Saldi (Sale)!

As a note in response to my last post, Italy does have after christmas sales...they just don't start until after ALL the holidays had finished, which here means the second week of january. All the store windows now have signs announcing 'saldi' and at H & M I bought 2 belts, a pair of shoes, a dress and a hat for 30 Euro!!

January has been flying by at warp speed. I started my next round of italian classes on the 10th and like the last time, the first day consisted of writing a test and speaking with one of the teachers to determine which level you belong in. I finished level 2 in December and had been studying a lot with my other workbooks and cds, so I was secretly hoping to maybe skip up a level. However to my surprise, after speaking with the teacher and reviewing my test, he felt that I should skip two levels, up to level 5 (there are only 6 levels at this school)!

I was a bit hesitant and asked about level 4 but he said that in level 4 they would be teaching grammar that I already knew, as I had just demonstrated on the test. So, level 5 it was! It's been really challenging and has since made my 3.5 hour tuesday night class feel easier in comparison. When it comes to reading and writing, I'm really on top of it, but with speaking and listening I'm not quite there yet. The key is lentamente.... (slowly).

I speak slow because I need time to think about each successive word I'm going to say and make sure that the endings agree and make sure I put the words in the right order....... I can understand well when someone speaks slow and clear but at normal speed the words mush together before they reach my ear. However over the past months I've observed my brain's progress with picking up on more and more information when listening to italian at normal speed. I'm also starting to hear meaning in the lyrics of the italian songs I bought on itunes (from italian bands: dente, zero assoluto, and fabri fibra (italian rap!)) which I have been listening to on repeat for months. Quindi, piano, piano (So, slowly, slowly).

I've also discovered a valuable resource thanks to someone telling me (although I can't remember who...), languagetandem.net, where you can meet people for language exchange in your city. In my case I'm able to meet up with Italians who are learning English, and you take turns speaking in both languages. This is amazing because it's free, mutually beneficial, and you can sympathize with each other about the difficulties of learning a new language. So far I've met with 2 people, Francesca, an economics student from Sardinia (an island in italy) and Giuseppe, an engineer from Calabria (the same region where my great grandparents were from).

Francesca and I sat in the sun for 2 hours in Piazza Santa Croce last saturday for our conversation and she gave me some grammar corrections and also words of advice for language learning. She spoke english really well and quite fast so the corrections I gave her were very few and minor. Her boyfriend is American so she's had lots of english practice. Giuseppe and I met for an aperitivo (the italian term for a cocktail which includes a buffet) last sunday and he told me some entertaining stories (in italian). I tried my best to follow along but if I got lost then he would clarify the situation in english. It was helpful for me that his level of english was closer (although still better) to my level of italian. The conversation was less about correcting each other and more about understanding, which at this point is what I need, to just practice speaking without getting caught up in the grammar.

When I met him on the website his profile said that he liked salsa dancing and I had wrote to him that I also liked dancing but I hadn't done salsa before. He replied saying that he could teach me sometime if I was interested. So, as we were finishing our drinks he asked if I was up for salsa that night as there was a place he knew that had salsa music on sundays. I hadn't planned on it and wasn't dressed for it, but as I'm always up for dancing I said certo (sure)!

My first salsa lesson consisted of 'one, two, three' with the right foot behind, and then 'one, two, three' with the left foot ahead. 6 seconds later I was being spun all over the dance floor and hardly missed a beat for the rest of the night. Incredibile! Giuseppe kept saying. He was in complete awe that I was keeping up with his 6 years of lessons. The truth is, as the guy leads, I was only able to keep up because he knew what he was doing. I just kept doing 'one, two, three' 'one, two, three' (or in italian uno, due, tre) with my feet, relaxed the rest of my body, and shut off my brain in order to follow the fast turns and direction changes. It was really so much fun!!!!! I hope we can go again this week when Giuseppe returns from London. No salsa isn't italian, but the italian's seem to like it as there were lots of people there dancing and practicing. Amazing!

This month I have an extra roommate, an extra Rosie. She's american, from South Carolina, studying art restoration here in Florence. A friend of my english Rosie, she found herself without an apartment when plans for housesitting her friend's apartment fell though last minute. It's been nice having a house full of girls to laugh with. We make fun of each other's slang terms and pronunciation of words. Although she doesn't really have a southern accent, we bug american Rosie for saying 'y'all' a lot!

An old coworker of english Rosie's was visiting Florence for a few days last week and we met up with him on Friday evening. They worked together in a pub in Dorset (in rural england) but it turns out this guy was originally from Hussar!!? What the??! (Hussar is a tiny town very close to the town where I'm from, Drumheller, in rural Alberta) His family moved to Manitoba when he was 12, but it's a pretty crazy coincidence to meet someone in Florence, who used to work with my roommate in England, and yet is from nearly the same small town as me. Strano (strange)!

I was so happy to hear some news about the package I've been waiting for for the last 2 months, which although isn't the greatest of news, I'm just relieved to know the package hasn't vanished, which is what I was preparing myself to hear. The package is being sent back to Toronto. They couldn't tell me what the problem was but they did say that I'll get my 140$ postage fees back only if the problem was the fault of the italian postal service. If it was a problem with the address written on the package, then I won't get my money back. We verified the address was correct numerous times but we'll see what they say upon delivering the package back to Firas in Toronto. I'm just glad my favorite yellow shoes will be safe and I will look forward to reuniting my feet with them in July:)

I managed to get another copy of my daytimer printed here in Florence, EXACTLY how I wanted it, even despite having to explain everything in italian! The first price I was quoted was 30 Euro but then I asked if there was a way to make it cheaper (c'e` un modo fare piu` economico?) and I'm not sure what he changed but all of a sudden (all'improvviso) the price became 16 Euro! Nice! Maybe he was giving me the tourist price initially, haha. Many things work like that here.

Sometimes when I've been studying italian a lot and then start writing or speaking in english again I realize that I've changed my sentence structure and word order to resemble the italian form (which then sounds like bad english)! So funny. My poor brain, trying to make sense of things. I'm definately keeping it on it's toes.

I was really surprised this week at my Tuesday class, when we were reviewing the past perfect verb form (which I'm quite comfortable with at this point), many of the other students were having trouble. I realized that I've been deceived by their fast and confident speaking, into thinking that they were also speaking grammatically correct! This has been a good example for me, to be less conscious of making mistakes and just spit it out. The more you speak the better you will get, so like many things, the hardest part is to start and not be self-conscious of saying something incorrect (i just realized this sentence rhymes, haha!!). My perfectionist tendencies will hopefully lose the battle against my will to speak. The worst that can happen is a misunderstanding, which often happens anyway, even when you speak grammatically perfect!!!

I guess I didn't slow down to smell the flowers in these last couple weeks as I didn't take any pictures! However, here's some oldies which I don't think I've posted before. The picture at the top is of the ponte vecchio (the old bridge) which one day was set up as a driving range for golf with greens floating in the Arno river! I know my dad will appreciate:)

Buone feste! (happy holidays!)

This video is in Sherbourne, a village near Rosie's house.


Today was yet another religious holiday in Italy, Epiphany! The day the 3 wise men visited baby Jesus, I'm told.

I returned to Florence from England on the morning of the 31st, just in time for capodanno (the new year). I took the bus back from the airport in Pisa, about an hour and a half ride from Florence, and beautiful. My breath was almost taken away looking at the views. The charming, crumbling homes, sitting on the organically sloping Tuscan hills with irregular divisions of garden and grapevine land. Then, deep in the background was the alps! However I actually had a closer view of these on my plane ride back from england, wow!!! My ride TO the airport was on the train which didn't offer any comparable view.

A few days prior to departing there was an extraordinary happening in Florence, NEVE (SNOW)! Actually it should no longer be considered SO special in that it happened almost on the same date last year. However I understand there was even more snow this year and it occurred in many areas of Italy and Europe, interrupting travel plans for many people. For me, it meant buying new boots as my current ones had a hole in the toe and there was no sign of my package from Canada containing replacements. I trudged to the train station in my sneakers and found some cute grey rubberboots for 27 Euro, on sale from 55. Lucky for this desperate shopper. These boots kept my feet dry all through the holidays, to Great Britian and back to Italy.




England was beautiful and awe inspiring in it's own ways. London is such a grand city, and that word really sums it up. Classy, statuesque, functional, GRAND! I was expecting it to be more 'westernized' in some ways, like new york, but alas it is a city with so much history it makes us north americans grovel. Or at least it made me do so. Big ben and westminster abbey are a sight one must see in reality, pictures and movies just don't suffice. There was really so much to see and I did my best although I believe I still have some unfinished work there.


I went to tons of galleries and art lovers are truly fortunate that most of the galleries in London are FREE! That suited my budget perfectly. I saw many masterpieces from some of my favorite impressionist artists and many paintings by John Singer Sargent, hands down AMAZING! This man had godly abilities. I was so happy to see 2 exhibits on fashion illustration which profoundly inspired me and I also passed by 'The Cartoon Museum' which made me smile, especially after seeing some original Ronald Searle illustrations. I also got the most amazing book there on Lifestyle Illustrations of the 1960's. If I can only own 1 art book for the rest of my life, let it be this one. AND I got 5 Pounds off because I pointed out the large crease in the cover, YESSS.






My hostel was right in the middle of the action in Piccadily Circus, similar to Times Square in New York, so it was convenient for me to go exploring on foot in the evenings and it was coincidentally just around the corner from Whole Foods! Of course London is renowned for it's stage shows so I inquired about some discount tickets but they weren't quite discounted enough for me so I caught a musical movie instead. 'Burlesque' with Christina Aguilera and Cher. Loved it, 'nuff said. Apart from my gallery hopping and sightseeing, I also checked out some organic and vegetarian restaurants, although I missed out on some due to holiday closings, scoped out the alternative neighborhood of Camden Town (London's huge version of Toronto's kensington market?), and did a bit of shopping which in the end I could not resist thanks to the fabulous holiday sales:) I bought a dress at H&M in London for 10 Pounds which still costs 30 Euros at the H&M in Florence!



Although it was sort of a break to be in an english speaking country, there were some other things to get used to, most notably, besides the accents and yet another change of currency, the cars driving on the left. Jaywalking is a dangerous feat for those unaccustomed! Of course this also means pedestrian traffic flows on the left too. Although it's english, I was still confused at first that instead of 'exit' the signs say 'way out' and instead of 'yld' they say 'give way'. Is it possible the british are more wordie than north americans, using 2-worded signs?



I took the 2 hour bus ride out to the english countryside to meet Rosie and her family on the evening of the 23rd. Unfortunately it was dark both times I traveled as apparently the bus went right past Stonehenge! I had a wonderful time eating, doing puzzles, sightseeing, and tobogoning (they called it 'bogging' or 'sledging') with Rosie and her family. This included her mom and dad, her 2 sisters and their husbands/fiances, their dog, Truffle, and the newest addition to their family, Clementine, Rosie's 5 month old niece. They have a beautifully renovated farmhouse in the village of Oborne in Dorset with a huge kitchen and walls full of art and collectibles from their travels, like a museum, I told them.

It was really interesting to see how people live in this part of the world. Some of the buildings are over a thousand years old! I enjoyed the english practices of having tea time everyday at 4 o'clock and learning to play Snooker at their neighbor's house. I took to it quickly and impressed everyone as I've always had a bit of a knack for pool;)



I left for London on the evening of the 27th and hit the ground running again until the night of the 30th when I returned to Stansted Airport for a night curled up on a bed of chairs at the cafe in anticipation of my 6am flight. I didn't want to pay for another night at the hostel (and the prices were really high that night) for just a few hours of sleep. Apparently many people had this same idea as it was hard to find a spot to camp for the night.
Having a break from speaking and thinking Italian has actually served me well. I studied only once on the bus back from Dorset, but other than that it was a full 10 day break. I think it has given the chance for information I've been trying to cram into my brain, to sink in. Upon landing in the Pisa airport at 10 am I turned the corner to the bus counter and immediately told the attendent 'Vorrei prendere l'autobus a Firenze' (I would like to take the bus to Florence) without having to stop and think! Yipee!! I even had an actual conversation with my landlady the other day. She doesn't speak any english and isn't so sensitive to the fact that it's hard to understand her when she talks A LOT and FAST. However I somehow understood her and was able to quikcly string together some sentences for her to understand me! (Please excuse me while I give myself a huge pat on the back here:D) I hope this feeling of ease continues.

After the beautiful bus ride to Florence I decided to catch a city bus from the train station so I wouldn't have to walk the whole 15 minutes with my suitcases on the bumpy sidewalks. I tried to get a bus map but as usual there were none available, so I just lined up for the #6, the same one I had taken to the station 10 days prior. Bad idea. In a city with tiny one way streets, the bus can't take the same route going north as it does south. I missed the stop closest to my apartment (which was actually still very far) and then proceeded to sit on the bus all the way to the suburbs and back. The scenic route, I suppose. An hour later I arrived at my apartment, unpacked a bit, and napped.

I spent the chilly New Year's Eve outside back at the piazza in front of the train station, watching a live concert and firecrackers going off unpredictably in every direction! It was crazy! There were no 'official' fireworks at midnight, just lots of unofficial ones all night long; with just slightly more at midnight...

Unfortunately the next day I was in rough shape, head throbbing, lungs ejecting. The results of lack of sleep and too much firecracker smoke inhalation. I'm STILL coughing stuff up but almost recovered I think.

I got a copy of my Wellness Daytimer printed in London (for 35 Pounds, OUCH!!) and I was so happy to see it 'in the paper' after designing it digitally for many weeks and trying to imagine how it will function in the real world. Although the printers didn't follow my wishes EXACTLY (borders, grr) and didn't consult me on paper choice (too slippery, I can't use pencil, grrr) and although the colors on the cover didn't print accurately (my fault), it's fabulous! I'm going to attempt a reprint here in Florence, fingers crossed!

My friend has told me the italian saying of 'anno nuovo, vita nuova' or 'new year, new life'. Simple and inspiring. It's going to be a good year for sure:) Among getting some concrete work done, I hope to do more traveling, there really is a whole world of amazement out there!

Dicembre luce (December lights)

This is the florentine symbol:


December has been a busy and bright month so far. The streets in Florence are decorated beautifully for Christmas (Natale) and light up at night. It definitely makes the cold evenings much more pleasant, although there was a period of a few days last week when it was incredibly warm, up to 18 degrees Celsius! I was shocked when I came out of my apartment on the first warm day, all bundled up for my walk to school.

I've since finished my Level 2 Italian course with 94% on my final exam:) I've also started another, very affordable, and intense 3 1/2 hour lesson on Tuesdays, which for me is incredibly challenging. The students in this class speak and understand Italian SO well! It's a bit of a struggle for me to follow along but the teacher assured me that I belong in the class. Interestingly, although the other students are able to have full conversations at high speed with the teacher in italian ( I can't!) and understand a recording on the first listen (I can't!), when the teacher verbally dictates a passage and instructs us to write it, I make less mistakes than everyone! I guess this shows I understand the rules of grammar, the pronuciation rules, and most of the vocabulary, but the key for me right now is I understand SLOOWWWLY. She speaks slowly when dictating but when the recording is played at normal speed, I can only understand the general idea and not the details. However, I know this is tremendous progress for me and it's only a matter of time!

It's interesting hearing all the accents of the various students when speaking italian. The spanish, the chinese, the german, the thai, the polish, the african, all add their native language spin to italian pronuciation! I didn't think I'd be able to hear the subtleties until having mastered it myself but it is really quite interesting. Of course then there's me with my english accent, the difficulty of rolling rrrr's and making the throaty sound with g + l put together! Thankfully my thursday night tutor, Valentina, helps me work on this:)

Last week I was invited to accompany my friend, Shri, a woman I met at the raw food weekend in Montespertoli, and her 4 year old son to the opening of a furniture store. The store is in such an amazing space with a series of old rooms and big courtyard. Also there's a room in the back packed with shelves of old wallpaper! I would've loved the chance to peek through them all, roll by roll, the patterns are so amazing! The opening doubled as a great christmas party, there was an abundance of food including mandarins and fresh roasted chestnuts, and live music from the owner's teenage nephew's band, so cute!



Shri also took me to the book launch of her italian friend who is a children's book illustrator. I exchanged information with the woman with the intention of arranging a language exchange and also, fingers crossed, to foto take me to the Bologna Children's Book Fair with her in March! This would be amazing as I have interest in also doing illustration for children's books and possibly she could help me make some connections, we shall see! As if Shri hasn't done enough by introducing me to her friend, she has also left her bicycle in my care until she returns next summer and gave me a big bundle of her delicious raw crackers, so generous! I went for my first bicycle ride in Florence on monday night, to the cinema to watch the new Woody Allen film. It felt great, although bumpy with the cobblestone potholes and a little chaotic with the narrow one way streets and crazy drivers, it's such a liberating feeling viewing the world from a bicycle:)
On the weekend I was invited to my cousin Martinho's for dinner where I got to taste his perfected indian dahl. His indian roomate has now entitled him with a black belt in indian cooking after many months of training. I can verify this title is well deserved, it was realllllly good! Us guests also recieved training in how to eat in the proper indian manner, sans untentils! It was strange at first to be scooping up hot rice and dahl (a lentil stew) with your hands, but once I got the hang of it I might say I even prefer this method of eating! You add the sense of touch to the enjoyment of a meal, a whole other level of connecting to food. I might try this on my own more often, I think the key is to just keep a napkin handy;)

So we're on the countdown until Christmas, and I'm on a countdown of one week until I leave for England! My roomate, Rosie, and her family are so generous in inviting me to their beautiful home in Dorset to spend the holiday with them. I'm so appreciative of the opportunity as it will be my first Christmas ever away from my family:_( and also my first time in England. I will also have the chance to explore London for a few days before returning to Florence on new years eve.

I've been spending most of my free time over the past couple weeks, and hence neglecting my blog posts, working on a Wellness Daytimer for 2011, a collaboration with my friend Katie. We were initially intending to test it out for ourselves this year but it's looking so good that we're going to make the pdf available online for people to print and assemble themselves. This is our facebook page and wellnessdaytimer.com will soon be up and running!

Also this week I'm sitting for a portrait for Rosie and her drawing partner at their art school. It's looking great so far and Rosie has told me I'm the most still model she's ever had!
In other news I'm waiting for package #2 which Firas sent almost a month ago now. It's stuff that I had to abandon at the airport when my luggage was overweight, like my Nana's black boots! I really need them now, they're so warm! The only information available on Canada Post tracking is ' the package is on hold at the postal facitlity (in italy) to verify the address of the recipient'. Firas and I have both called into Canada Post with little use. I'm just hoping it arrives before I leave for england. Also, I've found out the motor of my poor blender has been fried due to incompatible voltage here:( I wish I had known it wasn't compatible before ordering a new 40$ attachment to replace the one confiscated by airport security, however there's still a chance it can be fixed, I'm not giving up on it yet!




A candid photo of this amazingly old and fashionable couple having an argument!

Past perfect progress

I've completed 3 weeks of italian school already and am making good progress. I'm getting more comfortable using the 'past perfect' tense and even won the game we played at school:) An example of this tense in english is to say 'I have learned lots at school'. The word 'have' (in the present tense) is followed by the main verb in past tense (called the past participle). In italian this sentence is 'Ho imparato tanto alla scuola'. This is big progress for me to venture out of the realm of the present tense. I'm eagerly looking ahead in anticipation of the future (tense)!

The other day I returned to the tailor (la sartoria) to pickup my jeans and the lady complimented me on my italian. She said 'parli meglio' (you speak better)! I even asked her in italian if I could use her washroom... using a complete sentence! Posso usare la toiletta? (can i use the toilet?). I don't know if this verb 'usare' (to use) is actually the correct one for this context but it worked.

There are many inconsistencies in verb choices between italian and english. An example, in english we say ' i would like to have a coffee', but in italian they say ' i would like to TAKE a coffee' (vorrei prendere un caffe`). We actually use this for 'taking' medicine but not for 'having' a beverage, although I suppose in the incidence of coffee it could be considered more of a drug. Another example is in english we say 'I'm cold' but in italian you say 'I have cold' (Ho freddo) and the same goes for 'I'm hungry', in italian 'I have hunger' (Ho fame). So maybe instead of 'use' the toilet, they will say 'visit' the toilet or 'meet' the toilet, I don't know but another one of those things I will learn in time.

I have been translating songs with my italian tutor, Valentina, and I'm currently working on a really challenging one, a famous italian song called 'Come Mai'. I had always wished that foreign films were translated literally so that you could understand how the people actually communicate but now I understand why they're not: because if they were in fact translated literally word for word it probably wouldn't make any sense! After speaking only english my whole life it's a huge realization that there are many different ways to relay information using words. It's not just the vocabulary that's different. While my english brain is so comfortable peicing information together in certain ways, the 'brains' of other cultures may work very differently. I really feel like a detective trying to understand many of the sentences in this song, finding one grammar clue that leads to the next to the next. There are also many verb tenses in this song that I'm not yet familiar with, but it's good to have the exposure and start developing an awareness which will one day (hopefully!) progress into an understanding.
I was so happy to try out my blender after recieving the blender attachment in the package from my family last weekend. I had assembled the ingredients to make my beloved green smoothie (fruit + greens) on monday morning and was dreaming of all the yummy combinations I would be making in the days to follow. I plugged it in, pushed the button, and then... the lights went out. Rosie and I proceed to live the next 2 days without power (this is the second time we've had a blackout!) and I ate my apples and spinach as a salad instead of smoothie. In the dark.

Our landlady, Antonella, finally came to our rescue and located the appopriate breaker box (we didn't know where it was, there's like 3 different ones...). However I haven't attempted to use the blender again because I think it may be incompatible voltage or something? Although our power is operating again, the outlet I used the blender in is still dead. I will take it to the electrical appliances store to see if they know. Also the heating in half of our apartment (not my room, thank god!) is gliched. Although it's programmed to turn on at certain intervals during the day, everytime it shuts off, it doesn't turn back on. Now Antonella has given Rosie the instructions to turn on the boiler in the storage room below everytime this happens, but for a few weeks of and on we were without heat and hot water in the kitchen and Rosie's room.

It has really cooled off this week, you can see your breath in the air, and it is an incredibly WET(rainy and humid) cold. I was lucky enough to catch the sun a few times, including one day after class, and I found my favorite spot on Ponte Santa Trinita to soak it up. The pics below are from a church I popped into on my way to the tailor's when I saw a sign that said 'free entrance'. Inside was Ghirlandaio's 'Last Supper' fresco painting along with some modern animal sculptures. My favorite was the giraffe on stilts:) The painting is interesting in part because it was painted to match the perspective of the rounded ceiling.