Saturday afternoon I took a break from the country house to go to the most important/the nicest (I'm not sure which or if it's both, but each was used to describe it to me.) hotel in Rome. We were in a lovely ballroom, with a girl wearing white, a 3 or 4 layer tiered cake, everyone dressed up, live entertainment, catered food complete with wait staff and I'm fairly certain there was an open bar. You might have guessed I attended a wedding reception. Wrong. Just a small child's birthday party taking place in the Land of the Rich and Italian. I'm almost positive my jaw was dropped the majority of the time. I almost constantly feel like I'm having an out of body experience, living someone else's life! It's just so very different from the life I'm used to but perfectly normal for everyone I'm around. Bizarre.
So the party. Granted the food was mostly chicken nuggets, mini pizzas and popcorn but there was adult food too. It was all very good. Don't worry, I know, I sampled some of everything. And the entertainment! It was this weird mini circus thing with a couple of clowns, magician, ring master, scantily clad girls, a tiger-man and maybe a bouncer? I don't know what his purpose was but he was big and walked around the whole time. Let's call him a good behavior enforcer. It was all in Italian but I gathered that one of the clowns hold a Guinness world record. He then proceed to blow up a balloon/kickball looking bubble until it was huge. Then he put it over his head which was comical. Until he got all the way inside it and then popped out just his head. So a tiny head on top of this huge dancing, yellow, balloon/ball/bubble. I did not like it. Maybe here I should also mention I was scared of clowns as a kid. Who wasn't? It was just the three girls and I. They stuck pretty close to me except while I was going back and forth to the food table to bring them plate after plate of chicken nuggets. Besides that they entertained themselves by punching the tiger-man in the stomach or the back. I wonder if he hates his job. Maybe he really really really loves children. Also, his costume had tiger stripes but his gloves were leopard spots. What kind of cat is that?
Liger. Or tipard. Either way, it's weird. :-) And welcome to the high life. Also weird.
ReplyDeleteNicole, when I saw you were nannying in Italy I was too curious not to take a peek at your blog when your mom posted a link-- as I'm reading your experiences with these kids, I totally thought of Maria (Sound of Music) and those unruly kids she was put in charge of, whipping them into shape (she had the luxury, however, of speaking the same language as them!)
ReplyDeleteThis day's blog made me laugh out loud. Did you feel like you were in a dream? I like the way you write. Only the first taste of what you will encounter (ack! People/cultures can be so weird!)..... Thanks for sharing. Blessings! Jenny Villard :)