Busy days and conspicuous Americans

This morning I was on my own, The Diplomat had meetings in town. I know I need to get into a routine as quickly as possible – got up, went for a walk, had a cup of tea, studied Italian a little, and then went into town to check out the grocery store. Stopped afterwards for lunch at a little ‘bar’ (used here to refer to coffee & sandwich shop, not 'pub') near the one stoplight in town – had a proscuitto and tomato sandwich and a birra sitting out in the sunshine. Delicious.

This afternoon, I ran around doing errands with the Diplomat – he marvels at how strange it is to be with a woman… he’s not used to people ‘looking’ at him, but heads seem to turn when I get out of the car. It’s probably partly a compliment, and partly that it’s so obvious that I’m ‘not from around here’ in this small town (a straniera). Hopefully the curiosity will subside over the next few months.

Tonight, we had dinner in Lucigniano (darling little town about 20 minutes away) with The Diplomat’s friend, Ita, who runs the local equestrian center. She is single, probably 37 or so, and will likely be a good contact for me. She had guests in from America (Florida and Colorado), so the group of 6 of us went to dinner. I was proud of myself that I was the least conspicuous of the Americans, at least able to speak Italian to the cameriere (waiter). It’s the little victories for now that I have to savor!