Strange But True... part 1

Wow Factor:
Did you know that the majority of Italians do not know what a garbage disposal is??? Including my boss who is British. Its true. Its true, and its a shame. Well, its a shame for me because I miss having one!! I'm managing without - but man, can't tell you how many times I've found myself rinsing dishes... then having a mini heart attack as I am trying stop what I had just done.

I learn by repetition...

Driving:
I've come to realize that, in Italy, street lights and signs are merely a suggestion... I'm certain that the intention of installing the traffic lights and yield signs was put in place to provide a bit of order and sanity, but if you leave it to the Italians to interpret on their own you better watch out! I think I've mentioned this before but what makes this so fascinating for me is that Italians have mastered controlled chaos. I see less accidents here than I did in Colorado. Absolutely amazing. Oh and if you ride a scooter or motorcycle - you really don't have to follow ANY rules. It is bizarre how they own the roads - unless, of course they find themselves under a car... but that's a different story. They are - by far- the worst/unsafe drivers on the road here. Even worse than taxis.

To top it off, the speed limits are in kph (kilometers per hour), not mph - there are soooo many conversions I need to know. Who said being different was better!?

Birthdays
If it is your birthday, Italian tradition leaves it to the birthday girl/boy to cover the tab!?!?! That's right, nothing says happy birthday like an 80 Euro tab from your friends. I like birthdays too much to allow this to continue on. Of course I've tried my hardest to conform/adopted and accept the "Italian ways" since I arrived without issue, but the line is drawn here. A colleague and friend of mine recently had a birthday. I brought her a gift and took her to lunch. She couldn't believe it. I think this is one American tradition that the Italians pick up...


Return Policy:
Italy only has a 6 day return policy on all consumer goods? So if you buy a TV, for example, and it starts acting funny on day 4, and of course day 5 happens to be a Sunday and they are closed, you had better get that TV back to the store the next day otherwise you are the new proud owner of a 400 euro piece of crap. You can try to go through the actual maker - but rumor has it the only thing you walk away with is frustration. And if you buy clothes - almost all stores only allow exchanges and never give money back. Another lesson I learned the hard way...


Grocery Store Adventure:
First of all, it is important to point out the fact that you have to pay for grocery bags or "saccetti" when you go to the grocery store? I think they cost around 10 cents each. Once I learned this, I bought a few canvas bags to use instead of wasting money on plastic bags.

They will ask you, "Saccetti?" (bag?) Then I usually have to say, "Si, due grazie". Whydo I say "Si"? Because I almost always forget my canvas bags! Then, you walk to the end of the checkout counter and quickly bag your own groceries. You don't have time to separate meats from dairy or detergent from soda. The pressure is on to pay and get out of the way. Once the checker is finished scanning your items (which is pretty quick - I think all of them hate their jobs immensely) he'll say something like, "venti due quaranta" (22.40). You should try your hardest to give them exact change. Handing them 50 euros will only get you a dirty look and some mumbling while they are shaking their head at you in disgust. Why, you ask? They expect you to make exact change for them! Odd, right?!

Of course, it doesn't stop there. While paying, putting your money away and bagging your groceries - the cashier has already moved on to the next person. You now have approximately 1 minute to get your act together, finished bagging your stuff and get out of the way. If not, you're just annoying the customers in line. They have a clear as day look that says, "c'mon, what is taking her so long?" or "God!" or "We don't have all day". Fair enough. It took me a little while to catch on to the process... like I said, I learn by repetition...

Italians Speaking English:
So far, I think it is safe to say that in general, Italians (those that can speak decent English) think everything is "impossible" or "disasterous". That is still really hard for me to get used to. I was raised to think that "nothing was impossible" and I define a disaster as Hurricane Katrina or the Haiti Earthquake.

On the contrary, I DO NOT consider someone forgetting to send an email or missing a step in an administrative process a "disaster", nor do I think that just because you don't know how to do something it would automatically make it "impossible".

Another interesting comparison is when an English speaking Italian is explaining (in English) how they really enjoyed the service a person or company provided, or like the way something worked. They will describe it as "delicious". Not great, good, wonderful, fantastic, but delicious. For example, a colleague the other day was talking about her tailor and said, "Yes, yes he is just delicious." Ummm.. okay - I guess that works.

Cooking:
Here is something you probably did know... Italians take their cooking VERY seriously. I've had a large number of men ask me if I cook. Of course I lie and say, "Yes" followed with a sarcastic, "do you have a microwave?" Everyone laughs and thinks I'm just being funny. Then they almost always ask me, "When you cook pasta, do you let the water boil first and then add the pasta, or do you put the pasta in before the water is boiling?" My initial thought (which I do not say out loud) is, "well, I've got a 50/50 shot here." One thing I know is that Italians live by tradition. AND, traditionally, I believe the water should be boiling before the pasta is added in. So, after my 5 second analysis I say, "I let the water boil first." I say if very confidently as if implying, "why, didn't you know that?". My answer is a huge success. They let out a sigh of relief as if how I cooked pasta was going to affect them some day. I felt the urge to tell them that I would never put myself in that type of situation so not to worry.

Come to find out Americans have a reputation of - as the Italian men say, "just throwing the noodles in before the water is boiling - can you believe it, its unbelievable!?!" Then, as usual, I say, "Yes, yes I can". Then they laugh as of I'm just being funny again.

Just in case you were wondering, I really do boil my water first :).

My Italian:
Well, I need to get up in 6 hours so I am saying buona notte. Ma (but), before I go I would like to close on a good note. Early last week I said my first full Italian sentence WITHOUT help and WITHOUT screwing it up. It was to a taxi driver - which means he was my only witness so you're just going to have to trust me on this one...

I said, "Scusa, ho solo cinquanta euro".

I was apologizing to the taxi driver because I only had 50 euros. Remember what I said above about correct change....

A presto e amore a tutti!
Jme

Venice and Rome

Apologies for the delay - this posting has taken some time to put together. Mia mamma e mia sorella (sister) came to visit me over Thanksgiving weekend, as I mentioned in my "outing to the hospital" posting. This is what living is Europe is all about. Having the opportunity to travel within and between EU countries is especially easy once you're here.

So here is a brief review of my visit to Rome and Venice with mia mamma e mia sorella!


Welcome to Burano - aka the "Lace Island" of Venice. Everywhere you turn you will little Italian ladies sewing (by hand) some of the most beautiful garments I've ever seen...

These Italian women may be little but man are they persistent. A bit much for me - but my mom was in heaven.







Me, sis and mom on the "Island of Glass" - formally known as Murano. I loved this island. The glass was beautiful - nothing like I'd seen before. But man was it COLD!

In this picture we are standing in front of a working lighthouse.










This picture is some of the residential homes on Murano island.

Venice at night! Very pretty city - no matter what time of the year!

Who knew I could get any whiter!!

This is me and my mom on the top of the infamous Rialto bridge in Venice. Very pretty!

Venice

Totally cool. I love Venice.

Me.

In front of the Rialto Bridge

We were in Venice for only 2 days - there is a lot more I need to see so I hope to get back there this summer when its sunny out!!

Now... on to ROME!

The Roman ruins. This is where Rome started. Now most is in ruins, but very cool history here.

The Arch of something.... I'm forgetting right now. A month ago I would have remembered... Sorry.

Either way - very, very cool and pretty. OCD at its finest right here.

The one and only Colosseum where the Roman Gladiators fought animals and humans. Crazy how things worked back then... Glad its not that way anymore.

Dang it... I'm forgetting what these are called too! Have you seen Angel and Demons??? If so - you've seen these. It is where Tom Hanks finds the first "angel" clue. It starts with a P.

OK, now were into the big bucks here. This is the inside of St. Peters - The church of the Pope himself. I had no idea God had so much money. Seriously, this was intense, huge, shiny, unbelievable...

a bit much...

This was the focal point inside St. Peters Church. Very pretty... very.... intense.

Ha! OK this was one of my favorite statues from the Greek section of the Vatican museum.

This is Zeus and one of his stubborn and obviously very upset children. hehe.

One of many AMAZING ceilings inside the Vatican museum.

I mean mio Dio (My God!). Endless halls of ceilings with just as much (if not more) detail as this one - however each of them unique to the Pope who was in power at that time.

Crazy.

The Vatican from afar.

La Bruchetta!

A great and delicious restaurant in Rome. The man in the picture was our server. But more than that, he is a distant family friend. He knows my mom's uncle Lenny. Uncle Lenny's family is from Italy and he visits often. The best service I've had since I've been here.

Me and my mom at the top of the Spanish Steps. I'm not sure why - but this was one of the monuments I was really excited about. The story behind it isn't even all that impressive - nonetheless - one of my favorite spots.

Ah, here we go... I'm sure you all recognize this statue....

The one and only Fertility Goddess.

Need I say more...

On our way to the Vatican.

Creepy Italian Trees.

Whats the deal? AND how do they grow like that?

The famous river in Rome. God help me - if I could only remember the name.

Obviously I'm too tired and cannot be held accountable for my sporadic Alzheimers. I will update these pictures when I remember - sorry again.

I had over 800 pictures from this trip... You can see a lot more on my facebook page - if you're cool and have a facebook account - have a looksy.

I also think it is important to make note that even though "they" say Italy is still "America friendly", I'm here to tell you that really isn't true. Don't get me wrong, most Italians are nice to me - or at least tolerate me, but there was an incident in Venice where we got into an argument with an Italian restaurant owner who was blatantly scamming us. My tolerance for this has become extremely low (as you could imagine) so once I realized it, I tried to reason with him. Before you know it, we are in the middle of an argument with a man who clearly did not like Americans.


As for Milan... Italians in the area I live are starting to realize I'm not leaving. I think they are "coming around" and now the workers at the grocery store and nearby restaurants are starting to be nicer to me... baby steps...


As for my Italian - its getting there. I still take WAY to long to compose a sentence, so finding people who are patient enough to have a broken Italian conversation with me are almost none. Regardless I understand A LOT more than I can speak. My confidence is a little shaky, but the Italians do appreciate it when I try. So I keep trying.

Well, I promise to post again soon - I am really going to try to post every Sunday.

Buon Natale in retardo (Good Christmas "Late")

A presto (saying to means "talk to you soon")

Jamie