'I'm in Italy. Ain't this great?'

One good thing about living in Italy. I don’t watch much TV. Maybe I should watch more. In order to learn the Italian language.  But I’d be better off reading a book. Or conversing with Italians. Live. Face to face.  TV ain’t the way to expand one’s brain power or to gain a better understanding of the world. Like Americans, many Italians are glued to their TV screens. They watch soap operas and the usual yapping politicians and quiz shows and American movies with dubbed in Italian, plus some pretty raunchy sexcapades. I don’t watch much TV at home in Minnesota, either. But even less in Italy. Partly because of the language barrier. Though I’m able to get the BBC and CNN. In English, of course. But I prefer reading the New York Times in cyberspace. Or just going for a walk in the great Italian outdoors. And ignoring the rest of the world. Last night, I walked briskly down Carbonia’s main street and marveled at the thought, ‘Hey, I’m in Italy. Ain’t this great?’  --Jim Broede