update from florence

here is a random bunch of notes on florence.

• training is boring. we came in today, monday morning, at 9AM and have done ABSOLUTELY nothing. apparently we are waiting for our planners to find us jobs, so we just sit surfing the net all day. kinda like india but better food
• florence has this cool taxi system. you go to the hotel reception desk, and sometimes bars if you are lucky, and ask them for a taxi. they then push a button on this little machine that must send a request to the entire taxi network. then the closest taxi that wants the fare, accepts it, and the machine prints out a receipt showing you the car number and it's ETA (usually between 1-5 minutes).
• friday night we went out, ate, drank, and were merry until about 3AM. we were told about a brazilian place called "marancaná". when we arrived there, it turned out to be brazilian, but not so much food and more a brazilian samba club. oh, and it isn't open until sometime in october. so, we ate nearby, then we tried to get into a bar called "slowly" that night and were denied admission, as SOME of us didn't have long pants and collared shirts on. we stumbled about until we came to a place called the lion's fountain that had a nice atmosphere, a patio, and with every 10 pints you get a free one. well i took advantage of that (with the help of a few of the guys i'm training with). this was the night that we first met TheMarriedMan's wife. she flew in to visit from houston, how sweet. we had a good time trying to offend/entertain her. on saturday, TheMarriedMan and his wife went out on their own to have fun. we tried to go to "slowly" again, this time, all of us wore our long pants and collared shirts. again, we were turned away. i was pissed. i don't get pissed that easily but this bouncer was an ass. really gives italians a bad name. it went a little something like this:

  (we walk up)
  BOUNCER: i'm uh sorry guys, but we uh have uh dress uh code uh.
  US: we know, we came yesterday, we have the collared shirts and long pants.
  BOUNCER: no, i'm uh sorry, but the dress uh code uh has uh changed uh.
  US: WHAT!!! well what is it now?
  BOUNCER: (pointing) he's ok, he's ok, (pointing at my belly) you're not, (pointing at one guy's tennis shoes) you're not.
  US: (again) WHAT? WTF is this?! what is the dress code? we don't understand pointing.
  BOUNCER: I make uh the dress uh code uh and two of uh you are uh OK, and two uh of you are not uh.
  US: fukk off! what the hell? pompous prick.

  i got wes denied access behind the velvet rope because of my belly. asshole. so we went to the lion's fountain again
• at the lion's fountain, NewGuy1, sat at the bar with myself, while NewGuy2 stood behind us. TheTexan was outside watching two guys hit on one girl. NewGuy2 and i were talking and NewGuy1 was being accosted by CrazyDrunkItalian. the guy would rattle on and on in italian and NewGuy1 was trying to ignore him. then CrazyDrunkItalian ordered a whiskey, took a drink, and shoved it in front of NewGuy1. he didn't know what to do, pushed it back, and ignored him. again CrazyDrunkItalian pushed it in front of him, looking pissed, and NewGuy1 pushed it back. i looked over and told the guy, "non capisco italian", close enough to "we don't understand italian". this didn't seem to phase him. now he started rambling to me and pushed the whiskey in front of me. i took a drink, this calmed the drunken beast for a bit, then he started talking to me again. i basically made fun of him to his face. he wasn't comprehending that we didn't understand a word that he was rambling, so i just rambled back in english. it was entertaining. as soon as we could break free, we got up and walked out onto the patio. CrazyDrunkItalian even reached for NewGuy1 as we walked away, he looked sad, but fukk him. a couple minutes after we got up, the bar gave us free shots of jameson irish whiskey for putting up with the local crazy/drunk. yea!
• after lots of drinking, and TheTexan and NewGuy1 leaving for the hotel several hours earlier, NewGuy2 and i decided we should head back as well. we aren't sure what time we left, but i have it on good authority from phone logs on my phone that we arrived back to the hotel around 5:00AM or 5:30AM. we got CRAZY lost. NewGuy2 was navigating. i'm not blaming him. i doubt i could've done any better, but i was drunk, tried, lost, and had aching blisters on my feet... i just wanted bed. we tried numerous times in vain to get a cab. see the aforementioned bullet on the cool taxi system in florence. this is where it backfires. when there is no hotel or open bar to walk into to get them to call you a cab. with this sytem, cabs are rarely wandering about free without a destination or a passenger already since they pick up fares close to where they are already. we walked and walked and walked. i don't know how we did it, but NewGuy2 found his hotel and from THERE, i was able to get a taxi home. it was a good time, but it should've ended way earlier.

yup, i think that's about it for now. if anything exciting happens between now and leaving to come home (wednesday), i'll post. if not, i'll get more when i can. ciaó.