Sonal the Sloth...

April, 2006

(I'm too lazy to get my journal to remember the exact date, and I remember the day so that can be enough)

This is just a few weeks (days?) after I left home, all those moons ago. I met a gorgeous American girl named Sonal, who was a guest at the agritourismo where I was working, and she and I had somewhat bonded.

You find us in a tiny villiage called Pescosolido, which lies on a hill just above the larger and less pretty Sora, in the South of the Abruzzo National Park, Italy. I started my trip by working here in exchange for free room and board; few weeks of Italy and quiet and language, after the hectic party of a Summer I'd just survived in Melbourne.

This day I was keen for a walk, typically enough. Sonal asked if she could join. Sonal, as it turns out, is known affectionately as 'Sonal the Sloth' by her friends; a small snail could easily overtake her when she's running at full throttle.

Once the predictable frustration wore off (I'm used to a good 7kms a day at real-life human full throttle!), it was a lovely wander down from the farm into Sora. Here I drank too many irresistable, sensational coffees in Sonal's favourite cafe, and then I imagine we probably checked emails or did something similarly unexciting.

The weather in Italy in the mountains is always unpredictable, and as we came to start our hour-long walk (shuffle!) home, the heavens opened. To distract ourselves Sonal started quizzing me over and over and over and OVER on the full conjugations of the Italian verbs essere (to be) and avere (to have)...

Blissfully, we were saved by a passing local who recognised us; Jessica had been teaching Sonal Italian at the agritourismo... She and her sweet friends gave us a lift the last lil way home, and that's her on the left in the pic (Sonal on my right).

In all my days of attempted Italian language since I have never forgotten this afternoon and this lovely woman's smiling voice as she relentlessly drilled these essential verbs into my linguistically limited skull.