Italian Capers

Disclaimer- The following description only pertains to our region of Northern Italy...or, it may only pertain to our town...or, it may only pertain to our village...or it may only pertain to our street. We can't really say. Also, this post contains a frightening photo with a full frontal uvula view that may not be suitable for all readers. We have been here over a year. Why, oh why can't these people stop staring??? We have decided it must be a cultural difference. We have decided this a number of times, but boy does it feel awful to be on the receiving end of the stare. My gut instinct is to do the following to those who stare: Furthermore- waving is not a casual gesture here in lovely Campagna di Boonies. I think our fellow villagers would rather kiss us than wave to us. Several Saturdays ago, a fellow mom (Italian) from scuola drove by our place so we could follow her to an event. Her car was approximately ten feet in front of ours as we drove down our road. Off to

Just look at these happy folk. Their body language says it all. Here's proof positive, that the Italians THEMSELVES suffer with all these stores keeping all these crazy hours. It's not just us. When we first became residents of this beautiful country, we thought we were the only ones who arrived at a store only to discover (at 2:30 pm) that the store would re-open at 3 pm. Or we might arrive to find the day of our visit was the seemingly-random day during the week that the shop was closed. Recently, after running a couple errands, we stopped by the local grocer to purchase some forgotten ingredient we needed for dinner. The sole reason we are not over there with them, exasperated like they are, is that WE EXPECT it everyday. Our expectations of finding anything we need or want at any time are soooo low, that we cannot be disappointed. It really is quite a wonderful mental ploy. When we head out, we say aloud, well, first we are going to try and find our destination. If we find