Happy First Day of December!

 Since I have been here I do not think I have addressed the on going shower situation that my roommates and I face on a daily basis. It's nearly impossible for more than two people to receive a hot shower especially during the winter when our “heater” takes the place of our hot water heater. After one person takes a quick shower the others must sacrifice themselves to a shower that mimics get caught in freezing rain. However, this only heightens the other potentially hazardous shower challenges. The size of the shower is equivalent  to a port-o-potty. Sudden movements are not encouraged, and escaping the experience with fewer than a dozen run-ins with the shower doors is considered a success. Because your feet get so dirty walking around the city, you have to make a special effort to clean them when showering.  If the cold water or the size of the shower didn't get you, than the rapidly filling shower base might. The majority of your shower focus goes to finishing the shower before you flood the bathroom. The drainage system in all of Italy is not very good.  Thus balancing on one foot, while trying to avoid direct contact with the pelting freezing water, and watching the rapidly rising water for signs of flood is the though process running through one head.  It's not unusual for us to ask each other if everything is okay as soon as we hear the water go off! 

Last week at the grocery store with my friends Courtney and Matt we were quite surprised when we found soft tacos, Tostitos chips and salsa at the supermarket. We get the ingredients, excited by the discovery, and begin planning our upcoming taco meal.  Yesterday, we decided to break out the Tostitos chips and salsa. That's when we discovered the "salsa problem." For whatever reason every sauce like product (i.e. salad dressing, salsa, etc) is always with tomato and sugar, whether it should be or not. So what does just a heavily sugared tomato based salsa taste like? Exactly like sloppy joe sauce.

You would think this discovery would have lead us to use the taco ingredients in another way, but no, we said we're having tacos and were determined to do so. Since you're not going to find anything but Italian cheeses here, we decide to go with provolone, which we shred ourselves. Already we've accepted that these will be Italian inspired tacos. Next, I come up with the brilliant idea to alter the sauce in an attempt to remove the sweetness. Sadly, despite my best efforts, the sweetness was still there.  Throughout the meal, Courtney was sure to point out the lack of sour cream and avocado and our lettuce that was moist because it was a day old.  So all in all Taco meal consisted of tacos that tasted like Italian inspired sloppy joes, with no lettuce and no sour cream. FAIL! 

I can’t believe school is wrapping up so quickly.  This is my last week of school and then I have dead week.  The week after next is finals.  Teachers are starting to get serious and assigning big papers that we all thought they were just pretending to assign throughout the quarter.  I am almost done with my Econ Paper.  My paper focuses on how the effects of unclean water and sanitation in under developing countries plays a role in lowering the Human Development Index.  I have been able to prove this by making graphs on excel using data for the human development reports and the world data bank.  I am excited to have this 3500 word essay off my hands!