Conversations with S

So today I was talking to my husband using Skype (oh my gosh, can I tell you how much I love Skype? Where were you my fair Skype 8 yrs ago when I was racking up HUGE telephone bills?) and I was asking him about his day. I would like to take this post to highlight some very "Italian" moments we had. It went something like this...

(words in Italic were those in my own head - regular type was spoken)

Italian moment #1:

Me - "hey my love, how was your day?"

Him - "good, I just got back from hiking in the hills for 4 hrs."

Me - (4 HOURS! Will I have to hike 4 HOURS if I move there?) - "Oh, wow that's a long time. How was it?"

Him - "oh great! it was a beautiful day, no one around, I walked about 15 kilometers - here I am downloading the pictures and sending them to you. (how much is 15 kilometers? oh my gosh, about 10 miles. 10 MILES. IN THE HILLS - I don't know how to walk in the hills, I walk on FLAT LAND) yeah, its so nice. there are bars along the way where you stop and get coffee, and a few restaurants - when I got done I had a gelato."

Me - "huh. What kind did you get?" (hey, if gelato is the prize maybe I CAN walk 4 hours... nah, I'd rather just have the gelato)

Him - "It was very good! It was chocolate and vanilla cream. VERY good."

Me - "nice. What else did you do today?"

Him - "went to the post office, got a hair cut - found a place just 2 minutes from the house, so I biked over there and they let me walk in. It only cost 12 euros!"

Me - "cool. how does it look? is it short?"

Him - "yeah it looks good. short. they are 12 millimeters in length."

Me - (giggling to myself) "12 millimeters? How do you know that? I don't know anyone who knows the EXACT length their hair is cut."

(see what I did there - boring story then WHAM. threw in some very Italian stuff. These are the moments when my heart wells up with love. I love how Italians refer to hair as "hairs". and call them they. and the fact that he knew the length was 12 mm and went on to explain to me why he knows this measurement. hehe )
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Italian moment #2

a little while later... talking about my father, who while retired a few times over, still wants to work so he drives new/used cars between dealers. sometimes he goes on long trips to different parts of the country which is where we find ourselves here...

Me - "Dad is stuck in Atlanta. They flew him in and the car he was supposed to drive back didn't work so, he has to stay over the weekend until the mechanic can show up."

Him - "why don't they put those cars on the truck? That car is not new! If it has miles on it, it is not new. They are taking your money for a new car and the motor has been used, it has mileage, and it's been sitting out in the hot sun!"

Me - (oh great, now I've opened up a can of worms. it's like *discussing ice, or engraved jewelry.) "It was a used car."

Him - "Oh."
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Italian moment #3

Me - "so what are you doing now?"

Him - "I'm in bed. OH I need to download **&$#$ (some Italian radio show I don't remember the name of so I am using characters - its not a bad word!) Tonight, the program is about the Princess of Belgioioso. She used to live with the corpse of her lover."

~~ here we went on an obsessive search to find out about the principessa. It was a bit fruitless, I did not find out about the corpse but she does seem to have an interesting story. We then got sidetracked and starting discussing Gothic literature, most of which I haven't read or heard of.

* on ice and engraving - First, Italians as a whole, freak out about ice in drinks here. 1. because you aren't supposed to drink liquids that cold. but most importantly 2. you are paying for a full drink and they fill the glass up with ice! they are cheating you! Secondly, my Italian doesn't like to engrave jewelry. Why you ask? Because you pay for the weight of the precious metal and if they engrave it you lose some metal. THEN the jewelers gather up all that "dust" at the end of the day, melts it down to make other pieces. which they then sell at FULL PROFIT. (rolls eyes)


We are a hot couple are we not? hehe.

It is days like this that I appreciate the very different mind and way of thinking my Italian has. It is so endearing. With that cute accent saying things like "they" when referring to hair. And how he falls asleep listening to some historical or cultural program. no romance books for him! (thats what I read to fall asleep. lol)

I just love that man.


More later...