i arrive in italy

my back is sore, my knees are bruised and it's been a good day of rehearsal. i've been in italy for a little over 24 hours, and it seems that half of the time, i'm eating. no surprise there. after a delayed start (my flight at jfk sat on the tarmac for quite a while waiting for the pope to escape from new york), i arrived in a rainy milan yesterday morning. fellow cast member, laura, found me and delivered me to the loft where the rest of us are staying. (laura is happily staying in her own home with her husband.)

since unpacking, i've learned about taking the bus and the metro,

met with sabina, the costume designer to see her ideas for the show (think: reds in layers),

had coffee and a cookie at a cafe with laura and javier (another cast-mate),
went grocery shopping where we stocked up on what we thought were provisions for the week, but is starting to look like provisions for a couple of days since we all enjoy eating to a frightening extent, learned how to make italian coffee, and visited laura's beautiful home where she made for us delicious porcini mushroom risotto, followed by poached pears and figs -- heaven. gaby (director and fellow cast-mate) had the bright idea for us all to put on facial masks after dinner, which hindered our ability to immediately devour the warm dessert that was waiting for us. we didn't want to crack our masks, so there was lots of laughter with closed mouths. we thought we were hilarious. poor things.

i also cannot omit gaby's explanation of how to best use a bidet. those things are everywhere here and i've never used one so i had to ask. she was quite serious about the whole procedure and even demonstrated (clothed), but i've yet to indulge in the experience, fearing drenched pants or some other embarrassing result. i'm not the most graceful of creatures, but maybe some ambitious day before i leave, i'll give it a try.

not to dwell on my fascination with the facilities here, but i've noticed that a lot of toilets offer a two-button option for flushing. after some experimentation, i confirmed with laura that the smaller button results in a lighter flush, while the larger one will give you a more robust flush, for bigger jobs. brilliant!

today was filled with rehearsal. we are working out the beginning of the show. it felt great to be working on a project again. especially with friends. in milan. i'm very, very lucky.