Kindness...a global language.
Its fair to say that amongst my many frustrations (mainly with bureaucracy) there have been many, many acts of kindness which have made my day, or SAVED the day! I have decided to share a couple here.
Scoula per l’ Eurpoa
Last Saturday I went to the Christmas party of the International School in Parma. This was a great opportunity because having previously met the Principal and D.P it is possible that I might be able to do some of my research there.
The school teaches in English, French and Italian.
As you can see at the Christmas Party there was carol singing, just like there often is in New Zealand, and it felt great to be in amongst a school community for a couple of hours.
Two kind acts happened on my way home, which I want to to share. There have been many, many lovely kind things happen but the following I will share…
Firstly…to continue the Parma story…
When I left the Christmas party it was later in the day (about 4.30pm) and with being winter, the sun was disappearing.
Earlier in the day I had gotten a taxi from the train station to the school as it was about a 15 minute car ride…a long walk. So I messaged a return taxi on my whatsAPP, only to realise that the service I had called was in Reggio Emilia- not Parma (20 minutes by train away). So a taxi wasn’t going to work.
The bus stop was a stones throw away and the friend who had invited me said that bus number 12 was the one to take to return to the station; so, although I hadn’t broached the bus system so far (in either city), I figured that the bus it would have to be- in this situation….except, I couldn’t really read the time table (on the back of the pole against the fence) terribly well, and actually had no idea what time a bus would arrive, let alone bus number 12.
However, I waited, and while waiting (and aware of it getting dark quickly) decided to ring the taxi just incase someone spoke english and I could discuss a solution- should the bus not turn up. I counted my lucky stars when the bus arrived about 5.10pm (in the dark)!
Next question…how do I pay? I made my way to the front seat of the bus and plonked my self and all my bits beside a young guy, who was on his phone. I thought that if I was lucky I might be able to connect with the bus driver and at least let him know I intended to pay for my seat. But then I decided to ask the young guy beside me if he spoke any English and sure enough, he did. In fact he had a degree in psychology. I got my wallet out and asked (embarrassingly) how to pay for my ride and with that he said, “let me sort that for you”…he got up, spoke to the driver and offered him some coins (his own coins)… I waved my own 5 euro note at him to which he replied that he’d get it!
When we returned to our seats and I commented on what a pretty city Parma was, he proceeded to tell me some of its famous history: that Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife Marie-Louise Antoinette, was the Duchess of Parma, and that they call Parma ‘little Paris’ because she had designed it that way. It was a fascinating story and the young man not only made sure I knew how many stops my train station one would be after he departed for his band practice, but thought I would possibly make the 5.27pm train to Reggio (which appealed to me as it would be really dark by the time I got there and the train station is not the most desirable place to be on your own at night)! So, I made it, feeling grateful for human kindness.
Secondly…
Then…..I arrived at the train station, only to find that of the five ticketing machines, only one was working and there was a long queue. The 5.27 pm may not be so possible after all!
When my turn arrived, I said to the young man in at the machine ahead of my turn, “I have three minutes to make it to my train”…and he said, “come with me'“…. just get on the train and I’ll help you get a ticket from there. So he promptly marched me through the carriages to the front of the train where we found the conductor. The conductor took this very seriously and even had to ring someone on his phone about it. There was a conversation with my new friend after which I was ‘let off’ payment and all!!
I arrived home from my simple outing to Parma full of praise for the young people of Italy- they reminded my of my lovely son (being approximately the same age) because this is the kind of thing he would have done.
This man from DHL couriers has been a wonderful help in sending Christmas presents home. Prior to finding him I had a terrible experience at the Post Office, Post Italiane, so all my post is going via this service now.
The other great thing about DHL is that my tracking tells me that it travels across the world to NZ in two days.