Ciao! This is the first time I’ve had even a remote chance of writing some thoughts on our blog, so I hope I can get through this with some coherency.
First, let me say that this experience so far has had its ups and downs, but God is definitely giving me strength and peace about everything and I’m feeling very optimistic about the rest of our trip and living here for the next several weeks! Thanks to everyone who is praying for us and who has helped us in any way.
Mark already talked about the travel day (leaving PDX and heading to Florence), so I won’t go into that much, however, I did want to say that those flights were one of my biggest concerns and I was so relieved that everything went so smoothly with that. Mark joked about Ellie stepping on him, and I was as surprised as he was that she didn’t sleep more (she’s such a good napper usually), but I was thankful at least that she did get an hour of sleep on the first flight, an hour at the Frankfurt airport, and another hour from Frankfurt to Florence. It was a huge blessing that the first flight (PDX to Frankfurt) was not so full that we couldn’t move around a bit when we needed to with Maisie and Ellie being so young and active. Another praise!
The last 4 days have been all about getting the family acclimated to this time zone (which is nine hours ahead of Pacific Time) as well as unpacking and getting the flat (apartment) set up with enough food and supplies to help us function while we live here. Of course, we have been enjoying the food and culture, though Joyce, the kids and I have been staying pretty close to home thus far.
Sleep:
The kids all slept remarkably well the last few days despite the challenges we had two nights ago with the power going out and a couple of other mid-night awakenings during the week. Last night they slept all night and I think we are now fully transitioned to this time zone. I am so glad I talked to Shandra Galloway about this transition before we made the trip so that I would know how to prepare myself mentally for it. She said it would probably take 5 days, and we are now beginning day 5, so I’d say we’re right on track.
Playing “house” [in Italy]:
I am very pleased with the flat we have here, and wish I could have everyone over for a party! We have a great view of the mountains behind us and the sea in front of us (we are actually about 2 or 3 miles from the beach, but it’s fun to be able to see the blue water even if it’s way off in the distance.)
I think our kitchen is better than I could hope for in this situation, though small. It has been fun trying some new and different foods here and cooking in a kitchen so differnt from home. As you can see in the picture below, the kids were so excited about their new kitchen that they immediately set the table with the brightly colored children's dishes that were provided for us by people from Mark's co-workers here.
Here's me enjoying cooking for the family in Italy :)
Between Mark and I, we have made about 4-5 trips to the Coop (pronounced Cop by the locals in Mass and Coop by the locals in Florence) to get food and household items like foil, plastic wrap, garbage bags, laundry basket, detergent for laundry/dishes, baby wash, etc. The plastic wrap purchase was not only for food storage but for covering the bidet (the European toilet) that is in both bathrooms so that Maisie doesn’t play in it…
The first grocery store we have tried (Coop) is very interesting. It’s about the size of one of the bigger-sized Walgreens. It is about a 10-minute walk from our flat. We have gone twice with Ellie and Maisie in the double stroller, but often there are either very narrow side walks or no sidewalks at all, so I don’t know if I’ll want to do that much on my own when Joyce leaves. Mark found out there is parking at the store, so we may do the bigger grocery store once or twice a week on Mark’s lunch break, and then just get incidentals at the Non Solo Pane (“not just bread”) store across the street from our building. I’m looking forward to getting together with Shandra Galloway so she can give me more tips for shopping while we’re here. The main thing I’ve noticed is that they have far fewer choices in each category and the quantity available is also much smaller than what we are used to in the States. Costco-sized quantities wouldn’t work very well for people who live in small houses/flats, so that may be one reason, but going to the store frequently during the week is just their way of life here. I romanticized this idea at first, but realistically it's going to be a bit of a challenge for us. Shopping is a great way to experience the culture and get out of our flat, though, so I think it will be fine. Check out the seafood section at the Coop below.. big squid, octopus and strange fish (though I can't tell if you can see them or not.) Hailey gags every time we walk past that section and now refuses to go back to that store altogether!
Another interesting thing we noticed at the Coop is that they keep their eggs out on the shelf, not refrigerated. This was funny to Mark and I because we recently visited an Asian grocery store in Beaverton that had all of their eggs unrefigerated and we were sort of grossed out by it. I suppose refrigerating eggs is mostly an American thing?
Appliances: I had not even thought about the possibility that our appliances would all “speak” Italian, so I hadn’t considered the challenges that a language barrier would present while using the dishwasher, oven, and washing machine. It took a couple of trips to the grocery store to finally get laundry detergent, and when we finally were ready to do a load of laundry, my aunt Joyce and I were stumped. I could decipher a little of what the instructions were, but it took several hours to get it started. The next day, Cristina (the admin from Mark’s office who is helping us get settled) came and explained it to us, thank goodness. The dishwasher was not as hard, but we were uncertain about whether we’d be drying everything by hand or if there was a drying feature on it. Cristina confirmed on her visit that it does not dry the dishes, so we just need to prop open the door when the cycle is done to air dry them (much better than drying everything by hand!).
I don’t know if it’s the added heat that laundry dryers and dishwasher dryers bring to a home, or the extra energy that it uses, but whatever the case, here in Italy everything is air-dried. I am a romantic by nature, so I have actually enjoyed hanging the laundry out on the terrace to dry each day and folding each thing into the laundry basket when it is done. I just imagine that I am living in a period in history when they did this all the time and it was part of the daily routine to hang out the clothes to dry. More than once I have thought about one of my favorite childhood Golden Books called, We Help Mommy by Eloise Wilkin. Cami has enjoyed helping hang up the clothes for the same reasons I have—like mother like daughter, I guess.
The kids love their new bedroom and a couple of days ago they “decorated” it to make it feel more like home. Cami especially enjoyed this as did Hailey. Ellie couldn’t care less about decorating, but LOVES having her own big-girl bed with her older sisters. A few nights ago we were all very tired and thought it might be better to have Ellie sleep with Mark and I so that if she woke up in the night she wouldn’t cause a commotion for everyone being in an unfamiliar place and all. But she was insistent (to the point of tears) that she wanted to sleep with “her friends” in the big girl room, and there she has slept every night since then. It is so cute!
The other thing the children have enjoyed (and that I am so grateful for) is our wrap-around terrace. The kids instantly took to it and love to play out there. There were concerns before we came that the railing around it was a temptation for kids to like to climb (aka Ellie & Maisie), but we talked to Cristina about it and she contacted the owners of the flat about it. They installed a sort of plastic mesh around the entire thing and it has been exactly what we had hoped for in terms of safety. It was very dusty the first few days so the kids would come in with black feet, but it was nice for them to be able to play outside during the day. I mopped it all down yesterday, so we’ll see how long it takes for it to get dusty again.
Speaking of mopping - I have a feeling I have a lot of mopping ahead of me because our entire flat has tile floors! Cami is excited about helping mop, so maybe I’ll get some extra mops and we can have mopping parties (if I can keep Maisie and Ellie off the floors while we work—we don’t want any major injuries while we’re here).
Entertaining in Italy:
Two days ago the owners of the flat came for a visit (which we did have a few hours notice about, thank goodness). They are the sweetest couple in their mid-sixties. The wife, Franca, speaks just enough English that with my limited Italian we were able to have a conversation. They came because the toilet seat in one of our bathrooms was broken, so while the husband went to go get a replacement, Franca stayed and we had a nice little visit. I was nervous about this on the outset, but quickly relaxed when I learned what a sweet lady she is. She really LOVED the kids and Cami especially enjoyed getting acquainted with her. Even Maisie warmed up to her a little bit by the end of the hour-long visit. Franca speaks a little English because she worked for a marketing firm (I think) that did some international business at one time. They are now retired and living in a house on the mountainside just above the castle that overlooks Massa. We can see the house and the castle from the terrace. Interesting to note that the water in Massa comes from the pure mountain springs of the mountains behind us, and Franca lives right near a spring where she said we can come and fill our water bottles whenever we want at no charge. How cool!
Yesterday was the first warm and sunny day that we have had since we arrived, and it inspired Cami and Hailey to put on some of their new-for-the-trip summer clothes, hats and sunglasses and pretend “party” on the terrace. They brought out some of their toys and books and then asked me to make some party snacks and juice to eat while they read their books. Joyce, Ellie and Maisie joined in as well. It was so cute! The party food consisted of Fette Biscottate (miniature whole-wheat toast slices) with Nutella spread (chocolate/hazelnut), Integrali crackers with mixed berry jelly spread on them and each girl had a small cup of juice. It was messy, but yummy and they LOVED it.
Joyce has been such a great help while I work on getting our house set up. The kids have enjoyed playing and reading with her, but the big hit has been Hailey’s idea to have a drawing competition. My kids love drawing so this was perfect for them. So they choose a subject to draw and they each draw a picture of it, then Joyce judges to see which one “wins”. Joyce has actually entered the competition now too, which she says is improving her drawing skills. They had their first “competition” 3 days ago, and they were at the kitchen table drawing for literally 3 hours! Yesterday they did it again, but this time it was probably about an hour or so.
Touring:
Last night was our first night out with the family for dinner. Mark took us to a pizzeria/restaurant (ristorante) down at Marina di Massa. We arrived just in time for sunset and it was such a spectacular site. The ocean was so blue and the sky on the horizon was bright pink. The marina is lined with restaurants, but this time of year is very quiet because it’s not tourist season yet. It was absolutely breathtaking to see the ocean on one side and turn around and get this amazing view of the snow-capped mountains on the opposite side of us with just a little light remaining from the sunset. I am getting tears in my eyes just thinking about it!
Our dinner was very good—we ordered 3 pizzas, gnocchi, two pasta dishes, 2 salads, and of course, french fries (patattine fritte) for the little ones. It was more food than we could eat, so we brought home half of one of the pizzas (there was another one that was taken from the table by the server before we found out they had boxes for us to take things home in). Live and learn, I guess. Afterwards, despite the cold of the dark night and ocean air, we went next door and bought gelato. Delicioso!
After our meal/dessert, Mark drove us to see his office building, which is in the very industrial area of Carrara. I look forward to seeing in the daylight.
Today is supposed to be 61 degrees and sunny, so we have been encouraged by Mark’s co-workers to make sure to go to the Cinque Terra (Riomaggiore) and take it all in. I need to get ready because we want to get a good start.
Summary:
All-in-all, we are having a great time here, definitely full of adventure and new experiences. We are learning that most people in Massa don’t speak English which is making me even more motivated to work on my Italian. I’m hoping to write more frequently in the future so that my blog entries aren’t so long, but I just had to talk about all that we’ve been experiencing here from my perspective as I promised myself and others I would.
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