sgiandubh wrote:It may (or may not) be interesting to you to know that the answer keys to il balboni exercise can be found in the Guida all'uso del manuale in the loescher- impara sul web site. you have to register, but then can access the extra matierials for each volume that you unlocked. In the guida there is a separate pdf for each unita from the book -- and includes the answer key.
Thanks for your helpful comment. I have an account and I've downloaded the pdfs, but they only contain the answers to some of the exercises. (It's better than nothing, of course.) Although this course is clearly intended for classroom use, writers should also think about those who miss a class for some reason and need to catch up with the others. Especially nowadays I don't understand why self-study is not supported. Anyway, there were more materials for the A2 than for the A1 (the key for the supplementary exercises was a nice surprise), and I hope in the future they'll upload some more stuff to help those who learn alone.
I'm not progressing with Italian because I'm spending all my free time with Christmas preparations. I haven't asked for new textbooks, but I hope I'll get the illustrated Márquez novels.
https://www.luisarivera.cl/making-of-cien-anos-de-soledad/My children and my husband are getting boardgames:
Creature Comforts: Seems to be a 'kind and cozy' game with nice visuals. We're animal families in a forest, and we collect things for the winter to make our lives more comfortable. The playing time is too long but we'll play in pairs (one adult-one kid). I usually hate set collection but the theme of this game looks so inviting that I couldn't resist buying it. Even if I don't enjoy the game mechanism, collecting those nice cards (like 'warm socks' and 'hot soup') while impersonating a racoon will be a joy. (Age: 8+)
The Initiative: A co-operative deduction game with puzzles and a comic book. Each page starts a 30-60 minute mission. (Age: 8+)
Nemesis: Ameri (thematic) game based on the Alien films. I'll probably play it with my husband in a semi co-op mode, but I'd love to play it with a bigger group that could include the hidden traitor character. (Scary as hell, especially with the right group. Only for adults.)
Tainted Grail - The Fall of Avalon: Another thematic game based on Arthurian legends and Celtic mythology. (Very gloomy, potentially depressing. Only for adults.)
I'm sure some solid favourites will also hit the table:
Ticket to Ride - Europe: The best family strategy game in my opinion. Similar to old-school German family games that everyone can enjoy.
Riff Raff: Dexterity. Stack-building. A ship is standing on an unstable pole and we need to put different objects on the masts.
Dixit: An association game based on cards with strange pictures. (Child-friendly)
We've been playing
Pandemic Legacy Season 0 recently. I'm always surprised how few base mechanism boardgames operate with. I'm a little underwhelmed so far, because the game seems to be
Forbidden Island with a few extras. But we've only done two campaings, so it might get better. These thematic/legacy games can be good for language learning even in solo mode. And deduction games might be even better, especially those that have an application with a lot of texts. I'm often bored by these whodunnit games in my native language, but I'd gladly try
Chronicles of crime for example in Italian or French.
Reading: I'm halfway through 2 books.
David Foster Wallace:
Infinite Jest. Brilliant, though-provoking.
Javier Marías:
Corazón tan blanco. Slow, uneven, annoying.