Life in the Taddei home is coming along quite nicely. We translated the notes last week that Fiorella left for us and learned that she would like us to close the window when we leave and also lock the door with our keys please. All of which Giuseppe (pronounce gee-oo-sep-ee for those that are curious) had already hand motioned and explained to us in Italian. They must be important enough for them to stress about them that much so that’s ok for a note, I can respect that. The Swiss student arrived late on Sunday leaving Monday as our first meeting opportunity. She is wonderful! She is 30 years old taking a 3 week holiday from her job at a Swiss bank to improve her Italian speaking skills. Don't worry that she also speaks Swiss German, Turkish, French, and English fluently and her level of Italian is already better than mine will ever be. We have also learned a great deal of info from her about our family…Giuseppe and Fiorella own a furniture restoration and frame making shop. Fiorella is the bookkeeper/manager of the shop and Giuseppe is the "hands" of the business. Their daughter, Federica, who Autumn described her the other day as having the presence of a 7-11 worker, is the janitor of the shop. Coincidence? I don't believe so. She also apparently has a few other places that she cleans during the day when her family's shop is busy accommodating customers.
Dinner's have been pretty interesting the past couple nights with Autumn and I slipping into the shadows as N (the Swiss girl whose name I cannot remember or pronounce in the first place) carries on lovely conversation in Italian with F and G. We do occasionally get asked to eat more or get to slip a few words of english in to N, but other than that are quite invisible to the heart of conversation. It is somewhat nice however to be able to look to N if we are asked a more complicated question so she can translate for us. I think I will have her ask about us doing laundry in the sink while I have her around. For the meantime the sun is out and the rain is gone, so tomorrow while I have the day off from class I think I will attempt to get some laundry done. Overall everything is going well in the Taddei household and life is continuing to fly by as normal.
1 comment:
You have a regular little melting pot right there in your abode...
I have always been told that once someone learns a second language that learning more languages is a "piece of cake..." So, when you return speaking both English and Italian, I will be expecting great things from you... LOL
P.S. Another advantage of learning a second language: when I learned Russian [4th - 12th grade], it made the English language make a lot more sense! :-D
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