Howdy,
It's been a while since we've talked last. Lots has happened, but I'll spare you the petty details. The important ones are as follows:

1) When parking, the french know they have made it into their spot once they have hit the car behind or in front of them.

2) My little four year old french cousin talks to fast/ slurs his words too much for me to understand him. He talks to me, and I can't really respond. As a result, he simply assumes I am a large (bearded) baby; hence, he affectionately refers to me as 'le grand bebe'. (I tell him I'm not the baby, he is, and then I tell his mother- all he does is laugh, and it cuts deep down inside) Although we can't communicate, he likes to rub my beard and have me throw him up and down.

3) I met an Italian the other night and since I will be in Rome May 5th, and speak no Italian, he wrote me out a quick cheat sheet of only the most important sayings- Please, thank you, where is the bathroom?, you have beautiful eyes, can I buy you a drink?, is that guy really your boyfriend because you could do much better. Oh, well, I wasn't necessarilly talking about myself, but now that you mention it I think we could love each other forever. How can I tell? Because, when you walked by I saw the next fifty years of my life and it was with you, me, a bottle of wine and a little french guy named Pierre feeding us grapes as we watched sailboats disappear into the Sicilian sunset as we lay naked in our villa that has a swimming pool with little goldfish swimming around wondering how two people could ever love each other so much, and contemplating the complexity of our devotion. And, I think you're really hot, so if you'd just dance with me, that'd be cool, and then you could tell me your name. But if you just want to make one up, I'm fine with that too.

You know, just enough Italian to get my by.

4) I went to Giverny and stood on the bridges, and on the banks of the ponds where the water lillies continue to float, in Monet's masterpieces. Pretty cool.

Talk soon, probably from Rome,

Ciao.