Bloody noses

Tuesday morning we left home early to shop at Lidl on the way to Taco Tuesday. We needed ingredients for Friday night's dinner, as well as stuff for when our daughter Chiara is here next week. The coming days are busy for us, so this seemed like the best opportunity. All went smoothly until we got near the train station, where the traffic basically stopped. A few blocks that usually take a couple of minutes turned into over half an hour. While we were stopped, one lady on a scooter ran her wheel into the side of our car from slightly behind, trying somehow to pass around me; she then got mad at me! She said in Italian, "Didn't you see me?" Traffic in Rome can be crazy, and fortunately there was no ding on the car -- we have enough already. Finally Dee got out and walked so she could start chopping taco ingredients. She beat me there by several minutes. Apparently there was a protest of some kind at Piazza Repubblica which was snarling traffic all around. In any case, we got there in time to have things ready by just after 1:30pm, so everything ended up ok.

There was a pretty good turnout for tacos, including three girls, which is more than usual. Ugo and a number of the kids had gone to work on helping prepare the temple grounds, so we weren't sure how many would make it downtown. 

Ugo and others at the temple

It was good to have an almost full house for lunch. Elder Mansell was sick, so they didn't come.

Several kids showed up after this photo

Games after lunch

Oscar showed up, with it being finals week; we don't see him much these days. After lunch he hung around a while and we had a nice chat. He was visibly stunned when I told him that we were going home in only three months! Time flies. I told him that he would love the new couple too, but he wasn't sure. I reminded him that he had loved the Thackers before us, so I am not really worried. Oscar told me two couples is his limit, haha.

I spent some time on the phone with the Anziano Hyde, back here for their third mission in Italy, assigned to the temple visitors center this time around. They both served here in the 1970s and speak Italian, so they will be a great asset in their new assignment. They are trying to figure out what to do for internet and cell phone service in their apartment, so I went over the options with him. I offered to give them my spare WiFi router (every true geek has at least one) for them to use. At this point I am starting to divest my tech stash. After we got home, I took the router to the Balzottis to bring to the office for the Hydes.

In the late afternoon a group of us worked on selecting and practicing the Christmas carols we will sing Wednesday evening. The plan is to go as a group to Piazza del Popolo. It was fun to sing, some in English and some in Italian.

Dee was pretty zonked all day, very tired for some reason. The reason was six hours' sleep. I stayed up to take care of some medical needs for my father in California. She finally went out for a walk in the afternoon, which seemed to give her some energy. Anziano Mansell has been having bloody noses regularly. That is really hard to manage when you wear a white shirt! We told him that he needed to see a doctor and probably get some blood vessels cauterized. Dee called Sorella Millet, the mission nurse, later in the evening to make sure she was aware, and she will set up an appointment for him. Having been through that some years ago myself, I could tell him that it was definitely worth getting taken care of soon.

There was good group of kids for English class, and afterwards they hung around to play games. Jomar stayed to close up, while we left a few minutes before 9pm.

With the low temperatures these days, and the fact that we will be  heading north to Florence and Venice for part of our time with Chiara, we messaged her to make sure she brings warm layered clothing. She was already all over it, but I realized that I don't have any thermal underwear for the trip, so I found and ordered some on Amazon to get here in time. I had debated bringing some with me on our mission, but decided against it, because everyone knows that Rome is a temperate climate. Silly me! Doug has no insulation and really feels the cold.