Olympics and Caulk

First off, a very happy birthday to my "sis" Linzi! Love ya!

Tonight I'll be on a train to Amiens, getting ready to fly to Italy bright and early tomorrow morning! The plan: I start in Torino with my friend Steph, who managed to get us an apartment in Torino, as opposed to our previous plan to stay in Milan, two hours away. Fantastic. We have tickets to a preliminary round men's hockey game, US-Sweden on Feb. 19 (in case you want to watch along with me!) Then we're off to Florence for a few days, brief stop in Pisa to see the tower ;), followed by Rome, and then Venice in time to catch the end of Carneval. From there we head to Vienna, and wrap up in Prague. Busy two weeks, but it should be fun times!!

This past week has been a week of preparation and anticipation-we've been planning this trip since July, so it's seems weird that it's actually here. I've watched more Olympics this week than probably the rest of my life combined, I guess because I have the time but also because I'm going, which makes it that much cooler. Last night was the men's free skate commentated (is that the right verb?) by the guys who have become my favorite French announcer duo, Philippe Candeloro and Nelson Monfort. I don't know why I like them so much, but I do. They're nicer than some other announcers, who get all excited when someone from another country messes up because that means the French competitors could pull ahead. They still get excited for the Frenchies, but they also cheer for the other athletes. Last night they were all excited for everyone and I don't know how many times I heard "Magnifique," "Super," etc. Plus they make me laugh-at one point Phillipe said "I'm going to have to leave for a minute because I have to pee," and Nelson said "No, I'm keeping you here," and Phillipe responded "But I have to go now or I'll miss Brian Joubert (the French skater)." I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say that kind of stuff as an announcer, but it made me laugh, especially since the French say "faire pipi," which I think is funny anyway. Then toward the end of the night, they were talking about how no program had been flawless, and how some skaters took some hard falls, and Phillipe said "The cafeteria food must have been bad at Olympic Village today." That was followed by some banter, and Nelson finally said, "Phillipe, je vous adore." Oh man, me too.

Today I have to get home to meet my landlord who's coming to try to fix my kitchen sink, which isn't draining. Oh, funny story. A few weeks ago he came to caulk my shower because it was leaking. As he was walking into the bathroom, he held up the caulk ("la silicone," in French) and said "Caulk, en anglais," (caulk in English) except I heard "Caulk dans le nez!" (Caulk in the nose!) and since he was holding it by my face I thought, "What the heck, this guy's gonna put caulk in my nose??" It wasn't until after he left that I figured out what he actually said.

Ok, that's all. Viva Italia!