My Last Ten Days

Snow in Perugia?
They said it would snow two nights ago. It did not, though the temperature was zero degrees. Then they said it would snow last night. It did not either, though temperature crawled up to five degrees.

This morning I woke up feeling a chill stinging my face, and with the nightmare of the preposition ‘’con’’ chasing me, still fresh in my cold head. I did not want to get out of bed.

But I had to – I wanted to leave the home earlier to collect part two of my scholarship money before class began. Yes, they give it to you only after 21 days of full attendance in class. So actually from today after collecting the money, I could skip all classes and cavort in other parts of Italy if I want to! Unless I want to receive the certificate of attendance from the Uni, and that would mean I would have to stick it out till 30 November.

Have I stayed here 21 days already?! Now I truly believe it when friends told me before my arrival that ‘’one month will pass by really quickly’’.

Honestly, when the wind cut through my skin and gnawed at my spine, and when I thought of Yannick every minute and missed him so much, those words mocked me even more. I wanted to give up everything. To hell with learning language. I don't need to speak Italian with Yannick, do I?

I struggled out of bed and turned on my handphone, hoping to hear a beep and see a message symbol with Yannick's name on it. There was a beep and my heart jumped, even if he had sent me messages a million times. But it was from someone else.

I replied with a monosyllable, and went to wash up.

I went into the kitchen and the phone beeped again. ''Are you sleeping?'' my friend asked, puzzled why I did not reply him more 'completely'. ''No, having breakfast and chatting with my landlady,'' I replied.

Franca has already been up long ago making tonnes of cappilletti to give her friend. I hovered around to look as I nibbled on my bread. She asked me to pass her the bread I was eating and gave me some of the meat fillings to go with it.

I would normally buy dessert to share with her during dinner. It’s my little contribution to thank her, since she always provided me with dinner and I don’t need to cook. She would always thank me so graciously for the wonderful dessert I bought. Last evening I replied it was nothing at all since I had been having her coffee for breakfast and eating her dinner. Her reply was, ‘’it’s nothing – that little soup that you take at night!’’

My Walk to School
I saw Franca’s pedicure-friend Adele and waved her a big hello, ‘’buongiorno!’’

I went into Palazzo Gallenga, the Uni’s main campus, to collect my 50 euro, part two of my scholarship. I could still remember day one when I collected part one – 500 euro. The only difference is I am certainly more fluent today with the bank teller during the whole transaction.

I dropped by the friendly stationary shop to get a new notebook. In 21 days my own notebook is almost filled with notes from lessons. I could still remember my day one at the same friendly store to get my marca da bollo – a stamp (kind of tax) costing 14 euro, for the tedious permesso di soggiorno. And yes, the difference is now I am more cheerful and (fluently) chatty with the store keepers.

With errands completed, I was on my way to class at the nearby campus at Palazzine Prosciutti. I passed by the lovely hills and valleys and slowed down to gaze as usual, thankful that the sky was clear, despite the cruel wind numbing my fingers.

I crossed the roads with the help of traffic policemen waving their little lollipops, for the benefit of school children. It’s been a long time since I have seen such ‘’lollipop men’’. Those in Singapore during my primary school days waved much bigger ones.

I saw opposite me Alexandra my classmate from Serbia, who was almost late for class like me, and we smiled and waved at each other as we hurried along.

So Little Time Left
Have we all sensed that time is not on our side? While at the language lab sitting next to me, Jason asked if I had checked out his website yet. I told him I would definitely do so today, and gave him the URL of my blog, which he promised to visit. He seems to be asking lots of questions during break time, about Singapore, Serbia and Kirghizstan. And I asked Mirlan more questions too about the political system, languages and publications in his country. We were even reluctant to go back to class and continued our chats even after the rusty bell shrieked to signify the start of lessons.

Our last exercise was to break into groups to discuss and write a short para in passive form. Piao Yi, who was in my group, said to me in Chinese, ‘’I don’t understand what we are supposed to do.’’ Marina saw him asking and tried to explain to his blank face. I looked at her and told her that I would try and explain to him in Mandarin and she nodded knowingly and walked away. Kayoko and Santo, in the same group, watched anxiously as I struggled in Mandarin. Piao Yi did not understand me either, partly because I did not know how to say ‘’passive form’’ in Mandarin, and partly because he had not understood the earlier explanations anyway. In the end we just worked on the text on tortellini without him.

Pancakes, Chats, Family, Love and Friendship
Class finally ended at 2 pm and I grimaced at Kayoko, ‘’now we have to take the canteen lunch’’. She suggested going to an inexpensive pizzeria in the centre of town instead. Santo, who usually prepares his own healthy meals, said, ‘’I am going home to make pancakes.’’ Pancakes for lunch? I was curious. ‘’Yes, I am going to try something new – mango pancakes.’’ ‘’Bring us some to try tomorrow,’’ I joked.

But he invited us to his home for mango pancakes instead, and we readily accepted the invitation.

We had warm yummy pancakes with warm maple syrup, accompanied by a nice long chat at the kitchen.

My friend Denis is right. Don’t believe soap TV and Hollywood movies. Not all American families are dysfunctional and broken. Santo told us how much he missed his family and how his family would make it a point to have dinner together at 9 pm every evening, even though both parents work till late. Maybe this is because his father is Italian – and ‘’having dinner together and talking with the family is a big thing in Italy,’’ he explained.

We talked about how much we enjoyed our classes, how our Italian has markedly improved over the days and how great our teachers are. ‘’Did you know that Marina co-authored the text book we are using?’’ he asked. Kayoko and I had not realised, and had not noticed the authors’ names on the cover! No wonder she is so systematic and clear in her explanations, and was the one who prepared the syllabus for our class. I told Franca about it and mentioned her name. ‘’Oh yes, she is famous – we have all heard her name.’’

We started talking about a pot luck dinner next week to celebrate Thanksgiving, and perhaps some day try Chinese dinner at a Chinese restaurant. ‘’We don’t have many days left,’’ he commented, when we were trying to find a day when all three of us are free in the same evening.

Santo will have his Capoeira training this evening and Kayoko and I decided to leave him some time to study for our test tomorrow before he went for training. We thanked him profusely for lunch.

‘’No, I like cooking for others, and not just eat alone. I had a nice time. Making pancakes takes a lot of patience. But most importantly, there was a lot of love – that’s what I like,’’ he replied, as he walked us out of his apartment in the biting wind.

Again, it is nice to hear from a young American, at 24, talking about friendship and love. Not all Americans are junk foodies walking around with an ipod and ear plugs stuck in their ears, chewing gum and speaking and swearing in American English.

I came home after mailing Yannick a postcard and checking my yahoo account for a poem he had written for me. I greeted Franca and her visiting friend, ‘’Buona sera!’’

When her friend left, Franca asked how I am: ‘’Piccola, come stai?’’ Ha ha, it feels funny to be called ‘’piccola’’ (small) – I am hardly small in size and in age.

On other days she would call me other terms of endearment, most of which I could not catch, or understand.

Later she called me out of my room, ‘’Jenny, vieni!’’ She handed me 104 euro, the ‘’damage deposit’’ that I had paid on arrival at the accommodation agency and that I would get back at the end of my stay.

‘’Now? I thought I would get it at the end of the month?’’ I asked. ‘’But the end of the month is not far away, and it’s better to give you the money now so that you can use it to buy something you like, ‘’ she replied.

I thanked her but she thanked me instead. I hope in ten days’ time I would be able to thank her more adequately in Italian.