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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 It looked very outdated to me and as far as I can tell they just kind of check in on the patient every once in a while to see how they are doing.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.