“What does ‘ciaone’ mean?”
I asked this question on the day after the “cenone” of New Years’s Eve…the big end of year cena, or dinner in Italian.
The Italian fielding my question looked at me after I posed the question. I’d just seen a photo of some doctors and nurses in a Rome hospital, on duty in scrubs and masks holding up a big sign that said, “Ciaone 2020”.
“Ciaone…it’s a big ciao,” he answered with simplicity.
Face palm, I thought to myself. I always allow a bit of self-berating when told something that I could have figured out if I’d taken a few seconds to think. Words that have the suffix “one” tacked on to the root mean that they’re big. So sure, ciao-one in this sense is obviously a big ciao.
So a big goodbye to the previous year… but nearly halfway into January 2021, things don’t look to be trending upwards just yet. Like most of the population, I’ve been doing my best to be a responsible and respectful citizen. Limiting my movement, wearing a mask— and of course, understanding that any negative COVID test result is only as valid as that moment you had your nostril run through with a flaming sword. At least that’s how the swab test feels to me, anyway.
Understanding that I can only influence so many variables, I finally booked a trip home on Alitalia’s “COVID tested” flight. Like many people I know, I had been away for a year; in a world where nothing was certain, I felt that conditions were acceptable enough to roll the dice.
On these flights still in beta testing, you don’t know if you’re actually going to be flying until you get that negative test result back (within 48 hours of flying). As for me, I went with the “gold standard” of testing (as opposed to the rapid test) to maximize accuracy, and also conform with my home state’s regulations. Since there was so much uncertainty about the trip, I purposely didn’t widely advertise that I’d be coming home.
To say the least, all of these unknowns combined with the headlines at home made for a stressful week leading up to my flight.
Of course I am now sitting in a freezing car as I type this— so you know that my test result was negative. I took the flight—hoping that everyone around me (including myself) was as negative as their documentation certified. The flight goes into JFK, and from there I did not want to intermingle with additional human travelers any longer. Rather than normally flying to Providence or Boston on a “regular” flight, I hopped into a rental car and faced the 93 exits that comprise Connecticut. I’m trying to be responsible— even if in the back of my mind I know that there is only so much I do. This great world spins with far more variables than I can hope to control.
Ciaone, I am told, has roots in the political theater of Italy. At the moment there is uncertainty as to whether the present government will stand. Not everyone in power is happy with how the COVID emergency funding is being spent. Control might shift to another party, another coalition….but the backdrop will all still remain the same. Italians have been very serious about respecting the protocols of COVID and whatever happens on their political scene, I do not expect to see chaos reigning if a change in leadership does come about. When I first started learning Italian, I learned a great expression: il pesce puzza dalla testa.
Being home again after one year is great, even if some of the routines have of course been modified. The pandemic, the steady pull towards a change in our domestic leadership. The big ciao here cannot be understated in terms of both gravity and adherence. As a kid, if you had told me that one day my anxiety would be through the roof on account of a global pandemic as well as an assault on my country’s Constitutional process….I don’t know. I probably would have told you to climb out of that rabbit hole fantasy. We humans are smarter than that.
But here we are. And here I am, just another dumb marble rolling around doing her best to stay healthy and sane. And in parallel hoping that everyone around me— from my loved ones to our elected officials— are all willing to push themselves to do the right things.
I don’t suspect that come January 21st in this year of 2021, all my glancing reflections of disappointment will be put to rest. But, I do know that my personal mandate will remain unchanged. I will continue to do the hard work to be a more aware (White) citizen, while not simply looking away when I hear others uttering untruths or oversimplified stereotypes that have long proven to be unfounded. I send a big ciao to everything that we have just endured, and hope that at least enough of us have been startled into working towards a different skyline.
I am glad that I took the leap to be at home. I am fortunate that I had the option to go home. I remember these two things in parallel every day because, at a micro level, beyond all of the backbiting and bullshit, I am grateful to still have so many loved ones and dear friends—of all stripes—with me in 2021. Ciaone, and thanks for all the fish.