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.