I got picked up by a polizotto.

I am not lying.  I got picked up by a police officer yesterday.  Not picked up in the sense that he asked for my number but picked up as in got a ride from him.  I was on my way to tutor and I got a call from the women I tutor for saying that she was sick and that her friend would be picking me up where we usually meet.  She explained that the friend knew me and would be there when I got there. I had met a few of her friends before so I wasn't that worried.  After I hopped of the bus, I rounded the corner where I usually meet the family.  There was only a police car there.  Great, I thought,  now I get to stand on the corner waiting for the friend, looking and feeling like a stripper working the corner while a police officer watches me do it.  I also remembered that I hadn't brought any ID or my passport that day.  As I was trying to figure out how to explain to the police officer that I was legally allowed to be in Italy, I heard my name.  The police officer had gotten out of the car and as I turned to see who called me, I realized it was him.  "Ellen! Lets go!" he yelled as he got back into his squad car.  I was so confused, but I started over anyways and jumped into the car.  This should be interesting......

Turns out that I had met him before, just in street clothes.  Did I mention that he is hot?  Police officers in Italy aren't like the police officers roaming around the streets of Hinsdale.  I poliziotti are the same as any other Italian men, fashionable.  My poliziotto had thoughtfully accessorized his uniform with a matching scarf and a pair of Rayban aviator sunglasses. Police officers like him can be seen giro-ing through Piazza Maggiore and Via Independenza all the time.  Its not just a job for them, its a fashion statement. I totally support their decisions.

Anyways, he had a few minutes free and offered to pick me up so Alessia, the mom, wouldn't have to leave her house while she was sick.  Alessia had told him that I played soccer and we chatted about that.  He was born and raised in Bologna so he was "tifoso" per Bologna (a fan of Bologna's soccer team).  I told him that I had been to a game in Torino and that Italian fans were crazy and he immediately agreed.  He said that his friends and him go to all the games here in Bologna but have to hide their faces in their scarves during the games because if people recognized their faces at the games and saw what they did at the games, they would get fired.  Doesn't that make you feel safe?  I guess its a little conforting knowing that the people who are screaming at the refs, blowing fog horns and setting off flare guns at the game know what they are doing.  I felt especially safe in his squad car when he switched gears and kept hitting his gun in its holster with the stick. Don't worry though, I made it to tutoring!

See what I mean?

My ride!

 

This is what a Bologna soccer game looks like.

Baci xx