Electrical service upgrade?

Tuesday morning we picked up two packages from Paolo. It is nice to have him back after the summer holiday. We brought him some Swiss chocolate and told him that he didn't have to share it with his family -- my lips would be sealed! He laughed and said that his wife doesn't eat chocolate, but his daughter definitely would want her fair share. Dee walked over to the open market and did some shopping, including yarn for Sam's Kraken gloves, produce and another lovely necklace. I walked up to Todis to replenish our stock of tortillas, but they only had two packages.

Dee also asked Paolo what it would take to get a larger electrical service in our apartment so that we don't always have to careful about tripping a circuit breaker. Right now we have a rough idea of what combination of appliances and devices will trip the breaker, so we have to check with each other every morning to make sure not to have on the AC and the washer when Dee wants to use the hair dryer, for example. It turns out that there is a one-time fee of 70-80€ to upgrade our service from 3kw to 4.5kw. Paolo said that the old 3kw service just wasn't good enough for today's appliances and that many of the apartments have already upgraded. Who knew? We will offer to the mission to cover the expense if they will allow it to be done. Life would definitely be easier!

We got to the Institute in plenty of time to prepare for Taco Tuesday, and the group was about the usual size, with a few faces we haven't seen much on Tuesdays. There was nacho cheese left over from Saturday (very popular) that Dee re-heated to put on the tacos. Two kids, Jhamil and Maria Jose, messaged to say that they couldn't make it for lunch but would be there in the evening, asking if we could hold some taco fixings for them. I said yes, but then for various reasons later on they couldn't make it, so the elders got a second chance at it, and a little went back into the fridge.

The line to put toppings on tacos

Tortillas get picked up in the kitchen

Full table

The Ganziani always give a spiritual thought to the Taco Tuesday group. This time Anziano Lewis had asked me to share an experience where I went forward with faith in the Lord, without knowing what would happen. He read a quick scripture and then turned the time over to me. I told about attending Caltech, one of only two LDS students in my entire freshman class. When I left on my mission after one year, many of my classmates were quite baffled and thought that I was really hurting my career by "losing" two years. But instead, after we got married, I was able to finish my doctorate in only four years, which is about two years faster than the typical time required in my field, so I felt like I more than got those two years back, plus having been blessed and learned a lot from my mission.

After lunch, we had a campus student council meeting for an hour and a half, mainly planning for upcoming Wednesday evening events. With the departure of Claudia, now working at the MTC in England, Joyce from our ward has been called as the new council president. She is an awesome gal and will do a good job. Claudia called on WhatsApp to say hi right in the middle of the meeting, so I was able to show faces around the table, and later I called her back for a nice chat.

I started to work on my first Institute lesson for Friday. Our curriculum will be the Doctrine and Covenants. The challenge is that the new Institute manual is not yet fully available in Italian. For the local teachers here, they are adapting the Seminary manual for Institute, which has its own challenges, so I am considering my options. Although I have created my own lessons in the past, using various manuals and commentaries, it is easier to use an existing manual. So stay tuned to see what I decide to do.

With Ugo's Institute class and the English class underway in the evening, we were able to leave a little early to drop by Lidl on the way home to buy stuff for Friday's dinner. We were both tired, but I stayed up later than Dee so I could print out the forms on the printer at the home of my in-laws in California for them to request electronic deposit on a rent payment. It took Lynn and Jim to help me log onto the computer there to print, but I didn't want to email out the forms, which included a bank account and social security number. Lynn will mail the completed and signed forms on Wednesday.

I had a really nice time strolling down to the open market. I really needed to get the red and black yarn that Sam requested for his gloves, and happily found just what I needed. I also had a nice chat with my favorite Senegalese necklace seller. His name is Abdul and he has been in Italy for ten years, with two children born here to him and his wife. He's a great salesman, always holding up the necklaces to his own chest, where they look terrific. 

On the way to the open market, I often see African immigrants. Some are begging, but others sweep the sidewalk, which has no shortage of trash and dirt, and ask for a donation for their labor.

While the elders waited for their students to come to English class, we talked about the "old days" and the difference between Sicily and Rome. In the old days, we never told the Italians our first names, but now the missionaries use Facebook, so people often call them by their first names. In Sicily, everyone kisses the elders on the cheeks and uses the familiar form tu, whereas it's not done here in Rome.

Friday night we're having chili dogs for the first time. Jomar and Sheyla are planning to go to Milan that day, and he was whimpering at the thought of missing the dinner.