Postcards from Italy

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Today I had quite an experience as I tried to send postcards to some friends and family back home. I bought stamps a few days before at a tobacchi, which is like a little cigarette store that sells everything from magazines to cigarettes to stamps and sometimes food. Buying the stamps was a challenge in itself because I do not speak any Italian and had to show the man at the register my postcards and point to the place where the stamp was.

After writing out my postcards, I went to the post office right across the street from our hotel. When I walked in I was so overwhelmed by the building itself. It looked as if it was an old church. There were high ceilings with beautiful paintings on them and the floor was in a beautiful marble pattern, I was amazed that a place so beautiful could be a post office!

I stood around for a few minutes trying to figure out how the system worked and soon realized that people were going up to a machine and takinga number like you would at a deli counter in the United States. When I went over to the machine I noticed that it was all in Italian and there were three different buttons you should push to get a ticket for the appropriate line. I must have looked like such a tourist because I stood there for about 5 minutes trying to figure out which button to push. I choose a button because it had a picture of an envelope and the words generale postale, or something like that, on it. I stood in line for over 30 minutes waiting and hoping that I would have the right line!

When I got to the counter, I only wanted to mail my postcards. I had bought stamps earlier, but there were almost two stamps together next to each other in one area and I did not know if I needed to use both so I wanted to ask what to do. The woman at the counter was friendly, but did not speak English (more people in Siena do not speak Italian than in Rome!). Most of our communication was through pointing. I figured out that I needed to put both stamps on the postcards and then she pointed outside and said "red box," so I assumed there was some kind of red box outside that would be like a mail box found in the United States. I put the stamps on and headed outside. There was a small red box but it did not look like it was in use. Confused, I asked a woman on the street for help. She did not speak Italian so I pointed to the post cards and then to the box. She shook her head as if to say "no" and walked me around the corner to a row of red mailboxes. At the mailboxes there were two slots for mail, both listing words in Italian. I assumed one of the phrases was "other mail" and threw my postcards inside of the box.

Getting these stamps became about a 40 minute process that involved directions, lines, and pointing instead of speaking. The task was difficult, but I learned about the language and culture of Italy though experiencing their postal system. While it was difficult to communicate without speaking the same language, everyone I talked to was helpful, which was a huge relief. Now all I am hoping for is that my postcards actually make it to the right place!

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