the romantic italian way
when seb said that platitude: "i hate germans" (himself being almost indistinguishable from them), our italian neighbor said "i don't mind germans. i mean, if they are below 15% of the population. because then they can still be neutralized"
NEUTRALIZED!
what a way with words
then his son arrived and his son is good looking in that italian way with the soft brown locks and the tanned skin and he also exudes a happy alluring energy like he's simultaneously mr. popular but also mr. sensitive and like he would be very nice and charming to you
(later i pondered this: why is it that italians are born looking like they read dante in the womb? why do they look like they could be painters, right away? and poets? is it a culture thing? if we took a little german baby and threw him in sicily...no, i can't imagine it. yes culture helps but it's a blood thing too. they have a look about them)
ok so his son arrived and he goes "this is seb, he's from san gallo ; and this is his beautiful girlfriend ke-"
"that's my WIFE" seb butt in
"WIFE?" said the man and I showed him my wedding ring and then some other conversation about some other thing and then he brings the conversation back to this and he said "oh look how hard she's working, the poor girl, cleaning the grill. you need to marry her twice. i mean, i married the same woman three times! my friend said 'are you crazy?' but i just can't seem to get away from her, i just wanted to--" and he gestured with greedy paws, clawing at this invisible woman to pull her back "--you know I just couldn't get away"
and then he mentioned that his son (matteo is his name) had a 13 year old and a 7 year old and i said "what! how old is he?" he said "how old did you think he was?" i said "30" and there he caught a thread to pull on and he shouted "matteo!! guess how old kelly thought you were!! matteo come out of the boat!! matteo kelly thought you were 30!!" and the other man came out seeking compliments and said "kelly how old am i? kelly!" (i just love the warm italian personality)
and then when seb and i left to get lunch he said, projecting his voice at us, "ciao! matteo, it's a shame you're already married you could marry kelly for example" and seb said "but kelly's already married too!" and he said "kelly has a sister maybe"
i have the feeling that women grow simply more and more beautiful under the loving gaze of italian men
the same does not happen with saxon men who make you feel taken for granted
and in a twisted way, the french have a way about them too. they are a little bit more on the negging side, you know? they like to say a few evil things to you, just to spice things up and keep you guessing, they play on a 25-75 ratio of bad to good self-esteem
but italian men are like the sun, shining on the little happy giddy warm feelings you have about yourself, amplifying them, making them grow as large and enveloping as they can get, so that you can view this world in this large and enveloping way, so that you shine