So Un-Italian

Now, do not get me wrong; Italy is cool. Great food, great shopping, 2,000 year old buildings on every corner. What is not to love?

I am pretty content in my Italian life. I have adjusted to eating all the extra carbohydrates by buying new clothes. I have started drinking coffee again (and by coffee I mean a little espresso), because what Italian does not drink coffee. I eat fruit after lunch and dinner because that is just how it is done, and I now think it is strange to eat salty things for breakfast. Bring on the breakfast cookies! A thirty minute walk somewhere does not seem like a long way. If the temperature drops below 60 degrees I don't leave the house without a coat, a scarf, and gloves. And of course I get annoyed at all the tourists that are always walking around.

But there are sometimes when I just need to be not Italian. Do any of my other friends who live outside of the US feel this way? I mean you love the culture you are living in, but sometimes you just need to be American.

So when I have those feelings, I have to act upon them. Sometimes no one notices, but sometimes the kids, or the parents, or the Italians on the street look at you funny and ask what you are doing because clearly you are doing something they would not do.

For example today after having my pasta for lunch with Lilli, Alberto and our maid, I got out a jar of peanut butter, cut up an apple (and left the peel on...gasp!!) and proceed to spread peanut butter on my apple and eat the whole thing. And let me just tell you, it was great! Of course the response I got was a strange look from the maid, and an "oh my goodness" from Alberto. Then, when I offered some peanut butter to Lilli since she was also eating an apple (she peeled hers though) she said no with a tiny bit of a laugh in her voice. (not in a mean way but in a "that is so strange kind of way" But you know what, that is okay by me because sometimes you just need to sit there, eat your unpeeled apple and peanut butter and revel in the fact the you are American and that is okay.