You place it on the stove-top in order to boil the water which percolates through the coffee grinds. At the same time, you heat the milk in a tin pan to make the morning latte. Avery loves to assist and then he and the girls get an espresso cup filled with warm milk and a drop of coffee. To go with it, everyone gets a cornetto (croissant) and then the day can begin.
It's the second week of school. That means that Avery stays the whole day now and gets picked up with his sisters at 3:45pm (Avery and Olivia actually finish the school day at 3:20pm and wait for Charlotte to finish at 3:45pm). The second week of school also means that the middle school is still looking for an Italian teacher for the two non-Italians in 8th grade, and Charlotte is still waiting on her text books to arrive at the University book store. But not to worry, most of the other kids don't have their books either.
After drop off this morning, Josh and I finally hit the gym. After more than 2 weeks, we both really longed for a workout. Unlike most "upscale" gyms in the States, this (billed as upscale) gym had the basics. My favorite cross-trainer cardio machine was missing, as was any type of elliptical trainer, and while much of the equipment was Technogym, it was in need of an update.
What surprised us, was that water and gym towels were not provided. It's bring your own. There is a pool though and they seem to be big on aqua aerobics and hydro-bike (now there's something I'd like to try). They also offer all types of beauty treatments and have a juice bar. As for the locker rooms, they were clean but no frills. That means no shampoo, conditioner, cotton buds or towels. It's definitely not the East Bank Club.
Today was also the first day of swim practice for the girls. We arrived at AquAniene and the place was complete mayhem. There were many coaches/instructors with many different groups in both the 10 lane pool and the 6 lane pool. By the time we communicated with the right people and figured out which group Olivia should swim with, they were finished with the lesson. She ended up swimming, but just 4 lengths of the pool. Charlotte figured out where to go more quickly and so she did have a full training session. The coach, Leonardo, seems like a good guy with a good sense of humor but of course, speaks limited English. So one of the boy swimmers who did speak English (it was mostly boys) helped Charlotte by translating the coach's instructions.
As I wrote earlier, the AquAniene facilty is magnificent. There is a cafe with a glass wall so you can watch the swimming in the pool while enjoying a beverage, a snack or even dinner! There is also a large beautifully appointing swimming store featuring Adidas. But once again, we could see the popularity of aqua aerobics. For the entire two hour period that we were at the pool, there were back to back classes in the two far lanes of the smaller pool and as such, the instructor had music blaring so loudly it was difficult to speak to the person seated next to you. How could the swimmers in all the various groups hear their coach through the aqua aerobics disco music?
As a post sript to yesterday's blog with particular reference to the Italian banking system, I do want to report that after a personal visit from Josh which lasted approximately 30 minutes, Unicredito agreed to refund all the monies they took from our euro wire. I wasn't there but based on Josh's recounting of the story, it seems it was a matter of each side repeating themselves until one side finally decided to give up and move on. Way to go Josh!
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