Giorgio and his dad

His dad is 71 years old and he’s only 24. His dad only speaks Italian and Genovese while my Italian vocab is only limited to 0.05% of what’s out there. I only speak one Genovese phrase and that’s merely for amusement for locals and not for the purpose of communication. And so when you put the two of us together, without Giorgio acting as a translator, we virtually carry out a conversation through hand gestures and enunciating every syllable. You should have seen us-what a wonderful display of intricate hand patterns and flexing of facial muscles.

But he’s father is an excellent comedian despite his age and his inability to express himself in English. By using simple Italian vocabulary, he could invoke peals of laughter from me. Now I know where Giorgio got his sense of humour from.

However being an ardent fan of linguistics, this is not enough-for me. I yearn to be able to be as funny and as interesting in Italian as how I am when I speak English. I want to be able to accompany his father around the ship and take him to places in South East Asia without having Giorgio around (his work take up a lot of his time). But because of my language handicap, I can do none of those. And I feel helpless, insecure and irritated because of that.

Last night, at 12 am, Giorgio, his dad and I, went to Bar on Deck 6, to chill and unwind over Champagne. Elisa, the Italian-English animator, came and joined our table, and then a few minutes later, Kiko, the Spanish flamenco dancer, joined us as well. His dad was saying that he couldn’t really find any Italian passengers onboard. The British passengers would invite him for a beer, which he’d gladly accept if only he speaks English. I can see that he’s also really frustrated with the situation. As he continued to pour his woes to Elisa and Kiko, I can see that he’s really charmed by the both of them. In the end, it made me feel like a very inadequate girlfriend. I’ve allowed language to alienate me in the entire situation.

It’s really bugging the hell out of me now. I feel extremely vulnerable. I want Giorgio to tell me that everything’s gonna work out right, but I think it is, but I cannot not take this personally.

I just wish that there’s something I can do about all of this.