Italian Fun Club/ Borders Italian language

20/06/2019

Wants to learn italian after the summer holidays...come to meet me!

08/04/2019

Vesuvio Part 2:
On 24th Aug of 79 BC a happy and quite population of the area had a hard woke up....a very loud noise and a mountain close by exploded....everyone run to the sea, but it was too rough and they had to wait down the beach....in the main time a big amount of a mixture of ashes, gases and little stones with a temperature of 500 C went up to the stratosphere and then down again covering both close town on Ercolaneum and Pompey (among others). Ercolaneum was around 4000 inhabitant....very rich town with big houses (around the 1200 m2 equivalent of ~1400 square yards!!!)....it was a posh little town just by the sea, with few shops in a beautiful landscape. Probably they didn't know that mountain close by was an active vulcano.
The people stayed down the beach for 12 hrs then the big hot colums erupted went down and covered everything. It was a very fast dead😨, they probably didn't realise...
In 20 hrs it is estimated there were 3km cubes of materials that covered the area!

In Ercolaneum the ashes covered the town under 30m and this preserved much more than in Pompei. ...were the town was in a flat area more on the south of the Vesuvio so the building were not totally covered and what has been preserved are mainly the lower floors of them. The old Ercolaneum was discovered around 1700 and since then most of the excavations were done through tunnels to take the rare pieces out, which can be found around the world in museum....but then during the fascist period ~1930 (at end somethi g good was dine in that period that ended up in the WW2) a big excavation was done through the very hard stone (once ashes) to show how these building were....which could not be taken away so they are still here in the large town close to Naples called "Ercolano"....since I have been here last time around 10 yrs ago, it is a much more turistic area....it is a very easy to reach town from Naples and cannot understand why it is not more visited....it was amazing. ....look at the pictures! And if you decide to visit get the in touch for any tips!

Words:
Small Town = paese (be careful it may also mean big country) (sm)
Landscape = panorama (sm)
Years = anni (pm)
Happy = felice

We had a guide to show us around today....so I learned so much more...like....
In Ercolaneum there are not the three stepping stone to cross roads as since they were richer had a sewer system under the roads so these were much cleaner and didn't need the three stepping stones that are seen instead in Pompei.
Bedrooms were very small for single beds, to keep temperature cool or warm....couple were not sleeping together but had a bedroom to be together called "alcova" where there was a canopy bed.
Will ad more as I remember...it was a huge take on today!

06/04/2019

Napoli Gastronomic dessert....number 2
Zeppele di san Giuseppe, tortine ai frutti, baba' piccoli, cannoli siciliani, pastiera napoletana, shou alla cream, profitteroles, zuppette, teste di moro ....and for some I do not know the name....there is for any taste though! Buon appetito!

01/04/2019

Naples dessert gastronomy: among other dessert....sold in dedicated shop called "pasticceria" (more pictures to follow)...one of my favourite dessert is "il baba'"...the one in this window of the famous "gelateria" called "Ciro a Margellina" is a big version....which for me is even tastiest....let's see how to describe it...very wet spongy...it is wet with sugar water and rhum....or sometimes with limoncello....if you are in Naples would really advise to try it on!....the other pictures are from the ice cream display....one with "little ice creams on a cone and covered by chocolate" and the other with many flavours you choose for your cone.

Words:
Ice cream shop = gelateria (sf)
Dessert shop = pasticceria (sf)
Ice cream = gelato (sm)
Dessert = dolce (sm)
or if little defined pastry, often with a cream = pasta (sf)/ paste (pf) /pasticcino (sm)

If you are invited for lunch on a sunday is often used that the invited will go to the pasticceria and buy paste for everyone. You can either buy big ones (paste) like the British version ecclers, or many smaller ones (pasticcini) also called "la piccola pasticceria".
Each "pasta" has a name (more pictures to follow).
Although it may be confusing to think about pasta as the one italian have has first dish of a meal...in the contest it is clear of what you are talking about.

30/03/2019

Ok a little tour around Napoli in the next few days...with some words and a bit of culture.

Starting here, this is the mount Vesuvio one of the three active vulcanos in Italy. It's view and presence dominate the "golfo di Napoli" and the life of neapolitan people, although most of them have forgotten it is still active. Last time erupted was in 1944 just at end of WW2. It was a mild eruption as the "lava" went down slowly giving all the time to the people to come away. The thing is that this is a mixed type of vulcanos which sometimes explode and sometimes erupt slowly. In 1944 the inhabitant of the area were not many and in my home town were living a couple of hundred people in a very rural area....now it counts 10.000 inhabitant and there are 3 million people living around the Vesuvio diameter of action!
This is the view from the west side, from my family's house in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio one of the closest town to this dangerous mountain. On the left there is a slightly bigger mountain which is called "monte Somma". But in reality is an old part of the Vesuvio that has then reshaped in the way we see it today.

N.B. This blue sky is more what is normally expected in this area...without the arrow of course😂😂

Questo e' il Vesuvio, uno dei 3 vulcani ancora attiviti in Italia.

Words

Mountain = MONTAGNA (sf)/MONTE (sm)
Bay = GOLFO (sm)
presence = PRESENZA
Called = CHIAMATO
West = OVEST (m)
arrow = FRECCIA (sf)

28/03/2019

More italian classes for anyone need....have fun, make new friends, learn something new...

27/02/2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-47334374?fbclid=IwAR37nEKOOoFPbsrclINseIikzcjB-SLyLnI-I8hIhYPfeCtXpNTduXdrlUU

This is a sad news, considering the amount of brain connections the process of learning a new language gives. Having learned a language as adult (talking about English), I know how difficult it can be even if you do not have contact with native speakers, however I managed to learn it and now to live using it!
Funny enough, instead, the only French I remember is what I did study while in the primary school...whatever I did study later in the high school is now gone (or appear to be).
Based on my experience, start to learn a language as early as possible is the best way, it is amazing how much stick in your brain!...but if you have not, is still possible to learn a language as an adult, with not too much difficulties, if you have fun doing it and if you have a keen teacher (ideally native speaker), using a not typical classroom method....

Teachers say the perception of languages as difficult subjects is the main reason behind the drop.

02/01/2019

01/01/2019

New year = new resolution? if one of yours is to learn a new language... new services in Peebles are:

*After school club every Monday afternoon starting on the 21st January.

*Daytime babysitting in Italian, with Italian native speaker (from children 1 years and over)....book your space as needed (max 2 hrs slots)

*Italian group lessons. New beginners starting on the 16th January AM

*Italian one to one ad-hoc lessons.

Have a look at my page ; and send me an email ([email protected]) or message for more information and prices.