Buon Giorno

I've met a Mario, a Luigi and a Fabio. My trip is complete and I can come home now. Things are going well. I've been here a little over a month and have settled in with ol' Nonna and the crazy child pretty well. Nonna Francesca and I have our disagreements, but she has finally quit microwaving my cereal in the morning and has come to terms being repulsed by the fact I would rather have cold milk. Another example, if she offers me a 7th piece of chocolate and I say I don't care for any more, she says I must be getting sick or that I must be heartbroken because you should always want more chocolate. If I don't add sugar to my coffee, I am determined to get liver cancer and die because that's what happens if you drink black coffee. When I come home from running and just want water, she freaks out because my face is all red and if I don't drink a juice box RIGHT NOW I am going to get sick and die. But other than that, we are getting along just fine. Viola has been home for the past two weeks, with what we found out what nothing short of Scarlet Fever. Awesome for the rest of us. We fought frequently over taking medicine and she is a big fan of not wanting to change her diaper, so that makes for some afternoon fun. I remember when I lived in Spain and it used to drive me crazy that the only thing people knew about Alabama was Lynard Skynard and would always break into Sweet Home Alabama, those being the only three words anyone knew, of course. Now, what I would give to go back to those days. Here I get a world of horribly allusions, like Forrest Gump and Greenbow, which of course doesn't even exist. I get asked about rodeos and banjos and babies in bars and churning butter and the like. Silvia said many people warned her not to hire me because I was from Alabama. It's far worse than Lynard Skynard. I like the people who think Alabama is in New York (like Nonna at the beginning). We get along just great. One of Silvia's friends has a 3-year-old named Emma. When Katia told her I was American, Emma assured her mom she could speak English and could help me. When I said nice to meet you, she just replied with "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10 and Prrrrrease and Tank you." Probably far better than my Italian. I've learned a lot, but it's things like "spit out your bubble gum," "hold my hand, we are crossing the street," "number 1 or number 2?" or "back up, you are too close to the TV." Other than that, I get pretty lost.
Everyday is about the same. I walk past the bakery and try to keep myself from going in, I take a 15 minute bus ride to the closest mailbox for international mail, tell Nonna goodbye and she goes to her DAILY doctors appointments...every day. No lie. I try to go into any of the "Open 24 hour" stores that are of course closed for afternoon naps and are maybe open a total of 6 hours a day. The inconvenience takes a while to get used to, but becomes pretty normal after a while. You aren't allowed to flush the toilet or take a shower after 11 p.m. and you can't vacuum or listen to music after those times or between 12:30 and 3. People need their naps. I am a big fan of napping, so no problem with me. My sisters and brothers in law come tomorrow and I'm going to meet them in Florence tomorrow afternoon! I'm really excited to see them and to travel around a see a lot of Italy.