Reevaluating the Italian Scene

In the last 48 hours I have had to question two stereotypes that I had thought I was correctly experiencing.  It's interesting going into a different culture, a different country, expecting certain things to be true.  And for awhile they are, but when they aren't it sets you off guard - leaving you wondering if what you thought at first was actually right at all.

Yesterday (Thursday) a few of us travelled to Sienna again, to take in the small city slowly.  Truthfully, we wanted to shop, which we successfully did.  The stores in Sienna are set up for tourists, with the shop owners fully aware that the majority of people walking over the threshold will be leaving without any purchases.  So in and out of the shops we go, thinking about the possibilities that surround us.  I did happen upon a store, that I am guessing very few people go in just to browse.  And not surprisingly, it was a camera store.  For a town the size of Sienna, I was not expecting a camera store of this capacity, but there it was amongst the boutiques and gelato shops.  I knew that if I was going to go in, I needed to be serious about making a purchase.  I sort of was, and I left without anything.  Before we came to Italy we understood that stores are set up for window shopping, and that if you enter a store you should be serious about making a purchase.  I think part of me was up for the cultural challenge.  The other part of me wanted to play dress up with my new Canon Rebel.  I was expecting the clerk helping me to try every sales technique, doing everything she could to persuade me to buy a new lens.  Instead, she asked me if I wanted to look.  She took my camera and showed and gave a mini tutorial about lens sizes, and what the measurements mean.  She let me take a picture was a $1000+ lens, without flinching.  And then when I left I apologized for not making a purchase, and as I left she told me it was her pleasure to help me.  We have seen chefs and wait-staff take pride in the food they give their customers.  But the woman in the camera shop had more pride in her work, but also the most joy.  She didn't do it for a sale, and I realize that sometimes what we think about a culture can't be generalized and blanketed to every person.  People are dynamic and so is their culture.

The second thing is something I have been trying to figure out for a much longer time than the two weeks we have already spent in Florence.  When I was in Paris in 2007 I experienced my first gypsies trying to collect money from tourists.  Before we went, our delegation leaders told us not to talk to them, not to even look them in the eyes.  They even told us that it had been heard that sometimes these European gypsies will throw their "babies" at you for you to catch, and have a comrade pickpocket you in the process.  Since then, I have been majorly skeptical of anyone that appears to be a gypsy.  I would even go as far to say that I border on freaked out when they are in my vicinity.  But what does that say about me?  I have found that when I take time to walk through Florence, slowly, on my own, I see things that I never imagine existed.  So today (Friday) I was walking home from a day of more Michelangelo and shopping.  I had seen the gypsy women on my way past the Straw Market, and again around the Duomo.  Then I noticed a younger gypsy women.  I am guessing she was younger than me, but the sun had aged her considerably.  Her hair was braided with beautiful colors, and clothing shared the same template.  But even with the color, her clothes were as worn and dirty as she was.  I have seen some of the same women every time I have been around the Duomo, but not this girl.  As I walked by, I looked at her, I mean I really looked at her.  She was invisible to everyone around her.  She was sitting on a step, worn and paused.  I couldn't help but notice that it looked like she gave up.  She understood who she was and the weight of it all made her sink into the marble.  So as I continued to walk through the city on my way home I realized that these women live in a world of no and invisibility.  I can't say I have a solution for giving these people a voice, or that I even understand a little bit about their existence, but I do know that when I see them, I will see them as human beings.  I will check in to make sure that is what I am doing, and not just passing them off.  I will see them.

Peace, as always,
Caty