Limes

Okay, so I know what you’re thinking. ”Limes” is probably the lamest title in the world, and I’m sure you’re all assuming that I’m seriously lacking in my creative writing skills if I’m going to be writing about limes. But I promise this is going somewhere.

Today I found limes in the grocery store..one fruit that has been missing from our local Conad. Which has caused me great confusion because they have lime flavored drinks, but no limes? My brain couldn’t comprehend it. We were really missing limes, for example, at our last family dinner. We decided to make tacos (Thanks a million to Dana Nobles’ sweet mamma for sending us taco seasoning packets!) and nothing goes better with that than a Corona and lime. Sadly, we had to make do with lemons instead…”will you be my Corona and lemon” does not sound as cool.

I couldn’t help but laugh at myself about getting excited over limes. They’re limes. They’re tiny. But for some reason, I was incredibly happy about this small fruit– which in turn made me realize how many “small things” in Italy make me happy or stand out to me.

-Cracking up over poor use of the Italian language at our dinner table. Christine was really “eccitato” about our trip to Venice.

-Raincoat dogs. I really can’t get over these little guys. When it rains, the people of Siena bring out an umbrella and a raincoat for their dog. My favorite so far was the adorable pug I saw sporting a lime green raincoat a few weeks ago. This is probably because I have a life-long dream of owning a pug..and I may have stalked said dog to no avail–but next time it rains, I’ll be on the look-out.

-I think I just got so excited about raincoat dogs that I forgot my next point..

-Ah. Yes. Thanks to IES for the Language Exchange Program (or whatever you call it). This is a voluntary program that you can sign up for through IES…and they basically set you up with a new Italian friend that helps you improve the language. Considering the fact that I know zero Italian, I figured this might be a good idea, even though I was a little nervous. My friend’s name is Paolo (cue Lizzie McGuire reference), and I’m already glad that I signed up for this program. My Italian is still shaky–I’ll get out one correct word every once in a while. I feel sort of like an Italian caveman:

 ”uhh, lavori (work)..uhhh…mangi (eat)?”

I’m obviously very advanced, guys.

We’re reading A Room With a View in my Italian literature course, and I think there’s a quote that sums up what I’ve been saying trying to say throughout this entire post:

“The true Italy is only to be found by patient observation”

The more I notice the smaller things going on around me, the more I really feel like I’m getting to know Siena and getting to know Italy.