How's the Italian?

As I said nearly a week ago, I will write from time to time blog posts about my progresses in Italian. My pronunciation, as far as I can tell, is good. I do check from time to time with an Italian colleague at work. I can differentiate masculine and feminine easily, singular and plural too. I am still struggling with the verbs and many words I simply forget after a day or two. I should just listen to those lessons at least once a day. I understand Italian fairly well, it is communicating in it which I need to improve. I remember the words when I hear them, but not when I need to say them. I think I am OK now with the definite articles. 

And re-reading this, it doesn't feel like I am talking much about learning Italian: I am making a list of things I did and did not. I guess that is the problem when you are a beginner learning a foreign language through a book: you learn the tourist version. At the lesson 6 ("sesta lezione"), I basically learn to marvel at Rome. If I ever go there, marvelling in the mothertongue, I'll look/sound like a suck up, a foreign one, which is maybe the worst kind.Saying something controversial would be more fun, and probably more Italian.