Well, I had hoped to catch up on all those weeks of missing entries between when I stopped blogging and now, but it looks like is moving on already without it. I still plan on getting my photos up online, and I'll send an email out when I do, but for now get your fix on Italian culture at this great news site: lifeinitaly.com.
You're familiar with the expression "It's Greek to me"? Well, apparently since Greek is close enough to Latin this expression for saying that something is completely unintelligible just won't do in Italy. Instead, they allegedly say "parlato arabo" (speaking arabic). "Cinesoria" (like Chinese) also apparently can be used to describe writing that is incomprehensible. As a side note, graphic designers in the US say "greeking text" to mean filling in a layout with illegible text (well, to most Americans that is). We can only wonder who says "It's English to me!"
Quick Quiz: What does the gesture that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is making in the photo at left mean? If you guessed it means "(expletive) you!" then you've been watching too much Sopranos. What it means (in Rome at least) is more like "I could care less" or "I don't give a damn" depending on how strongly you do it. Of course this doesn't mean that what Scalia allegedly said in Italian along with the gesture in a recent scandal wasn't offensive. Menefregista by the way translates to "I-don't-give-a-damn-ist." Either way, not something you really want to hear from a judge, huh?
I've got some catching up to do! Before I left for my spring break, I was fortunate to have attended a festival for San Giuseppe (St. Joseph) on March 19th in central Rome. I got there on time, but the procession started late. While I waited outside the crowded church, I watched the Carabinieri (military police) and the marching band members horsing around like high-schoolers on a field trip. A photo series I've uploaded tells the rest of the story...
Lastly: A special belated happy St. Joseph's day to my grandmother (Josephine), my uncle (Joe) and my great-grandfather Giuseppe (if someone can pass this along to him)!
I'm back. That was a long spring break, and truth be told, I needed it. My trip to the south put in perspective just what a dirty crowded hassle this city can be at times. I was afraid to mention this earlier on, but feared that people would be upset for me breaking their idealistic notions of Rome. Sorry. There is a lot of beautiful art in Rome, but if it's the slow sweet life you crave, or even a sleek and stylish one, then this is not the city you imagined. To get a lovingly exaggerated portrait of what it can be like here, I'd recommend watching Fellini's Roma (pictured at left). To track down where our idealistic notions of Rome come from, watch Roman Holiday and especially Fellini's La Dolce Vita - both very entertaining movies in their own right. Stay tuned for more myth-busters!
I'm headed down to Sicilia (see-chee-lee-ah) for my spring break where I'll be meeting up with long lost cousins, searching for vital records in churches in small towns, and trekking up the active volcano, Stromboli at night time...
Today was the first day of our spring break, and I wasn't exactly sure what I would do today. Clearly not trying to put any ideas into my head, I got an e-mail this morning from the U.S. Embassy here in Rome (read the full text here). They wanted to tell me about a 20,000 person protest planned for today to coincide with the 3rd "anniversary" of the start of the war in Iraq. I wonder why I don't get these announcements in the U.S.? I guess maybe because they didn't think I should go:
"American citizens are... urged to avoid the areas involved with the demonstration... and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations."
Well, I didn't wind up going. Instead I took refuge behind a cheeseburger and fries in one of our informal American Embassies, The Hard Rock Café, but that's another entry...
Though American stereotypes of Italy would have Italians living life in the fast lane, one thing is for sure: there is simply no fast lane when it comes to riding escalators. Take the photo at left for instance, snapped at 8:45am - a time when people are in all other ways rushing to work here. 99% of the people you see in the photo are standing still... and this is on all four escalators! Even if the Metro isn't very busy, you will still find people standing side by side. I'm coming to believe it's all part of a cultural attitude towards public space in Rome that says, "I am here, but you do what you want."
As election day nears, a new crop of political posters has begun appearing. The posters are unremarkable except for the fact that any given poster has a black "X" through the logo of the political party. At first I thought it was perhaps the most precise grafitti I'd ever seen, but then, after seeing a few more, I figured it out. Is it obvious to you? Check out these examples: poster 1, poster 2, poster 3, poster 4, poster 5. Need a hint?
Today marks the 2050th anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination. To commemorate it, this weekend a horde of tourists will be dressing up in togas and running through the famous attractions in town. One attraction they will probably overlook is the Area Sacra di Largo Argentina, the site where Julius was stabbed 23 times. It's probably just as well that they leave the site in peace, though, since in recent years it has become the home of a stray cat sanctuary.
It's time again for a mini language lesson in Italian. Today we'll be learning how to pronounce Italian-American words in Italian. For starters, the beloved pistacchio is in reality pronouced more like Pinocchio, as in "pee-stah-key-oh." The same thing goes for gnocchi: "nyo-key." In Italian, you simply won't find the letter 'k' - instead 'ch' is used in its place. One last important example is bruschetta, pronounced: "broo-skeh-tah." By the way, in case you were wondering, tomato is pronouced pomodoro.
Do you think they say "Ciao!" a lot in Italy? Well yes they do, but you shouldn't. "Ciao!" is a friendly greeting used between friends, family members and regulars at businesses. On meeting a stranger or entering a store, one should say buon giorno or buona sera (good morning/evening). When you leave, you should use the same greeting or "Arrivederci." I'm pleased to say that after frequenting the same bars now for the last few weeks, I'm sometimes greeted with "Ciao!" Apparently, when you're really on the in, the greeting "Salve!" is used, but have yet to receive this greeting from anyone other than the employees at McDonald's, who I suspect are instructed to greet people this way. That is, unless they realized I was a McAmbassador.
Italy, I've been told, is not a "good neighbor" country. Though I can't say from experience, apparently you're more likely to get a knock from the police to ask that you turn down your music than your from the perturbed neighbor who sent them. Perhaps in line with this idea, it seems that there is no single word in Italian to describe the people who live in your vicinato (neighborhood). The word vicini (neighbors) is used only for those who live in your same apartment building,who are often your relatives. "Le abitanti del quartiere" was the best that our languange instructor could come up with for those who live outside your building. By the way, here's a photo of the building where I live.
My favorite raw food of the moment in Italy is the leafy herb rughetta - better known in the U.S. as arugula. Despite both of the words arugula and rughetta being of Italian origin, the British call it "rocket" (which in turn is how it is translated on English menus here). So, in line with the Brits, my favorite thing to eat for lunch is "rocket pizza" (at left). If you want to make it at home, start with a prebaked pizza crust and layer the red sauce of your choice, rughetta, fresh tomatoes and lastly, some mozzarella di bufala (pdo). Splash on a little extra virgin olive oil and some salt and enjoy! Delizioso!
The question of whether or not the stiletto is Italian or not came up in our language class recently since our language instructor had never heard the term before. After doing some "research," I found that the creation of the stiletto heel is generally attributed to two people, Roger Vivier, in France, and Salvatore Ferragamo in Italy, who separately came up with the idea in 1953. Of course, getting confused about who invented what (see: first flight, telephone) is as old as dirt. One thing is clear however: the heels take their inspiration from the main meaning of stiletto: a dagger.
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