On spending time with some wonderful Italian people

For last Saturday evening we invited Giusseppi and Mimma for a pizza dinner at Donna Fortunata (restaurant in town, i.e. Motta) and since then we've spent much time with their friends and family.

The pizza at DF is typically Sicilian (would we expect anything else?)--cooked in a wood heated brick oven and delicious. It was interesting, though, deciding with Giusseppi and Mimma what we would have. Bob and I wanted to share a pizza but didn't know how to say share (dee-vee-day, spelled divide) so we kept gesturing cutting one in half. Giusseppi and Mimma each had their own. Then when we were quite full of pizza, Giusseppi wanted to go for gelato (Italian style ice cream----y-u-m-m-y). So we all trouped down the street to the gelato store. Bob and I could neither one finish ours but it was good.

On Sunday we went with Roberto and Valentina to Catania (big city nearby) for Sunday dinner. Their two children, Viviana and Fabio went too and it was fun interacting with the kids. Roberto speaks a little English and Valentina a little less. We managed to communicate, though. After dinner we walked around Catania to see some of the sights. This park is named for a great Italian musician, last name Bellini (not Roberto Bellini the actor). Anyway it's a beautiful place with plants that spell out the day and date and are changed every day to keep current. Roberto took this photo but you can see the rest of his family.

Tuesday (last night) we went over to Giusseppi and Mimma's for a pizza dinner with some other friends of theirs. Until Roberto and Valentina came, no one spoke English but the women were trying to look up words to communicate. The problem with having to look up words is that by the time you find one the conversation is two paragraphs, or three pages, ahead of the word you wanted. We had a great time, though, everyone was laughing a lot and dinner was an adventure. We never got to the pizza because the pizza oven had cooled from making bread and just waiting around to be used. (Outdoor, brick, wood-fired oven. Not electric) However, when the Sicilians eat----you don't need the main course.

After the meal they started telling jokes (Roberto didn't know the English for joke so he told us they liked to tell "stories happy". Of course Bob and I didn't understand them but when I heard a familiar word I would tell him. "I heard duck." "That was doctor" We never got any of the jokes but we just laughed when they did and had fun anyway.

THEN----Giusseppi decided he would tell one so we could understand (remember, he doesn't speak English at all). Everyone really laughed at that. However, by using very simple words I could recognize (or could fill in between) and speaking very slowly, he was able to help us understand the joke and it was really funny. I would lean over to Bob every few words and tell him the ones I understood so we both knew when to laugh. What a great time.

Bob and I brought the dessert and it was wildly popular. The Sicilians don't have anything like brownies and they're always a big hit. We also brought angelfood cake, strawberries and Cool Whip. When they asked what it was, we told them it was "cibo di angelici" - food of angels. I couldn't think of any other way to say it. One of the men said it could make him religious (I think). They don't have the same kind of flour we do so it's almost impossible to make those light cakes here.

So, these pictures are from last night and I wanted to share them since I'm always talking about our neighbors (G and M) and our landlord (R and V) who I've probably mentioned is Giuseppi and Mimma's son. Enjoy.

bits and pieces of nothing

We went to the market in Misterbianco this morning. I don't want anyone to get jealous, now, but we got 20 peach colored roses for 2 Euro (that's $2.60 American)-----okay, I really do want you to be jealous. They look beautiful in our living room. We also got provelone cheese, swiss cheese, strawberries, onions, kiwi, etc. for almost pennies.

We love to shop the market on Saturday. The vendors are starting to recognize us and stop to chat a bit. The man who has the stand with yarn always has a great story to tell us about his friend Filipo who used to work at the naval base and speaks English.....too bad this man doesn't. And we don't speak enough Italian to get much of what he says. So, we smile politely, try to match our facial expressions to his and nod a lot. Sometimes his wife will repeat what he said more slowly but it doesn't help us much. We don't understand Italian slowly any more than we do when they speak quickly.

I have learned that the University of Maryland has Italian classes on base. I'll go soon to see if I can get in for a summer session.

We recently bought a "fresco" (a painting on stone) reproduction of a wall painting from 1511. We put it in the bedroom but it doesn't really show up well with our blue plaid comforter so we're slowly changing the bedroom colors to gold and cream to show it off. First we bought some long sheer gold curtains to form a drapery over the bed to serve as sort of a headboard since we don't have one. Next we'll buy a new comforter--the present one is about ten years old and the stitching is coming out so it's about time. Since that's the extent of our decorating our bedroom will then be gold and cream.

The oranges are about gone, now. The trees have already blossomed (see Mike's blog) and now there are tiny orange buds appearing. We do miss the orange juice every day and the smell of the orange blossoms but next year we'll have them again.

The dog (Bullet, not Bizmark) has a new hobby......Sitting on the top of our car. I would love to get a good photo of him up there to put on the blog but when he hears the door open (and he has ears like a .....something and can hear the click of the door no matter how quiet we try to be) he "shoots" around to the door to welcome us. The only way I got this one was to open the back bathroom window and screen and just wait for him to get on the car. Anyway, he jumps up on the hood of the car then on to the top to sit and look out over his domain. It took us a couple of days to figure out how we were getting muddy dog prints on our windshield.

His other new thing also involving the car and muddy footprints is to run around the yard playing with his ball or shoe (both of which he stole from Antonio's yard). He runs in a big circle, drops the toy, runs another big circle through the carport. Jumps on the car, runs the length then takes a flying leap to hit the toy and make it jump. What a dog. We could get upset and yell at him but since the car has a big dent in the side and drives through air with volcanic dust in it all the time he couldn't possibly hurt the paint job anymore that it's already getting just being here. Besides that, this game means he's not eating the irrigation tubing Giusseppi has on the orange trees...or the gardner's water hose...or his food dish...or the....or the.... You get the idea. He's a puppy.