Quid Pro Quo - Italian Style

While serving in Italy this summer, I gradually learned to accept the Italian way of life. Slow-paced, no worries, don’t worry about being on time. Well many of you are probably well aware of “Knabe time” (translates to 3 minutes late), but Italian time is 3 hours late. So it drives us Type-A's crazy. So when my meetings ended by 4 p.m. and I didn’t have a ride, I came up with an alternate solution to waiting 3 hours for the 6 p.m. bus that would really arrive at 7:30 p.m. It speaks true to the last think Obiwan said, “you are very resourceful.”

The story… When an Italian Navy officer named Luigi Tarsia asked me to be interviewed on Italian TV tomorrow, I spoke a little Latin that I picked up from an Army JAG officer – “Quid Pro Quo.”
I told him … Yes – I’ll do the interview if you can do me a favor, get me a ride back to the hotel ASAP. Well, he only had a motorcycle (like 50% of the Italians have) and the rest is history. I got back in time to recharge my computer AND work out at the gym before the Mayor’s reception. I don’t think I was breaking Air Force law as long as I had a helmet on. Who knows what the speed limit is here…. I thought I was going to die about 4 times as he wove through the narrow streets on the wrong side of the road, speeding up and down the city to get me to the hotel. Somehow I survived. It was the only air-conditioning I got that day.