The Heat's Turned On! The Heat's Turned On!

“Woo hoo!” is all I have to say. There is a law here in Italy that says the heat must be turned off completely from spring until fall. When I first looked into it I had a little Canadian stress attack and was ready to go out and start chopping wood or at least getting into daily baking again. The date for the big switch-on is November 1st – luckily when you live a little bit more north-erly they take pity and everything goes on October 15th. It’s been a colder than usual autumn here apparently so this date came none too soon. It’s still not that cold, but it’s damp and rainy and I fear that I am getting soft and will soon be languidly wandering through the centre of Milan with great boots, a pained look and a fur stole, searching endlessly for the perfect, steaming hot Cioccolato Caldo (an incredibly rich, thick hot chocolate drink – more on this soon.)
But in the meantime, I figured out the heating system – did you know you could download pdf instructions files of wall mounted apartment temperature regulators? I’ll say it over and over again - I love the internet.
And I love not having to drag my blankey all over the apartment, although I do anyway. I really must see about getting an “outside” job. Maybe in the spring.

Please Light a Candle

This is a small thing, will take only a few moments of your time and can help stop the abuse of children on the internet. Watch the message, add your light for those poor souls caught in the darkness and then ask someone else to do the same.
http://www.lightamillioncandles.com/

~~If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, march right down there and turn it on yourself.~~

The Only Time I Will Talk About My Toilet - I promise.

Three words: Fabulous Italian Design.
I nearly fell over in the local grocery when I saw this and yes, I had to buy it. It is an Alessi designed toilet cleaner/refresher and is at this very moment hanging in my toilet. When you flush, he rides the wave. I won’t elaborate any further save for three more words:

Brilliant, yet disturbing.

I'm sure could learn Italian faster if I had better shoes.

I hope to be going back to Italian lessons soon. I have to wait to see how many people sign up – if there are enough then the class goes ahead. If not, I am COL and have to go into the next city (hassle) or hire a tutor (expensive) – so I am crossing my dita.

Italian is easier in many ways than German, but sadly enough; it still involves work and memorizing and using parts of my brain that are having a hard time switching from Deutsch. I still regularly say “Ja, si” and “vielen, uh, grazie”. It’s like I have a second language Rolodex brainfile and only one whizzy cartridge can be in use at a time. It took a long time for the German file to get in there to replace the French so I guess it’s not surprising that the Italian one is slow in arriving. (Note to self, check mailbox for phone bill)

Italian is similar to French but has a lot more conjugation (like Latin) and the verb endings in the more complex tenses are really hard. On the other hand, you don’t use personal pronouns that much (built into the verb ending) and if you want to ask a question, all you have to do is intonate at the end of the sentence. No pesky inversion even. The people are great and are thrilled when you can speak a little and when you say that you don’t in any way shape or form understand anything that they say, will continue to talk to you and expect you to answer, or at least nod knowingly. I rely on the deer in the headlights look and generally get a face pat from the old women who I imagine are saying something like “oh, you are kind of cute in a pale sort of way, so it’s okay that you are not so clever. But you really do need better shoes and a tan.” Si. Indubbiamente. Danke.