August 14th, 2009

Friday

Aug. 14, 2009

Today I was put back in the pottery washing area (I think because of yesterday’s sickness incident). I didn’t mind, though. Washing pottery has become my favorite place to be. Not only because it’s cool, shady, and we get to sit down, (though those all play a good part), but mostly because I feel like I actually know what I’m doing there. At the dig site, I usually feel like I don’t know anything and I’m not terribly useful. Besides that, not knowing Italian and being in a trench where the leader doesn’t speak English makes it so that I’m pretty much ignored for the 8 hours or so that we spend digging. I’ve mastered the art of looking appropriately busy, so Andre apparently finds it easier to leave me alone rather than find a translator and direct me to a more functional position. If he needs to, there are 2 people who speak English, and at least 2 more who speak some in the trench with me, but they almost always speak Italian because it’s the main language (and for the Americans, because they can). I’ve thought about asking to move to another trench, but really I think it would be about the same anywhere. Only 4 out of 40 of us are native English speakers, and I’m in the trench with two of them. Not that it matters much.

I do think that my Italian comprehension and speaking is improving a little, though. I still have to point and use single words a lot like an infant, but on the dig site at least I can pick out several words and use some of them. I can also function in town a bit easier than before, though I still can’t do complex transactions. I can ask for prices, though, and pay for things, and order a meal. Maybe I’ll buy an Italian magazine soon, and have some of the other students here help me read it. There’s no tv hereto watch shows on, but I get plenty of spoken Italian.

I asked one of the students here how English sounds to Italians. She said it sounds harsher, with hard syllables and sounds that simply don’t exist in Italian (like “th” and the “ll” sound found in “roll” and “fall”). My name has now been transformed to Elisabetta, since they can’t pronounce the “th”. It’s apparently the Italian spelling, though, since a girl in the last session had that name. It’s actually kinda pretty. The “s” in the middle is also more normal here. One person even spelled it that way automatically.

Today was Ferreagosto Eve, so there was a lot more action than normal in Orvieto. There was a parade of sorts, (really just a band), outdoor vendors, and many more people than usual. I bought an alpaca wool and silk scarf from one of the vendors, and a lapis lazuli bracelet from another vendor. It’s still really hot here, so I won’t be able to use the scarf for a while, but it was really pretty and cheap, for alpaca.

In the evening, the same band from before preceded a procession carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary from one church in the Piazza di Republica across town to the Duomo to be kept. I got to go into the church where the procession started, but didn’t have my camera. The procession was impressive. A bunch of nuns, priests, and laypeople came out first (the laypeople looked like their version of K of C). The bishop followed with his attendants carrying the sides of his robe out like wings. Finally, the statue came out. They had to roll it out the front door on casters, since it was easily 10-15 feet tall and 5-7 across. They even had to turn it sideways to fit it through the doors. Once through, 8 people carried it on a wooden platform of sorts. I got pictures of that on a friend’s camera. On the way to the Duomo, they played a partial rosary over loudspeakers that were set up throughout the town.

The group of people that I went with (about 5 of us) then met up with another group and got drinks and dinner. It was really fun, even though I didn’t understand much of what was said throughout the evening, especially at dinner. Oddly enough, I’m getting used to hearing Italian. It no longer sounds particularly foreign to me, I just don’t understand the words. It’s kind of like Spanish if it’s spoken too quickly or I’m not paying attention. Maybe there’s hope for me yet.