Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thanksgiving in Tereglio



Today is Thanksgiving Day and we are in our little village of Tereglio in Northern Italy. This is a delightful old farmhouse and a very special place to spend Thanksgiving. It is, of course, not home nor even a holiday in Italy

We are becoming accustomed to having one thing to do each day. When it is more than one, it is a very busy day and we may not get to the second item. Today our chore, besides fixing Thanksgiving dinner, was to get firewood. There was some very wet wood under the house and some dry wood in one of the lower storage rooms. The problem was that the dry wood was too long to be useful. So in the morning we went to visit Claudia, the lady who takes care of this house for the owner. She is also the owner of the cafĂ© that is closed until next month. She knew of a man, Luigi, aka Gigi, who might help. She wrote him a note and slid it under his door and said he would get it later in the day. Sure enough she let us know later that we could knock on his door and he would help. We went to his house, which is just across the cobble stone walk from ours. A little old man, stooped with age, opened the door and we held a “pseudo-conversation”, he in Italian and us in English. From this we somehow ascertained that he would help us and it would be later in the day.

We relaxed around our place for a while and then Nancy started fixing our Thanksgiving Dinner. There were no Turkeys available so she cooked chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing and vegetables. This was quite a project and it turned out to be quite delicious. Just as dinner was almost ready there came a knock on our door.

It was Luigi, dressed in coveralls and carrying a small chain saw and another instrument he used as an axe/splitter. By using gestures and other forms of communication, we went downstairs to the place where the long, dry wood was stored. He went right to work and tossed the long pieces on the porch and begins to cut them. When I thought he had enough, I said “fini” (French of course!) and he got the point. Meantime, Nancy looked up how to invite him for dinner from our Italian phrase book and he accepted.

Thus the three of us sat down in our Italian home and said grace, and had a wonderful dinner. We tried to talk but even the most rudimentary forms of language along with gestures, were only moderately successful. Two English only speakers and one Italian only speaker conversing: not verbally, but in the language of community, sharing, and caring. It was a very nice time together. Three people brought together by a problem that was readily solved. We worked together and then celebrated with the sharing of a warm meal and enjoying each other’s company We missed our family and the usual celebration but we had a wonderful Thanksgiving sitting by a nice warm fireplace thanks to an Italian man named Luigi. Sometimes our reliance on verbal communication is greatly overrated.

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