Halfway House Pizza (5/14/1982)

Friday, May 14, 1982

Today I left with Frau G at 12:45 to take Ali G to his new “home” at the Elfenau Säuglingsheim/Infants Home in Bern. She took a back road to the lake, then got on the highway to Lyss. Shortly after Lyss she turned off on a road to Seedorf, which was her home town. She was more familiar with getting to Bern from Seedorf! We passed her husband on his way back to work after lunch. Traveled through hilly cattle country. Frau G talked about Ali’s father, about travel and languages, and how she met her husband. We arrived at Elfenau at 13:35. We spent a couple hours familiarizing the staff with Ali, doing paperwork, etc. I had spent last weekend drawing pictures to illustrate Ali’s general program.

That evening I left with Jan & Kirby at 18:30 to drive to a special restaurant where we would meet Elisabeth and Michel, and Hetty and her friend Peter. Jan was driving and when she asked if she should pick up a hitchhiker, I said “No” and Kirby said “Yes.” That was too confusing and Jan passed the hitchhiker, then tried to back up, but had gone too far, and gave up. We drove through Aarberg and through a series of tiny towns. In the area of Detligen, we came to a crossroads with a large old house that is now a half-way house for former drug addicts. On Fridays they open up a restaurant to serve pizzas, and sometimes Greek food. We went to the dining room and the other two couples arrived. Here were all four of the CP Station physiotherapists!
We had a waitress and a spaced-out waiter. I had grape juice to drink while the others shared an Italian red wine, I tried a sip, but could drink no more. The salads were huge and wonderful with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot slices, and arugula? The pizzas were baked in a wood-fired oven and thus tasted authentic! I had “Chiave” pizza with tomato sauce and mozzarella, ham olives, artichokes, capers and herbs. Michel helped me eat my pizza! We were then given a tour of the facilities; downstairs were three rooms used as dining rooms. We could watch them make pizza, wash the dishes, and make up the drinks. A front room contained several looms. As “therapy,” they rip up old clothes and use the strips to weave rugs. They also had “fresh” wool, with which Michel showed us how to spin yarn, but I think he was just kidding around. After the tour we had dessert of ice cream with fresh strawberries and cream. It was a great dinner but things started to drag, and Michel told me I was boring him by not talking. I was suffering from all the smoke.  Jan & Kirby and I left “early” at 22:00.