Day 2

My wall .................................... My bed

Desk in my room ......................... My closet which I have since put clothes in

I had another fun day. The house is still in turmoil but one worker came today so Andrea and Francesca had to help out. So Alicia, Jacob, and I had our first outing to the "garden" (it is basically a playground in the middle of the apartments). It was great because I had the oportunity to be alone with them and see how they would interact with me. The three of us did fine. Jacob is a very sweet little 1 year old and Alicia is a stubborn 3 year old. When her parents are around she just wants me to go away. But when it was just the 3 of us I was the adult she had to deal with to get what she wanted. Lots of motioning but much success. I am of course picking up Italian quickly since I have to or else be lost and confused forever. Andrea and Michael speak pretty good English and Francesca is getting better everyday, but it is still really hard to be in a foreign country where I do not speak the language.

Then some of their friends, Marie and Michael, came over and after a while we went to get Pizza. It was delicious, kind of like thin crust. You get a whole pizza (probably about 12"); you have to use a steak knife and fork to cut it into slices, then you fold the slice in half and eat it sandwich style.

After lunch we walked and walked and walked we went all the way to the center of the city of Milan. It was me, Francesca and Marie, who does not speak much English. We shopped (at H&M) but only when we got to the center of town because everywhere else the stores were all closed. Alicia fell asleep and napped for almost 2 hours while Jacob was kind of wimpy off and on and finally he was just done. So Francesca and Jacob went home; Marie, Alicia (still asleep) and I continued on to the city center. There I spun on the customary good luck balls of the bull. By the way Dan and Hannah that was not a dent from use; it is a hole in the ground.

There seems to be a fair amount of reconstruction work being done on the buildings but covering all of the scaffolding is pictures of the building behind it. Very weird. It was again crowded chaos. I forgot my camera today so I will have to take pictures another day. And mom I do not even know where to begin with differences. The architecture is so different, old and covered in graffiti. At this point I was so tired but Marie, Alicia and I rode the bus back to "Navilla" across the road from the Church of Saint Christoper. So we came home and played with Alicia and Jacob. Francesca fed the kids and then after Jacob was in bed we ate it was breaded chicken and sliced tomatos with olive oil and basil. Its 9:22 here and Alicia is still up and she stayed up until 11pm last night. Ciao for now I must go to sleep we have to take the kids to school tomorrow morning. I hope everyone is having a great time at home and loving on my animals for me.

Oh and here are the pictures of my room. (By the way the voice in my head now has an Italian accent; its very strange.)