Sigh

"Ma sei ancora qua? Non sei andata in ferie?" asks the cashier. I look up at her. Effetivamente, I have seen her before (actually, ormai I recognize all of the ones at the ex-Standa and most of the ones at the Conad on via Adua), but I'm fairly certain we have never talked before. Evidently they pay more attention to us customers than vice versa. Also it's kind of a tricky question...

"Beh... I'm going home, actually..." I respond after a moment of thought. She frowns slightly, apparently trying to figure this out. "Sono americana," I clarify.

"Ahhh," she responds. I briefly wonder if she had all along thought I was just a particularly stupid Italian person, since it took me a month to figure out what "ce l'hai, la tessera?" and "vuoi un sacchetto?" mean. ('Have you got the card' and 'do you want a bag', respectively. The first refers to a membership card that gives you points or something - no, non ce l'ho - and the second to the fact that here you pay for your plastic bags.)

A brief conversation ensues, in which we establish that I am/was a teacher here, I also speak English (I figured this would be a given what with being American and all, but apparently not), that she's just been to Spain on vacation, and that I'm leaving tomorrow morning. The person behind me is showing signs of irritation.

"Ma poi torni, vero?" she finally asks. I shrug. I don't really feel up to explaining about the if-I-get-enough-interviews-to-get-into-a-school-by-December-I-can-come-back-in-January situation, and so I respond with a vague negative.

"Maddai! No!" she seems genuinely upset. I find this vaguely odd, but also kind of touching.

I'm kind of smiling as I walk out. The bells are ringing. There are not one, but two accordian players in via Toschi, both playing Strauss (not especially well, but still). Both piazze are full of market stalls and baby carriages and chattering people. Bits and pieces of conversation in Italian and in dialect float past.

I think my colleagues who abandoned ship in February had the right idea - Reggio would have been a lot easier to leave when it was chilly and gloomy and covered in nebbia (fog) and I caught some virus or other every Tuesday morning in the materna classes. Now that it's sunny and beautiful and even a random cashier appears to be distressed by my leaving. Can't say that you're making it easy for me, Reggio.

On that note... I think I've done pretty much everything possible to put off actually finishing with the packing and cleaning, so... I guess I'd better do that. I also discovered another spider in a corner, which brings the total up to three, so that right there could take an hour or two to deal with. Sigh.

Intanto... per gennaio... speriamo, veh?