15 Feb, Day 36 Working in Genova

I went to one of the offices in Genova to help design a couple of test platforms. Despite spending nearly 4 hours in the car (and arriving home at 9:30) I feel like it was a very productive afternoon. I’d like to think I made some valuable contributions. -And I actually felt like a design consultant! Unfortunately this late return forced me to cancel my first chance to play soccer in Italy. Maybe I can play next Thursday if I’m not in Pisa.

(Last Sunday continued) We arrived at the mountain to find snow depth of zero millimeters at the base, but some people that were leaving said that it was OK up higher. We got dressed, bought half day lift tickets, and wedged ourselves into the giant cable car to hoist us up to the first level. We divided up 3 sandwiches 8 ways to scarf down for a lunch/snack while the cable car ascended a nearly vertical wall to get to the actual base of the skiing area. The obscured windows made photographing the view irrelevant. (Maybe to keep people from freaking out by the height.) The doors opened, and we rambled out onto a grated platform that you could peer though to the village thousands of feet below. This was a view that could probably give a construction worker butterflies in their stomach.

I had considered getting a snowboard today because I had a good time with it last weekend and I thought I understood that it was only the second day for some people in our group. But upon seeing that 6 out of 8 people had their own gear, and some were toting skis that were longer than they were tall, (usually a sign that they know what they’re doing), I decided to rent skis so I wouldn’t be the one holding up the group. It was a good thing because 2 of the girls were faster than me, and everyone did really well! I may not be a natural skier, but I consider myself to be pretty fast for a guy from Florida… We had a blast flying down the mountain all afternoon.

Giuliana invited me into her house to have a drink before dropping me off home after we said goodbye to the others. I was a little surprised to meet her parents there, and I had some strong flashbacks to high school, but I guess this is the Italian way and I shouldn’t be taken aback by it. I felt like we parted on a positive note and I hope to see her again. She nearly lives within walking distance so maybe we’ll go for a jog in the park or something…

Our office buildings outside of Milan