Well my first "driving lesson" has come and gone and it is not going to be so much what I have to learn as what I have to unlearn.  Evidently after almost 40 years of driving I have picked up a lot of bad habits.  I arrived at nine and was taken immediately to the car I'm going to be using the next few weeks and in which I'm going to be taking the exam.  It's a red Mini Cooper plastered with huge Ps that stand for "principiante", or "newbie".  The instructor, who does in fact smell like an old ashtray, spent our hour driving telling me what I was doing wrong.  Shall I list them?  I don't use the blinkers when I go around obstacles such a bicyclists.  I don't rest my heel on the floor when I push in the clutch or rest my foot on the floor when not shifting.  I put the car in neutral at red lights.  I don't use the mirrors enough or properly.  I don't shift at the right time or enough or too much.  I speed or drive too slowly.  It was a constant monologue like being with a backseat driver on amphetamines.  I wanted to tell him to shut the hell up but realized he wasn't telling me how to drive but how to pass the test, which is in fact what I'm paying him to do.  I was completely stressed when we had finished.  I have another hour tomorrow morning.

After leaving the driving school I picked up my market buddy and we spent a few hours shopping for produce amongst the hundreds of stands piled high with seasonal goodies.  This market is a real mix of nationalities and languages.  There are Africans and Middle Eastern people.  There are Asians and Gypsies and Romanians, all buying or selling something.  Then I saw my first non-Italian uniformed police officer.  He is undoubtedly an Italian citizen but he is also of Asian descent. I wouldn't think twice about seeing an Asian policeman in the US but it was surprising here because immigration is still relatively new to Italy.  He is probably the son of first generation arrivals.  The human landscape of Italy is changing fast.  xxoo me