Crazy Italians

I have found strolling in the park to be a rather pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Enjoyable company does make a huge difference. A camera doesn't hurt either. I'll save THAT story for another day. Today, instead, I'd like to share our encounter with some young Italian teenagers. To give you context, we strolled through the park, up the hill, and back down this crazy steep staircase. As we emerged from the brush covered path, we bumped into a small group of Italian teenage boys. We smiled, said hello, and carried on our way....

Not 30 seconds later we hear the distinct sound of someone running through the gravel to catch up. crunch, crunch, thump, crunch. You get the idea. We giggle, remark on how we think we're being followed, and carried on. As our pursuer got closer, we could hear someone calling "Excuse me! Excuse me! Hellooo!" Now you must picture that with an Italian accent, and a partially adolescent voice. Makes all the difference. We glance at each other, confirm that we are indeed being followed, giggle, and keep walking.

Soon, however, our pursuer caught up. Clearly out of breath, he stopped directly in front of us. We paused in an effort to be polite, since this young man had gone to the trouble of chasing us. Once he regained his composure, he asked our names.... then our ages. We did our best to respond in Italian, even though he asked in English. Well we ARE taking conversational Italian for a reason, are we not? "Venti, ventuno, e ventuno anni," we replied. "OH!" he exclaimed, "I am fourteen!" At this point another teen caught up and apologized for his friend, attempting to drag him away. Before departing, he insisted on the usual European greeting... kissing each cheek. We said our goodbyes and carried on with our walk, giggling the rest of the way. Oh teenagers....

...Oh Italians!

....

...Oh Italian teenagers....!