I haven't been here long, but today has been great! After a weekend of doing the understatement of nothing, I was resolved to get some things crossed off my "da fare" list. But then this morning (or should I say, early afternoon) I was moving slowly and I was quickly deterred from my first task when I got out of the house because of some domestic issues. Looks like it's going to take a few days to solve this one. What can I say? Italian culture suits me. :)

But I was quite excited for my second task: visit Ennio. Ennio is my last host father from the semester I was here in Siena.

Ennio's giving me a grammar lesson at Sharing Day in May 2009.

The best way to explain our relationship is to say that Ennio is my adopted Italian grandfather. He was always my hardest Italian teacher, but I could never say that he didn't have my best interest at heart. In addition to wanting to catch up, I was also the carrier of some packages he couldn't get delivered to Italy, but since I still not having a phone (just another problem that's just gotta get resolved soon), we exchanged emails and found a time to meet.  When I walked up to the apartment I was greeted with big hug and kisses from my nonno. We spent quite a while catching up and he tried helping me with some of my issues. (Too bad he doesn't know there are too many to count. Haha!) I found out he has 2 new grandchildren (which explains why my other host mom, Tina wasn't home) and has recently acted host to Josh Charles and his girlfriend by chance. After a typical conversation between us--which includes me getting some teasing, lots of grammar lessons, and new wisdom from Ennio--I was on my way.

Biagio and I serving dessert to our "vechiette" on my last day at work in May 2009.

I stopped into La Casa di Riposo a Campansi (the nursing home) just to see if there was anyone here that remembered me. Walking up the stairs, I saw Biagio, my "boss" while I volunteered there. He didn't look like he remembered me at first, but then suddenly I was showered with compliments and lead to everyone I've ever seen. Considering that most of the women I worked with had some stage of dementia, I was shocked to see how many remembered me both with and without assistance. I asked Biagio if I could to volunteer here again while I'm in the area, and he was delighted that I was interested and invited me to re-join the crew.

While both reunions were really touching, the most amazing part of the day was how much Italian I actually spoke. Now, I'm not saying I caught everything or that I was eloquent, but it was nice to recognize that I do have some conversational language skills left over after a year's absence. I live for lovely surprises like that!