I have been busy getting a lot of beaurocratic things done which takes forever here because everyone is so slow. One of the things I had to do was obtain a codice fiscale. A codice fiscale is a tax payer’s number and it can be compared to an American social security number. When I arrived at the agency they had just started closing for their afternoon break (another factor that makes getting things done a lot longer), but I received a number so that when I returned I would be taken care of. Luckily I was number four. I went to a bar (in Italian a bar is a café) to kill some time and when I returned there was a line of about 50 people. Since I was number four I went straight to the front of the line, and was waiting in front of the glass doors. As soon as the agency was about to re-open everyone started circling around, pushing, trying to cut each other…it was a mess. Since I was at the front of the line I felt myself getting closer and closer to the glass doors and I felt like as soon as the doors opened I would be completely trampled on. I kept thinking of the horrible incident that happened two years ago at Walmart when a man got trampled to death on Black Friday.
Cultural Note: It’s cute how this 15-year-old boy makes espresso for himself in the morning. It comes as naturally as an American kid pouring himself a glass of orange juice in the morning.
Highlight of my Week/ Cultural Note: I now have my very own Italian bank account! I was talking to the banker, and Italians don’t pay their bills by check like Americans. They either pay their bills online or they go to the post office and pay them in person at the post office. To pay for rent they do money transfers.
Ultimate Sight: I walked along the Passeggiata Gianicolo, which looks over the entire city of Rome. Since it is up on a hill, it is very cool and it receives a refreshing breeze called il vento Ponentino. I was chatting with this man in his 70s for two hours and he was lecturing me on the different monuments. I was literally taking notes as he was speaking because he was telling me such interesting information. There is a specific fountain along the walk that his dog, Red, always drinks from.
