the news from venice

hello my dear frenz and relations
it has been sketchy lately to get to a proper
access to the internet. tonite i am in a little
shop in venice. a couple of young men are chatting here,
as one works here. just heard a ball bounce down the street.
just outside the window is a small footbridge, and shoppers are strolling by.
the gondolas too. we got the 36 hour pass to ride on the vaporetti as much as
we want for that time. they are like buses, and roar along from stop to stop (i think they have "jimmies"),
crammed with people. there are also smaller cabin cruisers that are taxis-some mahogany veneer-like, and during the week i saw a lot of workboats, carrying luggage, cases of beer, boxes of merchandise, sand for building projects. it warmed my little sausalito waterfront heart to see all the efficient waterborne transport.

my italian is coming along, and gets mixed with spanish a bit. a little french gets used here and there. i did get pretty good at greek before we left there, after 10 days. our last 2 days we spent with panayota, the 80 year old cousin of pano, my mentor in things greekish. she does not speak english, but for us all, the will was strong to communicate, so we spent the time and energy to make it happen. by sunday nite she and i were discussing religion and gardening. finally she broke out her family photos, and showed us some weddings, and pix taken 50 or more years ago. she filled us in on a family scandal in which a 20 year old cousin married a german woman of 65, and they went off to live in germany and got real fat. we all laughed hilariously as we shook our heads.

i have also had my moments when i really want to ask a person a question, and am not sure if i can in their language, like asking for help is especially hard. but, everytime i put myself out, something amazing happens, and results are not always what i was hoping for, but are usually positive. on the ferry to athens i had that sort of thing happen, but finally got into a conversation in greek with a man, and he gave me a wonderful gift, a book of his photographs of his island, naxos.
the greek people are so generous and friendly, and they really appreciated that i am learning to speak their language.

in italy i think it is the same, but here in venice, they are so jaded with tourists and so into making money, that they really don't care who you are or what you do.
we had much more positive contacts when we were in trentino, among the dolomiti (alps). we were there just after greece, in search of further info regarding melda's great grannies who were born there. i think we actually met some of her distant cousins who are now our friends. the local priest looked thru his tomes of church/gov't records to help us find the names. we got our own apartment with a 3 mile vista of 10,000 ft peaks. i was sort of living out part of my youthful heidi fantasy. also, all the way into the dolomiti, and while there, i was drawing. the area is so magnificent to see.

it is getting late, and the guy wants to close up for the nite. we may leave here tomorrow, but we have all sorts of ganas for shopping here. the trick is to be sure if it is made in china or not. what a time. mo' later.....carolhatlady