Log #2

P 44~95

    In my last reading log is mainly about why Liz made the divorce decision and her inner struggle. After that, Liz set off to Italy, and she describes the entire thing she experience. Since I always bring this novel everywhere, I have met two people who said that she had read this novel. Nevertheless, their opinions are all negative. One said that Liz is too self-centered. Another one said that there are too much unfamiliar words in this book. Whereas, I am not disappointment about this part. I have been to Italy many times. I have my own experiences, so I wonder the author – a western woman’s thought; what’s her experience and what does she think about Italy.

    Firstly, she talks about the depression that she goes through. Some people might feel it’s a kind of unnecessary sentiment or making a fuss. However, I don’t think so. She just divorced. I don’t think we should discriminate those who admit they have some metal issue. We have sun and moon in the world. Therefore, it shows brightness and darkness are all natural things in the world, dark won’t be forever. We should try to sympathize and bright up the people in the the dark corner.

    Furthermore, Liz told that she wants to learn Italian; she thinks that is the most beautiful language in the world. Actually, I bought an Italian-Chinese dictionary many years ago in Italy. That also has been a wish for me. The reason why I wanted to learn Italian is that I loved to travel Italy a lot before, so I hoped to understand Italian better to become a good traveler. Liz has a typical western face, so most people she met in Italy all consider she can speak Italian. However, that;s not true. In order to be good at speaking Italia,she uses the way that exchange language with other people. They teach each other idioms in English and Italian. She also introduces some difference between Italian and English. In the same time, she also made some good friends during the learning process.

    

    Plus, several features are introduced in this section. For example, she introduces food and soccer in Italy. I didn’t study the food culture in Italy so I didn’t understand it much when I was young. From my experience, I saw the yellow lemon everywhere in Italy. I was crazy about that. I love everything with lemon. For example, seafood with lemon juice will be more fresh and delicious. Liz introduces a special dish: intestines of a newborn lamb. I can imagine the taste of dish because I have tasted some dishes in Italy. I like them because I feel that it’s more similar to oriental style food and home cooking. Reading this chapter makes me hungry. Besides, she also talks about the soccer game in Italy. I am not a sport fan, so I don’t know the performance of Italian in world cup football match. From her observation, I think watching the soccer game in Italy must be very exciting.

    

    In conclusion.I am not disappointed about Liz’s Italian journey. I see different things through Liz’ eyes. I learned some Italian and her language learning experience. I also see her interaction with Italian people and know more about their thinking and that increase my knowledge or common sense in the same time.