The Art of Non-Verbal Communication

I have accepted the fact that I will never be good at Italian. I tried the whole "power of positive thinking" thing, but I have to face the reality. I am continuing to learn and I am attempting to study, but I will never be great at it. As long as I can get around, I am okay with that. Lately I have noticed how much I rely on non-verbal communication when I interact with Italians. At first glance, a lot of Florentine's are hasty towards tourists (especially Americans). However, they are probably just fed up with the amount of tourists constantly wandering their city. Most of my encounters with Italians have been positive. I always say hello, thank you, yes, and any other words I know when I speak with Italians. In Europe especially, it is considered rude not to at least say hello in the local language.

I have mentioned before that Italians are extremely expressive with their facial reactions, hand motions, and body language in general. It makes me think a lot more about how I express myself. I tend to show my true, honest feelings in my facial expressions. In America we are such a kiss ass country that it is almost "rude" to express how you feel. You wouldn't want to be "politically incorrect" or hurt someone's feelings. And in the service industry you would never be rude to the customer, because the customer is ALWAYS right. This is not the case here. Everyone is very free to express how they are feeling and they have the right to refuse any customer. And they will, no problem.

I have no problem getting around Florence anymore. My sense of direction is good, my broken Italian is enough, and I know where to go for most things I need. What worries me a little is when I am traveling to Morocco and Germany. These are the only places where I don't know the language at all. But I'm pretty sure we will figure it out. If I just flash a smile people are usually nice back to me. It's true that smiles are contagious.

In other news. I'm missing my little lion cub and husky like crazy. My mom managed to snap a photo of them cuddling to hold me over for awhile. It's currently my background and I'm showing it to anyone that will look at it, because they are so stinkin cute.

I did get my animal fix in the other night. My friends Megan, Kylie, and I went out to a pub for the night and we walked past some guys with a little black pub. It wasn't on a leash (like most dogs here, because they are so well trained) and it ran up to us. We talked to them for a bit and played with the puppy. It was so adorable and I held him and he licked my face all over. We made it to the pub just in time for the Cardinals game to start. I was the ONLY Cardinals fan there (proudly sporting my shirt) and the only person watching the game. It was off to a slow start but I never gave up. I yelled at the TV a lot and was clearly outraged when the Phillies won. It all turned out okay because we found one of Florence's "secret bakeries". At 2-3 AM these factoires start making baked goods for the bakeries in the morning. You must follow your sense of smell because there is no sign and it isn't a real business. You just knock on the window. A man opens. You make a request, they shut the door, come back about 5 minutes later with a plain white bag. You give them a Euro for each item. It sort of feels like a drug deal. By the time we left there were about 20 people waiting. Not much of a "secret" around here, but it's very sneaky. We got nutella filled doughnuts. Amazing!

Enough rambling for one day. Going to Malenchini Farm tomorrow for wine and olive oil tasting and Rome for the weekend. Ciao!