Welcome to Ciao Chau, a new blog about everything that Kate and I do as we continue to explore this beautiful world.
Ciao - the familiar greeting in Italian, both meaning hello and goodbye. Italian was my first foreign language learned. When I learned Spanish, I quickly picked up that they also used the word ciao. However, I was bewildered when I first saw this word in writing. In Spanish the word is written C - H - A - U. What!?! After five years of familiarity with one spelling, where I just thought the Spanish language borrowed a very handy term, it just looked wrong. Moreover, during my first days in Paraguay I continued to use the term for both hello and goodbye. Wrong. In Spanish, it is only used for goodbye. Oops. No wonder all those Paraguayans gave me a strange look when I approached them with my friendly, "Ciao!" I quickly became used to the Spanish chau.
Now we are heading back to Europe. Sofia, Bulgaria will be our home for at least the next two years. Rumor has it that the Bulgarians are fond of the term ciao. I will try to learn the word in Bulgarian - Довиждане (the English pronunciation is dovízhdane), but can guarantee nothing.
We are excited, no doubt. We hope you join us by following along with this blog. We will try to write and post pictures weekly. Feel free to put your comments on anything you see here.
Ciao, Chau
Branch
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