I just wanted to let you guys know what was going on with my life seeing as I haven't written in a while...
Well, school is coming up and for those who don't already know, I'm going to be going to the language school. At first I was magically enrolled in the school to do German classes, but I had already decided that I wanted to do Spanish instead of German so I had to write a note to the principal asking permission to change. We're not sure who actually enrolled me into the language school in the first place, but whoever it was didn't spell my name right so I'm thinking that it was an Italian who was trying to be nice and did it for me. The good news now is that I am now doing the language I wanted instead of the other and I will also be in the same class as a couple of my friends.
So, now I'm a bit happier about the Spanish thing, but I'm still becoming more nervous about starting a new school each day more and more. It's going to be a lot harder this year and I'm sad because I don't have the same Italian teacher as I had last year who helped me so much in my other school. He didn't start me doing the same level stuff as my other classmates and so it helped me learn a lot more because the Italian was more or less to my level of doing until the exams came. Then I had to do them just like the others.
I'm planning to start this school year well, though. My last semester of my last school year, I improved so much compared to the first semester and I'm am going to try to start off better than I ended. I hope you all (the ones still in school) are not struggling too much.
Love,
Ashley
Friday, August 30, 2013
Plain Silly
 |
| This is my frog |
 |
| Front frog foot |
 |
| Back frog foot |
 |
| Aren't the warts and spine great? |
 |
| Little red eyes |
Ciao,
Florence
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Wayward Travellers
Ashley and I returned from the United States on Thursday, August 15. Our baggage didn't.
I couldn't be too surprised, even though no airline has ever misplaced my bag before, because our return flight involved two changes of plane. That included going from a tiny regional jet at Terminal D to a giant Airbus at Terminal 1 in JFK in a 60-minute layover. A layover that turned out to require exiting the airport buildings, walking around a construction site to the next terminal (no sidewalk), getting our Delta boarding passes converted to Alitalia ones, and going back through security. As Ashley said, "We are back in Italy already!"
So, at Fiumicino, we waited for every last bag to come off the belt, then headed for the Alitalia services desk. The woman there was very nice and knew what she was doing. I produced baggage receipts, my passport, and a boarding pass. I identified the type and color of our bags on the IATA baggage chart. And I filled out a much-photocopied customs form. I left with a claim and a notice that because we live outside the immediate area, the courier would have 48 hours to deliver our bags once he had them.
Friday morning Alexandra left for Germany to fetch Florence, and I got a text that our bags were on a flight from JFK to Fiumicino. Progress!
Friday evening, right on time, I got another text stating that "Items: 1" had been given to the courier. Surely that was not 1 of 4 bags? They must mean one consignment. At this point we started actively waiting for our bags, and making sure someone was always at home. Would the courier make it in less than 24 hours? Do they count Saturdays and Sundays? Why was there no tracking information?
Then came two more texts on Saturday, each stating that "Items: 1" had been given to the courier. Uh-oh. Our bags must not be together. Where is the fourth? But surely that first bag must be delivered soon. Maybe it would be the one with ALL of Ashley's summer clothes.
Sunday came and went. " Daddy, Mummy would kill me for wearing this to church!" "No she wouldn't, she knows you don't have anything nicer than jeans."
Monday I called the number on the baggage claim form. The woman who took my call was initially very surprised I didn't already have my bags: they went to the courier Friday, after all. Then she said, " Wait a minute. There are a lot of notes here. Oh, I see. There are four bags, and here is where one went to the courier, and here is another, and here is another. Well, if you don't have them tomorrow call us back."
Monday evening Alexandra and Florence returned from Germany. And I got one more text saying that an item had been given to the courier.
Tuesday, breakfast. Alexandra's phone rings. It is the courier saying he will make a deliver between 2 and 4. Hallelujah! Why Alexandra's phone? I'm not quite sure why they chose that one over the one they had been communicating with me on, but I had given it as our home number so they would have two possible people to reach.
And sure enough, just before 2:00 the courier arrived, friendly as could be, with ALL FOUR BAGS, and insisted on helping us carry the bags up to our apartment never mind that there were 5 of us milling around with excitement. One set of signed documents later we could really feel like the journey was over.
Except for the unpacking.
Michael
I couldn't be too surprised, even though no airline has ever misplaced my bag before, because our return flight involved two changes of plane. That included going from a tiny regional jet at Terminal D to a giant Airbus at Terminal 1 in JFK in a 60-minute layover. A layover that turned out to require exiting the airport buildings, walking around a construction site to the next terminal (no sidewalk), getting our Delta boarding passes converted to Alitalia ones, and going back through security. As Ashley said, "We are back in Italy already!"
So, at Fiumicino, we waited for every last bag to come off the belt, then headed for the Alitalia services desk. The woman there was very nice and knew what she was doing. I produced baggage receipts, my passport, and a boarding pass. I identified the type and color of our bags on the IATA baggage chart. And I filled out a much-photocopied customs form. I left with a claim and a notice that because we live outside the immediate area, the courier would have 48 hours to deliver our bags once he had them.
Friday morning Alexandra left for Germany to fetch Florence, and I got a text that our bags were on a flight from JFK to Fiumicino. Progress!
Friday evening, right on time, I got another text stating that "Items: 1" had been given to the courier. Surely that was not 1 of 4 bags? They must mean one consignment. At this point we started actively waiting for our bags, and making sure someone was always at home. Would the courier make it in less than 24 hours? Do they count Saturdays and Sundays? Why was there no tracking information?
Then came two more texts on Saturday, each stating that "Items: 1" had been given to the courier. Uh-oh. Our bags must not be together. Where is the fourth? But surely that first bag must be delivered soon. Maybe it would be the one with ALL of Ashley's summer clothes.
Sunday came and went. " Daddy, Mummy would kill me for wearing this to church!" "No she wouldn't, she knows you don't have anything nicer than jeans."
Monday I called the number on the baggage claim form. The woman who took my call was initially very surprised I didn't already have my bags: they went to the courier Friday, after all. Then she said, " Wait a minute. There are a lot of notes here. Oh, I see. There are four bags, and here is where one went to the courier, and here is another, and here is another. Well, if you don't have them tomorrow call us back."
Monday evening Alexandra and Florence returned from Germany. And I got one more text saying that an item had been given to the courier.
Tuesday, breakfast. Alexandra's phone rings. It is the courier saying he will make a deliver between 2 and 4. Hallelujah! Why Alexandra's phone? I'm not quite sure why they chose that one over the one they had been communicating with me on, but I had given it as our home number so they would have two possible people to reach.
And sure enough, just before 2:00 the courier arrived, friendly as could be, with ALL FOUR BAGS, and insisted on helping us carry the bags up to our apartment never mind that there were 5 of us milling around with excitement. One set of signed documents later we could really feel like the journey was over.
Except for the unpacking.
Michael
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Home again, home again, jiggity jog!
After being in Germany for three weeks it is nice to be back. I had a great time in Germany, but there is no place like home! After a long jaunt with no homework, it is time to settle down and get to work... I am almost enjoying it! I arrived here in Todi just two days after Eleanor left for... umm...ummmmmm... somewhere. For two weeks! So I don't even have her to complain to. Oh dear! However we do have candy! Lots of it. While in Germany I made it my business to buy every flavour of candy that I could find. The results include: Curlywhirlys (milk chocolate covered caramel), chili powder, raspberry jam, saftbarhen (gummy bears but better), Wunderbars, Nimm2s (like laffy taffy filled with gooey yummy and flavoured lemon, apple, black current and cherry) and liquorice (Dutch!) and chocolate. There is a lot more but I don't feel like listing it right now (in other words we have enough candy to send us into a sugar coma).
Ciao!
Florence
Ciao!
Florence
Monday, August 12, 2013
The Feast of San Lorenzo
If I'd got my act together, we could have gone to Perugia, and there probably would have been some cool processions. I failed this time around...but: August 10 is the feast of San Lorenzo.
San Lorenzo, for those who are into Catholic art and history, was the fellow who was supposedly roasted on a gridiron, and is often so depicted. However -- of all the ironies -- check out the wikipedia link which traces that part of his story to a typo, of all things!
One thing that the English version of the wikipedia site doesn't cover is that his feast is known to be commemorated with shooting stars. Go figure...turns out that his feast night generally coincides with the Perseids (which should peak tonight).
So, I'm off to look at shooting stars from the giardinetti. We saw some gorgeous ones a few nights ago, and hope that tonight's even better!
Love,
Alexandra
update: we had a wonderful time licking our gelati and looking up at the falling stars. Some shot, and the spectacular ones positively ambled.
San Lorenzo, for those who are into Catholic art and history, was the fellow who was supposedly roasted on a gridiron, and is often so depicted. However -- of all the ironies -- check out the wikipedia link which traces that part of his story to a typo, of all things!
One thing that the English version of the wikipedia site doesn't cover is that his feast is known to be commemorated with shooting stars. Go figure...turns out that his feast night generally coincides with the Perseids (which should peak tonight).
So, I'm off to look at shooting stars from the giardinetti. We saw some gorgeous ones a few nights ago, and hope that tonight's even better!
Love,
Alexandra
update: we had a wonderful time licking our gelati and looking up at the falling stars. Some shot, and the spectacular ones positively ambled.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
The second half of summer
...and when everyone in the States starts up school that's when I know it's time to start my summer homework-- I mean, I only have one more month! Where did the summer go? Apart from the US, the Alps, Florence, Perugia...
Anyway, about a week ago we ordered my textbooks for the next year but I had been trying to ignore the signs that summer was coming to an end-- friends staying at home to study, people talking in hushed voices about the year to come (5th year of high school is supposed to be hell), kids bringing summer reading on the train with them, and everyone-- everyone-- posting the sort of status on Facebook that pretends to be complaining but actually exists just to tell everyone like me that I should be studying too.
So I finally got up the courage to pick up some of my summer reading books (a five-minute trip, start to finish) and opened them. I have to say that although I dislike the idea of studying, once I get started I really do enjoy it. That goes for all of my subjects, but especially literature-- summer reading is great because I get to be lazy under the pretext of doing something useful. "Oh drat... today I have to stay in bed reading this romance... life is pretty hard sometimes..." For English I read The Picture of Dorian Gray in one day and really enjoyed it-- despite the dark theme-- especially for the psychological depth.
So far my favorite part of my homework has been an Italian literature book, Le città invisibili or Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It's a collection of prose poems arranged into chapters, each of which is framed by a dialogue between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. The poems are narrated by Polo and describe the wonders of various cities (all fantastical), from Valdrada (which was built by a lake that reflects the occupants' every movement, for better or for worse) to Eutropia (a series of identical cities, only one of which is ever occupied at a time-- as the occupants weary of their lives they move Mad Hatter-esque to the next city and start fresh with new houses, new families, new friends) to Pirra (which could never have been anything but that which it is) to Perinzia (which was constructed to mirror the heavens and the divine order, but which must have had some mistake, for no one is born quite right there). They discuss death, illusions, memories, relationships, eternities, wishes...
The real beauty of the book unfortunately can't be captured in translations (Italian is such a beautiful language that it's bound to lose something anyway), but it is the sense of awe that the poetry transmits as Marco Polo describes all these wonders... for two days I was a traveler hand-in-hand with Kublai Khan, sitting there, just listening. It was really my first true experience with Italian literature, and I have to say it was extremely enjoyable-- I can't wait to start Il fu Mattia Pascal!
Anyway, about a week ago we ordered my textbooks for the next year but I had been trying to ignore the signs that summer was coming to an end-- friends staying at home to study, people talking in hushed voices about the year to come (5th year of high school is supposed to be hell), kids bringing summer reading on the train with them, and everyone-- everyone-- posting the sort of status on Facebook that pretends to be complaining but actually exists just to tell everyone like me that I should be studying too.
So I finally got up the courage to pick up some of my summer reading books (a five-minute trip, start to finish) and opened them. I have to say that although I dislike the idea of studying, once I get started I really do enjoy it. That goes for all of my subjects, but especially literature-- summer reading is great because I get to be lazy under the pretext of doing something useful. "Oh drat... today I have to stay in bed reading this romance... life is pretty hard sometimes..." For English I read The Picture of Dorian Gray in one day and really enjoyed it-- despite the dark theme-- especially for the psychological depth.
So far my favorite part of my homework has been an Italian literature book, Le città invisibili or Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It's a collection of prose poems arranged into chapters, each of which is framed by a dialogue between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. The poems are narrated by Polo and describe the wonders of various cities (all fantastical), from Valdrada (which was built by a lake that reflects the occupants' every movement, for better or for worse) to Eutropia (a series of identical cities, only one of which is ever occupied at a time-- as the occupants weary of their lives they move Mad Hatter-esque to the next city and start fresh with new houses, new families, new friends) to Pirra (which could never have been anything but that which it is) to Perinzia (which was constructed to mirror the heavens and the divine order, but which must have had some mistake, for no one is born quite right there). They discuss death, illusions, memories, relationships, eternities, wishes...
The real beauty of the book unfortunately can't be captured in translations (Italian is such a beautiful language that it's bound to lose something anyway), but it is the sense of awe that the poetry transmits as Marco Polo describes all these wonders... for two days I was a traveler hand-in-hand with Kublai Khan, sitting there, just listening. It was really my first true experience with Italian literature, and I have to say it was extremely enjoyable-- I can't wait to start Il fu Mattia Pascal!
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Stating the Obvious
I realized that we hadn't publicized it on the blog, but I have the feeling you guys are catching on...we're staying here another year! So you'll have even more opportunities to comment on posts!
We will be staying in the same apartment; we love our landlord, the location is perfect, and the apartment is adequate -- lingering a wee bit too long in the 1950s, but it brings back some fond memories of when we first moved into our house in the Ponderosa.
We have been blessed with a wonderful tenant for our Atlanta house, and Michael's job has continued to support his remaining with us in this town we have come to love. While there are many things that we miss about the US -- primarily our friends! -- we have made many friends here as well, and we love the kids' flexibility to go out with friends as their schedule permits, participate in a variety of activities, and so on.
The beauty of the countryside feeds my soul, but we still have the conveniences of a town. The children are happy in school.
And best of all (just kidding...or not)? Five yarn shops within easy walking distance. And one just remodeled -- it's absolutely beautiful, and she now offers a variety of additional crafting supplies.
The other good news? I don't have to sell my car! (yet)
Love,
Alexandra
We will be staying in the same apartment; we love our landlord, the location is perfect, and the apartment is adequate -- lingering a wee bit too long in the 1950s, but it brings back some fond memories of when we first moved into our house in the Ponderosa.
We have been blessed with a wonderful tenant for our Atlanta house, and Michael's job has continued to support his remaining with us in this town we have come to love. While there are many things that we miss about the US -- primarily our friends! -- we have made many friends here as well, and we love the kids' flexibility to go out with friends as their schedule permits, participate in a variety of activities, and so on.
The beauty of the countryside feeds my soul, but we still have the conveniences of a town. The children are happy in school.
And best of all (just kidding...or not)? Five yarn shops within easy walking distance. And one just remodeled -- it's absolutely beautiful, and she now offers a variety of additional crafting supplies.
The other good news? I don't have to sell my car! (yet)
Love,
Alexandra
Friday, August 9, 2013
Traveling
Recently, as in since the 24th, I have been in Germany! I have been staying in Karlsruhe and I have been amazed at how smoothly everything runs. "You mean it is unusual to have the street full of holes?!" and other silly things have been my frequent comments to Ute (the wife of the son of my grandfather's business partner, Hans). So far I think we have done something that would take at least two hours to get to from Todi every day. We saw a zoo, we've been to castles, we've been to what is called a rope garden, we've done all sorts of things! Every day the family I am staying with is up by seven thirty and by the end of the day (roughly 6 or 7 or 8) I am so exhausted that I can barely get ready for bed before collapsing!
One of the things I noticed most is how everything is doubly secure. In the rope garden you couldn't (It was physically impossible unless you had a faulty harness) get off of the safety lines. To get off one part you had to be hooked on to the other!
I will post some pictures later.
Ciao,
Florence
One of the things I noticed most is how everything is doubly secure. In the rope garden you couldn't (It was physically impossible unless you had a faulty harness) get off of the safety lines. To get off one part you had to be hooked on to the other!
I will post some pictures later.
Ciao,
Florence
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Going places
I think I mentioned in my last post that I'd gone back to Perugia with Matteo to see our friends who live there... even though I had an absolute blast I had no idea that in a matter of weeks I would be practically living there myself. Between the youth group meetings and just hanging out, I think I've actually spent more of my "out-and-about" time there than here in Todi-- and I know that I've seen more of my friends there than here!
But right now I'm not going to write about Perugia. Because it's not just at Perugia that I have new friends, but there's a large group over in Florence as well. As soon as we got back from the retreat we started talking about visiting them, but it took a while to decide on a date and it was just last week that we had a definitive date: August 2.
I don't know whether it's just because I had Matteo (who plans most of the transport for us, since we're pretty much the only ones from Todi), but from what I saw there was remarkably little planning that had to go into this trip. A couple of days beforehand Matteo messaged me about the train we were taking, and we (he) asked a friend to pick up tickets for us, but that was all.
So Friday morning I got up early-- early enough to see my dad and my sister off-- and went down into the piazza to wait for Matteo's father, who was driving us to Perugia. We got there in plenty of time, exchanged sleepy greetings with some of the others, and got onto the train. Easy. Two-and-a-half hours later, time filled with guitar-accompanied singing, we were there in the cultural capital of the world.
The Florentine contingency was waiting for us at the station, about twenty of them, which added to our group made around forty teenagers. The Florentines had clearly been looking forward to the visit as much as we had been, because they had the whole day planned out... even from the start when we got on the bus. "Don't we need tickets?" "Don't worry," Pietro told us, "we've already bought them."
Our first stop was a panoramic view of the city. These kids were obviously very proud of their city (and, I have to say, rightly so) and they enthusiastically pointed out all of the most important sights, often adding a short history or a little story, and answered our questions. Next we went to a church, and I should be able to tell you what it was called but I can't remember, but Pietro gathered us all around and gave us the history and little tidbits about it ("See the way it's built with [two types of stone that I can't remember]? That's a typical Florentine design-- you'll see it also in the Duomo."), as good a tour guide as you could ever hire. And their knowledge really was amazing... they were able to answer questions about all kinds of stuff, from the cathedral to the fortress on the hill to where to get gelato.
After a bite to eat in (well, actually on the curb outside of) a sandwich stand that boasted having been established in 1875, we headed up to the Boboli Gardens. Those who were under 18 (about 2/3 of us) got in free and the adult EU citizens paid 5 euros. However, because I didn't have my British ID on me, it looked like I was going to have to pay 10... and Pietro came up and quite happily pressed 5 euros into my hand. "Don't worry," he said, "we'll spring for half of it... it's the least we can do!" Fortunately though, they let me in free even though I only had American ID.
Once in, we found a nice shady spot and hung out, playing guitar, singing, having water fights... it is, after all, just a park, albeit a gorgeous one. And an added bonus is that there are a large number of good singers in our group so it actually sounded really good; a lot of people stopped to listen, some for as long as a half hour!
After a little more wandering around and sightseeing, 8 o'clock came around and it was time to catch the train back home. Our hosts accompanied us to the station and saw us on the train-- and wouldn't accept any payment for the day. "No, no, it was our pleasure!"
And that's what I did with my day. Just took a day trip to Florence with my buddies. Have I mentioned that I love it here?
But right now I'm not going to write about Perugia. Because it's not just at Perugia that I have new friends, but there's a large group over in Florence as well. As soon as we got back from the retreat we started talking about visiting them, but it took a while to decide on a date and it was just last week that we had a definitive date: August 2.
I don't know whether it's just because I had Matteo (who plans most of the transport for us, since we're pretty much the only ones from Todi), but from what I saw there was remarkably little planning that had to go into this trip. A couple of days beforehand Matteo messaged me about the train we were taking, and we (he) asked a friend to pick up tickets for us, but that was all.
So Friday morning I got up early-- early enough to see my dad and my sister off-- and went down into the piazza to wait for Matteo's father, who was driving us to Perugia. We got there in plenty of time, exchanged sleepy greetings with some of the others, and got onto the train. Easy. Two-and-a-half hours later, time filled with guitar-accompanied singing, we were there in the cultural capital of the world.
The Florentine contingency was waiting for us at the station, about twenty of them, which added to our group made around forty teenagers. The Florentines had clearly been looking forward to the visit as much as we had been, because they had the whole day planned out... even from the start when we got on the bus. "Don't we need tickets?" "Don't worry," Pietro told us, "we've already bought them."
Our first stop was a panoramic view of the city. These kids were obviously very proud of their city (and, I have to say, rightly so) and they enthusiastically pointed out all of the most important sights, often adding a short history or a little story, and answered our questions. Next we went to a church, and I should be able to tell you what it was called but I can't remember, but Pietro gathered us all around and gave us the history and little tidbits about it ("See the way it's built with [two types of stone that I can't remember]? That's a typical Florentine design-- you'll see it also in the Duomo."), as good a tour guide as you could ever hire. And their knowledge really was amazing... they were able to answer questions about all kinds of stuff, from the cathedral to the fortress on the hill to where to get gelato.
After a bite to eat in (well, actually on the curb outside of) a sandwich stand that boasted having been established in 1875, we headed up to the Boboli Gardens. Those who were under 18 (about 2/3 of us) got in free and the adult EU citizens paid 5 euros. However, because I didn't have my British ID on me, it looked like I was going to have to pay 10... and Pietro came up and quite happily pressed 5 euros into my hand. "Don't worry," he said, "we'll spring for half of it... it's the least we can do!" Fortunately though, they let me in free even though I only had American ID.
Once in, we found a nice shady spot and hung out, playing guitar, singing, having water fights... it is, after all, just a park, albeit a gorgeous one. And an added bonus is that there are a large number of good singers in our group so it actually sounded really good; a lot of people stopped to listen, some for as long as a half hour!
After a little more wandering around and sightseeing, 8 o'clock came around and it was time to catch the train back home. Our hosts accompanied us to the station and saw us on the train-- and wouldn't accept any payment for the day. "No, no, it was our pleasure!"
And that's what I did with my day. Just took a day trip to Florence with my buddies. Have I mentioned that I love it here?
Camping
No, not camping, it's camping. I went camping last week with the scouts. We had one main base to which we brought everything including the kitchen sink, showers, and running water (in the form of spare plumbing parts, some rubber tubing, and a compressed tank of water- the metal bits were NOT compressed). Every other day, we hiked off and spent the night somewhere else. One of these mini-trips in particular stood out, as it involved my almost falling a 100-meter drop into a (relatively) dry canyon on the edge of which we slept (we hiked/climbed through it the next morning). There was a natural rock bridge about 2 feet wide lubricated with leaves and pebbles across the top of the canyon that we got to go across (no restraints in any way, shape, or form). It was awesome! Unfortunately the other kids weren't being very nice to me, so I elected to come home early. Next year, they'll put me in the other group.
Love,
Jeremy
Love,
Jeremy
Tennis camp
At tennis camp we played tennis, soccer, and ping-pong and that was on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday we swam, played tennis, soccer, basketball. At the pool I went down the slides about fifty times and at the pool we played a lot of beach soccer, and I beat two other people in basketball. I played a lot of tennis matches and I won five out of the six matches. I won four of the six ping-pong games. I like tennis a lot and now I am pretty good at tennis. At camp I almost got attacked by one of the two dogs.
Love,
James
Love,
James
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Driven (round the bend?) to Succeed
In Italy, an international driver's license (basically a translation of your driver's license and nothing else) expires after one year, and one must obtain an Italian license. As it happens, an American license is worth nothing; this means that I must act as though I'm a new driver -- I get to be 18 all over again!
The process is relatively expensive, as one must do it through the driving school. It requires a test of theory to be passed (in Perugia), after which time you can start driving with an instructor. You must have 12 sessions of instructional driving before you're allowed to be tested in order to get the final license!
About a month ago, I approached the driving school, and they predicted no problems with obtaining my license in short order. Of course, they hadn't reckoned on a trip to Germany and the summer season in the meantime. When I went by this morning, the instructor told me that they're currently making appointments for testing, and the first available is August 27. Argh! That means no toodling in my sweet baby for nearly a month!
I have been studying like gangbusters, using the online testing protocol (including explanations) and have come to the conclusion that the test writers have no grounding in basic logic. For your reading pleasure, I have included some examples of the questions and the (supposed) explanations. They left me scratching my head...
Love,
Alexandra
1. To the question "The panel shown invites you to keep a minimum distance of 20 m from the snow plow", you answered false, but it's true because:
The additional panel depicted (SNOWPLOWS IN ACTION) under the signal OTHER DANGERS invites you to decrease the speed in the presence, of snow removing machines in operation. Remember also to keep a distance of at least 20 m from the snow machines in operation. Note: you are supposed to know to keep a distance of 20 m, but it is not shown on the panel -- in my view, "false" would be correct. Additional note: apparently, in Italian, "invite" is like when your mom asks if you'd "like" to do something -- the correct answer is "absolutely!"
2. To the question "If a casualty of the road is hemorrhaging you should not give him water to drink," you answered true, but it's false because:
It is necessary to stop the bleeding, put the wounded person in a sitting or lying down position and call for help. Can anyone tell me how this supports the "You should give the person water to drink" statement?
3. To the question "The signal shown is the distance between the signal and the beginning of the road in a bad state," you answered true, however it is false because:
The additional panel depicted (EXTENDED) integrates the signal overlying as it indicates in meters (type A) or kilometers (type B) the length of the road section in which the dangerous condition applies. The signal shown is the distance between the signal and the beginning of the road in poor condition. Huh?
4. To the question "Criminal liability related to the traffic accident is excluded when the accident is not considered a crime," you answer false (by mistake, but I loved the explanation and wanted to share it), and instead it's true because:
Even if you have provided relief you may be responsible for the accident
The process is relatively expensive, as one must do it through the driving school. It requires a test of theory to be passed (in Perugia), after which time you can start driving with an instructor. You must have 12 sessions of instructional driving before you're allowed to be tested in order to get the final license!
About a month ago, I approached the driving school, and they predicted no problems with obtaining my license in short order. Of course, they hadn't reckoned on a trip to Germany and the summer season in the meantime. When I went by this morning, the instructor told me that they're currently making appointments for testing, and the first available is August 27. Argh! That means no toodling in my sweet baby for nearly a month!
I have been studying like gangbusters, using the online testing protocol (including explanations) and have come to the conclusion that the test writers have no grounding in basic logic. For your reading pleasure, I have included some examples of the questions and the (supposed) explanations. They left me scratching my head...
Love,
Alexandra
1. To the question "The panel shown invites you to keep a minimum distance of 20 m from the snow plow", you answered false, but it's true because:
The additional panel depicted (SNOWPLOWS IN ACTION) under the signal OTHER DANGERS invites you to decrease the speed in the presence, of snow removing machines in operation. Remember also to keep a distance of at least 20 m from the snow machines in operation. Note: you are supposed to know to keep a distance of 20 m, but it is not shown on the panel -- in my view, "false" would be correct. Additional note: apparently, in Italian, "invite" is like when your mom asks if you'd "like" to do something -- the correct answer is "absolutely!"
2. To the question "If a casualty of the road is hemorrhaging you should not give him water to drink," you answered true, but it's false because:
It is necessary to stop the bleeding, put the wounded person in a sitting or lying down position and call for help. Can anyone tell me how this supports the "You should give the person water to drink" statement?
3. To the question "The signal shown is the distance between the signal and the beginning of the road in a bad state," you answered true, however it is false because:
The additional panel depicted (EXTENDED) integrates the signal overlying as it indicates in meters (type A) or kilometers (type B) the length of the road section in which the dangerous condition applies. The signal shown is the distance between the signal and the beginning of the road in poor condition. Huh?
4. To the question "Criminal liability related to the traffic accident is excluded when the accident is not considered a crime," you answer false (by mistake, but I loved the explanation and wanted to share it), and instead it's true because:
Even if you have provided relief you may be responsible for the accident
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