Peculiar smells

Here's Eli in his new "gelato-mobile". He loves it! We've found that it keeps him entertained long enough for us to squeeze in two scoops of gelato without him noticing.


So far Italy is much more like America than we expected. The people in the streets all look American at first glance. There are a few gold-clad, ultra-tan, ultra-skinny types walking about, and we have seen a few seven year old boys with enough style to put Johnny Depp to shame, but, for the most part, small-town-Italy is similar to small-town-America. American songs and American movies seem to dominate pop culture here. Maybe it's also so familiar because Italian food, wine, and design are so prominent in American culture. However, there's one sure-fire, day-to-day sensual reminder that we are in a foreign country: Italy smells different. As I've mentioned in past postings, everything here has a very distinct scent. Some scents are glorious. Every afternoon from our bedroom we can smell the wood burning oven of the pizzeria down the street. When we're on an evening walk in the back alleys of town we take in the delicious smells of home-cooked Italian meals from just about every window. The smell of espresso wafting from cafes on every block is heavenly. Even the lava stone of the medieval buildings in town has a wonderfully old and earthy smell. However, the more purposeful scents of the products we buy here are down right bizarre. This is where I notice our most obvious cultural differences. Why do Italians want everything scented, yet so many of them don't wear deodorant? Why do they want bathroom cleanser to smell like Alka-Seltzer? Dish detergent like Tang? Clothes detergent like perfume? Ok, that last one's not so weird, but when the perfume scent is strong enough to make your eyes water that is weird. The hand soap that was left in the apartment for us has a grapefruit/potpurri blended scent (not kidding). It's for these reasons that I'm glad we came. I'm excited to find the answers to these questions.

PS. Sam's birthday was yesterday! We had a great night out on the town to celebrate.