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Buondì.
Fans of Bug, Roomie, and their nameless predecessor, that’s to say the various ‘rescue animals’ that we’ve hosted here at OIC HQ over the last five years, will – I’m certain – be pleased to hear that in a few days Bug will be off to his new ‘per sempre’ home.
Unbeknown to him, some of his toys were surreptitiously extracted from the various untidy piles in our living room and handed – in discreet plastic bags – to his new keepers, the idea being that he’ll have familiar things around him after the move.
This week he paid a first visit to his new digs, and was apparently amazed to find the exact same cuddly dinosaurs as the ones he has at home! He wasn’t easily dissuaded from bringing them back in the car so that Ozzy (strawberry-colored, larger, good for bedtimes) and Vulcano (blue, smaller, likes car rides) could meet their doppelgängers.
We had some explaining to do…
Così. From next week it’ll just be Stefi (editor of EasyItalianNews.com and main woman at our Italian school in Bologna) and myself. For the first time EVER, as our three adult kids finally left home, and are now living in London, Florence and Copenhagen (in descending order of age.)
Guess I’ll be able to get back to language-learning, at least. It’s been years since either one of us had any ‘spare time’ at all.
Talking of language-learning, as of course I should be, Dean emailed, wondering if club members would be interested to hear that ‘La Scala TV’ is freely available and has English and Italian subtitles.
That’s operas, ignoramus! Find details are on their website, for instance here: https://lascala.tv/it/faq
Which reminds me, back in the pandemic we did a series of ‘easy reader’ ebooks aimed at introducing club members to famous Italian operas, while at the same time providing Italian reading and listening practice. Cultured club members can browse them here: https://easyreaders.org/product-category/opera/
Back when we were publishing those, I watched/listened to each of the operas myself (more fun than it sounds) before promoting the ebooks. Roomie, our rescue ‘animal’ at the time, would wander in and out of our kitchen (also my ‘office’), attracted by the orchestral music and continual shrieking. Roomie was released into the wild back in 2023, since when we’ve heard nothing.
Non-opera fans, by the way, might want to browse the ebook store’s catalog page, which features loads and loads of interesting, fun material for learners of Italian, at all CEFR levels.
I like the ‘history’ titles, and the ‘classic movies’, too. Even the ‘Italian literature’ easy readers were good. Also during the pandemic, we did ‘book clubs’ based on those (find them on the club’s literature page).
N.b. Once on the ebook store’s catalog page, be sure to check out the free samples. And, usually, the online audio (for the entire text, not just the sample) is free too. Find the links to those in the free sample chapters. Just click and listen.
Gotta go now, to prepare sausage rolls and pizzette for Bug’s going away party at the petting zoo, which is this afternoon.
It’ll doubtless be too noisy for me to make out what anyone’s saying, especially with large animals rocketing carelessly between people’s legs and popcorn being spilt everywhere.
But perhaps there’ll be cute pups to cuddle. I need an Ozzy of my own right now.
Alla prossima settimana!
P.S.
And here’s Wednesday’s reminder to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com.
Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.
EasyItalianNews.com is FREE to read/listen to.
Subscribing, and so receiving all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news via email each week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays – is also FREE.
Just enter your email address on this page and click the confirmation link that will be sent to you.
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