Asolo & The Rocca

For those of you who have children, do you sometimes wonder why they have such bad attitudes? We literally give them the world & they appreciate nothing. I'm exaggerating, of course. But yesterday we decided to take a trip to the small hillside town of Asolo (seen down below in the photo) and the fortress on the hill, The Rocca (where Ellie is standing in the photo). This town is only a 40 minute drive from Treviso, less than the distance from Palo Alto to Santa Cruz, a drive we used to do ALL THE TIME. However, the kids seem to just want to stay in the house all the time now. If we stay in the house, we might as well be in California. I think we should get out & see this new land of ours. So, out we went.

There was so much complaining on the way, I wondered if it would be possible to enjoy ourselves at all. But once we arrived, things seemed better. We walked through the narrow streets of Asolo and up 267 steps to the fortress above. The kids barely complained at all during this part of the trip & it was the most difficult physically. Once at the top, there was an amazing view. I had been here once in November, with my hiking group, but the Rocca was closed that day & I really wanted the rest of the family to see it. The pathway & steps were lined with olive trees. In November I got to see some old Italian men harvesting the olives. Inside the Rocca, there was a medieval looking wooden staircase/scaffolding to allow us to the top of the fortress wall. The whole thing was a little scary - luckily none of us have a terrible fear of heights. Ander was safe in a backpack. Ellie was a little worried. We stayed away from the edge.

After the hike, we ate a simple but very authentic meal at a little restaurant in the center of Asolo. It consisted of hearty bread, rustic salami, prosecco, polenta, and penne with sausage & treviso (a type of radicchio). Then, Justin & I got a coffee, & the kids had their first gelato in some time. Nobody complained on the way home, & our evening was pleasant. I think that with children it is easy to get into a rut no matter where you are, to stay home is the easy thing to do. But once we are all in the habit of going out & exploring the world, maybe there will be less resistance from the get go. It is especially difficult now that the children have so much free time (they were over-scheduled in Palo Alto), but if we do it together we can have a lot of fun!

The Circus (Circo)

Ellie liked the horses trotting in formations, the little ponies, and the dogs doing tricks the best.

Liam liked the seals balancing balls on their noses, clapping, shooting baskets, and pretending to go to sleep.

Ander was entertained by everything: tigers, camels, yaks, zebras, a hippopotamus!!! (so sad), clowns, juggling, magic tricks, horse vaulting, acrobatics.

Everyone enjoyed the cotton candy.

Justin was happy to have found out about the circus from a co-worker & to get front-row seats for only 6 euro.

We were happy to see that they put a cage up before bringing out the tigers (since we were in the front row)!

Although the circus was similar to one I went to when I was a child (& could not exist now in the US) & we found the situation for the animals so sad, I'm glad we had this experience. It was a one time event for me as a child & it will be a one time event for my kids as well. I was glad to have the chance to talk to them afterwards about what I liked & didn't about the circus - this entertainment comes at a cost.

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!