One of the things I’ve learned to appreciate while being
here is being able to understand the language the people around me. There’s
something surreal about sitting in a public place, listening, and not knowing
anything being said around you. When I go into a store and a person speaks
English, there’s this immediate feeling of comfort because I know I can
communicate with them. However, it does make me realize how ignorant I am for
not knowing another language. Listening to Ricardo translate from Italian to
English during our tours, or hearing Millie converse with someone at the
restaurant in Italian, or having someone tell me they speak three languages
makes me realize how important it is to know multiple languages. I feel like
the majority of the people in Italy can speak both English and Italian, and I
value that so much.
However, there are times where it’s convenient to be
ignorant. Prime example: the Sicilian fish market. We arrived in the morning
and walked along the harbor in an aisle between fish stalls. Men would yell,
trying to get us to come see their stalls and look at their exotic options.
Some of them would smile, and girls in our group would take pictures of the
precious old men holding up lobsters. We thought it was so much fun. That is,
until someone told us the things being yelled at us. That’s when we realized a
few life lessons, one of which being how sometimes ignorance is truly bliss.
Disclaimer: besides that the fish market really was interesting.
We saw swordfish and anglerfish, and Andreas (our marine biologist guide)
explained how valuable tuna eggs and testicles are. In my opinion, it was one
of the most interactive and interesting tours of our time in Sicily.
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| Andreas showing us all the edible parts of tuna |
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