Monday, May 28, 2012

The translator job

What a day, last Thursday! The headmistress of one of the schools where I'm teaching asked if I could do an extra day's work. The school would receive an important visit from Denmark and they needed someone to translate. Since my Danish is a bit rusty, English would do nicely as well. And so I jumped on my Vespa for what I thought would be a visit from Danish children. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it weren't as much children, but an important delegation of adults. Headmasters, inspectors and even people working for the Danish ministry of education! And there I was in my best... t-shirt. One person from the Danish delegation did in fact speak very good Italian so I began to seriously wonder what the heck I was doing there. But after the introduction the party was split in two and I was to accompany the second group. 

The Danes visited the nursery, the infant school, the primary and the (lower) secondary school. And all the time I had to translate. Easier said than done. Doing a live translation between two languages neither of which actually is your mothertongue is a bit of a challenge, even for a "normal" person. Imagine what it must be like for an autistic person like me, who doesn't understand words in the first place! 

At this point I'd like to explain that being autistic also means that I'm completely unable to follow a normal conversation because not all of the words get through to me. In my head I have to puzzle the words that I do pick up back together into something that makes sense, more or less. Can you imagine how I was falling apart? I had to hold on to every word with my fingernails, hoping that it would not vanish into the bottomless well in my head before the sentence would be finished. Fortunately, I intervened just in time and already started translating after only a few words, thus forcing the person talking to split the explanation into little bits which I could just about manage. It worked and in the end I got lots of compliments for my work, even from the Danes who said that my English translation went very fast and was easily understandable to them. It was the best compliment anyone could give me that day because I felt absolutely exhausted.

When I got home, I almost collapsed and didn't say much anymore for the rest of the evening. My head was spinning and felt like hundreds of needles were penetrating my skull. No, doing a live translation must be one of the worst jobs anyone could ask of me. Even though I did like doing it very much and it was a wonderful day as a whole. But once again I had to face the limits of what my condition allows me to do. I had to think back to the days when I was still working in Belgium and had to go to all of these important meetings. I have to admit that I was lucky enough to have the most amazing colleague you could ever imagine and he usually helped me through the ordeal. Not that he probably noticed how much I was using him. Although I don't like the word "use" very much in this case because it sounds so pejorative. I respect that person so much that I don't want to sound too rude - I was only trying to survive... Anyway, it's one of these tricks I learnt myself over the years in order to hide my autism to the rest of the world. I pretend that I've totally understood what was said, even though I didn't understand a peep of it. But then I take the initiative, before anyone can beat me to it, and ask some open questions about the meeting. Something like: "That was quite unbelievable what he said, wasn't it?" Inciting the other person to comment and then I obviously agree for the full 100%. Even more, from the person's response I can more or less guess what was being said during the meeting. Yes, you could almost consider that I was completely asleep during the meeting itself. But mind you, I was wide awake all the time and desperatly trying to make some sense of the discussion!

Of course, it didn't always go like this. When I'm very familiar with a subject and/or have a strong opinion about it, I'll be the most eloquent person in the meeting room and defend my point of view with the utmost vigour. It's so strange... Sometimes I wish I could just unscrew my head for a couple of days... or years... 

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Taking Lisa for a walk

Having a dog is also having a lot of responsibility. Especially in Lisa's case where a shipload of traumas came with the dog as a free bonus package. It's a package we want to throw in the bin as soon as possible so we immediately took her on long walks, at least once a day but generally two to three times daily. And how happy she is since. In the beginning she couldn't contain herself and she pulled us all the way round as if she were a sleigh dog wanting to win the race. She can go on for hours if she has to, pulling with all of her might up and down the hills, meadows and foot trails. But this week we had enough faith in her to let her off the leash. In the beginning she was still a bit wild and disappeared in the woods up to the point that we were getting quite anxious. But now she's calmed down a lot and although she still likes to run after a roe deer or investigating a strange scent she picked up in the fields, she always comes back when we call her and always remains in the vicinity. Even more so. It's hard to believe this but it's true... When Christine takes Lisa for a walk on her own, Lisa stays remarkably close to Christine and almost never lets her eyes off her. Could it be that Lisa instictively feels that Christine is suffering from chronic fatigue and that she's worried about her? She's oh soooo sweet...

A few days ago I took Lisa out on a three-hour hike all around the Monte Carù, the hill against which our house is situated. Unfortunately the sky was veiled and near the end it started to drizzle, but the temperature was mild - about 18°C - so the perfect weather for a stiff walk. The nightingales were again singing until they'd burst, the air was full with the sweet scent of wild thyme and honeysuckle and going down the trail behind our house I could already hear the gentle rustling of the Secchia river. Time for a last glance at the Bismantova rock before diving into the woods...


Lisa was completely overjoyed. She ran and leapt and took in the whole of stunning nature with all of her senses. Dogs are all natural born runners, well the Pekingese probably a bit less so :-), and the wolf-hound with its amazing lung capacity is certainly excelling at this. Lisa could run about for days and never shows the slightest bit of fatigue. This is what she was born for... to run freely as the queen of these woods and fields.


The woods were getting thicker and the trail meandered downhill, towards the Secchia. Just look at her, how happy she is and how well she responded to my call...


Finally we arrived in the Secchia valley. The Gessi Triassici ("Triassic Rocks") you can see on the next picture are not just a wonderful sight as such, they also have a big paleontological value, just like the cliffs of South-England for example. Naturally these rocks form an integral part of the Tuscan-Emilian National Park.


Again a snapshot of the Gessi Triassici with the beautifully flowered meadows and lowlands leading towards the river...


Having a quick rest, enjoying this earthly paradise...


We continued our hike through the valley, with the Monte Carù on our right...


Then, I stumbled upon this sign. At first I didn't understand it quite well and I guessed that "geome" must mean something like "gnome". So... "Madonna of the gnomes" and "TR1" would be a track or distance number or something. 


This was actually confirmed by what I found in the woods. A tiny chapel with tiny benches in front of it, as if they were truly made for gnomes...


But when I returned home and looked "geome" up in the dictionary, I couldn"t find it. Not even when I Googled it. And then I sussed it. It's not "geome" but "geometri", in one word even though there was a big space in between. "Geometri" means "geometers"... the Madonna of the geometers??? Hmmm... Next time I'll return with a torch and burn that place down! hehehe... ;-) 

On we went, through dried up sidearms of the Secchia river and next to the bends of the river itself. Nowadays this river's quite calm, but imagine what a torrent it can be just after the mountain snow begins to melt! On this picture you can see some treelogs on the island of rubble behind the main river. A bit further down the whole riverbed is even covered in old treelogs!

Lisa playing with the ripples and barking at the noise the river makes. This was probably the first time she actually saw a river...


And then she couldn't contain herself any longer... :-)


It was only a quick dip but she really loved it! One more picture taken in the direction where we came from, with Monte Carù to the left and the Monte Ventasso in the distance. There is a very nice ski resort at Monte Ventasso, by the way...


On the muddy trail we found fresh evidence of the biggest animal living in these woods: the noble deer! Unfortunately no antlers though; it's too late in the year to look for these anyway, unless you're incredibly lucky...


Fresh, young trees planted where old ones had been chopped down. I was glad to see that forest preservation's been carefully planned and executed. Also nice colours in this picture, don't you think?


Eventually we had to turn right, around the corner of Monte Carù and start a steep climb upwards. At the foot we crossed a small field in the middle of the woods, completely full of wild orchids! Literally hundreds of them! From now on I'll call this place Orchid Field... :-)


Up... and up... and up... along the signposted track. This is the "S.SP" or "Sentiero Spallanzani", one of the three most important hiking trails in the Emilian Apennines, next to the "Sentiero Matilde" (dedicated to countess Matilde of Canossa and her many castles in the area) and the "Sentiero Ducale" (dedicated to the dukes of Parma and their former properties here). Well... either I'm getting old or the people who designed the "S.SP" are a bunch of ruthless sadists! My god! The climb is incredibly steep and doesn't seem to end at all! I had to stop every two minutes or so to catch my breath! And all this time Lisa was hopping about like if the climb didn't bother her in the least. I suppose she could climb the Everest without ever getting tired. :-) Afterwards, when I came to think of it, the trail made a height difference of 250m on that particular portion. This is like almost climbing all the way up the Eiffel tower in one single stretch! Oh... how glad I was to see the sign on the next picture! It meant that I had reached the orchid track (see previous blog post) and that my sufferings were over...


View from the orchid track with the weather deteriorating. So it's not the most spectacular picture I've already taken from this spot, but it was during this particular walk so I chose this one. You can see the distance I climbed, the Sologno valley with the Sologno torrent which ends up in the Secchia a bit further, and the village of Sologno resting on the crest of the hill behind. In the far distance Monte Cusna is about to be covered by the clouds. 


Back along the orchid track. Down I found this wonderful refrigerator flower! Incredible, isn't it? Imagine the effort someone must have gone through in order to drag this fridge, kitchen sink and hot water boiler (not on the picture) all the way up here, 2 miles in the woods, in order to dump them! I'm sorry, Amnesty International, but you lot can go to hell. I think that for such bastards public flogging should be reintroduced! :-( (my apologies that the picture isn't 100% sharp but it was getting pretty dark at the time...) 


And look at this! Evidence of another incredible but shy creature that lives in these woods: the big porcupine! Actually, when Christine returned home recently, late in the evening, she actually saw two male porcupines showing off in the middle of the road, with their spined backs towards the other trying to make the best impression! I can testify that these spines are incredibly sharp because I was stupid enough to put them in one of my trouser pockets. No... It's not what you think, you perverts... :-D When I wanted to take them out one of them stung my fingertip and it went in like a knife through soft butter...  


Almost home. Our house is about half a mile further, behind the hill with the trees on the far right. 


And so ended our little adventure. Lisa and I were both incredibly happy and you can count on it that we'll do this walk many times again in the future. Perhaps Christine and I can have a picknick by the Secchia while Lisa lets go of her excess of energy? Altough I'd want to bet she'd be much more interested in the picknick as well... :-D

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Realm of the Orchids

It's May... Springtime... The sky is clear and the nightingales are singing. But today I'd like to talk about something else which makes these Emilian mountains so unbelievably special: the wild orchids! 

I'd already heard that these incredible flowers bloom in this area. However, I wasn't prepared for the fact that in this particular case reality surpassed my wildest imagination by a mile. Those of you who know me can testify that my imagination can be quite vivid at times, to say the least. And therefore my statement is rather bold. But certainly not exaggerated.

This week we had a lovely English couple spending a part of their holiday at our B&B. They were both hiking and plant lovers and so I took Lisa for a walk along a path I hadn't taken before but which seemed quite interesting on the map. It was a sort of "test run" before I could advise it to our guests. What I saw along that path was absolutely stunning! Mind you, this is a trail right next to our house! 

I won't say anymore... the pictures speak for themselves. In total Christine and I counted already a full dozen of wild orchid species on this particular walk alone, so most probably there must still be a lot more of them. You can also imagine how our guests must have felt... :-) 

Enjoy... and if you'd like to see these with your own eyes, you still have until about half-June to plan a visit with a free guided tour included! :-)












Thursday, May 3, 2012

Lisa's come home

Last week we finally received the lovely dog house we ordered along with all the other stuff we needed for our Lisa and so it was time to go and get her. She was lying there as always, meaning chained up to the stable wall. But when she saw us she imediately wagged her fluffy creamy-white tail as a sign of excitement and joy. Christine and I were not alone though. Cunning little Tobi had followed us through the fields all the way down to the village and there was no way we could send him back. Well, that would be his problem. Whether he'd still be so thrilled after he saw Lisa coming back with us... And indeed. His back immediately arched and he put his tail up like a big, hairy antenna. No... He definitely hadn't counted on that big monster and chose to hide in the bushes. He didn't run off at all though... 

Eventually we all arrived back home safe and sound and to Lisa this must have been one of the happiest moments of her life. They say that dogs understand when you saved them from a horrible fate and I indeed believe that this is true, judging by her reaction. Yes, also we keep her tied up for the moment because we're still too afraid that she might run off, which she already tried once. But the difference is that we've bought a rotating hook which we screwed somewhere in the middle of our field to which she is tied with a 10m leash. This means that she's got a circle with a 20m diameter in which she can run about freely. She hasn't got the tendency to run wildly into oblivion and therefore hardly had any drastic encounters with the limits of the leash. Now she perfectly knows how far she can go so we believe that this is a far better (temporary) solution than putting her in a cage. Just look at her... how beautiful and happy she looks after we gave her a good bath and brushing...



Having a dog house is one thing. Another is protection against the elements. Christine and I spent the last couple of days building her a shelter which is closed on two sides and therefore also prevents driving rain or wind from entering her little house. She's so happy with it and most of the time, when she's not running around or playing, she'll rest under her new roof. 


Another wonderful picture of Lisa, discovering her new environment...


Running around, wagging her fluffy tail...


Enjoying the view...


And what about our cats, you might wonder? Obviously, they're very curious and can't keep their eyes off Lisa, but all keep a safe distance. Blu's already tried to come a bit closer, even into Lisa's territory. But especially Tobi is unstoppable. We already knew that he's completely bananas, but that he'd be that brave... You won't believe this, but it's true: Tobi chased Lisa away! Yes, you read it correctly. A 4kg, 10-month old kitten charged at a 20kg wolf-hound and Lisa ran off, just to be on the safe side. Because it's clear that Tobi is a cat to be reckoned with! :-) 


But all in all, Lisa just wants to play and we're pretty certain that one day our cats will become close friends with her. Tobi already crawled into Lisa's house, so it won't take long as far as he's concerned... :-)

I'm sorry, but I have to end with a bit of sad news. We were already afraid of this, and indeed our fear turned out to be justified. Down at the stable where Lisa used to be chained up, there's another dog now. A black sort of street dog with a white mark on its chest. We can't bare to think what'll happen with it when it also turns out to be a poor sheep herder... :-(