I went to the baby shower and learned that you are in hospital because your waters broke. P. told me it as soon as I arrived while shooting with a little camera. You'll see my face on camera saying: "Oh I'm sorry, Stai bene, L., I am going to say it in Italy, I mean in Italian........" and then I added a sentence in Italian, very short. I was too embarrassed and wanted to say: "No, please, the camera no!" but I didn't dare and OK, I survived. Then I heard other people leave their messages and they were all FUN and PERFECT, of course. I was the only one who started out with I'M SORRY. I thought, they (the Americans) must get some training since the very beginning of their life, maybe it's something they learn at school or something in the food. I have no idea of what it is, but I do need it, whatever it is!
What I wanted to say was that I hope you and the baby are fine and that I am looking forward to meeting your baby boy!
After my smart "entry", I met a friend of yours, she is from St. Louis. At some point during the conversation she asked me why we decided to move out of Italy and I answered: "we wanted to live ABROAD". She said, "Oh OK" and a couple of minutes later she had one more question:
"so, how long did you live in Prague?".
Prague??
I realized she understood PRAGUE instead of ABROAD.
I am wondering how much she got of what I said, how much I was able to make her confused.
However she was very nice when, at the end, looked for the little plant with my name on it and found it. (at least I am sure there was no misunderstanding about my name).
But, the best part came when I was leaving and a woman said to me: "Nice to meet you" and I replied with a great: "Nice to MISS you too". I did not even correct my mistake. I thought, you'd better disappear and I did, I left right after my sentence.
Nevertheless, I must say, I had an excuse: I had a spinning class in the morning and I had to leave early because I was feeling ready to throw up, faint, die, and when I arrived at your house I was not feeling good yet. (Is it a good excuse?)
However, the baby shower was great!
And I really hope you can feel my embrace.
5 comments:
Crazy, it is ingrained since infancy, believe me... as for us "aliens", it is something that we learn when we go to our friend's daughters dance recitals and every one of the girls on stage looks like the hippo in Fantasia, complete with tutu... and all you want to say is "geez, this was horrible, it was like a cross between a herniated disk and a bout with hemorroids" and instead you hear your voice saying "It was great! Your girls look so beautiful in their leotard and the coreaography was divine!"
It is pervasive, it's like an unwritten law, where the truth is denied, this is political correctness at all costs, where we can't say the truth... there's so much behind this behavior... I'm only glad that I was able to bring a bit of my italian-ness into my family... although, as you know, I like to see things for the "half-full" point of view anyhow... I sometime believe I live a schizofrenic life!! :)
@moky: I think you have been taking the best from both the American culture and the Italian culture, which is a great compromise.
I do sympathize with you. It happened so many times when I was in the US to face this snaky way of addressing simple truths and everyday events.
Your friend is right: it's rather pervasive. Still not all Americans are like that. A few enlightened ones do live among us ;-) hehe...
have fun
A.
che roba strana sto baby shower... qui non esiste, no? mai sentito.
penso cmq che con molta probabilità mi sarei fatta le tue stesse figure, più o meno.
:)
e poi la telecamera... brrrr.
@Ac: luckily there are people who live among us.:)
@dancin':in Italia non c'e'questa festa. E la telecamera poi l'ho trovata piuttosto difficile da sopportare. Capivo il principio, ma mi scocciava lo stesso.
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