mi chiamo beccacat
so j & i started italian last night--what fun! our teacher is this lovely woman in her late 60s/early 70s who is charming, funny, a tad absent-minded, proud of her heritage, and yes, you guessed it, italian. we kind of made an entrance, walking in late by about 10 minutes, but for us, that's not bad. (yes, we had intended to go early, but i was a few minutes late, then i had to stop by j's to pick up the books, which he had moved from the place they had been for almost a week without telling me, which took another few minutes to locate, then stop at his job to pick him up, which was yet another few minutes... but he couldn't be too mad b/c neither one of us had written down the address (we just knew the building name) or the room number (both assuming the other would do it).) it was a good thing no one's life depended on us getting there on time, or on college students providing good directions, but we eventually made it. only to walk all throughout the entire building's 2 floors before finding the right room, which was almost the very last one it could have been... oops... then again, we had almost no idea where we were s'posed to be when we got to campus, & we still got there in less than 15 minutes, so who knows? maybe we belong on 'the amazing race'?!
anyhoo, there are some characters in the class who are as stereotypically idahoan as you might expect (including one older guy who kept asking her stuff about 'the providences of italy' and pronounced all of his 'a' sounds like the 'a' in 'anne', when they were s'posed to be like the 'a' in 'arm'...) but most people seemed to be really trying to get it & do it right. we convinced some friends to take it too, so now there are 5 or 6 of us in a couple of classes that run 2x a week on tuesdays & thursdays, which will be good for practice conversations. which is what j & i were doing on the car ride home & in between the x-files reruns we were watching (by the by, if you have directv or maybe that fancy cable, you should check out the oh-so-amusing-and-distinguishing blurbs they use to describe the episode's contents. i swear, every one i've ever seen says the same thing: "the agents investigate mysterious deaths"...thanks, that clears it right up. but i digress). so far we know how to introduce ourselves (mi chiamo beccacat), ask after someone's nationality (providing, of course, that person is american or italian: lei e americano, vero?) & state our own (sono americana), as well as mention that we are of italian origin (sono italiana d'origine). We can now also now get into one of those fake arguments that you exchange when you first meet someone (well, if you are friendly & italian, anyway) and both express our delight at meeting each other (molto lieta!), and then argue with the other person & say, no, the pleasure is all mine (no, il piancere e mio!). i also know how to introduce you, my dear friend, to both one person (le presento john smith) and a group of people (vi presento jane doe)... (if you know italian already, please excuse my inability to muster up enough resolve to look up how to type properly accented vowels--it's still early for me...)
so now we are all set. if i meet someone italian, i will be able to converse with them for nearly 20 seconds about stuff we both already know. and then when they ask or tell me something else, i will stare at them dumbfounded like a deer in the headlights... so that ought to be fun. ;)
ok, so, we're going to try to do better than that. j got us some italian lessons on cd, and i loaded those suckers onto my ipod last night. i am hoping to get some practice in every day. which will be hard for the next few, as i am booked every minute of the day, it seems like. tonight we are helping friends who own a floral shop to process roses for valentine's day, tomorrow we are going to see 'pan's labyrinth,' friday we are having dinner & drinks & then going to film club to see 'guess who's coming to dinner?', possibly to attend a party afterwards. saturday i am helping a friend purge her closet in preparation for a refreshing influx of new work clothes (she says she's sick of people telling her she looks like a schoolmarm) and then there is a big party celebrating all of the meetin peeps' winter birthdays (black & white theme--yay!). so it looks like sunday before i even get some quality rest in, never mind italian. but it is way fun to stretch my brain around new words & new stuff, and it's exciting, so i know i'm going to make it a point of practicing--though poor j is going to be sick of me asking what he calls himself and if he is an american soon, so maybe we will skip ahead before next week's class.... molto bene, child, molto bene!
ps. i like that my screen name spell checks to baccarat, bobcat, and cacti (?!?)
anyhoo, there are some characters in the class who are as stereotypically idahoan as you might expect (including one older guy who kept asking her stuff about 'the providences of italy' and pronounced all of his 'a' sounds like the 'a' in 'anne', when they were s'posed to be like the 'a' in 'arm'...) but most people seemed to be really trying to get it & do it right. we convinced some friends to take it too, so now there are 5 or 6 of us in a couple of classes that run 2x a week on tuesdays & thursdays, which will be good for practice conversations. which is what j & i were doing on the car ride home & in between the x-files reruns we were watching (by the by, if you have directv or maybe that fancy cable, you should check out the oh-so-amusing-and-distinguishing blurbs they use to describe the episode's contents. i swear, every one i've ever seen says the same thing: "the agents investigate mysterious deaths"...thanks, that clears it right up. but i digress). so far we know how to introduce ourselves (mi chiamo beccacat), ask after someone's nationality (providing, of course, that person is american or italian: lei e americano, vero?) & state our own (sono americana), as well as mention that we are of italian origin (sono italiana d'origine). We can now also now get into one of those fake arguments that you exchange when you first meet someone (well, if you are friendly & italian, anyway) and both express our delight at meeting each other (molto lieta!), and then argue with the other person & say, no, the pleasure is all mine (no, il piancere e mio!). i also know how to introduce you, my dear friend, to both one person (le presento john smith) and a group of people (vi presento jane doe)... (if you know italian already, please excuse my inability to muster up enough resolve to look up how to type properly accented vowels--it's still early for me...)
so now we are all set. if i meet someone italian, i will be able to converse with them for nearly 20 seconds about stuff we both already know. and then when they ask or tell me something else, i will stare at them dumbfounded like a deer in the headlights... so that ought to be fun. ;)
ok, so, we're going to try to do better than that. j got us some italian lessons on cd, and i loaded those suckers onto my ipod last night. i am hoping to get some practice in every day. which will be hard for the next few, as i am booked every minute of the day, it seems like. tonight we are helping friends who own a floral shop to process roses for valentine's day, tomorrow we are going to see 'pan's labyrinth,' friday we are having dinner & drinks & then going to film club to see 'guess who's coming to dinner?', possibly to attend a party afterwards. saturday i am helping a friend purge her closet in preparation for a refreshing influx of new work clothes (she says she's sick of people telling her she looks like a schoolmarm) and then there is a big party celebrating all of the meetin peeps' winter birthdays (black & white theme--yay!). so it looks like sunday before i even get some quality rest in, never mind italian. but it is way fun to stretch my brain around new words & new stuff, and it's exciting, so i know i'm going to make it a point of practicing--though poor j is going to be sick of me asking what he calls himself and if he is an american soon, so maybe we will skip ahead before next week's class.... molto bene, child, molto bene!
ps. i like that my screen name spell checks to baccarat, bobcat, and cacti (?!?)