This week wasn't that much different from any of the other weeks and I like that. Continuity and repetition cause relaxation and adjustment, and that is exactly what I need right now. I would, however, like to get back to something people have apparently misunderstood about my last post. When I said I have been thinking a lot about how to maintain my friendships with people in Holland, some people have interpreted this as if I said that I was lonely and felt like I was losing people. This is by no means the case. Thank you for your concerns, but that is not what I meant. It just means that I am trying to figure out what is the best way to keep up friendships with people in different countries, a thought strain that is still developing and probably will for some time. I might not like the conclusion I'm going to reach, because I fear that there are some people I am going to lose. I suppose this is inevitable, because there are people who will not be up for the challenge of maintaining a friendship with someone far away even though I am willing to. Vice versa, there will probably be people who are making the effort, but who I just don't make the time for. I wouldn't be the first person to lose friends because I moved far away and I certainly won't be the last. No matter how much effort I put into it, I will never be able to 'keep' everyone. This is even more the case, because I'm spending a lot of time on meeting new people here and trying to get to know the people I have met - let alone my jobs! This is what makes me a bit sad, but it is a logical consequence of my leaving Holland. I don't regret that choice but I might regret some of the consequences resulting from that choice.
Of course, it was Olaf's birthday last Tuesday, although we didn't celebrate it that extensively as he is not very keen on celebrating his birthday on his birthday. We're going away to Florence for a weekend in a couple of weeks, which is a lot more to his liking. He did bake a lovely apple pie for his study mates. I had my first Italian lesson on Wednesday and it was great. We didn't really do much except discuss our initial test results. It turns out I've got a quite high level (Upper Intermediate, which is equal to level my most advanced students of English have got). This means I'm going to have individual lessons, as none of my colleagues scored as high. Well, we'll see what happens next week. Yesterday evening, we were invited by Belinda and Enrico for a dinner party. It was a lovely evening with far too much food, booze and appropriate and inappropriate conversations (more inappropriate as the evening progressed). Belinda's friend Simona was also there and she and Olaf really hit it off talking about their experiences traveling in Africa and Australia. Obviously, Belinda and I had loads of fun talking about our work, moving to Italy, living together in smaller spaces than we'd been used to (because housing is so expensive in this country) and, of course, every possible subject that's unsuited to be repeated by any sane person with a sense of dignity. This is one of the things I treasure about her, our ability to talk about every subject imaginable, whether it is serious, funny, stupid, extremely important or simply irresistibly bad and embarrassing!
We had already decided that we'd go on a day trip today and we did. We had planned to go to Monza, but as one of Monza's big attractions is a park, we thought it best to postpone that trip until spring when the plants and trees will be in bloom. Instead we went to the Certosa di Pavia, a late fourteenth/early fifteenth century Carthusian monastery only half an hour away by train. This monastery was built by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the duke of Milan, as a private chapel but later given to the Carthusians who made it into a flourishing monastery and embellished the building to its current impressive state. We had been been to Pavia before on a day trip but didn't have a chance to visit this famous sight that day. As we were both tired and not up for a full day away, the Certosa was the perfect solution as it didn't take long to see the complete complex. It was worth the trip, although a large part of the facade was hidden because of renovation activities. Still, we were able to take some nice pictures:
The Certosa di Pavia in the fog
The facade, unfortunately we couldn't see half of it
A better look at the visible part
The outside facade wall was covered with incredibly detailed reliefs which have obviously suffered from the passage of time
The altar in the sacristy and the frescoes behind it are extremely beautiful. I don't know if it's very clear but in the picture of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist on the left, Jesus is actually shivering because of the cold water, a very touching human emotion not often encountered in religious art.
On the train and while waiting for the Certosa to open after lunch break, I spent my time wisely reading Erik's bachelor thesis. He was kind enough to send to me after I expressed some interest in what he was doing, because his stories reminded me of my own master thesis. His thesis is about the Christian interpretation of Virgil's 4th Eclogue and how this has influenced the later Greek translation of this work. I had been wanting to read it for some time, but hadn't had the chance yet. I hope he is not too offended by my comments and will find my questions useful and/or at least interesting. We've just returned home and will spend probably spend this evening watching a movie. Oh, and we're eating Mexican food tonight, yummie!!!
Ciao, Fe
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