Some of you commented on the radio silence recently from Anno Romano. (And, yes, lately means a full eight weeks). I abandoned posting around the time our friend, Basha, died so suddenly. That was also when Brad and I started taking 3-1/2 hour Italian classes every (week)day at a great little school called Ciao Italia. We've had several great teachers there, although lovely Marta is the only one who is willing to be photographed with the whiteboard.
Between travel and homework, we were each spending 6 or more hours a day on average. I just finished my last class (and 8th week). I’m taking a break for a while because we have several sets of friends coming to visit over the next weeks.
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| Almeno può divertirsi! |
It wasn't all work, of course. The school is in the hip Monti neighborhood and we got to know it better. We often had lunch after class with a view down Via dei Serpenti of the Coliseum.
And we had some interesting classmates from around the world. Like charming young Georgi from Moscow, whose wife is attending university here and whose Russian in-laws now live in Rome. His father-in-law, Sergei, is a painter and one day brought in a bunch of his work.
Another day, a group of us tried to discuss the current state of geopolitics in Italian: our Roman teacher, Simona (pictured above with the paintings), Georgi (the Russian), Saleh (a Libyan) and little old me. And we have a standing invitation to stay with French classmates who live in Provence but travel here frequently and take Italian lessons when in Rome.
As it’s always been in life for me, I’m better on paper: Conjugating verbs, guessing at the correct tense, using adjectives and adverbs, articles and particles. In terms of verb tenses, for example, I now know 9 or so (in theory): presente, passato prossima, imperfetto, trapassato prossima, futuro semplice, future anteriore, condizionale semplice, condizionale composto, imperative, and a little bit of congiuntivo, which has 4 of its own tenses).
And we had some interesting classmates from around the world. Like charming young Georgi from Moscow, whose wife is attending university here and whose Russian in-laws now live in Rome. His father-in-law, Sergei, is a painter and one day brought in a bunch of his work.
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| Sergei, Simon, and Georgi |
Another day, a group of us tried to discuss the current state of geopolitics in Italian: our Roman teacher, Simona (pictured above with the paintings), Georgi (the Russian), Saleh (a Libyan) and little old me. And we have a standing invitation to stay with French classmates who live in Provence but travel here frequently and take Italian lessons when in Rome.
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| With Pascal and Bertran (center and left) after class |
I wish I could say that I’m speaking more fluently now but, alas, I’m still slow and wobbly when I talk and I can understand virtually nothing when regular people speak Italian. In contrast, when a teacher talks, I can pick up a full 40%!
“Piano, piano…,” (“slowly, slowly …”) is the standard Italian response to my situation. I guess I’ll have to stick with that for now.
Mark has met the most fascinating people in his language classes in assorted Spanish-speaking cities. I think taking language classes is a great way to see the world, experience a different culture, and learn still more about OTHER cultures.
ReplyDeleteMe, I'm continuing my rapid descent into middle age by taking a water aerobics class at the local aquatic center. Just me and gals. One of these days I'm going to show up in a floral bathing cap and see who drowns.