Last night, my parents took me to a restaurant to celebrate their friend's son's birthday. To my surprise, they knew how to speak English.
The son (whose name I forget...) could speak a little bit because nowadays, most thirtysomethings know basic English. But his dad (Salvatore) was 100% fluent: "Hi, nice to meet you. Do you speak Italian? English? Eh, we can talk in English. Why not?" I asked him how he knew English so well. Apparently, he works for the NATO!
I sat next to Salvatore's wife, Patricia, and she was so sweet. She kept saying "I apologize for my imperfect English," but I kept thinking if I could speak Italian like she can speak English, I would be so happy.
She complimented me a lot for knowing so much Italian already despiite the fact that I have never taken italian until I got here a month ago. With this confidence boost, I made a joke in Italian! (When I asked Patricia to pass the salad, she said "la mia!" As a payback, when she asked for prosciutto, I said "il mio!" She cracked up so much and gave me a cheek kiss haha)
Then, she and I walked around and talked about the States (she has been to a lot of places) and Amsterdam because both of her daughters live there. She showed me photos of their fiances and told me how she loved the fact they were both marrying non-Italians. Patricia really loves meeting new people and experiencing new cultures, so she asked me a lot about Korea as well.
It was a wonderful evening. I even got an inspiration to write a poem about the pizza I ordered (trust me, it's good)! Hopefully I will get to meet this family again soon.