Kaffee und Kuchen!

i got so absorbed in the tomato drama, that i completely forgot to write about the other food-related incident of the week!

so there's this café, where i'm something of an afternoon regular, right? when i'm done with school and have nothing better to do but don't feel like going home yet, i go there and sit in what's left of the sun and try to enjoy the last few nice autumn afternoons, before it gets too cold to sit outside. but the real reason i started going there regularly is that the owner-lady recognized me, like the second time i was there, and as a former barista myself, you know, that means something =)

so i'm sitting there this afternoon, and i've been there for a while, when the owner-lady tells me she's running next door to another shop for a second, just to let me know, in case i need something. sure. so i'm just hanging out, and a couple minutes later, these four older gentlemen show up and see me, and are like, you don't work here, do you? (because i'm the only person there!!) i explain that the owner-lady ran next door, and as i'm debating whether or not to get her, she comes hurrying out of the other shop and goes to greet her new customers.

i'm only half paying attention to them--it was kind of hard to ignore them completely but would have taken way too much effort to try to actually understand all of them talking at once--and it turns out they have a cake with them and want to know if the owner-lady can provide them with plates and something to cut it with, as well as coffee, of course, and she would be most welcome to pull up a chair and have a piece of cake as well. everyone's laughing and having a good time. owner-lady goes to get the plates and coffee. the gentlemen are chatting and laughing--about 18 inches from me, just for sake of the mental picture. i'm sitting there, thoroughly amused, and every now and then, one of them makes a comment in my general direction or, better yet, about me to the man next to him, but with the obvious intention that i hear it... hilarious!! one of them finally asked me if what i was working on was for school, although, he clearly found that idea improbable. so i explained what i was doing--thus more or less outting myself as an american. intrigued and amused, they continue to joke with me and with the owner-lady, asking her if they should order in italian and such. she told them to feel free, but she wouldn't understand them!

after the cake and coffee have been distributed, the gentlemen insist that the owner-lady sit down with them. no, no, she says, she prefers to stand. but does this dampen the mood? not a chance! they just kept going. these guys were hilarious!! they offered me a piece of cake, which i graciously declined. (i was given a piece anyways, of course.) i asked if it was someone's birthday. no, they had just been given the cake--there was some kind of story behind it, but rather of the sort that's better left unsaid, or so they told me... and i quite believed them =)

i continued doing my thing and they finished their coffee and cake, and i had kind of tuned them out and didn't really register that they were leaving, until one of them came up to me and wished me luck and a good time in germany--half in english, it was cute =) i thanked them, of course, for the cake, and we said our goodbyes.

i mean, how adorable is that?!?!