The Christianville Spirit: My Fascination with Italy (Italia) - Italia (I) Republic Day Special!

             

Cliff View of Ocean - Costa Di Amalfi (I)

Mountain View - Varese (I)

                  

                     The Christianville Spirit 

         The Spirit that Encourages Magical Moments

June 3rd, 2026 – TCS # 942

Ciao, Buongiorno, and Buona Giornata, 

My Readers! 

Wow! Another Triple Greeting! This Triple Greeting, unlike Most of My Triple Greetings are Different Languages in One Greeting, but in This Case, This Triple Greeting is in The Same Language. Now, What is a Bit confusing is that These Greetings in This Language can be used Interchangeably. And, Even More, This Language, a Romance Language and The Thing about Romance Languages is One Thing....Generally, Romance Languages have a Thing about Formal and Informal, meaning that if You know Someone or Don’t know Someone, You could use certain Greetings for Each. To Me, Anyway, that is Confusing when Learning or Teaching a Language. For The Record, The Greetings I used can be Mixed in both Formal and Informal. 

The Greetings mean The Following, 

Ciao (Hello) - Kinda Informal; 

Buongiorno (Good Morning) - 

This One can be Used both Ways! 

Recommended Greeting!; Buona Giornata (Good Day) -

 This Greeting is The Best Greeting in All Cases, Especially if You may or may not know the Term for Good Evening or Afternoon. 

It is a Safe Greeting and Appreciated Greeting. So, I Kinda of Spoiled The Country of Which We are going. 

If You don’t care for Spoilers, like Most People. I will give You some Hints! This Country is One of Three Romance Languages. This Country has a Unique and Recognizable Shape of The Country. Okay, I understand that This Country is a Little Too Easy! Give Up?

I Present to You...The Nation of Italy! 

Locally known as Italia (I). 

(2026 Editor's Note: Now, I know that I have Written This Newsletter Before... Actually I have, Back in 2022! (Refer to Newsletter 783) However,

 I am Rerunning This Newsletter because Yesterday was Italy (I)’s National Holiday, Republic Day.

It’s Actually The 5th Year that I have been Celebrating It! 

Happy Republic Day, Italia (I)! 

(A Day Late!)

(Clearing Throat) As I was saying...

A Country that Everyone dreams of Going to and Visiting. 

A Country with A Lot of Ancestry ties to

 My Home Country of The United States. 

A Country that has One of the Most Recognizable Shapes in The World! 

So, Considering that I have written about My Fascination about Europe in Three Parts 

(Refer to “My Fascination with Europe” Newsletter) 

and Then, Most Recently, 

I wrote about My Fascination about Switzerland, 

(Cutting in Again)

 And, Sweden / Sverige!

I figured Why Not write about My 2nd Dream Country that I am Fascinated with, Italy! Although, I Post a lot about Switzerland, Italy also Equally has My Attention. I think that Switzerland takes My Heart with Its Nature and Mountains. Italy, meanwhile, takes My Stomach, along with My Heart as well. Okay, Maybe My Heart is Both Countries! Good Thing that Switzerland and Italy are Good Friends, and There is some Italian in Switzerland. Switzerland is like, Italy’s Calmer Sibling. 

Annnnyway, I Love You both as much as I Can!

Regardless, I have posted A Lot about Italy! Believe Me, If You were to see Pictures of Italy, You would be Fascinated too! 

So, I am sure that You are Asking, Why is Italy so Fascinating?! Well, I am about to Tell You! 

Let’s Jump In!

Why Am I Fascinated with Italy?

Ahh Italy (or Locally known as Italia)! 

I can hear the Italian Hippity-Hop Music playing in My Head. 

So, Let’s Start with Geography Lesson! Where is Italy (Italia)? You know when You look at a Map of Europe and You see, a Boot-Shaped Country in Southern Europe. Yeah, That is Italy! You literally can’t miss it! 

Bordering with France (F) to The Northwest, Switzerland (CH) to The North, 

Austria (A) to The Northeast, 

and Finally, Slovenia (SLO) to The East. 

It also has A Lot of Water surrounding It 

on The West and East, 

and Mediterranean Sea to The South. 

Added Bonus, Italia has Two Islands! 

The “Soccer Ball” Island below the Boot, 

known as Sicily (or Sicilla, Locally known as) 

and An Island Out West of It, that is sort of like 

Italy’s Secret Paradise, Sardinia. 

The Capitol is also One of The Most Recognizable and Most Romantic Cities in The World, 

Rome (or Locally known as Roma). 

And, Finally, The Currency is The Euro 

(Because They are Part of “The Euro Zone” and The European Union)

It is a Country where Politically and Economically, The Country is Very Different in The North of Italy and The South of Italy. The North of Italy is a lot more advanced and Wealthier, while The South of Italy is Poorer but, The Same Time, has a lot more Flavour Culturally. 

So, Why is Italy so Fascinating? 

++ Well, The First Reason is The Shape of Italy, 

It is The Most Uniquely Shaped Country (Boot), 

That is How Everyone knows that It is Italy. To Describe It, It looks like The Country is playing Soccer (or “Futbol”) with Cowboy Boots on, The Biggest and Very Rich in Culture, Sicily (Sicilla) like The Soccer Ball that It is about Kick. Meanwhile, The Surrounding Countries are watching. I am sure that Sardinia and Corsica (Part of France) are like The Soccer (ahem...Football) Fans watching it all happens. Honestly, At The Same Time, It would be Cool to say that You are on The “Foot of Italy” or “The Shin of Italy”! 

++ Outside of Geography (Sort of), 

Comes Perhaps The Best Reason of Why Italy is Fascinating! 

Italy is a Very Diverse Country 

(Mountains and Beach). 

In The North Part of The Country, like North of Torino and Milano (Turin and Milan. They are Better in Italian!), There are Mountains that Dare I say, Rival Switzerland, with a Little Italian Flair to It! If You were to go South toward to Venecia (Venice) or Bolonga, It gets More Flat with Farmland, and then, If You go South toward Roma, You have The Beach. And, then, Down South of Napoli (Naples) There is more Mountains and Even more Beautiful Coastline, often Referred as “The Amalfi Coast” or Costa Di Amalfi. If You want to see the Perfect Mix of Mountains and Ocean, Definitely go There! Mountain Cliffs overlooking The Ocean! 

++ Speaking of Places, The Next Italian Fascination!

Italian Locations 

(Mountains, Toscana, Roma, and Costa Di Amalfi). 

Italy is One of Those Countries that has So Much Romance and Noteworthy Places to See, It would take A Month (or Longer) to see it All. 

To Name a Few, The Capitol, Roma has Many Piazzas (or Squares), Each with Its Own Story. 

Toscana (Tuscany) is a Romance / Wine Lovers Dream! 

Tons of Vineyards and Rolling Hills with that Classic Italian Architecture. I mean, A Woman once Daringly Bought a House in Toscana and Later, Wrote a Book on It because She loved it so Much. If There is One Thing that Italy does Very Well, is It’s Romantic Architecture! Of Course, with Architecture comes Stories. 

++ With Stories, comes The Next Reason of Fascination, History & Language and Boy, Does Italy have that! One Walk in Roma and You would see Mix of Modern Roma with Its Buildings, and then You would also run into Sites of Old Roma, The Ancient Roma! It really is amazing how People could build Tall Structures like The Famous Roman Coliseum. Of Course, History can have It’s Ugly Parts too, The Blowing of Mt. Vesuvius burying an Entire City. The Stories told are not for The Faint of Heart, so I have been told. Today, The Volcano stands over The Suburbs of Napoli! That is Crazy! Another Sub-Section to This is The Italian Language! The Italian Language, I have been told, is not something You speak, You gesture! But, I love The Way Italian sounds, then We are Talking about The Foundation of Romance Languages. To Hear It Come out in a Romantic Way, Which You will hear it so, Sounds Very Heart-soothing. Of Course, You don’t want to know What it would feel like to hear Someone yell in Italian!

++ Now, Let’s Move into The Reason Why Most People go to Italy! The Next Reason of Fascination, The Food! Throughout My Life, I have always been a Sucker for Italian Food! 

I Loved Pasta and I still do Love Pasta! In My Opinion, This is The Best Thing that Italy does. They have Many Different Types of Pasta, Many Types of Sauces, and Many Types of Cheeses. Sadly, (Spoiler Alert!) Fettucine Alfredo is NOT Italian! It broke My Heart to Learn that, but It is True! But, If You want to Try Real Italian Dishes like Cacio e Pepe (Famous Roman Dish), Carbonara, Pesto Pastas, and More...Italia is The Place! 

++ Now, It would be a Fascination Newsletter about a Country without Talking about The People! Leading to The Final Fascination about Italy, Italian Grandmas! 

Now, If You want a Real Honest-to-God Italian Experience, You must befriend an Italian Local, who wants to Learn English (Perhaps anyway!) and Let them take you to Their House, Meet Their Italian Grandma, and have them Cook you a Grand Italian Meal. You will hear some Many Stories, Learn about The Country, Perhaps Why We love Their County, and A Really Good Fresh Authentic Italian Meal. Complete with Meat, Pasta, and Of Course, A Little Aperitivo (A Little Snack) before or after The Meal. Also, Maybe They can teach some Italian while You are Teaching them English. Of Course, with The Gestures added. But, Word of Warning, Make Sure not to do The Wrong Gesture because Each Gesture means Something! All in all, as You can see Italy is Very Fascinating Country, Rich with Culture, History, Nature, Food, and Amazing People! 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Life is like A Plate of Pasta! Sometimes with Red Sauce, White Sauce, or Garlic!

The Christianville Spirit: We are Characters in A Storyline

 

                    The Christianville Spirit

        The Spirit that Encourages Magical Moments

May 27th, 2026 – TCS # 941

We are All Characters in a Storyline, My Readers! 

Characters in a Storyline?! Wow! That’s an Interesting Greeting, Christian! You would Say. 

Well, This was actually a Random Idea that came into

 My Head based on a Joke that My Brother and I have. 

You See, My Brother and I, because

He Lives In Portland, Oregon and I Live in Plano, Texas have a Weekly Tradition in which We watch Movies on Disney + together. Whether It is with My Brother only; 

Him and His Girlfriend (Originally Code Named “The Lady Friend”) or More Recently, with a Guest Watcher.

Usually, A Neighbour or A Friend of The “The Lady Friend” (Now referred by The Internet Code Name “Elly King”)

I woke up This Morning thinking about The Most Recent “Portland Character” (A Code Name to mean, The Special Guests) when I thought to Myself, as I greeted My Little Boy Dog, Paco as I do (Roughly) Every Morning.

I thought to Myself: “We are all Characters in Storyline”

Ya Know, It seems like I have The Most Genius Ideas when 

I am either Trying to Go to Sleep and/or Just Waking Up.

As I went to Bed, (Because I sleep until 2;45 PM Routine!) 

My Mind started Racing and I told It to Pause until Later about If We are Characters in a Storyline, What does that Mean?

Well, When I think of Storylines, My Mind goes Three Different Directions. One, All The Storylines (I call them “Mind Tapes”) about My Future Dreamt Life with The Woman of My Dreams, Bridgett Lafleur.

Two, I think of All The Storylines that Myself and My PTLS Friends have come up with. Usually A Funny Adventure that We are Experiencing in Some Way.

And, Three, Life’s Storyline. In Other Word’s The Direction in which Your Life is Headed. Also, The Romantic Person that You Choose and Fall in Love with, Being Your 

“Grand Romantic Storyline”.

Of Course, It also comes to Mind that Some People believe that We are Living in a Movie, sort of The Matrix only in Real Life. 

My Thought is that, If (Keyword here: If) We are Living in a Movie. I would make that There were Two Things in This “Movie”. Subtitles and Meanwhile.

Sometimes when You talk to People around The World or Even Dealing with People at Home, Sometimes I feel that Subtitles would really be Useful, so You can Understand Fully what Someone is Trying to Say. Because There can be Alot of Mishears and/or Miscommunication about a Certain Things that Someone Said or Even You Said.

Meanwhile, it would be Very Important to wonder What is Happening on The Side of The Screen. Like, You are talking to Your Friend or Romantic Person about Something, Meanwhile They are Bothered by Something Else happening in Their Life. I Feel that We would Understand Each Other as Person if We saw Their Meanwhiles!

That being Said, Again, if We are Characters in Storyline.

What Kind of Storyline are We In?

Romantic Storyline; 

Sad Storyline (Like, It Ends with Us);

Action Storyline (Shoot em’ Up Kind of Thing);

Horror Storyline (Someone’s After Us or Vice Versa)

And, Then, One has to Wonder, What Kind of Character are We? The Main Character, Side Chick or Wing Man, Best Friend, The Helper and/or Killer.

Obviously, If We are Our Own Characters in A Storyline,

We are The Main Character in Our Own Storyline, Right?

At Least, One would think anyway. But, Sometimes, People would Rather be The Side Character instead of The Main Character or Vice Versa. Being The Main Character instead of The Side Character. I guess, It kind of Depends on The Storyline in which You or Whatever Version(s) of You, would Want to Live. 

Basically, We are Our Own Character in Our Storyline, Now that I think about It, It sounds like a Video Game like Jumanji, A Game on Nintendo 64 (Like Banjo/Kazooie), or 

Like Grand Theft Auto. 

I personally Feel like as Long as Your “Character” is Happy and Fulfilled in Your Storyline; and, You are Doing Good in The World. Then, That is Great because You deserve The World.

And, Just so We are Clear, You Deserve The World in A Happy Way. Not a Stewie from Family Guy, 

World Domination Way! Just Saying! M’Kay?!

But, Do Enjoy Your Storyline because Ya Never Know what Happens if Your Storyline’s Life (Good, Bad or Ugly) and Maybe We can also Make Someone Else’s Storyline Better! Who Knows?!

All in all, Everyone is A Unique Character in The Storyline of Their Life. Some Storylines are Good and Other are Not, But, You can help sometimes Make Someone’s Storyline Better.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Brighten Someone’s Storyline and It’ll Brighten Yours!