by Samantha Quintanar During this course we have compared and contrasted how Americans and Italians view the concept of time. Americans view time as a very important unit of measure, while Italians take a more leisurely approach.
Several times I have joked that the shops and restaurants of Cagli have crazy hours and are only open between the hours of 8:42 am and 8:46 am on Mondays and Wednesdays, but closed the second, third, and fourth Monday of the month. While this is an obvious exaggeration, many of the places here can make their own hours and are almost always closed for pausa, which takes place everyday between 1 and 4:30pm.
This makes someone like myself very frustrated at times. I come from a city where I can get anything I need at all hours of the day (even if that's a midnight taco run).
Just when I thought I got a hang of the Caigese schedule, everything changed! After class today, my classmate Kelli and I stopped at two places we thought would be open for lunch and they were closed! We then began our hunt for food.
Finally, we saw a familiar place open, La Pineta. We walked in and asked, "Aperto?" The staff then replied, "mezzo," meaning noon. Since it was 11:45, they seated us and told us we would need to wait a few minutes. We agreed and sat down. The hostess served my classmate and I water and handed us menus. In true Italian fashion, we heard the church bells ring 2 minutes late. My phone read 12:02.
Still no service. The staff actually began watching a soap opera and eating their lunch inside as we stared longingly at their plates. I was so hungry and beginning to reaching the level of "hangry," a combination of hungry and angry.
It wasn't until 25 minutes after noon that the waitress came to take our order. As I said my order, the waitress then informed me that their menu was limited and the items we wanted were unavailable. After sitting at the table for almost 45 minutes my classmate Kelly and I looked at each other in a hunger rage. We got up, paid for our water, and stormed down the hill in search for food once again.
Hungry and defeated. Hungry and angry. Hangry.
