Find reyjr
Allora! Allora! Allora!
Text message exchange:
Reyjr: "Ciao tutti famiglia Pizzocchero e Buon compleanno per Papa Angelo! Tanti bacci per tutti!"
Pizzocchero: "Ciao Rey, Papa Angelo dice mille mille grazie, qui a Cascine tutto OK, spero che anche li state tutti bene, abbiamo una casa nuova ti aspettiamo per vederla."
Reyjr: "Sono molto felice di leggere il suo messagio! Amerei vedere la nuova casa. :D Tutto e buono qui anche. La manco, il mio amore a tutti."
No, I don't speak Italian (un pocississimo!), I used this website to translate: http://ets.freetranslation.com/ and I'm not expecting a machine translation to be perfect but what the heck, I still get the message across.
I'm sharing this to show that even though you are miles and miles apart and don't speak the same language, keeping in touch with friends is possible...
Talking without words
It's not difficult to think that one of the hardest parts of going on tour in Europe is the language barrier. I've never spoken a German, Italian, French, or Spanish sentence in my life prior to going there (maybe a little bit of Spanish). By luck, I was assigned several times to stay with families that do not speak a word of English.
Not a word.
Meal time was always hilarious with us acting everything out and shouting one unconjugated Italian word at a time. We learned a few "food related" words too like "basta" which means "enough, I'm full" and "Mi piace!" which means "I like it!".
Scene: Lunch time at the Pizzocchero residence. We've finished our dessert of grapes and walnuts and were having our "cafe" (espresso) when our Italian host Mama Ornella began saying something to us in Italian - that they had 12 of "something" and then she kept gesturing towards the window.
We were confused thinking she meant they had 12 windows. "Tartaruga!" she said. She wanted us to see her "tartaruga". And we were like: "Ventana mama? (Window Mama?)". Nope.
She opened the window and pointed to the garden. And we were even more confused. "Grass? Flowers? Garden?Ahh! Butterflies! 12 Butterflies! err..."
"No no no..." she said. Frustrated at our ineptitude (haha), she went outside to the garden with her apron and all, and picked up a small "Tartaruga". A turtle. :D
They had 12 small ones in the garden. :D She then gestured while speaking in Italian to be careful because they bite...
Communicating love and friendship
The story above happened in 2003. I last saw the Pizzoccheros in 2004. And I probably will not see them again in a long time or maybe never again.
It makes you wonder doesn't it, how people of different races, different cultures - people who don't even understand each other's language - can connect with each other in a bond of true friendship.
What is your take on it?
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