Half-Term Report

Five weeks in means five weeks left. Time seems to have started off slowly but quickened quite suddenly. So halfway through semester one and what do I have to show for being at uni. I can think of a few things: 1. I can definitely cook a Jacket Potato successfully (though I did have to ring my mum every time I wanted to have one because I kept forgetting to write it down), 2. I'm not bankrupt, from some of the conversations I hear at uni a lot of people seem really hard up - I can only equate this to a. I have a budget and b. I don't go over it. 3. Talk about time speeding up I had no essays and now I have three.

On the subject of essays I think this is the most prepared I have ever been to write them. I got books out of the library weeks in advance and started reading them and I'm currently on top of all my deadlines. I have 3/4's of my archaeology essay done (due in for the 24th) and half of my Latin source project (due in 17th). I haven't started my Roman History essay, which will be my favourite as it is on the pax deorum between the Romans and their gods definitely the most interesting aspect of ancient history, but that doesn't have to be in until the 8th December so I'll have a nice two weeks after handing my others in to get that sorted out.

Things I'm excited for: my society jumper. I ordered it a while back it's a cornflower blue colour and I can't wait to get it hopefully in time for the winter cold that's coming. On the back of the jumpers you could have a nickname printed, I deliberated over a few and I nearly went with Salisbury until I figured that no one who saw me wearing it would know what it refers to so I went with just my name in the end. What else am I looking forward to, hmm Christmas I have an advent calendar in my room already my mum gave it to me from when I last went up to visit and I'm really excited to start it. Excited because 1st December means only 11 more day at university and then I get to spend a whole month off visiting family and friends.

I taught my first sunbeam lesson at church on Sunday. Out of the four children I am supposed to teach only one was there I think the rest were away with family or something. Anyway I had trouble trying to get him to stay in my lesson, his mum had previously taught the class and I don't think he was too keen on having a new teacher. Still it was pretty fun we coloured pictures and sang songs with musical instruments and had lollipops as treats. I think he was pretty happy with me as his new teacher by the end of the lesson. After the lesson I went to help out in Nursery that was really fun. We played with the children and sang songs and did games. One of the ladies in Nursery is Spanish and she can speak Italian too so I got to talk a little Italian to her which was really nice I've missed speaking it! I still practice my Italian though, I don't want to forget everything I managed to pick up. I'm quite excited to prepare my next lesson for this week.

So this weekend was like the first weekend I'd actually spent in Leicester for quite a few weeks. It was my cousin's 1st birthday so my aunt and uncle had a party for her and it was lovely, got to spend some time with some of my extended family catching up and playing. And they had fireworks which was nice because I missed them on Bonfire Night and Halloween this year so that was fun, there were some really good ones.

My running is going pretty good, this is the third consecutive week that I've managed to go out everyday (weekdays only - weekends I get off so my legs can stop hurting). I feel a huge difference from it. Just in simple things like being able to sleep easier, get up earlier, better prepared and awake for lectures (since I started running in the morning before uni) also I just feel healthier which is good because I think in winter its hard to motivate yourself to go out into the cold. But today I ran the furthest I've run so far 4.87km in 33 minutes. Perhaps that's not good timewise, I don't really know but I managed to keep a steady pace and run for longer segments. I try and motivate myself through the music so I stick on a really long song and make myself run at least until its finished. It works, I only stopped three times on my run today and one of them was because of traffic lights. Running is a nice way to explore around where I live as well, I run from Glen Parva into Blaby and I went a little further into Blaby today before looping back. Because I run via the Nike run app it tracks all my progress and so today I squashed four of my records which was fantastic, I got furthest run, longest run, fastest mile and fastest km. My heart still felt dreadful at the end, but I can that'll get better the more I do it.

I've started picking up leisure reading again, just to make a change from uni course texts all the time, I really need to update my bookcase so any suggestions are welcome - by update the books can be old books too. I picked up Jane Eyre yesterday. Very reminiscent of Italy where I read it like everyday, mine is a different copy to the one I had in Italy though and it's weird reading it when I was so used to the other one. I've never really been attached to a specific version of a book before, but then I've never really read a book so repetitively as I did Jane Eyre in Italy. I guess I'll get used to it.

A few years ago I had a really good list of bands and music I liked but then I lost it, which is a little annoying because I can't remember most of the ones on it. Italy sort of got me hooked onto the mainstream stuff because that was the only English stuff the radio played so I was just on English summer hits and Italian stuff. The Italian bands aren't actually half bad. If I had to recommend a song: La Pioggia by Dear Jack or Come un Pittore by Moda. I've got back into the All American Rejects again recently and The Pierces and I've had some new stuff recommended which had been really good.

Guess that's it for the half term report. To surmise, it's going pretty well. It's just difficult, but that was to be expected.

Mixed Week.

Ups and downs but overall it has been a pretty good week! Came back from Italy, got my hair cut. I now have a fringe again!
Then on the saturday I got to see one of my oldest friends get married :) Such a beautiful day, it was really lovely to see her getting hitched.

So nice to see everyone again and have a good catch up! Congratulations Mr and Mrs Garland!

This week has been good so far.

On sunday I had church, nice to see everyone I hadn't for the whole summer. Said my testimony in testimony meeting. Very scary as I hadn't said it for so long but it was good to say what I felt! After I went to a friend's surprise leaving party for university. It was really good fun, we had a nice afternoon laughing with all of his friends.

On Monday I sorted out some more stuff for university found out that a bus pass is going to cost me £360 for a year and will cover the immediate Leicester area. Also tried to sign up for an nus card. Finished my application for Leicester University. So much to do!

Tuesday I took William to the library he was very excited about it. Unfortunately I asked him at 9.40 if he wanted to go he then zoomed off to get his shoes before I got told that it didn't open until 10 so I had to distract him for twenty minutes. We went and I got a book out to read also, William decided to unstack all the kids chairs, choose every book in the tub. I had to sneak some back into the box when he wasn't looking. Then he dragged me to tescos where he picked up some milky buttons and I got some flowers for my mum and dad as a late anniversary present. Went into town to deposit my savings from Italy and had a look round the shops. Nothing tempted me to buy though. Why is it when you have money to buy things there is never anything to buy? Actually that is a slight lie I bought a DVD. The Help. I bought and read the book in Italy and it was so good so I can't wait to watch that!

Wednesday I woke up with a list of jobs for me to do, looks like these three weeks are going to be busy! So I hoovered and washed up and tidied up the car which looks like it hadn't been cleaned the whole time I had been away and had an impressive collection of chocolate wrappers. In the afternoon I took off to see a friend of mine who is leaving tomorrow for university in Newcastle. We had a nice afternoon, played mario kart on the wii at which I got sorely thrashed by both him and his sister. I was shockingly bad! Then I got a really nice treat! He took me to his dad's house and I got to play on the drum kit! It had been so long since I played so he had to show me the basics again but it was so nice to play on them. I hadn't realised how much I missed playing them! After that we went into town to the DVD/CD shop. I managed to pick up a TingTings album for 99p and an Arctic Monkeys for £3.99 so that was good! Then we took a grind. I had never had a grind before and it was actually really nice. I got a sherbert milkshake the flavour wasn't particularly strong but it was nice! Unluckily we hit the traffic on the way back but it didn't slow us down too much. Also he let me borrow The Hobbit part 2 so I am looking forward to seeing that as I missed it in the cinemas last year and the last part is coming out this year!

Downer on the week - my iPhone broke. In short terms: 1. I took it to Italy and used an italian sim. 2. I put an english sim in when I got home. 3. It wouldn't let me update my apps. 4. I reset it. 5. It won't let me reactivate it. Guess who is back on their tocco lite! Thank goodness I kept it. Apple is so good when it works but it is a nightmare when it doesn't. Made an appointment to go into the apple store on Tuesday so will see if they are able to do anything! Hopefully it can get sorted without too much cost.

Week 12: Ultimate Week

Sunday:

No church today as no way of getting there instead I went with the family to watch Fede participate in his first moto race. They took his older motorbike but then found out it wasn't powerful enough to take him up the hills so they had to drive back to take his other one. It takes about an hour to drive to the race place. He did okay, stalled the bike a lot but he isn't as used to it as the other one. But he managed a lap of 7 minutes which was good. It started to rain later in the afternoon surprise surprise. Last day in Rovescala tomorrow morning we go back to Milan. 

Monday:

Left Rovescala at 10 they were all sad to leave but I'm glad to be back in the city I prefer it there. It's busier and more alive, peace and quiet is nice but after a while I longed for a noisier place. The kids don't understand why I prefer Milan and Fede said as much that I must be stupid to prefer the city. I don't think they realise that not everyone has the same opinion as them. I half unpacked and then repack my big suitcase so the things I use I can just throw into my small one. Took Fede to the park most of his friends are back from holiday now so he had people to play with. 

Tuesday:

Didn't get much sleep, I think because I changed beds hopefully tonight will be better. Bit of a slow morning as Bea and Fede did their own things homework etc so I just had to supervise. Fede was making a book that he had written gluing various pieces of paper etc together. Bea was translating songs for me from Italian to English and English to Italian. She was very good. When she wants to she can speak English well...she just often does not want to. Fede loves the 'What does the fox say?' song and keeps asking to replay it he likes the video too. Went our to the park and took an ice cream at Massimo's as he was back open. 

I found Rebecca the cat sat on my bed.  

Wednesday: 

Early awakening. I go to bed too hot so I sleep without the covers but then when morning comes I'm cold so I wake up tired. Today is colder, yesterday was very warm even too hot and the all the mosquitos come out so the cool is better. 

In the morning I did English with Fede then tired him out by walking to Porta Romana to see the hole made by all the rain but we couldn't find it. Then we walked into the centre and I picked up some final gifts for family. I read the map wrong at one point and we ended up going the long way round Fede wasn't impressed and we took the tram back. 

After lunch we went to see some friends of theirs. They live in Porta Romana near the hole so we got to see it after all. 

It was bigger before but they have already stated repairing it. All the heavy rain washed the ground away because underneath it is hollow where all the underground parking is for the flats. 

Another ice cream from Massimo's. I had salter caramel and passion fruit. The caramel was nice not too salty and not too sweet. 

Thursday:

Last full day. In the morning went out to the centre. I picked up some more bits and bobs. Gifts for the kids to say thank for the summer. Alessadra bought me a book, it's cool because on one side of the page it is in English and on the other side it's the same page but in Italian! I choose A Midsummer Nights Dream. After lunch I finished packing had a dilemma run out of weight space. Why I brought so much stuff with me is beyond me I didn't use half of it. They gave me a load of pasta to take back but I don't know if I can because of the weight. When I weigh it in at the airport tomorrow fingers crosse there will be enough room. Had a last last ice cream at Massimo's. Mandarin and Passionfruit the two best flavours. 

Built a race track with Fede out of kapla - jenga bricks. And we raced ball bearings down it. 

For my last dinner Alessandra made Lasagna yum! 

Week 11: Settimana Penultima

Sunday:

Went to church as normal, got assigned a talk to do next week. How fun that will be to write in Italian and also pronounce. Having had gone to bed past midnight and then having got up at 7am I was absolutely shattered especially as I hadn't slept well the night before either. So in the afternoon I had a nap...turned out to be five hours long but I needed it! Luckily Sunday is my day off!! 

Monday:

Today was a weird day. Right from the word go Bea and Fede were at each other's throats...for the whole day. We cleaned the house. Then I did English and reading with Bea tried to with Fede but he refused. He managed to calm down as we read some English. Then the girls came over and we went on a bike ride around Scazzolino as they had just got new bikes. All was fine until one of the girls left then it was two girls via Fede and they teased him unceasingly he did not have a good time. The girls asked to go in my room bad decision later I found out they had gone through everything. All my drawers, my wardrobe, my books as notepad, my bag and even my purse also my surcease and shoe boxes. Nothing was missing but I couldn't help feeling upset as they had disrespected my privacy. Next time they ask the answer is no. In the evening we went to Rovescala for the last night of the festival. The music was better tonight and some of it was English so it was nicer to hear. They had a firework show at the end. It was the best I have ever been to. They were huge and loud and so colourful!

Two mishaps today. 

1 - we went to see the field that the family own which is more like a mini forest and I got a random nosebleed in the middle of nowhere luckily they had tissue in the pick up

2 - after dinner when I took the tab cloth out to shake I didn't realise it had rained and I slipped on the marble steps and fell about halfway down. It was very painful I hit my arm, hip and shoulder. They were all very sore and I had ice on them.  Bruises tomorrow I think. 

Tuesday: 

As predicted lots of bruise all over me from yesterday's fall and dull aches. Fede was on a homework spree today after being threatened with not being able to compete in the motor cross race on Sunday. He summarised a chapter of Italian and did eleven English units. A record. He never gets past three usually. Did some English with Bea also. She had a horse riding lesson in the afternoon Sofia and Alice came to watch and I went to McDonalds to steal wifi again! Watched Cobra 11 it's a German show but they do Italian voice overs. It is very dramatic in the car crash department. Every episode at least five cars die in dramatic over exaggerated ways! 

Wednesday:

Read two chapters of a English book with Bea. Fede a huge contrast from yesterday he managed to only do two units of duolingo and very badly. Today should be called 'hate on Maria day'. If I ever I wanted to cry today was the day. If ever I felt homesick today was the day. The girls came over and stayed for lunch. After lunch all four of them sat on the swings and pretty much covered everything they dislike about me. Clearly none of them realised I could hear it all through the open windows and door...or maybe they knew it. It happened they moved so I went outside to read, they didn't want me to join in play with them. Then they came back...invented a 'code name' it wasn't hard to realise they were still talking about me. Then surprise surprise they want me to take them to Rovescala oh boy I did not want to but we went. Guess who had to carry all the water? Guess whose instructions of stop, slower and move inside away from the cars were ignored? Guess who got mimicked, laughed at and whispered about the whole way there and back. But I didn't answer back, I wasn't mean I remained as pleasant as possible. Maybe one slip up they wanted to play on my phone and I said no. Though they had the gall to ask why. I'm not a total sucker, my patience has limits and they were close to breaking them. Then on the way back they found an injured butterfly on the road Sofia picked it up and they took photos and she was. carrying it away, of course they all know I dislike butterflies and of course Bea wants to put it on my head luckily it decides to fly away.

Thursday:

Another bad day, should have known when I woke up and the weather was bad. Both treating me badly. Hooray. Managed to do some English with Fede none with Bea oh well it's her choice at least I try. Afternoon was a nightmare. To make matters worse it was Alessandra and Stefano's 17th wedding anniversary not such a lovely day for them! Although they went out for dinner while I looked after the kids we had all calmed down and managed to be civil the later the evening rolled on the better we were. Hope this good feeling carries onto tomorrow. 

Friday:
The day Bea goes on protest, avoiding all possible contact. Stefano and Alessandra went out to shop pick up more water etc. she glued herself to her room for the majority of the morning coming out only to pick up her homework books or use her phone. She refused to eat dinner with us. After lunch we went to Bobbio to see where Fede would be racing on Sunday, again Bea did not come. The pitch was big and nice and lined with blackberry bushes so we picked some. I saw a Ramarro, green lizard but it ran off pretty quick. Everyone cheered up after that Bea and Fede went down to Rovescala to play with Sofia and Alice and their cousins for most of the afternoon. One of the cousins Giacamo is so sweet Alessandra said he looks like the little prince and I agree he was very cute. So we all had a quiet afternoon up at the house. Stefano was jet cleaning the motorbike and pick up for the race apparently its a ritual though I am pretty sure they are going to come back covered in dust but oh well. Alessandra was busy washing linen for the appartment downstairs that they are preparing to rent out to people. I caught up on duolingo and helped Alessandra. Also they fixed the shower! The bathroom kept flooding with water, they have a weird draaning system the drain in the shower links to another on the floor outside of it and the one outside kept spewing the water out inside of keeping it down but yesterday they managed to fix it so we were able to have proper showers!

Saturday:
Penultimate day in Rovescala. Bea had a horseriding lesson at 11am and they dropped me off at McDonalds on the way where I now write this. Today is the ultimate day the postman comes to Rovescala before I leave. I'm waiting on a letter from New Zealand and I hope it comes today because otherwise I will be back in England :( Fingers are crossed. This afternoon I have to pack, no time tomorrow as we will be in Bobbio for most of the day and then after dinner we will leave so I will have to do it today.

Day 33, 34, 35, 36: I've fallen behind

My perfect streak of blog entries is ruined!

Here is a quick summary:

Day 33 (friday): had a final ice cream at Massimo's and left for the hills

Day 34 (Saturday): really hot day, why horse riding again still painful but managed to trot better. Went to a superbike show in Carpi, called carpi night show. It was amazing! I liked the freestyle event best where they ride up a ramp and perform moves in the air. One of the three freestylers - Kevin Ferrari did a back flip! On a motorbike! I also got his autograph and one of the others too but I don't remember his name. We got back at like two in the morning!!

Apologies for the swear word! 

Day 35 (Sunday): trains were running so managed to get to church, they had friends round for dinner which was fun I played monopoly with their kids old fashioned set with Italian lira. 

Day 36 (today - Monday): First day of the first week in the hills. Bea isn't currently on speaking terms with me after a fun filled meal yesterday evening so I spent the day doing English with Fede. She currently only communicates to me with glares or a quick yes/no. Alessandra says it's normal and not to worry about it. I went on a bike ride with Fede but my legs and butt gave in two minutes into it, I couldn't sit on the seat because I was so achey from horse riding. We watched Cars 2 in English much to bea's disgust. Actually quite a nice movie. The weather wasn't so good today, very cold. I had an afternoon nap. 

Probably from now on I will just do a weekly update/summary. Probably I shall try and upload it every Saturday. As I have no wifi and am needing to conserve my 3G I may have to skimp on pictures! 

Day 31: Art Museum

Normal schedule in the morning.

Then after lunch we went out. We went back to the old art gallery museum - The Brera. They have a huge painting gallery and we went to look around them. There were thousands of paintings and of many famous artists going right back to the 1400s. 

This was my favourite painting called 'il baccio' (the kiss) by Hayez. 

A state of Atalanta

This Tritta was very cool the paintings looked 3D. 

These were some frescoes taken from a church 

On the way back we stopped at Massimo's for ice cream. This could potentially be my last ice from Massimo's as we go to the hills on Friday and they close in August. 

I took passion fruit and apricot. It was so nice!

As we were in the centre we stopped off at a few shops. I picked up some more postcards, a tshirt and a ring and some jewellery for my sisters. 

My blue infinity ring

Initialled necklace for Louisa

They didn't have an 'R' necklace so I got a bracelet for Rebekah. 

Also from The Brera I got a phone case. 

Guess what picture was on it?

You guessed it. I was tempted to get a canvas but probably not an easy item to transport back to England. 

Day 29: Summer weather

After a nice cool morning this afternoon was almost unbearably hot.

I spent the morning with Fede. We did homework, then English on duolingo, read an English book, guitar practice and then chilled out watching television. 

After lunch I google hangouted my family and then Bea was good shopping with her friend Bianca so I went with. 

It was so hot and I mistakenly wore jeans so it was even worse. I came back so tired and hot. 

We ate dinner outside and during it the sky decided to chuck it down with rain and thunder rather loudly again. 

The stripes are the rain

For the first time in four weeks it was cold enough to make a hot chocolate. Nesquik style. 

Day 28: One Month

Hitting the four week mark is weird. A third of my summer is over. The next third proves to be more exciting though (not that this third wasn't).

This week is the last week in Milan, then we move up into the hills permanety for the rest of the summer. We actually only have a week in the hills and then we go to Tuscany. Exciting. 

Tried to go to church today but the trains were cancelled due to strikes so I couldn't make it. Hopefully they will be running next week! Luckily when you buy tickets they are valid for a month before you activate them so I can use them next week. 

So instead we chilled at home. Played chess, watched super bike which is actually quite fun and of course the Germany Argentina football match. As Italy is out they were all rooting for Germany - and they won! Hooray! There's going to be a certain nearby Argentinan restaurant who are going to have I take their flags and balloons down today! 

In the afternoon we went to a medieval village called Bobbio. To get to it all the roads are twisty and twiny. You drive through the mountains to get to it. We stopped of at a mountain pass where they normally go skiing in winter the air was so fresh and clear. 

When we got to Bobbio it was raining. We met up with the family of a friend of Bea's who lives in Bobbio. We saw the church of San Colombo, the Duomo and saw Ponto Vecchio and had ice creams. My ice cream was meringue and chocolate. 

Church of San Colombo

The Duomo

Me on Ponto Vecchio with the River Trebbia

Me, Fede, Bea and Alessia.

We got back around seven thirty so we left late for Milan didn't return until ten thirty. Finished watching the football then went to bed. 

Day 26: Market Day

Friday is market day. It takes up three streets nearby the house. All the stuff is interesting but most of it you know you'll never need no matter how nice it looks.

Bea struck some bargains today. A stall was selling Hollister and Abercrombie clothes for €10 each. Most of them were worn, or fake but there were a few good items there. Bea got an Abercrombie skirt and I was tempted by a few t shirts but not entirely convinced of their legitimacy passed. 

We have now nearly finished Bea's English comprehension book! 'The Great Yellowstone Adventure' probably the worst story ever written. 

For dinner we had chicken and chips. 

The men came to fix the boiler so we have hot water again. Though after lunch we packed up to go to the hills so won't really feel the benefit until Monday when we are back. 

Weather forecast predicted rain and thunderstorms for this weekend but so far it's just lovely weather. 

After unpacking at the hills, I played badminton with Federico and then Bea neither of them really got the hang of it and both said they preferred tennis. 

Then Stefano and Fede were gettig Fede's new bike ready to take down to the mechanic. Me and Bea went with them in the pick up. We also picked up some bread and bits and bobs for the house. 

The pick up interior 

Hardware store we went to

I also finished reading Jane Eyre. I love rereading books I find out so many things I missed the first time. 

This was my favourite bit reading it this time. I love Mr Rochester he's my favourite character. I've seen two productions of Jane Eyre the one with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens and the more recent one with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. Toby Stephens' Mr Rochester is infinitely superior to Fassbender's. You could put the two films at a par with the two Pride and Prejudices. Stephens is Colin Firth (therefore the best) and Fassbender is Matthew McFayden (the inferior copy, worth watching but in no way a patch on the original). I also found out on research that Toby Stephens is the son of Maggie Smith. 

Ciao. 

Day 25: Ultimo Giorno

Today was the last day of tutoring Alessandro and Francesco. On Monday they go on holiday to Naples for two weeks and then after that they spend a month on the coast of South Italy. They come back the afternoon of Friday 5th of September and I leave on that morning. So today was the last I saw of them.

Today we focused on conversations. Which we wrote down as we spoke so Elga had a copy of examples of questions and answers. 

Then I helped Elga set up her google hangouts account so she can google hangout her mum who is in Naples. 

We came back and had lunch. 

After lunch me and Bea had a question and answer session to help her with varying her English. The heater has broken in the flat so there is no hot water. The people came to inspect it last week and it was fine but yesterday it decided to die. So cold showers until tomorrow when we are in the hills and will have hot water again. Bea didn't want to wait to wash her hair so she has gone to a shop to get her hair washed and dried and straightened for €10. 

Then Bea stayed home and her friend Judita came over, Fede and Stefano went to buy Fede's new motorbike from Turin and me and Alessandra went sightseeing again. 

Then as Fede was out we had fish for tea. A shrimp pasta thing and a fillet it was very nice. 

Ciao. 

Day 24: Dinner Out

More English work.

More tutoring.

More eating. 

We visited ikea. They have three in Milan. This one was only ten minutes away and was I three floors. We stopped halfway round and got something from the caffè before 11.30 you get a deal where you can get a brioche and a cappuccino for €1. They made my cappuccino without coffee. So it was basically fluffy milk with cocoa on top. It was very nice - after I'd added sugar to it. The cocoa was bitter. 

In the evening Elga had invited us all over for dinner. It was very nice. We had pasta, meat and a cheese soufflé and then an apricot tart. It was very nice. 

Me Alessandro, Francesco and Federico played Scopo a type of card game and uno. We also played a football/catch game mainly it was me trying to stop the ball knock the photos off the wall. 

We got back quite late at 11.00pm so I went straight to bed. 

Day 23: Movies

This morning after breakfast I did English with Federico using the duolingo language app. He hadn't done it for a long time, so he had a lot of sections to catch up on but we got up to date.

After that I did another section of English with Bea. We used her comprehension book and then also used the culture book they have in which you learn about the cultures of English speaking countries. Whilst we did this Fede carried on writing his motorcycle story on the laptop occasionally switching to the internet to research the next motorbike he wants. One with a more powerful engine. 

Once I had finished English with Bea, and Fede had done his guitar practice Bea practiced the piano while I played chess with Fede. I won both games - checkmate. 

After chess I read Hansel and Gretel in English with Fede his pronunciation improves every time he reads as he rememebrs words he has read before, also his fluency is becoming better. 

Then lunch. 

After lunch I did some more English using the picture dictionary they have it has a whole section on adjectives so we worked on that. 

Then went over to tutor at Elga's. Today she asked if she could record me speaking out a list of words she had compiled so after I leave she knows how to pronounce them. So we spent some time doing that. I got out of breath quite a bit, but it was fun. 

When we'd finished Alessandra came over with Bea and then we all went to the park. Whilst we were there one of Elga's friends came in with her son. They were English! She was called Helen and her son Edward and they were from London. So it was nice to talk English to an English person again. She married and Italian and he must have an amazing job because both their children go to the English private school in Milan which is €10,000 a year, per head. 

We came back and had tea, afterwards Stefano and Bea wanted to watch The Hostel. A scary movie. So me Fede and Alessandra watched The Adventures of Despereaux in her room. We were going to watch it in English with Italian subtitles but Fede refused to watch it so we switched it to Italian with English subtitles. 

Ciao. 

Day 22: Crazy weather

We are getting into a routine now.

After breakfast Fede watches cartoons on television whilst I do an hour English homework with Bea in the kitchen. After that Bea stays home and does math work or cleans the house or practices the piano whilst me and Fede do to Elga's to tutor.

I tutor Alessandro and Francesco wholst Fede completes some Italian homework. He has already finished his English book. Today we did the body again. I drew another picture with arrows and they had to label all the parts. They did well on the major parts like leg and arm but struggled on things like thumb and hips. After that we did adjectives that are opposite. Eg light and dark, old and new and they had to give examples of these properties. 

When we got home I repeated the English exercises with Fede. He had to match up opposite adjectives and then write and sentence using them and draw pictures to match them. I think he quite enjoyed it. 

Then we had lunch eggs and salad. We chilled out a little after lunch, and thene and Bea went out to the shops with her friend Matilde and her sister Constanca. 

We went to Subdued a kind of younger hipster fashion shop, Zara and Abercrombie and Fitch before it decide to start raining and we had no jackets or umbrellas. 

I bought a necklace from subdued. 

Nice gift bag

M for me, Maria. 

They had a smaller one that was a black triangle with the star signs so I might go back and get a libra one!

Abercrombie was a nice shop, very big three floors. Worse lighting than Hollister and twice the price. You could also get your picture taken with a model on your way in. I thought it was a bit silly so I didn't get one Bea and Matilde did though. Although it's expensive I think I'll save up and treat myself to something from there before I leave. 

We got back from shopping wet and tired the rain became really heavy. Crazy weather as it was boiling hot only minutes earlier. It also started thundering quite badly! When you use the trams, buses and trains you stick your ticket in a machine and it gets dated and timed. 

The back gets stamped with a time. 

Date: 07/07/14 Time: 17.52

Matilde stayed for tea and hung out afterwards. I google hangouted my family which was fun. Louisa, Bea and Matilde had face pulling contests. 

Their adopted cat Rebecca likes me she kept rubbing against my leg and purring whilst I was on google hangouts. 

Ciao. 

Giorno Ventuno: Trains

Sunday is always the nicest day! Got up early again 7.15 as Fede and Stefano were leaving at 8.15 for the motorcross dropping me off on the way.

We left closer to 8 as we were going in the pick up truck which had the motorbikes on the back. I thought there were only two seats but there were actually two more albeit small seats. 

I got dropped off on Via Francese and then had a five minute walk to church. The centre of each city cars can't drive in so they dropped me as close as they could. 

I found church okay! First time going solo although it was 28 degrees so walking even five minutes made me feel so hot. Then when I got there they hadn't switched the air con on and there were so many people it was so so hot! I drank tons of water. 

First Italian relief society today. The lesson was on battles we face in life. Then Sunday school, the missionaries are teaching gospel principles so I had no translator but it was something in 1 Kings. Sacrament was fast and testimony meeting and Sister Gross translated for me! Although some of the people spoke too fast for her to understand what they were even saying in Italian. Afterwards I tried handing my tithing in it's different. You give it to a member of the presidency, they count it out in front of you and sign the slip, rather than just handing in the envelope like I'm used to. 

I left pretty sharpish after that because I wanted to make sure I got on the right train. I also had to buy my ticket and I wasn't sure how long that would take. Luckily I made it to the station in time, bought a correct ticket and got on the right train. 

The tickets you buy from the person at the station are different to the ones that you but from the machine. They look more like aeroplane tickets. 

As Fede and Stefano were still out we had tuna pasta for lunch Fede can't stand sight or smell of fish.

After lunch, me and Bea went to sun bathe it was too hot to do much else. However the deck chairs were near the pool and in hot weather giant flies take over the pool and it's surroundings unless someone is swimming then they go. We had an electric fly swatted but there were too many of them. Everywhere we moved the chairs they followed it was so irritating you couldn't relax when all you could here is buzz buzz. So we went inside. 

Alessandra had made a sorbet thing with watermelon blended with sugar which was very nice. After having some of that me Alessandra and Bea went on a walk into Rovescala itself. Halfway up the hill a friend passed us in the car and offered to drive us up the rest of the hill. The sun was so hot we accepted! Then we walked to get a ice cream sat in the shade for a bit and waited for the clouds to come back out. Luckily they did and we walked back in shadow. 

The cafe

The view

All the fields for grapes

We got back at like 5pm and Fede ad Stefano were still out. So we had more sorbet and me and Bea did some English reading and questions whilst eating golden bears. 

Shortly after we started Fede and Stefano returned from the motor cross training tired but luckily no bones broken. 

We had dinner and then afterwards packed up to go back to Milan. 

Slept in the car on the way back. It was a very long hot day. 

Buonanotte.