autumn's 21st birthday celebration

Fiorella cooked us a nice Sunday meal tonight. It started out with some sort of broth and tiny noodle pieces that we added parmesan cheese to and was surprisingly good. The second course consisted of the typical bread and tomatoes as well as some left over spicy carrots. In addition there was a quite delicious stuffed zucchini item. The meat inside was of mysterious origins but overall it had a good taste to it, which I even took a second one to show Fiorella that I was pleased with it. I am really striving to keep an open mind when it comes to the food I am given. During dinner Autumn attempted to tell them it was her 21st birthday today and was successful! After we finished our meal they celebrated by bringing out some austrian chocolate they had in a drawer in the living room- so so good! And the daughter, who both of us felt like she didn't quite like us all the much- found some number candles and lit them for Autumn to blow out! It was really a nice gesture and made us feel more welcome. Communication is difficult with them speaking to us in fast italian hoping that we pick up something- which for the most part doesn't happen. We sometimes resort to writing to make it easier, for example when I was explaining that my birthday was next Sunday…it took a while but they ended up understanding which was nice. They often have us repeat things for them in english like tonight Giuseppe wanted to know how to say all the days of the week in english as compared to when he listed them in Italian. He is pretty excited for the day when we will speak italian haha it really is amazing how much you can pick up from body language and guessing the topic of certain words. It will be nice to start to pick up at least some of the basics. After dinner- which I was so stuffed from I could've died- we decided to head back up the street just inside town to the internet café. It felt good to get outside with the breeze and walk off some of the discomfort. We made it back before they all headed to bed which was nice so we weren't a disturbance. Before bed Autumn and I had a lovely photo session in our room trying to capture our living conditions. Our room really is quite nice and I know I will be totally fine here for the next 2 1/2 months. What an experience we are living! I feel myself trying to take it all in and it is somewhat of a challenge. Its hard to believe I am actually here in Siena and living and going to school here. Hopefully it will all sink in soon.