mi sento un po' malata

i think that means i feel a little sick. sunday my head hurt, and monday too, and then yesterday my throat, and today my throat a little more plus my lungs and ears and head are congested. i am scared of getting sick because i have insurance but in italy that doesn't stop me from having to pay for health care.

i made the fortuitous mistake of telling paola a couple weeks ago that i will like it better here when i have friends. so starting either the next day or the one after, the teachers have been bringing in their sons my age, one at a time, one day after another. it's pretty funny. one of the boys has a group of like six other boys that shawna and i have been going out with. they're fun but they'd better start thinking of something more interesting to do than go to pubs, because i'm not into having to choose between standing outside in the cold with people who are smoking (smoking is banned now in italy in public indoor places, thank goodness) and standing inside and emerging smelling like drinking italians. gross. actually that only happened once. usually what italians call bars are places to drink coffee or in my case cioccolata and there is one really nice one called klejnot (say "clay note") all decorated in red and cute victorian furniture with live music, and thanks to parliament, no smoke. while i was in vienna they wanted to go bowling but there was this blizzard so no one could get their cars out of the driveway.

and speaking of snow, the snow here is very wet and deep and it doesn't go away because no one takes care of it! the snow plows didn't come through the main roads until, say, sunday (two days after the heavy snow started) and in certain places still no one has shoveled the sidewalks. this is not the land of american initiative and neighborliness where sidewalks are cleared by the common man by 9 am after a snow.

i hate that i am eight hours ahead here because i check my email when i arrive at work in the morning and again when i leave around 5. but people at home sleep between those hours so i don't get anything new except for annoying "be a good republican" emails from GOP chairman ken mehlman left over from when i was doing the media/political analysis class.

SO... the price of you reading my blog, whoever i am addressing with this abstract "you", is to send me an email. dodgycharacter@gmail.com. come on, you owe me.

i just emailed the paralympics to beg them to be a volunteer. that sounds better to me anyway than doing the regular ol' olympics.

i missed the state of the union address last night for the first time in my life since the age of like 9. but don't worry, ken mehlman GOP chairman sent me my own copy ;)

my eyes are sore, as they always are when i am a little sick or congested. okay bye.

savanna