Home ?

It’s Sunday evening. Last week this time I was at the Rome airport waiting to board the plane.

In the morning, I had asked Patrizia to call a cab for me. Thank God she was the one on duty! She helped most cheerfully, and was on the phone for almost 10 minutes trying to get a cab. I was wringing my hands in nervousness. No doubt, the train station is only 5 to 10 minutes away but who knows how long it would take to get a cab? According to her, cabs are not so easy to come by early Sunday mornings.

When the cab finally arrived, Patrizia was really sweet and carried my luggage out for me. She needn’t have to at all (no receptionist has done that for anyone, as far as I could see). At the gate, she still had an animated conversation with the driver about the front gate that he should have entered. And there I was still very kan cheong about getting to the station on time.

‘’How much is the fare to the station? I do not have much cash with me,’’ I asked the driver, when I saw the flag off fare already at almost 8 euro! I didn’t remember it being so much when I first came to the residence from the station. ‘’It’s about 10 euro, not more than that,’’ he replied. When we arrived, it was about 10.35 euro, but he said kindly, ‘’10 euro, è basta’’ (it’s enough).

When I arrived I saw Marcia, from Saint Petersburg, already waiting at the station. She had been there much earlier, having taken a bus to the station instead. She was delighted that we were waiting for the same bus to Rome. ‘’That way we have company,’’ she said happily. Marcia, an undergrad, stayed at the same residence but we hardly talked as we were in different classes. Now that we were on the same bus, (followed by train later) to the airport, it gave us an opportunity to chat. It was her first time to Italy and she was really brave. She had arrived late at night in the middle of Siena city centre and had tried to catch a bus to the residence, luggage and all. A few Senesi helped her look for buses and eventually she had to take a taxi.

Where the bus dropped us, we had to take a train to the airport. We had forgotten to look for a ‘’stamping machine’’ to validate our ticket before boarding the train and was wondering whether to make a dash back to the entrance, when we met an elderly man, who explained, ‘’it’s ok, just write the date and time of the journey at the back,’’ and he did just that for us! True enough, when the inspector checked our tickets later, he ‘’cleared’’ them! Only in Italy do you get such whimsical actions of writing on your own tickets to validate them.

At the airport lounge in Rome, I went to help myself to a juice and some peanuts. Next to me, I saw a woman trying to scoop some nuts on a napkin and when she saw me scooping them into a drinks glass, she said to me, ‘’smart idea, I’ll do that too. They don’t even provide a plate!’’ I just smiled. She looked at me again, as if trying to elicit an agreement from me, ‘’it’s terrible isn’t it, how do they expect us to eat this?’’ I just shrugged, and mumbled, ‘’oh well’’.

Although Singapore was still at least 15 hours away, but I knew I was already very, very near home, when I heard the typical complaining and whining in perfect Singlish.

So, what did I do this weekend when I got home? For a start, memories slowly kick in. Though I was very much in touch with my friends here while I was in Siena, there are details that I have filed away. Like trying to remember how to get from one destination to another, or how ill mannered people are.

It feels like I had been living on a different plane in August. I was fully aware of the happenings in Singapore, while living a contented student’s life in Siena. Despite the gripes about mosquitoes and having to share limited facilities, I have grown to miss the simplicity of life there, and how unassuming the people are.

As I got pushed and shoved while getting lost in the maze of new entrances and exits at the Orchard MRT station linking up new spanking malls today, I could not help feeling aghast at the crass materialism and aimless shopping that got everyone crazed.

Back in Siena, Sunday is a family day where family members spend a large part of their time having a nice home cooked meal together, not out roaming the streets to check out the latest shop or gadget, or the latest gourmet food in downtown supermarkets.

The Senesi are happy to shop at residential or suburban hypermarkets, where house brands rule the market, and whose quality are superb, if not indiscernible from the ‘’branded’’ ones. (I know – I ‘’tested’’ this on my colleagues with a taste test!)

Sigh – I knew I was going to miss Siena – not just its monuments and sunshine, but its values and lifestyle.