New Friends

The house in Tuscany that we stayed in for 2 weeks was great, it is one of a number that our host rents through Airbnb. We met Mark, our host and he showed us around. The house had been standing empty for 6 weeks consequently in the beginning of the the stay we had 2-3 days when the heat in the house was not sufficient. It was cold. Then our host adjusted it and we were warm. The house had a fire place. I love doing fires as I have already mentioned in a previous post. We stayed in that house for Christmas and New Years.

The day after Christmas, 9pm our time (3pm your time), two family's that were staying together arrived to stay in the house just down the driveway from our house. A couple nights after they arrived we were invited to Mark's house for an olive oil information and tasting night. Mark also invited the two new families. That is when I met their two girls my age. Their names are Victoria (13) and Alesya (14). They are best friends. Every year their two families get together and go skiing! Victoria has a brother named Nicholas (10) and Alesya also has a brother named Dennis (8). They were only staying a week and their parents had their days filled with things to do. We were able to play in the evenings and one day we hung out a little in the afternoon too. On the last evening that we were together we played until 9pm. We were all sad to say good bye to each other.

The two families move a lot! Victoria and Nicholas live in Singapore. The two families are both Russian. Each family has a house in Russia. Victoria and her family are staying in France for a week for her mom's job and then they are going back to Singapore. Alesya and her family went back to England where they live because school started for them Monday, January 4. Both family's speak fluently in French from the 2 years they lived there, they also speak Russian and English. They have an accent but they speak very good English!

One interesting thing about the two families is that they both lived in Philadelphia for 2 years. There is a chance we could see each other again sometime when they return to their home there. I have their email addresses so that if they do come to the area again maybe we can get together!

The days are coming to a close for us to come home! When we started out on this trip I never believed that we would be doing this and here we are almost done. We are going to be flying home on January 14 and will be home on January 14. We are all very excited to be coming home. I am tired of eating muesli and eggs for breakfast. I will be glad when I can eat my Mom's homemade granola again, for a change.