January 3rd, 2010 Liguria

January 3rd 2010 Liguria.
I arrived in Milan yesterday afternoon around 12:30pm. I was surprised at the speed of my luggage coming. Unfortunately, speed meant very little care. Yes, my kind of brand new rucksack had been ripped at the lovely padded waist support strap. I decided that I am grateful It came and it could have been a lot worse. I was able to catch the earlier train to Liguria and in my rapid pace of running to the train, I was unable to call my friends who were picking me up at the statione. On the train, I was able to in my very rusty, very broken, almost nonexistent Italian, ask on of the girls in the seat next to me if she could text my friend for me. After a quick cafe and a small panino at the nearby cafe across le strada, I was greeted by Mauro, Corrado, and Clara at the train station. I had arrived and could not have been happier. We went back to the house where Rosa's mother, Father, Brother and Sister were as well as Mauro's Sister. After the parents and brother who had a flight to South Africa the next morning left, we ate a feast of cheese(they remembered my cheese fetish from back in Seattle) the Pacific Northwest Salmonjerkey and beef jerky I brought from home, some cured Italian meats, olives and antipasti fixings. A feast fit for a king. We finished it off with the famous and traditional Italian cake Sapori.

Dopo cena, (that means, "After dinner") we went into town were we all had a punch at a place called Hemingway Cafe. This punch was a mix between hot orange cough syrup and a melted popsicle. It was made from clementines and Rum. We all had a scalding cup.

My jetlag was starting to get the best of me but I wanted to try and stay up for a while so when we arrived back home, I joined meie amichi Italiani for a game of Yatzi and after Mauro swept the floor with all of us, we retired to bed. I awoke in normal time to Mauro singing a wake up song to his sister and me and after coffee and some biscotti, we are discussing the day. I believe we will try to see Portafino. The sun is shining with a few clouds, it is slightly chilly and I believe I have been cursed with a permanent smile.