Paging "Doctor House"

Buon giorno! Happy Monday to you all, and Happy Easter week! I'm so so excited for this week as Clay and I are leaving Wednesday to visit our friends, Jay and Michelle, in Marsala for five days! It'll be the perfect Easter, and I wish Wednesday would hurry up. Anyways, the weekend was alright. We stuck around Taormina again. Clay had a friend arrive from home on Saturday for a few days, so we've been having a good time showing her around Taormina. It's been fun watching her point out all these things that seem so strange and new because I've forgotten how foreign everything seemed to me in my first week here!

Moving Day was Sunday. Clay was the only one who offered to help, which bothered me a little. Since I was being forced to move, it would have been nice if the school or the Ferraris had found a car (the family owned one actually) to drive me across town. I suppose I could have asked as well, but I didn't know a polite way to do it. That's always the problem here. Oftentime when I need something (or when I want to turn something down), I don't know a polite way to do it, so typically I won't say anything at all. Anyways, at 8:30 a.m. Clay showed up and we carted my two big suitcases 20 minutes across town. The new house is actually only about 15 minutes away, but stairs would have been impossible to use, so we miraculously found a very round-a-bout way that didn't involve stairs. The biggest accomplishment was probably actually not rolling my suitcases through any dog poop (there is always a positive in every situation!). Sadly I didn't get everything in one trip, so it wasn't until about 10 a.m. that everything was moved into my new place.

Before unpacking, I walked around some with Clay and Christine, and we saw the Palm Sunday procession through town. There were lots of kids, and everyone had palm branches, and they were singing. It was neat. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and showing Christine around. I haven't been around the new family much - their names are Elsa and Nini. Once I know more about them, I'll blog some more about the new place.

So onto today's random topic: TV and Radio. Back at the Ferrari house, we watched a lot of TV,
but usually it was the news. Following the news is Striscia la Notizia, my favorite Italian show! Well, actually it's one of the few Italian shows I've seen. Stricia la Notizia is part late night talk show, part Daily Show with Jon Stewart, part Regis and Kelly, part 20/20, and part soft-core porn. So it's a variety show, obviously! It's hosted by man and a woman, and the woman is almost always wearing something that shows off her breasts or legs (or both at the same time). The show begins like a late night talk show as the man, Ezio Greggio, gives a short monologue with a bunch of one-liners. It's very difficult to understand jokes in another language. Then the other host, Michelle Hunziker comes out, and the two of them dance one the table for a minute. And then they do a short bit where they talk to each other and give each other a hard time - a la Regis and Kelly (actually this continues throughout the show). Then the show cuts for a short commerical break, and when it returns, these two girls dance all over the place, on poles, in hoops, and usually they are wearing very little clothing. I have no idea what this part has to do with the rest of the show, or why it is necessary, but whatever. Then the show begins, and it mainly pokes fun at politicians and journalists, like Jon Stewart, by showing clips of them messing up. They do usually have one serious clip, though, where a reporter exposes some terrible thing, like hospitals that don't meet code because they have all sorts of mildew and mold all over the place (hence, the 20/20 portion). Anyways, so that's my one Italian show that I always watched, but they don't watch much TV at the new house, so I probably won't see it much anymore, which is fine since I never really knew what was going on.

Sometimes, though, at the Ferraris' house, Gaia, their daughter, would get a hold of the remote, and she usually put it on a younger show. One night she flipped it to Futurama, an animated show on Adult Swim that I absolutely despise. Unfortunately, thanks to Michael, I've had to see lots of these shows as he likes them quite a bit. I about fell out of chair when that was the show that came on. I thought for sure I would get a break from this show! She also would watch Gilmore Girls a lot, which I watched Saturday night actually. But here the show is called "Una Mamma per Amica" - A Mom for a Friend. It loses some of its spunk and humor when it's translated into Italian.

From what I can tell, they have about every American show over here, and they just dub it into Italian. They have everything from Friends to Grey's Anatomy to King of Queens to 24, etc. They also have their version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and Dancing with the Stars (which I love back home, but have yet to see here). The favorite show here, though, is easily House, which they call "Doctor House." Aurelio and Angela absolutely love House! And many of the other foreign students here also love this show. It's so funny. I think House comes on about 2 or 3 times a week, and since I don't watch it back in the states, I have no idea which season it is. I also rarely can understand what they're saying, although Aurelio tells me I should just read their lips in English while I listen in Italian! Easier said than done. House also comes on a network here called FOX, which is very interesting. So I've never seen House in English, but I've watched several episodes in Italian now!

Besides the TV, there is a lot of American music here. Anytime we walk into a store or a bar, I immediately hear American music. They know Georgia on My Mind and Sweet Home Alabama, and they think it's so cool that I'm from those states! We've been asked several times about Sweet Home Alabama. The interesting thing, though, is that they play all kinds of American music together. I'll hear something from the 80s, followed by a rap song, followed by a rock song, then an oldie, then Celine Dion. They also don't seem to know the difference between good American music and bad American music. They play it all! Anyways, that's it for American music and TV. I'm making a list of everything I have left to explain since I don't have much time left. I hope to get to everything! Ciao ciao!