Tea with Laura and Nadino

January 16th: Slept in this morning and it was a big rush to get to university. So I decided to skip lunch so I could go back to the hotel to organise my luggage and have a shower. In class today we wrote a story which ended up being about Giacomo who now fancies himself as the Latin Lover. We then listened to a song by Lucia Dalla which told a story. Then it was onto the difference between avere and essere and their use. We also looked at the use of the subjunctive. In the afternoon we continued with the subjunctive and did a role play. We finished off with a song called Le cose che abbiamo in comune (the things we have in common.)

At 5:00 pretty much everyone went back to the hotel to prepare for the celebratory cocktail function at Monash which started at six. I walked to Monash with Adriana and had trouble keeping my shoes on, should have put in the inserts. As Domenica said though, they will fit better in Australia with the hotter weather. Adriana swapped shoes with me for a bit so we could make some progress. The room was crammed full with people and the local television station was there taking footage. Goretti and I tried to look animated and messed around a bit with greeting every time the camera swung our way. Adriana tried to get the camera man's attention but alas all in vain. The speech was delivered first in Italian and then in English. Getting to the champagne was not an easy venture even though Jack didn't seem to be having too much trouble.

About 7:00 Nadino arrived and took Adriana, Domenica and I to his place in the country for tea. We were greeted at the door by a very excited Sam, their red setter. We gave them our gifts and Laura was delighted with Pingui and had to wrestle him off Sam at one stage who might have just been a tad jealous of the new arrival. Sara their daughter was there with her friend Sabrina. It was a very enjoyable evening. We had a tasty lasagna, spaghetti bolognaise with a spicey oil, a large serving of pork, a torte with celery(like a quiche) salads, potatoes and finished off with two desserts which were home-baked. I tried a few different sweet wines and a drink which was clear but tasted like whiskey. The converstaion was a mix of Italian, English and Spanish. Sara, who had been working in London has excellent English as does Nadino. Sara and Sabrina gave Domenica a few tips on great night clubs in Florence. We have been overwhelmed with the kindness of this family and all of the staff members at Nadino's school. Nadino drove us back to Hotel Giardino and I was in bed by midnight.