Dinners, plural

So I have been slacking for sure so sorry about that. I should be studying right now but I spent allllll day yesterday working on a drawing assignment and I just want to write because sitting and drawing really gets your mind a wandering. Italy has been good and I have been really put in a place of understanding why I was brought here and just how important these experiences are. A lot has happened since that wonderful trip to England.
I had some wonderful nights hanging out with the lovely ladies I have grown to love here! We had one night where we just sat around for several hours and laughed about the most random things, honestly I was even having trouble keeping up with the pace of the conversation. It guess it did not help that we had this long night yet weirdly eventful night after a dinner with my Italian friend. Giovanni is this Italian from Salerno who Angela and I met while taking a walk. He is super sweet and was working here for just a few weeks so we asked him if he wanted to be shown around. The problem which turned out the be a blessing is that he spoke nearly no English and so in order to communicate I had to dig real deep for the Italian I have been learning. Wow that is difficult but oh so rewarding, and tiring. One night he took me out for dinner and it was so delicious. We went to this little place that was hidden down below in a basement probably once for wine storage and we enjoyed Florentine steak and pollo. The olive oil was so fresh and the atmosphere was really welcoming. We talked about a range of topics and I wasn't too bad with my Italian. I had to do a lot of hand and body gestures but hey I already do that.
Anyways he is a chef and so we agreed that he was going to show me how to cook sea food (frutta di mare) and so we went to the local market bought all the ingredients and had a wonderful meal. He took over my tiny kitchen and just went to town making pasta with spinach like greens and Calamari. It was buono. I decided to contribute good ol Cornbread in order to give him a little taste of America, that and I love Cornbread!!! We had enough to food to fill the bellies of Lynn, Denise, his and me and I had a meal later on in the week.
So in return we took Giovanni to a thanksgiving dinner where he had the works. Sweet and regular mashed potatoes, green beans, turkey, and the best, Pumpkin Pie!!!! So it was great, and after the church that hosted the party, St. James, had a live Italian folk band, what a night. It is a great holiday, but I did miss my family. So needless to say, thanksgiving is themed around a really beautiful concept, community and thanksgiving. I guess when it comes down to it, you can always be thankful to be among beautiful people and a large warm meal.