We finished filling out and signing the "accident" form for all the dings on our car. Two of the major ones were our doing, but most of them were anonymous bump-and-run dings while we were parked somewhere. It will be expensive to fix, but the church has insurance to cover it. I would actually prefer that they wait until right before (or after) we go home, so that the Motts get a nicer car and I don't worry about the inevitable next ding.
When I arrived at the Institute, there were two sets of missionaries there for lessons. The Sorelle were teaching someone from the Friendship Center, and then the Ganziani taught Junior. At one point, the intercom rang, and a woman with an American accent replied in Italian that she was there to see Dale. I asked "Chi è Dale?" (who is Dale?), and she said it was "the American student". I was puzzled and told her to come up. When she arrived, I asked again, and she said that Dale was one of her students. I asked where she taught, and she replied Pepperdine University. Then it all clicked! Anziano Wijesundera (former Ganziano), who attended Pepperdine on a tennis scholarship before his mission, had contacted us to say that he would be in town for the day from Palermo to get his permesso renewed. His first name is Dallana, so apparently he went by Dale. Anyway, I told her that I didn't know when or if he would actually show up, so she left and said she would email him. Later he told us that they did get a chance to meet and say hi. She was his Italian professor and had done undergrad work here years ago, just happening to be back here when he would be in town.
I gathered the lyrics for the six Christmas carols which we planned for our evening event. Two of the songs were in Italian, and the rest were in English. I posted the page on the WhatsApp group and printed fifteen copies. I did one on white paper and one on red card stock, but Jomar said he preferred the white because it would be easier to read in the dark. Good point.
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| Caroling practice. Anziano Wijesundera is the one standing |
Then we headed back. As we were walking in the long tunnel that leads back under the street to the subway, there was a street performer singing with his guitar, his case set up for people to throw in coins. I asked if he could play any of our Christmas songs. He tried without success, but Chris (our non-member mariachi guitarist) offered to do it, so the guy handed him the guitar. Chris winged it very ably, and we sang there for probably ten minutes, with a lot of folks walking past and smiling. Chris, born in Mexico and raised in San Francisco, insisted on us doing Feliz Navidad for a while in addition to our repertoire. Again, some took photos and others stopped to mouth the words. The street performer put his case out in front, so I think we ended up making him some extra money! Hopefully our mission president won't hear that we were singing for money 😀. You can watch videos of us singing here and here.
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| Piazza del Popolo |
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| Singing in the subway tunnel, Chris on guitar |
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| Santa on the subway |
Arriving back at the Institute, Dee had made peanut butter blossom cookies and was finishing the Italian-style hot chocolate, which is very thick. Ugo gave it rave reviews. It was the first time I ever made it, but it's a lot like making pudding from scratch. Oh wait, it is exactly like making pudding, because that's what it is. We added marshmallows (a rare treat here) and whipped cream. Everything got excited oohs and aahs from the kids.
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| Karina adding whipped cream to the hot chocolate |
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| The last hot chocolate |
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| Karaoke |
