Siena 8

Monday November 22, 2010

A few detailed sculptures at the Piazza del Campo, Siena.

I'm getting into a bit of a pattern here in Siena. Staying up late so I can use Rosie's laptop to type my blog, and consequently getting up late (around mid-day), and writing my blog. I never realised it could take so long to write a blog! It's getting out of hand. So yeah, that's what I've been doing today, not too much else to say.
I went for a wander to the Mensa after breakfast and found Rosanna there, then wandered back to the flat again.

Rosie, Pedro and Maja studying in their living room in Siena.

The most exciting part of the day was tea; we went to a Chinese restaurant with the Conix's: Sam, Eva, Bart and Merline. Stijn and Lise had already gone home for uni classes and work respectively.
As always, it was difficult to decide on what to order, since there were so many options. I ended up going with spring rolls, then mixed fried seafood which was just calamari and shrimp (quite a mix, hey?).

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Mixed fried seafood.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Sam, Merline and Rosie.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Rosanna clearly enticed by the fish.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Bart and Eva.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena: Eva, Sam and Merline.

Conversation covered various topics, such as Belgian beer. Bart reckons three of the top five beers in the world are Belgian, and that monks in convents brew beer and make cheese, because traditionally that's all they're allowed to do.
We also learnt a bit about Bart and Merline's history. Bart grew up in Leuven, and he met Merline in Leuven. Bart is a back surgeon and Merline is a hand surgeon, but Rosie reckons they don't really like their jobs and want to retire soon. Bart is actually very interested in farming, so he's been asking a lot about our farm at home.
They lived in Africa, in Zimbabwe for five years. And one time there was music concert there with artists including Simon and Garfunkel, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman and I forget who else. But how good would that have been?! It was a protest gig for something or another to do with South Africa.
Rosie also asked Sam's parents what Sam was like when he was younger. Apparently he was a bit of a pyro, and would light little fires on the floor inside. One time he lit a piece of paper on fire, then put it out and thew it in the bin and went downstairs to tea. When he went back up to his room 20 minutes later, the whole place was filled with smoke. Merline put on the wet towell and went in, and the whole bin was on fire, so they had to carry it outside and let it burn out.
I think everyone's a bit of a pyro at heart though, it's natural to be fascinated or attracted to fire, right? I used to love burning off in the Wombat Forest with my friend Chris Nixon and his old man Bob at their place. One time we played this game where me, Chris, Tom and maybe Charley were the firelighters and Robin was the fire-fighter. So our goal was to run around the bush and light fires wherever we could, try to get lots of fires going, and Robin had to chase around after us and put our fires out. At one point I found a mass of dry eucalyptus leaves and lit them up, Robin had no chance of putting that one out! That was the end of the game, we stopped and watched it burn and made sure it didn't get out of hand. Don't worry, this was a very safe game.
Anyway, back to the restaurant...the food was good but we couldn't finish it. I ate as much as I could: Sam's left over fish, Rosie's left over tofu, Merline's left over fish dish, some of Bart's left over duck, and some of the left over curried rice and fried rice. It was a shame to see some of the rice go to waste but I really couldn't fit it in.
Rosie also told the story of the time when me, her, Rachel and Silkom were in Shanghai Dumpling in Chinatown in Melbourne once, and Silkom went to get us all Chinese tea. She came back with the tea and she was the first to try it. She'd never had it before, she took a sip and was like "hmm...I don't think I like Chinese tea." It turned out she'd actually accidentally gotten soya sauce instead of Chinese tea, hahaha, so funny.
And Marline is learning Arabic, has been for about four years. The whole family knows several languages. Dutch is their native language, but they can all speak English very well. And I think they all know French and some German too. Eva's and Sam's German is supposedly quite good. And Sam and Lise also know Spanish, Lise went on Erasmus to Spain. And Stijn also knows Portuguese. So this is a typical European family for you. Man I feel so inferior to these Europeans, I know only one language and everyone else seems to know at least three! Fair enough though, it's much more important to know all these languages if you live in Europe, considering all the bordering countries they have.
The Conix's are a lovely family, they all get along well and seem really close. They're just a really well functioning family, there doesn't seem to be any dysfunctionality in it, on the surface anyway.
After three hours in the overheated restaurant, we walked back to their apartment, said our goodbyes (the Belgian way of saying goodbye is one kiss on the right cheek), and walked back home.

Out the front of Rosie's flat in Siena.

Out the front of Rosie's flat in Siena.

Then I spent the rest of the night writing my blog, and being frustrated with the blog app (BlogPress) because it crashed and lost the post I'd just spent an hour or two putting together.
So it was another late night, in bed at about 6 am, and the pattern continues.

Ride stats:
Distance: 1.25 km
Average: 10.7 km/h
Maximum: 26.0 km/h
Time: 7:02