Dodgeball With Cars?

Now, I do not dare step foot in a car here in Italy but as a bystander on the street I always need to be aware of the cars around because they are definitely not watching out for me!  At first, I found the idea of crossing the street to be a very frustrating experience.  The roads are just plain insane.  Roads in town are very narrow and there are no shoulders (I still don’t understand how more side view mirrors are broken).  It is a regular event to have to stop because a guy in front of you has decided to stop in the middle of the street, park and roll down the window and have a little chat with a friend.  Stop lights?  Those are merely suggestions.  Street Signs? Who needs them?  Everyone knows the names of the streets.  Smog control devices?? You wont find too many here in Italy.  This is readily apparent if you find yourself behind a truck or bus going up hill.  Every freeway has a fee.  The speed limit is basically non-existent.  The fast lane is…well…fast.  Keep right unless you plan on driving over 90 miles an hour.  Above all you have to watch out for the crazy kids on Vespas and mopeds.  My friends and I like to joke around that the Italians have a fatalistic attitude when behind the wheel.  It reminds us of an old Disney cartoon where Goofy (as a mild mannered family man) does a Jeckel and Hyde thing when he gets behind the wheel.  He turns in a fast driving, irritable horn blowing maniac.  All in all a well mannered man may greet you friendly in the street but is most likely to cut you off a couple minutes later on the road!  Driving is probably one of the most obvious cultural different.  I for one will never have to adapt to the insanity that is the Italian ways of the road.

At first I didn't notice the little things that I had become accustomed to be missing.  Well, in some cases they are missing while in others they are simply done a different way.  However, as time went on I became aware of these little differences.   USA I have realized revolves around convenience.  We love convenience is far less convenient than the USA.  Here are some reasons why.  In America there is a little shop you may have heard of...  7-11.  There is one on every corner and they are open all hours of the day and night and on every day of the year.   There are 24-hour super markets and even 24 hour Wal Mart stores.  In Italy, there are no 7-11 stores.  Shops open at 9 am and close at 12 pm.  Then they re-open in the evening between 3 pm and 9 pm.  And if it is Sunday then forget it you should have planned ahead! In Italy air conditioning is a rare thing.  There is no such thing a drive-thru's.  Restaurants open at 8pm in Italy so you must become accustomed to dining late.  I think that I mentioned this in the driving part, but in Italy freeways are not free.  As a matter of fact all freeways are toll roads.  You must stop every so often to pay up.  In the US garbage disposals and dishwashers are everywhere and not used strictly by the rich and influential.  In the US garbage is picked up from your home on a weekly basis.  In Italy, garbage is not collected at your home.  You must transport the garbage to the curbside dumping locations.   They are huge mountains of refuse that are removed once a week.

Also, in Italy there are rarely electrical outlets placed in convenient locations in all of the rooms.  For example, in the kitchen of my apartment there are no electrical outlets on the wall behind the counter!  There are only 3 outlets and they are on the other side of the room!  By the way, when I say three outlets I mean room for 3 plugs.  Outlets are not all doubled like they are in the States.  In my apartment we have an economical 3000-watt service.  This is a pain.  We have to be very careful not to overload our connection.  We cannot use the blow dryer and the straighter at the same time because if the refrigerator kicks on while both of these items are in use the circuit breaker will blow.  Also, every outlet in our apartment is wired to a single 10-amp breaker.  When we first arrived we were blowing the breakers at least 3 times a week.  Well that is just a few conveniences of living in the USA.  Tonight we are having Poker night in my apartment and we are playing with M&Ms!