"Thank God it's vernerdi!"
Ci�o, folks! :)
It's been a quiet week here at Casa Menozzi... Alle's birthday is Sunday (domenica), so we went out on Tuesday (martedi) to get his birthday present - a DVD player that will play my DVD's as well as his. (Yay!) Our first rental (since all I brought with me were music vids) was Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, which Alle enjoyed quite a lot. I thought it was great, but then, I think Moore is a genius anyway... We're going to watch the first Lord of the Rings film on Saturday night, since we can stay up late to do it.
Later on Tuesday evening we went to the community swimming pool where he trains. It was sort of strange, really, to have such hot, humid air and the smell of chlorine twinging in my nose in the middle of January. But it was great fun to sit in the observation area and watch Alle (and, yeah, a few others) while they did laps and exercises. I had a chance to write, as well, so I made good use of my time.
This Saturday (sabato), we're going to Bologna to go book shopping in the stores there, and to do a bit of "touristing" about. Long walks in the mild air (it's warmed a little here), well, I think it should be nice. :) I need something to read, too, besides... On Sunday, he wants to have an "us" day, just the two of us. (heck, yeah, I'm happy!) We'll go to dinner with his family in the evening and skip the party we got invited to by his Croce Verde mates. (He says he didn't want to go, but couldn't think of an excuse to get out of it.) I think we'll have a good time, anyhow. :)
Monday (lunedi) is an early day for us, as we have some business to sort out so I can (finally) work out my permesso di soggiorno at the immigration offices on Tuesday. Every time we've thought we'd got everything we needed, a different officer would tell us we needed something more. And this is really important stuff, of course, as I can't do anything more...erm... permanent, until this bit is done. ...sigh... Still, I'm hopeful, as we will now have officially crossed off every requirement on the list we were given at the Questura when I first arrived.
So... HA!
Anyway... The weather has been lovely, here, for the most part. Cold at night, but mild during the day, with blue skies and wind. Yesterday was so windy the windowpanes were rattling in their frames, and the wooden blinds (think of hurricane blinds) in the wall were shaking, too. Such a noise, as well! I had a hard time studying, actually, it was so distracting.
My Italian has little improved, I'm shocked and saddened to say. I mean, I understand more of what I hear, now, but I can't seem to string together more than the simplest possible sentences... All in good time, I suppose. But in the meantime, I sound like the Italian equivalent of an Indian in a Hollywood movie in the '40s. LOL! "How, neighbor, I come in peace!", or as I actually said (to his dad when he asked if I wanted to eat): "Mangiaro qualcosa pi� tardi, grazie." To which he smiled, nodded and went about cooking enough for a small army, anyway.
His dad is perpetually concerned that I'm not eating enough(!), and always pushes a little more than what I can comfortably consume toward me at the evening meal. According to Alle (and what little I can comprehend on my own), "Papa" keeps insisting that I'm going to go home and my family will say "What did they do to her over there? Starve her?"
Little does he realise... ;)
And I suppose that's about it for this week. I'll write again next Friday (that's venerdi, by the way...see? I'm learning!), or sooner, if anything of note happens. Which it could, I reckon...
Anyway, ta-ta for now!
Ti voglio bene!
Ci�o!
Kim
PS: I apologise for any errors in this email...such as incorrect spellings on new words, etc... but I'm using a keyboard that isn't quite like the ones in the 'States, and hey, I'm working on it, all right? ;-)
