mercoledì 19 giugno 2013

Coming from and going to Frankfurt Airport


Travelling in a foreign country is always interesting. I’ve just come back from Frankfurt. I state in advance that I don’t know Germany very well, I’ve been just in Frankfurt airport and its surroundings a few times, but I think that also the airports are interesting. They are microcosms where you can find whatever.
 
I landed in the evening, so I decided to eat only a sandwich for dinner. I was tired, also speaking English was difficult to me – I don’t speak German at all – so I tried to express a very easy concept “Could you warm up that sandwich?”, but words didn’t come easy to me.

And then, the barman, getting my impasse, asked me:

“Where are you from? What language do you speak?”

“Italian!”

“Oh, well, what is the problem!?” – he told me in a perfect Italian. And starting from that moment our conversation went on in Italian.

“Are you Italian too?”

“No, I’m from Morocco”

“And you speak Italian!”

“Yes, I’ve learnt it here, in Germany, because I attended an Italian community”

Wow, I was surprised.

“And which other languages do you speak?” – I was so curious.

“Oh, well, I don’t know, let me say, French, of course, Arabic, Berbero" - (I'm not able to translate it, but it's the local and most original language in Morocco), -  "Spanish, German… and a bit of English, but no, I don’t like English very much, England is so distant from me and from my culture….”
 
“What are you saying? You speak English better than me!!”

I went away thinking that in Germany a barman speaks 6 languages, whereas in Italy you are cool if your English level is a low-intermediate.
The problem is that Italian companies demand their applicants speak English very well, if they strive for good positions (and even not), but few applicants is able to guarantee this. Is this the reason why there is the crisis? Is it due to insufficient knowledge of foreign languages?
The Italians, how strange are they.

And then, I had to go to my business meeting, the morning after.  So I took a taxi.
The Germans, how strange are they. So tidy, so respectful of the rules, but in their highways they have no speed limits, they drive in a foolish and wild way.
I’m still alive, fortunately.

At the end of the meeting I took a taxi again, sharing it with two colleagues who belong to other companies. All we talked to the driver in English, of course, because none of us spoke German. As long as we discovered that the cabby was 100% Italian. He was an immigrant. Who, obviously, spoke both German and English, of course. Wonderful!

Taxi drivers are often immigrants, abroad. In Belgium, UK and Germany, at least. And they speak at least 3 languages. In Italy, if they aren’t immigrants, they speak just their dialect. But, in fact, I hardly ever take a taxi in Italy.

And finally I arrived at the airport again. I immediately went to the toilet to put on my gym shoes instead of my elegant ones. What a sensation of freedom!
It was a very hot day and my feet hurt. I refreshed my face.
Close to me, a Muslim girl was doing the same. She was pouring her face, her arms, her hair. She smiled. At the end, she wore her black burqa again, you could have seen just her eyes, and she went out, silently.

 

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Un errore di gioventù

Un errore di gioventù
Futura è incinta per la seconda volta e a Patrick sembra che il loro mondo sia perfetto, ma una notizia dal passato potrebbe scombinare tutto. Patrick infatti viene contattato da una sua ex, Arlene, che gli confessa di avere una figlia quasi adolescente, che potrebbe essere sua. Lui però non ha il coraggio di rivelarlo alla moglie.

L'occasione di una vita

L'occasione di una vita
Tre donne, tre occasioni per cambiare la propria vita. A Londra Futura rimane inaspettatamente incinta, ma Patrick inizialmente non è disposto ad accettare l'idea di diventare padre. Tra i due conviventi scende a lungo il gelo, finché il ragazzo, intenerito dall'ecografia del piccolo, decide di rivedere le proprie posizioni. Non fa in tempo però a manifestare le sue intenzioni che Futura perde il bambino e in conseguenza di ciò decide di allontanarsi, non essendosi sentita sufficientemente amata e capita durante la pur breve gestazione. A Torino Massimo e Ljuda, sposati e con due bambini, si dividono tra lavori part-time e la gestione della Casa di Accoglienza, struttura che si occupa di ospitare donne vittime di violenza che tentano di rimettere insiemi i cocci della loro vita. Ljuda però non è felice, le pesa la perenne carenza di soldi e decide, senza il benestare del marito, di partecipare al Reality più famoso d'Italia, dove è stata scritturata come concorrente, per dare una svolta alla sua esistenza.

Perché ne sono innamorata

Perché ne sono innamorata
Quanti modi ci sono per innamorarsi? E quanti per esprimere l’amore? Come inizia una storia duratura? La sognatrice Manuela, l’introversa e concreta Futura, la tenace Ljuda e la rassegnata Martina sono alle prese, rispettivamente, ma non sempre biunivocamente, con un promesso sposo altrui e inaffidabile, un ragazzo affascinante ma affetto da una patologia genetica, un seminarista e un fidanzato arrogante e violento. Impareranno, a loro spese, a discernere le relazioni sane da quelle malate.

Lettori fissi

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La mia foto
Sono nata a Torino nel 1975 dove ancora risiedo e lavoro. Ho pubblicato qualche romanzo e ogni tanto condivido sul blog i miei pensieri.