Miscl Stuff

· Eating out..... 1. Servings are small, not super sized like in the US 2. Places open at 7-7:30pm. Italians eat late. 3. Some places do not have a menu. They will tell you the choices based on the trip to the market in terms of meat, fish or anything special. 4. The meal is broken into parts, you do not get everything at one time. 5. 3. Water is served in a bottle and yes you pay for it, in many cases the same with the bread.

· Lunch in most cases is around 1345 to 1400 and is the big meal of the day.

· There is NO Veal or chicken parm..... your pasta comes without meatballs...... the pasta is not swimming in sause...... You are now eating Italian—NOT American Italian.

· Mail service is not like the US.The mail is delivered when there is enough to deliver. We see our mail person maybe twice a week. Once a week is more like it.

· Banking - good luck. If not an Italian citizen it will be a challenge. Americans are not welcome at most banks. They do not like all the required paperwork for the IRS. If they take your account they must report it under the rules to the IRS.

· The Italian finance code— It is the Italain version of the social security number. It is used on all purchases over a certain amount, when dealing with doctors, hospitals, businesses, your lease, trash etc. You can not do business without it. No code no cell phone, no tv sat service basically nothing. It is 11 charaters, alpha/numeric.

· When writing the days of the week or the months of the year you do so all in lower case. So when you see a posting and think oh someone forgot to capitalize the day—nope remember we are in Italy.

· When writing prices for dollars you use a period as in $9.99. When quoting euros it is written with a coma as the spearator €9,99.

· Remember to write the date correctly —day/month/year.

· Time is written and quoted in a 24 hour format or in military time. Telling someone to call at 3 means 3 in the morning. You meant to say call at 1500.

· Cell Phone plans are dirt cheap. We have 2 phones. Both our phones cost €9.99 a month with unlimited calling. Includes unlimited net, texting and international calling to 66 countries. Here you buy your phone from the place with the best price. You can change cell companies easily - just replace the sim card of the new provider.

· It is a place where everyone knows your name. When Gale was in the hospital everyone would ask how she was doing and coming home. Only person I thought knew was our doorman. The neighborhood grapevine carries all the news.

· Sky TV does have some programming in English. Plan on watching a limited number of shows that will be 1 to 6 seasons old. Get used to reruns of reruns. You do not have a zillion channels. BTW Sky is only €25,75 a month.

· You do get on air TV, about 95% in Italian, 5% in English.

· We purchase current TV shows on iTunes and download them. Our top 4—Blue Bloods, NCIS, Young Sheldon and Last Man Standing.