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Kathy Interview
Kathy answers some questions about growing up in southern Italy.
How did you come to be living in Italy?
My Dad was born in Italy and spent the first 18 years of his life there. When he was close to retirement he fulfilled his dream of living in Italy again by taking his family back there for six years.
How old were you when you arrived in Italy?
I left New Zealand on my 8th birthday and arrived in Italy five weeks later on the Castel Felice, in the days when you could travel from one side of the world to the other by ship.
What was it like going to an Italian school on your first day?
I was dressed in my uniform which consisted of a white apron (worn over your clothes) with a big bow tied at the neck. Every teacher had her own bow colour and the students in her class wore that colour bow for all the time they were at primary school. We had the same teacher every year. My teacher’s colour was blue. I always wished I was in my friend’s class; their bows were red, white and green stripes!
It was scary going to school on my first day but I remember how excited the other children were to meet me – they certainly didn’t treat me like an alien. It was the opposite, I was the most popular girl in the class and they all wanted to sit with me!
Did you know any Italian when you went to Italy?
No I didn’t. My mum and I had some formal Italian lessons with a neighbour, but I learned Italian fastest by playing with the two children next door. By the time I started school a few months after we arrived I was fairly confident.
What was your most memorable event in your time in Italy?
I have so many memories of growing up in Italy. I don’t think one event stands out, but here is a collage …. Soon after I started school it was my ‘Onomastico’ (St Catherine’s Day – in Italy you celebrate your birthday and the Feast Day of your Saint namesake). When I arrived at school, my desk was covered in little presents – pencils, rubbers, sweets. I didn’t know what an Onomastico was but was very happy to celebrate it, even more so when I discovered there were two St Catherine’s Days, one on the 29th of April and the other on the 25th of November)….Starting high school (Prima Media) at age 11 and finding that the school building was an old hospital. Our classroom was the mortuary! It had a very low ceiling which was fine for children but the teacher had to bend over until she reached her desk and could sit down. Going with a friend and her mother to visit someone they knew, and finding when I got there that the person was actually dead and we were going to sit around her deathbed and join in the wailing. Standing in the stairwell because I wasn’t too keen on being in the room and being pinned to the wall by the men lugging the coffin up the narrow staircase….going on a school trip to Rome by bus and smoking my first cigarette with my maths teacher who must have been in his 50s and whose teeth were entirely black. He was highly amused to see me smoking. I decided I didn’t want my teeth to look like his in 50 years. Coming home from that trip and passing an accident on the autostrada between a car and a hearse. The coffin had fallen out onto the road and had opened … enough about that but it was certainly memorable. Every meal in Italy is a memorable event, as is the sun, the sea, and the dolce vita. I didn’t want to leave.
Where did you live?
Castellammare di Stabia is in the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. It is not far from Pompeii and the ancient Roman town of Stabiae which was also destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. These ruins are still being excavated!
Was it safe living in Southern Italy?
I never felt scared living there as a child and as children we always played in the street. As to whether it actually was safe … I do know that soon after we left the owner of the white ware shop at the end of our street was assassinated by the Mafia in his shop in broad daylight, so I guess he wasn’t very safe …
What did you miss most when you left?
Everything!
Why did you start the Dream of Italy business?
I wasn’t able to go back to Italy for a long time. I met Alan not long after I left Italy [editor - so HE ruined everything!] and we married and had a family. In 2007 we were finally able to all go to Europe. I hadn’t been back for 26 years. It was an amazing time for me reconnecting with old friends and places and to my great joy Alan and the children fell in love with Italy as well. Our kids have all been back several times (one of them stayed for two years and is fluent in Italian). Alan and I put our heads together to figure out how we could have a business which would support lots of trips! And here we are.
How did the time in Italy shape you as a person?
It’s difficult to know what sort of person I would be if I hadn’t grown up in Italy. I have some very definite ideas about what constitutes good food (not a fan of pineapple and tinned spaghetti on pizza). I’m extremely grateful that I am fluent in two languages and that I’ve experienced life in two very different cultures – this is a gift I wish everyone could give their children.
How did you come to be living in Italy?
My Dad was born in Italy and spent the first 18 years of his life there. When he was close to retirement he fulfilled his dream of living in Italy again by taking his family back there for six years.
How old were you when you arrived in Italy?
I left New Zealand on my 8th birthday and arrived in Italy five weeks later on the Castel Felice, in the days when you could travel from one side of the world to the other by ship.
What was it like going to an Italian school on your first day?I was dressed in my uniform which consisted of a white apron (worn over your clothes) with a big bow tied at the neck. Every teacher had her own bow colour and the students in her class wore that colour bow for all the time they were at primary school. We had the same teacher every year. My teacher’s colour was blue. I always wished I was in my friend’s class; their bows were red, white and green stripes!
It was scary going to school on my first day but I remember how excited the other children were to meet me – they certainly didn’t treat me like an alien. It was the opposite, I was the most popular girl in the class and they all wanted to sit with me!
Did you know any Italian when you went to Italy?
No I didn’t. My mum and I had some formal Italian lessons with a neighbour, but I learned Italian fastest by playing with the two children next door. By the time I started school a few months after we arrived I was fairly confident.
What was your most memorable event in your time in Italy?
I have so many memories of growing up in Italy. I don’t think one event stands out, but here is a collage …. Soon after I started school it was my ‘Onomastico’ (St Catherine’s Day – in Italy you celebrate your birthday and the Feast Day of your Saint namesake). When I arrived at school, my desk was covered in little presents – pencils, rubbers, sweets. I didn’t know what an Onomastico was but was very happy to celebrate it, even more so when I discovered there were two St Catherine’s Days, one on the 29th of April and the other on the 25th of November)….Starting high school (Prima Media) at age 11 and finding that the school building was an old hospital. Our classroom was the mortuary! It had a very low ceiling which was fine for children but the teacher had to bend over until she reached her desk and could sit down. Going with a friend and her mother to visit someone they knew, and finding when I got there that the person was actually dead and we were going to sit around her deathbed and join in the wailing. Standing in the stairwell because I wasn’t too keen on being in the room and being pinned to the wall by the men lugging the coffin up the narrow staircase….going on a school trip to Rome by bus and smoking my first cigarette with my maths teacher who must have been in his 50s and whose teeth were entirely black. He was highly amused to see me smoking. I decided I didn’t want my teeth to look like his in 50 years. Coming home from that trip and passing an accident on the autostrada between a car and a hearse. The coffin had fallen out onto the road and had opened … enough about that but it was certainly memorable. Every meal in Italy is a memorable event, as is the sun, the sea, and the dolce vita. I didn’t want to leave.
Where did you live?
Castellammare di Stabia is in the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. It is not far from Pompeii and the ancient Roman town of Stabiae which was also destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. These ruins are still being excavated!Was it safe living in Southern Italy?
I never felt scared living there as a child and as children we always played in the street. As to whether it actually was safe … I do know that soon after we left the owner of the white ware shop at the end of our street was assassinated by the Mafia in his shop in broad daylight, so I guess he wasn’t very safe …
What did you miss most when you left?
Everything!
Why did you start the Dream of Italy business?I wasn’t able to go back to Italy for a long time. I met Alan not long after I left Italy [editor - so HE ruined everything!] and we married and had a family. In 2007 we were finally able to all go to Europe. I hadn’t been back for 26 years. It was an amazing time for me reconnecting with old friends and places and to my great joy Alan and the children fell in love with Italy as well. Our kids have all been back several times (one of them stayed for two years and is fluent in Italian). Alan and I put our heads together to figure out how we could have a business which would support lots of trips! And here we are.
How did the time in Italy shape you as a person?
It’s difficult to know what sort of person I would be if I hadn’t grown up in Italy. I have some very definite ideas about what constitutes good food (not a fan of pineapple and tinned spaghetti on pizza). I’m extremely grateful that I am fluent in two languages and that I’ve experienced life in two very different cultures – this is a gift I wish everyone could give their children.
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