La Storia di Lecce

The other night, a bunch of us went to see the ballet Carmen.  The show was well-done (according to the dance major sitting next to me), but the real attraction was were it was performed: in the 2nd-century A.D. amphitheater discovered in 1938 in the middle of the city.  For some reason, the original stone bleachers were cheaper than the plastic seats in the center, and they were definitely the better option.  Just sitting in the same seats where people gathered almost two thousand years ago to watch performances of their own made me feel more connected with history than I ever have before.  The whole time, I just kept wondering what they saw, and whether they too were given cushions to make the stone more comfortable. 

On a completely unrelated note, for the second time a gelato-scooper, noticing that we're (quasi) bilingual, has asked us to explain what Americans mean when they come in asking for a "taste."  Apparently, here people just trust that every flavor is going to be amazing.  It's always fun to explain the behavior of "our people" in "their language," but this time I was taken aback when he then asked me if it was also normal in America to take the free taste and then leave without buying anything.  I was tempted to apologize on everyone else's behalf, but instead I just told him that, in my opinion, such behavior was molto maleducato (rude) and picked out (and payed for) my flavors by sight.  Having been here for over a week, I know that there's really no way to go wrong with gelato.