Home, but not home home

We have taken to calling Toscolano "home," and to avoid confusion, call our home in Montana "home, home." This creates a series of "who is on first" sort of conversations between the kids, which is alternatively annoying and hilarious, depending on my mood and their comic timing.

When we first arrived here, I wasn't so sure about "home," this little town. There is nothing so special about it at first, and it certainly is not as beautiful as some of the other Lake Garda towns. But the problem with the beautiful Lake Garda towns that we have seen is that they are full of tourists. This town, however, is mostly for itself, and as such is sleepy and sweet. This town lets us have a real Italian experience versus one made for tourists, and the two do not feel the same. For that, and lots more, I am now very happy Toscolano is "home."

The people here are beyond friendly to me and the kids. My attempts at speaking Italian are met with smiles and comprehension [they try to understand me and help out when necessary]. Outside of Toscolano, when I try to speak Italian I am returned with Italians speaking GERMAN to me. There are loads of Germans here, as this area is very close to Germany, and I guess my rubbish Italian is like the Germans trying to speak Italian. The only problem, of course, is that I don't speak German. I speak Italian, they speak German back, and I stand there like a imbecile, smiling. I sure hope my Italian improves by July.

None of us are wearing watches. Mine broke on the way to Switzerland [irony THERE] and I was to fix it in Italy. But, Toscolano has a wonderful church with a beautiful tower and bell. The bell rings [tolls?] on the hour, and the half. When the bells begin to ring, Allie and I have taken to stopping everything and counting the bells to know the time. When we are done counting, it is with great smiles that Allie and I look at each other and exclaim with glee, "It's TWO!" or "Five thirty! Wow!" I no longer want to fix my watch.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I really love to hear from you -- a lifeline to "home, home."