Speaking of history

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One of the nice things about blogging is that it’s pretty rare to have writer’s block. You simply have to write/spill your thoughts into the computer and simply try to make them all make sense for everyone. I’m doing my best to make sure that they make sense as well as make sure that they are as error free as my time allows. It’s somewhat difficult and I will have to apologize in advance. I’m rushing around everywhere and I often find myself out of time. I have classes in the morning, an activity of sorts (not always), lots of exploring (and hence walking). Tonight for example I went to look for the local swimming pool and of course I got lost which chewed up even more time. Of course I have to find the time to do my homework and write in the blog. This brings me to the reason that I mentioned writer’s block.

Yesterday was the second day of school and all I can remember is that I understood most of it (this is usually the case). The problem, as usual, is to figure out how to train my brain to actually act like a brain rather than a computer. Sadly, I’m still in computer mode but I try to talk to everyone that’s in the store, fellow students, and the teachers. The teachers are always busy though and so I don’t get as much of an opportunity to talk with them as I would like. I met a nice lady in the Legatoria, called Il Papiro (fine stationery from Florence - the most beautiful paper you could ever see or touch) the other day and we talked for at least an hour. Sadly, she is gone for ferie (vacation) and I’m not sure when I’ll see her again. I’d like to ask her if she would be interested in language exchange. (I mapped their place above because it’s a great store; some crazy New Yorkers and Californians get their wedding invitations designed and printed here). Still, in order to get exposed to the language more, I’m going to see about taking one of the yoga classes next week, joining the local gym, and renting some DVDs. I’m here for six weeks so I figured that I might as well get integrated as much as I can.

So, as I was saying about writer’s block. I jumped into the advanced fluency class and they were in the section for passato remoto or remote past. Since I’m not a great student back home, I didn’t really commit this tense to memory. Now, I’m paying for it and in a big way because it is used in the paper, on TV, and of course in our class. This is a tense that, well, just doesn’t exist in English. Awesome! When we talk about the past in English, we really just have the past perfect, pluperfect, our quasi imperfect. We just don’t really have something that helps us communicate history except context. That’s probably the easiest way to explain it. So, I’m sitting at my desk last night trying to invent a story about a fox and a bear. We were given a handout with a picture of fox and a bear with the fox looking like he’s about to kill and eat the bear. For whatever reason, I can’t think of anything to write. I even tried to switch my thinking into English and I couldn’t even do that. I went into the living room to watch a little telequiz (the Italian version of “Who wants to be a millionaire?”) and even in places where I want to get away from it, I can’t escape the passato remoto there either. It’s in about every question prompt especially the ones about...history. Beh!

A few hours passed, and even Mike is asleep. Remember, Mike’s a lot younger so he’s got a much fuller social calendar than I do. He’s also got a better ability to actually stay up much longer than I do. Finally, I decide to put the iPod on with Andrea Bocelli (no English here plus his words are extremely clear, not in the simple sense but in the enunciated sense) and crank out my crazy story. After all those agonizing, seemingly wasted, and tortuous hours, the best that I can do is some crazy story about a fox named Christopher Columbus that was born in 1492. Don’t laugh because it was the easiest way to integrate this tense into the story. It’s an engaging drama of fox chases bear, bear’s family sets a trap, in a chapel (this is Italy after all), bear escapes, il lupo furbo (sly fox) slams the gate shut of the chapel (because all chapels have gates), and the branco (pack) commence their dinner. Che violenza! Forse io sia un candidato per il premio Nobel.