Back Home

We are in Milan. Jacopo spent 2 days in the hospital, but they did not do anything just watched him. I visited the hospital once and have decided I am going to stay healthy until I get home. It looked very outdated to me and as far as I can tell they just kind of check in on the patient every once in a while to see how they are doing. Oh and they have decided to give him some medicine and say he is fine. But we do not know if we are going to the mountains tomorrow or not.

It was kind of a terrible week in a beautiful place. Jacopo got sick and Alice decided to be hateful all week. Francesca was and still is sick. That on top of homesickness made it very long. But I did get some great phone calls. I got to talk to Grammy, Gramps, Mom, Dad and Andrew.

We flew by RyanAir which is not an Italian company, so everyone spoke in English, but it also a very inexpensive way to travel which means that they are a terrible choice for traveling with children. They would be great for traveling alone but not very helpful with children. I am tired so I will tell you more later about the week. Love you all and miss you.

Christmas Chaos

Just a brief update while the internet seems to be working. I am exhausted; it's hard work trying to understand what people are saying in a language you only kind of understand and watch kids at the same time. But I got on to tell you all that they took Jacopo to the hospital, he has had a fever all day and when they put him down to sleep he could not breathe. So they took him to the hospital and they think everything is OK but are keeping him overnight for observation. Andrea is at the house right now but probably will go back to the hospital and then it will be me and Alice. That will be a whole other experience. I do not think waking up and finding only me here will go well but if that is they way they want to handle it; then who am I to argue. I am not Alice's parent (though I kind of feel like one many days). Anyways, hope things are going better there. Merry Christmas to all.

12/23/2008

The internet connection is terrible here so I will catch you guys up when I get back to Milan. But for now Merry Christmas to all. I love you guys and miss you all!

In Sardinia

So last night I managed to get online with the Mistretta clan for Christmas which was great. I finished my laundry and getting packed about 2 am and at 4 am we got up and headed to the airport for our 6:30 flight to Alghero. We got to the airport and checked in, then stood in line for a while. Then we got to the gate I gave them the paperwork that they had given me and they told me I did not have my boarding pass. I looked in all of my stuff and could not find the boarding pass they say they gave me. So a lot of tense minutes and the very rude lady in charge finally had them print me a new boarding pass and let me on the plane. Argh. I slept on the plane for the whole hour-long flight. Also you are only allowed one suitcase and I almost got yelled at like 4 times because I was pulling 2 suitcases (mine and 1 of Francesca's). Oh yeah and I had some random kid walk up to me and hit me in the airport for no reason. Should have been a terrible experience but I kind of found it all hilarious. And now I am typing this and Francesca's aunt is talking to me in Italian, so I will post more later. Buon Natale!

Kids are gross

My new conclusion is just this. KIDS ARE GROSS! Alice just had the worst bloody nose I have ever seen and of course I am now covered in blood. But what I do not understand is that it is the second gussing bloody nose she has had today and they are not taking her to the doctor or anything. Maybe it's just me (and I have had my fair share of bloody noses, none this bad) but I would do something more than just wait for it to happen again. What's the point of having socialized healthcare if you do not use it?

12/18/08

So my package arrived today and I opened only the stocking, I think we should all be proud of me. Thank you mom I love all of my gift; they are just what I needed. She sent me slipper socks, hair bands and hoop earrings. All of the things I am too cheap to buy for 10 euros in Italy. So thank you; its all great.

I am staring at my secret santa gift right now but its still wrapped. Also I got a call in Italian yesterday telling me something, conversations in another language are really hard on the phone. So Francesca called for me this morning and they needed a copy of my passport before they could send my presents to the US. They said it was held up in Ghana. I'm not sure why there but as usual I just smile and nod. So now I am sure my secret santa gift will be late. Sorry but I will say your gift is pretty awesome so you cannot be too upset. There is like one person at the post office who speaks English so that was fun. I find explaining stuff about mail is not easy in any language, specially one you do not speak very well. And they asked for a fiscal code which I do not have since I am still living here illegally and the Austrailian who happened to standing next to me helped explain that and that I do not have one. So after about half an hour I think things got figured out and hopefully my package will get there soon. My Italian is better but not quite mail good. Able to talk to the porter and Alice and other children is what I can do.

Apparently a kid in Alice's school poked her in the eye with the scissors so she is home now and amazingly Francesca is not freaked out about it. But she is taking her to the doctor today. Socialized medicine weirds me out the way that they do it here. There really are not prescription drugs and when Alice or Jacopo are sick they just go to the drugstore and the pharmacist sells them some medicine based i guess on what they tell him. It's very strange.

Oh also I do not think that people here get quite how exhausting it is to work with kids. There were 5 children here last night for like 4 hours and I was telling Francesca how tired I was and she just looked at me like I was crazy. It was Alice (who is beyond stubborn), Jacopo (who is just a 1 year old trouble maker), Sarah (who tries to help but tens to just cause more trouble), Asia (who is 4 and somehow best friend and enemy of Alice) and Frederico (who is sweet but just too quiet and easily upset when the others start telling him what to do). It was a lot; oh yeah and Jacopo has decided that he only wants to be in my arms at all times. So even a day later i'm pretty tired.

I'm sure there is more but I don't know what right now so I will leave with a picture of our fake Christmas tree. It is about the size of the whole first floor. Ciao. I love you all and miss you.

Alice returns to school

I am not a person who journals, so I am trying to tell you guys about what i'm up to but it's hard. There are about a million things I would love tell you guys but I get lost in my own thoughts. A million times a day I think of things to tell you guys like little old Italian ladies love to give me lectures about things I am doing wrong. I find it funny because I usually am very shy about speaking Italian and in many cases claim not to speak much.

This weekend I got 2 days off (Alice was home for 2 days) so Friday I went out with one of my friends from class. It was great fun and I ended up practicing a lot of Italian. Also I finally bought new shoes; they are so cute and perfect for the cold weather.

Saturday I slept all day and then Sunday there was a big (10 people) party here. Apparently there is a tradition of a night of cards at Christmas. It was pretty interesting. I hung out, spoke some Italian and English, and learned 2 new card games. They were both very simple.

I know its the question on everyone's mind so I will tell you I can have conversations in Italian. My class is really terrible for learning Italian but I go anyways when I can. I conjugate everything wrong but I don't care as long as I can get my point across. Italian is getting easier but I don't think I will ever speak it perfectly. Now Alice understands a lot of English too. So I will say something in English and she will respond in Italian. It is all a very unusual experience, but so interesting.

Thank god today Alice went to school. She threw a fit and suddenly felt bad when she realized she was going. They keep her home for everything and she of course would rather stay here so she tried. Thankfully they sent her to school anyways.

Then I went to the PosteItalia, post office, and finally mailed my package for Christmas. Sorry, Mistretta Secret Santa your present will be late but on the brightside it's coming from Italy. I think thats all for now. I have class tomorrow. Ciao.

This is for Joe. Mom says you want more pictures.

Can't Sleep

Its 3 AM and I can't sleep so you guys get pictures of Pescara and of Jacopo.

Back in Milan

So I have finally found something I do not like about Italy... They maintain their highways too well and I get car sick on them. I got carsick both directions. Crap.

But once we were there it was great. Andrea has one brother, who 53 and never been married and a sister, Angela, who is 46 with two sons. Angela's sons are Luigi (21) and Enricho (17). They are very spread out in age. Andrea is 37. Everyone spoke a little English but apparently they were all too shy to speak to me. So I got a lot of practice in Italian.

Pescara is so cute. It is on the coast and a small town. We were 10 minutes from the center of town so while they all took naps I would walk to town and wander. On Sunday there was a great open air market. It's like a big garage sale so most of the stuff is good if you are looking to redecorate your house. I saw some really amazing furniture. This place is just so different its almost indescribable.

Oh and we had marathon meals the whole weekend. First course is pasta, followed by meat or fish with bread, followed by a vegetable, followed by fruit, followed by cookies or chocolate and often both. And everyone plate was what I would normally eat for a meal. They were so sweet, but all nervous that I was not eating enough. So I had eight people watching to make sure I ate enough and let me tell you I did. It was all delicious and there was so much.

We celebrated Christmas (Buono Natale!) on Sunday at Andrea's moms house. Her house is so much like I remember Grandma Mistretta's being. It had a built-in wall of shelves with Encyclopedias and old paintings of her children. Really nice furniture but also clearly very old. There are only a few family members so the presents seemed crazy to me. They bought Andrea's brother Dolce and Gabana underwear and Andrea got them all digital photo frames. Francesca got a new Cavalli scarf. Also Andrea and Francesca got me some really nice Puma lotion and body wash. It was just crazy. Oh and by the way just because a famous company is based here does not mean it costs any less here. But I also got to truely see how everyone is the same no matter where they are from; Enricho got in a "fight" with his uncle just like would happen with like Payne and Andrew or whoever. It was really fun.

Then on Monday we went to Andrea's sister's house for lunch. We ate again for like 4 hours with wine for appetizers, lunch and dessert. I only had a little because there is really no hope of me keeping up with these Italians. Her house is as modern as it gets. Sorry mom but compared to her house ours is outdated. The only sign of Christmas was a Santa Clause that sang Jingle Bells. I had to inform them that the words were wrong but it was from Naples so they were not suprised. Oh yeah they all look at Naples like we sometimes look at Alabama. You know as the defunct part of their country.

Well I have now writing a really long blog about my weekend so I will let you all go back to your lives. Oh one last thing all weekend I was really popular with Alice and Jacopo when we were with their family. I know it is just because they see me everyday instead of their relatives but it felt great. Oh and Alice is learning "I Want A Hippotamus for Christmas"; I got really tired of Jingle Bells after the 47 millionth time. Ciao. I will try and get you guys pictures tomorrow. Hopefully everyone will be well and go to school.

In Pescara

We are in Pescara. The children fell asleep on the way here which was awesome and then I of course napped as well. So now we are in their apartment in Pescara and it is huge; there are 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a living space, kitchen and like 4 balconies. I did not expect it to be so big since its really just where Andrea stays a couple days a week. But apparently the company got it for him, because he lives in Milan and spends so much time here. I am so confused, but the spend the summers in Sardinia and so I asked where they stay when they are there and the serious answer was that Francesca has a house there. So I am really confused about where I live and how this all is like it is.

Last night we had dinner at Andrea's moms apartment. Everyone lives in apartments. She's such a cute little old happy Italian grandma. But there were like 6 courses and I was so full by the end. Tonight we are going over for dinner again and Andrea's sister and her family will be there too. Adventures in Italy continue. Ciao.

DOORS

So I posted this yesterday but it looks like it did not work, but I have doors and they work. The new game is now lets break into Erica's room and play. Also we had Asia over again but this time she and Alice got in a fight about nothing. All of the sudden they were just angry at each other. Just imagine me in the middle of a fight about nothing between 2 children who speak a different language. It was interesting and definitely a unique experience. Today we have lots of contractors here trying to finish up the different pieces of the renovations. So I am sitting on the couch under a blanket watching Wake Forest play Indiana. What an odd life I live. It was awesome to see all of you for Thanksgiving and tomorrow we are going to Pescara for the weekend. It will apparently be Christmas part one with Andrea's family.

Early early morning

I got up at 6:15 with Francesca and the kids. Then Francesca took a 7 o'clock train to Turin and then I played with the kids until 8:30 when I took them to school. It was a 3 hour morning before I finally got the kids to school. They were pretty good and Francesca has finally learned to sneak out and not say goodbye. It just avoids a lot of crying.

Then this afternoon Francesca picked the kids up from school, so I only had to watch them from 4:30-7:30 pm. Also Asia came over, so you know it was just me and 3 kids.

So I definitely gave you very little information about my Thanksgiving. We managed to find like the only gay bar in Italy. Molly and I had a blast being the straight American girls surrounded by cute Italian men. It was so much fun; we met all kinds of people and talked about "the old days". Then there was a whole lot of drama, when Molly's parents thought we were lost in Italy. It was so funny and absurd. Molly's poor mom got so upset she cried when we got back to the hotel. So a whole of to do about nothing. That's about all that has happened. I babysat Friday and Alice was really good. So you know life is just forming a normal routine now. On another note this weekend we are going to Pescara.

Holiday Drink Excitement

So our holiday drink was great, but Molly's parents freaked out. We went to a bar and then came back to the hotel. Nothing super exciting until Molly's parents got freaked out and started calling my parents to see what my number was, so that they could call me.

Oh well, now its snowing, not like Georgia snow. Crazy and the Italian assure me this is not normal.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!

Catch all post

I believe I am officially a terrible blogger. I went out on Friday with Eleanora, a friend of Heather's, who lives in Milan and speaks English. She is a language major(?), as usual I am not sure what that means. We went to the castle in Milan. It was built by some rich family a long time ago. It was the first time I had managed to get there during the daytime. I have pictures which I will upload at the end of the week along with all of the others from this week. But I have to go back for more. It was my first vespa riding experience in Milan. So that was fun and then for lunch we had Chinese food. Eventually I wandered home like I always do and picked up the children from school.

Saturday was very low key; we hung out at home and then it all went down hill from there... but i already told that story, so onward and forward.

On Sunday we had a 2 year old's, Matteo, birthday party. It was a bit odd as usual because I do not speak much Italian. So as usual I played with the kids. Matteo's mom speaks English but I find it easier in group situations to play with children. Did you guys know I am magic? I amazed them when I made balloons stick to the walls. Also I met a nice French couple who live here in Italy and speak English.

It's kind of hard to seriously motivate myself to speak Italian because a lot of people want to practice their English with me. Even with this obstacle my Italian gets a little better every day. I speak more in the house now and Francesca is helping. Oh yeah and since my reading skills are so awesome, Alice now lets me try and read in Italian. She likes reading a lot. This is so wonderful for me and her. The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss is now a close second to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. And she loves to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes too. Basically English is getting used more and more in this house. Like today when Alice tried on Asia's shoes and said so cute. Haha.

Back on track... For anyone who was wondering Molly's family always leaves the US for Thanksgiving and this year they decided to come to Milan. So yesterday I met up with them after I dropped off the kids then we did 18- 6 (backwards) on their walking tour of Milan. I think my unguided tours have shown me much more interesting parts of Milan. It was amazing to see Molls and hang out with her family. It is always nice to speak English at a normal speed and be understood. After #6 Teatro l'Scala (which was amazing) I had to run to the metro and catch the train back to Naviligio as quickly as possible. Picked up Alice and Jacopo (on time, which was no small feat) and went back to the house and played until Francesca and Andrea got home. By then I was running late for dinner with Molls and fam. So I again ran, this time in the opposite direction and met them for dinner. Then back to the house for sleep until this morning.

Today they went to Lake Como. It is about 45 minutes north of the city and I could not go, so hopefully I will see them tomorrow. But all in all it is a pretty awesome week. Oh and I found out today that the three legged cat I always see actually lives in our building and thinks it is a dog. How awesome.

P.S. Mom the weather is very similar on paper but apparently I either misunderstood the numbers or the weather is being weird this year. I think I just did not worry about it much before I came. On that note I must buy a hat tomorrow.

Dude it snowed last night and Molly is going to be here today. What an awesome day!

Again momentarily sickly

So had some obnoxious 24 hour bug which sucked, especially because Marinella and Michael were here when I got sick. Luckily I cleaned everything and went to bed without bothering anyone too much. Alice was sick too last night, but we had none of the same food yesterday, so who knows. Still a little wimpy today but eating successfully. I miss chicken noodle soup. It would have been the best meal for today but they do not have anything like it here. So I made do and I think Molly is coming to Milan tomorrow so that will be fun.

Oh yeah and there is a birthday party for Matteo this afternoon at 4:30pm so mom I might be a little late getting on but I will try to make sure its not too late. Love you all and miss you. Hope everything is going well.

Saturday Morning

So what am I doing? Oh yeah that's right, I'm watching the Duke game. More later.

All Better

Everyone went to school today so it was just me and the three workers in the house. I cannot wait for the renovations to end. Ah I just want to be somewhere alone for a few minutes. God I am glad I am not a mom. I cannot imagine how anyone does it. I love you mom.

But on the other hand Alice is learning and repeating more and more words in English. We played find the animal by it's English name. And Alice did suprisingly well.

Sickly Kids

Alice had a flu and threw up a bunch yesterday so today she stayed home from school. And we hung out and had fun. She was fine until this evening and then tonight another fever. Tomorrow I get to go to class since I had to skip it on Friday, then I get to come home and watch Alice again. I am ridiculously tired and it starts all over tomorrow.

Also I apologize to anybody whose comments I have not answered. I invite anybody with questions to post them and I will try and answer them on Wednesday. As always I miss you guys.

Friday

I am now exhausted. Jacopo stayed home from school today with a fever and we spent the day together. He was so pathetic; so we just cuddled. I did not leave the house the entire day. I was so stir crazy by the end that I quite happily took the garbage out.

Then I came over to the neighbor's (Sarah and Lucas') house to babysit while their mom had a parent meeting. Sarah was content to sleep but Lucas wanted to stay up, eventually after telling him like 20 times to go to sleep (in italian) i went back downstairs and i did not hear from him again. I think he went to sleep. Now I am just sitting here watching SKY in English with Italian subtitles. This is such a completely unusual experience I decided to have. But by the time I come I should be able to have at least some conversation in Italian. How many people can say that? Ciao.

Not much to report

Alice has decided she likes me and she can now sing the ABCs without trouble and I know everyword of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Jacopo has had a fever off and on for 2 days so tomorrow he is staying home with me and I am not going to Italian class. Mario is coming to finish putting on my doors tomorrow and I have a babysitting gig for the neighbors (Sarah and Lucas). They will already be in bed because they have school Saturday. So I really just have to make sure everything is fine and read my book or whatever. This weekend is supposed to be sunny so we are all looking forward to that. Thats all I know of for now. I miss you guys.

Christmas

I am going with the family to Sardinia (where Francesca's family is) on the 21st and we will be there until the 28th. After that we are going to the mountain, but they have not decided in which country.

Twice in 1 day, boy are you guys spoiled.

So first off there was a strike Friday. That meant that Alice went to school with me. She was so excited to be big and she was about as good as you can expect a 2 year old to be in an adult class. She was so sweet and after class we went to the "America" bakery. Then we went to the park and Alice fell asleep on the way home. I stayed and ate dinner with them and caught the first train I could to Venice. It was at 5ish so I got to Venice a little after 8 (i think).

When I got there I asked for directions and I was told it was 20 minutes by water bus or I could walk. My hotel was on the other end of the island. I opted to walk and after I do not even know how long and asking how many people for directions I got there. It was a cheap, really outdated little hotel but it was perfect for me. After all I really just needed somewhere to sleep. It was like 5 minutes walking distance from San Marco and all of the important things in Venice. I then dropped off my bags and wandered out for dinner. I could not decide what eat so I went with the old standyby of chocolate gelato. Then I wandered for probably another hour before I decided to go to bed.

In the morning there was a continental breakfast so I found someone who spoke English and sat with him. He was German cameraman who was there to do a report about some famous German actor. After lunch I went out to sight see. I started at San Marco; it was so unbelievable. I went through it twice and payed to go upstairs through the museum. I spent like 4 hours there. Then I went across the street where I met a group of 4 Northwestern, computer architect grad students. They were so perfectly dorky I hung out with them for the afternoon. There was just lots of wandering but the architecture I saw was amazing and then we sat on the water bus and just toured the outside of the island. We also stopped to see the Rialto bridge. I am sure there is a reason it is so exciting but I did not care for it either way.

That night was pretty uneventful more aimless wandering. It was such a relaxed and calm trip; it was great. I went to Murano and saw what I could see. The glass work is pretty amazing, but otherwise it was just really touristy. I finished my book too so I did the hostel thing and traded it for a new book. The new book is pretty good too.

Then Sunday I slept in and relaxed a bit, after that I went to Lido. It was a little cold for beaching it so I just walked around and saw what I could. It had a completely different feeling. It was much more Italian country and less tourist like. That was where I found Marco Polo (without even looking). I know it's random but it made me laugh, so you guys got to see it too.

Eventually I went back to Venice where I ate a Pizza Margheritta. I eat lots of things you guys would never think was possible, but it is very different here. I do not know why but it is. At lunch I heard some English speakers behind me so I turned around to talk to them. They were an older British couple celebrating the man's birthday. So I talked with them for a while and then I went to the Doge's Palace. I just have no words that can describe how unbelievable it was. I got you guys pictures instead. Then I went back to my hotel and picked up my luggage to go catch my train. Outside the train station after watching another weird Italian display I started a conversation with an Australian who is working as an accountant in Ireland. The whole trip was just cool. I met lots of interesting people and saw so much amazing old stuff.

I rode the train back to Milan, bu the way my phone has been dead since like Friday night. So I have not gotten in touch with Francesca and Andrea to tell them when I am coming back. I was kind of trying to hurry unfortunately I think the truth I am just incredibly uncoordinated. But I was getting on the metro when I missed a step and twisted my left ankle really good again. It is a little swollen. Only I could go to Venice successfully and then hurt myself as I am getting home. I have not let it stop me. I will admit it hurts though. I think thats all. I cannot imagine you guys could possibly want to read more about it. It was all around awesome and very relaxing. Ciao.

P.S. Mom by all means sell the car. I would rather have the money to travel with; I do not need it but it will make me feel better. Janet please send me the video you took, I think the fact that you took a video of the cat bathing the dog is hilarious. And I am trying to get a video of Alice singing the ABCs. Unfortunately she gets distracted halfway through and wants to see the video; Maybe in the next couple of days.

Venice

So it took me some time to get to this I got back late last night (10:30). And I started this blog earlier and the internet freaked out and deleted it all for me. I love this traveling by myself I do what I want when I want to, I just kind of wander until I wanted to look at something. I met all kinds of people who spoke English. It was so beautiful and so much fun too. Alright well ciao. Post more later.

One month in Italy

So I have been here one month and four days.. How weird is that? But I am learning Italian slowly. Mostly I know how to tell Alice to stop or sit or eat. And I have realized I am very content to be by myself most of the time. I like being a lost wandering outsider. I just do what I want and am responsible for very little which is incredibly refreshing. Oh and I am learning Italian by watching House. Just kidding.

We think tomorrow Alice does not have school. PS we did not know until today and we are still not sure if she does have school or why she does not have school. So that will be interesting because I have school and the others of course have work. Maybe Alice will go to school with me and help? Also it means I will have to leave a little later for Venice. Oh well they are giving me the afternoon and Sunday off, how can I complain?

Also it was very important to them that I stay on the actual island of Venice, so I am staying at a cute little B&B in the city. But I really don't mind the extra cost because somehow I like never spend much in Milan. So $50 for train tickets and $100 for the room and I get another mini vacation. There is supposed to be light rain but that is all it has done in Milan for 2 weeks so rain cannot stop me. I think this must be the best decision I ever made. I'm living in Italy! Molly I will definitely get you a picture of me hugging Venice for you.

Election Day

It's election day and I am stuck in a foreign country. I am glued to CNN. How are things going there?

About Venice and my day

So Venice is only 3 hours by train and like $40 so now I'm just working on things like where to stay and when to go etc. But maybe Venice next weekend and today on my day off I wandered a lot. I got some more photos of Milan. I will tell I did refrain from taking a picture of the lime green and purple mo hawk I saw today. It was disturbing and impressive. And I took another ton of pictures of Duomo. It is so amazing I think I could take thousands of pictures and still not know what all of it looks like. Also the guy came today and approved the plan to add doors to my room, this means that maybe two or three weeks from now I will have a room with doors. Yay progress.

Vote early

I'm taking a vote. I seem to have been in Milan for awhile now and I cannot decide where to go next. What do you guys think? Oh and somebody remember to send me grammy's vote too please.

Last picture for the day

This is my fake Prada bag. I really could not care less about the name, but it's soooo cute.

Ask and you shall receive

It's still raining here so sorry but I'm kind of stuck inside. I don't want to get too sick. But instead I have attached some more pictures of Rome. I think these are all new or different. I have so many pictures that I really cannot remember. Anyways enjoy.

Good news

Got my package today. Yeah, thanks for the books and all. "Chicka chicka boom boom" is going to be interesting since they don't use j, k, w, v, or y in their writing. But she already really likes the rhythm of the book. Anyways, dad I really cannot believe you sent me my junk mail accross the ocean. And it feels like i'm still in the states with my note...

Oh and final "good" news, school got cancelled for tomorrow. I'm studying lots now instead and making lists of important vocab to learn.

I see sun

I'm not sure how much yesterdays blog made sense. Sorry guys I am sick and I have not been able to sleep well. But there is finally sun again so it is all looking up. Oh yeah and I am feeling a little better today. The cough still sucks and I still wish they had chicken noodle soup here. But they don't. :( Oh well, I'm living in Italy.

Oh and the family trip is being planned for the first weekend in December and Francesca told Andrea Dublin is too cold for the kids. She wants to go to Barcelona. So we will see also there's a long weekend the weekend after that which they are spending in Pescara with Andrea's family and then Christmas in Sardinia with Francesca's family. It is kind of like splitting Thanksgiving and Christmas I guess.

Not much else to report right now except Alice did not cry when we left for school this morning. Yeah for the small victories and we can communicate just a little more everyday in Italian. She will say "good morning/night" but thats about it and she ignores me when i speak English. 6 weeks right mom. Alright ciao.

Rainy

So this week is apparently going to be a rainy one. It started yesterday. Also my phone died so I went to pick up Alice as usual (it was just drizzling) and by the time we walked to Jacopo's school Francesca was there. I take them in a stroller and so before I went to school I put the stroller inside and someone moved it out. So a soaking wet stroller, two sick kids, one exhausted mom and me. What a bunch we were. Anyways francesca took all of us home where she planned to work and I would play with the kids. By the way the kids are still sick and at this point in very bad moods. They cried until Francesca sat with them which meant she did not get any work done and we were all just frustrated. We all survived and everyone else slept through the night last night.

Oh well we drove together to drop them off and Alice told her mom because she had dropped her off I could pick her up. So maybe today will be better. And maybe I will get my package from mom and dad. Ciao.

Adding more families to my life

Not much to report its Monday, except I feel terrible. My head is so stuffed up that when I tried to lay down and take a nap today it didn't work because I couldn't breathe. It's that dizzy when you stand up and every noise gives you a headache kind of cold. I'm pretty sure I will live but I wanted to complain briefly. If I said any of this to Francesca or Andrea they would send me to bed and become my parents (love you mom). It's funny this has made me a bit homesick I kind of want vitamin C drops and chicken noodle soup. By the way Jacopo has the same cold and the poor boy is distraught. I feel bad for him.

So I just took some of my cold medicine and I am hoping to go to bed soon. I'm watching Looney Tunes in Italian with Alice while her mom tries to find the keys Andrea failed to throw into the window. So hopefully it won't be long. Oh so I'm writing this on my apple in the living room and Alice keeps trying to eat the apple on the back. Oh well it's all still new, interesting and weird. My Italian is getting better much faster now that I know what it should sound like. Thats really exciting to me. Oh and 2 people asked me for directions this week, so I must look like I belong. Yeah American in Milan.

And Andrea mentioned today that he is thinking about doing a family trip to Paris or Dublin when the renovations. I kindly offered to go and help take care of the kids and looked at me like I was crazy. Then he said I expected you would go with us. Moral of the story: I am now part of an Italian family. E tutto. Ciao.

FYI

Hey mom sorry I missed you but the new internet they got has a 100-hour limit per month, so I tend to get on and then quickly back off. Anyways I will be on today for you from about 12-1 your time if this doesn't work feel free to counter offer. I love you all and miss you.

Spoiled

Um, so I am going to have to learn to cook before I come home. I am losing weight and we had mussels, fish (with the head and all still attached) and pasta yesterday for dinner. Everything I have eaten has been delicious and of course all fresh. Then today we stopped at a street vendor and picked up fresh fried calamari and shrimp for very very cheap.

Sickly

The cold I have been fighting for a month finally caught up with me. I feel blah, but don't worry mom they are taking good care of me. Of course I still went to school. Then I came home and slept instead of going out. Andrea picked up Alice from school today so I just had Jacopo and he offered to pick him up too. They are so sweet and trying hard to help out anyway they can. I kind of feel bad, because it is just an annoying cold and if don't help out why am I here.

Anyways... So I'm going to start saying 'Alora'. It seems to be their word for the start of every sentence. Its great and oh yeah Janet they end most explanations with 'capito?' which is the equivalent of 'you know?' haha. I also found the place where they believe chocolate must consumed daily.

Alright well thats about it. Ciao.

P.S.This is for Aunt Linda and whoever else doesn't know,
"pea said...So, my good news is that my internship got extended! Boss lady's words were, "We honestly don't know where we'd be without you." Pretty sweet deal."

Gosh mom that's awesome news how did you not already tell Aunt Linda. Anyway anybody talked to my mom recently she hasn't commented in a couple days and I'm not sure she's still alive. I assume she is but who knows.

Thursday

I think this experience is just what I needed. I work only like 6 hours a day and get the rest of the time to relax. It is fabulous. Anyways there is not much to report here. Alice went to a friend's house to play yesterday so it was a nice break and then we watched Charlie's Angels in Italian. Since there's not much to report I figured i'd tell you guys about some of the differences I have noticed, a top tenish list of sorts.

1) This is a very social culture. You always stop and talk to people you know no matter where you are supposed to be and when.
2) They do not eat many vegetables, but they eat pizza and pasta everyday.
3) They walk slowly everywhere.
4) Children stay in strollers no matter what. They do not hold children unless they are feeding them. That way they do not get upset when they are in a stroller at school.
5) Children go to school from a very young age even if their mothers are housewives, because it is good for them to socialize with other children.
6) They eat out for lunch everyday.
7) High school students go to school 6 days a week but only until 1pm.
8) The street in theory has the same rules, but if you must you can drive briefly on the wrong side of the road. Or back up 2 blocks to the parking space you want.
9) There's a heirarchy on the road. In America it is car trumps walker (you stop until there's a break in cars to walk). In Milan walker trumps car but stroller trumps all. It's amazing cars stop for strollers to cross the road.
10) It is believed that you will get sick if you walk outside with your neck exposed. Therefore they wear scarves everywhere.
11) Very few people speak English, but they still all try to communicate and they help anyway they can. It is so sweet and refreshing.

I'm sure there are many more and I will tell you about them as I remember them. Also I wanted to say congrats to Janet. I'm so excited they realize how awesome you are. And i'm glad everybody else is doing well. Lastly, mom I keep trying to stay up to catch you but I have to get up early so I usually fall asleep before then.

Another Day

Alice hates me less and less. She is now arranging all of my shoes on the floor and running around them. I had school today it was fine. The teacher finally admitted she speaks English and explained what we were learning briefly. Then it was back to all Italian. Sarah and Lucas came over again today. They are so sweet and Sarah wants so much to be able to understand me. So she and I seem to be working out some weird English/ Italian language. Now Alice is doing exactly what everyone of my nieces does, she is playing with my hair. This just proves my thoughts before I left the Stati Uniti, all children are the same.

Rome

I am not captioning pictures but I will definitely tell about my grand adventure. My family left for Pescara on Thursday so I got to sleep in before class (8am). I cleaned up around the house before I left and took my bags with me. I went to class it was another really long 2 hour game of what the hell is going on but whatever. Then I grabbed a quick bite with my classmates and caught the metro to the train and rode the train to Rome. Its going to sound weird but even the landscape just looks completely different.

So a long train ride later I was at the central station in Rome. From there I caught the subway to a stop where I met Heather. I had never met or seen her before so it was another mini-adventure. The theme of this experience seems to be that I go somewhere and meet someone I have never met before.


We met up and of course started out my trip to Rome with a gelato. We talked about what are lives are like and it was great. because I could say things like "no dice" and she understood. Also she has been here for 4 months doing the au pair thing so that was great for tips too. Heather is the one on the far right and a friend she met on the train named Amanda is in the middle of the picture. Friday night she had to babysit so we hung out in another one of those nice apartments in Rome this time. She taught me how to play a new card game called Barooco. It's a lot of detailed stuff but fun enough. Oh yeah and by the way she's one of 5 kids and an Education major graduate.

Anyways so we did not really see anything that night we went out on Saturday and i'm positive it was completely different from any other tourist experience ever. Friends of Heather's, Emilio, he is Italian and Amanda met up with us. We just kind of wandered and saw so much. I threw my 1 euro cent in the Trevi fountain and saw the Pantheon, Colloseum, Spanish steps, and the capital building. I'm sure there is more but it is hard to list it all off the top of my head. But it was great because I just got to wander and see things at my own pace. There was no pressure to rush we just saw what we saw. At one point there was a drum circle in the middle of a side road, so of course we stopped and hung out. The people I was with were big hippies. It was so much fun.

We picked up a couple bottles of wine on our way to dinner and shared the whole way there. For diner we ate pizza at a place started by a man from Naples (the birthplace of pizza) with ingredients all from Naples. Of course we had pizza, wine, fried rice balls and lemoncello. It was another four hour dinner; it was perfect. After dinner we went to a bar for a few quick drinks en route to other things and ended up staying until like 3 am. Then Heather and I made our way home. All and all it was a great day. I listened to a lot of Italian and even picked up some new words. Yeah! Then Sunday Heather and I saw a few more sights and I headed home.

But on to today briefly... It's not as exciting but Alice and I had a good day. She only cried for a very brief moment until Francesca came home and then she of course cried a lot. We went to the park and played and played and played. Oh yeah and all weekend Alice apparently kept asking where I was, so with the new words I have learned and all. I seem to be moving in the right direction.


P.S. this huge ass gelato is what happens when you joke with cute Italian boys. It was about twice the size of everybody else's and I could not even finish it.

Home safe

This one is going to brief because I did not so much sleep while I was in Rome and it is really mostly for mom. I made it back to Milan safely and I will post some of the 100 pictures and the more family appropriate anecdotes about Rome tomorrow.

Free for the weekend

My Italian family has left for Pescara and I am free for the next few days. I am headed to Rome tomorrow, yay. There will be lots of pictures. Oh yeah and Francesca's parting words to me were watch out for the Italian boys... This is the best idea I may have ever had.

I have the best Italian family ever

Well I have the best American family too, but as you all know my Italian family is going to Pescara this weekend so I get it off. I am going to Rome for the weekend. I am leaving on Friday after class and riding the train. Then they put me in contact with one of their friend's au pairs (Heather). And she is so sweet she is happy to show me some of Rome, there will be a little watching of the kids but I do not mind. And to top it all off Andrea just called their friend (Fatima) and she is excited for me to come and be part of her family. So what we all get out of this is that the housing and some food will be free. God this is awesome. I'm so excited.

Tuesday

Today I took Jacopo to school and Francesca took Alice to school. Alice has to be there at 9ish which means 9 or a little later, so seeing as I had class at 9 that would be hard to accomplish. So I left at 8:10 and dropped Jacobo off no problem and then I set about walking to my school. I walked and walked and then I was looking for the next direction or somethig familiar and I did not see anything. Crap, I was lost (first time so far, yeah me). I walked a little further and then just gave up and admitted that I needed help so I called Francesca, on my Italian cell phone, and seeing as I did not even know where I was lost, she said the brilliant thing and told me to ask for directions. The first person did not know and the second did not either, mind you all of this was done with a lot of gesturing and very few words. But the second person was a nice little old Italian lady who helped me find two very cute police officers who gave me directions and I was on my way. So you all know I was like 2 blocks from where I needed to be all along. I could probably get lost in a paper bag. Oh well only a half hour late I finally found my way to class.

So as Janet requested (even though I have spoken to her about it) I will give you more details about my class and classmates. There is a whole "hodge-podge" of people; a couple Japanese, several Germans, a Polish guy, one American, one Australian and a British girl. That's not all of the people but you can kind of get the picture. It's just a lot of random people. Some are au pairs others just seem to have moved here. I think now that the teacher secretly speaks English because she pulled out several sentences today?! Anyways its all in Italian still, which works except I (and everyone else) never understand the directions. So, I survived another 1.5 really long hours of class. It's the hardest thing I think I've learned in a while its really annoying to understand nothing I feel like I am learning more with my family. To be fair though they discuss more than my name and what country I am from. Here I will insert the Italian word of the day basta (stop). Somehow I feel like I say this a lot. Go figure with a stubborn 3 year old in my charge.

Anyways so after class I went out with 2 of the girls from it, one is from London (I went out with her on Friday) and the other from Germany. So what did we but what we always do. We went window shopping. And I found out that both of them are or intend to be in fashion school. So basically I learned all about Prada, Gucci, Armani, what's in and what's not... Fair warning fussy clothes are coming back in lots of lace and cut up strips on shoes. I somehow felt compelled to buy nothing. But it was really good exercise and really interesting.

Let's see as for the children today picked them up from school. Alice cried the whole way from her school to Jacopo's which amazingly did not really bother me at all. She just wanted her mom. Then we got back back home and played with Matteo (2 year old neighbor). His mother speaks a little English but mostly we just played with the kids. After a while we came back to our home and shortly after were joined by the next door neighbor kids, Lucas (10) and Sara (8). They came and played until Francesca got home and fed Jacopo. Then the rest of us had pizza. Andrea is supposedly coming back from Pescara tonight. We will see. I think I am out for the night. I love you all.

Alone with the kids

Had Sunday off so nothing to report there. And this morning I took the kids to school all by myself. There was no fuss; which seemed weird since every other time i've taken Alice there has been a big fit. But anyways took them to school with no problems. Now I just have 7 hours to my self for whatever. I have a lot of free time I realize so now I need to figure out what to do with it. Suggestions are welcome.

Saturday

Not much to report hung out with the whole bunch today. Alice seems to go forward a step and back two. Oh and Jacopo decided today that he can walk. So he's now taking a few steps here and a few steps there. It is making Francesca a wreck because he could fall and that is dangerous. Oh well I take nervous mothers in stride and accept it. But all in all having a great time just living in Milan. You know I realize I live a very rough life. Ciao I have tomorrow off so I will maybe go get you pictures Aunt Kay of the mall next to duomo.

Au pair wanted

Last post for the day but I keep forgetting Francesca has a co-worker who is looking for an au pair. So if anyone would like to move over here with me there is a job waiting. This is for real if you guys know anyone. Night.

Thank you guys

I am so glad to hear that you guys are enjoying my posts, but I want you guys to feel free to leave comments including whats going on at home. The blogs are about my day to day and even though I am on the other side of the world (ish), I want to keep up with whats going on there. How the wedding plannings going? Payne's hair growing back in and Linde getting her cast off, Amanda's goings on, Thea, Caeli, Claire, Catherine and Emily doing whatever etc. I love you guys and I am glad this is working out great for everyone. Its a lot like a journal for me, which is great for remembering this grand adventure in the future. And I love having references to whatever else was going on in our collective worlds.

On another note my phone tends to work here if anyone needs to talk unfortunately it's been dead for a few days and will be dead until the charger gets here (mom's sending it; Thanks mom, you are always my hero). Also mom I would expect you will find the cat has stolen the car keys. She does that; goodness she's trouble. Oh and if anyone wants to get in touch with me my e-mail is probably the best and cheapest way at e_mistretta@yahoo.com.

Important to my life now, I finally got a glass for my shower so now it no longer has plastic taped up to the edges. And my legs are so tired from all of the walking. Jacob's name is Jacopo and Alicia =Alice; somehow in a strange place with all new pronunciations of everything, I got them spelled wrong. It's all new and we did not spell it out for a couple days. So from here on I will spell their names right, silly me.

Also Jacopo had a bloody nose today. He's had a cold and we have been cleaning his nose constantly. It did not make me nervous but today was the last day their old babysitter was helping me pick them up and she freaked. There was lots of talking in Italian all nervous like and quickly. She even called Francesca who came home early but was not upset when she got here and saw the whole situation. I'm pretty sure his nose was just dried out and he will be fine. And Alice is finally accepting that I am here to stay and is answering my English in Italian. Its very interesting to observe and I guess live.

Tomorrow is Saturday; I will have to work but mostly as an assistant to the parents so no big deal. I expect there will be some random dinner and socializing with people. Then I have all day Sunday to myself but seeing as I really do not know anyone I will probably hang out with Francesca and Andrea this weekend. Then next weekend is supposed to be my first trip to Rome. There are not any set plans so we will see. Ciao.

P.S. gelato gets better every time I try it. And they pretty much eat it every day which is no problem since it has like a quarter of the fat of ice cream. Sweet moving to a foreign country weight loss program. And oh yeah walking a million miles a day is a great plan, but they do not seem to eat many vegetables. Lots of pasta though, oh and we had fish and potatoes for dinner it was delicious. The fish was even served with the head, tail and skeleton intact. Oh and Kay I have been through Via Montenapoleone twice already that's where the four similar pictures are from I will stop and take pictures of the shops for you next time I'm there. Keep sending me suggestions and questions and I will happily keep answering. Hope everyone is doing well. Sorry I'm rambling. Ciao for now.

My schedule

OK, Jeff this is for you. I am bad at explaining things with writing but here goes. I have to help with the children from 7-9ish. I drop them off on my way to school, where I am learning Italian. Then I pick the children up at 4 and take care of them until their parents get home at 6ish and help out until 8ish or after dinner which tends to be later. But in Italy people seem to work from whenever they get to work until they feel like leaving. It is all very lax and people do kind of whatever they want. Does this help?

1st day of school

So to start off the teacher does not speak any English. She just speaks Italian and expects us to follow its very weird. But I also got to meet some other people who spoke English which will be the better part for me. Oh yeah I guess I will learn to speak Italian too. But I went out to lunch with one of the English speakers from London which was great because I got to speak English quickly without having to slow myself down.

We stopped at a random place where I had broccoli quiche and Coca-cola. Then we went on a search for our textbook. We went into 3 bookstores and finally found someone who recognized the name of the book but when we went where it was supposed to be they were all out. So anyways we were by the duomo so I took pictures for you guys.


It was so much fun, because as usual for me it was just a big observational psychology experiment. There are so many differences. Including it is a much more social culture. If you know someone you always stop and talk no matter what else is going on.





















These four paintings are inside the mall next to the duomo. Just around the ceiling. It is amazing how much detail is in even the simplest places.


This is the good luck bull. You spin on one heel on his "private area" for good luck. Even the locals when they walked passed would stop and spin.

Now here are the pictures of Na Villa my landmark if I ever get lost, along with the church of Saint Christopher.




















That's all for now. Enjoy.