Day one: I got yelled at...in Italian

Hey family,

One of the unconscious bias that Americans are guilty of is saying one thing, yet doing another. We've all heard/read stories of Americans yelling at immigrants, international visitors etc. for not "Speakin' 'Merican in Merica!" But I always questioned did those same people feel that way if/when they traveled abroad. I noticed early on that English speaking Americans would become increasingly frustrated when they encountered ITALIANS in FREAKING ITALY who struggled to understand English and would mostly respond in Italian. Well woop Dee do Bob, you're in ITALY where their national language is ITALIAN lol!

Anyway, Here's the funny story on how I got yelled at during my first day in Rome. First off, let's be clear, I DO NOT SPEAK ITALIAN, but I did however learn as much as I could for general conversations. I learned how to converse with servers at restaurants relating to me being vegan, clerks at stores, hotels etc. Sooooo we arrive in Rome in mid afternoon and it's totally A Different World. The security knew English, but that was about it. After grabbing our bags, we struggled to find our shuttle or even anyone who could give us directions. We were lost puppies and slightly cautious of swift movements due to military personnel walking the area with their finger on the trigger of very large guns. Finally, we found a lady who I was able to ask if she knew English "Parlo inglese" and she got us on the right track. After traveling for 12+ hours and making it to our hotel, we decided to grab dinner nearby. We walked to this Chinese place near the hotel. Yeah I know what you're thinking, "Deidre why did you go to a Chinese restaurant in Italy?" Lol well easy answer is it was dark, we thought they may speak English and it was the closest place that we knew would at least have vegetables. So, we go in and I do most of the communicating in Italian until we are seated. The man greets us with a regular ole English "hello". Ahhhh sigh of relief. So we then order in English and bask in the fact that we're really in ITALY. Food options were totally different than the norm found in America, but it was GREAT! Everything seemed to be going perfectly until I tried to ask in Italian if I could take the water with me home. Immediately, the woman began yelling much of which I did not understand (Because it was all Italian), but I did get something about the cap not being reusable. To try to solve the dilemma, we just downed the rest of the water. Shortly afterwards, the man returns with a plastic bottle that the water could have been transferred into and I suddenly understand what she was actually trying to tell me all along lol Complete face palm moment. They were nice though and I was able to get another one to go 0.5L for $1.50 btw. Our meals only cost $10 all together!

Peace and Love,

DeidreVee