Little Italy 26

[Rosa]

Siamo qui ... Ciao a tutti !

Yes please!

I am loving the month of September, it is warm and the children can still play outside... ds has been going to play football at our local oratorio every single day (I wonder how he'll react when they start burying them in home works...)

That park sounds wonderful I am quite jealous, it is already quite cold and damp here, plus getting dark about 7pm. Bah.

Well after my moaning today was beautiful! I got the washing hung out and dried and took the wee one out in the pram, she was sound asleep by 7.30!

Damp and soooo humid here its horrible. I put the dihumidifier on in the evenings as even the wood floor feels damp. Dh was called to work early (3am) he has come back and says its foul , it should be thunderstoms and rain but its spitting and close. I have to go to work and think makeup will be minimal as it will end up on my shirt!!!!!
Lunch last week went well did loads of 'tyrol' style things all that worked !!!! Dd1 is going to do basket as a sport so am pleased . Minirosa nuoto but having to move her lesson as all her friends are in the group before. I had her in the 2nd one so I could also take dd1 to catecismo ( sp). She wants to go as others are going . I have said yes but am not doing mass every sunday - I am not a Catholic and dh is not fussed pretty much.
So wednesday I need roller skates to get them in the right place at the right time!!!
Started a gym course with this instructor who does like a flexability thing to try and get all 'unused' muscles stretched and working . Do 40 mins of Cardio and then loads of mat stuff. Blimey after 2 sessions I could dance the lumbada!!!!!!!!!
Right have to go dressed and offski to the apt buona domenica tutti !

Annunziata, that is lovely! (I loved taking the dc for walks in the pram in good weather... good memories!)

Rain was forecasted here, but no sign of it, still a beautiful day, only a little bit cooler than yesterday. I have a hungover after a 40th birthday party yesterday night and a stiff neck, but in a good mood as we had lunch with friends and spent some time in our local park.

Rosa, what job?

Blimey Rosa, you sound incredibly busy!

The rain came here, Franca, out of a clear blue sky, and spaked the washing I had hung out. And it wasn't forecast for here, it was supposed to be nice.

I have been busy making chutney. Do you eat chutney in Italy? I can't remember. Anyway, the main ingredients were grown in MIL's garden, all I had to do was buy some vinegar and sugar, so it's worked out very nicely. A batch of tomato and apricot chutney, one of cucumber chutney, and aubergine chutney. And I still have enough aubergine left to make pane di melanzana tomorrow!

No, chutney isn't really traditional, though starting to be offered in restaurants. We make things like marmellata of red onions, green tomatoes etc.

Alex, is it true that the state university in Athens has been closed???

Yes, Franca, unfortunately it's true. Thousands of students have been left in limbo. They will be forced to reopen it, I think. They have made so many cutbacks, but an institution like a university NEEDS some money to run, of course! People are totally disgusted with this situation.

I'm going to pick your brains on this thread! I'm doing another expressions article, this time on "come rain or shine" - what would you use in Italian? I remember something like "caschi il mondo", is that it? Or is there something better? (Or something Sicilian, Annunziata?)

Crikey thats a good one.I use it in English but can't think what I use in Italian( if anything)
Temps dropped and I was cold last night!!!!!!
Busy yes thats what happensI find when school starts you sort of get involved in everything and you end up planning around activities and things....

That is disgusting. One thing is cutting costs, another is closing a whole university. I am so sorry, I hope they manage to open it again, I find it unbelievable that they could close a University :(((((.
And, again, the outlook for Italy is bleak, thanks to Berlusconi's new manouvres...

Yes, we have "cascasse il mondo non ..." or : non voterei berlusconi nemmeno con una pistola puntata alla tempia. Just an example of course :D

To me his just out to wreck thinks in the hope that he will asked to be come back to save the country.
OR He is just after revenge as things diddn't go his way. However why o why o why to people still vote / like him and who are they please ????

I think the man is actually now certifiably mad! The prospect of things crumbling have sent him well and truly over the edge. And how his lackeys/employees Santanchè, Brunetta et al can live with themselves and what they are doing to this country I really dont know. Vergogna!
Alex that is horrendous re the university.

Thanks Franca re cascasse il mondo.

It would be nice if I could somehow work Berlusconi into this article but somehow, no matter how much he is colto mani nel sacco he always seems to get clean away!

It's not just the university. My son's SN class is also underfunded and understaffed - ordinary schools have no materials whatsoever to keep running. I have had to buy everything from pens, paper, books, etc down to toilet rolls to send into my children's schools. I have been trying to publicise what is happening to SN children in particular - in the whole region of Evros (quite a large county) there is just ONE integration unit in a kindergarten for special needs children. So of course there are too many children and not enough staff. Parents are currently on a "volunteer" rota to try and cover for the time being while we push to get something done about it. (on the flip side I am pleased my son got in there - the SN teacher is excellent, and if we get the support staff I think ds2 will do well there).

It's getting colder here too now!

We don't seem as bad but still here have to provide all materials - but the council have provided textbooks for religione and inglese . We send in Scottex , soap and A4 paper , used books and toys for recreation and have a fondo cassa for things our class needs. They do provide toilet paper but it is not left in the toilets each class takes it in when they go !!!!
Great article I would love to blog but am not sure where and how I would fit it in !
I have had a clear out and there is a local mercatino that raises money for a charity I think its Africa or somewhere and I have 3 huge bags of stuff to take and Dh has no option but to help me this pm to take it... Then I have another 10 days if I find more !!!

Just thought faccia tosta - toasted face would suit Berlusca in many ways !!!!!

we have to buy everything as well bar toilet roll but I know a lot of other people here who have to send their kids in with loo roll. Having said that if I had to choose between doing that but having ds's class of 18 kids in a city centre school or having all equipment provided but 30 plus to a class like most of my mates in the UK seem to have I would opt for what I have got. But I dont feel confident it isnt due to get worse with the situation as it is now...
I have had a clear out as well Rosa of ds's toys and thge stuff has now been sitting in bags for 2 weeks and will do until I get myself in gear to get it to the local charity we are giving it to.

@Rosa, yes the germanitis hit me hard... Good gracious, apart from the training the rest was awful... to be honest, who ever said that Germans are perfectly organised? In one month none of the trains I had to get on was on time!! Not to speak about the common assumption that everybody speaks English in Germany... more sensible to say nobody speaks English in Germany except a few!

@Franca, unfortunately I read tonight about Berlusca... see it this way, it prompted me to look for a place where to rant about it and I came here XD Can't believe 'that' man is still there, wrecking havoc in the government and Italians lives!! :(

@Annunziata, do you watch Montalbano? LOL
Conversation between me and DH in front of the TV (Montalbano is the one on BBc four, right?)

DH: oh that Italian tv series is on, how is it called?
Me: I think it's Montalbano....
(DH checks if that is the one and it comes it is the young Montalbano)
Few minutes pass by, with DH picking up a few words and repeating them aloud with me checking the screen while browsing the Ipad.
DH: Ahem... Is the translation ok? I mean, they don't sound to pronounce things as your mum does either...
Me: I don't know....
DH: Why don't you know?!?!
Me: I was reading the subtitles!

So..... is that a bad sign? I mean, I'm Italian and I had no clue whatsoever about what they were saying hahahaha I was reading the English subtitles to follow the conversation muahahaha

Well you couldnt make it up could you....loved Letta's smile and "grande" after Berluscas speech. 5 stelle were really winding me up as well. Am getting as sick of the "torna a casa" phrases as I am of the "people who want to work hard and get on" one back in the uk. Basta with soundbite politics! Anyway bring on Friday and the vote.
Lake sorry to hear you didnt have a great time in Germany. How have you settled in to the North West after the move back in the UK?

I think Berlusconi has to be seriously bipolar. I was speechless yesterday!

Alex, I really like your blog, brava!!! Here in Lombardia parents have been supplying schools with materials for years. Plus, we have collected money to open a library (and we have a rota where we work there) and re did toilet seats for instance. BUT text books are free for all pupils at primary and students of low income families still get some money to buy books at middle school and superiori.
The riforma Gelmini (under the Berlusconi govt) has erased the compresenze (when both teachers allocated to a single class taught together) which has impacted negatively on those classes with SN students or any other children who need more help. We have insegnanti di sostegno, for children with a statement, but they usually don't have a permanent contract.
I have to say though, that, at least here in Milan, the situation is not bad, but mostly thanks to the good will of teachers!

Lakedistrict, sorry to hear you had such a terrible experience in germany

Thankyou, Franca! I love writing my blog. Languages are my real passion in life. Feel free to add Italian expressions wherever you like, I update articles whenever I get more information!

I turned on the news yesterday (in Greek) and saw the headline "Italian Government hanging by a thread". I immediately thought "What's Berlusconi been up to this time??"

I have decided to attempt a Tuscan recipe that I tasted while I was on holiday in Arezzo this weekend, although with a slightly different type of grape, as I am using the ones from my parents-in-law's vine. Yes, I'm attempting schiacciata con l'uva. Good luck to me!

Wow yummy good luck I am drooling just thinking about it..
berlusca should just fuck the fuckity off and go and grow turnips or something.
merlin/ LDbabe - dh loves Germany says it is organised, clean and 10 times better than here!!

Oooh, good luck Alex! I can't remember a Sicilian but I am sooo tired it might come back to me, I will tell you if I do.

LOL at berlusca growing turnips.

The accents are terrible lakedistrict! One of the poliziotti sounded Glaswegian! The baldy Montalbano sounds like my PIL, he must be near Rome, but I have no idea where the hairy/young one comes from. I just like the beach I am sorry you didn't like Germany. My oldest DS might have to go there for work.

love the idea of Berlusca growing turnips. Ah well lets see what today's vote brings. Never a dull moment.
How did the recipe go Alex?
What a tragedy in Lampedusa. Such a senseless, tragic, waste of life. Again! Senza parole.

I can just picture Berlusconi growing turnips. Here's what would happen - he'd dig up all the best specimens for his table and berate the rest for not producing any more, while he went swanning off with the swedes and potatoes, complaining that the turnips were just being lazy not growing any larger while he withheld fertiliser.

Recipe time tomorrow! I have all the ingredients ready!