Cultural Update- Life in Italy

Italians do not wait in lines the way Americans will. The "line etiquette" here is very interesting to me.





Let's say you are at the Gap in the USA and you get in line to buy something. You approach the cashier and if there is someone already waiting, you stand behind them. If there isn't, you stand across from the cashier and you expect the next person who joins you to wait at the register, to stand behind you. If it's Christmas, there might even be a delineated line formation and you stand in it. (Like at a bank, or a movie theater- you know, with those velvet ropes hanging from metal poles to keep people in order.)









Now you are in Italy and you go to H&M (clothing store) and decide to purchase something. You approach the cashier and if there is no one already waiting, you stand across from the cashier and you wait. If someone else comes to the cashier- THEY WILL NOT NECESSARILY GO BEHIND YOU! They MIGHT go behind you, or they may stand next to you or even in front of you. (I am not kidding!) When the next cashier opens up, they will push to get there first. If you stand there, awestruck, the next person will push in front of you as well.





If there are already people waiting in line when you arrive at the cashier, they will be in a line across the counter area, next to each other, not behind one another. If you are in this mob (!), someone might come and stand right in front of you. Or, they might be sneaky and stand off to one side of you with their back to you- then they will casually turn and voila, they will be in front of you before you know it.







If you are at the grocery store and are heading to the line, someone might just RUN to get there before you, even if you have only one item and a child (perhaps crying)in your arms and they have an entire cart of items.

It boggles my mind! It is soooo very different and it feels very rude, but here, it's not! You can't take it personally, and it's not technically rude because it is their cultural. It's crazy different!



These pictures are from Cinque Terre- we visited this summer. It was lovely and warm. Luckily for us, the lines weren't too long : )

Not everyone has an Uncle Crunchy...but everyone should (be so lucky!)

This is a blast from our recent arctic (okay,Ohio)visit, but it deserves a post.

When we were in the States, Spring was dawning, and with it, the weather was warming. There were 2 girls in Ohio who were sad the mounds of snow were melting. H and Z were so very excited to be in this winter wonderland that they could barely stand to think about the snow being melted when we returned to Ohio after a trip to Florida.

But Uncle Crunchy had a plan..........he SAVED them a snowperson in his freezer! Isn't he the bestest???????????? It was so wonderful! Every girl should have a Crunchman!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow......

Although I can't know for certain what other people experience, it seems safe to say that most people will, on occasion, have a little tune that runs through their minds. It happens to me, and I know My Man recently had a RIDICULOUS song in his head. He (we!) were able to listen to it nonstop for several days, and poof, one morning, he woke up and it's gone. That's how it usually goes. The songs come and go.


For me, the tunes aren't necessarily songs I have recently heard, nor are they songs I really like, although that is sometimes the case. They are usually songs that are pertinent to my overall emotional state at the time. It's as if the songs in my memory make up a thesaurus. A lyric that expresses a bit of my mental state is retrieved subconsciously and then my mind strikes up the tune. Let's say I am super happy to see H-bomb, (daughter #1) then I might start to hear/hum/sing, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..." That's a rough approximation, and most of the time it's more subtle than that, but you get the idea. It can be fun, for me, to try to link the lyric and figure out why that tune is center stage.


I hereby confess that I have had a song STUCK in my head for THREE years. People, it's been torture. Yep, ever since I arrived in Italy, I have had the same song running through my head. It has been maddening. I don't even know all the words! I can't even remember the last time I had heard this song.

You'll never guess what song.....that's right, "Somewhere over the Rainbow." While I enjoyed the movie years ago, I have never been a fanatic, or someone who knows all the words to every line in the movie (Aunt Na).

Particularly when I am driving on these narrow, twisty roads, I hear, "Somewhere over the rainbow....." When I am stuck behind a tractor, which is a thrice daily occurrence, "skies are blue...." When I am sweeping the porch, or walking through the market, "and the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true."


"Where troubles melt like lemon drops...."- really? That's the song that's been chosen for ITALY?! Italy? This is the land of red tape, not rainbows! The troubles don't melt here, trust me people. Red tape, construction delays, random pullovers by the polizia to check your documents....no melting troubles to be found. Italy is not really "a land that I heard of once in a lullaby." Why this song, why oh why can't I (get it out of my head)? WHY??????

I have tried to commandeer this whole phenomena and supplant this tune with other songs, but it has never worked. I can't figure out why.....am I over the rainbow....am I so looking forward to our next chapter in life and THAT'S over the rainbow.....? Why oh why?



Recently, I changed gears. "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein



I have embraced the song.....it was long overdue. I went to Itunes (love it) and purchased THREE versions of that song, who knew there were so many available! One is kind of reggae, the classic by Judy Garland, and one that's more like a lullaby, artist unknown.

We have been blasting these 3 songs all day, every day. In the car, in the kitchen, in our heads. I know the words now, the kids know the words. Now, I cruise down the stink-filled (pig farms?) roads with this song blaring. We are watching people run red lights and rocking out with rainbows. There's a team of cyclists in the road, and we are humming and wishing upon a star so we might wake up where the clouds are far behind us.



And then it finally dawned on me....I too have been displaced to a land of small people who talk funny and have a very different way of life.....and my kids are here too : )


Come out, come out wherever you are
And meet the young lady who fell from a star
She fell from the sky, she fell very far
And America she says is the name of the star.
(Glinda)

Round and round we go......

The following excerpt is from an actual conversation in which I recently had the joy of participating- the names have been changed to protect the obnoxious:

Caller (in English):
Allo? Allo? This is Marco.

Me: Hello Marco.
Caller: Yes, I think I have your husband's cell phone.
Me: (continuing in English as the caller started it!) Well, that's not possible because my husband does not have a cell phone.



Caller: This is Marco, I have his cell phone.
Me: Marco, he does not have a cell phone.


Caller: Yes, because I have the cell phone.
Me: Marco, he does not own a cell phone.


Caller: I think he left it here in my shop.
Me: (in Italian) Marco, he does not own a cell phone!
Caller: Oh, yes, then I don't know to who it is?
Me: Okay, have a great day, thanks for calling.
Hang up.


The carousel pictures were taken in Strasbourg, France. We went to visit my french family and had a wonderful time. I honestly had forgotten that Strasbourg is so beautiful. More pictures to come.

Next batter up.....

This is how my sisters and I look in many of the pictures from our youth. My Dad was the family photog, so he orchestrated the pictures to memorialize our major life events. As we got older and whined about looking into the sun, we were told that the colors would look better with the sun behind him and us facing that direction.....REALLY?? WHAT ABOUT OUR SQUINTY FACES?????? Priceless.

Here's the little spitfire on her first day. The boots are hand-me-downs that remain an all-time favorite. She told me they are her skipping boots, apparently, they also cause that little demure leg gesture....


Her favorite morning activity is to sort all the little shiny stones into their tubes.
To mark the occasion, we had lunch afterwards at the Mensa, which is the Italian mess hall on the base. It's Z's favorite lunch locale. While it is a cafeteria, the food is wonderful. These Italians take their food seriously- and it shows! The place is always crowded. The people-watching opportunities are out of this world- it's especially fun to watch these 90 pound girls in the Italian military load up their trays with an absolutely astounding amount of food and then see them finish it all!



Here's another small fry who can finish her giant plate of pasta too!

Just One Moment Please....

I may be the only person on the planet who doesn't think time goes "fast." That concept just doesn't have a strong root in my ideology. I have no idea why, and yes, to appease most of you, I realize that may change in the future.




For me, I feel breathless and vulnerable when I think about how significant-life moments pass at the same speed as the mundane moments.....and how all of these moments only pass by once.



In September 1995, my Dad passed away. I was holding his hand at the time. One moment ticked by, undifferentiated from the others, and then my Dad was gone. The moment passed quietly, and yet my entire life changed in that instant. My life-perspective, my career plans, my family- all became redefined. All in one breath.




All week, I have been intermittently tearful. My daughter asked if I would cry on her first day of school. I told her I probably would and when she asked me why, I answered: because you are getting so big, because you are still so small, because I will miss you, because I love you, because I have to let you go a little.



And then the bus came and our sweet girl hopped up the stairs without looking back. The door hissed closed behind her and the moment passed, just like all the others and left me standing there, feeling breathless and vulnerable with tears in my eyes.

New Beginnings.....

Our little daughter's first day of Kindergarten was today!


The bus stop is just down the street.

After much anticipation, she was thrilled the big day had finally arrived. She was more than ready to start her academic career and happily hopped onto the bus this morning.



Her day was filled with fun and exciting new activities. She can't get enough. When she got home, around three this afternoon, she realized it wasn't dinner time yet. She then asked if she could go back to school. I said, "Sure you can, honey, tomorrow."

"But Mom, why am I home already, you said I was going to stay ALL DAY!"

At the end of the day, we were all overjoyed to have her home, especially this one...