(Written February 25, 2014. Delayed posting due to technical computer issues.)
Life in Italy
is beautiful. It is also life, and with that comes work, school, after-school
activities, birthday parties, house projects, and the yearly bout of stomach
flu. Josh is going on day 4 of it right now. As I am stuck at home with his
aching belly, it gives me a chance to catch up on my non-existent blogging. If
we still have any readers, I can tell you, you have not been away from my
thoughts. When I pass an enchanting scene that is quintessential Italy ,
only-happens-in-Italy, or only-seen-in-Europe, I think, “wow, that would make a
nice blog.” Usually, that’s as far as the thought gets. Sometimes I snap a
picture with my cheap, highly-inferior-to-an-iphone/galaxy phone and think
about adding it to a blog. I will work some in now!
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| My favorite cheese man where I get the best cheese Saturday mornings. It's the freshest best cheese and so delicious. |
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| Our town's small open air market that is held every Saturday morning. I love it. On any given Saturday morning, I might buy a tablecloth, socks for the kids, a new scarf, and definitely cheese from the guy pictured above and fruit from the stand pictured below. |
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| A typical scene downtown Vicenza. I was walking back to my car after shopping the large downtown market on a Thursday morning. |
First, though, I must go back to my last blog from, oh, when
was that? Yea, 4 months ago. Actually, it was my second to last entry. I must
amend the entry when I talked about school. At the time, the kids had just
returned to school from a long summer break where they are mostly home with me
and vacationing with the family and it’s all in English. It took a little while
for them to get readjusted to Italian immersion life, but like most kids, they
did great. By December, when we had Isabel’s parent-teacher meeting, her
teacher was beaming and remarked how Isabel had “blossomed”. As she will keep
her same teachers throughout her elementary school time here, we should get a
true commentary on how she is developing. They will observe the full
transformation from the American who started first grade knowing two words of
Italian, to the girl who can jabber with her Italian friends and perform with
the best of her class.
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| Isabel's most recent journal entry. |
Josh, too, had a good report. It was different, of course,
reflecting on the difference in personalities between the more reserved and
studious girl, and the vivacious and extraverted boy. Josh’s teachers remarked
how he is very good in the classroom when given a task or project. He does his
individual assignments well and with accuracy, and he also works well in a
group. His only weakness is during free time when he gets together with his
group of friends. There is a particularly strong group of boys in his class and
he is a part of this group. From the sounds of it, they can get a bit rowdy and
don’t always follow the rules. We hear, not infrequently, about pushing,
pinching, dare un pugno all’ ochio (punching in the eye – only one time for
that one thankfully). It’s playground rough-housing and at this point we’re
taking it as normal boy stuff.
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| The kids playing with a St Bernard puppy on the farm where we stayed in the Dolomites over Presidents' Day weekend. |
Josh is in the American equivalent of kindergarten, though
in contrast to American kindergarten, it is mostly play. They do lots of
drawing and painting. They are working through writing the alphabet in their
notebooks and also some numbers. They do not start learning to read at this
level. That will start next year in 1st grade. Kindergarten here is
mostly fun and getting along and learning rules and fine motor skills. Next
year, the pressure will start as they move fast in first grade. He will start learning to read (in Italian) and the homework
is impressive.
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| Josh's coloring of Palladio's most famous Villa Rotonda. |
Josh is a bit nervous about starting elementary school next
year. His sister has already warned him about all the homework he will be
assigned and all the times where he will have a story to read 10 times. That is
one of the most common homework assignments: “Leggi 10 volte” (read 10 times).
One day I caught them together and Josh was in tears as his sister was really
laying on the scary stories of first grade. Poor guy. At least he will be going
into it having a good comprehension of the language, unlike Isabel. I asked at
Josh’s parent-teacher meeting if he was speaking in Italian in school. They answered,
yes, too much. Ok, got it.
Other than school, Isabel continues with gymnastics and she
recently started piano lessons. Josh is doing soccer with our local town’s
team. Calling it soccer does not seem to really do it justice. It’s Italian
football. It’s their most prized national sport and it’s taken very seriously.
Josh is the youngest on the team and some of these 6 and 7 year olds play like American
varsity high school soccer players. I’ll let Chris expand more on this subject.
For now, I’ll leave it like that and say it’s IMPRESSIVE!
Besides school, there is the rest of life. We are trying to
finish plans for a new bathroom with frequent meetings with the contractor, which
are all in Italian, just to add another challenge to a house project. Chris is
dealing with a crazy, demanding schedule at work right now, and we are, of
course, trying to plan our next round of travels. Traveling is still one of the
most beautiful benefits of being here. We just finished a weekend of skiing in
the Italian Dolomites and we are looking towards some great trips to come. Life
never stops, no matter where you are. We are rolling with it, and trying to
soak in as much of the beauty that is this place where we live, along the way.
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| Skiing at Alpi di Siusi. February 2014 |
