Italian Update

Remember when I was moving into my apartment and hear some Italian through the walls? Remember when I met the Italians that live directly accross from us?!

Well, things have been progressing BEAUTIFULLY since Joy and I have actually been living in our aparment. Here is the run-down:

• On one Saturday morning, Lavinia, the mother, came knocking on our door. I was at work, but Joy was home. Lavinia gave her a piece of danish-type bread that she had made that morning. When I came home, we ate the bread and, of course, it was fantastic. So, trying to encourage this relationship, I got out a piece of paper and wrote a thank-you note in Italian and slipped it under their door. In about an hour, there was another knock on our door and Lavinia was standing there with another plate in hand. In my Italian note, I had written, "thank you for the bread" because I didn't know how to say sweet-bread. Well, Lavinia wanted to make sure that we understood that was she had given us earlier was a sweet ("dolce") and was not bread ("pane"). So, to help us understand, she gave us a plate of actual bread. This was even better than the sweet-bread. It was still warm, had bits of ham baked on top, and was truly amazing.
• A few nights later, Joy and I decided we should return the plate to the Italians. It was about 9:30 and when we knocked on the door, both Lavinia and Roberto were there. (Roberto is rarely seen since he is usually working.) Well, in good Italian fashion, they invited us in, immediately offering us beer and wine, pizza, chips, and nuts. The kids were all asleep, so the four of us sat around their kitchen table and fumbled our way through language, often relying on our bodies more than our tongues. These two people are so kind and funny. We ended up leaving around 11 or so and were certainly encouraged in our developing relationship as well as reminded of our desperate need to start practicing each others' languages.
• Last Saturday, after two weeks or so of no significant contact, I decided it was time to try to hang out with the Italian kids some. Lavinia (who we learned is actually Polish) and Roberto (who is the Italian) have three children: Armando (5), Vanessa (3), and perhaps showing in name the transition to America: Daisy, who is just a babe. Well, Joy was going to make French toast when we finally got up around 10 and I thought we might as well see if our neighbors wanted some. And believe it or not, they did. Roberto was at work, but the others all came to our apartment, including Lavinia's mom who also lives with them. We were all in our pajamas and the kids were running around our place as we got the breakfast ready. We ate our breakfast (we aren't too sure if they actually liked our French toast and we learned that the kids don't like syrup) and then sat around talking for a while. Of course, the kids' attention span had expired (especially since they couldn't really communicate with us. I don't think Armando quite understands that we don't actually speak Italian...) and so I put in the movie "Pinocchio." This is the Italian version with Roberto Begnini ("Life is Beautiful") and of course, the movie is known to be horrible, but the kids just jumped on the couch and enjoyed being able to watch something in a language they understood. When everyone left, little Vanessa gave Joy and I little kisses. She's a precious one.

Needless to say, we love our neighbors. I am newly inspired to practice this language that I love and really enjoy hearing about their time in America, both exhilerating and frustrating to them. Even yesterday, they rememberd that it was Joy's birthday and Lavinia brought over a piece of some lavish layered dessert. We are soon to have dinner with the Italians and perhaps I will taste those flavours that we try to emulate but always seem to fall just a little bit (but remarkably noticeably) short. Who knows, perhaps soon we'll all be on vacation together in Tuscany. Believe me, I'm working on it....