Neapolitan Love

You learn that while the driving is insane, and theft is well above average, the Neapolitan people are some of the most amazing people in the world. While it is obvious I have little to no Italian language, they are willing to go above and beyond to get their message across. This doesn't stop at the Quick Bite in the malls, where the teens who work there (I assume they are teens but it seems time stops and no one ages here until the get over the hill) speak English when they see me do my best impersonation of someone ordering "Una margerhit pizza per favore".

The man at the coffee shop by the port, clearly a tourist location, chose to show me my exact change and pull down his eyelid (a sign that means "be aware" for the others around me). Last week I was on the bus and a woman in her broken English felt it was very important that I love Naples, something I readily do, she shared with me how the churches are open and this is the year of open doors and pointed out some I must see. She also told me of some forest that is huge and no one goes to.

We are very lucky with the our neighbors. They are our landlord and her family-- which includes frequent visits from extended family. We knew after our first meeting that we liked these people. It was our second meeting that we decided we love them. Yes, our landlord and her husband speak only Italian, and we were learning "Ciao" and "Allura" but there is something about them. They open their home to me and my guests. Not the home we rent from them, their home. They feed us. They over feed our children with sweets, bagged and baked. It's not just what they give us (or what we pay them). There is a respect for each other. We play charades frequently to get the point across generally with a few nouns we know-- like I said "maestra, cucina, me?"  (teacher, kitchen, me) to mean "could you teach me how to cook?"



Landlord showing Bugsies the plants

Today I am reminded as I took the kids to take our compost over to the landlord. We fed the chicken and the son picked up Monkey so he could grab and egg. The landlord washed the egg and gave me 4 "frigo. Domani buono" okay, they are cold, I'll put them in the fridge and eat them tomorrow. The kids went in front of her tv and she said to me "Mamma, okay, 5 minutes, okay" in her kind way saying "Back off, your kids are fine and we love having them here, 5 minutes won't kill you". So I drop the eggs back at my house and chop some shallots and come over, reminded there is possible mildew growing in our kitchen and I tell her son (in English). He comes over to check it out, then they switch. Landlord believes it is not mildew, takes her glasses off, and her shoes, asks to stand on my table, grabs a wet rag and scrubs the ceiling, touches it and smells it and declares "no fungo. Problem? por you?" I assure her I don't care. And she asks if we need our heater turned on and gets her son. They show me the timer and then click on the radiators. They want to make sure I don't fail in life here in Italy. This is how you turn on the radiator: take the switch, flip it from the sunshine to the snowflake. That's it. Poof. Done. Yet instead of showing me, they wanted to make sure it was done right and waited until winter to do it for me.


Hard to tell we don't speak the same language!


This is how it is. You open your eyes, your heart, a smile, and Naples is rich. Gleaming with love for people, food, life! It is a breath of fresh air.

Money, Saldi, e Carta

There is something about money in Naples everyone needs to know: It's not what you are used to.

1. Credit and debit cards just aren't used. I have used them once since May. There is a high chance the information will get stolen, but there is a better chance that the store, worker, restaurant or establishment does not take credit card.

2. The only payment we make not in cash is our rent. By law, any payment of more than 1,000E must be in check or electronic deposit. This is to make sure that the sale is being reported to the government so they are taxed at the high rate of 21%.

3. Coins are needed all the time for shopping cart (it costs 1E but you get it back when you return it) to tipping for parking, cleaning windshields, tissues, etc. Coins come in large denominations-- up to 2 Euro (almost $3 dollars) so you have to feel in your pocket to determine how much you are ready to tip, or the tipee may whine something along the lines of "how will I eat?" if you give less than what he sees.

4. Everyone wants exact change in a bizarre way. I had a bill for E26.50 and only had a E50 bill, they would like me to give them a 1E coin and a 0.50 piece so the change they give me is easier. I'm not talking about the small fruit stands, the small mom and pop restaurant or the market. It's also places like Ikea, Leroy Merlin (like Home Depot) and the grocery store. No matter what, I seem to not have the right change and I often just display what I have and let them look and pick what they need (against Rick Steve's cautions, these people are very nice and I haven't had a theft when I show trust). The good thing is tax is already part of the sale price so you really could calculate the total before checkout if you really were into being perfect.

5. Bills are odd. Our electric bill is three months behind, meaning 6months after you used it. We moved in May so they started monitoring the electricity in June and reread the meter in August and I now have my electric bill for June-August. A bill for a ticket triples within 2 weeks of it being mailed to you. I do not get bills from our kids school. We have the normal tuition and food fees, but sometimes there is a uniform fee or materials fees. We have to ask for a bill and are told not to worry about it.

Food for children

 Italy is known for it's views and it's foods. After our first meal of fresh veggies and fresh pasta, I knew reverting to an American diet again would be a bad choice. The meals are famously long but I had always assumed they were long just for big events such as weddings or birthdays of a grandparent. The several course meals are much more common.

Our first interaction is when our landlords invited us over for "pool opening and pizza party" We came over about an hour after they said things were heating up. We missed the pizza course but they saved some for us. The next course was pasta with mussels. Poor Tiger had his whole plate full although I plead for him to stop knowing there was more around the corner. Next course was a plate of mussels, as the women walked around giving lemons and squeezing them on the shellfish. I don't recall the order but there was a cheese course with a full mozzarella ball (about 1/3 a lb!), another of fried fish and after we left, we were given some of the cake that was for a later course! Bread and wine were constantly being pushed on us. During each course, everyone sat down and ate. The women then would sweep away the old plates and clean the table. The men would sleep, the children would swim and the women would talk or watch the kids. The older children (around 9 years and up) would watch the younger children. After some unset time they would start cooking again and when all was ready, the men would be woken up and the kids would dry off. It is exhausting to watch and we only made a few courses until the kids needed a nap.


I still felt that was a once a year event until I went and visited my kids' school. My kids are vegetarians as am I, so they do have a slightly different meal than the others, and this was a Halloween celebration but I was told by other parents and teachers that this was a normal meal for them. They started with what is commonly the "second plate" of meat and veggies. My kids had a plate with a croche (a log of breaded mashed potatoes with cheese), a spinach ball, sliced carrots and smiley potatoes. The meat eaters didn't have the croche but did have 2 hot dogs (sans bun) with cheese and catsup, a deviled egg and smiley potatoes. My children ate their whole plate and I went to go talk to other parents when I saw them getting another course! This was pasta with tomato sauce-- a plate full of it! Normally this is "first plate" but the school decided since kids fill up on pasta, the pasta should come second and veggies and protein should be first. Over an hour after lunch started for my 4 and 3 year old children, they were still eating. The teacher told me the NEXT course is usually fruit and bread but because it was a special day, they were just getting "dolce" meaning sweets or dessert. I thought it would be something similar to chips-a-hoy but instead they unwrapped packages from the pastry shop! The kids got chocolate filled pirouettes or nutella on cookies, or marmalade scones. I did taste some of the food but the director looked at me and the other nibbling parents and said "I didn't think you'd have any interest in this food! Your food is out in the meeting hall" so we went and ate eggplant Parmesan, breaded and fried eggs, croches, spinach balls, pastries, really anything you could dream of! I can't imagine seeing a PTA meeting and the cold donuts and coffee they serve after this view!

Bugsies enjoying her first course

Zoo Italia

Our family of four has been in Italy for 6 months now and it seems I keep forgetting details, stories and lessons learned and friends and family have to chat with each other to get the full story. So we’ve decide to start a blog, write it down, and reference to friends and family. I have 6 months of backlog of stories to tell so I will add them when I remember them and also try to keep it up to date. Enjoy and please share if you have anything to add or ask!

For today I'll share my time at the gas pump yesterday.

We are lucky enough to be able to buy up to 300L/month (each liter is 0.26gallons) of gas at a pre-tax rate. It comes out to about $1 or $1.25/liter. We get coupons in 5, 10 and 20L denominations and the gas must be used as such. They can only be used at Agip stations (a brand name like Shell or Exxon).If I buy 3 liters of gas, I don't get change when I give a 5L "coupon". If I get 6liters of gas, the gas station may make me pay gas for all 6liters with cash. It's a stressful system. With the switch in schools, I am driving a minimum of 26miles a day plus Tigers drive to and from work. So I was low on gas and can't buy any coupons until November 1st. My first attempt at not handing over pretty Euro was to pour gas from our gas cans into my tank. Unfortunately I poured it up my sleeve and down my leg, twice. Three outfits, some showers and some lemon later, I still smelled like gas and there was no extra in my car.


Gas station in Positano



So I took 40E, a little bit more than $50 and took my car to the nearest AGIP. I found no attendant but there was a man on his cell phone, smoking a cigarette and talking to someone in a car. That man walked over and directed me to a pump. I asked for "quarante euro" and showed him the bills to ensure I said it correctly and there would be no mistake. It's common to ask for gas in euro, so much so that the attendants have a button to push for 20E increments. Anyway, $50 dollars later I had a whopping 21liters of gas. Yes, about 5.25 gallons for 50 dollars! As I pulled away I noted that they had much more expensive gas (1.81E/liter) than the competition (around 1.74E/ liter) Remember to multiply the difference by 4 to get it per gallon, then about 1.33 to get it in US $.  We have decided not to take any road trips and to just learn the train system.