Granted, I took 3 years of Italian lessons in college, and those courses finished over 2 years ago so I'm not really fresh on grammar or vocab, but I get by just fine. Often I can keep up conversations with the little old ladies on the bus that want to talk to me about the weather or the latest public transportation strike, but at a certain point my sentence structure gives me away. At school we speak entirely in English, also at home in my apartment aside from when my Italian roommate keeps a lengthy conversation going with me. But now that I've been practicing a bit more with local friends I feel fairly confident in certain situations.
because this post needs an obnoxious self-confident photo.
(almost bought this shirt though, isn't it great? not 10 euros great, of course.)
This week I had some issues with my phone so I tried calling customer service. The second I stated my problem they hung up! And it's not that my pronunciation's all that bad either, in fact I think it's quite stellar, but people here just don't want to deal with foreigners. Period. I decided it would be better to express my problems in person, after all the Italians speak with gestures almost as much as they do with words. There were so many people waiting for help and when it was my turn I said what I needed as confidently as possible and the woman (prepare yourself for another customer service lamentation) loudly declared "You're not Italian." Well, no. I'm not, lady. But what does that have to do with me needing to get some help with my phone?
I thought about this a bit and I realized we'd never have something like that happen in the States. In fact, that would be incredibly rude if a service person called you out in the middle of the store and announced "You're not American." An expression from the '90s clearly sums up this situation: Yeah, duh. But maybe as Americans we're more used to the melting pot of cultures, races and religions. Either way, I find that being an "other" and feeling like a cultural pariah sure does give some perspective. I feel like as Americans (at least in my opinion) we've always looked at the world from where we stand, heck, I've always considered America the center of the world and everything else as "the rest of the world." It isn't so for "the rest of the world" because for them it is the center and I'm from "elsewhere."
take that, all of Italy! you and your silly t-shirts with trendy phrases!
Don't worry, I'm not feeling sad or dejected - merely piecing together some observations from this week's events. I find myself to be doing rather well here, as you all know, and generally I am close with all the people with which I am in constant contact. I also had a professor of mine tell me I had an "American face" this week, and I wonder what that's supposed to mean. Wide-eyed and innocent, perhaps? Because I can't say there is a stand-alone stereotype when it comes to our faces. Well, in summation, no, I'm not Italian, but me and my American face are going to keep on trying to master idiomatic phrases, brush off brusque Piedmontese comments and master the art of confidence no matter what!
Oh non-Americans and their lack of customer service skills. At least you have the hootspa to keep at it. I bet by the end of this year, you'll be blogging about how everyone thinks you're native Italian and how you went back and showed little Miss Priss at the help desk what's up. Wear that American face proudly, though, don't forget your Texas roots. :)
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