On my blog Life and Other Absurdities, you'll find stories about my utter-character of a Spanish Senora, "Chiqui," who smoked and wore leopard print ensembles and refused to eat, and lived in a rather glamorous apartment filled with chandeliers and art. As for Fulvia, the Italian senora who ran the "Blue Bed and Breakfast," neither her character nor apartment were quite so extreme, but they were still both enough to take me back to those grand old days of staying with Chiqui.
Another posh, trim, middle-aged smoker, Fulvia called me "Elizabet" with exactly the same lilt, and like Chiqui she was always popping her head around the corner to ask about my day and determine how my language skills were progressing. We had an agreement; she would only speak Italian to me, and I, with the aid of an enormous Italian dictionary, would do my best to respond. I usually had to abandon the dictionary altogether in favor of miming things out, and Fulvia would shout her guesses in Italian, and when I thought she had it right or was getting tired I would point and nod, and so I got to play charades every day in addition to learning Italian.
At nights she offered me tea and on the second evening she called me out to see the spectacular sunset on the balcony... not to mention, I had a gigantic comfy bed and a delicious spread of breakfast set out every morning. We gave each other a hug good-bye, and I left her a little cartoon of me with my gigantic suitcase saying, "Mille Grazie," and I am already looking back on my brief experience at the Blue B&B fondly!
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