Yesterday was another rainy day. So, in between still trying to sort out the water bill and other chores, we have been catching up on Italian television. We have a satellite dish and get a variety of English language channels in addition to all the Italian ones. Some of the channels show programs in both English and Italian and it is hit or miss which one is on at any time. Some of the English language programs are American but most are British.
One of the most interesting things we have observed is how many programs have specific version for different countries. There is a Big Brother for almost every European country—Grande Fratello in Italian—as well as Dancing with the Stars—Ballando con le Stelle. There is a show similar to Househunters (couples looking for new homes) that I love because I can look at lots of houses and practice my Italian. It was also here in Italy that we first saw the show that later appeared in the U.S. as Deal or No Deal. Here it is called Affari Tuoi and it begins with 24 Italians each from a different Province. Each has a box and one is chosen as the contestant. Their goal is to end up with the €500,000 box. Just like in the American version there is a banker that calls in with different offers of guaranteed cash in order to stop the game. There is also a new show called Come ti vesti? which is an Italian version of What Not To Wear. Isola dei Famosi is similar to Survivor only the contestants are Italian celebrities.
We also subscribe to a package of sports channels which we originally got just in case the Mariners made the World Series (ha-ha!). For a while we were able to watch a weekly recap of the NASCAR races but that seems to have gone away. Now we have more European soccer than we need plus golf, basketball, etc. Luckily it also has good coverage of the Formula 1 races.
The news coverage we have is very good and very diverse. We get CNN Europe, BBC World, Sky News, Fox News, CNBC and several Italian news and business channels. Although we never watch them, we also get Al Jazeera International and some French and German stations. There is a dedicated channel for Italian weather and that is what we look at most when trying to figure out when the rain is due to stop and start. Fox News is the only channel that is a direct feed from the U.S. Interestingly, one day this week nearly every one of the news stations was showing Barack Obama live when he addressed the U.S. Senate during the bail-out bill debates.
Right now we are watching a program called Comprare casa all’esterno (Buying a House Abroad) on the Discovery Travel and Leisure channel. It is a British show about mistakes buying property throughout Europe and the host gives owners advice on how to get them sold. Perhaps we can pick up some tips for selling ours!
Today was sunny and warm with a cool breeze—perfect for working outside. We rose early and spent the morning cutting grass and cleaning up the patio. Dom made good progress slaving away with the weed whacker on the slopes while I walked behind the mower on the flat terraces. We finally ate lunch outside but sitting there in the sun made us sleepy so we quit for the day.
Jet lag is still slowing us down in the afternoons. We are sleeping for a couple hours then and not sleeping well at night. However, waking up at 4 am will come in handy tomorrow morning when we get up to join our friends Mary and Orlando and Bob and Joy on a bus excursion to a town near Rimini. It is organized by some of Orlando’s relatives and should be an interesting experience. More on Monday.
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