coffee, first dates, day of the dead, and dinosaurs.
Every cappuccino in Italy is like a work of art. I never get tired of looking at it, the way the cream swirls with the coffee on top, marbling. I want to write haikus to my cappuccinos.
I don’t even care that it’s a total foreigner (staniero) move to have a cappuccino for anything other than breakfast, and god forbid with any food that’s salty rather than sweet. “News flash: I’m a foreigner,” I wanted to say, but then you don’t say that when you’re on an informal first date, and you’re supposed to be lapping up these insider Italian tips. You’re not supposed to be slightly amused that you’re probably embarrassing the person you’re with, just with your choice of coffee. But that’s just me.
I don’t really have that desire to blend in as much as possible, do exactly as the Italians do, try to become one of them, the way that many if not most ex-pats here seem to. Maybe it’s because I’ve already given part of my heart to Spain, and to part to Mexico; I’m already stretched in so many directions, I can’t find that singular loyalty. I prefer the mix of it all. Learning that Italy celebrates a “Day of the Dead” just after All Saint’s Day, where the only other country I’ve heard of that does that is Mexico. People here though, not necessarily knowing that much about Mexico beyond the stereotypes and the worst pieces of news, aren’t necessarily thrilled when I draw up that comparison. Which makes me kind of miss New York, where we’re used to being a little bit of everything.
I’m learning, in a roundabout kind of way, the meaning of the word “provincial,” which I never really had a reference for before. And I’m learning the not necessarily great connotations that go with it. I don’t have the illusion that they have everything right here, that I should be studying and learning and adopting these little cultural details. But maybe I shouldn’t let on so readily about that.
For example, perhaps I shouldn’t have suggested that they put a fossil dinosaur skeleton in the Sistine Chapel to make it “more impressive.” Ooops. I think my New York is showing again.
