I sat near Barbara Rondinelli, her brother and his wife, Mariella (he's the stake president) and Marcella Stocchi. I really like these people. We had a nice time visiting. I was ready to sleep, but just then the bus driver started a video for the kids, very loud. Thankfully, after awhile, the Bishop turned down the sound. It's never good sleeping upright, but I have a fabulous neck pillow, which helped a lot. Since Doug sat in the back, I had the double seat to myself. I wanted to sit where there was an overhead. It's illegal in Switzerland to have your bags under your feet, so I had my items in the overhead. There isn't one in the far back. My ankles got very puffy, but I'll get things back into shape when I get home. They don't hurt, which I'm grateful for. Going up and down the bus stairs is pretty tough for me. They're steep and don't have a good handrail. I won't miss that part of the whole experience.
One of my ward assignments is to teach Relief Society on the fourth Sunday of each month. The latest curriculum has me teaching on the same topic for six months, with very little guidance. I have a total of seven paragraphs of material for the six months. But luckily, last month I prepared way more than I could use, so I already had everything I needed. It takes time to find the material, translate it and set it up in double columns. I was so grateful to already have it, since I was pretty fried by the time we got home. Unprecedented for me, and a relief to be ready. I read the lesson once on the bus, and was ready to go. I set it up in two languages so that the missionaries can more easily translate for visitors. They really appreciate having it in English.
Right before we left, Jenna Perego came toward us in the back of the bus to give a bottle of water to David. I held up my hand and she tossed the bottle to me from about 15 feet away. There as an audible gasp from all the non-Americans, who are not accustomed to being able to catch things easily with their hands, probably due to soccer being so dominant. Anyway, I caught the bottle easily, and everyone seemed very impressed.
As we approached Rome, I kept Anziano Benincosa informed of our ETA, and he showed up just a few minutes after we unloaded. It was his first time driving to Roma 3 chapel, and he had missed the exit on the freeway. He gladly let me drive home, dropping him off along the way. They enjoyed having the car for the week, so everything worked out well.
As soon as we got home, just before noon, we unpacked enough to fill the laundry hampers and Dee started a load, then we both crashed for a nap. Mine lasted for 1.5 hours, and Dee for 2 hours. It was a big help. We each took a shower after we woke up, which felt soooo refreshing. Dee would do six loads of laundry, which dried pretty fast due to the heat.
I ripped the Italian Primary music CDs for Dee, using the Nero and MP3tag programs to get all the names and numbers right. In the early evening I walked down to Conad to stock up on produce. My Sunday School lesson (on Proverbs) didn't take too long to prepare, as I had already read a bunch and decided to let the class search for a Proverb that they liked. Sorella Knies needed some help filling out an application for when they return to the US in October. The web site wouldn't let her do it from Italy, so I had her log onto my laptop at home in California via TeamViewer, where she was easily able to get it done. She was delighted. Doug is the tech rescuer here.
We were both pretty tired and in bed by 10pm. It was a great week, but there is no place like home.