Day 9: April 10, 2024

It was a very nice dinner a couple days ago at Osteria Oliva Nera where Isabella and her two adult children always makes me feel like a member of the family. After our school walking tour through the neighborhood of Castello, I brought my two German and Austrian amico’s to dine here. The weather was perfect so we dined outside. The food and wine also quite perfect. And the laughs! So nice to find compatible classmates despite ages and cultures. And it, in a strange way,  they remind me a bit of my fun classmates from high school German 1, 2, and 3 where I was often the only female. I picked German over the more popular French and Spanish because, well… you know… The Sound of Music! My favorite movie as a child! I fell in love with Austria because of that movie. Anyway, that class was the best. Herr Sam who kept us all interested and laughing PLUS took us skiing occasionally.

Yesterday, I felt a setback in the language learning however. The new material is much harder for me to grasp. Plus I added on a private tutor session for the afternoon which meant an hour speaking one on one with the tutor who isn’t quite as affable as my group teacher. In fact, she seems quite stiff. I struggled through the hour and felt a bit deflated afterwards. Returned home and studied for a couple hours. Then hit the grocery store for dinner ingredients. A simple affair — their freshly grilled artichokes plus pasta with a tomato and garlic sauce. And a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to drink.

Today I struggled through the group lesson. Elisa, my teacher realized I was struggling with a concept so she had every single person ask me a question which I had to respond to. And guess what?! By the 5th question, I started grasping it! It still wasn’t pretty but it began to feel less fuzzy and I could answer confidently by the end.

Lunch with the amico’s at a bacaro (a bar serving small glasses of wine and cichetti) I pass daily on my way to school, Bacareto da Lele. There is always a line out the door even in the morning. The kind of place where older neighborhood men stand around the barrels outside with a small glass of vino, no matter the hour, yes even at 8 am. Felix and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I think it’s more about the prices: 1 euro glasses of wine, and 1.50 euro mini sandwiches. But all quite good actually. I had a ham and radicchio salad sandwich plus a proscuitto/artichoke one, plus local red wine. Sometimes it can be intimidating to enter a place like this where the line moves as quickly as the language, but the guys behind the counter were super friendly and helpful and not at all annoyed by our questions. One of the older local men outside cleared a spot for me by a barrel to put my lunch down.

Afternoon’s activity was another class walking tour, this time on the island of Giudecca which I haven’t explored much. I could take the vaporetto which stops outside my apartment straight to the meeting point there. Nice boat ride down the Grand Canal a bit, then out into the lagoon full throttle. Alessandro, the guide, teaches art history classes at my school but my italian is not advanced enough to take those. I don’t understand 60% of what he says, but I’m getting better at deciphering the rest. But more and more words are standing out. Plus he is excellent at speaking slowly and has a wonderful way with using his hands to explain as well. He rolls his r’s often and it is a beautiful thing.

La Primavera has shown her face here. Window boxes are being tended to and the wisteria is now blooming, the lovely scent drifting down as one passes by.

Back to studying now… xoxo Amy
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