Sitting in Borders, dutifully formulating my questions for an interview, on either side of me people are bustling about and chatting in languages that I cannot decipher. It is very interesting to me because I have absolutely no idea what language they are speaking. The family to my right consists of three women, a man and a little boy. I think that it was a family of a grandmother, mother, husband, son and sister. They are chatting with their coffees and cooing at the baby, as all people do with babies. They’re laughing, but I don’t get the joke. I’ve always heard that laughing is the same in every language and it truly is. They just looked at me but I am almost certain they don’t know I’m writing about them.
I just heard the word “finito” and I thought looking that up would surely tell me what language they are speaking. After looking it up, I realize I was correct in assuming Italian. “bah, bah, bah,” said the “grandmother” mimicking the little boys whines. It seems as if they’ve been enjoying the atmosphere for quite some time. The family decides it’s time to leave, they all get ready to depart together and head towards the door, their laughter fading away as they exit.
It is incredible how much you can decipher about someone just by looking at them. It is also incredible that there are so many cultures out there, and in this town that I know nothing about. I wouldn’t like to call myself ignorant but in some ways the term would be fitting. The language sounded extremely foreign to me and I couldn’t help but wonder what their story is. How did they end up here in Ithaca? Have they thought about learning English? Why don’t I know their language? There is so much out there to learn and so many cultures that should be explored. In this culturally diverse place, we should all pay more attention to others around us who maybe aren’t so different after all.
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