We're finally here!

After a week of touring Italy, we’re finally here with our host families in Siena- and so far, I’m loving it! Our host family is awesome. They live about ten minutes outside of the city on the top floor of an apartment. We have a great view of Tuscany out of our bedroom window! Benjamin, the Dad, speaks quite a bit of English as well as the little boys- Alberto, 14 and Guiseppe, 12. The mom, Anna, is so sweet and picks up a little English from the rest of her family. Emily have our own room with a T.v., internet, and bathroom- definitely luxuries for around here.

The view from our Kitchen

Alberto and Guiseppe

We went to church this morning at the branch in Siena. It has probably about six steady members and the a missionary is the branch president. They were really happy to have all of us there- their chapel was actually full for once! Haha.

After Church, our host family took us out to lunch with some of their friends at a Tuscan restaurant out in Chianti wine country- about a 30 min. drive from the city center. The scenery was SO beautiful.

We definitely had a “traditional” Tuscan meal. It started out with bread, then bruschetta, then cured meats and cheese. And that was just the appetizer- I was already full! Then they brought out the pasta dish- huge fettucini noodles with a pork sauce- yes, I ate wild boar today. I guess there’s a first for everything! After the pasta dish they brought a 1 kilo steak, roasted potatoes and mushrooms for all of us. I had about two bites of the steak and I was done… I’m not really one for rare beef- it was so rare I thought it was going to walk of my plate! And, I was so full I thought I was going to die. I don’ know how Italians eat so much! After the last course they brought out Biscotti and sweet wine- which, we’re still in the process of explaining to them why we don’t drink alcohol- a little difficult with the language barrier, and I’m not quite sure if they know what “Mormonis” are. We’ll have to work on that.

Anyway, three hours later, we were finally done eating and walked around the town for a while- which, apparently was built in the 1200s. All in all, it was a wonderful Sunday!