Last night was a hoot!!!! I'll tell you what! My friend Ann had a dinner party, and invited me. I guess she kinda had to, since I went with her to the market to buy the fish, etc. for the meal she was planning, and I kept saying, "Wow! I sure bet that will taste good!" Subtle? :)

Anyway, I scored another home-cooked meal at Ann's, and here was the guest list:
Kojo from the Congo (didn't catch his last name)
A darling doctor from China (never could understand her name, so I just called her "Doc")
A Philippine woman, raised in the States, living in Rome named Suzette
Her daughter Mia, who is enrolled in the Music Conservatory, and is also a guide
And, little ol' white-bread me!

All of them, except Mia, work for the United Nations in the Agriculture/Food department, and boy was it interesting listening to then talk about their impressions of the US, our economy, our relationship with the world, etc.

I took notes and will be submitting them to our President, as he clearly needs all the help he can get, bless his heart.

It was a fun evening all around.

Today, I awoke to a power outage in my building, which did not resolve itself until around 6, but I had lots to do....a meeting with a potential business partner, a couple more churches I wanted to look at before leaving, last minute gifts, etc. And, of course, Ann invited me over for left-over fish soup, and we watched "Do You Want to Be A Millionaire", the Italian version, and I got LOTS of questions right! Yea me! Can't believe how much Italian I have picked up in a month.

So, tomorrow is church, then the Herculean task of finishing up packing. It will be a Candid Camera moment on Monday when I drag my two super-heavy suitcases down the cobble-stone street to meet my driver at 7 am.....seriously....comedy gold.

I'll be homa from Roma on Monday night.....who's up for a Mambo Taxi with me?????

Tanti baci from Roma!!!!!