A DIFFERENT BEAT ALTOGETHER

"Dad, have you already told Mum about the lady who shouted at you in the shop?" Daughter asked.

That prompted another story about a clash of cultures, while I had been away.

One day John had gone to a local supermarket to get some fish. It was around noon.  On arrival to the shop John noticed that it was quite empty and that there was nobody to serve him at the fish counter. Instead, a shop assistant was clearly having a cigarette and a well earned break nearby on the doorway. John waited a while and finally, the shop assistant came to tell him in Italian that it is closed.

  So, John thought that this applied to the fish counter only and carried on shopping. The shop assistant waited at the till for five minutes. When John did not approach the till, she lost her temper and started shouting at him. The message could be translated to something like: "Get out of the shop, you moron!"

  At this point the manager arrived to see what the problem was. He spoke English and explained that THE WHOLE SHOP was closed and would John mind coming back later, please. The shop assistant's goodbye was an icy stare and clearly, she did not wish to see John back any time soon.

  John knew that most shops close around noon for lunch and open again at 3.30 PM until 8 PM. However, there are exceptions and the larger supermarket chains, for example, stay open all day long. Since this was a supermarket type of a shop, John was not too concerned about the time and assumed that they would be open the whole day.

   There is a different beat to the day in Italy and it has taken a while to get used to it. The day starts early and morning buses to the city centre are full of people going to their place of work at 8 am. In the morning time coffee shops are busy offering shots of espressos at the counter for people. Then everything stops around noon as the lunch hour approaches. It is still quite common for school children to go home to have lunch as many Italian schools do not offer a meal for the students. The Italian mothers prefer this system, too. Most shops are closed for couple of hours. Everybody are having a lunch and a rest.  However, life returns to normal at 3 PM: shops open their doors, children return to the school for couple of hours and work continues in the offices.

  As dinner is typically not eaten before 8 PM earliest, there is a possibility to have an aperitivo between 5 PM and 7 PM. You buy a drink, which might cost a touch more than normally, but it comes with little nibbles such as pieces of bread, cold meats and cheese. Sometimes it is a whole buffet full of finger food and this might be eaten instead of a dinner.

   Any kind of an evening entertainment (concerts, plays, shows) start at 9 PM to 9.30 PM. Having a good night out means that you need to be prepared to stay up at least until midnight. Nobody arrives to a disco or a nightclub before midnight and then they dance the night away until the early hours.

   With a schedule like this, you really need your lunch time nap.

   We have learned our lesson.

  

  

  

 

 

 

BLESSED IS YOUR HOME

I took this pic on a very cold, but bright and sunny day in Nervi. Even though the weather has been quite cold in January, there has been relatively mild and sunny days in between.

 

 

I came back home from a short break yesterday and while I was away, the family stayed behind. An innocent question enquiring about everyone's health and if there were any news, was greeted with "wish you had been here" - type of hysterical laughter. And this is what happened:

One early evening, the doorbell rang and John opened the door. It was our neighbour, the very nice Italian lady, accompanied by an Italian gentleman. John thought he looked a bit official, but could not immediately say what triggered him to think that way. Cordial greetings were exchanged and the lady started to explain the reason for the visit. John's Italian has not improved much but he has had a very good reason to be grateful of the studies in Latin at school and later at the university while being in Italy. This knowledge enabled John to pick up couple of key words such as "benedizione" (a blessing).  After a lengthy attempt of a conversation, John finally understood that the gentleman in question was a priest from the local Catholic parish who was doing the rounds in our apartment block in order to bless the families and their homes. John got the impression that this was a traditional visit in the beginning of a new year, but he was not sure. Unfortunately, they had to part without any ceremonies as the language barrier turned out to be too difficult this time. So, for the time being our home has not yet been blessed, but I have a feeling this is a temporary state of affairs until we learn enough Italian to understand how to receive a blessing.

   Clearly the first weeks of January are not just about getting back to your everyday life as quickly as possible in Italy. One sign of this are the numerous exhibitions of nativity scenes which are open in many churches in Genoa and elsewhere in Italy in January. I am told that the  biggest and most beautiful "presepios" are in Napoli. Genoa also has  its own permanent and much appreciated crib, Madonnetta, which is located at the Santuario della Madonnetta church. The nativity scenes are usually carefully built by local artists who take considerable time and effort to create small statuettes  based on local people, their homes and places of work as a backdrop to the crib. A touch of humour is certainly allowed and a scene of men playing cards with one of them cheating the others is an often told example. The nativity scenes come complete with every possible miniature accessory from palm trees to shepherds.

  There is even a permanent shop in the old historical centre of Genoa called Buttegheta Magica (Via Della Maddalena 2) selling everything possible needed to build a nativity scene at home. And if you think this might be too much of a hassle, they are happy to come to your home and build it for you!