Some of the expat ladies in Bergamo out for dinner the night of the "incident".
This week, two things very different things happened to me on two different nights. These two events show the perfect dichotomy that is life as a visible minority expat (immigrant) in Italy. On Wednesday, walking back through the city center from an aperitivo, I walked past a group of teenage boys. They were probably around fifteen or sixteen. There was no one else around and perhaps that was a factor in what happened next. One of them started saying “cina cina” and the others joined in. When I turned to give them the evil eye (yes, I know many people would be much more bold in this situation but I’ve never been one for confrontation), they told me “torna al tuo paese!” (go back to your country). If this hurts your heart to hear, you can imagine how much it totally sucks in person and to be the person that it’s directed to. I was offended of course, it’s impossible not to be. I also felt a sense of sadness though, pity, I suppose. It’s so sad to think that there are still young people with such closed-mindedness and such a narrow view of the world. I hope one day these boys get a chance to get out of the small town mentality of Bergamo. The reason I don’t get targeted as much as some other ethnic groups, in my opinion, is people tend to have a harder time placing where I’m from. Perhaps they know it could be an Asian or South Asian country, but the ambiguity has worked in my favor at times. I can only imagine what it must be like if you identify as African or Middle Eastern. A friend of mine , born and raised in California to Nigerian parents, has some stories that will make you cringe. Yet all wrongs are made right as soon as you “show evidence” that you’re from an Anglo-Saxon country. So this happened Wednesday.
On Thursday, an Australian friend and I went to our first Zumba exercise class. We had no idea where to find the community gym where it was to be held in so I asked the first family that we came across in the piazza in front of the church. The lady not only gave us directions but insisted on showing us the way herself, convinced we would have gotten lost otherwise (we would have!). This simple, kind gesture was really enough to make me forget about the previous day’s events but it got even better…when the instructor found out that we spoke English, she incorporated English into her instructions during the class, always checking to make sure we had understood but most importantly, checking in to make sure we felt welcome. This is what the world should be today. Less judgment and more inclusive thinking. Of course let’s not point fingers at just Italy, because this two sides of the coin story applies to almost every country in the world and we are seeing it played on a the world stage in current events. My hope is that at some point in the future, I won’t have any more material with which to write blog posts like this one.
If You Enjoyed This Post, You'd Probably Like...
...to read ALL my posts about EXPAT LIFE IN ITALY. There's the good, the bad, and the very ugly. Enjoy! And please write me about your experiences. Have you ever had something similar happen to you? I took alot of comfort in reading Jhumpa Lahiri's "In Altre Parole" where she talks about how she would constantly be overlooked despite her dedication to the Italian language and culture. Read about her book In Other Words (In Altre Parole) in my blog post here: Even Mindy Kaling Reads 'In Other Words'
On Thursday, an Australian friend and I went to our first Zumba exercise class. We had no idea where to find the community gym where it was to be held in so I asked the first family that we came across in the piazza in front of the church. The lady not only gave us directions but insisted on showing us the way herself, convinced we would have gotten lost otherwise (we would have!). This simple, kind gesture was really enough to make me forget about the previous day’s events but it got even better…when the instructor found out that we spoke English, she incorporated English into her instructions during the class, always checking to make sure we had understood but most importantly, checking in to make sure we felt welcome. This is what the world should be today. Less judgment and more inclusive thinking. Of course let’s not point fingers at just Italy, because this two sides of the coin story applies to almost every country in the world and we are seeing it played on a the world stage in current events. My hope is that at some point in the future, I won’t have any more material with which to write blog posts like this one.
If You Enjoyed This Post, You'd Probably Like...
...to read ALL my posts about EXPAT LIFE IN ITALY. There's the good, the bad, and the very ugly. Enjoy! And please write me about your experiences. Have you ever had something similar happen to you? I took alot of comfort in reading Jhumpa Lahiri's "In Altre Parole" where she talks about how she would constantly be overlooked despite her dedication to the Italian language and culture. Read about her book In Other Words (In Altre Parole) in my blog post here: Even Mindy Kaling Reads 'In Other Words'
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