I thought I'd use today's entry to provide a little info about housing.

Why don't American households have these? Most of the Italian apts. I've seen have a cabinet above the sink where you can drain dishes after washing and close the cabinet doors so the kitchen looks nice. It seems to be an extremely practical way to dry dishes and keep the kitchen looking nice at the same time.




I just included this picture to provide a little perspective of the kitchen. You can barely see the cabinet over the sink from the previous picture. The following pictures will highlight the window behind Kim, and the item with the switches and dials located just over the radiator.

This was a picture of the 2nd group of students we had over for dinner and cards (6-handed euchre). Clockwise from left, Jackie from Ball State, Megan from Oregon, Kim, Kacey from DePauw and Rachel from Washington State.


The window arrangement is very different from the States. Outside you see the shutters (gray). Most Italians close them at dusk and leave them closed all night (some even during the day). Not us. We always have them open. People must know the crazy Americans live there. The middle piece is the glass pane. Yes, we keep that closed in January. The white piece on the left is the inside shutter. Closed, it blocks out 100 percent of the light and most of the street noise. Again, we rarely close the ones in the kitchen, although we close one set in our bedroom (not both or we couldn't see our hand in front of our face).

This device serves as both the central heat and the water heater. It's a sort of on-demand water heater, but it also provides the warmth for the radiators. According to Italian law, homes are not supposed to have the heat on for more than 10 hours per day. Not sure how that is monitored, but we have been advised not to use it too many hours of the day. With gas prices in Italy about $5.96 per gallon, you get the idea of how precious energy is. My Italian friends laugh at us for thinking $3 is too much. They also find it absurd that we have huge oil reserves, but that's a discussion for another day.

This is the ceiling in our changing room. The apartment we live in, as well as the AHA offices and classrooms, are part of a 200-year-old palace. We have a room off our bedroom with our dresser and wardrobe, and this is the ceiling in that room. No, it's not wallpaper - it's painted.








I have mentioned how people realize before coming here that some things are going to be different (like the currency and the language) but never think about other things being different. The top key ring is my office keys. The one displayed is the key to the main door of the AHA suite. The bottom ring is our apartment keys, and the displayed key is the one that caused us some trouble last week. Coming home, it's the second key we use. First, a key to enter the building. Second, a key to enter an area accessible only by us and one other renter. Finally, a third key for our individual apartment.

This is the locking mechanism that the key above (the apt key) unlocks. Not only do the four bolts you see go into the doorjamb, but the rods extending up and down also latch. It's a very secure door. If you need more proof that we are quite safe in our apartment, take a look at the next photo. What you see is Kim's hand demonstrating the width of the wall and door to enter into our apartment.

I remember when my Italian cousin came to the U.S. for the first time just a year or two ago. I asked her what was the thing that surprised her most about the US - that she hadn't expected.

Her response was that she was astonished how everything was "open" - that anyone could simply walk up to a house and knock on the door. In Italy, there is always an outer entrance of some kind that prevents access to an inner entrance. The picture below is an example of the outer entrance to some apartments, with a bell for each residence. I know, in the US this is not an uncommon thing for city dwellers. I want to point out two things: first, Macerata is far from a big city. It's more on a par with Muncie, yet everyone has controlled access. Second, although I haven't provided a photo (I'll have to do it next
time), even single-family dwellings are surrounded by a fence, and at the gate is a bell/intercom system for requesting access to the property. It definitely would inhibit door-to-door solicitation, but I have been told that Jehovah Witnesses are very active here, and go door-to-door (more accurately, outer door to outer door) ringing and requesting access to visit with the residents.


Finally, I know most people don't provide bathroom pictures but I think it's relevant to the discussion. The first thing the students remark
about is the bidet, most of them not knowing what one is. Second, they note how the water level in the toilet is far lower than they are comfortable with (I have spared you a shot inside the toilet). They find it rather disturbing and "gross." I have tried explaining to them that Italians find our toilets with lots of water a bit strange and "gross" because it might result in water splashing their backsides. This is beginning to get a bot graphic so I'll just drop it here, but I think it's a great cultural lesson: what one culture finds refined and appropriate another finds quite repulsive. Neither is the right one - it's just a matter of custom.