Cooking with Nando

Here is a brief recap of the last couple days because it's been a very good week:

Sunday: Church started at 9:00 so Daniela and I left early so that we'd have plenty of time to find the building. The gave me a map and I put it in my journal thinking that I'd remember it was there, but I didn't. After looking for a while we saw the missionaries and followed them to the building. I had a "calling" within the first five minutes. No one in the branch can play the piano so that's my new unofficial calling. It was cool to have church in Italian. The Relief Society teacher was probably the faster speaker I've encountered yet, and that's saying a lot. But it was a good lesson. There are about 30 members in branch. After church we had 6 hours before dinner and Rita doesn't feed us lunch so we had a lovely lunch of gummy bears and cookies. I read outside in the garden and took a walk while Daniela took a nap.

Monday: We went to classes on Monday because our internships hadn't started yet. We had to haul all of our dirty clothes into the city because we needed to do laundry. After classes we went searching for a good lavanderia (laundry place). Just as we were getting ready to make our way to Piazza Gramsci to catch our bus, it starting raining. Then it turned to hail. It was torrential. We thought we'd wait for it to stop because these random little spurts of bad weather are quite common and usually don't last long. It didn't seem to be letting up at all so we had to brave it with all of our freshly-laundered, freshly-folded clothes. My clothes were lucky and didn't get too wet because the bag they were in kept most of the water out.

Tuesday: I woke up early, ate breakfast, and went for a run. It was the most beautiful run I've ever been on! I ran through field after field of wildflowers. I loved it. I needed to stay at the house till noon because Rita was cooking me lunch since I would miss dinner. I read out in the garden while I waited for lunch. After a delicious lunch I caught the bus. I explored the city for a few hours. I found a really cool basilica, it was beautiful inside! During my walk it started raining three different times. They never lasted for long and it seemed like by the time I got my umbrella out the worst was over and I was already really wet. My internship started last night and it's going to be very cool! There is a big kitchen in the school, it has a terrace that looks over lots of rooftops. I got there at five so Enzo, one of the teachers, could show me around. The chef, Nando, is a really nice guy and he doesn't speak any English. The people that come to the class are either students at the school who are learning Italian or tourists who don't speak Italian at all. There were ten students last night, which is a lot. There was actually a couple from Salt Lake, so that was exciting. Nando explained how to make each part of the meal in Italian and then Enzo or I would repeat it in English. After everything had been explained the students split up to make each part of the meal. When it was all made, they went into a dining room we'd set up for them to eat. They serve the students wine and I actually had to carry it into the dining room. I've never handled wine before and I made sure that I held it at a safe and respectable distance from my body. That was probably a little extreme, but it was a new thing for me and you can never be too careful. Then we got to eat it, too, in the kitchen. It was so good! They made stuffed peppers and a salad, home-made pasta with tomato/garlic/herb sauce, turkey rolled up in this mushroom/herb paste with mushroom sauce on top, and a carrot cake with strawberries. My job is to translate for Nando, ask Nando questions in Italian for the students, make sure they're following the recipes correctly, and do dishes as they are dirtied. I really liked it and it's nice that I'm going to get dinner each night since I'm missing it at Rita's!

Today (Wednesday): Woke up early and went on a run. I came into the city after my run, but because my internship got over pretty late last night I couldn't buy another bus ticket. Our bicycles were supposed to be ready last night so I didn't really worry about buying one when the stores were open. However, Rita didn't have time to pick our bikes up from the shop where they were being adjusted, so I needed to take the bus. I took the bus as far as I dared, but sometimes they check to make sure you have a ticket and if you don't they kick you off and fine you. It was slightly dishonest, I know, but I felt justified because I really couldn't buy a ticket and the stupid pay phone took 70 cents from me last night when I called Rita to pick me up from the bus stop. So I figured, I had already given Italy 70 cents and should be allowed use the bus. I was nervous the entire time and I got off well before the end of the route. I had to walk about a mile to get into the city and I wasn't entirely sure where I was, but I eventually found my way. I went and read for a while in the Piazza del Campo and then bought an apple for lunch. Today is a beautiful, hot day and I don't think it's going to rain!