back and conversing!

I arrived back in Milan earlier today... I was home for a week in Denver, Colorado for my oldest brother's wedding!

Lenny and Lexey are MARRIED! (More posts and photos to come...)

Both of my flights were thankfully smooth... and then I took the express train, metro, tram, and bus to get back to my apartment. Coming into my apartment mid-day today felt good... it feels like 'Home'.   : )

I was in need of a coffee/caffeine... and met up at a nearby cafe in Opera with a teacher's wife. She went to St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY too! ...Starting two years after me. She got married this summer and now has followed her husband to Opera - pretty awesome.

From coffee, I went to CoOp - the supermarket in Opera. There, an older man (maybe about 70 years old or so) started talking to me in rapid Italian in one of the aisles. This has happened many times... which I take to mean that I must look Italian! YEAH! Haha. (Unlike in Vietnam...)

I told the man, "Io parlo un poco Italiano..." (I speak a little Italian...)

...but like with most of the others, he smiled and kept speaking in Italian. He asked (in Italian) where I am from ...and then LOVED the fact that I am American.

We then had an entire (15 minute) conversation ...in Italian!... about Obama, Clinton, Bush, (and let's not forget Chelsea or Hillary!) and his thoughts on them on. He's most definitely a fan of Obama. We spoke of bin Laden... as well as Denver, Colorado... Cheyenne... the Grand Canyon... and on to Florida, California, and how his son has been living in Nebraska, married to an American girl for 3 years now.

It was a riot. ...And pretty awesome. ...But I couldn't get away!  :P

As I was telling him it was nice to meet him and slowly backing out of the aisle, he introduces himself (Anthony) and kisses my right hand, which he had been shaking. He then grabs my left hand... kisses it... and inspects it to see if there is a ring.

Anthony and I bumped into each other again in the produce section. Opera is a small place... I'll have to see if I meet up with Anthony again!