Italian Family

Today Tommy and I were invited to join one of the host families for a Sunday lunch. I was a bit apprehensive at the outset because they spoke no English and this would be my first true test of speaking Italian. Simply put, the meal was amazing. The mother, Dori, was absolutely hysterical and would not stop talking about America. She initially thought that New Mexico and Connecticut were close (US geography was not her strength) but I corrected her on the map she brought out. The food was incredible. She served gnocchi with a pumpkin sauce and gave me an enormous helping because she couldn't get over how big I was. Today's lesson definitely was to learn when to say "Basta" (Stop or enough) or Sono sazio (I'm full) because after we had finished the gnocchi she came out with potatoes, proscuitto, and salad. Again she made Tommy and I finish the proscuitto. Finally, she brought out a marmelade pie. The meal was fantastic but I need to learn how to pace myself because there always seems to be another course. The highlight of the meal was when the subject of Scotland came up and Dori immediately started talking about how it was her husband's favorite movie. She then got on a chair to grab a foot long curved blade (like one from the movie) and started weilding it around impersonating Mel Gibson.
The father seemed quiet at first but quickly warmed up to us when we started discussing soccer with him. (Even though he was pissed because Parma lost 3-0 to Catania the night before) We started asking him about tickets to games and how expensive they were and he said he would try and get us tickets to the Inter Milan game the following week (He actually wrote it down so he wouldn't forget). After a several hour meal we left with both an invite for lunch every Sunday they are home as well as the potential for tickets to next week's Parma-Inter game. Clearly befriending this family was very beneficial.