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. 

Week 6: Countryside

Tuesday:

Spent the morning playing with Fede and reading in English. Then for lunch came Alessadra's friend and her two daughters Laura and Carola. Carola had private English lessons and can speak it perfectly but was shy and didn't really talk to me which was a shame. It was a nice day though although too windy to make use of the pool. Later on it started raining too. 

Wednesday: 

We made out to Broni the village past Stradella to go to the market. Unfortunately we found out when we got there that the market was on Friday not Wednesday. We went to McDonald's and set up the wifi to the laptop and phones so hopefully I can use it to google hangout my family when we are near one again. The weather was very windy again so no pool, we played ludo and badminton and read. In the afternoon two girls children of a neighbour came by to play. Bea had an argument about whether she knows more English than I Italian or not. Alessadra thinks I know more Italian. And still she refuses to learn. Me and Alessandra made a cheesecake this afternoon it was very nice with honey in the cheese bit to sweeten it with less sugar and stewed blended plums as a top juicy section. Did some drawing with Fede. My picture:

I thought it came out quite well! 

Thursday:

I slept in, oops but luckily so did everyone else I think the cold weather made us all stick to our beds a little longer. In the morning Bea went horseriding I skipped it this week and stayed back with Fede. More drawing and English and Ludo. 

The work. Pretty pleased apart from the face, hate drawing faces. 

In the afternoon I went biking with Fede and then after taking a nap all of us went on a walk to the centre of Rovescala with the two girls Alice (Ah-lee-chay) and Sofia. Then homemade pizza for tea.  

Friday:

Packing day for Tuscany. Spent the morning playing and doing English and then in the afternoon we packed for Tuscany. It started raining again. There seems to be a pattern, sunny mornings and rainy afternoons. I just hope the weather is better in Tuscany than here otherwise we won't be able to go on the beach!

Saturday:

Up early to finish packing and then on the way to our Tuscan destination. Stopping at Pisa along the way! 

After Pisa we carried on to Marina Castagneto where we are staying in a holiday village. The sea is beautiful. Had tea at a pizzeria I had cipolla e salsiccia (onion and sausage) it was great.