05.22.06
Not jumping to conclusions
I’ve noticed something about myself. Whenever I learn of some new cultural tidbit or notice some thing that Italians do differently than us, my first reaction is usually somewhat negative: “Well that’s weird” or “That’s backwards.” But the longer I am here, the more I realize that most cultural differences have a logical explanation.
For example, Italians eat dinner very late in the evening. 8 PM is probably the earliest, and the further south you go, the later it is - up till 9:30 or 10 PM. We have always been so baffled by this. How do you get your kids to bed at a decent hour for school the next morning? Even restaurants aren’t open until 7 or so, and they probably aren’t really ready to serve people at that time even if they are open.
But then I overheard someone talking at a dinner I went to the other day. The weather has started to heat up here. Not many homes have air conditioning, and if they do it’s certainly not central - perhaps only one or two rooms are cooler. One woman was talking about how she’s not looking forward to cooking this summer because the kitchen is so hot in her house. And then it hit me - I think one reason why they wait to eat dinner is because by then, the kitchen is starting to cool down and it’s not so uncomfortable to cook.
I could be wrong on this one, and it could be one of those things where no one really knows why they do it that way. But I am going to try and hold back my initial, negative reaction until I explore things a little deeper.