We also went to fill up the car, but my credit card wasn't working yet again, so I just used cash to mostly fill it up. Later in the evening I would call the customer support number to learn that they had deactivated the old cards when they mailed the new ones. Oh well, at least I know now. We have multiple cards we can use, but only one other is also chip-and-PIN.
Rhenald came by the Institute for a couple of hours so that I could help him fill out forms for his new job as gardener at the temple, which starts on Monday. It is such a big upgrade for his life, and we are excited for him and were happy to make the trip to help. We printed out about fifty pages about pension, tax forms, direct deposit, etc -- the typical kinds of things you have to sign. However, the terminology and laws here are all different, so we weren't able to get it all filled out, and Ugo didn't know the details either. I am sure that the HR person will help him complete them on Monday, but he has printout with most of the fields filled in using PhantomPDF editor, not hand written. Dee kindly made us some sandwiches to eat while we worked.
The Balzottis came down to meet us for an early evening out. There is a theater at Piazza Barberini, less than 15 minutes away by foot, where they show movies in English sometimes. Mary Poppins Returns was playing with Italian subtitles at 3:30pm. Just as we were leaving the Institute, the intercom rang. It was a girl named Grace from the Philippines, here on her own as a tourist. She is a member of the church and has submitted her mission papers. She was looking for directions to a chapel to attend on Sunday morning, so we had time to print out directions to the Roma 5 ward chapel for tomorrow. She was definitely not dressed warm enough for the cold outside, but that may be due to coming from such a warm climate. Anyway, it was fun to chat with her for a while.
It felt very strange to all of us to be in a movie theater -- the first time since coming on our missions. The show was great, very true to the spirit of the original, with good music and a fun story. We particularly enjoyed the cameo appearance by Dick van Dyke. Afterwards we walked over to Termini station at Dee's suggestion, going upstairs to the new food court above the tracks, called Terrazza Termini. There are over a dozen places to eat, with very bright and modern decor. The whole area is enclosed enough that they can heat it, which was very welcome in this season. We enjoyed some dinner, followed by a little pastry, then walked back to the Institute and drove home, arriving around 7:30pm.
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| Fun chocolates at the pastry shop |