Your uncle's problem is that he is trying to find something that isn't good here. I don't go to Italy and ask for some dish you'd only find in New Jersey and then complain it's not what I wanted.
I
so agree with you, but Italians are like the biggest PITAs ever.
When in Italy, they complain about Italy.
When abroad, they pretend to find the same things that they have in Italy, for a fraction of the price. When they don't find them, they go on trying to teach the locals "how things should be done" (the Italian way, of course).
You should have seen the situations I faced with the various family and friends who have been visiting me since November. I can't stand Italians, that is the main reason why I moved here, but they keep chasing me.
Please laugh, 'cause I have been crying only!
When my friends were here, they asked to eat a true Argentinian dinner, so I took them to a parilla. When there, one of them said she was having a chorizo only because "that is what she eats in Italy and knows" (you fly 12.000 km to eat the same thing you have home?!), then has a big salad. I ask her "why are you having only a chorizo and salad if you asked to eat an Argentine dinner? Why don't you order some meat?" and she shrugged... I thought she was feeling unwell, but at the second parilla we went to, she was having the "chicken" because "she is trying to become a vegetarian", so I said "What kind of vegetarian eats chicken?! If you really have to break the rules, break it for the best cuts, not the scrappy ones". So I gave her a small piece of my bife the chorizo, and she ate it like I gave her poo. And then spit it out hoping I wouldn't catch her.
...after two days she bought 10 leather belts for her and her vegetarians friends... (
so it is okay to kill for fashion but not for food?)
At Pani she asked the waitress "How are your french fries done?! Because last time I ordered them they brought me terrible fries covered in eggs..." (
missy, you ordered "papas a caballo" last time...)
Or when my uncles enter shops saying out loud BUONGIORNO followed by "sono un turista italiano" (
I am an Italian tourist) expecting people to praise him for that. Or when he is convinced he was given a fresh cut of cheese (instead of the already cut one) "because they know we Italians are exigent on quality" (with "they" he mans "the world").
Or my aunt who took newspaper from my building hall saying "Let's read the local news", backed by my uncle saying "We have to keep up with the local news" and then once in my apartment, my uncle said "What's that number on the cover?!" and I said "The number of the apartment where the subscriber lives" and they said "SO WE STOLE THEIR NEWSPAPERS?!" and I replied "Of course, what do you expect? People throwing newspapers for free in building halls?! Do they do this in Italy?!" and then said "Well, no. You are right, we will return them" (
they are still in their room, by the way).
Or when at dinner at my husband's family place my uncle said "I know in some culture they eat salad as a starter, but where I came from/in my home it has always been eaten at the end of the meal". You are not in Italy and you are not at home, simply say "I'll have that later".
And I have other friends arriving in 4 days... Will I ever be homesick? I have been away for 9 months and the last place I want to fly to is Italy.
