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.