Leslie's 2nd Post - Quite an Adventure!

Comfort Zone

Italy is helping me understand the words “home” and “comfort zone”. I am finding that as we venture away from our little house in Fiesole, that each return makes it feel more like home. It has become my comfort zone in Italy.

Today’s adventure begins as many previous adventures have... Mark has already been for his run and is pacing around the house wanting to go “do” something. Emily, Grace, and I are all comfy and settling in for a day at home... Our home. Our comfort zone. He is so exuberant and persuasive as he says, “WHO wants to go to IperCoop?” (The Italians pronounce this word “eeper cope”.) Well, we can’t resist his invitation so I get out my computer and start looking for the address of the IperCoop, which by car is over 30 minutes away. To my surprise, I find that I can actually google map it from our doorstep to theirs... by BUS!! We will have to take 3 different lines and the trip will take us 1:19. There will also be a bit of walking once we get off the bus at the other end. We “bug up” (which means we spray ourselves with Avon Skin So Soft to battle the mosquitos) and forge out on our adventure.

The #7 bus is our usual line down to Piazza San Marco, so that’s easy. Once in the piazza we have some challenges finding our bus - good thing Lorena was here last night and we are brushed up on our Italian!! After walking around the whole circle, we find that #17 picks up right where we got off the #7. This is handy to know since #17 takes us to the train station where we will pick up visitors over the year. The bus is PACKED to the walls - Grace and I are pressed against the glass that separates the riders from the driver. We smile at each other as we both catch a whiff of the guy standing way too close to us. Fortunately, its only 2 stops to the station. Here we have a bit easier time of it to find #28 which will take us all the way out of town to the IperCoop. Here is starts getting a little sketchy as we don’t know exactly where to get off - I think it’s the end of the line, but we start passing signs to the IperCoop and seem to be passing it. I’ve expended all my bravery and decide to just get off the bus rather than ask the driver where we should get off for the Ipercoop.... ahhh, my stupid pride!! My sweet family dutifully follows me off the bus and looks at me hopefully. You see, usually I am a good navigator and they count on me... sometimes their confidence puts them in these predicaments.... Soooo, since we just passed a sign (well, about a half mile back) we head in that direction and are literally the ONLY pedestrians in the whole car infested neighborhood. We walk, following the signs meant for drivers, to the Ipercoop. (See photos from our walk.... arent you glad we brought the camera??)


My mileage guy says we walked 1.5 miles, but it seemed much farther...


How to describe Ipercoop... maybe like a not-nearly-so-clean Super Walmart?? Course all the words are in Italian, all the people are speaking Italian, and the food is... Italian. By now we are hungry, sweaty, and tired. Mark heads for the electronic section while the girls and I look for something to eat. Here we make our first mistake... we go out the wrong place... ya know how when you want to leave the grocery store you sometimes just cut through a check stand?? Apparently, a big NO NO in Ipercoop. Out of nowhere appears a security dude who tells us in Italian that we need to go out the other way. I am thinking to myself, “but we are already out...” Instead I look at him with my blank “I have no idea what you are saying because I am a stupid American” look. “No parlo Italiano... mi dispiace.” So, he points to the far end of the store and says, “Uscita la! Exit la!!” and makes us go back in the way we came. We find the exit and there we find that there they have sensors to make sure people don’t steal stuff. The girls and I wonder if he thinks we were trying to steal.... Next, we make our way down the little mall and find some pizza. It’s then that we realize that the security guy is following us!! wow.... Then we try to order the pizza and the lady points to a sign that says we must pay, then order. We are learning that this is a common thing in Italy. You tell the person what you want as they stand by the cash register, you pay (here it is important to remember not to HAND them your money... you must put it in the little dog dish thing where they scoop it out and therein place your change - said lady was not happy that I handed her the money... sue me! I was still recovering from the cop incident!!) We sit and eat the pizza and a cannolo (dont make the mistake of calling it a cannoli! One is a cannolo and my ordering apparently really confused the pizza lady.) Then we set off into the store again to find Mark.

The rest of our time in the store goes smoothly and we are excited to find the screen we can velcro to our windows to help keep out the zanare (mosquitos.) While Mark and Emily are paying, Grace and I go to the Information Box to see if we can get directions to a closer bus stop. Here I am relieved to meet some very nice ladies. Course they dont speak a lick of English, but with my primary Italian language skills I understand that there is a bus stop right across the street - Bus # 57. So we dash across the traffic and read the bus schedule (also a picture)

which says the bus should be there at 17:21.

We have about 20 minutes to just chill there and we entertain ourselves singing off key. At 5:25 I suddenly realize that the schedule reads that this bus only runs on weekdays.... we bust out laughing.... for about 10 seconds until we realize we have absolutely NO idea how to find that other bus. So... we hike back into Ipercoop and return to the Information box. I explain to the nice ladies that #57 doesnt run on Saturdays and she then starts to ask her coworkers where the #28 stop might be. She has a very worried look on her face when she returns - I ask her to draw me a map and tell her she can speak Italian to explain. I pick up about every third word so armed with her map and instructions we begin our journey to the new bus stop. She says it will take at least 10 minutes. Off we go - fish out of water!! On our way, the #28 zooms past us and we realize that the street it turned off of has a bus stop right there!! Praise GOD!! We sit in the shade on an actual bench as we wait the 25 minutes for the bus. When it pulls up we feel a great sense of accomplishment!! Now you have to picture #28... Its two busses put together by an accordion thingy in the middle. The seats that are left put Mark and Em in the very back and when we hit the bumps in the street it gives Emily a rollercoaster ride as she flies a foot off the seat! Woot!!

The end of the trip finds us back on #7 - ahhhhhh, back to familiar...6hours from when we began!!! As we walk off the bus in Fiesole I get that same feeling I have had before when I get off a plane in Orange County after a long trip. My Italian comfort zone!! Praising our Lord for keeping His eye on us today - and for helping us feel home.