an explanation

i've just finished reading louisa may alcott's "little women" and am just starting "pride and prejudice" by jane austin... and believe me, strange things happen to your thoughts when your main source of daily contact with the english language is reading books that old. i may or may not have but probably did think something was a "capital idea" yesterday. it's probably about time i came home.

albert crombey and fish

with my parisian adventure (sadly) behind me, i'm spending the rest of time abroad with the girls' family in france. playing pétanque (bocci),

non parlo italiano.

i bought these books to help me learn italian. but really so far the only new things i've picked up are: "i don't speak italian" and some pronunciation things (like ci sounds like "chee") and that there are like four or five letters of the english alphabet that don't even exist in italian, oh and also that i hate italian. i'm sure i would love it if i could actually speak it, it's pretty awesome-sounding. however, i cannot speak italian. and italian is way harder than spanish. in spanish a singular "the" is always "el" or "la" depending on gender. in italian, the masculine singular "the" can be TWO different things and i don't really even know the difference yet. and don't get me started on making things plural... i miss spanish.
for now, i will keep up my "non parlo italiano" repetitions.

scacchi e damas

the other day eva taught me how to play scacchi [ska-kee] which is the italian name for chess. it was quite fun. afterwards ophelia arrived (she had a full day of school and eva only a half-day) and she was on my team for a game of damas (checkers, which i recognized because it is also called damas in spanish). playing games is proving to be a good way for the girls to practice english with me in a nice, relaxed environment. it's helping me to learn some italian as well!

another sigh of relief

i just subscribed to a podcast to help me learn some italian. the possibility of not being able to communicate with those around me has been weighing heavy on my mind as i try to envision what my time in italy will be like. though, i can't really say why. i did extremely well with foreign language in school, and when dealing with non-english-speaking customers at work i am never uneasy and feel like i can still communicate well. but, i suppose it's just my worrisome nature. anyway, the podcast is from learn italian pod and i have downloaded the five minutes a day series. after listening to a couple, i realized that i don't have anything to worry about. my knowledge of spanish is extremely handy- i recognized the meaning of many of the words and phrases due to their similarity to spanish. so, i believe that with some time spent just immersing myself in the language i will pick it up pretty well. with only three months there, i can't say i'll be coming back a fluent speaker of italian, but i feel confident that by the time august 12th rolls around i will be fairly comfortable in an italian-speaking situation.
wish me "buona fortuna"