Dinner with the Ludlows

Tuesday morning I had some time at home, after waking up way too early. It is frustrating to be so bad at sleeping. Dee called briefly after she got to her parents' home just before midnight in LA. Everything went well on her trip. The customs agent in New York just waved her through -- nothing to pay even though she told them that she was over the $800 limit. Nice. She said that there were many LDS folks on her flight to New York, coming home from the Open House. She even met the Lawlers. A taxi ended up being the best way home from LAX, as neither Lyft not Uber worked, for different reasons. Of course she had been up for over 24 hours by that point -- although with some sleep on the plane -- so she was ready to rest. There were no sheets or pillowcases to be found for her bed at that hour, but that was not about to stop her from sleeping. 

I did some laundry, and I also tried to open up Anziano Castro's dead tablet, having failed in all my non-intrusive ways to get the photos off. This model (Samsung Tab S2) is definitely not made for repair-ability. The online videos showed how difficult it is, and I failed miserably, cracking the screen after getting about half way around detaching it. Tiny glass shards went flying; I hadn't realized that he didn't have a screen protector, which would have helped. So I had to chuck it and clean my work area carefully. He knew that it was unlikely to work and had given me permission to try.

I left plenty early for Institute, stopping at Lidl on the way to get some stuff, mostly for home. It is now to the point where I am counting boxes of cereal, milk, etc., so as not to buy more than we will use before leaving. I arrived at the campus by noon, and Jomar was already there to help prepare for tacos, joined soon by Riccardo and Krista. At FHE the night before I had asked for help, but didn't expect this much support. The Ganziani also showed up early but weren't really needed. With all the helping hands, we were ready half an hour early. It simplified things that I just used most of the frozen leftover taco meat, defrosted the day before, and that I didn't attempt to make Dee's delicious Spanish rice. We also had Dee's carrot cake for dessert. Ugo was there as well, and carrot cake is his favorite. 

L-R: Riccardo, Krista, and Jomar in aprons preparing food

Jomar crying as he cuts onions

Three cooks in aprons forming a greeting committee at the door!

Not enough seats around the table

Anziano Waddell had flown down to Catania for the day to get his permesso renewed, so former Ganziano Wijesundera (his comp) was there and had tacos for the first time in many months. A girl from Utah, Mckayla, who is working here as an au pair for a few months, joined us for the first time and seemed to enjoy being there. She stayed to play cards with the kids after lunch.

After cleaning up, I finally found some time to sit down and work on a few things. Iliad at last got my name corrected so I was able to activate with SIM card with only a few more steps. I also did a little bit of lesson prep for Friday. 

Riccardo had a 6pm job interview on Skype for a position with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. Our internet at the Institute is better than his at home, so we were happy to accommodate him in the library. It would be great for him to get a job, and he is excited at the thought of living abroad.

Ugo's class Zoom class was interesting. They are studying Isaiah this semester, and Victor Ludlow, a retired BYU prof who has written books on Isaiah, happened to be in town with a tour group returning from Israel (he was one of the guides). Ugo doesn't know him well, but he did take an Isaiah class from him years ago. Anyway, Ugo learned that he was in town through the tour group, with whom he is also working. Ugo went to his hotel, found him, and asked him to come teach the class on Tuesday. He and his wife were happy to do so, and they spent the evening here in class.

Institute class with Ugo, the Ludlows, some GANS in person and many online

Then Ugo took me and the Ludlows out for dinner afterwards at a place nearby. They are delightful folks. As we entered the restaurant, there was a big table of Americans. They recognized my name tag and said they were LDS. When they learned that it was Victor Ludlow with us, several of them were excited, being big fans, so they took a photo of us. One of the women teaches part-time at the LDS Institute at UNLV and came over to ask a bunch of questions about our Institute here. After that, we had a nice dinner. I ate only a little bit of the appetizers, as it was late (and I cannot eat late like Italians do).

We had several visitors from around Italy in class, here to work at the Open House. They were hungry, so I pulled out the leftover crack chicken and Sloppy Joes, which everyone happily finished off while we were out at dinner. One of the visitors was Melvyn from Pavia. He was in our group at the September GANS conference, and he knows our dear friends from Pavia, the Giustos, so I took a photo to send to them.

By the time I headed home, it was nearly 10pm and I was really tired, looking forward to sleeping in. Then my phone rang on the car Bluetooth. It was Anziano Balzotti. They got permission to go to Florence for the day with their kids in town, and he needed a sub at the Open House from 9am to noon. There went my sleep, but I was glad to do it for them, since they have been so helpful to us.

Dee and I talked again briefly before I went to bed. She was with her mom, enjoying several of the creature comforts of home (i.e., fluffing wrinkles out of clothes in the dryer). Wednesday is the big day to bring her dad home. I did one quick load of sheets and hit the sack.