Papa at the laundromat

One of my favorite memories from Naples.

      I had been living there only for a few weeks and I needed to go to the laundromat. I was low on money and there were not a lot of laundromats around, so I had to walk about half a mile with my four giant bags of clothes. I got to the laundromat and I told the nice Italian man that I wanted to only wash my clothes because I didn't have money to dry them. I was able to make it so all my clothes fit it into two loads. I told him I would wait for my clothes because it wouldn't take too long, and honestly, by the time I walked all the way back to the hostel and back to the laundromat, my clothes would be done. He tried to make conversation with me in his broken English, but he knew much more English than I knew Italian.

     After only five minutes of talking to him, I felt like he was a close friend. He told me about his son, he told me about his wife who helped him at the laundromat. His friend who owned the store next-door often stopped by to talk. When my laundry was finished being washed, I stood up and was ready to put it back into my bags soaking wet. In the meantime it had started to pour, and he told me I can't walk home with wet clothes and even though I didn't have money to dry my clothes, he would dry them for me. I was puzzled as to why this person was being so nice to me. You would not find this kind of store owner anywhere in America. Heck, laundromats in America basically run themselves! As I waited for my clothes to dry and thanked him for his hospitality, he told me I looked thin, so he gave me some cheese and couple of apples that were in his fridge. I thanked him again, at that point I didn't want to insult his hospitality because he had been so nice to me. When my clothes were finished, it was still raining, and he gave me his only umbrella to walk home with. He also invited me to eat lunch with his family the next afternoon. I went and ate, using an ironing board as a table, but was very grateful for the homemade lunch. I live for these moments and for meeting these people. I'm sure he had no money and might not have been able to pay his bills. After meeting me for only five minutes, he took me under his wing and took care of me like I was one of his own. For that I will always be grateful, and I hope one day to go back and show him my appreciation for his hospitality.