Finire

Thursday, December 23, 2010                                                                  Day 119
Well, I’m finally finished. Finished in every sense of the word. When I erroneously uttered the phrase “sono finita”, translating literally “I’m finished” to mean that I was done with my food, my host mother gave me a puzzled look before bursting out into peals of laughter. Finally, she choked out a “no si fa in Italia”, you don’t say that in Italy. Clearly, ho sbagliato (I messed up). Not so clearly however, what did I actually say? And while we’re on the question topic, how does one say “I’m finished” without making an ass of oneself? Lastly, does one sound too ridiculously pretentious when saying “oneself?”
Through a method of madness, studying, and guesswork, I have figured out the answers to all these questions.
They are
1. “I am utterly exhausted, spent, so tired I could fall asleep in my minestrone soup bowl”
2. “Ho finito”
3. Usually


                 I am utterly exhausted. I am sick and I’ve been up and about all day, my legs are so glad to be still that I’ve been sitting in the (awkward) yoga frog position merely because I don’t want to take the trouble to move my legs.
I have finished. I finished my crostada and strawberries with sugar a few minutes, and more importantly, I finished all my Christmas shopping.
               Shopping this year was different than it has been any other year. Firstly, I’d had my friends’ presents purchased for almost a month and I was mostly shopping for my family, that is, my host family. The main difference is that I’ve never had a host family, and shopping for someone you live with yet have only known for four months is a bit odd. Another difference is that I wasn’t entirely what type of gift was appropriate which was a problem because
1. It’s usually difficult for me to think of good presents for people
2. Italy is a different culture and things I may think are perfect may seem impolite or confusing here
3. I don’t know if my mother needs anything and if it is in my budget and ability to procure it for her
4. I can’t ask her as my Italian is still rudimentary
And, most important of all
5. I recently discovered that my mother doesn’t celebrate Christmas.
             I realise that in our ever-changing world (sorry to use a cliché) it is less and less unusual to find someone whose religious beliefs are different from your own, however, I’ll admit that it was still a shock for me when I found out.
As Italy is so Catholic, and there is an omnipresent bible near my mother’s chair at dinner, I automatically assumed she was Catholic, but as she told me two days ago, she is a Jehovah’s Witness.
The extent of my knowledge about Jehovah’s Witnesses was that Michael Jackson’s family members were Witnesses. As of now I still know very little, except that it’s a small Christian sect, founded in the US, that preaches the Second Coming Of Christ, but does not believe in Christ’s divinity.
I’m still confused but very content to be finished.
Have a lovely day
x