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Gia-Gina Across the Pond

So I've decided to follow my husband to his native Italy. Follow our adventures as we eat, drink, travel, adapt to and explore this remarkable country. Part food blog, part photo blog but mostly my rants and raves. After our two years in Italy, we relocated across the Atlantic "pond" and are back in the States.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

An Eventful Bus Ride

Yesterday after a full week of classes, I headed home in the rain, without an umbrella but luckily landed a seat on the bus. While looking out the window and trying to pass the time, the phone rang. (I hate answering the phone on the bus because you have no privacy whatsoever.) It was Demetrio and with him in Seattle, I felt an urge to see if he had something important to say to me.

I usually answer the phone with “Pronto” but since I knew it was him I said “Hello”. We began to chit-chat a bit as he let me know when his flight was leaving Seattle and his exit strategy for the day; as I started to speak all heads on the now full bus turned towards me. I think my fellow bus riders just wanted to hear a bit of English. I was practically whispering and don’t think they could make much out. The old Filipino lady next to me did however and when the conversations was over she asked me in English where I was from.

She married an Italian and has lived in Turin for 30 years. Finally she said the words that gave me new hope about my life in Turin. When I asked here where she shopped she happily stated "Dare iz an ee-shan markit, near to via Madama Cristiana, too bad I em lee-bing por the Philipines tomorrow or else I will take you dare." Music to my ears!

5 Comments:

At 7:47 AM, Blogger Sara said...

Cool! Will the philipino lady be coming back?

Hopefully you'll have a decent selection of goods at the market! What good news! Take photos of the place if you can. I'm surprised you haven't done an Italian equivalent of a yellow pages search for asian markets.

We're Asians... we get everywhere!

Sara

 
At 2:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Correction...women from the Philipines are called Filipinas...


That is all.

 
At 7:49 AM, Blogger Sara said...

Now that you bring that up, what exactly is the standard in spelling the Philipines, Philipino, Filipino or Filipina? Where does the "Ph" apply and where not?

 
At 4:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The country which is made up of 7,107 separate islands, according to the CIA World Fact book, is commonly called P.I. (Philipine Islands). However it's Conventional Long Form is 'Republic of the Philipines'. The Conventional Short Form is 'Philipines'. The locals short form is 'Pilipinas'. The Nationality is noted as:
'Filipino(s)'.
As they were as Spanish colony back in the 16th Century, they also utilize the masculine and feminine forms of nouns. Where the masculine form ends in an 'o' and feminine form ends is an 'a'. Ergo...

Filipino (males)
Filipina (females)

Here are some sites to refer to:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rp.html

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/genoun1.htm

 
At 9:29 AM, Blogger Sara said...

Fabulous!

 

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