Giovedi

Ho comprato un bel cappello di paglia - I bought a nice straw hat.

I went to bed not feeling great last night. Not sick, but just feeling a bit...hmmm...blah. They say that when you live in a foreign country there are many ups and down cycles you go through. Right now I am feeling a bit down. While life is good overall and we are doing so many incredible things, I am missing some things as well: our friends in Corvallis and just being able to hang with them, train club and they guys, going to movies and drinking beer with Errol, train shows with Andy, and just being able to converse in English whereever I go. I guess it can all be summed up in one word - homesick. I'm feeling a little homesick right now.

I was not feeling very motivated to go on my bike ride this morning, but Katrina nicely encouraged me and reminded me how it makes me feel good. While I was getting dressed I came up with the idea of doing an easy ride in Parco di Monza and getting Brandon to come along. He agreed and off we went. We rode through a new section of the park (thats how big the park is, we've been here three months and still have places to explore in the park!) and did a loop around our usual roads. After an hour I dropped Brandon off at home and went for a leisurely ride into downtown Monza, exploring side streets and finding new shops and interesting places. I found a another bike shop and a bakery.

Katrina left for work after her Italian lesson. She is very busy at work this week. Apparently there is some big 'issue' going on right now. I feel for her. She is working hard and doing a good job keeping a level head, but she seems tired. Neither of us has been sleeping well. I know she wants to spend more time painting and being creative with her photos, but work seems to be keeping her a little too busy right now.

Brandon and I both had pretty good Italian lessons with Rosella.

This evening we went out for Cinese with Rosella, then had some gelato in the park aftwards.

Nice evening. Time to go read Harry Potter with Brandon.