Love, love, LOVE IT when Italians ask ME for directions. I am thrilled that I can pass as someone who looks like they know enough to answer a question in Italian . . . it happened twice today within an hour’s timeframe. Allora oggi I will share my second encounter with a question that I figured was related to “how do I get to”, since this man had an open map in his hands. Initially I responded with “I don’t speak Italian” then I asked him and his wife (assumption here) if they were looking for the Centro. Luckily for all involved, during class yesterday our teacher spent about 45 minutes having us practice asking and giving directions to various locations all over Siena’s Centro. For those of you reading this blog, if you haven’t had the opportunity to locate specific places and points of interest in Siena, or even Italy for that matter, trust me when I tell you it is not an endeavor for the faint of heart. It is so challenging to navigate from one place to another in Siena. Bene, back to the story, anyway, I was able to provide enough information in Italian that the couple could (potentially) find the Centro of Siena. They thanked me for the information, not sure if they were thankful for the information or just thankful that they no longer had to pretend to understand what I was saying. Dritto la strada, dritto, dritto.
After I walked away from the couple, I realized I used the informal verb conjugation and informal pronoun when talking with the couple, BAD Louise, for two reasons: 1.) I didn’t know them 2.) they were older than me. Hopefully once they find the Centro they won’t care that I used the wrong verbs and pronoun.