Day 22 - Three Weeks Done

# Campari & Soda: 1, # Gelati: 0

I've completed three weeks of class now and I realise I've learnt a lot.  I've also realised that where my knowledge is lacking is in 1) vocabulary (mine is very limited); and 2) idioms.  Italian is a very metaphorical language and also its idioms use a lot of pronouns and prepositions and other. generally little sneaky words.  I learnt today that the phrase "it was close" in a sentence like "I didn't miss the bus but it was close" isn't translated as "it", "was" then "close" but "there I came near".  That is a simple example.  Most idioms are more obscure.

Also, they never use three sentences when they can cram it all into one.  Plus, they will sometimes move the subject of a sentence to the end for emphasis.  So instead of "I throw the ball" it can be "the ball throw I", preferably as the final clause in a sentence where you've described how you came to be throwing things in at least two other clauses.  I've given up trying to read books and I'm now reading a comic/anime given to me by Vanessa about a hero called Dylan Dog.  It has lots of slang and idioms but at least I have the pictures to help figure out what is going on.  This is the one I'm reading. 

 

This afternoon's excursion was to a museum of musical instruments, but this one focused on pianos and harpsicords, with a few dulcimers and spinets too.  There was a man there repairing a harpiscord by restringing it.  We were talking to him in bad Italian, but got scolded by one of the museum attendants for bothering a craftsman at work.  He didn't seem to mind.  In fact, he seemed to be pleased by our interest.  The best part of our visit was a tour that was given to more important museum visitors.  To please them one of the attendants played one of the harpsicords and then one of the pianos so you could hear the difference between the two types of instruments.

Our group then went to have an aperitivo as it was a mild evening.  We felt very Italian.  After this I had dinner with Kim.  We managed to stumble across the Roman restaurant Da Fortunata and ate there again.  I had tagliolini with cacio e pepe in honour of my teacher Adrianna.  It is her birthday today and that is her favourite dish.   Apparently, her boyfriend is making it for her for dinner tonight (she is a bad cook).  I can't say I'm a fan of it.  Too rich for my taste.

Adrianna has two indoor cats and she told us a funny story about them today.  Marijuana is legal(-ish) in Bologna.  You can have 2 plants (or some small number) for you own personal use.  There are also several shops that sell it, minus the THC (the bit that gets you high).  Adrianna lives on the 3rd floor and her balcony is enclosed.  The bottom half is glass while the top is mesh so the cats can sun themselves without getting out.  Her downstairs neighbour smokes a lot of marijuana (the fully leaded sort).  One day, because of oddities in the air currents, her balcony was full of pot smoke and she had left her two cats out there.  They were completely stoned.  They couldn't walk in a straight line but were very mellow.  I wanted to ask if they had the munchies too, but I just didn't know how to say it in Italian.