“bonjour”, “ciao”, “HOWDY!”

three immigrant encounters today.

first was a snack at a tiny french run crêperie on manners street – crêpes a go-go. french music playing, the family running the stand babbling en francais, and a tip jar that says “pretend you are in france and leave a tip” (tipping is very uncommon in nz). all very nice.

later in the day i stopped for a real italian pizza for dinner. plenty of good pizza in wellington, but some days i have exhausted my ability for new and welcome something well known and comfortable – like an italian pizza. pizza pomodoro is a tiny place that i had walked by almost every day and finally decided it was time to give it a try. the pizza, the owner (massimo) and his brother did not disappoint. a great italian oven fired with local nz wood. the highlight was just listening to the two guys chatting in italian and laughing as i waited for my pizza – they were having a great time. no idea the context but at one point i hear “mama mia!” i almost laughed out loud.

but all good things had to come to an end. walking home with my pizza i’m waiting at the light to cross when two guys walk up and join the wait. both in their late 20’s. one a kiwi in typical nz business attire – black shoes and pants, blue dress shirt. the other is an american dressed in a us financial analyst power suit and, drum roll…. cowboy hat. it probably is just what grabs your ear but it seemed like he was shouting. ugh.

(with apologies to the probably nice dude in the random picture that i selected)

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