Thursday, February 14, 2013

Things I've Learned About Italy


 
I'm often asked to compare Italy to the United States to give people an idea what it's like living here. Obviously, a lot of these things are generalizations since I don't have time or money to start a scientific study. The statistics and stuff I read in books or articles, I didn't make them up. I also cross check this stuff with my husband or Italian friends. So, it might sound like I'm trash talking but truth is that the locals don't dispute what I'm saying here. So, yep. This is Italy.

1. The mother-in-law is the number one cited reason for divorce.

2. The infidelity rate is in the 70% range, yet divorce is only 11%. So, basically, everyone cheats and either doesn't get caught or people do not divorce for cheating. Cheating is also encouraged, rewarded, and approved by peers. One, and the worst example, a man cheating on his pregnant wife in front of his wife's own brother, who hid it from her. Bro's before Ho's y'all!

3. Mammoni is a cultural phenomenon where the mother basically breast feeds the children into their forties. After they stop breast feeding, they send liters of their breast milk to be used as coffee creamer or in cereal. Mostly

4. On average people do not marry until their 30's, and they don't move out of their parents house until they marry. This is mainly due to economic issues and Mammoni.

5. People don't clean up their dogs shit. Ever. If you're in Florence, you should always keep your eyes on the sidewalk. On a different note, everyone in Florence seems to love dogs and they spoil the shit out of them (pun intended, hey oh!). Oliver's head gets rubbed down and molested every four feet while we're on a walk...for more check out survivinginitaly.wordpress.com