August 15, 2000

Dear Ternani #7

"NewYorkTime/TerniTime"

My typical weekday in New York City goes something like this: wake up at 6:00 am, leave my home in suburban New Jersey at 7:15, take a bus into Manhattan, arrive at my workplace at 8:45 and begin working at 9. I work till 1 p.m., take a one hour lunch break, work from 3-5, take the bus back home where I arrive by 6:30. I eat and finish dinner by 8, watch television, read, and write till 10:30 and then go to bed.

At first glance the Terni weekday schedule seems pretty similar: begin work at 9 a.m., break for lunch at 1 p.m., come back from lunch at 4 - WAIT A MINUTE!! THREE HOURS FOR LUNCH?? Work till 7, eat supper - WAIT!! "Supper"? You mean "dinner". Huh? "Dinner" is what you had this afternoon? Wasn't that "lunch"? . . . I'M CONFUSED!!!!!

Terni is a lonely place at 2 p.m. on a weekday and I should know. Many are the days that I have wandered aimlessly through hot afternoon streets, my cameras hanging listlessly around my neck, unused because there isn't anyone to photograph. My internal New York clock tells me that since it is mid-afternoon I should be getting things done yet my eyes tell me that things are done differently in Terni, that is, very little is done between one and four p.m. (or, in TerniTime, le 13 and le 16.)

In New York City afternoon is as busy as morning. Our midday meal is eaten quickly, often as we continue working. The meal might be a hot dog bought on the street, or a slice of pizza, a McDonalds hamburger, or a container of yogurt, or a few pieces of fruit. When our lunch hour (or in some cases, half hour) is over we get right back to work and go full speed ahead till quitting time at 5. When I am in Italy I struggle to adjust to the southern European tradition of pranzo then pisolino.

While most of you are enjoying your pasta asciutta I am a lost soul sitting in a park keeping the pigeons (and sometimes that notable ternano, "Il Maresciallo") company. Then, when my evening dinner clock goes off at 6:30 I have to accept that the restaurants in Terni will not be open for another two hours. For this reason I am usually the first customer, sometimes arriving while the proprietors are eating. One time an American friend and I showed up at a restaurant at 7:30 only to be told to come back in an hour because, as the owner explained, "Dobbiamo mangiare anche noi!"

I know that the tradition of afternoon siesta is changing in Italy. When I photographed at a sportswear manufacturer in Zona Sabbione the workers got one hour to eat and then it was back to work. Still, try getting a slice of pizza in downtown Terni at 3 pm; as they say in Brooklyn: "Fuggedabowdit!!" (Forget about it!!") I don't know which I prefer, NewYorkTime or TerniTime. My body instinctively moves to the former but I think the latter represents a lifestyle piu "sano", piu "gentile" piu "vivibile". Each time I come back I get a little better at living on TerniTime. Maybe one day I will actually be able to go out for pranzo at le 22, Terni style, and the pigeons in the park will have to find a new afternoon companion.