Beef That's What's For Dinner

This Thursday was a little laid back compared to most. Ruggie went with a friend after school so I was picked Fil up from school. I was going to take him downtown and do something fun before he had to go to basketball. He told me he had homework so I told him we could do it together and then go to the center. There is a huge Nativity scene on display and I thought he would enjoy that. When we got home he said that he was lying and didn't have homework and he just wanted to stay at home. I got really frustrated cause I was trying to be the fun babysitter and he just wanted to be lazy. So I made him do all his homework for the next week. By the time he finished it was time to go to basketball. I dropped him off and then went to Nona Pena's house(the friend of Ruggie's). Ruggie's grandmother, Nona Deana was there so I talked to both of them for awhile. They are so funny and I love spending time with them. They told me that they were my Italian grandmas and that they were going to miss me. This makes me sad and I don't like to think about all the people I will miss. She made homemade sweets and made me taste some...yummy. It was getting late so I packed Ruggie up and we went to pick up Fil. We sang Jingle Bells all the way to the gym...I love these moments with Ruggie cause he is so sweet. When we picked up Fil (we were 5 minutes late) and he started griping me out saying he was waiting for an hour and how I dare I be late. I shrugged these comments off and we went home. After dinner we watched 30 minutes of tv together and then I put them to bed.

On Friday after lunch I laid down with Ruggie and he slept for over an hour. Pat came home for a short time to bring the groceries and then went out again. I took Ruggie to gym and then came home to get ready for dinner. Pat and Alberto picked us up at 7:30 for dinner. We all dressed up and walked to a nice restaraunt in our quarter. The place was really fancy and served us sparkling rose wine to awaken our palate and fondue for an appetizer. The restaraunt is known for its cut of meats so we all order some kind of meat. The parents had New York steaks and I tried Bison. They brought out a hot stone to cook our meat just in case it wasn't cooked as much as we would like. Since my buffalo was about to walk off my plate I stuck it on the stone. After I cooked it it was really good. Real cuts of meat (Texas or American style of meat-yummy) Dinner was wonderful, not just the food but the company. We had a nice family dinner and since Alberto has been working a lot lately we sat together and caught up. When we finally got home we all went to bed.

Today was a whirl wind on my farewell tour. I awoke early and met Barbara at 9:30 to go to the large open air market to buy a suitcase. In the airport when I arrived in August, one of my suitcases broke so I needed to replace it. I found a good deal on one and bought the biggest case I have ever seen. We tried to take a bus home but there were so many people out that we couldn't fit on the bus with the huge thing. So we walked all the way home with suitcase in tow-thats over 3 miles walking. When I got home no one was home so I started my chores. Pat rang to tell me that she had put some things in the elevator and would send them up. I went outside to pick them up and shut the door. Right then I realized I didn't have a key!! I had locked myself out without a phone or coat. I tried to MaGyver my way inside by putting my headband in the lock but that didn't really work. So I was starting to freak out about the time Alberto and Ruggie came home. whew... I finished my chores and then met Christiana for lunch downtown. We had a nice lunch and for desert our friend Ferdanado and his sister came for coffee. We talked with them for awhile and then I met Barbara in the center for some shopping. This wasn't too successful because there were so many people that it was hard to navigate through the shops. At 5:30 I met Christiana and Ferdanado again to go to our other friend's, Fabrizio, house for miranda. He made us chocolate and we had some cake to go with it. I hadn't seen him since July so it was nice to catch up. I am planning on meeting him tomorrow so he can teach me how to make homemade tirimisu. I'm very excited about this cooking lesson. After miranda and met Andrea and Barbara in the center again for pizza. For desert we met up with Lucy, another au pair from Australia. She wanted to meet my friends so that she will know some more people. We went to a very famous cafe and had coffee and sat around and talked for over an hour. Finally the whirl wind day has come to an end but what a wonderful day hanging out with all these amazing friends.
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