(Written on 9-3-2012)
Those of you who have traveled abroad know how spoiled we
are in the U.S. with conveniences and luxuries.
I love my apartment but here’s what I don’t have that is pretty standard
at home: a clothes dryer, a dishwasher,
a microwave, air conditioning (nor a fan), Wifi in the apartment, good knives,
and counterspace. And while there are
two televisions in this apartment, there is no cable service included in my rent.
Those of you who know me well and have put up with my
griping about the small amount of kitchen counterspace I had in my condo….well,
that space would seem luxurious here.
Going to a supermarket here is a bit like going to a country
grocery store in the U.S. There are 3 or
4 central isles, a very small produce section on one side, a fresh meat/dairy
section on the opposite wall, and deli meats/cheeses, and higher end butcher
cuts of meat at the back. Of course, all
the product information is in Italian, so you just have to guess what some
things are. On my first trip there, I
was able to find everything but butter.
Because there are so few brand choices here, it’s possible to miss a
major item like butter. I also couldn’t
find Kleenex. I did buy some on my
second trip, and here, they are somewhat like our napkins.
There is nothing here like a Walmart or Meijers. There are specialty shops for
everything. Today, I wanted to buy hand
lotion, so I stopped at a pharmacy. I
pantomimed what I wanted to one of the clerks, and she gave me body wash. The clerk at the register must have overheard,
because he asked me if it was hand cream I wanted, so I did walk out with the lotion. I also wanted to buy an adaptor
for my computer, so I had to find an electrical shop. The hours of the shops are very
different. They are open from 9 or 10 to
1:15 p.m. or so. Then they close until 5
p.m. and stay open until 9 p.m. This is
not true of all shops, but the service shops, like pharmacies, telephone
stores, electrical shops, etc. seem to operate on these hours. The shops that sell clothes and gift items
items of interest to tourists are pretty much open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., as are most
restaurants and food shops.
I stopped at the post office, and the mode of entry to the
building is quite unique. Only one
person can enter at a time. A glass door
slides open and you step into a glassed in area. The door behind you closes and then the one
in front of you opens. This is a scanning process for security purposes--they must have had someone "go postal" here, too. Then you have to
select one of four options on a kiosk, and it spits out a numbered ticket. When you see that number appear above the
station of one of the several clerks, you get served. Of course, my limited Italian didn't help me to know what button to push
and I selected the wrong option. I
got my stamps anyway from a nice clerk who took pity on me. There were others who just ignored my obvious
confusion and avoided eye contact with me. (Some things are the same in all countries, I guess.)
I finally found out how I can access the Internet from my
apartment without signing up for a service.
Some of you may know that you can purchase a device that looks something
like a memory stick and fits into a UBS port—it allows you so many
megawhatevers of internet time. The one
I purchased today will be usable tomorrow, so I can start posting here more
regularly. Now I just need to figure out
how to download pictures from my cell phone (believe it or not, I’m now the
owner of a smart phone!) to my computer.
The instructions are in Italian—no English ones available I’m told, but
can’t believe it—and my intuitive powers have never worked on electronic
devices.
Fortunately, I’m an adaptable creature and have taken all
these cultural differences in stride. I
beginning to feel a little confident in my ability to navigate this town, and
like the locals, I’m looking forward to the end of the busy tourist season in
mid-September, so the streets aren’t so crowded.
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