Week 8: Return to the hills

Sunday:

I think this was the first sunny Sunday we have had all summer. It normally rains. I went to church discovered that the trains I normally get back are cancelled due to the summer timetable so I had the option of waiting two hours after church finished for the next train or leave early...I left early. Alessandra picked me up and then we went to see Fede and Stefano race in a motorcross competition. Though actually none of them ended up racing because it soo began raining heavily and the pitch was too dangerous to drive on. 

Monday:
More homework with Fede much to his disgust. Though we managed to get through quite a lot of pages. Played some board games too.

Tuesday:
More homework and board games. We also went to Voghera to the huge supermarket with shops and went shopping. I bought some flat shoes from H and M. They are peach with scallopped edges, very nice. I saw some Vans in footlocker but decided against them, Bea bought some black Nike Air Force. Which are apparently the height of fashion but as Alessandra said they look like orthopedic shoes.

Wednesday:

In the morning Alessandra and Stefano needed to go to Milan for work so I stayed back with the kids. We did more homework and games and watched t.v. In the afternoon when they returned we went back to Voghera because Bea realsied she had bought the wrong shoes. She meant to get the low nike air force and she took the high ones. So I went with them and decided to take the Vans! I got red ones and they are very comfortable.

Thursday:

We went to the Lake of Garda to visit the sister of Alessandra and her family. Also Alessandra's father and wife were there and her brother and his wife and her aunt so it was a little family get together. It was a beautiful place and the weather was good. We ate dinner at a restaurant, walked round the lake and spent the afternoon in their large outdoor swimming pool which though unheated was still warm nice. Me and Fede had races and a competition to see who could hold their breath the longest. 

Lago di Garda

Meal at the restaurant

At the Lake

The outdoor pool. I'm in red at the front. 

Friday:

A sleepless night led to a trying day. I managed to coax Fede into completing four pages of homework and the reading of two pages of the English book. I also read some more of Alice in Wonderland with Bea. I played monopoly with Fede, twice. The first time I was winning until he swept the board clear of all the houses and figures. He wanted to play again and this time he won with 562,500 lira. We spent the afternoon in the pool. And it began to thunder in the evening. 

Saturday:

Today Bea went horse riding and Alessandra dropped me of at McDonalds so I could use the wifi to update my blog and email people hooray! I bought a chocolate frappe it was very nice.

In the evening a family, friends of Alessandra came for dinner. We had a barbecue it was very nice. And the smoke kept the mosquitos away from us. 

Day 20: Shutters

It rained heavily the end of yesterday so by the time we reached the hills it was quite cold which meant extra blanket for the night! I got a really soft squishy quilt so warm last night was the best nights sleep in ages.

This morning was a bit of a slow go. I did some English with Fede and we leant some more parts of the body in English - today was: eat, nose, chin, neck and arm. 

I picked some yellow plums from one of their many trees and filled up the plastic bowl for lunch. In the garden they have a fig tree, a yellow plum tree and magnolia and fir among others. Outside lining the wall they have lots of purple miniature plum trees we pick fruit from those too. 

Myself and Fede went on a bike ride, we got to the top of the first hill and then my pedal fell off whilst I was riding so we had to turn around and go back. The thread had gone on the inside so I couldn't screw it in by hand. When we got back Stefano used a spanner and fixed it! So me and Fede set out again. The weather was so hot it was awful riding up the hills. But we made it all the way round. 

For lunch we had mini pizza calzone things and friend mozzarella balls which tasted divine! And home grown salad. 

After lunch I taught Bea and Fede a song on the piano. Did some English with Fede and Bea and read my book a little more. 

Stefano got called to be a lawyer for someone caught last night who needed a representative so he had to ride out to Milan. While he was out the builder Elton was painting the shutters at the front of the house. Not the wooden ones, but behind those are some iron ones that their parents installed to prevent more burgularies (previously they had been robbed twice) the white paint was peeling so the were getting them redone. 

The shutters for the balcolny in my room had been taken off whilst the tiles were getting redone. The new ones aren't down yet, but the cement things has dried so they got hung back up today. A large spider the kind with the tiny body and long legs in which the front legs are longer than the back had made a home above the balcolny door but Alessandra disposed of it with the vacuum cleaner. Phew! There are too many bugs to catch with glasses so in the interest of time mr vacuum hoover is the answer. 

We went to Voghera today which is maybe a 20 minute drive away. They have a small shopping centre thing there like a small junction 32 (Yorkshire) with small fashion shops and a ginormous supermarket. The supermarket was huge and sold everything it was a mix between a cheap and rubbish quality ikea, homebase, Costco and Buyright. You could easily get lost in it. And buy everything you would want but never need. 

They had a few fashiony shops most notably H&M and Pull and Bear. They were so busy though and sales aren't what they used to be the sales were so small and like 10% off. Still it was nice to see in some Italian stores. Next week me and Bea are going to go shopping in the big centre in Milan, I am looking forward to seeing Abercrombie and Fitch. Though apparently they don't have sales which sucks as a sale would bring it down to normal price! Apparently in A&F you can get your picture taken with the models Bea has a snap of her and a model on her wall. Interesting idea but not my thing. Apparently they also stand outside to welcome you in...in English...in Italy. 

For tea we picked up pizza again I ordered the Americano which is basically Margherita with sausage and chips but they forgot the chips! Better luck next time. 

After tea me Bea and Fede hung out practising English and Italian. They kept laughing at me so much bad pronunciation is so not helpful when words spelt similarly but spelt differently mean completely different things. Still it was fun! 

Then Stefano and Fede got ready for a motorcross training event which was why they were going to Piacenza tomorrow. 

Packing everything into the pickup truck. 

Buonanotte.