Me and Teddy Roosevelt

Before I left the States my dad gave me his old Blackberry to use until I set up cell service in Italy. In order to use the phone I needed to purchase a new Sim card. My friend Jason suggested going to the Vodafone store and purchasing the card. He told me where the closest store was and said that the people who worked there were very nice and his experiences were always pleasant when he dealt with them. All I would need, he said, was a copy of my passport. Ok. Got that, no worries.

The first opportunity that I had to go to Vodafone was the day that we went to Ikea. There was a Vodafone store (not the one that Jason had suggested) in the mall. In my very broken Italian I asked for a Sim card. They asked for my passport. I told them that I had a copy. They said original. Hmmm. You enter the country and they barely glance at your passport, but you want to buy a Sim card and you need your original....does that seem off to anyone else? Since I didn't have my original (I do not carry it with me), I would have to visit the other store.

The next day Lynda and I trekked to the store only to find it closed for siesta. They told us they would re-open at 3. That seemed odd because most stores re-open at 4, but hey...they can do what they want. So, we made the trek again on Monday and arrived at 3:30. They didn't open until 4. Sheesh! All I wanted was a small Sim card! We went back down on Tuesday and lo and behold...they were open! Hooray!

We entered the store and a nice man (ok, I'll admit it...he was kinda cute) told us he would be with us in a minute...or at least that's what I think he said. Finally, it was our turn. I asked, again in my broken Italian, for a Sim card and Success! he asked for my passport. I handed it to him and he began to flip through it. He started at the back of the document and when he came to my picture page he looked up at me..."Very beautiful passport," he said. (He spoke some English) Needless to say, I was very flattered. I had to get a new passport in January and I was very pleased with my picture. My last passport photo was downright embarrassing and this one was a vast improvement. "I love all the pictures of Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt," he continued, breaking into my small-ish ego trip. Huh? Wow. Here I thought he was complimenting my passport photo, but in reality....he just liked the new US passports. My ego took a minor hit.

Ok, I'll admit it. The new US passports are very nice, really, they're something...but still. My picture is, or at least it has to be for the sake of my vanity, better than the drawing of Teddy Roosevelt!