Getting ready for the adventure....

OK, Paul here with the first official post!

Countdown to takeoff is T-minus 17 days.... and we can't believe how fast it has approached. There's still a lot to do with getting our place ready to leave for a year, especially since as a result of some recent rainstorms, the townhouse has developed a rather large leak :( Oh well, we'll get it sorted out.

It's getting increasingly hard to concentrate at work, we both feel like we're ready to go NOW. Especially since we've already secured an apartment for the first month! Emily headed up the search, and did a great job at locating something online. It's reasonably priced, pictures of the inside look nice (especially the kitchen, which Emily specifically requested of course), and it's in a good part of town (we think). Here's a link to the Google street view of our neighborhood:

Neighborhood

Bellissimo, right? I'm not even sure if that's proper Italian. Been listening to Pimsleur cds on my commute, I highly recommend them for pronounciation and the pacing of the lessons, BUT they are a little strange in what they teach you.

Case in point - I know how, in Italian, to pester a woman to have dinner or drinks with me, after she's already told me she's married and not interested. But I don't know how to ask where the bathroom is or tell someone I need a doctor. Or to convince the police that I'm not a lecherous creep that goes around trying to pick up married women. Think I'm kidding? For once, I'm not.....

Emily on the other hand has been true to form and very diligent with her language study, and is learning all kinds of crazy vocabulary and tenses. She can tell her Italian friends about a hypothetical dream in which she travelled to the future and described something that she thought about doing in the past, referring to a combination of masculine, feminine, and androgynous objects (Boy George nouns, as I believe they are technically called).

It all sounds like "bappa di boopy" to me...