Travel and Photo Stories

Do you want to make your travel to foreign countries easier? Here’s an example of how that works. When I was teaching Spanish at the local high school I used to tell my students never to underestimate the doors that will open when you know another language. Since my retirement in 2004, I have found that knowing several languages has eased my way through many situations. I’m completely fluent in Spanish. I can go anywhere in the Spanish speaking world and be fine. It may take me a couple of days to get used to the accent and pace of the language in each country, but I can say just about anything.

I took 4 college semesters of French in my 50s, after I finished my M.Ed. I can barely speak it but my reading level isn’t bad. It’s enough to keep me from getting killed on the roads in Quebec which is the only province in all of Canada where the road and traffic signs are only in French. Everywhere else in Canada the signs are bilingual by law. How Quebec gets away with that BS is a mystery to me. I once read a sign in that province that announced only in French: Slow Down! Very dangerous curve ahead. Seriously!

Immersion is the best way to learn a language.

My second husband was from Rome, Italy so we visited his family there for several weeks at a time. I picked up a working knowledge of the Italian language there, facilitated by my fluency in Spanish. It was total immersion….the best way to learn a language. I’m one of those nerds who actually bought an Italian text book and proceeded to learn all the verb conjugations before my first visit. I knew I’d be very fluent in time but the marriage was problematic. Even the priest who married us told me to leave the union. That’s when you know you’re in deep do do. I stayed longer than I should have (actually married him TWICE!) But I’m Irish. We marry Italians for the food. And for me the extra bonus was the language.

Thirteen years after that marriage ended I was in Italy again. This time visiting Sicily on a photo workshop with my partner, Don. A Canadian. And Irish. And a great cook. Who knew? We were there during Holy Week. Spectacular. One afternoon we found ourselves in the small town of Regalbuto for a short stop to walk around the town and take photos of any of the locals. The piazza was full of older men (probably all my age). Not a woman in site. I don’t know if they were home cooking dinner or had told their husbands to find something to do or what, but the piazza only contained men. I watched as several of my fellow photographers approached men in the square to get a photo. Nothing. Hardly even gave them the time of day. They were not even very friendly which is unusual for Italians.

Dazzle them with a single phrase in Italian!

After 13 years of not speaking any Italian I was very rusty. As I passed one group of three men sitting on a bench I noticed one guy had on some attractive shoes so I smiled and said casually as I was walking by “mi piacciono le tue scarpe”. I never stopped. I just kept walking. As I got to the other side of the street I turned around and looked in their direction. They were standing up, smiling, laughing, wildly gesticulating for me to come back. It was hysterical. I didn’t know it at the time but our tour guide was capturing this on his camera. That’s the photo you see above.

I was thrilled to join them. They were talking to me in Italian, of course, which I could barely understand. But the images I got from these men were just so spontaneous and fun. They welcomed me because of one short sentence spoken in their language. That’s all it took to break down the barrier. I was no longer the stranger. I was welcomed into their circle. As an avid traveler and photographer it doesn’t get any better. These connections are what make memories.