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Day at Sea - Part 6
Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino
Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
Is Margherita Italian, or isn't she?
Today we woke up late. It might have been that we were tired, or maybe the effects of drinking multiple glasses of wine. Either way, we woke up and headed right upstairs to the Mexican buffet.
That day we were at sea, so our day involved waking up, eating, watching a movie, walking around the deck, and attending a lecture on the clash of civilizations.
For dinner, we pretended to be Italian. Well, actually I did. First of all, if you’ve forgotten or aren’t aware, Margherita’s family is so Sicilian they identify with the movie The Godfather as a piece of true life history. My family on the other hand, thought Chef Boyardee was rather good Italian food. Since then I’ve studied Italian simply to communicate with my mother-in-law.
Anyway, the ships’ crew overheard Margherita and I speaking Italian with some crewmembers and decided that we must be Italian. They thought we would fit in at the Captain’s table, as he was a native Italian. As a further side-note, Sicilian is to Italian, like Spanish is to Italian. Yeah, it’s pretty close, but not really.
We arrived at the captain’s table and noticed that the place cards all had Italian names. Coincidence? I think not.
Anyway, the other guests arrived and it was "them". Yes, "them". I say this third person "them" as if it’s negative but really they were nice people. But the "them" were the Milanese. Yes, guests who were straight from Milan and not a word of English between any of them. Okay, that’s not fair, they did say hello, but after that it was quite limited.
However, I did have my lovely wife who could speak Italian, or so I thought.
When the Milanese talked, she nodded appropriately. Surely she understood.
"Honey, please help" I whispered.
She looked at me and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "I have no clue what they’re saying. They’re speaking ‘real’ Italian."
Now, the captain was a wonderfully charming man, but I discerned that more from his body language as my brain was spending most of it’s energy in translating my old Italian 102 classes as quickly as possible.
This was my night for two hours.
Fast forward to the next day. We saw the Italian couple at brunch, who greeted us and said in Italian, "Vai a spiaggia?"
Margherita promptly responded, "No, siamo andato al mare."
The Italian looked at her, gave her the type of smile that one reserves for an unintelligent child and walked on.
Margherita looked at me confused and I couldn’t help but laugh. Fortunately, my Italian/English flashcards served me well.
"My love, do you know what the word "spiaggia" means?"
"No."
"She asked you if you were going to the beach, and you said, ‘NO, we are going to the ocean.’"
"Oh"
San Jose - Part 1
San Jose - Part 2
Silversea's Silver Wind - Part 1
Day at Sea - Part 2
Panama Canal/Gatun Lake - Part 3
San Blas Island - Part 4
Cartagena, Colombia - Part 5
Day at Sea - Part 6
Aruba - Part 7
Curacao - Part 8
Bonaire - Part 9
At Sea - Part 10
St. Georges, Grenada - Part 11
Barbados - Part 12
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