I Want a Burrito



MONDAY, January 30, 1995.

The Italian food in Tuscany is delicious - but variety is the spice of life. When I first arrived in Siena I promised myself that I would not go to "Burghy" - the local fast food hamburger joint (miraculously, McDonalds is absent). I'm still opposed to the idea - but I may snap - I may not be able to stop myself. During my travels this past weekend, I drove past a Chinese restaurant - I couldn't believe my eyes. Unfortunately, we did not stop. I think an American breakfast is in order - I will go to the market (if I'm lucky, it will be open) and buy the ingredients for an omelette, French toast, hash browns.... mmm, that sounds good. But what I really, really want is a burrito from La Bamba Tacqueria in Mountain View. I ate one (or more) of those puppies every week for almost two years, and now they're gone.

Last Thursday, my friends Malina (German), Carol (English), and Michele (Swiss German), who share an apartment together, decided it would be fun to rent a car and explore the countryside during the weekend. We have school on Saturday mornings, but we would have the rest of the weekend free. We talked about this at school, and I agreed this sounded like a good idea, as did Lonni (Danish), and Stefano (Swiss German - darn, a repeat). Thursday afternoon, I realized that no one had said anything about exactly how we were going to rent a car so I took it upon myself to investigate. I walked to one edge of town - near the Porta San Marco (Siena is a walled city) - to a car rental place listed in Let's Go and reserved a car for Saturday. I didn't know what I was getting into.

The first problem was that the biggest car available could seat only 5, but we had 6 people who wanted to go. A situation like this is difficult even when everyone shares a common culture and language. For example, in America, say two people are eating cookies and that awkward moment arrives when there is only one left on the plate. A person who really wants the cookie might say to the other, "you can have it" when they really mean "I want it." These types of rituals are not the same across cultures. I've heard many interesting stories about customs in Japan, things like refusing invitations to enjoy your favorite meal. I honestly think it took about 2 hours of discussion - everyone being ridiculously cautious and polite - for us to reach a decision. Carol would stay home on Saturday. Stefano would stay home on Sunday. OK, already.

The second problem (are we keeping count?) was going to pick up the car. The car rental place is closed, naturally, between 1 and 4. Class ends at 1:30. I had everyone staring at me with eyes that said, "we know you don't want to skip class, but could you please, please leave school early so that we don't have to waste the afternoon waiting around." And so I did. And so I had my first experience driving in Siena, alone. I wanted to drive over to the school so that I could collect everyone when class let out. I had the car at 12:45 - to walk to the school would take 20 minutes. Should be no problem... I asked the guy at the rental place how to drive to Piazza la Lizza. Ready for this? Through the Porta San Marco, out of the city into the countryside, loop around the city, back in a different gate, and then it gets tricky. I was overwhelmed. I had to simultaneously get used to my fabulous Fiat Uno (which carries 5 but I think is equipped with a lawn-mower engine), Italian road signs, hairpin turns, and navigate. At 1:30, confused and disoriented after having driven in what must have been many circles, I found a parking space somewhere which I thought was close to the school. I got out of the car, and started walking to the corner to figure out what street I was on, and heard "Hey, Brad, did you get the car?" Everyone was there, right in front of me. I said, "what are you guys doing here?" Turns out I was parked almost directly in front of the school. Did I mention that I was disoriented?

We grabbed some pizza and gelato for lunch and then piled into the car. Although the Italians are slow about most things, they are not slow about issuing parking tickets - fortunately, I knew this. During lunch, I kept telling people, "come on, we have to get back to the car by 2:30," yet they continued to dawdle - all except Lonni (Danish). This is interesting for stereotypical analysis. I, the American, was in a hurry - makes sense. Stefano and Michele, the Swiss, were not - apparently, the Swiss are not always on time. (I can hear Andre saying, "yes, of course.") I hurried ahead and narrowly avoided the ticket - the meter man (what do you call a male meter maid - a meter butler?) was on his way. Everyone arrived at the car eventually (10 minutes later) and we piled in. Destination: al mare - the sea. I drove out into the Italian countryside with my German speaking navigators. And of course, we got lost.

Fortunately, it wasn't too bad - after about 2 hours of driving, we arrived in Follonica - an ugly, touristy, beach town particularly unexciting in the winter. But we did get to walk on the beach and watch as the sun began to set. It was nice to escape from the narrow and shadowy streets of Siena. We continued south along the coast to Castiglione, a rustic Tuscan fishing town - which was much nicer, although not particularly notable. Noi abbiamo bevuto i cappuccini... oops. We sipped cappuccinos for an hour or two and then went to a seafood restaurant for dinner. My gnocchi al pomodoro e pesce - gnocchi (a potato pasta) with tomato sauce and fish - was delicious. The drive back to Siena included a literal maze of road signs directing us through Grosetto and a nightmarish (we were very tired by 11:30) orbit of the city looking for a place to park the car.

Photos of Castiglione, San Gimignano and Siena

On Sunday, the navigation went more smoothly, although it was still difficult and tiring - it is simply impossible to drive in a straight line or to develop a coherent cognitive model of the roads. We visited two more cities in Tuscany - Volterra and San Gimignano. Cruising down the road, I thought, wow, this is cool, we're cruising the Italian countryside with representatives from the United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.

Volterra is perched atop a hill and provides an incredible view of the rolling lush, green countryside and distant mountains - simply beautiful. I commented, "it's so vast." This was countered by Carol - a 50-something English woman - "What? How can an American say that this is vast?" I let this slide. It's as if she thinks that while sitting in my apartment in Cupertino, I could visually enjoy the Rockies, the Grand Canyon, and the Everglades without even turning my head.

San Gimignano is architecturally interesting, with its skyline of many towers visible from quite far away. Stuffed boar's heads are proudly displayed in the streets and some kind of meat product seemed to be the local specialty. San Gimignano was flooded with tourists - surprising considering it was a cold, gray day in the middle of winter. Those considering a trip to Italy, take note.

The trip back to Siena was again tiring and tricky. We had to find another parking space - this time near the rental place so that I could go return the car this morning before school. Looking back, the car wasn't really too much trouble, but it was quite a burden to be the driver and responsible for the car. I'm glad to be rid of it. What would life be like without some stress anyway?

Today, I took the exam which ends my first month of class. Tomorrow we review the results. Wednesday is a day off. Thursday begins the second course. I'm curious about the new teacher and perhaps a few new classmates (six of the nine of us are continuing on).



Copyright 1997 by Bradley Edelman
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