27 maggio 2005

I am feeling quite euphoric this morning. Or perhaps it is partly hung over! Last evening we had our first "festa" (party) - at "la casa nostra" (our house). Our Italian language class is in its final days now. Yesterday afternoon we had to take a test to see how much we had learned in the previous four weeks. Part of which consisted of listening to Chiara (our wonderful afternoon instructor who treats us as if she is the loving mother and we the eager children, and I mean that in the best possible way) and then answering questions to test our comprehension. She encourages us and helps us to find the right words, patiently waiting for us to find them, and correcting us gently when we don't. And even though there are no consequences to doing poorly on the test (most of us aren't going on to the next level - in fact most are not even continuing in Italy for more than a week or so) but all of us simply wanting to prove to ourselves that we had learned something, made progress in our attempt to learn this beautiful language. Now there is today, with our phonetic lesson and Monday (Chiara has promised to bring some Umbrian recipes and talk with us about cooking and the cucina (kitchen, in Italian) and just wrap things up by Tuesday, which is the last day of the class. I can't believe an entire month has passed!

Last week we decided it would be fun to have a small gathering of classmates at our apartment. We had been talking about our place here, the beautiful gardens and how lovely it all was and really wanted to share it with these wonderful people. So I sat down at the computer and created a very simply little invitation (actually fun to be using my graphic design skills for something personal like this) along with a map and directions to our place - and writing it all in Italian! (except for a tiny bit of translation at the bottom so the directions would be clear). Everyone was to bring either a bottle of wine or some cheese and to arrive at 5pm.

On Sunday we cleaned house and on Wednesday stopped at some of our favorite little markets for fruit and cheese and a bit of the "porchetta" that we like so much. The wine flowed freely! There was a terrific assortment and a good balance of red and white. The cheeses were delicious and Helena our sweet young Swiss friend made delicious platters of caprese salad with the fresh tomatoes and mozzarella she had also picked up at the market. We were even treated to a glass of limoncello that our Australian friends, Mary and Michael, had bought in Venice!

But the best part of the evening was just spending time with these incredible people. This was the smaller group that we've met with in the afternoons, with Chiara, the class where we do exercises and try to have little conversations with each other and because of that, have come to know each other a bit more. Early conversation in Italian has consisted of questions like "where are you from" "what things did you do on the weekend" "what are your plans for the future (the first three tenses: present, past and future) and we have asked what kinds of books we all read and all the getting to know you types of questions you ask when you first meet someone, groping along in our limited Italian and filling in with English here and there!

The night was magical. We gathered here in the apartment, and then brought everyone out to "The View" and down through "The Park" to "The Garden" then out to "The Pointe" - all names I have given to the various parts of this piece of heaven we have landed in. It was so wonderful to be able to share it with our new friends, most of whom have apartments in and around centro but not including such wonderful gardens that we have here. Our invitation said 5pm to 8pm, but it was hard to tear ourselves away from each other and most stayed until around 10. The weather was perfect, friends gathered inside and out and talked and laughed and drank wine as the night progressed. We found out how to say "I love you" in Taiwanese, German, Dutch and Swiss, shared home addresses, phone numbers and every bit of personal information that will keep us connected once we leave this cocoon of our class together.

It's an amazing thing that happens when we come together, serendipitously with a group of people (in this case, from all over the world, in various ages and genders) and we have a common goal, some hard work we do together and it bonds us to each other. It so broke my heart leaving all my dear friends in Phoenix and here we see that there are so many friends out there in our world, waiting to be found and discovered and treasured. That once again, proof that life is short and we must take experiences where we can. Enjoy the people we are with. Let them know how we feel, open ourselves up to them and let them into our lives.

We have been so enriched by this experience; I cannot begin to tell you. We talked about planning a trip to Holland next spring to see the tulips and Eva said she will ask her parents where and when we should go; about connecting with Philip and Silva's family outside of Naples who might suggest places for us to go there; Irma invited us all to come to Oaxaca and stay with her in her big house there; definitely wanting to make our way to Australia to visit Mary and Michael, Penny and Vanessa, and Phillip and his family (who discovered they didn't live far from each other down under!). We want to go to Switzerland and to Berlin to meet the families of Helena and Anne. And in five years time to gather again, all of us in Georgia (not the U.S. one)! We promised to get together with Helena, Anne and Eva again in the month of June, since they will be continuing with their studies (we feel quite parental towards these lovely young women and hope to have them over for dinner or something) and to set a date with Irma (from Georgia) and her Italian husband who live in Assisi (romantically, they met in Paris and have only been married a few months).

Once again we feel so fortunate to be here in this beautiful place, further enriched now by the people we have met, "stranieri" (the Italian word for foreigners) who we now call "amici"

Ciao,
Rosemary & "Robert"