Alright Mum, if I am correct, you are on nights tonight...soooo, if it isn't chaotic sink or swim mode there, allow me to entertain you!
The first picture is from the end of an evening with Enrico's coworkers...my chance to spend some quality time with them before I left. They're a great group of people...let me tell you about a few of them: (on the left) There's Pask, he speaks english, he's really sweet, seems quiet but he's fun, sharp and endearing. Next, (far right) Valeria (her husband, Pietro is beside her), she's kind, laid-back with good humour, lovely dark features, genuine. Emanuele is missing from the pic, that's Enrico's prof...what a riot that man, he's a natural linguist, sweet and bubbly with sharp wit! You can also see Barbara (right-ish), a cute woman from Turin, Carina (far left), a visiting Phd student from Brazil, Samuele (you can barely see his eyes), a talkative and fun Sicilian, Enrico's cousin Alessandra (beside Enrico), a fun and spicy little spark plug of a woman!

The following picture is of Enrico's great Aunt's and Uncle in Bologna. They are a lively bunch of elders! We Karaoked and ate and drank!! One of my favourite days was definitely spent with them.

After this I included two more pics. One of Enrico's Dad, Pietro, with Giovanni. Then Enrico's Mum, Anna, with Ludovica and Enrico peeking through the pic.

This was on Anna's birthday. We celebrated at Enrico's sister's place. Gabriella and her husband Nicola live in Catanzaro, about an hour away on the eastern coast.

I was very happy eating Anna's cuisine. I think her favourite thing to help me with was to make sure that I stopped talking at lunch and kept eating...ha ha ha... I would talk, as usual, and she would look at me and say "Mangia, mangia"...no, really. She seems stern (like you Mum!) but is fun and sweet (also like you Mum!), she'd help me with my Italian and laugh at the funny things I would try to say and then explain them to me. When Pietro would step in, she would shush him and tell him that he was confusing me. hehehe

Pietro on the other hand, is quiet and gives fun glances and shrugs when something's going on. On the way to Enrico's soccer game one day he said, I always drive, do you want to drive? I said, suuuure, why not, I love driving....so, we have to get on the highway and go through tunnels in the mountains with scary death cliffs beside us all the while Italians zip past me at 180 km/hr....did I mention that I am driving a panda (Panda- see smallest, cutest car ever in the dictionary).

Good times!