Last Wednesday, I started taking a level 1 Italian class. It meets Wednesday evenings through mid-April. I’m super excited about it.
My dad always said I could be a professional student for a living if I could earn money that way. Bachelors degree from Furman. Master’s and PhD from Virginia Tech. I took a photography class at a community college in Madison. And now I’m taking Italian at Wake Tech.
Last Wednesday we learned basic concepts: the alphabet, days of the week, numbers, months, how to write the date, how to write currency, and some introductory pronunciation.
So, now I’m going to share some fun facts I learned in class. (This may become a weekly post–we will see.)
Did you know that there are 11 articles in Italian compared to only 3 in English?
Italian is the “language of the common people”, and Dante is the father of the Italian language.
There used to only be 10 months in the calendar. Then they added “Luglio” July (named after Julius Caesar) and “Agosto” August (named after Emperor Augustus).
There is no plural form of the l’Euro.
The Italian alphabet does not contain the letters “K”, “J”, “Y”, “W”, or “X”.
The letters “C”, “G”, and “Q” are pronounced differently depending on their surrounding letters.
A double consonant = a longer sound.
And I know I’m going to have a hard time at first with pronouncing the letter “C”. Look:
– ca (pronounced like “ka”)
– co (pronounced like “ko”)
– cu (pronounced like “ku”)
– ce (pronounced like in the word “chest”)
– ci (pronounced like in the word “chin”)
– che (pronounced like in the word “chemistry”)
– chi (pronounced like in the word “key”)
Can you see how that can be confusing? Yeah…well, I made my vocabulary cards for this week. I’m such a dork like that. There were some people not even taking notes in class!! What?? How are you going to remember all this stuff?
On another note, on A’s surprise visit to Raleigh Super Bowl weekend, we went to the Durham Life and Science Museum. We had a lot of fun. The museum is huge! There were so many fun exhibits! The butterfly conservancy was really neat, and we had fun taking the train around outside. It definitely made for a fun date day, and I highly recommend it if you’re in the area!
Running Fun Fact: Did you know that one mile of running burns more calories than one mile of run-walking? You’ll burn 5-15 fewer calories run-walking; however, walk breaks allow runners to go farther each day without as much fatigue which often results in a greater number of calories burned throughout the week.
1 year ago: 14 Training Tips for 2014 (Recipe: Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies)
Quote of the Day:
“We all know that if you run, you are pretty much choosing a life of success because of it.” -Deena Kastor
Over Super Bowl weekend, Anthony made us these Fluffy Pancakes for breakfast one morning. His mom warned us that they were good but sweet. She hit the nail on the head! The pancakes had an amazing consistency but were much sweeter than what we had anticipated!
Fluffy Pancakes
Ingredients
– 3/4 cup milk
– 2 tablespoons white vinegar
– 1 cup AP flour
– 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1 egg
– 2 tablespoons butter, melted
– cooking spray
Directions
- Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to “sour”.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into “soured” milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.
Courtesy of AllRecipes.com
Oven Lovin' Runnin' 