I had very interesting learning experiences yesterday and today, so I thought I better get to blogging so I could share them. Yesterday was an ordinary day...I had to pick up the kids and drive them home from school. The good thing was that noone had appointments after school like they normally do.
It was a sunny day and warmer than it's been, so I enjoyed getting up and going out for a short run yesterday morning. I took Mia, the Border Collie, and we sat in the sun for about half an hour. When we came home, I went out on the balcony in the sun for another hour or so. I left to get Matteo from school, but didn't realize he was getting out an hour later yesterday so I was in the car waiting for a long time (not happy as I'm trying to get some sort of color back on my pasty skin and I could have been in the sun this whole time). As soon as I found out Matteo would be late, I headed towards Elena. I needed gas, but I had to pick up Elena from school first. She and I went to the gas station after I got her, which hasn't been a problem for me in the past, but yesterday we had some issues.
We drove into the station, which is closed for lunch hours, and attempted to do self service. I've not done this before in Italy so putting the cash in the machine and figuring out what to do next was a trick. I asked Elena to press the button for our pump, but I guess she didn't do so because another man came up right behind us and put his 20 euro in on top of our 30. This means that when he pressed the pump number it assumed he wanted 50 euro in gas...in his moped. He was polite and told us to move the car so we could get gas after he was done, and he gave Elena the pump to hold so it wouldn't reset. Well, it did anyway. We couldn't get anything . I was on empty and had been for three days but we couldn't do anything now. The station was closed and I was out of cash. I don't use my cards here so we had no choice but to leave. Another couple had offered to give us 5 euro to make sure I had enough gas to get to Matteo and back but I declined. We raced to get Matteo from school and went back to the station (which opens at 2) to explain to the attendant what had happened. Luckily, I had the receipt from the earlier attempt so we were able to get our money back and then retry. I was so frustrated as noone at the station spoke English and Elena had no clue what to do or say. It was hard for her to translate what I was trying to express. Thankfully we accomplished it after a while and we were good to go...and I now know to make sure to press the number on the pump without asking Ely to do it!!
This morning was another "fun" experience for me. I've been trying to find a salon to get my hair cut and highlighted and finally found one near the apartment that looked decent and sold good products (I often judge based on what is stocked on the product shelf). I made an appointment for this morning, but was nervous because the salon owner spoke little English and I didn't know what was going to happen. Elena taught me how to say "Come questi capelli" and I have been practicing all week to say this when I planned to show a picture of Jenny McCarthy's hair. I even used a mneumonic device and sang this phrase to "Ice Ice Baby" to help me remember. Well, wouldn't you know my phone wouldn't open the internet site I had saved with the pic so I had nothing to go by this morning. The salon owner and stylist understood pretty well what I was trying to say, but when she took the razor to the back of my head I started crying! She stopped and said "calmo, tranquile" over and over so I tried to repeat in my head "it will grow back, it will grow back" over and over. Luckily, she saw my nervous reaction and didn't take much more. The back of my head is stacked pretty well and the color turned out ok, very blonde, but boy that was nerve racking this am. I kept thinking I'd need a glass of wine later to help me relax!
All of these simple little tasks become so complicated when there is a language barrier. I'm learning a good bit of Italian, but it's mostly vocabulary or random phrases. I was proud to have my one beauty shop phrase memorized and I didn't even get to use it! I am taking all of these moments in as learning experiences though...I have just a few more months here (which is hard to believe) so I will do my best to gain even more Italian knowledge and go home better for it. I've gotten pretty good at finding a way to communicate so I'll just keep on trucking and hope someone understands!
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