Newbie Goof-ups!

As a newbie here in Torino it's easy to goof-up... just think of the opportunities: Language, Culture, new job, and did I say language? So here are some of my favorite goof-ups / things I've learned:

1.If you say “I'm dead” instead of “I have finished” people will laugh. (I frequently find myself trying to say “I'm done” but instead out comes “I'm Dead.” In fact at the ice rink a few weeks ago I said it and I heard a group of teenagers laughing at me!)

2.Arrive Early... and you'll be waiting alone for everyone else! (Italians are typically late... in fact once when going on a day trip with about 60 students I woke up at 8:00 the time we were supposed to be leaving! Running with all my might I made it to the place and we didn't leave until 9:15! I was running up to the group and everyone was still just standing around hanging out!)

3.Though I don't really like winter saying “You'll go to winter if you don't turn to Jesus” doesn't seem to have a huge impact on people. (I accidentally mixed up the words for winter and Hell... inferno is Hell, and inverno is winter! He was pretty confused)

4.Washing machine doors here have a mind of their own! (I couldn't figure it out! How do you open this thing!... in fact I had no clue how to use the machine in the first place and had to wash my clothes twice... I was rather panicked because I had to get stuff clean to leave for a conference and I was late to church).

5.It's not a super fun experience to have all your new neighbors living below you return your clothes which landed on their balcony because you didn't know the wind would blow them off the clothes lines with out a clothes pin. (While hanging my clothes out to dry, which is normal here, the line broke and some of the clothes fell four floors... well my underwear ended up literally hanging in front of my downstairs neighbors window... I couldn't bring myself to go talk to them and try to both say “Hi” for the first time and ask for my undies back... to make matters worse wind distributed the rest of my clothes to other neighbors!)... this photo is before they were blown off...but after the old line had broken.

6.When sending the consulate documents be sure to include the document!

7.Don't linger in the shower! (I once had to rinse in really really cold water after just 10 minutes in the shower!)

8.Kiss the right cheek first! (With both guys and gals we do the Hollywood kiss here as a greeting and 99 times out of 100 it's right first then left... if you goof-up and go left first you might get more kiss than you bargained for!)

9.When flying make sure you bag Maple Syrup (I brought Maple Syrup here for a friend and the cap broke... luckily is was in a plastic bag!)

10.When navigating in country you've never been to it's best to actually know where you are going... and not just guess! (In Slovenia I took us for a scenic adventure because I thought “left” was the right direction [I just thought that seemed right] ... I got us totally lost ... finding our way back included an very animated Slovenian toll booth guy looking at us like we were totally crazy when we finally asked him for directions!)