Trip to Italy - Journal Entry #25 - September 28, 2009 - 9:00 am
As our incredible barbeque celebration and the procession of dishes began to wrap up, Chris and I made a quick trip upstairs to retrieve our boxes of gifts. Dad had gone to great pains in advance of our trip to think through appropriate gifts for everyone and we had done all our ordering and wrapping state-side and shipped our gifts to Rosita's house in advance of our arrival. Rosita had jokingly commented upon our arrival that these boxes had arrived -- addressed to her -- but also with the instructions that she was not permitted to open them! Now, it was time to break through the tape and reveal the contents.
Chris helped me pass everything around. The guys all got fish rubbings T-shirts (from Chatham, Cape Cod), while Paolo and Luca got ball caps. The ladies all got Vera Bradley tote bags. Cecelia and Chiara also got fish rubbings T-shirts as well as 2010 daytimers. And Angela and Rosita got aprons with fish rubbings. We had a lot of fun taking pictures of everyone wearing and showing off their gifts (as shown here!).
And while all this was going on, the phone rang, and it was Jack and Rena calling from Kansas City. How nice to hear their voices -- and to be able to speak to someone in English! And this reminds me of the window into Rosita's house that faces the side yard. We took Jack and Rena's call through that window. This large window seems to be always open and people visit and talk through this window all the time. It is really neat and it is wonderfully symbolic of the friendliness and hospitality of this family.
We will never be able to say "thank you" enough to all of our wonderful hosts in Stradella and Portalbera. They went so far out of their way to make us feel welcome (which we did) and to keep us entertained (which we were), but at least we were able to leave them with a few small tokens of our gratitude.
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