Dreaming of Speaking

Typical view of the table after a dinner party

So this weekend we also had a rather large party at our house, partly as another birthday celebration as well as a sort of "we're baaaaaaack" get-together so I could see many more friends and aquaintences (though in all honesty, we really don't need any excuse to throw a party around here!).  I also met some awesome new friends that Francesco has welcomed into his fold, and I can't wait to get to know them all better!  But while at this party, I suddenly found myself holding REAL conversations with people!  And some of these conversations were actually in ITALIAN!  Well, obviously we weren't delving into politics or metaphysics, but I was able to truly converse without needing a translator.  Jokingly I always say that my Italian speaking abilities improve substantially after several glasses of spumante, but I really don't think this was the case the other night.  My aural comprehension seems to have picked up where it last left off when I was here in October for 10 days.  And although I haven't been studying my Rosetta Stone in the last few months, I seem to just have soaked in a little more understanding of verbs and phrases that are important in daily use.  Maybe I've finally been able to shake off most of my embarrassment for not forming a sentence correctly?  Maybe in the week we've been here, I've conciously made an effort to be responding more in Italian instead of just listening?  Maybe after all the months of loneliness in Alaska inspired me to be more socially open?  Who knows what equasion needed to be sorted out, but at our party, I felt totally at ease walking around, attempting to talk to new people and not feeling one bit of bashfullness when someone else had to help me finish what I was trying to say!  What I found so wonderful were the people who encouraged me to keep going on with my comments in Italian instead of instantly trying to switch back to English.  I've been thinking about this so much, that last night I actually had my first dream in Italian!  People were speaking to me, I was understanding, and then I was translating in my head what I needed to say in Italian...it actually was really fascinating to remember such a dream.

Ava's practicing the all-important hand gestures in Italian!

I know without a doubt that it helps having Ava around because I can try to teach her words in Italian, and it just cements the words deeper in my own brain.  This week she is starting school, so I've been trying to help her with some simple phrases in case she really needs to communicate if something is wrong (ho freddo! il bagno?).  Not many of the teachers or other children in her class will speak much English, if any, and with her being such a vocal little girl, I hope she will adjust quickly without getting frustrated!  When I've been letting her watch a little TV the past few days, most of the time we have the option to watch in either language, and thankfully she's been asking to watch in Italian so she can learn more!  Several times I've asked her a question to which she has responded "Sì!" and I can't help but feel confident that she'll learn faster than I will, and soon she'll be dreaming in Italian too!