The Good and The Bad: Shopping and Da Willy

Today started out on a good note. Rita told me she finally got a hold of Sergio (the landlord) and that he had his days mixed up and was planning to come by this evening. She told him we wouldn't be home so he ended up coming first thing this morning. He showed us how to work the oven (finally) although it's a bit of a pain because it's a gas oven and the pilot light is pretty deep into the oven. The stove was pretty simple. I gave him 1000 euros which included my half of July's rent and my half of the security deposit, but then after I reminded him that I would be leaving at the end of July and he would have to return to give me the deposit back, I guess laziness got the best of him. He told me to keep my half of the deposit and that Rita's half would have to cover the both of us. I thought that was nice of him but made a point to let Rita know that I would gladly pay my share if something were to go wrong. We barely touch anything in the apartment that we don't have to though, so it shouldn't be a problem (let's hope there are no freak accidents!).
Today also marks the official arrival of July! You know, the "big bill" is paid, and what's left is my money to enjoy myself as I please (pretty soon, the "big bill" will be my Wharton tuition loan, but let's not think about that right now). Since it's officially July, I am now allowed to go shopping (self-inflicted rule). So, after Sergio left, I ate breakfast, and continued my research for a couple of hours, then left around 2:45 to hit the stores. Most stores close between 1 and 3pm here, and of course, we are on Italian time, so many of the stores I passed at first were still closed. I decided to walk down Corso Genova (one of the main streets near our apartment that leads to the Duomo). There were a lot of cute shops along the street, and I tried my best to make it into as many of them as possible. Rather than bore you with the details, I will give you the official synopsis of my shopping trip. Here's what I learned today: (1) I can't fit 99% of the pants in Italy (as opposed to only 80% of pants in the states); (2) Italians sure like American hip hop and R&B (it was playing in virtually every store I entered...if I hear Ludacris one more time!); (3) Italians also like t-shirts with english sayings on them...except the sayings are usually not grammatically correct; (4) fitting rooms are a "self-service" activity...and don't expect for the little makeshift curtain to completely hide you - you may have to bend down a little so Marie over there isn't staring at your tatas, and finally (5) Italians have no shame - they will try on a shirt in the middle of the street over their clothes, just to see if it fits. Well, those were the major lessons of the day. Since I only had about an hour and a half to shop due to my client meeting (thankfully, or I would have done more damage), my purchases were limited but I happen to think I did well. I bought a navy cotton shirtdress, a long sleeve white blouse with poofy sleeves (very stylish), and a gray halter, which represents my first attempt to wear a sleeveless halter top (I'm hoping it stays up - I'm not quite endowed in that department). Total damage: 18 euros. Yeah, I know. Hard to believe. Y'all know I'm a bargain shopper.
Once I got back to the apartment, I had to get ready for our first meeting at our client's office. Stefania had told us that business attire in Italy is much less formal than in the states so I wore a pair of gray striped slacks, a blue dress tank top, and a white short sleeve blazer. For some reason I was still worried that I might not be dressed appropriately but when I got there, all that went out the window. The other girls in our group were dressed in what I would consider to be the casual end of business casual, and very stylish. Nice. While we were waiting in the foyer area, the CEO of Boffi (http://www.boffi.com/), an Italian furniture design company, stopped to say hello on his way out. Apparently, he knows Ashley (I told you that girl had contacts). Our meeting began about 10 minutes late (Italian time), and consisted of at least a good 30 minutes of the clients' executive director adding target companies to our existing list. From what I followed, we added at least five companies, but I may have missed a few in between the mix of Italian and English that was being spoken in the room. After the executive director left, we stayed a little longer with our primary client contact, the rep from the market research company that is partnering with us, and the client education and research head to address open questions. The project itself is going to be huge, and apparently what we are beginning will be part of a long term study involving different countries, but that's about all I'll say. It's quite exciting. We were told that we could have local travel sponsored - like going to conduct interviews in Rome and Florence (I'm crossing my fingers I'm one of the folk that get to travel). We are planning to complete the first phase of interviews while I am still here so the chances are good. I am also hoping I get to interview some folks in fashion. Many of the target people on our list are CEOs or Marketing Directors, so it's quite intimidating, yet, a great opportunity. We are also targeting a number of people in NYC, so the outlook is looking good that I'll get to do at least a few face to face interviews within the fashion industry. At the end of the meeting, our team of 9 decided to meet tomorrow morning at 10am to start putting together a work plan which is due Friday at 4pm. We will have to leave to go to our second client meeting at 12:30, then return to finish the workplan. And don't forget - the fashion show is tomorrow! So tomorrow will be a full day.
On the walk home, we decided to stop by the grocery store since we now have an oven and can cook. After shopping, and the meeting, neither of us was actually in the mood to cook, however. So we decided we'd go to the pizza place on the corner and get a calzone. Except they were closed (it was about 9pm). So we walked to another pizza place. Then Rita decided she didn't want pizza. Then she mentioned something about a sandwich. Which made me realize that I had made a sandwich earlier but I hadn't eaten it. So then I thought, what on earth did I eat today? And all I could remember was that I ate some cereal and fruit. Not good. Once it occurred to me that I had barely eaten all day (must have been too focused on shopping), my head started hurting. We walked to this Japanese fusion restaurant that sold sushi, but we couldn't understand half the menu. And they were expensive. So finally, we walked to this restaurant about two blocks away called "Da Willy" (no, I'm not making that up - I have pictures to prove it). They had takeout so Rita ordered spaghetti alla ragu (w/ marinara sauce) and I ordered a spinach calzone without ricotta cheese (don't like it - I'll tolerate it buried in lasagna but that's about it). Rita's food came about 10 minutes later, but 20 minutes later we were still sitting there waiting on my calzone. Now I'm thinking, I know a calzone takes a little longer to cook since it's fresh but 20 minutes is ridiculous. So I attempted to get the takeout guy's attention, except he was taking his sweet time with the customer he was helping (a woman with two kids who had been waiting about 5 minutes just for someone to show up and take her order). So I flagged a waitress down and asked her about the calzone. She said she would check. For double measure, I go back to the takeout guy and finally get his attention and tell him that my calzone was never brought out (which I felt I shouldn't have had to do - we were standing in his face the entire time). So he goes to the kitchen and returns and gives me a thumbs up sign and walks out. What? No explanation. Just a thumbs up? Mind you, all of this is happening with my severely limited Italian. If I spoke better Italian I'm sure it would have gone much smoother, but such is life. Five minutes later, the waitress I had flagged down returns and asks for my receipt. Then she says something to the takeout guy. Then she disappears. She comes out five minutes later and tells me 2 more minutes, it's in the fire. Really? Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better. Finally, another couple of minutes pass and out she comes with the pizza box. I get no apology for the 40 minute wait or the fact that they clearly forgot my order. I check to make sure its a calzone and leave. But of course, that was just the beginning. I get home, sit down and cut into my calzone, and what do I see staring me right in the face? Ricotta cheese. I was so pissed off. I got up, closed the box, and walked out the door, right back down to "Da Willy." If I hadn't waited 40 minutes I may had just sucked it up...actually, no I wouldn't have. I don't like ricotta cheese enough. But especially after a 40 minute wait with no apologies, they could at least get my order right. When I returned to the restaurant, it took a good three minutes just to explain what the problem was. I grabbed everyone I could find: the takeout guy, the waitress, the runners - I figured between them they should be able to understand me. But no, it finally came down to me opening the box, pulling apart the calzone and pointing to the ricotta cheese. The takeout guy says "oh, it's spinach" - no, fool! It's ricotta. (This is what happens when I'm pissed - my sarcasm kicks in) I kept saying "no ricotta! no ricotta!" then finally he goes "oh, no ri-coh-ta"...apparently I wasn't quite pronouncing it the Italian way. I wanted to scream. They finally take the box back although still no apology. I did get an apology however, from the bartender who had been staring me down during the first visit. He said "I'm so sorry" and I wanted to say "for what? you didn't do anything." The folks who should have been apologizing didn't seem to care. He offered me a drink while I waited which was the only nice gesture during the entire situation. This time I managed about an 8 minute wait before the takeout guy finally came out with my calzone. Of course I sat there and pulled it apart before I left just to be sure. Ah! After an hour of stress, confusion, and a monster headache, I finally had a spinach calzone...without ricotta.
By the time I got back to the apartment, I was barely even hungry anymore (you know when you get so hungry that you just lose your appetite....or is that just me?). I ate the calzone, since I had worked hard enough for it. It was good, but not an hour wait, and two trips good. Enough for now. Oh, one last thing: I finally got the mobile phone from Ashley today. I haven't quite done anything with it yet but she explained how to use it. So, now I have a phone for the next four weeks. Also, I took a few pictures today and am also posting some from the market over the weekend, so check them out: http://picasaweb.google.com/keeshaun/July1st. Ciao!