Today was mostly all lessons, however the hairdressor came and washed and cut my hair. 15 EUR... shorter than usual but a very cute style. .. at least after she blew it dry (why can't I get my hair to cooperate). It's raining again today.. .off and on. We had spaghetti with tuna (another dish from Il Sud.. Calabrian), and a fried fish with a lemon sauce... and a salad with shredded carrots. Tonight Nonna is making a special crepe filled with a mushroom sauce.. andthere will be homemade zuppa which is minestra when there isn't pasta in it, just verdurs (legumes and veggies). I'm learning to skip the formaggio and fruit at avery meal. Also important to note: the eye is now a rainbow of colors... giallo along with blu and ross. As far as lessons go, I have my good days and bad days. Yesterday was a good day, but last night I couldn't sleep. Today I am tired and the words keep getting stuck. 6 hours of lessons a day... Bruttisma! And then trying to communicate during the rest of the day. Lillo is talking to me more.. in the beginning I think he was afraid I wouldn't understand him... and a lot of times, I don't.. but we're communicating... especially as we play with Thais. That's the purpose of language, right? Not grammer... Basta grammer! (Enough grammer)! I can't seem to remember it anyway. Hopefully I will end up being able to communicate in Calvello which is my main goal. Alessandra has a Lucanian friend who teaches at the main school in Siena. He is very excited that I am learning about Lucania and writing about the history snd that I dream of writing a historical novel set, in Lucania, starring DeGrazias, DiGrazias, Ferris, Gallachios etc. I don't know if I can do it and I don't care if it sells... I just want to try. Lucania is a small, impoverished and unknown place and there is little information about it... especially in English. I could find no historical novels about this area (which is usually how I read about history). They are proud of their heritage (I mean OUR heritage). I have several Lucanian proverbs that I found but that I don't understand (because they are in dialect and because the message behind them is ancient.. I can't relate to similes about cows and sheep, can you?). They are going to work together next week and try to decifer them for me. Also Alessandra is going to make some more calls to help me find the census information from Calvello in the 1800's.. It's not in Calvello and not in Potenza.. maybe Matera, maybe Rome? Maybe lost in earthquakes? I want to see who lived with who and where so I can figure out, from the LDS birth and marriage records, who was who. I'd like to fill in the blanks about brothers and sisters; especially on Grazia's side. With so many Rocco's, Grazia's, etc... its impossible to tell. She and Nonna also have made several suggestions of places to see along our road trip.. especially ones that will work if its raining. I am going to post these videos of Thais.. they will probably take a long time to download because the upload is taking forever. I'm not sure they will play... but here goes. A domani! see you tomorrow!
Maria Catrina Rosa
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