"Ebbene, io certamente prevedibile che mai!" "Well, I certainly never expected THAT!"

No new sightseeing pictures or stories about things we've done. Mainly because we've only been working and relaxing and eating since our last post.

But I have had a chance to reflect a bit on the peculiarities of life in Italy that nobody told me about and/or I never expected.

1. Kid Rock is everywhere. Alright, I know they exist - people who *like* Kid Rock. I am not one of them. Every time we walk into a store, turn on the radio or get close enough to another car to hear their music - there it is. That stupid song. You know the one - it starts out sounding like Werewolves of London, then turns into Sweet Home Alabama. Honestly, we're in Italy. Can't they just play Italian music??
   
   
2. Ditto Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.
   
   
3. 'Signore' means Ladies (plural) AND Man (singular) - Beware of this when you use a public restroom. If possible, hold it until you get to a place that has the more widely understood stickman and stickman-with-skirt. (technically a stickwoman, I guess). Urinals are also a dead giveaway, but by then you have gone too far.
   
   
4. Public restrooms tend to NOT have toilet seats. That's all. (isn't it enough?)
   
   
5. Some of the Italian words we thought we knew do not mean the same. Bocconcini - we thought this meant ball of mozzarella. It means morsels, so you see this word on everything from cat food to chopped stewing meat AND little balls of mozzarella. Pasta doesn't mean noodles, but it can mean dough, pastry or paste. Ravioli also seems to be any stuffed noodle, even what we would call tortellini. Bruschetta is pronounced "Broosketta" and may or may not include pomodori (tomaotoes).
   
   
6. Caffe etiquette - when you order caffe at a coffee shop or bar or gelateria, you get espresso. And you just stand there stirring it until it's cooled enough to drink. Then you shoot it, pay and go. You can sit if you want to really stand out as a tourist, but some places charge extra for you to sit. (Meryck told me this. I'm not sure how he knew.)
   
   
7. Gelato - or gelati (plural) - 'crema' may sound yummy, but it's custard flavoured (yuck - I just found this out today). Zuppa Inglese is trifle flavour. Frutti di Bosco (Fruit of the Woods) is a mix of berries. Pesca (peach) is pronounced "peske" (pesce, pronounced "peshe" is fish). Everything else you should find in your Italian-English dictionary.
   
   
8. Think 24 hour clock - everyone uses a 24 hour clock! As the daughter of a railroader, I don't really have a problem with it, I just think it's funny.
   

Well, it's 22:00 here, so I'm going to clean up the dinner dishes - did I mention that dinner is eaten very late?