Ciao! We’re In Africa

“Again,” says Eugenio with a military-like tone in his voice. I repeat the sentence in English. There’s a chicken dish in front of me that I’ve prepared for lunch with a salad on the side. I’m using food items for my Italian-English translations.

“And what is this?” Eugenio holds up some silver cutlery.

“A knife,” I exclaim proudly. “But, don’t ask me to spell it because the English spelling is matto—crazy!”

It’s been over a month since we officially moved to Salisbury. At first, we lived in a hotel for a few weeks as we tried to find an appropriate ‘home’. And now that we are somewhat settled, I am enjoying this domesticity and being on our own. We’re sitting in our tiny rental on the third floor of Georgette Flats, a building in Union Avenue in the city centre. It has a kitchenette, bathroom, and a combined lounge/bedroom. It’s tiny, but what do we care? It’s newly built. It is clean, convenient, and has views across Salisbury, facing eastwards. From here, we can walk into the city centre within ten minutes. We haven’t hired an African maid. In such a small place, it is easy to keep house. And at any rate, we need to save as much of our finances as possible to set up the business.

“Well, the spelling is not so important, but it’s good to write it down sooner or later, as it’ll help you, and you’ll be dealing with the customers as soon as we open the business premises.”