Monday, December 15, 2014

The Real Reason WE drink Cappuccino AFTER Dinner.

Dear Italians, I want to share a little story with you. I hope this will help you understand where we are coming from a little better.

Once upon a time, before Starbucks came to every block in the United States...

there was a small town along the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin called Racine. In the olden days, if it was your grandma's birthday you went to the fanciest place in town, the Corner House, for Prime Rib. Now, you Knew this was a Fancy Supper Club because even grandma got a "Cocktail" before dinner there. And by "Cocktail" I mean anything with Brandy in it, because that is the main ingredient in cocktails in Wisconsin. Gramma Jeane, never banal, had a "Dry Burbon Manhattan on-the-rocks-with-a-twist," however. This can be used as a tongue twister by those too young to actually drink them. In fact, from a young age, we practiced rattling it off fast, many times in a row while drinking our "Kiddie Cocktails" as we pulled the marascino cherries off the plastic sword resting on the rim of our glass with our teeth. Good times, people, when servers were called "waitresses" and "waiters".  Earth tones reigned and the lighting can best be described as "amber".

The other context clue that indicated you were in someplace special was the timing of the Coffee. At the Corner House, you ordered it AFTER you finished your Soup, Prime Rib, potato any way you like (except for fried, which is not sophisticated) which meant baked with sour cream, and salad with cottage cheese or, alternatively, spinach salad with hot bacon dressing.

Yes, coffee came after supper and the server would come back 4 or 5 times for a "warmer" while you sat around talking because no one was chasing you out to serve the next group of eaters (another fancy restaurant "thing").

THEN SOMETHING MAGIC HAPPENED!

I think it was around 1988.

THE CAPPUCCINO MACHINE ARRIVED.

This revolutionized Fancy Dinners FOREVER!

This large and noisy machine did make EXPRESSO (which is what we still call it), of course, but who would drink that crap? Too small for $1.75, no free refills and by the time you put enough sugar in it to make it drinkable it was a sludgy mess. And there seemed to be some sort of unwritten rule that said you were not allowed to put milk in it, so it was to be avoided.

CAPPUCCINO (when you said this word the heavens used to open up and the angels would start singing from on high) was another story.

It was still $1.75 and there were no refills, either. But it was DELICIOUS! Who KNEW that froth could taste so good? Is that a hint of COCOA in there?? Paying once for it just made it all the more CHIC and fancy. Again, a once a year affair.

Flash forward. We can get cappuccinos anytime we want now... but when we come to Italy, something special happens. We bounce back to high school and OUR FIRST CUP OF CAPPUCCINO. It is magic. We want to drink them all day because we can. And we do.

And who can blame us. Full with dinner or not, the Cappuccino tastes really good. It is like dessert for us. Yum.

I have lived here for many years now, but I do not judge my fellow Americans when they order a cappuccino after dinner. I even recognize the micro-expression the waiter elicits at the order. It is a mix between an eye roll and a wink of physical pain. But then he or she remembers that you are Americano or Tedesco, and they find it in their heart to forgive you.





Thursday, December 11, 2014

Another Record for Trieste

I believe this fine town has a record number of PAJAMA and SLIPPER STORES per capita for the entire Peninsula. 

Complete list coming. 

Just kidding. There is one on each block downtown. 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

If you have relocated you may relate

When you change countries at some point you may have to break up with your past too. I am kind of proud of this post because it indicates I have finally gotten somewhere in my time in Trieste. I guess it's a little sad too. When you can't find me here, I am HERE.

Anyway, we can have a spritz and discuss!





Wednesday, May 7, 2014

More on Learning a Foreign Language

A lot of readers seemed to be interested in my post on How to Learn a Foreign Language, so today I have added some Thoughts on Language Learning that I wanted to share with you. See what you think!

Going to Aviano on Friday!

I am so excited! Denise and I are invited to the Aviano Air Force base! It's our first time going there. We have to be there suuuper early in the morning (8:00 and it's pretty far away, sigh), but I don't care. We will be talking to a group of significant others (as in NOT the military person but the person who came over with him or her) about Trieste.

A lot of people who come to Italy to live because of their partners have a difficult time finding their niche here. It can be sad and depressing until you find your way around and start living the life of a local yocal. It's hard to be the person who comes to Italy for work, too, but work is therapeutic. When you don't work after always working, it's really tough.

Anyway, we are going to tell them all about Trieste and why they should come visit the city and us at the Association. We will probably also talk about our Welcome Home Stranger program, culture shock, and learning the language.

I hope it's like Top Gun.

Just kidding.

My first Half Marathon after five years!

Did you do the Bavisela last weekend? Did you do the Family run, the Half Marathon or the Marathon? I ran the Half and here is my story about it. 

Saturday, March 15, 2014

I do love Trieste but...

sometimes it feels like the only person in a hurry here is ME. Especially on the sidewalks. Serious people-jams. Constantly.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Who is the most important woman in Trieste?

March is Women's History Month.

Yesterday I asked one of my friends (a journalist) who the most important business woman in Trieste was, and the only person he could come up with was Anna Illy, and that is fair as she is still on the Board of Illy and was/is quite active in the community. Two other powerful women came out in the conversation, but one is German (CEO of TAL), so neither of us has actually seen her or knows anything about her. The other person is the President of the Port Authority, Monassi. That position is encouraging. It got me to thinking, though. Wow. We've got a lot of work to do around here.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

Welcome Home Stranger, etc.

Sorry, Friends, I have been busy blogging at www.internationalcommunicator.blogspot.com that I haven't been keeping you up to date!

I know that people find their way onto this site, so I will try to be better. I am actually making some serious plans to make this blog a little more useful for people coming to Trieste to live.

For one thing, my colleagues and I have started a group for people who are newcomers in Trieste called Welcome Home Stranger.

We get together once a month to be social or to share information. The group is constantly shifting as new people hear about it, but so far everyone is incredibly nice. I hope you will join us.

We are also planning on putting together a little video series for people moving to Trieste to give more relevant information than you can find readily on the internet. So watch for that.

In the meantime, do check www.aia-fvg.blogspot.com for the latest on what's going on at the Italian American Association. The Storytime series is underway, for example, which means stories for kids in English on Saturday mornings. We are always looking for readers!

Also, both of our film series are underway. We would love to have you join us for those as well.
Feel free to stop by or call. Let's meet!

And remember, nothing will make your transition to Trieste better than VOLUNTEERING! We are an association run by volunteers. We would love to have you. See you soon at the Association!