Or
It’s The Mafia…Everything Is The Mafia
Or
Spanish is Italian’s Ugly (red-headed) Stepsister.
So, clearly we’ve got a lot to talk about. The answer to our title question is: 3 yogis, 1 dog, severalhours and lots of tools. We’ve been talking about hanging the hammocks since I arrived in Italy (That was 2 months ago…can you believe it?!?!) And yesterday at breakfast SSS announced that we would all meet in the “meadow” to discuss the very important topic of where exactly the hammocks should hang. So
the three of us and Agnes headed down, armed with handheld clippers, rope and tubing. Oh, yea, and hammocks. After careful analysis of which trees could
support a hammock, which areas would be shady or sunny and how close we wanted the hammocks to be to each other (do you really need to be close enough to someone to talk to them? I think if you’re in the hammock you’re not gonna be doing much talking…mostly napping). Finally, we had agreed on where to hang the
hammocks. Then came the amusing three-musketeers-esque extravaganza of actually
hanging the hammocks. I can’t go into it all because we would be here for hours…but it involved several trips up to the house for more tools, many different
types of rope, flames, cutting devises and some pretty funny breaks where we would chase Agnes around the meadow.
But the long and the short of it is, the hammocks are hung…and they are wonderful. I hope the Sada Sats weren’t planning on me doing any other work for the rest of the summer…because, um, there are hammocks that need to be laid in, napped in, read in… that is going to really take a lot of time and focus on my part. It’s a tough job…but someone has got to do it.
The Summit of the Hammocks (as we affectionately call the “incident”) came after a very pleasant weekend. We had a couple from Rome come up to stay and they were quite amusing. The husband (Eugenio…a good Italian name) is somewhat of a card. I don’t think anarchist is the right word…but he refuses to vote and whenever any topic of some problem in Italy would come up (such as a garbage man strike that has been going
on for at least a month in Naples…eewwww!) his answer was “It’s the mafia…everything is the mafia.” His lovely wife Rita would try to explain the Italian mentality and the history of the situation etc. etc. And without fail Eugenio would cut in “no, no, no it’s all the Frigging Mafia!” It was quite humorous.
I noticed this weekend that when people are speaking “proper” Italian it is actually quite easy for me to understand them. (This is not often spoken because there are SO many dialects in Italy and so much slang….) I think this is in part to my background in Spanish. The big difference that I’ve come to notice is that where every word in Italian (and indeed even the way they put words together) is beautiful, Spanish is shorter, more utilitarian and well, just plain less
beautiful. (My proposed titles may be a bit harsh…Spanish really is a beautiful language, but it really just doesn’t stack up to Italian in the beauty department). In Italian we say “Come’ “ which is a complete, rich and soft sound. In Spanish it’s “Como” which is open and rough sounding. I can’t really explain it better than that I guess…
However, one thing that makes Italian especially hard for me to understand still is that Italians just use a lot of words. Where we might say something in 3-4
words in English and Italian could easily take 15 words to communicate the same message. (Let’s just say they missed the day in school about economy in word usage). Perfect example: I was reading something about how to send a text message for a certain contest. The English instructions said: “Blah blah (space) blah.”
The Italian instructions said: “Blah blah blah (separated by a space) blah blah.”
Get it? Funny stuff.
So, moving on, I am gearing up for my next trip out of the Borgo. It’s been a crazy rig-a-ma-role of a planning fiasco…but I am pretty sure it’s all sorted out now. I am going for 5 days to visit Pisa (as in Leaning Tower Of), Lucca and Pistoia. A couple of small Tuscan towns outside of Florence. They are all supposed to be really beautiful and perhaps not quite as touristy as some of the other places I looked. Hopefully it works out that way.
Can you believe I’ve already been here 2 months?!?! Insane. It feels like it has gone very quickly…and at the same time feels like I’ve been away from home forever. I am starting to think a bit about what shape I want my life to take on after this trip is over. And let me tell you…it varies amazingly. I have learned on this trip that I really am happiest when I am teaching yoga and doing massage as my work
(as opposed to housework, gardening, or some other more traditional type of work). So it is important to me that whatever shape my future takes those will be my sources of income. I am loving my time here…but I am spending a lot less time than I expected doing massage and teaching, which is good because it is really showing me how important those things are.
There have been a few glitches in my teaching scheduleback home. Closed Eyes Yoga, the dear and beautiful studio where I was teaching the bulk of my yoga
classes has to close this summer. I am really sorry to see it go…but I know it was the right decision for those involved. Further, I have just found out that
the YWCA has scheduled someone else to teach my Senior Yoga classes in the fall…so there are 2 more classes out of the loop. I know I can find places to teach in
the Twin Cities if that is the direction I choose. But in the next moment I am thinking maybe I will move to Orlando and get a job as a massage therapist on
Disney Cruise lines and live with one of my dearest friends, Kelly, who works for Disney. Or maybe I’ll go back to my original plan of moving to San Francisco. Or maybe some opportunity will come up for me to travel to and do seva in India…or travel to Thailand, Ireland, Finland, Guatemala, Chile or Australia. (My top 7 at the moment….)
And then I remind myself…it is all in Gods hands and in Gods time. And it will all unfold exactly the way it is supposed to. And everything will be prefect in ways that I may not even be able to imagine yet. Wahe Guru! (Wahe Guru is a mantra we use in yoga that means “Wow! The experience of infinite power that brings me from the darkness into the light” or more basically “Wow! God!”)
If you can believe it I have also started to plan (a bit) with my two girlfriends, Megan and Allison, who are coming out for the last 6 weeks of my trip. On the list for places to go: Rome, Zurich, Lake Lucerne, Somewhere else in Switzerland, Bruges, Somewhere else in Belgium, Amsterdam, Hanover, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Seville, Granada, Morocco (??), Florence, Venice, Prague, Munich…. whew! 6 weeks seems like a
lot of time…but when you look at everything you want to see in Europe it is a flash in the pan. We’ll see how it all turns out. I think we’ll just have to remind ourselves that this is supposed to be a vacation, not a race it’s gonna be so great!
Well, I think that is it for now. Hope everyone back home is having a great summer. I certainly miss you guy’s lots!
Love and Blessings,
KNL
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