I’m tired of trying to speak Italian. I want to have a conversation in English. I haven’t heard any English speaking people in awhile. There are only bus loads of German retirees. I’m not much good with the German language outside of the basics: “bitter”, “danka”, “Alles klar, Herr Kommissar”. I know that this good for learning Italian and I have had improvement since leaving Rome. After awhile though you just want to have a normal conversation.
I had a car ride to the bus stop, which turned into the train station, by a member of the hotel staff in Mazara. (Long story regarding the transport change and not interesting.) The driver/employee was really cute to the point that I felt not cute and awkward in my “travel clothes”. We tried to talk a bit and found that the other one only new a little of the others language. I kind of deflated a bit and really felt “what’s the point”. I didn’t expect him to speak English but I kind of hoped so that we could talk more “easily”. I didn’t feel like trying to talk to him. It’s hard. He actually did try, so I tried and he’s going to San Diego next summer to visit his mom and brother who are living there. We exchanged email, just in case I can go to San Diego.
This happens to me often. Sometimes I do want to try but I’ve just gotten to that point where I’m tired of trying. When I do try, I usually have an interesting conversation, although a weird one, and it turns out to be a nice experience.
I went to Erice, which is a small town just outside of Trapani. It was a bus ride away and I had been recommended to go there. The bus ride was worse than the road to Hana and worse than the ride to Positano. The road was better than both places but it was a long, steep climb, along the edge of a mountainside with frequent switchbacks. I thought I had missed my bus stop before this climb started so I moved up behind the bus driver to ask him. He said no that we were on our way there. Once I had moved up behind him, we started to chat. He couldn’t believe that I was traveling alone and keep saying that I should have someone with me. This is a common response from the men here. The women usually say “brava” and that I’m courageous. Anyway, we are climbing up this hill, and I am trying to convince myself not to throw up. I am trying to keep my eyes straight ahead. He keeps asking me questions, which should be a good distraction (it’s not). He asks me what I do for a living and I tell him and then he asks what kind of products. Chatty Cathy. I tell him consumer products. He asks is it something you eat. No. So I’m trying to figure out how to say this so I go with “Microsoft”. He doesn’t know the name. Ha! I found that funny. I thought about saying Xbox but I know that Xbox doesn’t resonate in Italy and I couldn’t bring myself to say Playstation, which they understand as a universal word for a video game console. Some stupid old loyalty to my past work wouldn’t let me do it. I ended up saying what I thought was a made up word, “tecnologico" He responded favorably and said, “si tecnologico”. I really thought I made that up and I was hoping it would fly as something close to the real Italian word, enough that he’d understand what I was saying and say the right word.
I was so entertained, but not enough to forget my stomach and motion sickness. The cure for that was found not too long before my bus ride down the mountain. Thank goodness. I was looking for French fries, which you can usually find on menus here. I couldn’t find them in this small town. I then looked for potato chips. Nope. I found a cross between the two – Freeky Fries. Potato chip like substance shaped into a French fry "with a tunnel to please me". They were the miracle cure. I made it down the mountain and back to my B&B without throwing up.
Today I am off to one of the islands you can see in the distance of the photograph, Favignana. There are three islands out there, close to the mainland. There are a couple more islands further out but I’m not going to make it there this trip. I am taking the hydrofoil over there, which should be fun. I haven’t been on one since I was like 12.
These are pictures from Erice.
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