Archive for the ‘uniquely italian’ Category
Happy Befana!: The Epiphany in Italy
For those who don’t know, today is (another) excuse to overeat holiday in Italy. It’s the Epiphany, which means that last night, good little boys and girls got candy in their socks/stockings and the rest got lumps of coal from La Befana, the (good) Epiphany witch.
Read on...Operation Sky TV: Completed!
This morning I watched Will & Grace.
In English.
For the first time in three years.
Then I watched The Gilmore Girls, or as they call it here, Una Mamma per Amica. And now I’m watching some Ben Affleck Christmas film.
I’m finding that the voices I used to find so familiar now sound a bit strange.
Must be…all that English! Woohoo!
Now, is it wrong that I’m rethinking our New Year’s Eve plans because I’d rather be home with my Sky TV?
I know this probably isn’t very exciting for non-expats, but for those who have been or are in my shoes, you know what I’m talking about. I don’t plan on abusing my Sky TV privileges (after at least a few days of gluttony), but it’s nice to have choices.
To put this in perspective, let me describe what my television experience was like only yesterday:
There are 6 main Italian channels, three owned by RAI and three owned by the Former Prime Arsehole Minister Silvio Berlusconi. To say that these channels are overrun with game shows featuring scantily clad “dancers” is just the sad, offensive truth. And to point out that both sets of channels have extremely political slants as to what is shown on the news and other journalistic programs is a gross understatement.
There are occasionally decent movies, but a good six times out of ten they are blacked out so we can’t see them anyway. And then there’s the fact that they showed Legends of the Fall on Christmas night. But we’ve been through that.
Other programming includes political and soccer/calcio debating shows–sometimes together in the same discussion, always loud and obnoxious. The art of letting one person speak at a time and then waiting for a response is not practiced on RAI, Canale 5, or Italia Uno. And then there’s all the soccer games, many of which are blacked out anyway.
On the other hand, I must be fair. I do give props to basic cable’s travel and nature programs. They aren’t National Geographic or Discovery, but they’re not bad. I’ve learned about many little-known Italian locations and a lot of Italian history because of these. And Canale 5 does a few “fiction” shows that I like, such as RIS, which I mentioned yesterday.
But the biggest benefit to having only 6 channels all in Italian was that it *really* helped improve my language skills. Without Italian personalities like Paolo Bonolis and Maria De Filippi (oh, I’ll still be watching C’è Posta Per Te and Amici even though Maria kinda scares me), I just might be speaking Italian like Paris Hilton.
And let’s not forget that by watching only Italian-language television, I was truly immersed in a major part of the culture; I wouldn’t even know who Paolo and Maria are if I wasn’t forced by RAI and Berlusconi to bring them into my world. That’d be like an American not knowing Rosie O’Donnell from Oprah. Unthinkable, I know.
Quite honestly, without this invaluable cultural knowledge, I don’t think I’d ever truly feel a part of what’s going on around here. For better or worse, television plays a big role in many cultures, and Italy is no exception. In fact, television is often one of the only things around which I can build a conversation–especially with those who would rather discuss how to clean my stove than whether gay marriages should be sanctioned by the government.
Ah, bridging the great cultural divide one satellite dish at a time.
So, in sum, I don’t regret that I’ve gone three years without hearing Larry King’s voice (which I did finally hear this morning as CNN reran his interview with the late President Gerald Ford) as it made me the expat I am today. No doubt about it–drowning in Italian television helped me grow. But now I’m ready for Animal Planet, The History Channel, all the Fox stations, and, oh, so much more.
Welcome to my world, Sky TV. Baby girl’s all grows up.
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[tags]sky tv[/tags]
Il Braciere: Warm and Toasty, Calabrian Style
The braciere is an old contraption used to help keep these old stone houses warm in the winter in Calabria – and which holds special memories for me.
Read on...Top 10 Wonderful Things in Italy, Not America
And on the flip side…
In part because I’m a Libra/bilancia with a tendency toward fairness, and in part because I don’t want you thinking I sit around salivating over visions of waffle fries, I’ve prepared another list to accompany the Top 10 Things I Miss from the States.
Again, other than obvious answers like P, P’s family, and Luna, we do have some things over here that my friends across the pond aren’t going to find. Collectively, they are the:
Top Ten Wonderful Things Found in Italy
and Not in America
10. Ciobar. For the uninitiated, this is hot chocolate as it’s meant to be. Called “cioccolato caldo” here, order it in a bar (café as we’d call it), and you’re going to forget all about that old broad Swiss Miss. Here and throughout Europe, hot chocolate is thick, creamy, and rich–but the best part is that you can make it at home with a packet of Ciobar, milk, a small pot, and a flame. It’s un-freaking-real. I kid you not.
9. Free health care. That would be the dreaded socialized medicine that about half of the United States is so afraid of. Employees here pay into the system through deductions in their paychecks, but whether an Italian citizen/resident is employed, unemployed, elderly, whatever, she’ll still get a spot in line to see the doctor, a stay in the hospital if necessary, required physical therapy–all without the fear of going into heavy debt.
8. Dish-drying rack above the sink. I’ve been out of the U.S. for a while, so if you have these now, please forgive my ignorance. But these babies are ingenious–so if you haven’t seen them around Home Depot, all you industrious types need to get working on a patent. With these metal wire racks positioned above the sink and hidden inside a regular-looking cabinet, you can put your washed dishes directly there to dry *and* store. There’s a metal tray below that catches the water, which you then take out and dump separately. No more drying and putting dishes away! One stop washing, folks.
7. The World Cup. I know many of you will say you don’t care, but try to imagine something, anything (positive) uniting an entire country. It’s a pretty cool thing–and, you know, the views from the cheap seats aren’t too bad either. So to i miei italiani vi dico “popopopopopo-po!” How ’bout them Azzurri?
6. Raoul Bova. Purrrrr. Have you seen “Under the Tuscan Sun,” which, btw, shared nothing with the book other than the name, Tuscany, and an old house? Bova was the young luvah. We see a lot more of him in Italy than just that film, thank goodness. And on the subject of leading men…
5. George Clooney. You had him but you lost him. Sor. I’m sure you have sightings of him every now and again in The States, but honestly, he and his Lake Como villa are on the news here as often as the Pope. And that’s a lot.
4. Gelato. I doubt I really need to explain this one, but let’s just say it’s so much more than ice cream. Sara at Ms. Adventures in Italy is sponsoring a Tour del Gelato, so go over there and join her quest. For my part, I’ll add that we have a special treat here in Calabria known as Tartufo di Pizzo, which translates as the “truffle of Pizzo,” Pizzo being the town in which it’s made. This tartufo is no mushroom, but it can resemble one after the chocolate and hazelnut ice cream with a liquidy fudge center is rolled into a rough ball and then coated in cocoa powder and sugar. Is it summer yet?
3. Really old stuff. I’m certainly not one of those people who says America has no history; if I did, that would make one of my bachelor’s degrees awfully suspect. But if you want to see some *really* old stuff, there are some amazing artifacts around here. Everyone knows about the Coliseum, the Pantheon, Pompeii, but come further south and you’ll see some excellent lesser-known pieces as well. My favorites are the 5th century B.C. Riace Bronzesin Reggio Calabria’s museum. The detail is breathtaking.
2. The opportunity to see the sun rise over the sea on the east coast and the sun set over the sea on the west coast on the same day without the aid of an airplane. Phew. Still with me? From where I am on the Ionian Sea, it’s a two hour drive to get to the Tyrrhenian Coast–this is the narrowest part of the Italian peninsula and enables the phenomenon described above. Theoretically, you could even put in a full day’s work in between if you do this in the summer. Kinda cool, no?
And the number one wonderful thing found in Italy and not in America:
1. Il pisolino. Perhaps you know it better as the siesta, but that’s Spanish. The afternoon nap, although dying off or already dead in much of the north (they tell me), is very much alive in many areas of the Mezzogiorno (south of Rome)–especially during the dog days of summer when it’s too hot to do much else. In fact, the word “mezzogiorno” means noon, and the south of Italy is so called because of the relentless midday sun. Nothing better than a couple hours of shuteye after a refreshing Caprese Salad on the terrazza (in the shade).
So there you have it. Good things are to be found everywhere if only you look.
Did I just violate the copyright of some Disney film?
But seriously, no place is perfect and everywhere has its positive and negative points. And even though I normally like balance, I do hope that wherever you are, the pluses tip the scales.
Top 10 Things I Miss from the States
Expats are often asked what we miss most about our home countries. For me, home is the United States, affectionately called “The States,” and as you may have guessed, there are a lot of things there that we just don’t have here in the Bel Paese.
Some of them I most certainly can do without (see yesterday’s post for an example), and there are always the obvious answers like “hugging down my niece and nephew.” But aside from friends and family, here are the:
Top Ten Things I Miss From The States
10. Comedy. I love me some Aldo, Giovanni, and Giacomo, but nothing and no one can replace the daily dose of Conan, Dave, and Jon that I’ve had to learn to live without. Thank goodness for Youtube. They’re starting to do their own version of SNL here, though. It’s…um…interesting.
9. Diet Coke. There’s some concoction here called “Coca-Cola Light.” Same kind of swirly writing on the bottle, but someone forgot to share the secret recipe. On the bright side, I don’t drink soda any more, but that would all change if the real Diet Coke (or Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, or Sunkist) made the leap.
8. Fast food. I’ll admit it. I miss the occasional Wendy’s bacon double cheeseburger or Chick-fil-A’s chick-n-strips with Polynesian and Honey Mustard Sauces. There is a McDonald’s near me, of course, but I’ve only eaten there once in three years (tastes pretty much the same as in the States, if you’re wondering). In this entry, I’ll also throw in ethnic food generally–Chinese, Greek, Indian, Thai, whatever. I don’t live anywhere near a city, so it’s rough going. But I know a good Italian place….
7. Ice. No, not on the stuff on the road–the stuff that makes our drinks refreshing. Many Italians are averse to anything either extremely hot or extremely cold (interferes with digestion!), so it’s quite a chore to find ice in public places. Making it at home, of course, is no biggie so long as you can find ice trays or the strange little bags that are perforated in circles for just this purpose.
6. Cheddar cheese. Go ahead and tell me that I live in the land that makes some of the best,most delicious cheeses in the world–mozzarella, ricotta, provolone, pecorino romano, parmegiano reggiano. I know, and I love them all. But what am I supposed to put on chili or nachos? Uh huh. Now you understand. But then again, there’s no sour cream here either. Tragic, I know.
5. Peanut butter. They just don’t do it. I don’t know why. They have peanuts, and they make Nutella, so it seems like a logical leap to me. Oh, have I explained the dangers of using American logic in Italy yet? Take this as your first warning.
*Updated to add that I have seen peanut butter here–for 5 euros for a container smaller than my hand.
4. Professional & College Sports. Major League Baseball, NFL, and March Madness are the big three for me. Yes, there’s “football” here too, and I can enjoy a match every now and again (say, for the World Cup)–but there’s nothing like calling off work just to watch a whole day of college hoops. That’s some good stuff right there.
3. American coffee. By this, I mean, you know, Folger’s, Maxwell House, nothing fancy. Again, I’m quite aware that Italy has some darned tasty caffè (take a glance at my blog title if you doubt how much of it I drink), but every now and again I just want a regular ole’ (biiiiig) cuppa. Preferably in a thermal cup that I carry with me while walking. *sigh*
2. Regular, lined notebook paper. This is a weird one, I know, but as an old-fashioned writer, I treasure old-fashioned notebooks. I hanker for just one Mead Five-Star (turquoise blue cover, if possible). Here the children write in booklets that contain what we’d call graph paper. I suppose this is good for penmanship, but the last time I used graph paper, I was plotting points, and that didn’t go so well.
And the number one thing I miss from The States:
1. U.S. Customary Units. These are things like inches, feet, pounds, ounces, Fahrenheit. Remember in 4th grade when your teacher told you that the Metric System would be all the rage, and you’d be left in the dust if you didn’t learn it? Yeah, I didn’t buy it either. In the words of Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”: “Big mistake. Huge.”
Now I’m not going to say that this is a Christmas Wishlist per se, but if you happen to have an “in” with a certain jolly fella in a big red suit, whisper a lil’ something in his ear, would you?
Because I could *really* go for a Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee, extra cream, no sugar right about now.
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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