Day 25: Saturday, May 30. Today was going to be a bit of a challenge. Two different sets of guests were arriving. My brother, in Italy for two weeks, is driving down from Bologna with my cousin and her husband. Also, the couple from whom we rented our apartment in Greece in 2009 were coming to Italy for a wedding, and planned a visit with us for a few days before. We were thrilled both sets of guests were coming, but a little concerned about how to juggle both. 

First, though, I had to work. I was to meet one of the students at his church at 8:45 a.m. He had arranged interviews with a couple of people and I was to be there to translate. The shoot went quite well, but it took a very long time. After a fair amount of set up time, the guy who was answering questions gave at least a 5 minute answer to each question. After a long time, we only had 11 minutes of battery power to do the second interview (thankfully). We don't have all the extra gear we would have in the U.S. (like back up batteries). 

My brother and cousin had a hotel room in the city center, so when they called in the late afternoon to tell me they were soon to arrive at the hotel, I went to meet them. We then walked back to the apartment. The Greeks took a wrong road and were a little later arriving. That was fine, except Kim walked to meet them where they should have come into town had they taken the road we expected. There were a lot of cell phone calls back and forth until finally they connected. 

I'm cheating - these pictures are actually from the next day, but at least I can introduce the characters in this play. 

These are our Greek friends Mark and Martha.

My brother (L) my cousin Cetta and her husband Stefano. 

When everyone was finally at the apartment (well after 9 p.m.) we ate the ton of food that Kim had spent much of the day preparing: eggplant, involtini made from turkey, peppers, olives, salamis, cheeses, asparagus, bread, tomatoes with mozzarella and basil, a kind of cheesecake with lemon curd.... let it suffice to say that 7 people ate all they wanted and there was still plenty left. The biggest challenge was the fact that our apartment is only set up for 2-3 people, so plates and silver were limited. 

My brother and cousin were confident that they could find their way back to their hotel without any problem so I didn't walk them back (after midnight). Got to bed later than I'm used to, but I survived.