Dove Vai?

I am here is Positano, Italy for an “extended stay”. My commute is pretty much the same 6 days a week. So if you are a worker in the Piazza here then you see me almost everyday. As I mentioned in a previous post, people are getting to know me by sight. I mean lets face it, there are not many brown skinned women with locks here. Okay you got me, I am the only one. Therefore, when people see me for more than a month with book bag in tow they know I am not a vacationer!
Well the other day must have been the month mark because several people asked, in kind of an exasperated but pleasant way, “Dove Vai?” Translation: “Where do you go” or “Where are you going?” I then begin my practiced italian response. I guess I have practiced it so much that it sounds authentic and then the conversations really begin…without me. I have to catch up and try to grasped the words I know and stutter through my responses, I must be doing pretty well. Then I tell them I only speak a little italian and they say “oh” some will slow down and repeat what I didn’t understand, some will just repeat it in the same fast way. There are many who speak as much English as I do Italian and do it VERY well. They always say, I am sorry I don’t speak English very well and I respond oh yes you do!!!
Whenever I tell the locals I work at La Taverna del Leone, they always say that I am at the best place!! Best food, the best people, the best place to learn. I definitely agree with them. I will have to bring my family back here to visit!
The other cool thing about being American overseas is that people “just know” that you are American. For better or for worse. Thankfully I am experiencing only the better.
I am meeting some really great people from the US and from other countries (Australia) that come through Positano and the restaurant. They are excited for me and are very encouraging. I share my blog with them so they can follow my experiences. So if you are out there, and you remember me from the kitchen at La Taverna del Leone, thank you for your kind words and warming smiles, they really mean a lot to this culinary traveler.

So the phrase of this week is “Dove Vai!” Ciao, Ciao for now!