Another week goes by

One of my favorite things that I have heard about Siena so far is that nobody has babies, they all have dogs instead. And it's very true. It's also why the population of the city is steadily around 50,000 (the same as it was before the Black Death). Really my favorite part is that all the dogs are very small, so I get to see all sorts of cute little puppies while I'm walking around. I assume nobody has big dogs because that would be too much like having a child for the Sienese.

On Tuesday night I went to a Tuscan cooking lesson which was very educational. For the first half hour we watched Elizabeta prepare some things, and she would occasionally have us stir something. But the real fun began when we made tortellini. I had no idea how easy it was to make pasta! All I need to do is buy myself a little pasta maker and I will go pasta crazy. We made pumpkin and cheese ravioli, with a spinach and potato casserole-type dish, and a custard topped with oranges for dessert. Yum! (See Flickr for a few fun photos: www.flickr.com/photos/martatom)

The bad news of the week: I caught a virus somehow and I've been out for a few days. The good news is that it is a virus and not food poisoning from the cooking lesson, like we originally thought. Being sick in Italy is really unfortunate though, especially since today was the most beautiful day that I have seen in Tuscany. But it's ok, because I'm making up my losses by taking a trip to Assisi tomorrow with two of my friends. I'm so excited. My language partner Gian Paolo said, "You will like Assisi very much, there is much art." He knows me so well already.