If the reindeer cannot climb the hills of Italy… these guys don’t seem to have a problem

Mission Accomplished!

No, Jessica is not engaged (although much to my dismay, I drop not so subtle hints all the time). I saw Dominique! For an explanation on just who Dominique is, see this video… as for why you don’t know yet…. shame on you (even if you do know Dominique, I recommend watching the video again, it is rather hilarious).



Further background. As of last Christmas, we (Team I.D., myself and my cousins Kristina and Deanna) became obsessed with the donkey. He has become our mascot, every time we give each other gifts it always includes a donkey of some sort. It’s grown to the point where my wedding will surely include a donkey somehow. Anyways, before I came to Italy I said my goal was to find Dominique and somehow get it involved in some kind of Christmas surprise. Well, when I got here everyone told me that there were no donkey’s nearby, so it would be nearly impossible to do something for Christmas… well on Thursday I was given hope.

Thursday afternoon I was driving home from work when I noticed a large herd of sheep in the field near the hill I live on. I said to myself (because I talk to myself a lot while I drive… true fact) that I should check that out, since donkey’s must be near sheep (ok, I’ll admit stupid logic, but I was concentrating on the road and thereby not on what kind of animals sheep hang with). I started driving up the hill and I was only about ¼ of the way up when all of the sudden rounding a corner was this guy and his herd of sheep. I’m talking hundreds of sheep just coming towards me and my car. So I stop (without stalling!) and wait for them to pass. Luckily I had my camera, because as I was changing my purses that morning I almost decided against it because, what was going to be photo-worthy at work? Thank god I thought otherwise.














There were literally hundreds of them, just baa-ing and smelling all sheep-like (that’s bad for those not lucky enough to have ever smelt it)… and mixed in with them were a bunch of donkey’s. I probably looked like an idiot in the car taking pictures and being all smiley and giddy, but that was because I had somewhat accomplished what Kris and Dee sent me out to do. But alas, since I’m sharing the pictures now, it’s obviously not the Christmas surprise, they’re not really good quality for the idea I have anyways. I just needed to share that hope springs eternal and there are donkey’s for me to dress up and antagonize this December. As for the pictures, check them out.



In all honesty it really was an amazing sight to see, I mean all these sheep just walking towards me and just outside my car. I could literally just stick my arm out the window and pet them, by I abstained since I didn’t want the smell to linger after they had passed.

When I got home I told my aunt and uncle (well she translated for him) they weren’t so impressed. They had actually passed by the house about half an hour before, so even if I weren’t lucky enough to see them in the car, I would have seen them had I been home (and most likely gotten better shots of the donkey’s not being in the car and all).

In other happy news… after the donkey’s and sheep’s passed me I was able to continue up the hill. For those who have never had the joy of driving stick-shift let me tell you, starting on a hill is a pain in the ass, in the past I would panic or roll backwards or stall. So I was incredibly happy when I was able to just start the car and get driving again without any problem. Yet another example that I’m becoming a skilled driver here.