Anna

I met Anna yesterday. I’d actually met her before, but yesterday was our first time to talk--we’re exchanging conversation to practice our Italian and English.

It didn’t take long to find out that she loves country (pronounced “cow-un-tree”) music and line dancing, and was excited to find out that I really do come from Oklahoma. Her fiancé runs a Wild West show, and she always rides in carrying the American flag at the beginning (of course, she explained, they have to carry the Italian flag and play the Italian national anthem too, but she chose the American one). Her fiancé is very particular about doing things Right, so they watch rodeos (rod-E-os—we mispronounce words we borrow too) on youtube, and Italian children scramble to pull the ribbon off of a goat’s neck. She invited me to come read the Cowboy’s Prayer at the beginning sometime.

She was supposed to get married this year, but they wanted to buy a house too, so that came first, and fixing it up is happening now (so my vocabulary lesson for the day was in the construction field), and the wedding will come next year. She is a little sad that she will be so far away from her family (a 45-minute drive) and her parents won’t be able to babysit for her, but also thinks that with a little space she will have to make decisions on her own and grow instead of always depending on her parents, and will appreciate her family more when she does see them.

She’s never been to an opera, although she was born and raised in Verona, because, you know, you never see the things where you live. And yes, Italy has some beautiful places, but America…America must be visited.