I configured the new TP-Link router (Archer C900) which I had just purchased for the Knieses. It is a very nice router, not the highest performance or best features, but quite awesome for almost all applications at the low price of 41€ here or $40 in the US. When I talked to them, their Macbook Airs seem to be connecting again, so I just redeployed this one as our "guest" router for the Sorelle below, which gets turned on via timer during P-day on Mondays. We have a smart switch on that router, which can be voice controlled from Alexa or Google Home. Before this, I had an old cheap router there, which is now a spare for me. If you know me, this is common practice: have an extra for inexpensive tech items. My wife puts up with me, because it tends to come in handy for her needs occasionally!
Before leaving home, I braved the heat and walked down to the Chinese store to buy a few things: distilled water, fluoride rinse, and dish soap. Just the five minutes down and back were enough to have me sweating pretty good. As I was about to enter the store, a woman about my age stopped me and asked if I was a Mormon. We started chatting in Italian, though she is originally from Peru and so there was some Spanish mixed in. Apparently she had met some of the young Anziani here some time ago and enjoyed visiting with them. She talked at me for several minutes (after I moved us into the shade), not really letting me get any words in edgewise. I thought that she was asking me how get in contact with the missionaries, because she couldn't find their phone number in her phone. However, when I asked her if she would like some nice young Sorelle to contact her, she said, "no, I'm good." Then we both went our own way. When I got back to the apartment building, the elevator was stuck on the third floor, where the door hadn't quite closed. So I got to climb three floors carrying a cart that was rather heavy.
We left early to do some shopping for two big meals, Thursday and Friday. First was a stop at a different Todis market, but they had no tortillas either. Then we went on to Metro, buying beef, chicken (boneless -- to save Dee time!), cheese, tortillas, and produce. We arrived late at the Institute, as planned; since there were no formal activities on the calendar at all, we expected a light day. Dee spent the afternoon cooking, preparing things for Thursday's Mexican dinner. I did some lesson prep. Four Anziani came around on exchanges, so we got to visit with them a bit.
Samuel came back to work on his Pathway application again. This time I knew what to do to get him started, thanks to Ugo. First he was hungry and had two chicken sandwiches prepared by Dee. Then he spent several hours writing things. He is obviously not accustomed to working on a computer, so it was very slow going. Unfortunately, the website apparently timed out on him on one page where had to write a bit, and everything got lost. Very frustrating! I did a chat with their support folks, but they couldn't help. So he will have to start over. Sigh.
Two kids showed up in the evening, thinking it was the Mexican dinner night. Usually we have had the very popular ethnic food evenings on Wednesday, but we had carefully announced this one was on Thursday because Chris couldn't do it Wednesday. Oh well. We had only three kids show up briefly all day, which was about all we had expected. There was one very brief power outage flicker, so the grid seems to be struggling with the load from heat and AC.
We had to stay later than expected because the black beans Dee was cooking took longer than anticipated and had to cool down enough to go into the fridge. We have a system now where we put the warm pot in a bowl of cold water and add ice, helping to drain the heat, but it still takes a while.
When we got home, Dee spoke with her cousin Lynn, who is doing great things with Dee's parents, coming by three days a week. This is truly the answer to our prayers, at least so far, and Lynn is very ingenious at getting things done there. That was another one of Dee's brilliant ideas.