s that I just feel silly speaking the language.

So it should be a great ragazze settimana or girls week! haha! I’ve even got a pohutakawa or New Zealand christmas tree to attempt to grow in Italy! So they can have a little bit of me with them all the time! haha or a little bit of New Zealand!

a New Zealand christmas tree

Well I hope everyone has been having a good summer!

I am sure I will be writing a lot now that I will actually BE in Italy for a whole 4 WEEKS!!! AHHHHHHHHH!

 

 

Ciao a tutti!

Scrive a presto!

 

xxx

Anna

 

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