Although my italiano had improved in the past weeks, I still had difficulty at times listening to them - specialmente quando sono stanca oppure quando loro parlano troppo veloce. One mattina while brushing my teeth, zia Teresa came into the bagno and muttered quickly about some pantaloni, calzoni, ecc and thinking she was asking me about what dolci I wanted to eat, I replied sleepily 'No, no dolci, solo caffe latte per me.' And the next thing I knew, she was flashing her underwear to me, gesturing if I needed to wash my underwear and clothes. I was like 'Ahhhh, ok!' Stupida me.
You can tell when a person is very comfortable with you, especially when she took off her bra in front of you. Teresa did just that one evening - slipped out her orange bra in my presence and I sniggered happily. It was a compliment, anche se un po strana. The aunts were both so kind and hospitable, even staying up to open the door for me when I stayed out late with L till 4am. Credo che Teresa never sleeps - mai - and gets up early everyday at 6am to clean the whole house. She changed my towel everyday even when I told her not to, made my caffe latte the way I liked it and brought out the biscotti, cioccolato and frutta like clockwork and made my bed every evening.
Another thing was as much as I tried to speak proper italiano and use i congiuntivi, the locals didn't use it at all. In fatti L always laughed at me whenever I brought up i congiuntivi because I was hoping to practise it. Bo. When I go back to classe in S'pore, I'd tell my teacher Anna Maria and classmates to skip the whole complicated sessions of congiuntivi. Penso che sia meglio cosi! :)Invece I had learnt many new parolaccia and modo di dire.
Specialmente during the weekend all the women in the house were worked into a frenzy, preparing for the upcoming wedding on lunedi. They were showing me their shimmering dresses, shoes and bags while L finally found time on sabato morning to buy his new suit, shirt, tie and shoes. He couldn't be arsed (whats' new) and said in jest 'Non si puo cambiare la cornice, il quadro è quello.' (One cannot change the photo frame, the picture is the same.) Keke. His cousin Gino also taught me to say 'sei gross!' which meant 'you're a big person'. Even le zie taught me to say 'Tu sei un coglione!' (Literally 'you are a testicle').
While L was shopping with his dad, I helped Mel with la verdura that their family friend Enrico had personally delivered from his mercato. He gets the freshest melazane, zucchini, carrote, ravanello, cipolle, pesca, chard-looking leafs, cherry tomatoes on vines and thus they benefit from his regular supplies ogni sabato. Soon L returned triumphant with a brown suit, tie and shoes. Tutti sono felici (all's happy). Pranzo was lovingly sauteed squid and the freshest mussels alongside an insalata from Enrico's greens.
Mel spoilt me too much and threw in the piccante radish when I said I like them. Stuffed, we burned off lunch with a stroll to his nonna to alter his trousers and Linda's dress, followed by a beautiful tramonto (sunset) at the porto. I loved our walks there as we'd poke fun at everything, including the fresh turds of dog shit on the pavement. Pozzuoli is a small town so unfortunately we'd always run into L's amici who'd in turn give me a glance over and ask him questions he knew which were coming.
When we got home feeling slimmer, Mel lined up another sumptuous meal comprising fritata di zucchini and breaded pork loin. Gino and Susy (these two had been going out for 9 long years!) came over too and we lazed around for a few italian minuti which meant forever. L and I drove around the downtown porto waiting forever for his friends, and then finally decided to f%ck them, and headed for Miseno for our first birra at a beachfront bar under the stars.
Soon we were joined by Gino, Susy, Gennaro, Antonio, Mara, Marco, his ragazza Nunzia, and even Felice showed up! I comatosed on the beach chair after one lethal mojito - my head was in a giro del mondo - and I only woke up when L came to check on me and introduced his 2 other simpatici amici, Giampaolo and his ragazza Nuviana. I have a sixth sense for people and took to them immediately. We finished the evening with a last drink at Pozzuoli porto and promised to meet up for caffe domani da Nuviana (which never happened, peccato).
Domenica was another lazy warm day. L drove us to Parco Virgiliano on the hill in an expensive neighbourhood which came with priceless views of Vesuvius and the Naples bay below. In Toscana, I admired the tall cyprese trees - qui, it was the picturesque pino (stone pine tree) that got my attention. They were everywhere; soft round bushes swaying lightly against the clear blue sky - and reminded me of the 'song shu' pine trees in China. Apparently the parco was famoso because according to legend, the poet Virgil was buried here. Bo.
We were sweating by the time we reached the panaromic lookout points where I pointed out the 'love' locks chained to the railing to L. He didn't know they were inspired by the film "Ho Voglia Di Te' (which Tiziano's 'Ti Scattero Una Foto' is on the soundtrack too). What kind of italian is he, man? Hehe. Defeated by the heat, we came back for pranzo of baked lasagne - I always get the biggest portion - and after that Mel served us salsiccia con friarielli, one of L's fav dishes.
The pork sausages were served with the sautéed bitter rapini (broccoli rabe), unique to Napoli. It was an acquired taste which was failing me since I polished tutto on my piatto. Just as I was about to explodere, Mel and Raffaele surprised me with a tray of sfogliatelle and eager smiles - such sweethearts - but I could only nibble on a piece and surrendered. We had to walk to the porto again for the sake of our waistline where L pointed out the Tempio Serapis.
In the past if there was any volcanic activity, the water level within the temple would rise thus serving as a warning sign to the locals. Later that evening we joined Gino, Susy and his altri amici at a Dublin bar where we had birra and fabulous finger food. Greedy me was quffing down my arancini riceballs while eyeing Marco's amazing antipasti platter of proscuitto, mozzarella and olives. I was sempre la sola ragazza asiatica but they never fail to make me feel at home.
Although my italiano had improved in the past weeks, I still had difficulty at times listening to them - specialmente quando sono stanca oppure quando loro parlano troppo veloce. One mattina while brushing my teeth, zia Teresa came into the bagno and muttered quickly about some pantaloni, calzoni, ecc and thinking she was asking me about what dolci I wanted to eat, I replied sleepily 'No, no dolci, solo caffe latte per me.' And the next thing I knew, she was flashing her underwear to me, gesturing if I needed to wash my underwear and clothes. I was like 'Ahhhh, ok!' Stupida me. 
You can tell when a person is very comfortable with you, especially when she took off her bra in front of you. Teresa did just that one evening - slipped out her orange bra in my presence and I sniggered happily. It was a compliment, anche se un po strana. The aunts were both so kind and hospitable, even staying up to open the door for me when I stayed out late with L till 4am. Credo che Teresa never sleeps - mai - and gets up early everyday at 6am to clean the whole house. She changed my towel everyday even when I told her not to, made my caffe latte the way I liked it and brought out the biscotti, cioccolato and frutta like clockwork and made my bed every evening. 
Another thing was as much as I tried to speak proper italiano and use i congiuntivi, the locals didn't use it at all. In fatti L always laughed at me whenever I brought up i congiuntivi because I was hoping to practise it. Bo. When I go back to classe in S'pore, I'd tell my teacher Anna Maria and classmates to skip the whole complicated sessions of congiuntivi. Penso che sia meglio cosi! :)Invece I had learnt many new parolaccia and modo di dire. 
Specialmente during the weekend all the women in the house were worked into a frenzy, preparing for the upcoming wedding on lunedi. They were showing me their shimmering dresses, shoes and bags while L finally found time on sabato morning to buy his new suit, shirt, tie and shoes. He couldn't be arsed (whats' new) and said in jest 'Non si puo cambiare la cornice, il quadro è quello.' (One cannot change the photo frame, the picture is the same.) Keke. His cousin Gino also taught me to say 'sei gross!' which meant 'you're a big person'. Even le zie taught me to say 'Tu sei un coglione!' (Literally 'you are a testicle').
While L was shopping with his dad, I helped Mel with la verdura that their family friend Enrico had personally delivered from his mercato. He gets the freshest melazane, zucchini, carrote, ravanello, cipolle, pesca, chard-looking leafs, cherry tomatoes on vines and thus they benefit from his regular supplies ogni sabato. Soon L returned triumphant with a brown suit, tie and shoes. Tutti sono felici (all's happy). Pranzo was lovingly sauteed squid and the freshest mussels alongside an insalata from Enrico's greens. 
Mel spoilt me too much and threw in the piccante radish when I said I like them. Stuffed, we burned off lunch with a stroll to his nonna to alter his trousers and Linda's dress, followed by a beautiful tramonto (sunset) at the porto. I loved our walks there as we'd poke fun at everything, including the fresh turds of dog shit on the pavement. Pozzuoli is a small town so unfortunately we'd always run into L's amici who'd in turn give me a glance over and ask him questions he knew which were coming. 
When we got home feeling slimmer, Mel lined up another sumptuous meal comprising fritata di zucchini and breaded pork loin. Gino and Susy (these two had been going out for 9 long years!) came over too and we lazed around for a few italian minuti which meant forever. L and I drove around the downtown porto waiting forever for his friends, and then finally decided to f%ck them, and headed for Miseno for our first birra at a beachfront bar under the stars. 
Soon we were joined by Gino, Susy, Gennaro, Antonio, Mara, Marco, his ragazza Nunzia, and even Felice showed up! I comatosed on the beach chair after one lethal mojito - my head was in a giro del mondo - and I only woke up when L came to check on me and introduced his 2 other simpatici amici, Giampaolo and his ragazza Nuviana. I have a sixth sense for people and took to them immediately. We finished the evening with a last drink at Pozzuoli porto and promised to meet up for caffe domani da Nuviana (which never happened, peccato).
Domenica was another lazy warm day. L drove us to Parco Virgiliano on the hill in an expensive neighbourhood which came with priceless views of Vesuvius and the Naples bay below. In Toscana, I admired the tall cyprese trees - qui, it was the picturesque pino (stone pine tree) that got my attention. They were everywhere; soft round bushes swaying lightly against the clear blue sky - and reminded me of the 'song shu' pine trees in China. Apparently the parco was famoso because according to legend, the poet Virgil was buried here. Bo. 
We were sweating by the time we reached the panaromic lookout points where I pointed out the 'love' locks chained to the railing to L. He didn't know they were inspired by the film "Ho Voglia Di Te' (which Tiziano's 'Ti Scattero Una Foto' is on the soundtrack too). What kind of italian is he, man? Hehe. Defeated by the heat, we came back for pranzo of baked lasagne - I always get the biggest portion - and after that Mel served us salsiccia con friarielli, one of L's fav dishes. 
The pork sausages were served with the sautéed bitter rapini (broccoli rabe), unique to Napoli. It was an acquired taste which was failing me since I polished tutto on my piatto. Just as I was about to explodere, Mel and Raffaele surprised me with a tray of sfogliatelle and eager smiles - such sweethearts - but I could only nibble on a piece and surrendered. We had to walk to the porto again for the sake of our waistline where L pointed out the Tempio Serapis.
In the past if there was any volcanic activity, the water level within the temple would rise thus serving as a warning sign to the locals. Later that evening we joined Gino, Susy and his altri amici at a Dublin bar where we had birra and fabulous finger food. Greedy me was quffing down my arancini riceballs while eyeing Marco's amazing antipasti platter of proscuitto, mozzarella and olives. I was sempre la sola ragazza asiatica but they never fail to make me feel at home.
1 comment:
Haha..i will so nice if she takes off her bra in front of ME!! :S
hehehe..
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