It usually doesn't snow often or much in Bologna, but these past two weeks brought the most gorgeous snowfalls - big, lazy flakes swirling in the air before quickly piling up on the ground. It makes the hassle we suffered of having these large windows installed well worth it. The original terrace was partially walled in a couple of decades ago, and last year we changed all the little windows to the largest pieces of glass possible so they are about 6 feet tall and ten feet long and really bring the outdoors in. The view on the hills are especially beautiful, though today with the sunshine the white is quickly disappearing.

Not much has been going on these days. We had some of Andrea's friends over for dinner last week and I was surprised to realize just today that the language of the evening was in almost all Italian and I UNDERSTOOD most of it! ha. Finalmente. Here is a photo of them - the men are friends for 40 years now. Lucrezia is 11 and fell asleep on our sofa as the conversation wandered on until 2 am. They had a 1.5 hour drive home so I hope they made it okay. Oh, and they liked alot the beef mignons, which is taken from the white cows of Italy and even at a whooping $35 a pound was well worth it.

Poppy stayed with us for a few nights over the new year. Ray has become so comfortable with her which makes me very glad as I look forward to the day I will be able to have dogs back in my life again. I am back to work at school this week and the kids have really changed a lot in three weeks. Not only are they all a little taller, they are enthusiastic to get back to reading and writing and it is obvious they have been practicing. I really like this job and had a conversation of going on a permanent contract beginning in the fall which would be nice, though I could double my earnings if I ventured into the business world. But got to love the summers free, and a week off every 6. (The Italian job market is a huge topic to cover, and there are many complications and contracts - all very different from the American mentally of doing things. One day I will go into more details.)

Andrea's students arrive on Monday, 36 in all, and so next week will be hectic as we will attend a dinner out Tuesday night with them, then give them an introduction to the Italian aperitivo on Wednesday, then have them all come here for pizza on Friday evening. This place is feeling way too small! Oh dream house, come back to me...