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The Italian Way -- Part Two Get out your ice skates, because hell has just frozen over! I now have the Internet in Italy. Amazing, but true...I know. It only took them almost 2.5 months to get everything in the apartment properly connected. How many Italians does it take to install the Internet? I still can't give you an answer on that one. Anyhow, as you can probably tell, I am completely and utterly thrilled to FINALLY have a solid form of communication. Of course, I have always had a cell phone here, but at a rate of 1 Euro a minute (1 Euro = 1.18 Dollars) to call the US from Italy, I try not to get too comfortable using it. My cell phone is basically like my mini computer here, only used for local calls within Italy and the constant text message. Italians love their cell phones so much that they have an affectionate nickname for them -- il telefonino, which literally means "little phone." You may be wondering if we have won a match yet, since the last time I wrote we were sporting the big 0 in wins for the season. Well, unfortunately, we are still winless. It is getting rather frustrating, to say the least. Those of you who know me well (and even not so well), know that I don't take too well to losing. I am hoping not to get too comfortable with our winless season. On the bright side, we did win a match in the Italian Cup (not part of our regular season, though), and we have taken two teams to 5 games (we play "best 3 out of 5" matches). In the Italian league, if you take a team to 5 and you still don't win, you receive a point. If you win a match, you receive 2 points. So, we have 2 points for the season and we are tied for last at the moment. I never thought I would be so thrilled not to be dead last! On the not-so-bright side, I want to destroy my little Smart Car. It's actually not the car that I am unhappy with -- I love the little thing to death! My problem is all the decals and attention grabbers on the car. Nicole, my American teammate, is having problems with locals taunting her as she gets out of and into her car. I figure my time is almost here, when they do the same to me. The Italians say little things like, "Johnson Matthey Sassuolo (our sponsor)...ah, molto male pallavolo. Molto male!" Translated..."Johnson Matthey Sassuolo...ah, very bad volleyball. Very bad!" Who wants to be driving a death machine with our numbers, sponsor name and a big, fat volleyball on each door? It is like asking for punishment, since everywhere we go, the locals tell us that it would be nice if we would win a mach...just one! Oh, and the other day I experienced my worst nightmare. A gentleman backed into my car. I have been worried about this from the first day I received my car, because I don't know enough Italian to fight my way out of an accident with an angry Italian. It all ended up being okay, though, because the man that backed into me, kindly pulled over, got out of the car, and looked very sorry for having done so. Thankfully, there was only a little of his black paint smeared on my little, white car, and I frantically started using my fingernail to scrape it off. He kept telling me "Mi dispiace, mi dispiace" (I'm sorry, I'm sorry), and I didn't know what else to say, other than "Va bene, tutto bene, ciao!" (Okay, everything is okay, bye!) After all, I wanted nothing else than to just let him go and pretend like it didn't happen. He seemed like a nice guy, so I pretty much just told him to leave...go away. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with an accident in Italy. So that's pretty much it for now. I hope you are all well. I really enjoyed my three days back home in Dallas about a week ago. It was short, but fun to see some of you! Maybe next time I will be able to relax and take a deep breath while at home. My Christmas break will be a whoppin' week long! WOO HOO... Until the next update... Ciao e baci (Good bye and kisses)! |