All Things Foreign

I absolutely love to listen to the Gaelic language. I can sing along in Gaelic but haven't a clue what I am singing. Love to sit in a local cafe or walk around a local shop in the Hebrides listening to the people speaking. One wonderful thing though is how polite the local people are.

I was in our 'local' shop and two ladies were having a conversation in Gaelic. They knew that I was a visitor and didn't speak the language so immediately changed to English, so as not to appear rude although they were not speaking to me.

Another time I was in the shop and a particular older lady came in. She nodded to me an smiled but not a word. When she had left the woman behind the counter said 'Please forgive her, she is not rude but she does not speak the English very much and did not want to offend you by speaking it wrongly'

We took a couple of friends round Italy some years ago. We did all the things we usually do, markets, coffee from vans that only sell espresso, lunch from a roadside van selling fried "stuff" and so on. Later they thanked us for showing them a side of Italy they would never have seen otherwise - but we weren't sure it was meant as a compliment

Languages - French and Gaelic. A bit of Italian and Spanish. I lived in Southern Provence for 10 years and although I speak fluent French, I had to learn provençal as this was the language my neighbours spoke.

Cuisine - French, Scottish, North African, Italian and Greek although I have never been to Greece so not sure whether I am sampling traditional food when I eat in Greek restaurants.

Languages are fluent Spanish after living there for years and living with Spanish neighbours,also I can understand a small amount of German/Dutch as during the winter months Germen and Dutch drove Spain for the winter months and where constant customers at our restaurant.
Food I love Romanian food specially the spicy meats wrapped in cabbage leaves and their fantastic soups.