Expectations vs Reality

So moving to Italy I didn't know quite what to expect. I've talked about in the past, how when I think "Italy" in my head I see the Italian flag with various Italian foods (mainly pizza), wine, the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, gorgeous coastlines, crazy outfits claiming to be "fashion," lots of scooters and shoes (you can't forget the shoes) floating in front of it. So although all those things have been accurate there was still lots of room for some "oh wow, never thought that..." moments.

1. There are a ton of mosquitoes here! Every time I'm out in the evening I swear one of them rings the dinner bell and the all you can drink buffet on my legs opens. Seriously, I need my Kenya strength bug repellent!
2. The water gives a whole new meaning to hard water. On the plus side I swear my hair is turning a tinge red but it's really not worth the lack of shine. Oh and Ravi is not a fan of the sprinklers messing up his shine either.
3. Where did all the garbage disposals go? You think I would have come to expect once I started to see the mountains of trash along the road but no, from time to time I still catch myself tossing food scraps into the sink...then pulling them all back out. Ick.
4. Power outages occur way too often and in normal weather conditions. Now you have to remember, I lived in Monterey during El Nino in the 90s and later on lived in areas notorious for pine trees that would knock over at the slightly gust of wind. But see, if it started to get stormy, I knew to expect a power outage. Here they just happen randomly. So randomly that during that last 12+ hour one I honestly felt that Italy had been downgraded to a 3rd world country. The outages mainly come without warning and they seem to occur mostly on weekends. My theory? The skeleton staff at the power plant all decide they can go take a break but then forget to come back. If no one is there, how are they supposed to know some of the grid is down? (I'm really hoping this changes once I move off base.)
5. Europeans really like their graphics/illustrations. Back at home it was always blue, pink, or yellow milk. Well here it's fat cow, chubby cow, or skinny cow milk. Well, at least when you get  shopping at the commissary. I just tell myself that every time I reach for that green carton I'm a skinny cow.

At any rate, that's all I've deemed list worthy after 11 weeks. Yep. Eleven weeks! After conversations with both people that have been here for years and those who have been here for just a few days, I realized that I really am getting used to the "Italian way." I guess that's what happens when once you've hit your 4 week mark and are no longer a "newbie." Seriously, there are so many new people arriving weekly. Just yesterday I attended my 2nd Hail and Farewell for the command...I did find it sad that people are leaving that I never even had the chance to meet.

Just so I don't get too comfy here in Italy, this past week I booked plane tickets- one for France and the other for Germany. Southern France for Labor Day and Garmisch for a PWOC conference right before Thanksgiving. I'm already in the scheming stage of a girls trip to Venice for carnevale in February. Hey- one of the highlights of picking Italy was in order to travel, travel, travel! Did you know that you can get to Kenya for under $1000 from Rome? Just saying...