Morning temperature: -2

Afternoon temperature: 5

This morning Meredith and I went out for breakfast and coffee with a few of her friends from the boys' schools. I honestly have no idea how Italians stay so small, because pastries with custard in the middle are for sure what Dad would call SOYA food. It was really nice - we went to what they call a Bar, which is like a little cafe but this one was underneath a school. There was no one there except us for most of the time (they were sharing the perils of childbirth, like having to get a bikini wax, while Meredith translated for me), but at around 10:30am all the teenagers from the school came down to get food, and all I can say is thank God that people at home don't dress like them because it's horrid. For example, one girl was wearing magenta tights with a hot pink leopard print bodycon mini skirt and had plastered so much makeup on that she could well have secretly been a man. Plus, they all look (in Meredith's words, not mine) like they have a really bad smell under their noses.

After that we went to a huge mall to have a look around. It was very very large. There were two Sephora stores, about a thousand gelaterias, and the supermarket was about twice the size of the Lyall Bay Warehouse. The supermarkets here are mad - they sell skis, exercise machines, clothes, toys, books, TVs... Plus food, obviously. While we were there I had my first real Italian gelato (lemon and Baci flavoured), and Meredith bought me a scarf that I really liked as a Christmas present but I think I'm meant to have forgotten about it. The funniest bit was that on Wednesday Meredith signed a UNICEF thing at a store in town but then realised that in Italy that's a bad idea because some people just fake their positions to get money, so when he called her later on (about six times) she ignored the calls. Then finally he sent her this really long abusive text to let her know how he felt about being ignored. That didn't bother her too much because he was a bit of a twat, but today at the mall we saw the same guy again, and she had to pull up her hood and basically powerwalk (being seven months pregnant doesn't really allow for sprinting) to the next area. It was GREAT.

It's 5pm now, and I've just escaped Gabri and his Wii, which we have been playing for hours. He asked Meredith how to say 'play' in english, and he's been saying it since we picked them up from school at 2:30! Actually though, the game has taught me quite a bit of Italian: basta (stop), come si dice (how do you say), inizia (start) etc. I think that Gabri is getting attached, which I love because he's such a sweetie. Today when we picked them up from school he held my hand all the way to the car of his own accord!

Tomorrow is Saturday, finally. Not that I notice what day it is, but poor Meredith and Amedeo get up between 5:30 and 6:30am every weekday to get to work (Amedeo) and get the boys to school (Meredith). By the end of the day they, the boys, and even I am super tired, and we all go to bed at about 9pm.

Roast chicken for dinner tonight - I'd better go and help out!

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