April 27, 2008

Ciao amico! Hello friends!

Sorry to all of you who have been waiting for this! I haven't been inspired, and if I'm not inspired it's not worth reading. :)

So, I have been here a little over two weeks now and have settled in just fine. It's been busy around here, getting to know the family and now little Lola has arrived, so everything is crazy.

But lets start from the beginning... I arrived in Rome on April 10th in the morning and took the train to Castiglion Fiorentino. It took me a couple of minutes to remember how things work, but I quickly figured it out and made the first train to CF. Amanda met me at the station and we were off to their house. It's up the hill from the city center about a mile and has a wonderful view of the valley, the town and Montecchio (the neighboring town with castle that has a great silhouette from here). The house is very large by Italian standards, 3 to 5 bedrooms (depending on how you count them) and 3 bathrooms. I have my own room and my own bathroom on the first floor, the rest of the bedrooms are upstairs. It's a small room, but nice for me.

When we got to the house Ross (the little boy) was just getting ready for a nap and his father was taking him upstairs. Adriano tried to introduce me, but Ross just muttered something to him in Italian and they went upstairs. Since then, though, Ross has really taken to me. Some mornings he will come downstairs and ask his mom for me. He's accepted me very well, which makes my job MUCH easier. All in all he's a really good kid and Amanda and Adriano have done a great job with him. He's very secure in his relationship with them so he doesn't worry to much when they leave him with me.

For the past two weeks, up to Thursday, we had just been hanging out and getting to know each other. Amanda would leave Ross with me for short periods of time, but mostly the three of us would do things together. On Thursday, Amanda's due date, she had an appointment at the hospital. She had a few contractions, but we thought it might just be false labor. The appointment went fine and they said she wouldn't be having the baby today. So much for modern medicine, by dinner time she was ready to go to the hospital and have the baby. Lola came early Friday morning, maybe 2 am.

Since then Ross and I have spent much more time together. It's been really crazy here, back and fourth between the hospital, interrupted sleep, totally messed up schedule... That has made Ross a little cranky, epically because he hasn't seen as much of his mom as he would like. But Amanda and Lola come home tomorrow morning and I think we're all looking forward to finding our new routine.

Other than babysitting, I haven't got to do a whole lot. It's been rainy almost every day which really puts the kibosh on walking into town. I did make it to Arezzo one day and found a beautiful sketchbook at one of the art stores. I would have loved to go to Florence to get it, but didn't have time and didn't want to wait until I do have time.

There have been a few clear days, and I've taken advantage of those to go into town and get some gelato and walk around. On Wednesday I went to the cassero (fort) at the top of town and went into the museum. I didn't do that last time I was here and it was fun to see all the exhibits. There is a part where you can go below ground and see some excavated Etruscan ruins. Foundations of an old house and a tower.

Today was probably the best day here yet though. This morning we went to the hospital and to Adriano's parents for lunch like we have for the past few days. After that we came home for a nap, again-normal. But after siesta we went to Lignano. It's a natural park on the top of a small mountain. Adriano's brother and sister-in-law and their little boy live and work there. Ross and Adraino went to feed the animals but I decided to stay in the bar and read. They had some great jazz-type music on and I got a cappuccino and setteled in with my book. I just finished Under the Tuscan Sun. For the life of me I can't figure out how Frances Mayes has made a career of writing... Her style is awful! Her paragraphs don't flow, and sometimes even her sentences don't! Alass, I still read the whole thing. Have you ever heard of a book without a conflict, climax, and resolution? Me either, until I read this. There was no point! (Regardless, I am TOTALLY grateful to my colleges for getting me the book as a going away gift. It was so thoughtful of them and I love the little notes from them in the front cover.)

Anyway... I finished the book and pulled out my Italian grammar book. I'm slowly catching on to words and phrases and have recently started writing them in my sketchbook. It was so nice just to sit in an Italian cafe and study the language. I was totally relaxed.

For dinner we went to the Velvet Underground, a local pub that Adriano is part owner of. We eat there frequently and it's fun to go in and chat (or attempt to) with Adriano's co-workers. Tonight was great because I got to talk to a bunch of people and because a couple of Amanda & Adriano's friends were there. They speak English and the girl went to Santa Chiara (my old study center) and Kansas State, so we have lots in common.

An old friend of mine from college, who now lives in Ireland, will be visiting CF this week and I'm excited to have him in town. I'll be glad to have some time away from the house with someone I can have a full conversation with. :)

Other than that, the Garden Underground (The Velvet's summer counterpart) has just opened. (Thankfully! Adriano has been working feverishly to get it ready.) We will be spending a lot of time there this summer and I'm looking forward to when the weather gets warmer and they open for lunch. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to find some Italians to put up with my limited vocabulary.

That's it for now, I hope to update this again soon. Until then!

A presto! (Wait, no that's see you soon...)

Buona notte! (Good night!)