Well, it is getting closer and closer and we can hardly wait! We are like kids waiting to go on a special holiday - only 14 more sleeps!!! Lists are being made so we don't forget anything, new footwear has been purchased and we have started walking regularly to get our pudgy potato shaped bodies accustomed to the walking we know we will be doing.
I am anxious to see what things look like in the spring. I am hoping it will be green and somewhat verdant. When we visited in 2007 it was September, and after a long hot summer with little rain, everything was very dry, brown and dusty. The Tiber River was shallow, scummy looking and running more at a trickle than as the mighty thoroughfare it once was, carrying goods and people to and from the Mediterranean Ocean to Rome.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Waiting Anxiously - eagar to go!!
Time seems to be moving so..o..o..o.. slowly these days as we are both anxious for our trip to begin. Only 5 weeks now. I am spending my time researching what we might want to see while there and trying to learn a little Italian to better understand and be understood.
I must say though, that our last visit there, we were able to get our needs understood, if, at times, with some amusement on both sides. Such as the time we were looking for a laundromat and got directed to a car wash!! Or the time I was looking for needle and thread to make a repair, and the gentleman was pantomiming sewing skin (meaning hide/leather) and I thought he was indicating needing to stitch myself up! I now know that needle is "argent" and thread is "fil". Then, as I was waiting to pay for my items, I heard this same gentleman say in Italian to another person in the store "Americano". I immediately spun around and corrected him "No Canadese". That started a whole other round of trying to explain where we came from in Canada.
Or the time we were in the need of some medical aid to correct an "intestinal transit" problem that was having a negative impact on our time in Rome. I went to the local pharmacy thinking this would be easypeasy because I am a Nurse after all, and the generic names of medicines are universal. Apparently not!! After much pantomiming on my part I was able to communicate what I needed and, as importantly, where it needed to be inserted! The transit system was once again up and running and we were able to enjoy the rest of our time in Rome.
I must say though, that our last visit there, we were able to get our needs understood, if, at times, with some amusement on both sides. Such as the time we were looking for a laundromat and got directed to a car wash!! Or the time I was looking for needle and thread to make a repair, and the gentleman was pantomiming sewing skin (meaning hide/leather) and I thought he was indicating needing to stitch myself up! I now know that needle is "argent" and thread is "fil". Then, as I was waiting to pay for my items, I heard this same gentleman say in Italian to another person in the store "Americano". I immediately spun around and corrected him "No Canadese". That started a whole other round of trying to explain where we came from in Canada.
Or the time we were in the need of some medical aid to correct an "intestinal transit" problem that was having a negative impact on our time in Rome. I went to the local pharmacy thinking this would be easypeasy because I am a Nurse after all, and the generic names of medicines are universal. Apparently not!! After much pantomiming on my part I was able to communicate what I needed and, as importantly, where it needed to be inserted! The transit system was once again up and running and we were able to enjoy the rest of our time in Rome.
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