We left at early (11am) for the Institute, talking on the phone along the way with the Pickerds for a while, who were on the road to Zone Conference in Bari. On Taco Tuesday we have found that it is much nicer to get there plenty early so that we can get things ready without rushing. I set up tables, chairs, tablecloths, plastic ware, water, etc., while Dee starts chopping things up. Once she gets the onions done, I cook the meat with the onions. This time Dario was there early, and he likes to help, so he did all the stirring and mixing of the meat. He too had thrown his back out last week and had actually been in the hospital. I tried to ask him if he had ever tried a chiropractor, but he said that his back problems were caused by his back getting exposed to cold. That is a common complaint here, which doesn't make a lot of sense to us, but then our medical viewpoint probably doesn't make sense to them either! In any case, we were ready for lunch with some time to spare.
The event started with a fairly small number, but then kids just kept showing up, until we didn't have enough room around the table to fit everyone. Our Roma 3 Anziani brought three new investigators, who fit right in and stayed for most of the afternoon. Dee brought out dessert, which got a round of applause (a first!), including cookies and the remaining lava cake from the night before.
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| Dario cooking the taco meat |
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| Two-sided access to the taco fixings |
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| Chris shows us how real Mexicans do it |
It was the first Taco Tuesday for our new Ganziani, as well as for the Roma 3 Anziani, who were open-mouthed at the food and at awesome environment. The whole place was buzzing with noise and energy all afternoon, with every room in use for various things: studying, card games, Wii, etc. Often Tuesdays quiet down for a while after lunch, but not this time!
The kids were very helpful, cleaning up the lunch room while I got on a 3pm call with Virginio, a FamilySearch manager from Spain, trying to figure out how to get our new FH computer up and running as an official center. Ultimately he couldn't figure it out, but he offered to upload a boot image that I could use to re-initialize the computer. Hopefully that will work.
One of the new non-member visitors, a very sharp kid named Marco, was chatting with me. After a few minutes he said, "your Italian accent is bad, but your grammar is excellent!" Not that I would disagree, but Italians can be very forthright, shall we say 😒
The Ganziani spent some time designing a new business card to hand out to young people they meet on the street, with a printed schedule of all the activities at the Institute campus. They ended up getting a bunch of the kids involved, including the non-members, in suggesting changes and improvements, so it was actually a nice little activity.
For dinner, my high-school physics and calculus teacher from 1972-74 at George Wythe High School in Richmond, Mr. Tucker, was in town with his wife on a tour. He had contacted me via email a few weeks ago, and we were able to clear this evening for a dinner together. His wife also taught (Spanish) at GWHS, which is where they met, and I knew of her slightly from way back when. I have seen him a few times over the years. He was one of my favorite teachers, and I spent a lot of time in his classes (two years of physics, one year of calculus), which prepared me very well for Caltech. Dee had never met them before, but she was a good sport and seemed to enjoy the evening. (It was a really nice visit.) Their hotel was nearby, so they took a taxi over, and we walked to Target, our favorite restaurant only a block away. As always, the food was excellent; Mr. Tucker in particular absolutely loved his risotto. Visiting with them was really delightful. As they left, we got a photo together and they got into their cab. It was cool enough that I actually wore my light jacket home and Dee wore a sweater. I'm back to wearing a sweater at night, and stockings all day.
