What will take getting use to (Aug 7th blog Part III)

What will take getting use to
· Not having a car – I kind of like the idea of not dealing with a car, but at times miss the convenience of having one. Of course here most of the time it wouldn’t be inconvenient with the parking, traffic & getting a license and related fees, etc. I do miss my car though – I really loved the last car I had!
· The timing of the buses – for the first couple weeks I really had no problems with the buses and never had to wait too long. Then starting last week for some reason, I was having to wait sometimes up to 45 minutes or an hour for my bus! I’m not sure what happened, but it was several days in a row. So I need to remember to start allowing at least 45 minutes whenever I need to get somewhere. I was told that it is typical for Romans to be late & after seeing the traffic and waiting for buses I understand why! I think that will be one part of the ‘Roman’ lifestyle that will not be too hard to adapt to (more like forced to adapt to!).
· Not having a clothes dryer – I’m getting a bit more use to it, but still will take some getting use to.
· Not having a bathtub & the shower being so small! I never really took baths, but it was nice being able to take a shower without having your face in the shower curtain! I am looking forward to being in hotels at the end of this month…and one reason is having a bathtub!
· Having the kitchen and bathroom being so small that if I hold both arms out I can touch both walls! It’s starting not to seem as small, but still not use to it. I know when I go back home to visit everything will seem SO big! Even the bathroom that my sister & I shared in our house that I use to say was too small!
· Not having a microwave – I don’t think I’ve ever lived without a microwave! I am learning the whole heat it up on a skillet approach, but will take some time to get use to.
· Realizing that have a sink with 2 different parts is a luxury – I always thought a sink always had one side for washing & another for rinsing. I now know that many only have 1. It took some time to get use to that, but now I’m learning my approach so I don’t have to drain & redo the water so many times.
· Remembering the fact that when I shop/fix dinner, it’s only for me! Even when I lived with my sister I had a tendency to buy too much or make too much food…now it’s even worse here. I went to the open market & everything looked so good I got a little of many things. Then a lot ended up going bad before I could use it. I hate wasting food too, so I’ll have to learn to only buy a little and just go to the store more often.
To see pictures I took at the open air market, to go this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41654&l=f1f60&id=800405227
· The stores being so small and not open 24 hours – nope, no 24 hours Walgreens or Wal-Marts here. In fact, not sure if I’ve seen a 24 hour place. Depends on the shops, but most are closed for at least 1 ½ hrs in the middle of the day & then close around 7 (some later, but usually not after 8 or 9pm). Now restaurants are typically open from 11 – 4 and then 7 – midnight (or sometimes 1am), but some are open at different times if they are more geared for tourists. It is typical to eat lunch around 1 and dinner around 9pm. I’ve pretty much adjusted to that now, but for dinner I sometimes have to eat more around 8.
· The banking system – there are so many forms to fill out and fees and if you don’t want high fees you have to have an account were you only have a certain number of transactions a month. And then there is the whole issue about a wire taking days to get processed. I still don’t have my permanent ATM card yet or credit card, but hopefully can go get that soon. Right now the ATM card I have can only be used at Banca di Roma ATMs and it seems that no one is working to refill their machines this month because every one I have found the last couple days does not work.
· Eating alone at a restaurant – I’m not sure if I will ever get comfortable eating alone at a sit down restaurant. Just sitting at the table waiting for your food with no one to talk to is just boring! It’s that those time especially that my blackberry because my friend & I’ll start checking emails and emailing people.
· Not having family & friends close by and thus my ‘support system’ being thousands of miles away! Thanks to technology, I can keep in contact with family & friends often via email and instant messaging (and even sometimes via webcam). But still when you are not feeling well or just want to give someone a big hug, technology can’t help you there! As of now I don’t have any friends here yet and I’m not on any team and so there really isn’t anyone that I report to yet at work, and I realized that if something happened to me it could really be at least a day or more before somebody realizes something is wrong. On the news when they would talk about someone being missing for days I would always wonder how could that happen. How could they go for days without someone noticing they are gone? Now I realize how it could happen! I do have a friend that I email back & forth with at least once a day (usually more) & if I don’t reply to her emails she would realize something probably isn’t right, but she’s thousands of miles away, so there is not really much she could do! So realizing this, I’ve realized how important it is for me to watch what I do & watch out for me safety even more! It was a very scary/eye-opening moment when I really thought about the fact that I have NO ONE yet that lives in the same city (or even the same country) that I could consider my ‘support system’.
· Seems strange, but even how to greet people. In the US, the customary way to greet someone is a handshake and then if you really know them well maybe a hug. Here in the workplace a handshake is also typically customary, but once you know someone the kiss on both cheeks is common (right, then left)…and it’s actually more like you just touch cheeks and kiss…don’t really kiss their cheek. At first it seemed a bit odd for me, and I was always worried (and still kind of am) if I’m doing it the right way. I mean there can only be so many ways to do it right?!? But I just don’t want to be rude. Plus when it’s with a guy you don’t know all that well & when in the US we are use to personal space, it’s a bit like ‘do I really know him well enough to greet him that way?’. I mean you meet someone 1 time and you’re about to leave…handshake, kiss, nothing…it’s a bit awkward at times. I usually just lay low and then go with whatever they do!