La Bella Figura

I've been well aware of the idea of "La Bella Figura" for many years however, this trip I feel I really got to experience it. 

La Bella Figura is an expression used in Italy to express presenting a good image in everything thing from the house to the person.  It's about being generous with friends and family. It's about emphasizing beauty and elegance. 

There were so many examples of how I saw this played out here in Sicily whether it was the elderly gentleman who made the beautiful bruschetta for our informal gathering or the generosity of food and time from all the different people that I encountered.  It was at the school when they decided to have an impromtu 4th of July party because they understood how important the holiday was to Americans or in the way the people who attended the opera were dressed. It was in the way that my host mom painstakingly ironed everything including the sheets! 

I can honestly say that until you've experienced La Bella Figura, it will only remain an idea. After experiencing it, it becomes an ideal that you feel obligated to try to live up to. 

Italian Opera

Martin Gannon, in his book Understanding Global Cultures a Metaphorical Journey through 31 Nations, chose to describe Italy according to an Italian Opera and now I know why!

Tonight, I had the pleasure of attending an open air Italian Opera for the first time. The opera, Il Rigoletto, was dramatic enough but then there were the side shows.

The first happened right before the opera was about to begin. There was some screaming and shouting and then a distinct "no vediamo"- "we can't see". We weren't sure if there was a dispute over assigned seats, they were disappointed that the lighting man was in their area or exactly what the problem was. There were a few police officers who seemed to be just taking up space. The people carried on for awhile screaming and yelling until the crowd started clapping and yelling "fouri" (outside) ironically, we were outside. After that little incident, the opera proceeded until someone decided to yell "sporco" (dirty) for who knows what reason. 

At the end of the second act, two of the main characters had a very nice, dramatic scene. The audience demanded an encore of the scene to which, the characters obliged and basically performed the scene again. I have never seen such a thing. 

Women and men were dressed to the "9's" even though most of us were sitting on concrete. Women had very nice dresses and high heel shoes. Men had nice slacks, matching sweaters and very nice shoes. No one showed up just looking like they came in from a soccer match. The idea of being properly dressed for an opera, whether it's inside or out, was evident. 

The idea of the chapter in this book is about relating the culture to the way business is conducted. For Italians, everything is a production whether it is making a lovely meal or getting a business deal done. Now I can say that I've experienced an opera and have a better understanding of why Italian Opera is a good metaphor for the culture. 

I can't wait to get home and reread the chapter on Italy, something tells me that I'm going to find more things that happened that are indicative of the culture. One thing is for sure if I see another opera somewhere else, it is not nearly going to be the same!

Sicily - the magical place

Sicily has been a magical place, not just for the amazing landscape, the generous people, the unbelievable food but also because it has changed me in so many ways. 

I used to be a person afraid of the kitchen, now after just few cooking classes, I've come to realize that cooking is not all that scary and I can do it. I'm so excited about my newly acquired interest in cooking that I've spent more time looking for kitchen gadgets than I have oogling over the latest Italian designs in shoes and clothing. 

Also, I finally was able to address my fear of heights. Today, I climbed to the top of Mt. Etna without so much as a consideration about how high up I was or what could happen to me. It was like something just took over in my brain and I knew this is what I had to do AND it was going to be alright. 

I knew from the beginning that Sicily was going to be at the top of my list, I just didn't realize it was going to be "THE" top! 

Celebrating the 4th in Sicily

It's interesting to celebrate 4th of July outside of the country. This wasn't the first time that I've done it, but it was the most enjoyable. After all, how could it not be? I'm in Sicily. 

It started this morning as I walked to school dressed in my red dress with white stars, I walked past what I'm sure was a young Marine who saw the way I was dressed and gave me a knowing smile. I returned the gesture with a tip of my head as to thank him for his service. 

The day proceeded with all the American women coming to school dressed in some sort of red, white and blue. The school was very good about acknowledging our special day and created a party for "gli Americani" (and friends). Students from all different countries came to the BBQ. It was at that moment that I thought "Isn't this what America is about?" There were British, Swedes, Australians, Russians, Spanish, Argentinians, Swiss, Norweigans and some I'm not sure where they hailed from. One of the most interesting things to me was- that many of the "foreigners" dressed up in red, white or blue including a woman from Norway who was dressed in all three colors. It may have just been that she wanted to be festive, but to me it was more than that. It was a tip of the hat- to America- the home of the free and the land of the brave. 

I know we don't always do things right but it's times like this when I'm reminded that for all the negative press we may see about the U.S., in general, we are appreciated. We are a land of immigrants where people can come to pursue whatever dream they may have, where people can come to worship as they wish (or not worship at all) where with a dream and hard work (ok, and a little bit of luck) you can move up the ladder. 

I love to travel- about that there is no doubt but, I also love my country with a passion. I have always been proud to be an American and have no problem telling that to anyone I meet. I once was listening to a BBC radio program where I heard one of the announcers talking about "America and the green card lottery". He said "of course, Americans have no idea how lucky they are, they've already won that lottery". Coming from a Brit, this had even more of an impact on me. So, today and every day I'm proud to say that I did win that lottery and would not want to live anywhere else. God Bless America! 

Looking and listening from different perspectives

I was pretty sure before I left for my Sicilian trip that I was going to have a different mindset than I did when I was in Turkey. And as I predicted, I do feel completely different and here's why - it's all about familiarity. 

 There are many things that are similar about Turkey and Sicily- both places have a reputation for being more dangerous than they really are, both are considered more "machisimo", both have a very strong link to the predominant religion of the country (and in both places the majority of the people are more about secular than the religious aspect). And yet, you cannot seperate the country from the religion. In Turkey, five times a day we heard the call to prayer go out where an imam read from the quran. In Sicily, we hear on the hour, the song "Immaculate Mary" ring out across the city. I have to be honest, when I first heard the call to prayer, I was a bit spooked and then after awhile I became curious as to what actually was being said. Here in Sicily, I know the song and actually look forward to the stroke of a new hour when I can cheerfully hum along to the song.

Also, in both places, I have seen the "man bag" used quite a bit. And while I was put off at the thought in Turkey, it makes me chuckle in Sicily (big, burly men carrying a bag :-). I have to ask myself "what, then, is the difference?" and the only answer I can come up with is "it's all about what you're used to". Although I'm not Sicilian, I have many Sicilian friends and acquiantances so I'm familiar with much of the culture. Furthermore, I am of the same religion as more than 90% of Italy's inhabitants (even if they don't really practice) and so, it just feels like home. I think it's very important that we acknowledge are biases so that we can learn how to expand our horizons. If we do not acknowledge that we are looking at things from only one point of view, we risk missing out on some beautiful experiences whether it be witnessing a call to prayer or humming along to Immaculate Mary.

Le parolacce

There are certain things that a foreign language student learns as they are reaching a "fully conversational" level in the foreign language. These items include: 

1. Idioms 

2. Colloquial expressions 

3. "the bad words"- beyond the obvious 

Today we learned the bad words that Italians, especially Sicilians, use. It was a bit of a strange lesson for me because generally, I don't use too many of these words. I decided not to protest, as on of my classmates did, and go with the flow. I thought, "even though I don't use these words, if someone is using them about me I want to know what they mean". The bottom line is, I never knew you could say "stupid" and "prostitute" in so many ways. The ironic thing is that not all of these words are used in the perjorative. Most of the time, these words are used among friends in a joking manner. And while I may never call someone a "caglione", it's good to know what it means and how to use it!