ADAPTATION?

Its been little over three months since my permanent move to Abruzzo, Italy and I am surprised at how quickly I have adapted my habits and expectations to my new environment. During previous long-term stays in Europe my acceptance of "off-habits" did not come so easily, probably due to some subconscious awareness that I could soon desert those cultural norms in favor of my home culture.

When I first arrived, I was thoroughly irked that I had to drink my coffee in less than 2 minutes, all the while standing at the bar elbow-to-elbow with all kinds of strangers. And, don't even get me started about the driving here! I thought I was going die the first couple of weeks I spent in a car here (most likely by attack since I wanted to scream at people who seemed to have a death wish by driving on the wrong side of the road).

I'll admit there was some serious resistance to the reintroduction of simple carbs back into my diet and to say I didn't look down my nose at those who drowned their food in olive oil, would be a flat out lie. But, now I eat pasta AT LEAST once a day, and most of the time its floating in olive oil. I like it and have stopped my criticism since my cholesterol and pant size seems to be in-check. I have also begun to reciprocate the once annoying 3x repetition of "ciao, ciao, ciao" and the well-wishing of every miniscule activity "good sunday" "good lunch" "good work"??? At least they are polite..

This new level of comfort dawned on me yesterday when I darted into a bar in between a doctor's appointment and a run to the store. I parked my chest at the bar and ordered a "caffe normale". **Yes, I still need to add the normale because when they hear my american accent they assume I want a caffe americano if I just say caffe***I sipped it down in about 30 seconds, paid and was on my way. Not once during this entire transaction did I silently curse the lack of to-go cups or a proper spot to sit. I was actually glad that I could fit in a caffeine fix. This is progress!

Then, today my suspicion that I was slowly adapting and assimilating was officially confirmed. Parking is hard to come by in this city once the summer starts. I darted against oncoming traffic when I saw a spot on the other side of the street. Just to make a u-turn is a logistical nightmare here and I was stoked to find a spot at all so I didn't even hesitate to play chicken with the approaching Mercedes E Class (which definitely outweighs my car by a long shot). I parked facing the wrong way, quite illegally I might add, and was able to run in to get my errand accomplished. Who cares about the brush with death compared to spending 20 more minutes circling decrepit one-way streets which were designed for hot-wheels sized cars.

Of course there are a few adaptations I have yet to make and maybe I will never make. I am still a firm believer in bagels and keeping a variety of ethnic foods at your finger-tips. I still think that closing your store all morning on Monday for your "weekly rest" after you just were closed all day on Sunday is absolutely stupid and downright lazy and I really would love to see people stop throwing their cigarette butts on the ground right next to an ash tray.

Who knows, maybe in a couple more months I'll be drinking Grappa and eating Mazzarella. (Yuck!)