quality not quantity

The parents came and stayed with me for three nights, it's strange how the time both flew and lingered during their stay.
 
It's been a while since I sat down to update my blog.  I've been thinking about it, I really have, but I've not really known what to write about.  Once upon a time I was blogging all the hilarity that I was facing in my days as I battled with living in a new culture.  These things continue to happen but with a twist as now I'm slowly becoming part of this place, just a little bit.

The other night we went for dinner at the house of my piano teacher.  Instead of eating out at restaurants, as we have done so many times before when my parents have visited, I felt it was a good time for my parents to experience a more realistic representation of my week so that's how the dinner came about.  Even though my piano teacher doesn't speak English and my parents don't speak Italian, a good night was had by all.  In fact I think they had a much more memorable evening as a result, than any restaurant would have provided.

I no longer eat out at restaurants daily, perhaps once a week if that.  I still uphold a lively social life but in a different way: drinks out rather than dinners, a take-out pizza at mine, a walk along the seafront, or an ice cream after church, for example.  During these times I am able to give my time to someone to really listen to them and think about them.  Of course I do get it wrong: I have to practice biting my tongue, not finish other people's sentences and continue developing my patience, as well as try and keep calm when topics of conversation I don't like arise (argh, generalisations), but the changes I've been trying to make in my 'presence' when I'm with others has definitely been worth it.

Friendship really is about quality rather than quantity