Shouting salesman on Cumana

Every now and then I see the same people on the Cumana. Gypsy boy with nice trainers, homeless woman who hops on, gives us a 5 minute speech about how poor she is, collects money and hops off, and shouting salesman.

The first time I saw shouting salesman I just thought he was some loony shouting to himself. I later realised that he was trying to sell us goodies. I’ve seen him about half a dozen times now but I still have had no success in understanding what the heck he is saying, may he speaks in dialect??? Basically he gets on the train, finds a nice spot, puts his bags down, starts shouting about his products (I guess) as if he’s in a market place and then comes round to see if we will buy anything. After that he moves to the next carriage.

His 5 minute speech is not only loud but irritating. It’s like a poem. You’d think he was selling something amazing like a battery powered toaster but no, he sells lighters!

Today he reached a new low by getting down on his knees and kissing the floor.

WTF!?!?

Finally another night out

I haven’t been out with my friends since Carnival which was a month ago.

I had the change to go out last week but I bailed out when they changed the plan. They were originally going to be going to a Reggae/Hip hop club night but then changed it to a House themed night. I’m not a fan of House music and since there were only four of us going, two boys and two girls, I thought I’d be both awkward and dull. Plus I much prefer hanging out in bars than clubbing. You can’t really get to know people well when music is being blasted into your ear drums.

Anyway so like I was saying I finally went out last night. I went out with E&G. I met yet another group of people (seriously every time I go out I’m introduced to more and more people) who were all very friendly. In fact one of the boys did an exchange in my university town a few years ago. We went to an “American Bar” where we drank cocktails. I’ve stopped drinking again so mine was non-alcoholic, but very yummy. It was called a Miami Beach (not Bitch, as I had to explain haha). It turns out that American Bars are where you drink alcohol in contrast to an Italian bar where you drink coffee. O_o

After a few hours we left and us three joined up with another group. This time I knew most of the people. It was a collaboration of the first two groups of people I met in Italy, including E’s Brother. We drank, they smoked (in fact I’m sure at some point I could smell weed, but I didn’t want to ask), they tried to get me to sing in English, they sang California Girls and asked me to check their pronunciation, they tried to get me to sing Tranne Te.

We ended the night with a quick trip to the all night bakery.

All in all an enjoyable night.  

“I wanted to get to know you better”

A guy from school added me the other day. I didn’t think much of it. I’d noticed his profile the other week as he seemed to be adding a lot of my friends (or they were adding him), I had a quick look at it and that was it. When he sent me a request I didn’t think too much of it. He was obviously just adding the people who he remembered from school. We did used to talk in the Year 7 so it wasn’t like he was just adding me because he recognised my name.

Today I was doing a bit of a facebook stalk as you do and I ended up back on his profile. Whilst on his profile I noticed that I had 5 messages from him on facebook chat! What a coincidence hey? At first I thought that maybe I’d pressed some button whilst on his profile and accidently sent him something but no he had actually popped up himself to say hi.

He started with a “hey I see you are living in Naples and speak numerous languages. But have you mastered the word ‘the’ yet?” At first I thought he was being rude, then I realised he was referring back to the days when he used to make fun of my mispronunciation of “the” and “that”. We had a bit of a chat. He told me that I looked really different now and that I was really pretty and all I could think was “please stop chatting me up, this is awkward!”. But after a while he admitted that he’d been thinking back to our school days recently and he was mad at himself for how he acted all those years ago. He wished he’d made more of an effort with people. He said that he couldn’t help but feel bad for having teased me about my pronunciation and decided to find me on facebook so that he could apologise and get to know me better.

I couldn’t believe it. No one from school has ever done this. I always knew he was the kindest boy out of his group but I never imagined he’d do this in a million years. We’ve been talking for a while now and  I’ve learnt a lot about him. He’s completely different to the boy he was at school. He’s gone from jock to bass player in a rock band. He’s hoping to go to America with his band to try and get some publicity. He says he isn’t in contact with the people he hung around with at school because he has nothing in common with them anymore. I understand what he means. Out of my friends at school, I only still talk to 3 of them, and although we are still good friends, we haven’t really had anything in common since we were at school.

I’d love to be able to talk to some other people like I am with him. There are a few answers I feel like I need, but the people I need them from will never give me them. This guy has always had a good heart. When he used to tease me I never doubted for a second that he was being malicious. I wish I was as big a person as he is. There are a few people who I should probably apologise to. I wouldn’t know where to start though.

In the meantime I’m looking forward to getting to know him better.

Brightening up my day even though you are miles away ☆

Yesterday was a sad day. My parents left and I wasn’t able to even take them to the airport. Understandably I was feeling down and lonely.

When I arrived home after school I had two pieces of post waiting for me. One I was expecting, because my friend had messaged me a few days ago concerned that I hadn’t received it yet, but the other was a complete surprise.

 

The expected thing was a letter from my friend H in Marburg and the other was a postcard from Budapest from my friend JS. I was so happy. It incredible to know that people who I knew for such a short time in Germany care about me enough to send me things. My friends back in the UK have never done such a thing. It’s a little sad to think that I’ve met the best friends I could ever meet in Marburg, because most of them, apart from the few from England, live on the other sides of the world. Life can be a bit of a female dog sometimes can’t it.

Four days with my family

My family came to Naples on Saturday night and left this morning.

I’m a little sad, but I didn’t cry too much. I’ll be home in 2 months and a bit. That’s nothing.

They arrived quite late, 8.30pm. I had to navigate my way to the airport on the Cumana, Metro and a bus. I kinda just jumped on the first bus I saw recognising the number and then realised half way through the journey that I had NO IDEA whether it was the right direction or not. It was luckily. Also during the journey I discovered the location of Saturn, Media World (Media Markt) and Ikea. Felt like I was in Germany again.

Seeing my family coming through the gates was great. I was a little embarrassed about speaking Italian in front of them though. I could see them listening in as a ordered myself a panini. “How did you communicate with him?” asked my Sister. “In Italian obviously” said my Mum. “Wow that’s really cool.” Said my Sister. haha.

The hotel, although in a stupid location, was really nice. My mum made a fool of herself trying to order a coffee at the bar. “Mum, you do know coffee in Italy is a small espresso type drink.” “But I want a NORMAL coffee!”. *Face palm*.

On Sunday I took them for a trip of the nice parts of the city. The castles, the sea front, Mergellina port. I thought I’d save the more daunting parts for Monday. I was really disappointed with the weather, we couldn’t see anything. What’s the point of going for a walk by the sea when you can’t “sea” anything. Luckily after lunch the sun finally came out, although we still couldn’t see the volcano. There was a lot of walking involved on Sunday and Monday, which obviously was a concern for my brother and sister. But it was my mum who did most of the moaning! At times I really wanted her to just shut up.

On Monday, like I said I took them to the real parts of Naples. I tried to walk at my normal speedy pace through dingy Montesanto but my family walk SO SLOW. It was painful. I took them into the historical centre and we had a look in the little religious shops. For lunch I took them for fried pizza, which they all hated. Great. We then went to the park for an hour, where my dad fell asleep. In the park I found a 4 leaf clover :D

When he finally woke up we made our way up to Vomero for an unsuccessful shopping session and then to Mergellina for dinner.

Tuesday was a trip to Sorrento. I took the Circumvesuviana train for the first time. The train ride takes just over an hour, so pretty much like travelling from Marburg to Frankfurt. There is no beach in Sorrento, as it is on a cliff but the views are beautiful.

Sorrento

I found the town very strange. It was stunning but everyone there was either English or American and everything we went into a shop we were greeted with a “Hello, Can I help you?”. Unlike in Germany, I’ve not really had to deal with Italians trying to speak to me in English when I’m out and about. We had more ice cream, I lost count of how many times we bought ice cream in the last few days.

Gusto di Cheesecake and Frutti di bosco

We decided to get the ferry back to Naples, which was a lot more refreshing than the train and faster.

Today is my sister’s 12th Birthday. It was sad not being able to spend her birthday with her properly. But at least I was there for some of it. I’m really looking forward to June now. My boyfriend is coming and then I’m off home.

Them being here was stressful, but in a good way. Not only was it great seeing them, but they pushed me into speaking Italian in scenarios that I’ve been able to avoid so far. I now feel a lot more confident with going into a shop and telling them what I want. I’ve kinda been motivated by seeing how proud my dad is of me. He was never very supportive of my decision to study modern languages at university, especially Italian. So him telling me how good I’m doing really means a lot to me. :)

Family are coming to town

I’m picking my family up from the airport today. They will be here until Wednesday morning.

I’m really excited to see them. I haven’t seen them since the 9th January (exactly 3 months <—only just realised that). It’s going to nice having them around.

But I’m really stressing out about it.

I really don’t know Naples that well. If they had come to Marburg I would have known exactly what to do with them, where to eat, what to visit etc. Also I haven’t practiced my Italian much in public. So I am really stressing out about having to ask if there is space for 5 people in the restaurant, ordering, asking for the bill etc. This would have been a piece of cake in Marburg.

Obviously I know this will do me some good, because I will be forced to speak Italian. However I also know that my mum will be very unsympathetic and I can see an argument just waiting to happen.

Also I know that she is expecting some fabulous holiday in Naples and she will be disappointing because Naples isn’t Florence or Rome or Venice…it’s very…unique and marmite-ish.

Milk and Cookies/ Biscotti e’ latte

Instead of going out with my friends I decided to stay in an be unproductive. Around midnight I got the munchies and decided to be very “Italian” and have a bowl of milk and cookies.

ITALIANS LOVE MILK AND COOKIES. In fact it appears to be a more common breakfast than cereal. Equally interesting is that despite their eagerness to poor milk over their biscuits, milk with cereal is optional. O_o Whaaaat?