Un Buon Sonno

I am here.  It's snowing.  I slept for 14 hours last night, after pizza with my new Italian family.  Pizza was delivered, and it was late, and they had to call the place--some things don't change.  Franci gave the pizza a "7."  In America it would have been about an "11," assuming this is a 10 pt scale.

I had the apartment to myself for a couple hours after my good sleep.  Everyone came home from work/school for lunch: pasta alla bolognese.  Delicious, delicious calories.  There was also salami and formaggio on offer.  The bambini (to whom I shall refer by their nicknames: Franci, the 12 year old boy, and Ginni, the 10 year old girl) and the mama (I shall make up a nickname for her: Vale) wolfed down their food, then kids bolted from the table and were promptly called back.  I said, apologetically, "mangio lentamente."  I eat slowly.  Vale said good, that's good for the digestion.  The dog got the leftover pasta.

TV news interviewed Berlusconi about the Pope's resignation, and Vale said, "È matto.  È matto, Berlusconi."  He's crazy.  I'm glad that's been established.

 Some of my favorite words from Ginni: "fighissimo!" "stupidissima!" "bruttissima!" Very cool, very stupid, very ugly.

 In a corner of the living room there is a tall stack of books which is both precarious and decorative, arranged just so.  Have they all been read?  Never been read?  What if someone wanted to read one?  I might never understand books as decoration.  But there are lots of books on shelves too, so it's okay.

This afternoon I think we are going to the centro, so I will get to see Bologna and its main piazza.  I'm very happy to be here and I miss everyone very much.

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