First catch your octopus - 10 days studying Italian in Tuscany.
May 16th, 2011, 06:37 AM
#21
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I think that is a good point.
Since I am high on Puglia at the moment, I did a search and turned up these examples in beautiful locales where little English is spoken:
http://www.apuliaciao.it/inglese/scuola.asp
http://www.porta-doriente.com/italia...hool/index.asp
Since I am high on Puglia at the moment, I did a search and turned up these examples in beautiful locales where little English is spoken:
http://www.apuliaciao.it/inglese/scuola.asp
http://www.porta-doriente.com/italia...hool/index.asp
May 16th, 2011, 01:12 PM
#23
yes, I'm finding that in florence, it is difficult to make them let you speak italian, though the very attractive young man in the leather working school was very co-operative! [don't worry I was old enough to be his mother and we both knew it, sadly]
Siesta, mimar? it was meant for doing your homework! There is a tension between choosing somewhere like Orbetello where after 15 minutes you've walked round the place twice but there are plenty of opportunities to talk Italian, and bologna, where there is loads to do but little chance to practice what you've learnt.
humpty - yes, the lagoon was a bit smelly and at the beginning and end of the weekend there was a traffic problem with the Romans, [twas ever thus!] but apart from that, it was about as perfect as a place could be. Sadly the details of where we went are a bit hazy - our teacher/guide, being a resident of 30 years or so, had no need of a map so I'm a bit unclear as to whether I got to the places you mention or not!
Siesta, mimar? it was meant for doing your homework! There is a tension between choosing somewhere like Orbetello where after 15 minutes you've walked round the place twice but there are plenty of opportunities to talk Italian, and bologna, where there is loads to do but little chance to practice what you've learnt.
humpty - yes, the lagoon was a bit smelly and at the beginning and end of the weekend there was a traffic problem with the Romans, [twas ever thus!] but apart from that, it was about as perfect as a place could be. Sadly the details of where we went are a bit hazy - our teacher/guide, being a resident of 30 years or so, had no need of a map so I'm a bit unclear as to whether I got to the places you mention or not!
May 16th, 2011, 01:14 PM
#24
DAY 3 - Tuesday 10th May.
Determined not to repeat my mistake, I had asked for a wake up call at 7.30, so naturally I was awake by 6.45. So as I had too much time, after breakfast I went out to buy some postcards and stamps - rarely available at the same place IME, and certainly not in Italy. The little shops that sell the cards will direct you to a “tabac” where they will tell you “domani” [tomorrow]. Fortunately, my hotel is right next to the post office which opens at the unusually convenient hour of 8.15 so it was easy [for a change] to dash in and purchase as many stamps as I was likely to need for all the postcards that I would be sending during the whole journey - I got 10. [DH always thinks I send far too many; friends with whom I have travelled have often send far more, so I think that I’ve got it about right!] I say dash in - I simply went up to the counter and asked for “francobolli” but from the look I got, and what I saw afterwards, at busy times there is a waiting system with tickets, like the supermarket deli counter, where the unwary can wait for their ham for a very long time!
Despite all this I arrived at the school doors in good time and we commenced upon another four hours of conversation and grammar. Although I did more today, it seemed easier, so hopefully some of it is sinking in or perhaps it’s just washing over me! After lunch [another insalata caprese, I must get the Bs to try somewhere new!] it turned out that the Bs had hired bikes to get to the local beaches [humph - communication again!] hence my extended session this afternoon communing with my laptop and composing this work of literature. [and and half an eye/ear on “Murder She Wrote” dubbed into Italian on the telly - the plots don’t improve!]
So now we are up to date - it’s 5pm, the shops are opening, and we are due to meet again at 7pm for what is described on the timetable as “cooking- restaurant” I’m going to see if I can hire a bike myself so that i don’t spend the next 3 afternoons at a loose end!
Ciao for now!
Determined not to repeat my mistake, I had asked for a wake up call at 7.30, so naturally I was awake by 6.45. So as I had too much time, after breakfast I went out to buy some postcards and stamps - rarely available at the same place IME, and certainly not in Italy. The little shops that sell the cards will direct you to a “tabac” where they will tell you “domani” [tomorrow]. Fortunately, my hotel is right next to the post office which opens at the unusually convenient hour of 8.15 so it was easy [for a change] to dash in and purchase as many stamps as I was likely to need for all the postcards that I would be sending during the whole journey - I got 10. [DH always thinks I send far too many; friends with whom I have travelled have often send far more, so I think that I’ve got it about right!] I say dash in - I simply went up to the counter and asked for “francobolli” but from the look I got, and what I saw afterwards, at busy times there is a waiting system with tickets, like the supermarket deli counter, where the unwary can wait for their ham for a very long time!
Despite all this I arrived at the school doors in good time and we commenced upon another four hours of conversation and grammar. Although I did more today, it seemed easier, so hopefully some of it is sinking in or perhaps it’s just washing over me! After lunch [another insalata caprese, I must get the Bs to try somewhere new!] it turned out that the Bs had hired bikes to get to the local beaches [humph - communication again!] hence my extended session this afternoon communing with my laptop and composing this work of literature. [and and half an eye/ear on “Murder She Wrote” dubbed into Italian on the telly - the plots don’t improve!]
So now we are up to date - it’s 5pm, the shops are opening, and we are due to meet again at 7pm for what is described on the timetable as “cooking- restaurant” I’m going to see if I can hire a bike myself so that i don’t spend the next 3 afternoons at a loose end!
Ciao for now!
May 16th, 2011, 10:12 PM
#25
Later.
Well, the bike that I hired turned out to the oldest, nastiest, most horrible bike in the whole place. or as in italian, practising my superlatives, " la più vecchia, la più rotta, la più brutta bici in Italia!" I must have “idiot” tatooed on my forehead. I should have realised when he went through all the other bikes before he got to this one right at the back, that it was going to be a rotter. I rode it round for a bit, realising what a pig it was, then took it back to have the seat lowered just in case that made any difference, but of course it didn’t. I’d just about decided to take it back and tell him what he could do with it, when I hit some new asphalt [from the new roads they are doing] and picked it up all over my tyes. So now I had a rotten bike with hot asphalt stuck to it - brilliant. thoroughly p....ed off, I went and had a beer then left the horrible thing in the hotel lock-up.
The plan to do some cooking or at least some preparation in the restaurant didn’t quite work out as expected [are you spotting a theme here?] as it turned out that they were unusually busy for a Tuesday night, so instead, we watched the cook preparing some dishes before we sat down to eat them. Most of what she was doing, albeit it at 3x the speed that I do things in the kitchen, was pretty familiar, but some things were quite new - for example, should I come across an entire octopus, I now know what to do with it!
And the food really was very good - a starter of octopus salad, marinated anchovies and calamari crostini, followed by spaghetti alla vongole con bottarga [and we had a long discussion about whether this version was better than the one I’d had the first night!] and finished off with ricotta tart. All excellent. Then the two Bs and I went and had a digestive at the local bar, [where one of them caused much hillarity by asking for a drink called “strega” which turned out not only to be the italian for “witch” but also a ?local derogatory term for a woman] before hitting the sack.
Tomorrow - we get into hot water.
Well, the bike that I hired turned out to the oldest, nastiest, most horrible bike in the whole place. or as in italian, practising my superlatives, " la più vecchia, la più rotta, la più brutta bici in Italia!" I must have “idiot” tatooed on my forehead. I should have realised when he went through all the other bikes before he got to this one right at the back, that it was going to be a rotter. I rode it round for a bit, realising what a pig it was, then took it back to have the seat lowered just in case that made any difference, but of course it didn’t. I’d just about decided to take it back and tell him what he could do with it, when I hit some new asphalt [from the new roads they are doing] and picked it up all over my tyes. So now I had a rotten bike with hot asphalt stuck to it - brilliant. thoroughly p....ed off, I went and had a beer then left the horrible thing in the hotel lock-up.
The plan to do some cooking or at least some preparation in the restaurant didn’t quite work out as expected [are you spotting a theme here?] as it turned out that they were unusually busy for a Tuesday night, so instead, we watched the cook preparing some dishes before we sat down to eat them. Most of what she was doing, albeit it at 3x the speed that I do things in the kitchen, was pretty familiar, but some things were quite new - for example, should I come across an entire octopus, I now know what to do with it!
And the food really was very good - a starter of octopus salad, marinated anchovies and calamari crostini, followed by spaghetti alla vongole con bottarga [and we had a long discussion about whether this version was better than the one I’d had the first night!] and finished off with ricotta tart. All excellent. Then the two Bs and I went and had a digestive at the local bar, [where one of them caused much hillarity by asking for a drink called “strega” which turned out not only to be the italian for “witch” but also a ?local derogatory term for a woman] before hitting the sack.
Tomorrow - we get into hot water.
May 16th, 2011, 11:53 PM
#27
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We've had a bottle of Strega, it's an Italian aromatic liqueur, not great but not a joke. Maybe the barman was just enjoying your group/flirting? I am worried about the fourth member of the group, who does she hang out with?
Reading this and other language school blogs suggests that Lucca could be the place for me.
Reading this and other language school blogs suggests that Lucca could be the place for me.
May 17th, 2011, 06:55 AM
#31
thanks for all the support, folks, it's nice to know that there's someone out there "listening"
don't weep too hard for the fourth member of our group. She was extremely happy to go "home" to her host family every night as the mother of the family was a superb cook, and they looked after her like a daughter, even seeing off the local "lad" who got a bit over-enthusiastic.
Next installment coming up soon - it's a good job i made some notes as i went along, or I'd have forgotten everything.
don't weep too hard for the fourth member of our group. She was extremely happy to go "home" to her host family every night as the mother of the family was a superb cook, and they looked after her like a daughter, even seeing off the local "lad" who got a bit over-enthusiastic.
Next installment coming up soon - it's a good job i made some notes as i went along, or I'd have forgotten everything.
May 17th, 2011, 12:32 PM
#33
TDudette - it was one of the Bs who ordered it. the chap standing behind her at the bar though this very funny, perhaps because she was an 'older" woman with black hair? in any event, it led to some good-humoured banter, which was fun. i had heard of it before, but not made the connection with the italian word for 'witch" nor known its other meaning.
she settled for a beer i think!
she settled for a beer i think!
May 17th, 2011, 01:15 PM
#34
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Strega is an herbal liqueur that comes from Campania, so maybe more popular in the south. It is readily available in the US (popular with older Southern Italians, for after dinner) and I assume in the UK, in case you develop a taste for it!
May 19th, 2011, 01:54 AM
#38
momentino! mi manca il tempo.
in fact i got home exhausted, and after supper cooked by my lovely DH, went to bed.
all my purchases survived the journey, even the very delicate pasta [one lot of tortllini of pecorino and pear, and another of ricotta and ortega -that's nettle] that couldn't resist in the market the day before I left. i had to jettison the packaging it was in though as it just wouldn't fit in the case and the very kind lady i bought it from in the market had written the cooking instructions on the outside! I am therefore having to e-mail Maria for her suggestions...which I'm sure will be copious.
thank goodness i have today off, so will try to fit in some trip reporting later on. That's not just altruism on my part - I want to get it down so i don't forget anything!
in fact i got home exhausted, and after supper cooked by my lovely DH, went to bed.
all my purchases survived the journey, even the very delicate pasta [one lot of tortllini of pecorino and pear, and another of ricotta and ortega -that's nettle] that couldn't resist in the market the day before I left. i had to jettison the packaging it was in though as it just wouldn't fit in the case and the very kind lady i bought it from in the market had written the cooking instructions on the outside! I am therefore having to e-mail Maria for her suggestions...which I'm sure will be copious.
thank goodness i have today off, so will try to fit in some trip reporting later on. That's not just altruism on my part - I want to get it down so i don't forget anything!
