Yes, there was just a hole in the ground!!!

I happened across this "toilet" the other day and just could not resist snapping a photo and putting it here on my blog. Yes, you have heard about them. This is living proof. Is there a name for these things??

I don't come across too many of this type of bathroom facility, more commonly I find the one's that have a little low bowl and no toilet seat at all. The range of toilets here never ceases to amaze me! I would think that in the country that is home to the Lambourgini and Ferrari, and top designers in fashion, furniture and architecture, not to mention marble, that there would certainly be top of the line toilets everywhere.

There's been a project brewing in the back of my mind lately- I think Venice needs a map which identifies restaurants with good or bad toilet facilities. Who has a bowl, who doesn't have a seat, those kind of details. I think this could be a very useful tool for tourists.

The difference between I and E

It's no secret we've been trying to learn to speak Italian, and making slow progress. I know, it doesn't seem possible that we live here, and still haven't become fluent yet. There are a few reasons for that. The biggest one is we just don't practice enough. We took several months off from our weekly lessons, and we've just started back up again in August.

On the plus side, we are making progress. Seriously. We understand just about everything we hear, even at full Italian speed. We read and write fairly well also. It's opening our mouth and speaking back in a conversation that we don't do well enough for our liking, even though we are told we do ok. Still not good enough, secondo me (in my opinion).

And every once in awhile, we have a particularly interesting language experience that illuminates to us that no matter how hard we try, we may just never become as fluent as we would like to be. Here's two recent, laughable cases-in-point:

I went to the farmacia (pharmacy) to purchase arthritis medication for my elderly dog, Sam. I'd purchased this medication at this same farmacia before several times, and each time I had taken the medicine box with me to show the pharmacist, just in case I needed it. This time, I didn't have the box. I just said her, in my excellent Italian, " Ho bisogno Rimadyl, per il cane". And I pronounced Rimadyl just like I think it should be -- RIM- A- Dill. Simple. No. The pharmacist looks at me and tells me she doesn't know what I am asking for, but would I please write it down. So I write it for her- RIMADYL. She looks at me, smiles a big smile and says, "Si, Si, Reeeam - a- deeeeal". Thank goodness for pen and paper, or my poor dog might still be without his arthritis medication today.

Only a few days after the farmacia adventure, Mike went to the vet to obtain the name of a pet sitter, as he has seen a flyer on the vets wall the last time he was there. The vet didn't personally know this particular pet sitter, but sent Mike over to the dog food store to ask the woman there, because she thought this pet sitter and the dog food woman were friends. Mike goes to the pet food store, and in Italian he asks the woman there if she can recommend this pet sitter. But he pronounces pet sitter just as we would in English. Those two words on the printed flyer were exactly as we would write them. The woman says she doesn't know what he is asking for. He writes it down for her, and she says, "Oh, si, si... Pet Seat-ter". Pet Seat-ter. Of course! Why didn't we know that???

There is no doubt in our minds, after these two events, that we have not learned the difference in the pronunciation of I and E. I need to go study a few more hours this week.