P.S.

Forgive the lack of photos ... my camera lens is not cooperating so I am in the middle of trying to decide what to do next. I'm hoping it will work again, at least to get me through until the end of this semester, but we shall see. Until then, excuse the boring prospect! IF you need help wading through the flood of words, there are life jackets available ...

Well-Behaved Wednesday and Thankful Thursday

After Tuesday's public outburst, my embarrassed and exhausted little self decided to spend Wednesday with Veronica a casa - under the radar and safe from any judgmental nonnas! Sara and I both thought it might be better if the "transition" (read: meltdown) from five Falaschi's in the house to one took place behind closed doors ...

So when the others left the house for the morning, Veronica and I stayed home, and while the screaming lasted a bit longer, the only person exposed to it was me, a seasoned veteran to this type of auditory assault. Every now and then I'm impressed by a particular set of toddler lungs, but for the most part it's just a matter of finding something to do while waiting for the waves of noise to pass.

And pass they did, about five minutes or so after the others had left. In the meantime, I had made myself master of the childlock on the movie drawer (a new edition to the decor that Sara had forgotten to tell me about!) and pulled out La Spada nella Roccia (The Sword in the Stone) to use as a source of distraction for Veronica and education/entertainment for me. Before long the little munchkin had joined me and we played with blocks, dolls, and borse (purses) while the movie was running. I was so encouraged ... because I understood everything! I had Italian subtitles on, which really helped. My next goal is to get to the point where even those are unnecessary, and my ultimate goal is to be able to follow the evening news (!), but until then I'm quite happy to have had yet another instance show me that my knowledge of the language is improving!

The rest of that morning was easy. I watched Lolo until 11:30 or so when Patrizio got back and then the three of us went to get Ginevra from her morning school. Her eyes lit up when she saw me, which completely made my morning!

At lunch we were visited by a couple from the Netherlands that Dr. Webb had met and invited, as well as the Bankers (who were taking their art history class to Arezzo post-meal) and Lucia Bini, a twenty-something Italian girl Dr. Webb and John Rose have known for years. The frequency (as in, almost daily) and variety of visitors make our lunch table a very special time and place here at the Palazzo. Today, for instance, we had the two Italian girls (in their early 20s) from a favorite gelateria come for lunch - it's been a great way for us to meet new people and an equally nice way for them to see us in the flesh (after hearing about le studentesse americane for so long) and get a good sense of our pleasure at being here. I think it does them good to see how glad we are to be here, and how much we enjoy meeting various individuals of Sansepolcro. It is certainly furthering the Italian perception of Americans as being friendly, open, relaxed, and well, financially "comfortable." I can't help but wonder what our life in the Palazzo, from the beautiful living quarters to our abundance of electronics, clothes, etc., looks like to an Italian outsider. I'd give a lot to transpose myself into that perspective for an hour or so! Then I could write a bestselling expo on Americans in Italy and travel on a whim for the rest of my life :)

Ok, back to reality! Sort of. I mean, how much reality am I truly living right now, really? Not much in my opinion. When I titled my blog, I had only an idea of it being a "charmed" time of my life, but now I am convinced. Getting to live in Italy for a third time, work on my language skills, spend time with my dear Italian family and the likes of Dr. Webb, John Rose, and these lovely young women, AND get my own bathroom out of the deal? Oh, and there's a gelateria across the way ... is that a SHOWER of blessings or what?! So in actuality, it has nothing to do with being charmed and everything to do with being positively drenched with graces from above!

Backing up out of bunny trail ... yesterday afternoon I spent some time at the Happy Bar (main cafe in the piazza) with Nicole and Chelsea as we shared a lovely little reading hour over coffee. We all got some reading done and it's also the perfect setup for people watching, which I love. One can look on a good many interesting conversations and non-verbal interactions while tuning in on all sorts of cultural differences as well. I'm reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court right now, and while it hardly "matches" my current location (can one get much more American in literary makeup?), I am thoroughly enjoying Twain again.

Today was another better day with Veronica - a very good day in fact. We took off shortly after Sara left with the kids and made our usual grand sweep through the town. On the way down the mountain into the walled city centre, I made friends with an older man walking his dog (un bel cane, I said with a smile). He then proceeded to tell me that I was walking on the wrong side of the road, and that it was molto pericoloso (very dangerous) to walk on the right side instead of the left. Now, for my own parents and all other parents reading this who may be thinking, "She graduated from college and never learned to walk opposite of traffic!?!" give me a minute to explain ...

See, I realize that the left side is supposed to be safer ... but from my perspective, as a stroller-pushing pedestrian in Italy, I have to disagree. The way I see it, I would rather the car hit me first, with my body and the major part of the stroller shielding the munchkin, than have Veronica's little feetsies be the first thing to come into contact with a macchina that whips around those tight, hard-to-see-around corners too fast. I have just never felt good about that supposedly "safer" position when in Italy - the roads and even the small streets in neighborhoods are just different here.

I explained this to him, saying I was scared for her and afraid of a car hitting her first, but he kept arguing for the other side ... so I humored him out of respect and silently decided to try his way for awhile and see if I could convince myself that it truly was safer for Veronica. It may be a semester-long argument! After I took his advice, the old gentleman and I proceeded to talk a bit more, which was fun. I love making the odd friend here and there on my morning walks because the odds are I already "know" them (by sight at least) and will likely keep bumping into them again. Even if it's just a passing "buongiorno" or "come stai oggi?" as I pass through with Lolo, little things like that take me deeper into the heart of this community and make me feel even more local and permanent and "at home," or essentially, more italiana!

No worries on that front though - I remember last year around this time I was already sad to think about leaving at the end of the semester, and my family was beginning to feel like they'd lost me to Italia forever! But there is no need to fear :) I think I've finally reached a good medium between the two countries I formerly felt so caught between. A very wise woman (one I happen to be privileged enough to see on a daily basis these days!) once explained to me very well the traveler's dilemma: once you live somewhere new for awhile, and make new friends, and fall in love with new things, and find yourself captivated by new sights and beautiful places, you can't ever go back to the person you were before. From then on, your heart will be divided between these places (be they two or three or many, many!) and, most particularly when there are good friends and/or adopted family involved, you will always be missing something or someone. Because one cannot be in two or more places at once, there will always be events missed out on or people that are temporarily out of one's life. It's just the way it works!

So the moral of the lesson is, accept these facts. Live where you are at the moment, but don't forget or take for granted the other place(s) or person(s) either. It's yet another example of how life is a series of choices - I know I've made a good one in coming here, but that doesn't mean I've lost my heart and soul completely to Italy (quite the contrary!) either. I love both places, and I have people who are very dear to me in both, so yes, wherever I am, I'll be missing someone. But I wouldn't trade this "torn" feeling, for if I'd never traveled in the first place, I would never have met the newer ones at all - and how different my life would be!

All that to say, I think I've settled happily into this forever divided state of mine. I'm happy to be back in Italy and loving each day here, but at the same time, I'm looking forward to returning home again as well. It's a strange thing to hear I'm sure - the Bekah of last fall wouldn't believe her eyes and would probably lay a hand on current Bekah's forehead to check for a fever - but it's where I am now, and I'm content in it.

Whew, didn't see all of that coming! Back to today ... Veronica and I had a nice tantrum-less morning passeggiata-ing about Sansepolcro before heading back to the house for water and biscotti. Oh! Did I mention that I have become competent in my third language? Cookie-se. Veronica make be Italian, but she is fluent in Cookie-se (or as she calls her favorite treat, "toh-toh"). How does one speak Cookie-se? Well, it goes something like this (I have translated from the Italian dialect of Cookie-se to English, for your convience):

(Scene. Veronica, not wanting sit still in stroller, leans back to look up at me and starts spitting between her intervals of "no" and the occasional angry "Bekah!")

Me: Lolo, you may not do that.
Lolo: NO! (Spits again.)
Me: Listen. And look at me, please (she spits again) - no! Do not do that ... if you do that again, you will not get your cookies when we get home. Do you want to have cookies when we go back?
Lolo: (Eyes soften. Tongue returns to proper location.) Yesh ...
Me: Ok. Then do not spit again, ok? Do you understand?
Lolo: Yesh.
Me: Ok, good girl! Let's go to the park now, ok? You like the park, don't you?
Lolo: Yesh!

Total transformation. Now, it is not lost on me that I am walking the fine line between using loss of privilege as an enforcer/incentive for obedient behavior and, well, gross bribery. But I do not think I am abusing the previous method, and my fluency in cookie is even teaching the bambina please and thank you (in Italian though, of course)! I am quite pleased with her progress ...

The rest of my day went rather quickly. I walked back to the Palazzo around noon and enjoyed another wonderful lunch in the "great hall" shortly thereafter. Then I was very Italian and took a nice nap after lunch, something I've found that I actually really enjoy after my mornings with a kid or two! After that I made use of my lovely, striped shower and then met John Rose a bit later for another computer lesson (he too is making very good progress, so we are able to cover more and more ground as we continue on into the world of computers). After that I started this post, but was interrupted a couple times (first by the entire Falaschi clan, then to help translate for Dr. Webb when the water heater guy came to look at a faulty part in some of the wiring, and lastly to eat some dinner), but now that I have finished, I am off to read some more Twain and enjoy this amazing period of my life to the fullest.

A presto, tutti! Ciao ciao!

The adventures of Monday and Tuesday

Catch-up seems to be the story of my life right now! Oh well ... I suppose I might as well accept it as reality and do my best to not get too too behind on my posts. If I go too long I begin to forget all the things I want to tell!

So, Monday first. I had another lovely morning with the girls that included all the normal activities - walking around town, spending time in the park, enjoying the weather phenom of the day (clouds, potential rain, sun, or wind ... this Monday it was wind that was particularly fascinating), and this, that, and the other. Ginevra has really taken to playing with my hair, which is very sweet (especially since there are plenty of hugs and ti voglio bene's thrown in as a bonus!), but I often have to remind her to do so "piano, piano!" (gently, gently!).

But then, I'm afraid the the loveliness was interrupted with a bang - a bang too literal for my taste! Let's put it this way: I got a generous serving of what true Mommy-anxiety feels like!

It seems that Ginevra cannot bear to be without a battle wound of some sort. Monday marked the first day that I could honestly say the awful black eye, from a fall that happened earlier last week, had truly disappeared ... and then she went and black-and-blued another member of her face!

Here's what happened: we had been walking for an hour and a half or so, and le ragazzine hanno sete (they were thirsty). Ginevra had also been begging to see gli americani all morning, so it all worked out and everyone was happy. We dropped in at the Palazzo for water and fruit, and then visited some with Alessandra, the lovely young woman that helps cook our meals and keep the kitchen well-stocked with delicious foods. The little girls also got to see a bit of John Rose, which both they and he enjoyed!

But then a few steps from the door, Ginevra wiped out on the last couple stairs ... I was so scared! I had Veronica on my hip and Gigia had been coming down behind me, but then Lolo started squirming to get down and I had to get to the bottom fast so that she didn't take us all down. No sooner had I gotten to the bottom and set Veronica down that I heard a boom and felt my heart hit the floor. Ginevra had tripped and, not holding the railing, fallen face first down the last three steps.

Since her nose got the brunt of the blow, there was quite a lot of blood at first and it got all over both of us. The funny thing was - and this is how I knew almost immediately that she wasn't too banged up - Ginevra was more upset about the blood getting on her clothes ("It's there, and there, and here," she said, pointing at her clothes and mine) than she was about her poor little nose! Go figure ... that's Gigia for you :)

The end of it was, I sat on the floor with her for a few minutes to calm her down and stop the bleeding, and then after both the tears and the blood had stopped, we all got back up on our feet and made for home with little to no drama. Gigia was pretty somber, but whenever I asked her how her nose felt she would simply say, "Bene," and then start calling my attention to the blood spots on her shoulder or her sleeve. A half hour later she was jumping off the couch and playing peek-a-boo on the floor with Lolo (Want proof? Watch the video on Picasa!). Oh, Gigia!

Thus, I am very happy to report that the adorable little nose remains intact - a little purple in one or two places this morning, but otherwise you'd never know anything was wrong with her!

Ahhhh, today. Today was challenging for me. The funny this is, I only had one child today! There really is a lot of truth to the notion that watching multiple children can often be much easier than watching only one ...

Ginevra, purple nose and all, had her first "day" (it's really only a couple hours in the morning) of school today, so Patrizio took the two of them to school and I took Veronica out the door at the same time. Our hope was that she would mind being left behind less if she felt that she too was going somewhere ... no such luck. She screamed all the way down the street and then all the way down the next, alternating between family members' names and spitting at me!

I tried everything I could think of to distract her and was about to throw up my hands in typical Italian fashion and say "Boh!" (I don't know), when Veronica started screaming a new word: "toh-toh." Read: biscotto (cookie). Ah-ha! There was my saving grace! I started talking to her about cookies, and how good they were, and how we would try to find one somewhere in town during our walk. Bribery? Borderline, sure. Effective? Absolutely!

In another minute the storm had passed and she was happily engaged in regarding all the people around her. Tuesday is a market day, so we wound in and out of the crowded streets for a half-hour or so, enjoying all the pretty things from a distance. A stroller is a wonderful preventative measure for those who struggle with window shopping :) One gets so caught up in the art of not taking anybody out or running over a stranger's toes that it is impossible to even consider reaching into one's purse for money.

Anyway, after that I decided to follow through with the biscotto discussion, and concluded that it was equally important that I have some coffee. So we dropped in a little bar and I bought a caffe lungo for me and then a brioche and some water for Lolo. All began very well - she sat up in a big girl chair, nibbled on her treat, and drank her water without spilling because she let me help her. I should have known things were going too well! It's hard to believe this cute little munchkin can cause the level of ruckus she did today ...

The trouble began with the brioche. Out of habit, and in the hopes of there being less mess (which ending up not being the case at all), I tore the sweet bread in half to make it easier for her to eat. Bad idea. The screaming recommenced with greater force this time, in the middle of a very public place, and I could feel the judgmental eyes descend upon what they likely deemed a mother who was incapable of controlling her child. There were two old grandmothers sitting nearby who were particularly obvious in their disgust with the scene. I wanted to ask if their children had never cried or misbehaved, and if not, whether they would share with me their secret formula for the perfect child ................................. but I refrained.

When I finally got her calmed down, there were bits of brioche everywhere, my pride was seriously marred, and cutting eyes of the nonnas as frustrating as ever. But then Veronica la Cattiva disappeared and Veronica la Bellina returned in full swing, so she started being sociable and saying "Ciao!" to everyone, including the disapproving nonnas. I expected this would help, and that in another minute they'd be commenting on how sweet and adorable she is, as is the normal response to la Bellina. Well, I was wrong.

At first, they simply ignored her, which was rude enough, but then, while Veronica is smiling and saying "ciao" like the sweet little thing she usually is, one of them looked into her little face and said, "Stai zitta!" ... which is the Italian equivalent of "shut up." I was so mad! It took a whole lot more self-control than the first time to keep myself and my knowledge of smart alec Italiano in check. I couldn't believe how rude and, really, just downright mean they were!

Lesson learned: not all Italian nonnas are kind. There are sweet ones and there are sour ones, just like green grapes.

And on that profound note, I will have to call it quits for tonight! There is more of Tuesday to be told, but it will need to wait until the next post ...


Buonanotte!

Catching up: Thursday with the ragazzine, Friday fun, Saturday trips, and a sunny Sunday spent writing this blog!

Well, I knew the time would come where I slacked off for a couple days, but now it is officially coming to a halt! Let me run through the events that have transpired since I wrote last day by day so as not to overwhelm yours truly ...

Giovedì (Thursday)

Another morning begun with two pretty little Italian girls. It was overcast and the sky looked pretty threatened, but I declared it all bark and no bite and we played outside extra long just to spite those gloomy clouds. The girls even did their part by pulling out umbrellas to show the dark skies that we didn't care if it did rain ... with our umbrellas in tow, we were covered!

They were just precious with those things too. Ginevra started spinning around with hers and saying "Piove, piove, piove!" (It rains, it rains, it rains!), even though it wasn't raining, and so then of course Veronica, little sister that she is to a T, joins in with the chant as well!


After that game got old, we loaded Lolo into the stroller (along with no fewer than three umbrellas) and set off for our daily mid-morning walkabout. Now Ginevra does the sweetest thing when we walk: she holds onto the stroller! It is actually a very good thing that she does, for several reasons.

One, because with only me to look out for them, they can't both be in strollers ... so she has to walk. I think this is a good growing up moment for her. Secondly, the growing up part includes learning to be safe when crossing a road or walking down a street where cars can appear out of nowhere, and by learning to stay close to me, she's becoming more aware of the world around her. And finally, she is becoming very good at listening to and obeying me (most of the time!). I always like her to be on the inside (with me on the outside, closest to the cars), but that changes depending on where the best sidewalk or walkway is from street to street. So every now and then we'll change sides and I'll take her little hand and either say "A destra," or "A sinistra, cara," depending on whether I want her to move to the right or left side. She is so much more complying now than eight months back, and her vocabulary has improved to the point where I can explain things to her, such as, "I am moving you over here because there are cars on this side." She responds quite well to these, and seems to enjoy being my helper with Veronica (when little sister takes off her shoe and throws it on the road, Ginevra hops over to pick it up and then hands it to me). I'm excited to keep watching these girls grow up over the next year!


Lolo is in a copycat stage (which takes a individualistic turn every now and again), and that day in the park, she kept doing everything Gigia did! So both girls when up, then down ...

Then played with their feet ...

And then they moved on to playing with little rocks with their tiny fingers ...

... who knew a stone step could be so diverting!


After we got back things got interesting. The weather cleared completely up and it was hot and sunshiney yet again, so we put the stroller away and went inside to get some water. Well, Veronica didn't want to stay in, so she ran back outside and wanted to play out there. So Ginevra and I braved the heat for awhile longer, sitting on the steps while Lolo ran here, there, and everywhere. This included back up the stairs to the front door, where she started playing with the door. Do you see where this is going? I think to myself, "Hmmm, it would be really bad if she closed that door right now, because I don't think the keys are in the lock and if she manages to close it, we're in trouble." Now, you should know that this is no piece-of-cake kind of door - that very morning I had battled with it for over a minute trying to get the thing to close all the way! It's quirky, it's tricky, it's difficult ... I've even see Patrizio have a time closing it before. But the moment after the fearful thought of being locked out had passed through my mind, tiny little Veronica reaches up, gives a little tug, and with an innocent little click, the door closed as the sound of the lock shifting into place rung in my ears. I was dumbfounded!

Thankfully, Patrizio got back thirty minutes earlier than planned, so we were only waiting for five minutes tops. But the funny thing was, he had been out biking that morning, as in, on a mountain bike, not a skooter. So we had been using his keys ... which had his motorcycle keys on it too. So to go fetch another set of keys from Sara's parents, he had to pull out the ancient, creamy beige Vespa from the garage, AND he had to fit it through the small gate because the larger one is operated by a remote control that was also on his keychain!!! The whole situation was hilarious ... ridiculous even, like a masterful comedy of errors. Needless to say, an extra set of keys is being made with my name on them :)


Venerdì (Friday)

Another morning with the girls ... which meant another walk, another park date, and another good start to my day. It was an especially nice day in the park because I made friends with one of the nonnas there! She has a little one year old granddaughter named Georgia - who is both adorable and seems to be one of the easiest and contented little low maintenance baby! - and the three little girls played together pretty well while the two of us joint-watched them. Gigia and Lolo were pretty fascinated by the little one, and it felt so wonderful to me to be able to converse with this sweet old lady without struggling linguistically! I don't even think she realized I was American for a good little while there because when I told her she looked really surprised (which of course made my morning!). She's also one of the first older ladies that didn't correct my Italian as I talked to her - they almost all do that, presumably without even realizing it - and I think that was one of the things that made her so easy to talk with that day. I hope we'll bump into her again! It would be nice to have a park friend, both for me and for the little girls :)

Friday night I revisited a favorite place of mine - a little trattoria just off the main piazza that became a haunt of mine the first summer I was here (2007). It's a tiny place, but the food is just excellent and the people are wonderfully kind! I went with a couple of the girls and had a fabulous meal - I ordered ravioli with butter and sage, mmmmmmmmm!

One more fun fact from dinner - I think our waitress may have thought I was Italian at first after a few basic interactions, because she was talking way too fast when describing the specials of the evening to have thought I was American. When they do, they slow down considerably, and there's usually a shift in tone too, as if they are talking to a younger child. Oh, and I lied ... one more fun fact: I understood her when she talked super fast :)

After dinner we were off to our favorite gelateria - The Goblin. So delicious! I got pera (pear), melone (cantaloupe), and fragola (strawberry). With gelato in hand and smiles on our faces we made our way down Via XX Settembre, the main street of Sansepolcro, found an empty bench, and plopped down to enjoy our bowls of yummy goodness ...

Here are our happy faces post-gelato:


It was a delicious way to end a good night!


Sabato (Saturday)

First day of day trips, yeah! The whole group (meaning Dr. Webb, John Rose, le ragazze, and I) got up and at 'em and were on a bus bound for Anghiari at quarter after nine. It wasn't my first time in this pretty little hill town, but the place never ceases to bring a smile to my face - it's simple beauties and sweet, small town personality are nothing short of charming. There are gardens and flower pots at every turn, and little attentions to detail that tells you just how special a place you've wandered into that day. Case in point: three little snails crawling across the window guards ...


In addition to its lovely collection of flower pots, Anghiari has beautiful selection of views to choose from as well - it's hilltop location gives it a decided edge. And then we went and made the landscape even more stunning by adding our own beauties to the mix!

We also have the distinct pleasure of not only meeting the mayor of Anghiari, but getting to see his office (I've said it many times and I know I'll say it more: John Rose can get one in anywhere, even without previous connections). Now, seeing a mayoral office may not seem like that big of a deal, but it is when you live in these small but ancient towns like Sansepolcro and Anghiari. There is was so much history within those walls: frescoes and family crests from the Florentine families that ruled the area ... it was incredible! His furniture was probably older than our whole country, and that's a funny feeling I don't think I'll ever quite get over here.


After our tour of the mayoral office we kept walking up and down, here and there, trying to see as much of the town as we could before our bus for Arezzo arrived. We happened upon a lace weaver that Dr. Webb had talked with on a previous visit, and her work was one of the most intriguing craft processes I've ever seen!


Mary, you should get into lace making ... so you can make me pretty earrings like these (Disinterested motives on my part? Absolutely not!):


A few of us also got to visit a gorgeous view of the hills and valleys and enormous mountains beyond from a little cafe balcony. You really can't see just how incredibly far the view goes from a snapshot (my camera won't do it justice!), but you can get the idea. I don't have time or space to post all my photos here (because I took a lot!), but be sure to check out more of Anghiari on Picasa site if you get the chance ...


After Anghiari we were off to Arezzo to introduce the girls to their "gateway away"! Since Sansepolcro isn't connected to the main railway system, a bus ride to Arezzo is the pathway to other places. With a population sitting just under 100,000 (as of 2008), it's quite a jump in size and general feel from little Sansepolcro, which has about 16,000 people in and around its city walls. We don't see sights like this every day: people, people everywhere!

I can hear Amber laughing at me now ... she lives in Milan, which has a population of approximately 1.3 million :) But one gets used to, and soon enjoys the small town feel, so that even a not so very large city like Arezzo feels enormous at first!

My favorite part of our hours in Arezzo was definitely the antiques market. I walked through, around, and through it again for over an hour with a couple of the girls and picked out all sorts of mysterious, romantic, and ancient things for the Gothic castle I will never own :)


I really loved some of these plates. My heart fluttered at the sight of those pretty little white and blue/white and red/white and green imageryish ones, and for one fleeting second my whimsical side wondered if they could survive the trip home ... but then my practical side kicked in and I thought better of the idea! Would you believe me if I told you that I didn't buy a thing? You better, because it's true ... and it wasn't easy!


Then on the way back down the hill to the bus stop ... I saw this pretty Vespa and fell in love. It was the perfect color (a mix between a soft, powder blue and light aqua) and had my name written all over it!


Domenica (Sunday)

I spent most of today writing this blog, reading, and gearing up for this week, so there's niente to tell! Hopefully I won't let this many days pass again for awhile ... thank you for your patience :)

A presto!


Bekah

My first day "da sola"

Translated: alone.

Today was the first day I had the chance to be on my own with the kids. It was only for an hour and a half or so while Sara was at school and Patrizio ran errands, but that period of time can suddenly feel very long under the right conditions :) Thankfully, it was anything but long!

Leonardo was wonderful today. Before Patrizio left, he gave Leo the stern eye and told him he had to be bravo and a help to me, and the little guy went above and beyond what I expected! He sent us out of the kitchen - us being Ginevra, Veronica, and me - and cleaned the WHOLE kitchen by himself. He washed the breakfast dishes, cleaned the counter, and swept the floor to a state of perfection (as in, he moved all the chairs out of the way - either out of the kitchen or up on the kitchen table - and then he swept)! It was adorable, and really helped me out because it freed me up to take care of the girls. Grazie, Leo!


The girls were just hilarious. Veronica, as I mentioned before, is still warming up to me a bit, but I am getting very close to a home run I think. Today she got upset quite a few times about this or that, but the last time she really got to crying she looked up and reached for me! It sounds horrible to say that was one of my happiest moments of the day, because she was crying, but it truly was a highlight. She isn't crying in the shot below, but you can certainly imagine the potential for pitiful to the max when you look at those big, brown eyes!


Ginevra and Veronica play together well for the most part - so much better than last time! Gigia seems to have embraced the role of big sister, and in addition to that change in mindset she has grown up and settled down quite a bit. She's still got her crazy side though! I think that will always remain intact, even when she's 90 years old :)


After playing inside for an hourish, we switched locations and ventured out into the yard for fresh air and sunshine. Leonardo hit the hammock almost immediately, and when he did it made me think of all those pictures I took of him there last summer. I reminded him of it, and he asked that I do a retake! Also, I know you can't read all of his shirt, but it's in English and it says: "Just because you say that you surf, doesn't mean that you're a surfer!"

I had my hands a little fuller outside, mainly because there seem to be so many more perils outdoors than in. Leonardo was jumping in and out of the hammock, which made me a little nervous because I can remember flipping out of those when I was little ...

Lolo was constantly up and down the stairs, which also made me nervous because I still fall down stairs and know just how much that can hurt ...

... and Ginevra was in and out of pretty much everything! Everytime I turned around it was something new :) If you want to see more of our playtime in and out of doors this morning, there are many more on Picasa - including a video of Ginevra talking up a storm! Translation is available by request ...

After another little while, Patrizio returned and we gathered the kids for a midday excursion. Lolo was pushed by Patrizio in the stroller, Leo walked, and Ginevra, naturally, was quite literally attached to my hip almost the whole time. If it sounds like I mind her clingyness, I blame it on the flatness of the blogged word!

We walked up to La Casa dello Studente, an outdoorsy hostel-type place where Italy-Switzerland trip Meredith students used to stay before the location changed to the Servi, which is where I stayed. I had never seen this place before, so it was fun to poke around a bit! Then we went and took care of the real reason we had come: fichi! It was fig-picking time ...


Now, I'll be honest: fig-picking is not my favorite activity. Your hands get all sticky, and le zanzare (mosquitoes) abound, and, well ... I don't know! I'm just not a fan. It worked out though, because Veronica needed looking after and the beautiful landscape around was just BEGGING to be photographed.


Lolo was not happy to be designated to the stroller and kept saying, "Scenddddo!" (scendo = first person singular of scendere, which means "to go or come down," so literally translated she was saying, "I come DOWN!" ... emphasis mine). Her next two most frequent words? Fichi and Behhhhtah :)

In between keeping the little sciocchina somewhat peaceable, I kept wandering into the edge of the beautiful vineyard just near us, by the fig tree. I couldn't decide which were piu' bella, the red ones or the green ones. Mi piace molto l'uva ... I really like grapes!

After enough figs had been picked, we packed up the crew and walked back down the mountain (or, halfway down, because Sara and Patrizio's house is about halfway up) and made a beeline for the kitchen. See, picking figs is one thing, but eating them is quite another! Yes, eating them, that I can certainly do, and well :)

Not sure what tomorrow holds other than more time with the kids and working on a couple projects for Dr. Webb. I need to do laundry. Hmmm, maybe I should do that tomorrow ...


A domani!

And so begins the busyness!

Time for catch-up ... I slacked off on a post for Monday, so today I'll try to cover both yesterday and today :)

The start of the school week marked the beginning of my time with i bambini in the mornings. I help out my dear friend Sara, who is also the associate director of the program, by watching the kids in the mornings so she can be at school. She heads home around lunchtime and then I come back to do things with/for the school in the afternoons. Once Italian schools start in mid-September I will only have Veronica, but for now all three are still at home and need looking after.

Yesterday I tag-teamed with Sara's mother; she came over shortly after Sara left for school and we took out for a walk, making our way to a local park within the city walls. There were quite a few other children with a parent, or more frequently, grandparent, so Leonardo in particular enjoyed playing with them. Ginevra continues to be particularly clingy to me - it's so funny! Sara and I always laugh because Gigia took the longest to warm up to me when I lived with them last summer, but after a month or two had passed she was clearly the most attached and devoted to me. Well, I was out of the country for nearly eight months and very little changed! Within the first minute of my seeing them again she was in my arms and had to be pried away when it was time for them to leave - it's so sweet!

Of course, this annoys Leonardo to no end because he wants me to play with him too. It takes quite a bit of maneuvering and diplomacy on my part to keep the peace! So we are not only learning to share la palla (the ball), we are learning to share Bekah too :)

Veronica is the least interested in me right now because she doesn't remember me as well, if at all, as the other two do. Yesterday, like I said earlier, we had Sara's mother to help and Veronica stuck close to her. Well today I had both Patrizio and his mother to help (I think they're trying to ease into this, or else just worried that having all three would be too much for me - which, they very well could be!), and Veronica wanted to be with babbo or nonna all morning! We had a great time though ... instead of staying at home or heading to the park, we got in the car and went to play in the River Tiber! Patrizio's mother had two other grandchildren (Patrizio's sister has two little boys that are a little bit older than Leo), so it was easier for three adults to cover five children than divided forces.

The sun made things pretty hot on land, but then we got to the water and it was freddissima - so incredibly cold! Now, I enjoy a nice, cold water source to rest my feet in when it's super hot outside, but this water was so cold that it actually hurt to keep your skin in for very long. I couldn't believe it! It felt like the water was mere degrees away from being ice ...

Around midday we parted ways with the river and Leonardo went home with his nonna and cugini to play for the rest of the afternoon. Meanwhile, Patrizio and I took the little girls over to Sara's parents house before he dropped me off at the palazzo. There's a look at Italy childcare for you! The grandparents play an enormous role in the modern family - in varying degrees of course, but the point is, in many cases they are essentially co-raising the children along with the parents. It's very interesting to watch, and while there are some downsides and natural complications that arise, it is good to see so many grandparents be involved in the lives of the their grandchildren. This is an especially intriguing concept to consider in contrast with the States, where many children get to see their grandparents only around family holidays or special events. Since both of my grandparents live in North Carolina (and one set in the same town as my family), I got to see them all quite often growing up and they played an active part in my growing up years, so I actually relate more to the Italian setup - and I'm grateful for that!

In other news ... well, you are probably wondering what the afternoons look like for me. The answer isn't straightforward as far as details go because I do different things each day. But primarily, I've been working on formatting or creating documents for the school, such as a community contract, roommate contract, laundry room guidelines, etc. The long-term project is for me to complete a student handbook specifically for this program, but during these first few weeks we are knocking out the more time-sensitive bits and focusing on getting the program up and running smoothly. For example, this afternoon I oversaw the reading, discussing, and signing of the community contract for life in the palazzo. We covered issues of common courtesy (noise level), safety (ensuring the door locks behind you), and general living guidelines (kitchen care), etc. It went very well - mainly because we have such an excellent group of students this semester - and had its fair share of amusing moments besides.

I think what is encouraging about this inaugural group is that everyone seems to want to function well as a group. I also think that they recognize how unique this semester is, and how special they are as a small, dedicated student body. I look forward to seeing how the semester unfolds from here!

And now I must sign out for now - we have a travel meeting to discuss tactics and planning in fifteen minutes :)

Until I write again ... thanks for listening!

Bekah


P.S. Next time I will try to get some pictures up of the kids! I pulled my camera out to take pictures at the river today and realized I had left my memory card in my computer ... I could have SPIT I was so mad at myself! UGHHHHH!! But anyway, more photos to come soon :)

Guarda il Palazzo!

Ciao! I'm far too exhausted to blog extensively tonight, so here is what I hope will be considered a nice compromise/surprise: pictures of Palazzo Alberti are up on Picasa! Also, I will hopefully post again tomorrow after lunchtime ...


Enjoy the photos :) A presto!