Friday, September 15, 2006 Crazy Napolitanas!

There is a tiny “gallery” near our apartment, but it seems more like a place that some amateur artists got together and rented. Karen and I decided to pop in there on our way to spend the rest of my birthday money (thanks again, Mom!), and someone thought that “the Entertainer” was an appropriate soundtrack for our visit. I had no idea that song existed on CD. I wish there was a way for me to sing “do do do do etc” and have you understand what I meant in this forum. We were completely accosted by this lady and her cohort, who came to us speaking insanely fast Italian that we didn’t understand, but I’m pretty sure the gist was “we just drank both of those bottles of champagne and scared all the other patrons away.” We tried with our elementary Italian to converse, but all roads lead to “I’m from Washington. What’s your name?” We were laughing so hard at these women, and they at us, and we were still trying to get away at the same time. They seemed to sense this and would not let us go, asking us more questions and talking about their kids. We finally figured out they were from Napoli and that the one armed man they were trying to shake hands with was the brother in law of the one with the great taste in music.

Later, the same day, I tried to shop at the “Penny Market” which was recommended by our school as being inexpensive. I prefer the adjectives “bare bones” and “icky.” The good news is that they have canned tomatoes for 35 Euro cents, the bad news is that is ALL they have worth buying. You have to put a 2 Euro coin in the cart to get it to unlock from the one in front of it, and I only had two 1 Euro coins. I waited for someone to come along to return their cart, and I tried to exchange my 2 euros for their 2 euro coin…they didn’t understand and it looked like I was just asking them for money. I was so embarrassed, but they eventually figured it out.

Anyway, I made it home with my goods, and my roommates were there to make sure I was all good. Liz is excellent at pep talks, and Melissa is adorable and very comforting. I'm glad they're all here.