A Cautionary Tale

I want to express my concerns and give everyone who reads my blog a warning. I’ve always loved Italy—three of my top favorite places, Rome, Venice and Lake Garda. It’s a beautiful country, beautiful people and spectacular history.

The problem and concern I have regarding Italy are their driving laws. Back in February, we rented a car from Hertz and drove to Lake Garda. From there, we went to Verona and Bologna. This past month, my Love received a letter from Hertz stating that they are charging him 35 euros EACH for three moving violations he received in Italy that spanned 15 minutes. He was stunned because he hadn’t even received any moving violations from Italy, so we both went online to do some investigation.

Complaints Board – Traffic ticket complaints in Italy and regarding Hertz.

Fodor’s – Traffic Tickets in Italy

Budget Travel – Italy: Fines for rental-car drivers on the rise

Italy has limited driving zones within city limits to reduce fumes and traffic. In our search, we have found Italy issues close to 27 million traffic violations a year—mainly to tourists. I understand that people should know the driving laws in other countries, but there’s a difference between speeding, running over people, knocking things over, as opposed to driving in an area that is restricted. Why aren’t there gates preventing people from entering if you don’t have a city limit card?

First off, Hertz should have said something to us regarding these limited zone areas. But the fact is, they don’t because they make money off the administration fees. We believe the traffic tickets are from a camera snapping a picture of our car as we passed on the outer circle of the city because we got lost. The times are like 4:01, 4:06 and 4:13 (these aren’t the exact times), so we can assume the tickets are from a camera snapshot. So Italy is going to fine us three times for passing an area in a 15 minute time frame, and the cost could be around 115 euros for EACH violation. I think it’s a disgrace that Hertz purposely doesn’t say anything so they can make more money and that Italy would fine a tourist for getting lost—which the times clearly prove.

We left a beautiful country after having a beautiful time, and now we will have to pay for that time with an additional cost close to 500 euros.

This is a warning to anyone who are considering on going to Italy. Forget about it, or don’t bother renting a car if you plan on going into an Italian city center. You’ll pay more than you bargained for and that leaves a lasting impression.

Ich Lerne Deutsch! (I learn German)

Herzliche Gruesse,

Ich bin Bea Sempere und ich bin aus Chicago. Chicago ist nicht die Hauptstadt von Illinois. Wie heisst du?

Translation:

Heartfelt Greetings,

I am Bea Sempere and I am from Chicago. Chicago is not the capital city of Illinois. How are you called?

Since the beginning of September, I have been learning German from meinem Liebsten (my Love). We are working from a textbook and two workbooks, but it’s difficult not being in an environment where German is the primary language. I want to learn German so I can a) communicate with mein Liebster’s parents and brother, and b) in case we wind up living in Germany for a year or two. It will give me a head start before taking an extensive German course out there.

It’s tough learning a language at this stage in my life, and German isn’t an easy language to learn. English was derived from the Germanic language, yet much of what is utilized in German, isn’t in English. Unlike a Spanish translation, German doesn’t translate well into English—at least not word for word. There are many English words and phrases that don’t exist in German, and different grammatical rules.  

All nouns have an article: (die) feminine, (der) masculine and (das) neutral. Not only do I have to learn the nouns, I need to learn the article forms…and on top of that…the article changes with the noun depending on the object. Nouns are capitalized, too. Wie heisst die Biologielehrerin? How is the biology teacher called? The ending is “in”, which indicates that the biology teacher is female. That’s why the article is “die”. If the biology teacher is male, it would be der Biologielehrer. My brain does flips when I have to say and write out a number. Germans start with the second number first, such as 43 (my age). Ich bin dreiundvierzig Jahre alt. I am 43 years old.

I’m actually enjoying the challenge until mein Liebster starts talking fast. Like all languages, he blends his words together as opposed to annunciating each one, so I’ll be using Wie bitte? Excuse me? plenty of times.

Do you speak a second language?

Bratwurst and beer,

Bea

Now I Know!

Back in the day when learning words and telling time were all I needed to do, I remember my grandmother teaching me how to read from the Dick and Jane books. They were vintage books used to teach children to read from the ‘30s into the ‘70s, and are still sold today. There was a lot of repetition in them, such as “Look. Look Up. Look Up at the sky”, so it was easy for children to learn words and sentences. I also remember the colorful illustrations in these books.

Then many, many years passed before I had any desire to read again. When I started back, I went through a phase where I would only read Sidney Sheldon books. At the time, I had no idea how much this man accomplished with international praise for his scripts, movies, plays and novels, let alone that he was from Chicago. He thought of his writing success as a miracle. “I was born in Chicago during the Depression and both my parents were third grade drop-outs," he recalled. "My father never read a book in his life and I was the only one in the family to complete high school." His books were mostly crime fiction and thrillers. He was the only author I’d read, and that was the last time I ever stuck to only one writer. Unfortunately, Mr. Sheldon passed away in 2007, but left behind a legacy of words.

I then ventured out and started reading Mary Higgins Clark and Victoria Holt, and both of these women wrote suspense with a romantic flare. I’ll admit that I didn’t know what genre any of these writers wrote until now. I always thought they were romance novels with an ingredient of suspense. After these female authors, I started reading Sandra Brown, who also writes suspense.

I find all of this interesting because for a few years I didn’t read many women authors (this in no way suggests that women authors aren’t great writers). Since my early favorites, I’ve gone on to read many authors of both gender and all different genres. After finding out that all of my favorite writers, who got me back into reading, were suspense and thriller writers, it now makes sense that I have written a psychological suspense thriller. 

Genres are and will always be foreign to me. Each category has its definition, but some of these definitions blend in with others, such as thrillers and suspense. I believe they both go hand in hand. How can you have a thriller without suspense, and how can suspense not be thrilling? Since I’m not one who has done extensive research in genre categorization, I’ll have to leave it up to the experts.

What’s your favorite genre, or who is your favorite author? Has it changed since your earlier days of reading?

Revisions and Tea,

Bea

Literacy—Read, Write and Think!

This past summer I went to Open Books for a volunteer orientation. Open Books is all about promoting literacy in Chicago and elsewhere. They work hard, utilizing volunteers, to make young and old literate through social events, programs and field trips.

This is taken from The New York Times article by Jessica Reaves. It is estimated that about 23% of American adults do not have basic reading skills—they are unable to read directions (medications), look for employment or take care of their finances. Chicago’s illiteracy suffers with “53% of adults having low or limited literacy skills”. The numbers might not be exact  but the fact is this city and country should not have a problem with illiteracy.

Since I’m unemployed I decided to do some volunteer work, and what better place to volunteer at than with books. Today I woke up early, got ready and drove to the Open Books warehouse. It has definitely been a long time since I woke that early and had to look presentable. LOL! Anyways, when I walked into the place it was full of boxes of books donated by people. The guys working there set me up on a computer to scan the books for resale. It’s amazing how many people donate, and what is even more amazing are the books people buy. There were old 60's and 70's cook books, travel books and 80's workout books. Do you remember Susan Powter? “Stop the Insanity!” I guess this catchphrase can be used for illiteracy. 

I enjoyed my volunteer work and wanted to share my experience with you, continue volunteering and hopefully I can pay it forward. Aside from the bookstore on Institute Place, they resell books on different websites—Amazon being one of them. (The bookstore is setup so cute. The picture of the fireplace on this post is from the store.) On Amazon, the books are sold under used. So if you are ever browsing for a book, click on used and search for Open Books to help fund literacy.

My next topic has nothing to do with literacy and everything to do with winning.

Did you watch the Bears vs. Green Bay game? The outcome of this game really makes me mad because a) I don’t like Green Bay and b) the Bears could have won the game if offense knew how to block and catch, and Devin Hester learned how to keep his temper in check. *rant over*

Have a great day!