Angry Vendor and Emotional Musical Performance

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There are some interesting things that I noticed about Milano and I was told that this is very common: There are a lot of street vendors, performers, and beggars.

The street vendors are often indian-looking or African and they are the most annoying people here. A lot of them hound you to buy something that they’re selling and they’ll hang around whining about how they don’t have a job and they really need the money and they won’t leave you alone until you really ignore them. And when I say ignore I mean just literally pretending they’re not there and maybe start talking to the people that you’re with. That’s the technique that works. However, my father is the kind of Italian, that will vent his feelings about whoever or whatever is bothering him so there might be some yelling involved like, “NO. THANK YOU. I ALREADY SAID NO SO GO AWAY.” Some street vendors are artists. I bought a painting from one that made all of his paintings with spray paint, small pieces of papers and a rock. The painting were so beautiful, with waterfalls, trees, sunsets, birds... I bought one in a heartbeat!

There are also performers all over Italy. I saw an African drummer, and some dressed up painted people that stood on maybe a wooden box and pretty much moved like robots. They are pretty much selling picture opportunities. The best performers that I saw was this group of Italian guys about my age that played violins and accordions. They played so beautifully and they played one of my favorite classical songs of all time which was Canon D Major by Johann Pachelbel. Absolutely beautiful. I was so captivated by all the people enjoying the music, their passion while they played and the beautiful music that I heard that I just started crying. I couldn’t hold it back. I felt so happy that all I could do at that moment was cry.

Another interesting thing that happened was when an angry street vendor yelled at me because I accidentally discovered the secret to this dancing toy he was selling that appeared to stand up and dance by itself to music. What had happened was one woman ran her hand above the toy to see if there were any strings and she couldn’t figure out how it stood up all by itself. I thought, no strings at the top, so let’s try the sides. Sure enough there were strings on the side and I knocked over the toy with my water bottle. That was game over. He started yelling that he was just trying to make a living and what’s wrong with me and that I should go pray to the pope. He was yelling at me right there in the street and he shut off the music for more of a dramatic effect. It was a little scary and I felt bad for him. We finally left. Somehow, we keep running into the same people in Italy. I actually saw him earlier that day looking up at a building yelling at someone I didn’t see. Well I wish him the best.

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