Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
It's now 4:00 p.m. Thursday, May 22, and I'm beginning to recover from the "big" show we put on for two groups of 6 and 7 year olds at the children's library. With great gusto we acted out the very simple children's story called Spot Goes to the Circus. I volunteered to be the elephant. We also had a lion, a tiger, a bear, a pig, two dogs, a kangaroo, monkeys, and a clown. I played one of the monkeys in addition to playing the elephant. Wearing homemade "costumes" we sweated our way through the story and a bunch of songs we sang with the children. They loved it.
When we finished I too a slow walk home (about 25 minutes), stopping now and then to snap pictures of flowers planted between the sidewalk and the busy street. Maybe now's a good time to describe the architecture in Carpi. Everything looks pretty well maintained. Neatness counts! The house I live in is a free-standing stucco, two story house with a 2 car garage at the back. No yard to speak of, but two magnolia trees in the front, providing some shelter from road noise and passersby. Every house is separated from the sidewalk by iron fences and gates. The windows are either covered by bars or are double sets of what we might call French Doors. Windows are draped with somewhat sheer linen curtains. The floors are tile, the walls are white, and the lighting fixtures have compact fluorescent bulbs which they call "basso consumo" -- pretty self-explanatory, huh? While Italians abhor air conditioning, they also think they'll freeze if the temperature is below 75F. They wear scarves around their necks, sweaters or long-sleeve shirts and jackets. Apparently, it is believed that all sickness is caused by bad air, "mal aria." I've just hung out my laundry to dry. It may take overnight, especially if we have any mal aria! The drying racks are brought into the garage or the house if it's too damp outside. Britta Bovi irons EVERYTHING: sheets, towels, underwear, sox, you name it. The steam iron is in constant use (distilled water, of course, as the water here is very hard), but I iron the few things of mine that need ironing while they're still slightly damp, a concept unheard of here.
I know that was a digression, sorry.
So, some houses are free-standing and of all sizes. Ours is quite compact. The apartment bldgs. are usually no more than 3-6 stories high, allowing for a small-town feel. A lot of the city reminds me of parts of San Francisco (minus the hills), San Diego, and Granada or Seville, Spain. The residents, young and old, look healthy and unstressed. Nobody takes a pill of any sort unless they're in dire straits. The other day my back ached after a very long period of standing, and Franco had to excavate a drawer in the kitchen to locate something akin to an aspirin.
Every house has satellite tv. You name it, they can watch it: French, German, Spanish, British, Arabic (Al Jazeera, Int'l., which, by the way is also in English and very good!), and that's all I've landed upon, so far. We don't watch a lot of tv. At this very moment, though, there's something very exciting to see: Italy has it's own bicycle race, similar to the Tour de France. When I left the children's library at the main piazza tv commentators and technicians were setting up a Jumbotron (sp?) screen and racing fans were streaming into the piazza to buy souvenirs and food prior to catching a glimpse, in person, of the Finish Line which is here in Carpi for the first time, ever! A very big deal. I couldn't wait there for 4 hours to do that (Franco was expecting me for pranzo), so I'll now watch it on tv.
Ciao for now.
When we finished I too a slow walk home (about 25 minutes), stopping now and then to snap pictures of flowers planted between the sidewalk and the busy street. Maybe now's a good time to describe the architecture in Carpi. Everything looks pretty well maintained. Neatness counts! The house I live in is a free-standing stucco, two story house with a 2 car garage at the back. No yard to speak of, but two magnolia trees in the front, providing some shelter from road noise and passersby. Every house is separated from the sidewalk by iron fences and gates. The windows are either covered by bars or are double sets of what we might call French Doors. Windows are draped with somewhat sheer linen curtains. The floors are tile, the walls are white, and the lighting fixtures have compact fluorescent bulbs which they call "basso consumo" -- pretty self-explanatory, huh? While Italians abhor air conditioning, they also think they'll freeze if the temperature is below 75F. They wear scarves around their necks, sweaters or long-sleeve shirts and jackets. Apparently, it is believed that all sickness is caused by bad air, "mal aria." I've just hung out my laundry to dry. It may take overnight, especially if we have any mal aria! The drying racks are brought into the garage or the house if it's too damp outside. Britta Bovi irons EVERYTHING: sheets, towels, underwear, sox, you name it. The steam iron is in constant use (distilled water, of course, as the water here is very hard), but I iron the few things of mine that need ironing while they're still slightly damp, a concept unheard of here.
I know that was a digression, sorry.
So, some houses are free-standing and of all sizes. Ours is quite compact. The apartment bldgs. are usually no more than 3-6 stories high, allowing for a small-town feel. A lot of the city reminds me of parts of San Francisco (minus the hills), San Diego, and Granada or Seville, Spain. The residents, young and old, look healthy and unstressed. Nobody takes a pill of any sort unless they're in dire straits. The other day my back ached after a very long period of standing, and Franco had to excavate a drawer in the kitchen to locate something akin to an aspirin.
Every house has satellite tv. You name it, they can watch it: French, German, Spanish, British, Arabic (Al Jazeera, Int'l., which, by the way is also in English and very good!), and that's all I've landed upon, so far. We don't watch a lot of tv. At this very moment, though, there's something very exciting to see: Italy has it's own bicycle race, similar to the Tour de France. When I left the children's library at the main piazza tv commentators and technicians were setting up a Jumbotron (sp?) screen and racing fans were streaming into the piazza to buy souvenirs and food prior to catching a glimpse, in person, of the Finish Line which is here in Carpi for the first time, ever! A very big deal. I couldn't wait there for 4 hours to do that (Franco was expecting me for pranzo), so I'll now watch it on tv.
Ciao for now.
posted by OLLI @ 9:57 AM
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