Fabulous Day!

I had an absolutely fantastic day yesterday!

I was having somewhat of a tough morning, so I got up early, walked into town, and went to my favorite coffee shop. I mean cafe - that's what they're called here. I ordered a pastry and my first ever cappucino, because apparently that's the thing to do here in Italy, so I figured if I'm gonna try one, why not here? I sat down in a cozy corner on a couch with my cappucino, fruit tart, and The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis and had a blissful two hours there reading and sipping my coffee. The girl who speaks English walked in and said Buon Giorno to me, and I was excited that she recognized me and took the time to say hello! For the next half hour or so, I was mulling over in the back of my mind, while I was reading, how to best strike up conversation with her and figure out her name. She was really busy cleaning and helping customers, so I didn't get many chances, but she finally came over and asked me if I have work today (I told her the other day I am a nanny). From there, I learned that she lives in a town nearby called Assisi (somewhere I really want to visit), goes to school in the city I went to the other day called Perguia, and works here in Foligno where I live. She is in her first year of college, studying business, and is working to pay her way through school. Her name is Julia. Julia doesn't have a lot of free time but she likes to go to Rome to visit her friends when she can. I told her I really want to go to Rome but don't have anyone to go with (ya I kind of set that one up...) and she invited me to come with her sometime! I am thrilled! I think it would be fantastic to be able to travel with an Italian, someone who knows the area and the language, and be able to experience the city with people my own age! Unfortunately, she works on the weekends so she is planning to go next Wednesday, which I definitely cannot do since I work during the week. Our schedules seem to be opposite, but I am really hoping we can figure something out while I am here.

Now that's what I call a good morning :)

After leaving the cafe, I headed to pick up Maria Vittoria from school. I wish you could see how beautiful of a sight it is to watch all the six year olds running out of their first grade class. Every day I watch as each of their faces focuses so intently and eagerly scans the crowd for their parent, completely lighting up in an inexpressible joy when they are finally found. Big dimples showing and smiles beaming from ear to ear, each child then runs and jumps into the arms of mommy or daddy, embracing them like they haven’t seen them in years. It is truly one of the cutest and most precious things I’ve seen. I walked Maria Vittoria home and got so hot that I had to take my jacket off and roll up my sleeves. It was 65 degrees outside! We got home and Zoila had the doors and windows open, an absolutely gorgeous day. She agreed to let us go to the park, so I changed into my flip-flops (might be the only time I’ll be able to wear them while I’m here!!) and a short sleeved shirt and headed out with MV. We had quite a ways to walk to the park, and it took even longer because MV kept stopping to pick up leaves and acorns along the way. I told her she was like a little dog that kept getting off track on a walk ;-)

We got to the park and climbed on the jungle gym and ran and played. My favorite part was the swings. I forgot the freeing feeling of flying in the air, the wind flowing through your hair, swinging back and forth, back and forth. The leaves from all the trees were tumbling to the ground around us – colors I haven’t seen in years: crimson, orange, brown, bright yellow – and the air had that crisp autumn feel. Fall in Foligno is absolutely beautiful. The swing ride only lasted for a short time, because those rides are surely not made for adults. My stomach was jolting back and forth, and I was really fighting some unenjoyable motion sickness. How did we all swing so much as kids? What happened??

Zoila came to pick up Maria Vittoria and I walked back to the house. As I made my way through a parking lot exit, I watched an old man on a bike almost get hit by a car. I waited till he rode past me, but chuckled to myself because it was pretty comical. I turned the corner and headed down to the path along the river. Next thing I knew, there was the old man, riding his bike right next to me. I had nowhere to go but straight ahead, so I engaged in polite conversation with him (or at least an attempt since neither of us spoke each other’s language) and then tried to continue walking my way. All I got out of what he said was that he saw me walking alone and was wondering where I was going. Of course, I didn’t know how to tell him because he couldn’t understand me, but I was trying to let him know that I had to go to work. He kept saying Café? Café? Um… I think not. So I kept walking and finally turned around and said, Ciao! And told him I had to go and pointed for him to go the other way. I walked more briskly without turning around, hoping he had gone away. Next thing I knew (again!), he was riding past me on his bike. Don't worry - I don't think he was all that threatening, just quite annoying. I turned the corner when he stopped at a bus stop and two minutes later he was still riding past me. I was close to home and didn’t want him to see where I lived, so I detoured to the gas station right in front of our building. I figured I would walk in and look at some snacks or something. Ha … these gas stations are not like ours. This girl around my age came out and asked me how she could help me. I realized there was nothing inside but car products, and said “Non parlo Italiano” (that’s right – I finally figured out how to say it!). She started speaking to me in very broken English and making conversation. After a few minutes of talking, she told me she wanted me to come back again tomorrow so she could practice her English. Her name is Eleonora. I told her I’d be back in the morning.

The walk to the park

I came home and cooked some vegetables for dinner. I cut them and everything. I actually felt like I was kind of getting the hang of it too and thought, maybe I will actually be able to do this someday like my mom always did so well. On another note, for the past few days, I’ve been having a bit of a difficult time with Cesare. He is three and is very attached to his mommy. Anything that threatens to get between them (which just so happens to be me) gets rejected and is not considered a friend. We’ve tried to get some one on one time between just me and him, but to every opportunity he says “No” very emphatically, or he is overrun by tears or anger towards the intruder. Yesterday we set it up for Cesare, Zoila, and I to go downstairs by ourselves to play (he will refuse if it is just me). After awhile of playing and reading, Zoila slipped away and Cesare and I continued reading. For the next hour or so, we read story after story, and he listened very intently and was very responsive. He is even starting to speak in English a little – I don’t remember if I said before or not but he understands English perfectly but never speaks it, so I never know what he is saying. He is picking up on it more and more lately though. After reading we played with his trucks and built a house out of books. It reminded me when I was a little girl and made a house out of videotapes (wow does that make me sound old or what?) with my sister. The whole time we played, he was very nice. He never hit, he played fair, and he always paid attention to me. He had the proudest smile on his face the whole time and kept saying “Mommy, look. Look Mommy. We did this and made this and played like this.” I think it was a really good bonding time between us. Overtime and with more opportunities like this, I think he may warm up to me eventually :)

Dinner was late because Aurelio worked late last night. I was absolutely famished, and dinner was already delicious, but it made it that much better. We had what is basically the Italian version of quesadillas. And that certainly made me happy! It was this cheese called Stracchino on a “flatbread” (tortilla) with prosciutto and cauliflower-tasting broccoli. Very good!

Stracchino Cheese

We had a couple bumps in the road with the kids in the evening, because they were really tired, but I’d say overall the day was really great. I know there will be ups and downs to face, but I'm pretty sure that as a whole this is going to be a wonderful experience.