Post date: May 01, 2014 11:23:16 PM
Week 3: Day 3
Tobacchi stores are everywhere and they sell everything. Today, I went in to one to buy some stamps. Waiting behind a couple buying cigarettes, I began looking at the shelves. They had the typical tobacco pipes, lighters, hookah’s, shot glasses, bottle openers. And the necessary bus passes, stamps, tickets and what not. And they even had bathing suits, flip flops, snacks, postcards, sunglasses. This brief list barely covers the vast amount of randomness that is sold in every tobacchi store. It is as though someone emptied an entire seven eleven into a closet with glass cabinets and shelves. Comparatively, Italy is much more space-efficient.
During our break today I went to my favorite Gelateria, Profumo di Rosa. Rosa is a small store close to our school, with swirly letters and a rose branch on its sign. The woman who owns and runs the store, is in her 20′s. With her black hair tied up in a pony tail she works quickly behind the counter giving people change, scooping ice cream and talking. She speaks over 5 languages, and makes all of the Gelato on her own. Scooping ice cream on this sunny day she goes from Italian, to German, to English, addressing all of her customers clearly without a second thought. Her dedication and ability amazes me. Not only is she able to communicate and connect with people from all over the world, but she’s able to do it all because of something she is passionate about: Gelato.
Tonight for dinner we learned how to make pesto! We went and picked up three big trays of plain trofie pasta and headed to the outside patio at the Marcelline. At the end of a line of white plastic tables was one of the Italian professors. She began by listing all of the ingredients: Basic, salt, cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, and garlic. One by one we ground the ingredients with a mortar and pestle.