Living in Italy-the funny little things

So I have been living in Italy for three weeks now and experience new things every day. I'll start by telling the funny things.

Most Italians use gas instead of electricity because electricity is so expensive. The problem with this is I have never used a gas stove and at first was very scared to use one. It sparks, smells like gas..so you never know when its going to blow up the house, and if you turn the heat up, you may start a fire, if you turn the heat too low, you will burn out the flame and then will have to start the long process of turning on the stove again. However, after three weeks I'm starting to get the hang of it. On the contrary, the gas also runs the hot water in the house. For the past week our shower has been ice cold and we don't know why exactly...so apart from taking showers at his parent's house, we have to heat water on the stove in a pot and hope that its enough water to wash with!

Cooking has been an interesting event. I think I'm a pretty good cook, but being here has really tested my knowledge because there are no such things as pre-made anything! There is no self-rising flour, you have to make that. There is no can of cream of chicken, or broth, or brownie mix, or heavy cream, sour cream...the list goes on. If you think that's difficult, there are no measuring tools either. And when you do find some kind of mix that you think you can manage to make a cream of chicken with, you have to figure out the measurement converting from grams to what you remember a cup or tablespoon looks like. I have been experimenting quite a bit...poor Fabio. So before you cook you have to go to the store to buy your ingredients. Well, at the store you better remember to dress to impress. Italians sulk in what they look like everywhere they go! It is a hobbie to them. At the grocery store you will find women wearing high...and I mean at least 4 inches high..heels, jewelry, plastered lip stick, their nice ironed shirts...it's nuts! So when I went to the store I wore my nice little flower dress like a normal American girl would, and I was stared at like I had some target on! ...So at the store if you pick fruit you have to have gloves on. After you pick the fruit or vegetables they have to be weighed by the designated fruit-guy. The milk is stored in the dry food section, and there is no such thing as yellow cheese. Neither is their sandwhich meat...but a bunch of proscuitto for sandwhiches. They do not use salad dressing, but salt and oil on their salads, so there is no salad dressing to be found anywhere! Oh, and one interesting thing is they don't have crabs over here. Ok enough about food.

My daily life so far is from 7-4 Fabio is gone at work so I'm home doing my homework and cleaning the house. Every weekend we go visit his parents and see some of his friends. In two weeks we are going to one of his friend's wedding. I'm excited to see what that is going to be like! About marriage, 90% of Italians marry in their late 20s early 30s. On that note, I have not seen one under-aged pregnant girl or young couple with a child. Every couple that I have met so far with a child is in their 30s. And they all only have one. The Italians have a different view in life in that they don't see the reason to "rush" to have children...and all of the families have an age gap in their children of 4+ years. They like to finance once child at a time. I think this is a responsible thing about their culture. And on the marriage note, if anyone is worried about me..let me set your heart to ease because it is not even Fabio's culture to marry a girl so young without a degree, like me :) and I'm perfectly happy with time because I would like to fully know what I'm getting myself into anyways.

This is all I can write right now, but there will be plenty more! I'll try to post pictures soon