About 10:45am we drove downtown to the Institute, arriving in plenty of time for our noon train to Napoli. After doing a couple of quick things at the Institute, instead of walking right over to the station, we opted to wait in the air-conditioned Institute entryway, which was nice. Our train ran only a few minutes late, and we made it to the Napoli chapel about 20 minutes before class was to start. Along the way, we got stopped on the street by a friendly guy named Mario, who knew the Hydes and other missionaries. He spoke with us in English and knew things about the church; apparently he has been a regular at the English lessons there for some time. I asked if he was a member. When he hesitated, I asked if he was a friend to the Church. He liked the appellation. We had to cut the conversation a little short to get to class on time, as we needed time to set up and, more importantly, cool the room down. I had brought down a new ATM card from the US for Anziano Lambert, who dropped by to get it right as class was starting.
The lesson on Luke 24 went really well. There were only four students this time. We basically read almost the entire chapter, stopping every verse or two for me to make observations and invite comments. Everyone was really engaged! One thing I stressed is that Christ appeared first to women, but the men didn't believe them, because they were women. We talked a while about how many times Christ taught and healed women, including those who were not well regarded in their society, and that perhaps part of the message here was to humble the apostles and teach them to treat women better. I asked how women were treated in Nigeria, and they admitted that women were not treated as equals at all, compared to Italy where they thought with distaste that women had control over the men. It was a very interesting cultural exchange. Anyway, they liked my insights and comments, alternating between laughter and deep thought. We sang "Abide With Me, 'Tis Eventide" and "Thy Spirit Lord Has Stirred Our Souls", which are both based in part on Luke 24. The latter hymn is not available in the Italian hymnal at all, so that was a benefit of having this particular class in English. They were quite hopeful to know who would be their Institute teacher in the fall, but unfortunately we don't know yet. For a few minutes they spoke among themselves in Nigerian English (or so we believe), but we two understood basically nothing!
Our train got back only about ten minutes late. We walked through the rain-enhanced humidity back to the Institute. Armed with our new tape measure and a piece of paper on which to draw the floor plan, we headed down to the cafe to see Signora Chirra. She wasn't there, but her husband called her, and she told him to give us the keys. So we took them and headed up one floor to go measure things. There were four keys and two locks, so it took us a while to figure out how to get in. Fortunately the power was on in the apartment, giving us enough light to work almost everywhere, although our phone flashlights came in handy in a few places. There was no AC, so it was hot, humid, and very stuffy. It took us over half an hour to map everything out, not terribly precisely but good enough for our purposes (we hope). The cheap tape measure broke near the end of our efforts, literally with a chunk of the metal tape splitting off. Dee wasn't hurt, but could have been. The moral is to buy a better quality tape measure, but fortunately this one got us through. Afterwards we just threw it away. I also walked around the whole place and took video, which might help give some of the church facilities folks an idea of what things look like. We were done there by a little after 7pm, dropping off the key and bringing home some food from the Institute fridge. It had already been a hot and really sweaty day, but we were excited to do something that might help us get the new location.
We arrived home about 8pm. It was stunning to round the corner and see a very long row of open parking spaces. That never happens, but then this is Italy in August. It is a good thing we didn't arrive here in August last year, or we would have thought that this was the normal situation. It will be painful in September to have to start driving around the block several times again, hoping for someone to leave to open up a parking spot.
Soon after I got back home, I took a brief shower just to wash off all the sweat, which felt really good. Dee was exhausted, having worn regular shoes almost the whole day with lots of walking, leaving her feet tired and with a possible blister. We each spent some time working on our Sunday School lessons for the next day, and then we were out cold not long after 10pm, which is early for us these days.
Since it's so hot, we like to use both air conditioners, but we can't do that if the washing machine is on, or the hair dryer, microwave or oven. So, we have to juggle everything. If we lived here permanently, we'd see if we could get a bigger electrical service, but for now, this is the way it is. And I'm really enjoying have my desk in the air-conditioned back bedroom. Every time I walk into the coolness, I automatically give out a happy "Aaah."