Hail!

Yowza! I was going to post about other random stuff (graffiti, food, etc.) and then we had a hail storm. Basically it went from typical sunny 80+ Italian summer day to ice falling from the sky and back in about an hour. Seriously, it was just hot and clear before this:



I thought it was just heavy rain until the wind blew some hail against my window. This was all collected in the corner of my balcony.



Some of these pieces were large-pea-sized!



Yikes! I am glad I don't have a car or motorcycle to worry about out there. The thunder and howling wind were pretty serious. I am glad I was home because sometimes I forget and leave my windows open when I leave the house. Most of the time it's a good idea, to keep things ventilated... It's all melted now! There are just a few clouds in the sky.

Visiting the Doctor!

Yesterday I decided to head to the doctor. My calf was incredibly sore, and getting more painful every day. I asked my labmates a lot of questions about how this whole doctor thing was supposed to go. Luckily, in my packet of papers from the administrator at ITIA, one was the proof of payment of insurance, stapled to my primary care physician registration along with his open office hours. So I headed over there.

The office was just in an apartment building. This seems to be pretty common in Milan. Once I got to the office, I took a number and sat in the un-air-conditioned waiting room. The whole thing felt rather retro. The office was just the one doctor, one aide filling out prescriptions for the regulars, and his daughter as the admin. But, the operation ran rather smoothly. Considering that I took number 7 arriving 10 minutes after the beginning of office hours, he saw me in just a little over an hour. So 10 minutes per appointment, not bad. The doctor didn't speak much English, so I explained my problem in a combination of Italian and charades. He gave me prescriptions and we chatted about his upcoming family trip to the US for the summer holidays. (Let me just say that I am glad that I needed to see him now, rather than during his vacation, when I would have had to schlep over to his substitute's office...)

Overall, I would say that it was an pretty good experience. The doctor was super friendly and assured all my concerns about possible causes of the soreness. (I had been a little worried about DVT, since I first noticed it when getting off the plane on Sunday, but he assured me that I was missing the sure signs. Just a pulled muscle from swing around my luggage on said trip.) The uncertainty of just sitting in a waiting room hoping I hadn't screwed anything up (my leg, my paperwork, getting the right number) for an hour was the only thing that was unpleasant.

There was a pharmacy on my way to the subway from the office. You can always spot them from the big green cross signs:



I was actually amazed by how fast the pharmacy filled my prescriptions. You don't hand in your prescription then sit down, you hand them your prescription at the register and they get your stuff right then and there. Super fast!

Since the pharmacy was right next to a small Carrefour, I decided to bring home some groceries and grab a cold drink.



Fennel, potatoes, green beans, jam cookies, breakfast rolls, and porcini ravioli... I also had a Fanta Aranciata that I drank on the way home! The guy at the checkout was really nice, I was short 5 cents on exact change and about to pull out a 5 Euro note to cover that but he just gave me the "no biggie" wave with a smile. Had fennel in my salad last night!

This Week's Groceries

I had to get groceries this week, of course. I went with lots of salad stuff. I really like those pre-cooked beets. That San Pellegrino is the bitter orange version, it turned out to be more bitter than I really like. The orange jelly cookies are a little too sweet. The rest of the stuff is going well. I haven't had any of those tiny pears yet, but I think tonight, or maybe tomorrow, they will be ready!

One last pic from Boston!

I don't know how this one escaped the photo round-up. Me and my old lab-mate Kotaro, and his almost-year-old baby Tomoki! We were out at a lab lunch, and Rieko came to join us and brought the baby! He was amazingly well behaved, quiet, and pretty much happy unless being held by strangers. I was so pleased that he didn't hate me holding him, even after he was sitting for two hours in a restaurant. It didn't hurt that I was wearing cute necklaces that he could grab on to!



Back to Milano... it's still hot, but actually not as bad as when I left. It's tolerable walking to work and in my apartment at night. I had a plan to eat gelato after work as pre-dinner, or perhaps even instead of dinner, which I never implemented, but I am thinking of trying it out in the next few days. There's one decent place directly on my way home from work, and a really great place, Misciolgo, a few blocks out of the way... The temptations are great, people! I'll bring back some gelato pics if I do go soon...

Soreness!

I seem to be recovered from the jet lag almost completely! However, my back and my calf are sore from the plane rides. It doesn't help that I spent two hours standing waiting yesterday at the Immigration Office! They need a better strategy for organization there. I stood around in front of the building in the informal "waiting" group for close to an hour and a half, at which point an officer came out and collected all of our "appointment" slips. It took me a while to find mine, since I didn't know there was one in my pile of assembled papers. Luckily, my "task" was simple enough so they called me early out of that pile of 20 or 30 slips. The actual appointment was pretty easy and pleasant. The officers were all smiles and simple instructions.

On the way back from the appointment, I took the commuter rail one stop from Affori to Bovisa. I think the Affori train station is really pretty, actually. It's very new and doesn't get that much traffic, likely, so it looks good.

Visiting in California

I had a great time at home, though my trip was mostly packed.

Sarah and Fergus's wedding was a lot of fun. Ross and Dad bonded a lot.



I rocked my Elena Miro outfit.



I got to see the whole crew, including my Uncle O, here on the left of the groom, and Rada, in from Maui.



We spent a few of our day hours at the Bowers Museum, where they were having a Faberge exhibit.



In San Francisco, I helped Mom at her garden a bit. I can't believe how the potatoes just surface when they are ready to eat!



We also hit the Gaultier exhibit at the De Young. It was one of the best single designer fashion exhibits I've ever seen. OK, probably the best.



We spent the 4th relaxing at the new home. Unca Marty came for some veggie dogs and card games!



Speaking of which, the new house is less than half a block from the ocean. Some days were clear, some super grey!



But all that's back in the States... Tomorrow look for pictures of Italy!

Back in Milan

I arrived this morning, and even though I didn't sleep on the plane I wasn't totally zombie-like! That did not prevent me, however, from coming home and taking a big old nap. I am writing this post post-nap :D Hopefully I will be partly recovered from jet lag tomorrow, since I have to hit the ground running at work! I'll fill y'all in on my trip home later.