Nov 24

In Another Country

In the fall our studies were always there but we were in Italy now.  It was cold in the fall in the convent and the stores were closed in the afternoon.  Then they re-opened for the evening, and it was pleasant along the streets looking in the windows.  There were many locals walking among the cobblestones and children scampered and hid and played, and small birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their feathers.  It was cold in the fall and the wind chilled our city on top of the mountain.

We were all in the Cafe every afternoon, and there were different ways of walking across town through the maze of streets to the Cafe.  Two of the ways were alongside the edge of a cliff, but they were long.  Always, though, you passed a church to enter the Cafe.  There was a choice of three churches.  One of them was surrounded by tourists gaping at its beauty.  It was warm, walking through the crowd, and familiar languages could be heard above the murmur of voices.  The Cafe was very new and very welcoming, and you could order your coffee and stand at the bar.  There were usually men there enjoying aperitifs.  Beyond the bar were the stairs that led to the room we always sat in, and we met every afternoon and were all very happy and interested in what was going on at home, and sipped our cappuccinos that were missed greatly after we'd gone.

The barista came over to our table and said "Prego," the word for "You're welcome," but means, "How can I help you?"  There were three of us that day so I said: "Tre Cappuccini."  The easiest thing to order.  I hated coffee and refused to drink it at home, much to my mother's joy and my father's despair.  But Italian coffee was different, and instead of brown sludge it tasted sweet and delicious.  It was the most comforting thing we'd found in this strange land.

At the next table was a woman wearing a large hat and stiletto boots.  She looked at me when I ordered as surprised as she would have been if a monkey had spoken.  It wasn't customary to talk to strangers because everyone knew each other in this small city so we stared at each other for a moment and both went back to our groups.