Sexy Night

“Ragazzi, tonight is the sexy night!” Appropriately, they were yelled by a great guy named Vito. And with those words kicked off my first big, Italian dinner party last weekend. As usual, on Friday, if I don't have plans I happily eat a little dinner, watch some mad Italian TV and go to bed. The normal end of the week crash. Some things never change and I’m glad I got the extra sleep because I would need it on Saturday. However, for the first time since I arrived here, I left my camera in the apartment so there are no pictures to include. The leaden eloquence of my words will have to suffice.

Saturday morning, I slept in and woke to an empty apartment. All three of my roommates had gone home for the weekend which is common in the apartment and for a lot of Italy I guess. Since the country is relatively small and easy to get around, many people find jobs away from their hometowns but still regularly visit their family by taking the train home Friday after work and back to their job early Monday morning. That’s what my roommates do most weekends meaning I have the place to myself. Taking advantage of this, I did laundry (four people, one small lavatrice means it’s always in use during the week) and some cleaning in the morning.

Mid-afternoon, my friend Vayla from work came by and picked me up. He grew up in Ancona and wanted to show me some of his favorite places around the city. We went driving along the coast to Porto Nuovo (New Port) and then we went shopping. I bought some shoes. My first Italian ones. They are hideous so everyone here likes them. Most importantly for me, they have velcro fasteners so I'm ecstatic. After this excitement we went for an apperitivo which is the mid-afternoon, early evening drink and snack that carries you through until you have a late dinner. It’s pretty much Happy Hour, but in a custom that began in Milan as a way to bring in business from office workers during the hours between the end of the day and dinner, many bars now put out a buffet of small sandwiches and other finger foods that are free and all-you-can-eat if you purchase a drink. It puts American Happy Hour to shame. While at the bar we happened to start talking with the two women at the table next to us. They were visiting Ancona for the weekend from Holland. Tickets from Dusseldorf were 40 Euros so they booked a long weekend. Vayla was the perfect person for them to have met because he knows everyone and everywhere in town. He put them on the guest list for a private club and got them dinner reservations. In return, we got email addresses for if we ever happen to find ourselves in Dusseldorf.

Vayla had invited me to a dinner/birthday party for three of his friends later that night so we said our goodbyes to the Dutch girls in order to make it to dinner in time. Everyone dressed to the hilt like I sort of suspected they would but luckily I wore my new shoes so I fit right in. There were about 30 people for dinner and they all knew each other quite well and had grown up together. No one but Vayla really spoke English so I spent most of the night trying to guess at the conversations and not stare at boobs. By dressing to the hilt, for the girls that seemed to mean very low-cut tops. If you can't speak the language at least enjoy the scenery. (This is when I forget my camera at home!) But it was a really nice evening. By the end of it I suspect I was partially fluent in Italian and had made plenty of new friends. Or not. We left the restaurant a little after 1am and most of them were going dancing. I went with another group to another restaurant for a nightcap (is that what they are?) and didn't get to bed until after 3:30. It was my first sort of real Italian event and it was a lot of fun. For the first time I felt like I was experiencing a real, authentic part of the local scenery. I have yet to be invited to someone’s house for a meal cooked by their mom but I’m dropping as many hints as I can.
Tonight Inter plays Barcelona in a Champion’s league match so we’ll probably go watch that.

I wonder what Eric is doing right now?