A little pain and a lot of men in tights.

Flag-throwers in a line-up
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I am learning helpful things all the time.  Like for instance, when someone advertises a "relaxing" and "easy" bike ride through the tuscan countryside, what they really mean is "a grueling, uphill 15 km bike ride where you occasionally cry out for your mother because the pain is so bad."  Okay, so I may be slightly exaggerating...but only slightly.  At one point, we passed a gathering of nuns on our way uphill and I thought for a moment that I had finally succumbed to the bike ride and been called to heaven.  But thankfully, it was just a random busload of nuns and I was still breathing (though barely at this point).  Anyway, we eventually made it to the top.  I suffered no long term injury except for a handful of unexplained bruises and a disturbing wheezing in my lungs. The scenery was amazing, and we stopped for lunch at a winery that was gorgeous and had delicious food and wine.  It was great to get out of Florence and see the countryside - and the fact that I can't feel below my waist anymore is a small price to pay.

Meanwhile, I seem to have full-out lost my war with the neighborhood devil cat.  I left my living room to go into the kitchen for a few seconds the other day, while daring to leave the windows open, and when I came back into the living room, the mother-loving cat was just sitting there in the middle of my living room.  I swear he just materialized.  Anyway, he saw me and leaped back out the window, but then just sat outside looking at me with his crazed eyes for awhile before trotting off.  One for the crazy cat. After the cat debacle, I was looking forward to the flag throwing contest.  It was advertised to start at 11:30 but of course, didn't really start until 3:30.  This is a common theme.  Anyway, the contest was fantastic.  I promise to have pictures later (I even took a little video) but the computers at school are so slow and old, that I might disrupt power to all of Florence if I try to upload them now.  They don't really do it justice though - troups of men in tights from all over Italy throwing flags and dancing around to drums and trumpets.  Sadly for them, it turned out to be one of the windiest days in Florence - leading to a signficant degree of chaos among the flag throwers, but making it even more entertaining for me to watch.  The best was at intermission, seeing all these men in renaissance tights standing around smoking and checking out the women - its even hard for Italians to pull off cool when wearing a hat with bells on it. Classes continue to go "well."  Although when I went to ask one of the others if they were paying for the cappucino today, I apparently offered to kiss them instead.  I'm sure that's a common rookie mistake though.