Hail & Farewell

Yesterday we went to a Hail and Farewell dinner for John Ralph's work.  Not having a car, we rode our bikes.  It was a nice distance to bike, headed a little out towards "the country", and I did a pretty good job with it all.  I will admit, there was a little bit of yelling going on when John Ralph decided to ride down the wrong side of the road and enter a turn-about going in the wrong direction.  I think my exact words were "You have LOST your MIND!!  We should NOT be doing THIS!!".  However, he assured me that he had it under control, so I decided to hold my breath and hope for the best.  We ended up getting on a bike path, so I guess he did know what he was talking about.  Or he just got lucky. 

One thing about driving in Italy, is they have rules and regulations, but not really.  They're more like suggestions.  They don't seem to mind if you're riding your bike down the road in the wrong direction.  They're probably going to end up driving their car down the road in the wrong direction at some point during the day, so you're good.  Let's just say driving here is not for the faint hearted or people with slow reaction times. 

At the dinner I got to meet some people he works with and their wives, and learn a little more about living in Italy.  Going into this, it was my understanding that John Ralph would be the only one going up and being hailed.  I would simply support him from my seat.  I apparently got my information from a faulty source, because I had to go up there too, and we both had to tell a joke or sing a song. 

John Ralph went first:  Two men walk into a bar.  One turns to the other and says "Man, you think one of us would have seen it". 

I thought his joke was funny, but his laughs were a little delayed.  Then he decided to say "Ok, Jessica has been working on her song all week, so everyone put your hands together!"  My song?  Not funny. 

I did not sing.  That would have been catastrophic to his career.  But I did tell a joke and it got quite a few giggles:  What did the mama buffalo say to the baby buffalo as he left for school?  Bison. 

Hilarious, right?  It gets me every time. 

Overall, the night was really nice and we had a good time.  I found out about a few classes I can sign up for to learn more about John Ralph's job, and also some classes about living in Italy.  I think we're both looking forward to getting more involved, settling in, and finding a good group of people to hang out with.  We're planning to head to Venice this weekend, so I can't wait to see streets of water and go on gondola rides!  Hopefully we'll have some good pictures to post soon!