March 5

Living in a 400 year old renovated apartment in the city center of Florence sounds pretty glamorous, right? Well, it just so happens that 400 year old buildings have about 400 problems at any given time. Our water fiasco--no hot water or heating--was temporarily fixed by a pump to monitor water pressure. The pump, however working well for our apartment, filled the bottom floor of the building with a hefty inch of water. To find the source of a leak, a "worker man" (a phrase my family has used since I was little) was in the apartment for no less than 11 hours today. He made a hole in our wall and is trying to find the source of the leak. He speaks zero English, so we played a fabulous game of charades with each other this afternoon where he tried to tell me he was leaving for lunch and that I should expect him in two hours. In case you were wondering, the "lift two hands to your mouth as if you are eating a sandwich" is universal for getting a bite to eat.