delle foto

delle foto possono essere trovate a:

http://community.webshots.com/mikeinitaly

so che tutti di voi avevate motlissimo voglia di vedermi ed i miei amici. e forse volete anche vedere alcuni dei posti piu' famosi nel mondo (i quali vengono frequentati da me abbastanza spesso.) ecco la vostra opportunita'.

inoltre, jackie arrivera' domani, che significa che non vi scrivero' finche lei sara' partita, dopo la prima settimana di marzo. divertitevi.

in culo alla balena

that's right, my topic for today is "into the whale's ass." and when someone says that to you, you are to respond "speriamo che non scoreggi," which means "let's hope it doesn't fart." and all of that means "good luck."

so that was one of the many things we learned at dinner tonight. another was that jamal has yet to completely master indirect discourse. not that he's bad at it, just that he made antonio laugh and almost spit up his drink when he tried to convert something donatella said to him. though, in jamal's defense, he didn't really do badly at all and i'm not sure why antonio almost died choking. also, tiramisu is made out of snails (lumache), or so antonio told jamal. man was that a fun dinner.

so anyhow our grammar classes end tomorrow, final exams and what not. however, instead of studying, i'm writing about how i'm not studying. why not? because the class has been ridiculously easy. i haven't learned anything in it. but oh well. not like it was hard, or like i had much else to do. a free 4 credits. anyway my spoken italian is getting a lot better, not in the sense that my knowledge is greater, but just that i can say things with more ease. and i understand better as well, i can actually watch silly sitcoms on tv and get most of it. also their version of who wants to be a millionaire, which is HORRIBLE, as it is filled with faux-drama and suspense and they seriously only go through about 5 questions per half-hour show. anyway the family and i watched american beauty tonight in italian and it was pretty cool.

i guess i'm going to go do something else now. but you should all wish me a happy voyage into the whale's you-know-what, and let's hope it doesn't scoreggiare all over me. and wish the same to jamal.

eat it, jeff

this post, as you might have noticed, is dedicated to jeff. why? because i have been vindicated.

hey jeff, remember all those times i would cook pasta and then throw some meat and cheese on top and bake it in the oven? well you know what? THAT'S ACTUALLY SOMETHING THEY DO HERE. donatella made some tortellini tonight, then put ham and cheese on top and baked them to make a little crust. so every time you thought i was being weird for doing that, you can now go ahead and take back, unless you want to just be a big fat bigot. and if you continue to try to alienate me because of what are clearly my natural bonds with italian cookery, well, i may just not come back.

also, giulia made me some tiramisu. man was that good.

Quanti guanti? Tanti guanti.

That’s right, the title means “how many gloves? Lots of gloves.” Jamal and I like to say that to each other. And slowly but surely we are inducing Kristin and Umrao to say it with us.

So what having to do with Italy have we done recently? Well, you know, not a whole lot, I mean we went to Venice and Milan and that sort of stuff.

So, Milan. Big industrial/commercial sort of city. Not exceedingly pretty except for the gigantic church that apparently took six centuries to finish. That place was pretty cool. For a measly four euro we were permitted to ascend the very skimpy staircase, and we found ourselves on the roof of the church. Spires and statues and that sort of thing everywhere – but the place seemed to have been designed with tons of meandering tourists in mind. It was pretty strange, you could walk all over the top of the church and just hang out, get a better view of the statues, play with bouncy balls, whatever. So we did that for a little while. Then we went to some famous opera house where pictures of the inside were not allowed, though I did happen to take one anyway.

After that we left the big group and split up into our tiny ones. So I was with (you guessed it) Jamal, Kristin, and Umrao. We basically just wandered around for a while, went to this supposedly formerly bohemian street that didn’t really seem very artsy, and we ended up at the castle. So we walked around the castle for a while, and then jamal and I commenced talking about knights, swords, bows and arrows, flaming arrows, boiling tar and pitch, moats, dragons, wild boars, tigers, maces, laying siege, and other varieties of sweetness. None of which was much appreciated by the girls. Anyhow then we went to one restaurant, snacked, went to another, ate, then returned home.

The next morning we woke up and went to the local Saturday market. Jamal and I looked around for shoes and sweet track jackets, but all the cool ones were for girls. But it’s a pretty frequent event so I’m sure we’ll find some sweet euro-fashion items to bring back to the States.

And then after that we went to Venice. Now, I know I’ve been there several times before, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t still get us lost, which I most definitely did. Umrao was to go visit some museums and then to meet me and Kristin and Jamal. However, on our way to the Academy of the Fine Arts, we happened to get lost. Usually there are signs all over Venice telling you how to get to Piazza San Marco, the Academy, etc, but we managed to avoid all but one on our hour-and-a-half trek around the island. Usually you can make the trip in 15 minutes, if you know what you’re doing.

But the lostness wasn’t entirely our fault, we received some pretty crappy directions, most of which consisted of “gira al ponte, e poi sempre dritto. Sarà una cammina lunga.” (turn at that bridge, then just keep going straight. It’ll be a long walk.). Following said explicit and complex directions, we ended up on the outskirts of the island. We tried to just continue walking, but you see, the island ended. So we had to double back. Oh, and all this while, Jamal was starving and griping about needing to eat, Umrao was waiting alone for us in San Marco, and I was continually assuring everyone that we’d be where we wanted to soon, and then we could eat. And also it was relatively cold out. Anyway we eventually got ourselves together, had a little pizza, and warmed up a little in a tiny restaurant.

By then it was about 5pm. The opera was at 8. Oh, I forgot to mention, we spontaneously decided to go see an opera, the Barber of Seville. Maybe you recognize the name? or the character Figaro (Figaro su, Figaro giù, Figaro qua, Figaro la?). So we called our Venetian italian professor and asked her if she wanted to come, which she of course did, the four of us being such funbags, so we managed to pass the time until 8pm and then we went to the opera inside a little church thing, and it was even pretty cheap to boot. So I guess that’s all I did this weekend. Nothing that exciting really.

On to domestic news. Donatella does some laundry every week; last week I forgot to take my read to me shirt off the drying rack. Donatella, however, interpreted my forgetfulness as a command to wash the gross stains out of the shirt. So she apparently slaved over that for a while, and then when I asked her where my shirt was, she told me she thought I had left it there as an indication of it needing to be washed. I felt a little guilty about that; but on the other hand, those stains are gone and I’m frankly a little amazed.

Grammar classes end on Thursday. Mine has been exceedingly easy. On the following Monday, I start taking real classes. I don’t know exactly what yet. I might take some class about the history/future of the EU, and I’m hoping to take some philosophy at the university. And maybe I’ll audit something else, art history or some such, but really, who needs credits, right? 12 will do me just fine.

Well, I hope that satisfies all of you who so desperately need to know what’s happening over here. And I hope it can hold you over until you come visit. Which for Jackie is about 5 days, for Adam is about two weeks (is that right adam? When the heck are you coming?), for Justin might be about a month or so, and for Mom is about 3 months. But, anyhow, more to come. And I might put up some pictures elsewhere sometime. Ciao.

in honor of sr. adam

well, adam said he wanted a post and that he knew i was doing cool stuff. so in his honor i'm going to create what could be the most mundane post ever.

first off, i purchased a gym membership sometime over the weekend. it's about a 5 minute jog from my house, so i go in the mornings now. loads of fun. i'm starting to get recognized by the regulars, maybe one of these days i'll actually talk to somebody.

i used to get this cereal that was granola with various types of fruit. but then donatella couldn't find it at the store, so she got me another sort of granola that is not crunchy but does have 40% fruit content by volume. that's pretty crazy. so i do put milk in it. who would have thought that i would never put milk in my cereal until i come to italy where they have hardly any cereal and the milk is horrible and kept in boxes?

jamal and i found a bball court and we have been playing that from time to time. i was the victor in a couple of our games of cavallo. but he won when we tricked some girls into coming to play with us and we played a game. anyhow who would have imagined that the first time i'd consistently play basketball since middle school would be while i'm in italy, where nobody plays?

after the bball we went to a movie. it was decent but nobody could really understand much. how long does it stinking take to achieve fluency?

i guess this is pretty boring to, but we're going to milan on friday. i mean, who wants to go to milan right? by the way sometime in march we're going to go see the milan soccer team play some brit soccer team. i am under the impression that that will be crazy, and i'm half expecting to get mudered in a riot. especially since jamal claims that he'll be rooting for the UK team. so if you never see me again except perhaps on the news in an ambulance, you know why.

i don't know what else. jamal's italian mom is still crazy. italian class is still easy, no matter what the other people say. we choose actual courses soon. i am thinking of taking an extremely heavy load this semester - 2 classes. mmmmmm.

More aldo, and also verona

So, first off, Aldo continues to be hilarious. Here's a little dialogue from the other night when anthony and jamal came to eat here with me, giulia, antonio, mario, donatella, and aldo:
(donatella was going to leave to go to dancing lessons so wouldn't be around to do the dishes)

Aldo: Chi lava i piatti stasera? (who's washing the dishes tonight?)
Me: Jamal lo vuole fare. (jamal wants to do it)
Jamal: Michele mi auita. (mike will help)
(Donatella enters)
Donatella: Chi lava i piatti? (you know that one)
Aldo: Lo fa Jamal. (jamal will do it)
Jamal: Si, ma aldo mi aiuta. (yeah, but aldo's helping me)
Aldo: (stares jamal in the face and says:) I WILL KILL YOU. (yes, in english)(deadpan stare continues for 30 seconds. extreme funny awkwardness).

So yes, jamal, congratulations on getting along with the family well.


In other news, we went to this city called Verona today. Maybe you've heard of it. a little play by some dude named shakespeare, called romeo and juliet, supposedly happened there. so after seeing some cool buildings and such, which happen to be just about everywhere in this country, we went into a church. in said church, there was the corpse of this saint, zeno or somebody like that. part of the church was from 1117 - that's crazy. anyway we got a tour from a priest and we got to see the body, albeit in a pretty serious case. you can't see the skeleton, and the face has a metal mask and the hand on which the priest-ring sits is actually a glove. but still, the fellow is 700 odd years old.

so after that adventure, we went to eat, and then walked around some more, and then we went to the "house of the capulets," a little tourist trap, though not much of a trap since it's free. anyway people scribble love-graffiti on walls or on post-it-notes that they stick to the walls with gum, and there is also a statue of "la giulietta." the custom is that you romantically touch her breast while someone takes a picture of you. so, it's kind of funny, one breast has obviously been touched a lot and the metal is a completely different shade from the rest of the statue. now that's the sort of thing that i notice while walking around historic verona. yes. also, we had gelato. very good.

tidbits

first, aldo is fun and strange. today while i was lying on the couch he came up to me and said, in hilarious english, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT? ARISTOTLE?" pretty much out of nowhere. and then later, he came up to me and asked me what the word "aceite" (vinegar) was in english. so i told him. then he said, "Michele, you are strong how vinegar." His english is pretty hilarious.

and now, an impression of Jamal's mom, Franca:

Mike: Ciao Franca, come va?
Franca: Bene, sai? Sai? Sai? Mangia un po'. Hai fame? Poi, mangia, mangia. Bevi. Prendi delle patatine. Sai Sai Sai Bene Sai! No, non hai fame? Ma mangia le fritelle! Mangiale, Mangiale, Sai??? Sai? Sto bene grazie sai grazie grazie. E come state voi? anche bene sai? chi ha cucinato e che cosa ha cucinato? e' una sorpresa, sai? ma jamal, ti trovi bene nella casa della franca? sai, bene, ti amo, carino. Sai sai. sei sazio? poi, mangia di piu'. Prendi il vino. ma, sai?

that's all\

strange compliments

today being sunday, official day of holiness, i went downtown to the bookstore to listen to some guy talk about his book called "il pensiero e la vita" (thought and life), a topic that might be a little broad for a 1 hour session and a 200 page book. but anyway one of the most important italian philosophers was there, he's in charge of philosophy at the university here and he was head of the italian philosophy congress or something, and he's an aristotle expert. so anyway he was pretty worthless, but i'm glad to say that i could understand what he was saying, i think, so it will be plausible for me to take courses at the school here. more interestingly, though, some old man wanted to argue with him after the conference, though the aristotle man wasn't really interested. so afterward i went and talked to the old man for a little while. he kept spitting, but other than that it was pretty cool, though i only about halfway understood him. he could understand me though. and then he told me that i looked like a philosopher, especially the way i watched him while he talked. i'm not quite sure what he meant, but i guess it was a compliment.

the next compliments were even weirder. anthony and i had our first run-in with public transportation weirdness. we were taking the bus home (we and some others had met up in the center of town for some lunch) and some raspy, possibly crazy italian lady sat down next to anthony and put her arm around him. anthony is a few levels lower than I am, so he had no clue what she was talking about, ever, and i could only understand about half of it. she said she had a sore throat and couldn't speak well. all the other italians on the bus were kind of laughing at us, probably because they understand how awkward it was. but anyway she told me that i was cuter than anthony and that i had a better name. trying to pass the awkward, awkward time, anthony asked her if she ever went to the bingo hall, to which she replied that if you win, that's nice, but usually "lo prendi nel culo" (you take it right up the you know what). and i think that's all for now.

cose piu' o meno comiche

so this first one happened a few days ago, actually the second day i was here. maybe i already wrote about it but i don't think so. anyway, we were about to go out to a restaurant. i asked if i needed to dress a little more fancily or anything and they said no. then i attempted to say "well, i only go to luxurious restaurants." (solo mangio ai ristoranti lussuosi). instead, however, i said "solo mangio ai ristoranti lussuriosi." that, however, apparently, means "i only eat at lustful restaurants." donatella kindly informed me that lussuosi means di lusso, that is, deluxe, and lussuoriosi is generally considered sinful. what a nice icebreaker before a family meal.

so, next funny story. this one happened just now, while i was doing 35 PAGES OF STUPID GRAMMAR EXERCISES BECAUSE APPARENTLY INTENSIVE MONTH MEANS YOU SPEND 5 HOURS A DAY GOING OVER GRAMMAR YOU LEARNED A YEAR AGO. anyway i came upon a secion on "di la" and "di qua" which mean over there and over here. the clarifying example for the first was "in un'altra camera," in another room. for the second: "in una diversa camera," in a different room. what the heck??? so i first asked giulia and she said the book was messed up. then donatella tried to come up with something but failed. then antonio (the neighborfriend who eats here and falls asleep on the couch here and feeds his dog here and is generally here) said that it has to do with who owns the room, said proposition being quickly rejected by the other italians. so, insomma, who gives a crap about prepositions anyway?

now, on to something that's still funny but in a different way. like when you say the stupidest thing possible. this was briefly recounted in jamal's journal but i'll treat it a little more in-depthly. we were eating at his house with franca (his mom), giuliana (a boarder who lives in his apartment), and rafaele (another of the same, whose name jamal cannot spell but will hopefully learn from reading this). so rafaele asked me if i believed in god, and of course, not doing so, i said no. italians generally being catholics, and rafaele being no exception, and people tending to get insulted about stuff like that, rafaele got somewhat insulted and asked me to explain. not being so good at explaining it in italian, i said something along the lines of "i see no evidence or good reason to believe." so that was pretty suave of me. then i helped him to understand the difference between catholicism and protestantism, on jamal's behalf, not that i really know anything about either. next, he asked me how i felt about naples, and i told him i didn't like it. then he scoffed, and it turned out that both he and giuliana are from naples. so i tried to explain that it wasn't so much the city as the fact that i was there only for a night, it was dark, drivers were wreckless, and we couldn't find our hostel, but none of my excuses could suffice, and safe to say he'll probably try to kill me next time i visit.

in actual news, ummm, there isn't much. class is kind of boring and there's much menial work to do. my days basically go like this:10h30 - wake up. 12-2 - class. 2-3 lunch 3- 6:30 hang out around school 6h30-9 - eat and hang out with school people, 9-2, home and work and hanging out with italians, then bed. all in all, pretty cool.

also, my italian i think is continuing to get batter. though clearly my spelling is failing me. my italian is not procuring me pancakes. i'm sorry that i make stupid jokes. what i was going to say is that i can make my family laugh, and for me that was kind of the test to see how well i could get along here. i don't think you can really say a language feels natural if you can't be sarcastic in it. so, i can be a jerk, hooray. and i don't even mean when i'm not trying to, like above. i mean when i tell giulia i want her to go over my 300 grammar questions to check them for me.

and, before i finish, responses to comments:
this is not your mother: who the heck are you?
nick: certo, giochiamo a racquetball appena saro' tornato. la battaglia is on. spero che ti stia divertendo nei corsi dell'Italiano a WashU, se li segui. inoltre, quando verra' leslie in italia? il mezzo di maggio? avevo gia programmi vaghi di rivedere arezzo, e quindi mi farebbe molto piacere andarci quando ci siete voi. rimani in tocca (penso che non vada bene in italiano, ma mi capirai)
the 'hoo: nice pun, though your insensitivity to her ethnicity is frankly disheartening.
bob: i am having fun and all that.
the bombanaut: no, i shall not drop you.
athena: why yes, i did get my hair cut, sometime around jan. 17th. and it seems that "le donne" also think it looks hella good...right. funny thing though. a certain "the 'hoo" told me i looked womanly after getting the haircut. but due to her obvious ethnic bias i shall disregard her opinion on the matter.
mom:check your email, i sent you one.

vi presento jamal

jamal made a site. it's http://ryanjamal.blogspot.com. check it out if you want to know about his adventures, but you should know ahead of time that mine are better.

also, i'm too tired from wakling around venice today to mention how sweet it was.