An Italian vocabulary lesson...

While we wait anxiously for the promised Italian lessons of our contract, we've been learning a few vocabulary words of our own around here, and, now, you at home can learn a new language right in your living room. So, here goes...

vino bianco frizzante...sparkling white wine! I'm pretty sure that I'll be a wine snob when I come home. The cheap stuff around here is so good. No need for wine lists or types of wines, you just order a liter of the house wine and you're good to go!

un biglietto (bil-lee-yet-toe)...ticket! Do you like my use of phonetic pronunciations? Bus tickets seem to be a little tricky around here. I am constantly worried that the bus/train inspectors will declare that I have the wrong ticket for where ever I am. It is a fine on the spot of €25-35 or they remove you immediately from the bus to who knows where. I try and keep plenty of cash on hand. Yesterday on the train from Bergamo to Milano a nice, middle aged lady did something wrong and had to hand over a wad of Euros to escape the certain punishment from intimidating train inspectors. I don't think the dumb American card will work too often.

il bagno...bathroom. You guessed it! The restrooms in Europe are worth discussing. No, not really. What's worth discussing is that if you imagine the worst gas station restroom you've ever seen in your entire life living in the US, it is nothing to compare to the handful of restrooms I've seen in just a few short weeks of living in Italy. I must wonder, with all the wine they drink here, how do they use these restrooms? Seriously, women's restrooms with windows where everyone can see in (the Questura...where you go to get permission to stay in Italy...perhaps they don't want you to stay) and restrooms that are only holes in the floor (now, I hear this is relatively common on this continent and it would be okay if perhaps these restrooms were even occasionally cleaned...this, too, you can find at the Questura and at the Bergamo train station. Here I decided I'd rather wait another 45 minutes to get to Milano to pay €1 to use the restroom at Centrale. It was so worth it.) I wonder, where are all the public bathrooms in Italy? I am pretty sure that any disgusting truck stop restroom will far exceed my expectations from now on.

A dance studio showing off their routines at Notte Bianca.

Notte Bianca...White Night...A celebration dreamed up by the city of Opera to celebrate the end of summer. Originally slated for last Saturday, a weather debacle caused a second go at the festival to happen this weekend. It was a dollar store bonanza- booths of junk everywhere! Plenty of games and what not for the kiddos and DJ music and karaoke for the adults-- club music, fist pumping music, American music- YMCA, macarena, and every other bad wedding reception song you could dream of-- right outside my window. Bless them...it went on past midnight...I think my brain was thumping all night long with the beat.

miei amici...my friends...I've always been blessed with amazing people around me and continue to feel the same about so many new people in my life. It's funny because as I meet and get to know each new person I find that they remind me in little ways of someone else. I've always been a big believer in knowing that everything happens for a reason, and so far, this journey has proven no different.

I've been uploading my pictures to Facebook, but for those still refusing to jump on the bandwagon (and lately I've thought about mutiny) I added my photos to a Flickr account. Here's the link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/carriezimmer/  Hopefully, you can access them there. And, since FB is kind of sh*%$ty these days, maybe you should join Google + (you'd be ahead of the game then!)

Buona notte...Good night! How does such a short weekend seem so exhausting! Back to the grind tomorrow!