Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

The Kindness Of Strangers

7/7/2014

3 Comments

 
    Continued from Friday...
    So there I was, 20 years old, decades before the age of cell phones and GPS's,  lost in Rome at night and scared to death.
    Now granted, if I'd been a little older and a little savvier and a little less hung up on every dollar (or franc or lira) I spent I'd have thought to look for a taxi. However the thought of a taxi never even occured to me. In fact I was so worried about myself that it wasn't until much later that I stopped to wonder about how my new friend Tina got back to her hotel.  But in retrospect, I'll bet she just found herself a taxi.  I know she was a much smarter cookie than I.
    So I did the only thing I could think of to do, which was to stand under a street light and stare at my map and try not to cry.
    Then a nice-looking woman holding the hand of a little girl came up to me.  I couldn't understand what she was asking me but I figured from her  concerned look  that she must be offering me help.  I tried telling her in English then in French that I was lost,  though  I'm sure that much must have been  obvious from the map in my hand and the distress on my face. 
    I pointed to the location on my map of the hostel where I was staying and said, "autobus", one of my few Italian words.  She knew what I meant, and so thankful was I that she did  that I started using my two other Italian words, molte grazie. ("Thank you very much")
    Soon there were a few more people standing around me looking at my map discussing with the woman  which bus I should take to get back to my hostel, while I interjected the conversation once in a while with a molte grazie.  A couple of men seemed to know where I needed to go so the woman who'd first helped me indicated that I should follow them.
    Of course I had no idea whether they were taking me to a bus stop or an opium den, but I followed and molte grazie'd  them until we did, in fact, arrive at a bus stop, much to my relief.
    There were a few other people waiting at the stop and, bucket-brigade fashion, the two men next passed me on to that group and handed them my map and showed them where on the map I needed to end up.  "Molte grazie," said I.
    When the bus arrived they showed me and my map to the bus driver, who studied the map and nodded yes.  My heart rejoiced. You know what I said.
    Finally my map was returned to me by the bus driver but as soon as I sat down the passengers sitting across from me who'd witnessed the commotion of my entrance wanted to see my map and know where I was going.   I gladly handed them my map and pointed to the hostel, said "molte grazie" then sat down while they looked over my map and discussed whatever it was they were discussing.  Finally they handed me back my map and nodded with a smile, which I returned, overflowing as I was with gratitude, relief, and molte grazie’s all aroun.
                 Though earlier I was as frightened as I'd ever been in my life,  now I was as relieved as I'd ever been.
                When we reached my stop the driver kept  going and instead stopped the bus right in front of the hostel, I suppose to keep me from getting lost again.   And though it wasn't a scheduled stop nobody seemed to mind. Now I felt like crying from thankfulness to this bus full of kind strangers.
                I no longer recall if during this trip every single exchange I had with an Italian was a positive one.  In fact, now that I think of it, there was that time in Florence when a waiter in a restaurant tried to scam me on a bill and our tour bus driver, Michel, caused a commotion over it and physically threatened the dishonest waiter.  I was scared a fight would break out and  someone would call the police but instead  the waiter fixed the bill and afterwards Michel laughed and said, “J’adore faire chier.” (“I love to make people s**t themselves”).
                 I’m sure if I really tried I might even be able to dredge up a few more inauspicious moments from that trip, or maybe from my second visit to that country a few years later.
                  But in truth, when I think of Italy and the Italians my first, clearest and dearest memory is of the time when I was a frightened young  stranger in  a strange land and of the kindness of the people who rescued me.
    [Though I also still like to remember how much fun I had on that low-budget student bus tour forty-three years ago ;) ].

Picture
    A photo of our tour group celebrating New Year's Eve, 1971, in  Venice.  That's me in the middle of the photo in the red plaid skirt and blue sweater dancing with our fearless bus driver, Michel.
3 Comments
Romaine
7/6/2014 11:50:46 pm

Great story! How wonderful that they all banded together to get you home to your bus stop! Personally I have a great affinity for Italian-Americans. For some reason often when I meet an I-A on the west coast my first thought is that they are from the east coast. I think that's because I feel so comfortable with that culture that I feel like I'm with someone I've known a long time.

Reply
joseph
7/7/2014 09:24:34 am

I know quite a few I-A's

Reply
Patti
7/8/2014 02:11:47 am

I like Italian-Americans, too: the best of both worlds! But it's good that you, Joe and Romain, both like I-A's since you each married one! [And you each married a really nice one! 8) ]

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact