I had made an appointment at AquAniene this morning with an Italian trainer to learn how to use all the Technogym Kinesis equipment -- it's the pulley system with the full range of motion. I could say that this was a big step -- spending 45 minutes getting instruction and conversing about exercise (new vocabulary) in Italian; but then again, the trainer did demo everything so it becomes as much a physical language as a verbal one. Still, the point for me is that I am feeling very comfortable here -- the facial, the training, making (Italian) friends...
Josh and I both worked out this morning -- it was raining on and off making it difficult for him to ride. Afterwards, we had a merenda at the cafe upstairs. There was a particular cake in the case that I hadn't seen before and I asked Josh if he thought it was carrot cake. He responded by saying that if he even asked the Italian server if it was a carrot cake, she would look at him as if he had three heads; because there is no way on God's green earth that any Italian is putting any carrots in a cake! Then, after we'd already requested two shortbread squares, Josh asked the server what type of cake it was. The response: it's carrot cake!! So, now we had to have a slice. The fact is, it did not taste very carroty, even though you could see a few orange flecks. Still, I enjoyed it more than the shortbread.
After we left the gym, Josh dropped me off at the grocery store so I could load up on provisions for the weekend. Josh and I are heading out of town for two nights and Maria is going to stay with the kids. This was suppossed to be our warm-weather get-a-way weekend. Instead, we are driving to Tuscany to the area of Val d'Orcia (coincidentally this past Sunday, there was an article in the New York Times Travel Section written about this area). We are going to Bagno Vignoni to "take the waters." All of this, I am very excited about. And, in a way, there is so much to see and do in Italy -- much of it a drive from Rome -- you don't really ever need to leave the country to "get-away." What I'm less excited about is the weather forecast: it could snow!!! Either way, precipitation is anticipated. At least the baths will be hot! (Especially after some good red-wine).
This afternoon, I took care of some paperwork; Charlotte was officially re-admitted to Latin so we'll need to complete those re-enrollment forms as well. Still, it's rather nice not getting mail on a daily basis. I go over it every once in a while with my Mom, and it just seems like there is not a lot that is all that important.
This evening, after eating some dinner with Josh, Olivia and Avery, I went to meet an Italian friend of mine for a drink. Normally, one would have an apertivo before dinner; as I'm certain my friend was doing. But for me, I've been unable to adapt well to the 9pm dinner. And 9pm can be on the early side. In fact, when we were invited to this friend's house for dinner, I recall we ate at 11pm...after many apertivos. In any case, upon arriving -- a fashionable 15 minutes late but still before my friend -- I discover the place we are to meet is closed. We end up at a bar on Via Panama (same street as RIS) on the edge of Villa Ada, and had a good time catching up. The locale was convenient because we both had to pick up kids at RIS at 8:30pm.
Charlotte had gone straight after school (on a bus with her classmates) to a laser-tag birthday party. The bus was bringing everyone back to the school. I gave a friend of hers a ride home, and the two girls in the back seat could not stop talking about how much fun they'd had. However, I was not surprised when Charlotte reported that she hadn't eaten dinner. In anticipation of her 9pm dinner, we saved Charlotte some food at home.
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