Around the corner from where I rented a double room in downtown Palermo there was a sort of self-service restaurant where I ate most of my evening meals.
Ordering meals took some learning.
The tables were on the right when you came in from the street. To the left were three counters with dishes on display, all with name tags and prices. The first counter held the antipasti. That is what one eats before the pasta. Then came the spaghetti with various sauces and toppings to choose from. The third counter was home to an array of desserts. It was all very nice and delicate, and priced to suit a student wallet.
In the middle of the room the restaurant’s matrona sat on a high stool on a raised section of the floor. She presided over a big, old-fashioned cash register with a manual crank and a loud pling.
The first evening I thought a plate of spaghetti would be enough. I lined up in the queue to la matrona and said, “uno spaghetti alle vongole”. I had memorised this from counter number two. I paid, got a slip of paper and went back to the counter where I handed over the slip and was served my food. Despite what seemed like a large portion, it was still not enough, as I discovered in the middle of the night when I woke up hungry.
The next day I decided to try three courses. I tried to remember the names of three dishes and lined up before the cash register. The queue moved slowly, and I forgot the name of one of the dishes. Okay, back to the counter and back to my place in the queue I thought. No such luck. I was directed to the back of the queue. No smiles, no help, just pointing fingers. Then I forgot the name of the dessert, and the same procedure repeated itself, and then again. It took a long time to get served, but that night I did not wake up hungry at least.
For a week I tried to learn the dish names – the hard way as it turned out. I had read theories on “learning by doing”. Could not be done. So, I gave in to the reality of life. On the seventh day I brought a slip of paper and a pencil, and got served on the first try! After that, I made a habit of having a piece of paper and a pencil handy. My vocabulary built up much faster that way.
This was deep mafia country at the time. I’ll give you an anecdote of how that could manifest itself in my next post.
A la prossima volta
Karl
The Hofsö Method 