If You Need Medicine, Come to Italy

Recently, we've all been quite sick. Our family never gets the flu shot & we never get the flu. This year, though, it got us. Although Italy has nationalized medicine, we are on a private insurance plan through Justin's work. Because of this, I'm no expert on the national system. I found a pediatrician who speaks English through an ex-pat friend of mine. The first time I took the kids in, she saw both Ellie & Ander (Liam hadn't gotten sick yet) & only charged 40 euro. Her office was not high-tech. In fact, to check if the kids had a temperature, she put her cheek on their foreheads! I don't think a doctor could get away with that in the US. But, I wonder, do we really need to know the exact temperature of a patient? Anyhow, it worked for us. We went back this week for a follow-up appointment, and she didn't charge me anything.

The pharmacy here is also ridiculously inexpensive. A prescription that I had filled in the US (generic brand) cost me $75. Here, I got the name brand version for under 15 euro. The pharmacy also carries homeopathic medicine, which is about half the cost of what you'd find in the US.

When a woman gets pregnant here, her doctor excuses her from work for the duration of the pregnancy. If you break your arm, you also are excused from work. I know this because two teachers at the International school are out - one for the remainder of the year, the other for 2 months. My friend told me that we can get a doctor to prescribe regular massages for stress relief & the insurance will pay for them. Hmmm. . . maybe I'll look into that. First, though, we must get over this flu!

Trader Joe's Bolognaise - Goodbye Forever!

Trader Joe's used to be my go-to store for almost everything. I loved that I could whip up dinner in 30 minutes using TJ items - usually enhancing them, but not always. Although my step-mom taught me to make pasta sauce from scratch when I was a kid, I've always relied on jar sauce since it is so easy. Even when I made lasagna, I'd use jar sauce - basically, I was just assembling my meals.

Here, there are no convenience foods. If you want an easy snack, and you can go out, your choices are: brioche (croissant), tramezzini (white bread sandwich with tons of mayo), toast (white bread, ham, & cheese), or at home you can have crackers or cookies. I have found granola bars & breakfast cereal, but most are very sugary or full of chocolate. Other options are fresh fruit & veggies, which we snack on a lot, and bread & cheese (& a variety of meats).

So, I'm learning to cook things from scratch. Last week I made black beans for the first time in my life. It's so funny that I asked Justin to bring cans of black beans from the US last Dec., but his bags were too heavy & he ended up having to dump them at the airport. Shortly after that, I found dry black beans at a specialty bio (organic) shop. And now, I know how to make beans!

Tonight I made a bolognaise sauce. I've been doing this every week since we've been here, & I think my sauce is getting better & better. The great thing is that I know it so well that I can just throw in whatever is in the frig. This one had onion, garlic, leeks, carrots, zucchini, and red bell pepper along with the tomatoes, meat, & spices I added. I also love my new cast iron cooking pots - bought just two, but I think I'll go back for a couple more sizes. And, we have a new set of knives that make cutting a breeze and a couple of great wooden cutting boards.

I'm very excited about learning how to cook more things from scratch, & am looking into some cooking classes here. When we come back I may resort to canned beans for a quick & easy taco-salad night, but I don't think I can ever go back to a jar of bolognaise.

Back to Square Uno by Hart

After spending a whole month in the US, (where I intended to keep up with my Italian, but forces beyond my control stopped me - kind of like what happens with exercise for me) I've pretty much forgotten everything that I learned. OK, so I can still go to the market & ask for carrote (carrots) and insalata (lettuce), but seriously, how hard is that? Luckily there are many words that are similar to English or Spanish. But, I realize, now is the time to get serious. I returned to a class I tried a while back. The problem for me is that the other students are not well educated in their first language. One lady told the teacher that she had 4 years of schooling. 4. I think you need to know what a verb is before you can conjugate it. But, I'm going to go there for a few weeks until I get back into the hang of it & then hopefully find something else. One teacher who was really nice offered to do a one-hour skype call with me each week (for free!) so I can practice speaking. She said that in the future maybe I can help her with some translations. I hope I'll learn Italian well enough for that.

In April, Justin's mom is going to come out to visit us for a few weeks. They have offered for me to have some time off while they take care of the kids. At first, I was thinking of going to Tuscany to take a cooking class, but I've found some interesting cooking courses here that I'm going to try out. Instead, I am now thinking of going to Venice (not too far, so I can still see the kids & Justin) for a week of intensive language study. It'll be like when I went to Costa Rica in college. Stay with a host family. 4 hours of language classes in the mornings. Outings & cultural classes run by the school in the afternoons. Hey, I'm not too old for adventure!

Guinea Pigs (Porchelini d' India) by Hart

When we first arrived in Italy, Ellie was especially homesick & told me that she really wanted something fuzzy to cuddle with & love (that was alive). Luckily our landlords said, "no dogs", so we didn't have to go into that discussion. After a lot of negotiation & research, we settled on the idea of guinea pigs. Then, we had a lot of trouble finding what we were looking for: two baby females. We went looking in a few different shops. Finally, I asked one shopowner if he could get what we wanted for us. He said he'd have them the next week. A week went by & then he said it would be another week. Uugh. Finally, I got a call that they were at the shop. But, that same day, I found out that we had to leave Italy to return to the states for about a month. Today, we went to the shop, & brought the little gals home. They are about 2 months old now. Even though they are both girls, Liam's is referred to as a boy & is now named Fluffy (or Fluffball for short). Ellie is still deciding on a name. Suggestions welcome!

Jet Lag Stinks by Hart

The only reason I'm even writing this is because I'm up at 3 in the morning & have already been up for 3 hours! I actually think my body could adjust to the 9 hour time change pretty quickly on my own because I'm so tired I can sleep at night no matter when night is. Unfortunately, my children can't meditate their way into sleep the way I can. Ander is especially difficult to convince that it is time to sleep when his body is telling him it's dinner time. Then, when he cries (although I'm doing all I can to settle him down), Liam is woken up. Liam jumps out of bed thinking it's morning when it is only 12:30am. Of course, all the commotion wakes Ellie, too. Justin has to work in the morning, so I'm trying to let him sleep, but I basically went from child to child for 2 hours before giving up & bringing them downstairs for quiet play.

I read that the keys to quick recovery from jet lag is exposure to sunlight as early in the morning as possible and physical activity. Last night (our first here) was worse than tonight: up from 12-5, then slept from 5-10am. But, we did get out of the house before noon & had a good long walk. The kids didn't really seem tired until their normal bedtime, so I had high hopes for tonight. I also read a suggestion that I not give food at night, only drinks. These kids are really hungry, though, so I did give them a snack. Liam was able to get back to sleep, so he'll probably be OK tomorrow at school. Ellie tried & tried, but couldn't. Maybe I'll have her try again at 4?

If any of you readers have experience with this, & would like to comment, I'd love to hear your suggestions! This is not the last time we'll have to make this trip, & I need all the help (& sleep) I can get!

Bird Poop by Liam

We came back to Italy. We couldn't open the gate for our car. Me and Daddy tried to fix it. We couldn't. Then we noticed there was bird poop on the sensor. Daddy cleaned it off with a wet towel. Then, the gate could open. The end.

California Vacation

Didn't I promise that I'd write here more often? Do all bloggers start off strong & then get distracted with life and other interests? Or run out of things to write about? I am going to keep working at this, even if it is hard, because it's a great way to keep a record of our adventures and to share them with our loved ones at home.

For the past month, we've been seeing our loved ones here in California, so there hasn't been much need for posting for others. But, in case we return to Italy & forget what we love about "home", here's what we've been up to:

• Staying in a rental house in Santa Cruz, 2 blocks from the beach.
• Spending a little time on any nice day down at the beach, playing, walking, digging.
• Playing at the many local (& well-equipped) parks.
• Meeting Logan, the kids' new cousin.
• Playing with friends in Santa Cruz & Palo Alto.
• Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
• Visiting the Boardwalk (& riding the Giant Dipper).
• Visiting the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
• Visiting the Palo Alto Jr. Museum & Zoo.
• Spending Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's with family & friends.
• Eating a wide variety of foods (of course the kids keep ordering pizza whenever they can, but I'm loving the Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Afghan, Indian, Burgers, Mexican, etc. . . did I mention I've gained 10 pounds since returning from Italy!?!)
• Justin & I having date nights & even a few over-nighters!
• Romantic getaway to Sonoma including my first wine-tasting.
• Zipline adventure in the redwood forest for my birthday.
• Justin barely working for over a month!
• Ander stopping nursing, learning to walk, & really starting to talk.
• No good macchiatos, but yes yummy mochas.

I have a long (& boring) story about how & when we finally will get to go back to Italy. Even now, with only a few days until our flight, we're not sure. But this experience has given us time to slow down, spend a lot of time together as a family, and think about what we have & what we want from life. Justin & I have always been such planners. Now we realize that there are things beyond our control. We have each other. We have struggles, but together we can overcome them. We have been extremely blessed. Now, all the kids are asleep, the house is peaceful, and I am able to appreciate it all so much more. This California trip has been good to us. OK. Ready to go back to Treviso now!