Be Right Back

Sorry for the absence again, but I was entering the part of my trip that I always hate: the end. It isn’t over ‘til it’s over or the fat lady sings though, but that’s coming shortly. I have approximately one week left (four days) and plenty of Italian still to be had. I’ve kept pretty busy this week with my classes, a movie, and some goodbye dinners/get-togethers. Sometimes it does suck to be me.

Friday night was great as I spent it at dinner with about seven other Italians. Interesting evening for me not only from the language and culture perspective but also from the perspective that I got to relive two of my best vacations ever. We spent part of the evening checking our pictures from our host and hostess’s vacations in both Thailand and Australia. For me, in my own life, those were two of the most memorable vacations that I have ever taken. It was definitely very nice to relive them through someone else’s pictures. The food that evening, as you might have already guessed, was extremely good. There were three types of salami, one from Lombardia, and two from Tuscany. Each had its own distinct flavor and they were all extremely tasty. In Italy, you have to try extremely hard to eat poorly. Believe me, it’s definitely possible as it has happened to me on one occasion, but it is also extremely rare. In fact, I think I only remember that one particular occasion. When it does happen, it really shocks the hell out of you.

So, regarding the title of this entry, “Be Right Back” one of the most imprecise phrases that I use everyday in America. I say it all the time and it can mean (or has meant for me) returning in five minutes to not coming back at all. I said it once to Daiana after class, forgot all about the fact that I was supposed to see a movie with her and some other students, and then she asked me about it the next weekend when I saw her. I bring this up because a similar phrase exists here in Italy: “Torno Subito”. This has meant the difference between fifteen minutes and never returning at all (actually, I mean, returning a little later than expected and I’ll explain that now). I have been renting a lot of Italian movies while I have been here and while Blockbuster does exist here (can’t wait until we finally get rid of it America since their stores are so ugly), I always rent from Top Video in Siena. The owner there has a great selection of Italian films. In the middle of the day, most stores have a pause where they close for about two hours. Well, knowing this, I try to get to the store right after school and just before the pause begins. Well, one day, there was a sign on the door, torno subito. I waited there with a native (so I know I wasn’t crazy) and the owner never quite made it back before the pause started. I have about a dozen other examples of this and I am just as guilty by the way. I’ve said torno subito a few times and returned about three hours later and of course no one ever calls me out on it.

Just to expand a little bit more on the food that evening. We had an amazing roast and I was just a little surprised that we didn’t have lamb but then I realized that it was Good Friday and here we were chomping on large pieces of meat. I was guessing that the hosts and guests were not too concerned about following the religious protocols of the evening.

On this particular Friday night, I had a lot of fun even if after the evening my head was about to explode. I heard a lot of new words that night, exercised the heck out of my language center. After thanking the hosts for that evening, I ended it with “torno subito”.