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| Sicily |
It is a normal day here in Italy. We had a rain last night and the sun is trying to show itself through the Venetian haze. Parents have delivered their children to school and now there are fewer cars on the streets. Today is the weekly market day in my village. There are about 25 stalls selling anything from women's clothing to the smelly cheese I like to buy every so often. Many villagers turn out for this, most of them crowd around one vegetable seller, the other two veggie sellers get a lot less business. Other popular stalls are the roasted chicken guy, and the fish ladies who try to get me to speak my broken Italian. They make sure to have old fashioned Italian music blaring from their stereo. Last week I heard Cella Luna which always brings a smile to my face.
C'e la luna mezz'o mare
Mamma mia me maritari,
Figghia mia, a cu te dari
Mamma mia pensaci tu.
There's a MOON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA:
MOTHER I MUST GET MARRIED --
My daughter, who do I get for you?
MOTHER I LEAVE IT UP TO YOU
All this with typical polka accordion.
Years ago when I played this on my stereo to my group of Italian friends... you should have seen their faces.. ha ha haaaa.
My father, who was certainly not Italian used to sing this song, but with different words. something about the butcher boy. ( another smile)
and here it is, contemplate these words in our modern world
IF I GIVE YOU THE BUTCHER
HE WILL COME AND HE WILL GO,
BUT HE'LL ALWAYS HOLD HIS SAUSAGE IN HIS HANDS...
IF HE LIKES THE IDEA
HE'LL SAUSAGE YOU OH MY DAUGHTER.
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| Roman Area in Sicily |
I am sitting in my bar having a coffee Americano and watching the people come in for their medicinal shot of coffee. We got a guy, 25ish in a hoodie and black sweats, a guy in a white shirt dressed for an office, but wearing no socks in his shiny dress black shoes. Two ladies, usual attendees, sit near the back talking animatedly, one is shaking her finger at the other, who covers her head as if the world has collapsed. They are always friendly to me and offer me a "ciao" when leaving. (The hoodie guy was here for less than two minutes, a trait similar to the majority of workers who stop.)
The barista, in her high pitched sing song voice calls out to a new customer what is in side the many brioches resting in a glass case. She calls out the ingredients loudly as if people have difficulty hearing. She keeps the place clean, sweeping up the pieces of pastry that fall off onto the floor when hurried people are enjoying a quick bite. Every day when I arrive she doesn't ask me what I want, she just brings my coffee. She is efficient and the bar owner is lucky to have her.
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| House of Marco Polo in Venice |
In the back of the bar one finds a wall displayed television that spurts out rock videos nonstop. No one watches these. They are pretty much ignored. I have to admit, I watch sometimes thinking how the world has changed and I wonder where we are going with this junk music. (Remember I am a classically trained musician) One thing I do know, if you are a male and want to sing Italian rock music you must do several things. You should smoke cigarettes non stop, hit the vino all night long which will make your voice raspy sounding. You must always sing loudly with exaggerated passion and for sure you must never comb your just woke up hairdo. That ought to get you past the first round of Italian Stars on television. Good luck on the second round. If you are a female wanna be singer, plan to wear a lot less clothing than normal.
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| How trash is taken away in Venice |
Sitting here I contemplate my friends who are vacationing at this moment. One is in Ireland, one on a cruise to Greece, one in Thailand, several in Lithuania, All the while the rest of us dream of getting away. Right now my mind is on a beach in Turkey. I cannot complain though, we get around more than most.
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| Quiet Canal, Venice |
The readership of this blog has been increasing month by month. Most from googling, a lot from Germany and Russia, but also from European countries. They seem to hit all at once, confirming they probably came from googling a blogging site with links to mine.
I have decided that my next blog will concern itself with struggling to live in Italy, jobs, visas, shopping and general concerns with moving here from another country. I have written about all this before in previous years, but it is difficult to find those blogs for people. I also have trouble, it is not user friendly at all.
One thing that bugs me about my blog which is based by google is that many readers seem not able to comment. I have been told that they must have a google + account. Few have that!
I have inserted some photos of Italy. Until next time, Ciao!
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