Avezzano

James and I had to check out of the hotel Friday morning, which left me without a home for the day. He dropped me in the Piazza downtown and gave me a work cell phone. I thought this shouldn't be a problem, I can walk around and take a few pictures. Within minutes of dropping me off, some woman came up to me and started talking. Now what do you do? She finally caught on and asked if I understood, to which I replied, "Non Italiano." I must fit in pretty good.

I walked around taking pictures for a while and it started to get warm. I waited for a bench in the shade to sit down. No sooner than I sat down, than an old man came up and started to talk to me. I tried to tell him I didn't speak Italian. He couldn't hear very well and gave me the money sign of rubbing his thumb against his fingers. So he was either wanting money or propositioning me. I kept trying to telling him, no Italian and no, and he kept asking why. I finally got up and walked away.

So I was on my search for more shade. I found a closed restaurant with slab steps out of the way. It was away from the Piazza, so I thought I was safe. I saw this guy drive by and look at me. I thought, "You should just leave. No, I just found me a shady spot." So the guy parked and came up to me. Again, I tried to explain that I didn't speak Italian. He didn't care. He wanted me to go to coffee with him. So I tried to tell him I was waiting for my husband to call for lunch and I didn't drink coffee. This guy had to be about 25, he must be desperate. He sat down beside me and tried to brush up against me and started rubbing my back. I called to find James. He wasn't at his desk, so I told his boss that I had found a new "friend" and I couldn't get rid of him. His boss interpreted that to mean, that I was with my friends at the Piazza. The guy wanted my phone number, so I gave him James's boss's number. He called it to see if the phone rang. He then decided to just write down his number for me to call tomorrow. Sure, I'll call you tomorrow, and we parted ways. So I have an Italian guy's phone number if anyone wants it.

I called Rick Bunch, James's former boss who is now living in Avezzano, and asked if he knew where James was because I was done with walking around. I had been propositioned and had gotten a guy's phone number, I should be flattered right? I was a bit shaken up, I was more mad at myself for how I handled the situation. James and Rick came to my rescue and I spent the rest of the afternoon at Rick's house.