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From the monthly archives: March 2009
Really affordable mozzarella — the kind we buy at Jungle Jim’s for $9-10 a PIECE. This here container has 10 balls, at 4.50 Euro (it was on sale — regular price is 6.10). – March 19
Aisa having fun with the mirrors at home (the blue-looking area in the very back is the laundry room). – March 20
and then with Nino… – March 20
the gang at La Rusticana – March 20
and Paco and Migi
my foccacia — eggplant, artichokes, corn (!), tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, zucchini and potatoes. La Rusticana’s foccacia is similar to cracker crust pizza, but no sauce and no cheese, and simply topped with fresh veggies. Drizzle olive oil on top and you’re all set.
and my dessert — gelato amarena, 3 layers of delish
Aisa with the pizza oven, and the pizzaiolo
found a Town and Country here (and same color as our van in the US!) — an Italian version, approx. the same size as the Fiat Ulysse we’re renting, thought that was pretty funny — this was taken at the apt. complex where our condo is – March 10
Nino’s smile – March 11
Yena and Nino – March 12
roast broccoli flavored with lemon, salt and pepper, and finished off with a sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano – March 13
the family minus Aisa, hotel balcony before we moved to the condo – March 14
Aisa practicing her violin which she opted to bring instead of her guitar — view from her room and balcony – March 16
Pork belly, from locally raised “mountain pigs”, marinated in balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper — I would have grilled this had we a grill, had to pan-fry it… but no complaints! – March 16
Aisa and Nino, March 17
Look at that hair! Nino after his bath – March 17
trying to take advantage of fast internet this morning — hope this goes through — 974 kbps!!
flying into Rome, March 8
in the microvan — hey, we fit!
driving to Pescara
sleeping Nino… cried for 10 minutes on the plane, jet lagged 1 day, then he was fine!
on the beach
sorry for the low quality pics — we’re still getting the hang of GIMP.
More notes. Can’t really write blog posts (unless I write them ahead of time) because our “high speed Internet” (HAHA) fluctuates so unpredictably. Like 435 Kbps one second and 0 the next. Ugh. But. Not complaining. It’s still better than no ‘net at all. And our family isn’t suffering from it — in fact things are happening pretty much the way we expected. Already we feel closer to each other than before. That’s a great blessing!! Isolation has its perks!
And we’re not actually as isolated as we thought — had people over the day after we moved in — 3 co-workers and the wife of one of them. Then Friday we went out to eat out at their favorite arrosticini place (except we couldn’t have arrosticini because we were abstaining from meat, so we’ll have to go back sometime to try it)… yesterday we had one of our favorite people with us the whole day and again today for half a day. Tuesday will be dd-17′s 18th birthday. That should be fun. She’s asked for homemade tiramisu for dessert… and some creamy pasta for dinner… maybe I’ll add an antipasto platter…. and whatever else I can come up with.
I’m torn about this — it’s Lent and while I’m grateful for the opportunity to offer up things, e.g., this life of “doing without” …. there’s so much here that totally makes us feel spoiled. It’s hard to feel the sacrifice when you constantly are surrounded with blessings. I still have to figure this one out.
Let’s take food, for instance. How can one possibly feel deprived when even the cheapest generic extra virgin olive oil is still very, very rich and fruity? When good red wine is available at 2.99 Euro? (We haven’t bought any, but had a sip of our friends’ order. And our favorite produce is unbelievably affordable? Case in point: artichokes at 49 eurocents each, fennel at 1.49/kg, giant oranges and lemons (local) at 2+ euro/kg? Sigh. I suppose we could just *not* eat… Even eating leftovers is not much of a penance, like tomorrow I’m having what’s left of a salad from the market — radicchio, rice, corn, tomatoes, capers, carrots, tuna… it’s so yummy and fresh.
When your pleasures are simple, and it takes little to satisfy you, how do you find what it is that costs you something and hurts? I suggested jokingly to dd that perhaps the solution is to buy what’s expensive that we *don’t'* like — like McDonald’s food here where sandwiches are 3.90 – 5.90 euro… and therefore hurts the pocket… but that doesn’t make sense, does it?
Here at home I looked forward to doing without, and in some ways we are doing that, e.g., no dryer, so we hang our clothes outside, or by the radiator… the washer is so small it can only hold 1/4-1/3 of my US washer’s capacity… but then again we didn’t bring that many clothes so there’s not that much to wash… I don’t have my beloved pots and pans and what’s here are lightweight Teflon ones that I’d like to replace soon… but then again we don’t have to do much high heat cooking on them because most of the food here is best prepared the slow-food way… we’re stuck with Italian TV, no cable, but then we didn’t have cable in the US either, and Spongebob Squarepants actually looks okay when you don’t understand the dialogue. Plus we’re learning Italian slowly, bit by bit, everyday, so how can this be a deprivation… and since we don’t have much in the way of technology we’re learning to spend more time with each other, pleasantly.
I know that sounds silly considering we’re already homeschoolers and spend practically almost every hour of the day together, but even homeschoolers can fall into the tech trap (and other traps, such as overcommitment outside the home), that the improvement these days is apparent.
We’ve found two cozy churches — we’re probably going to stick with the one that’s 14 minutes away walking distance… and there doesn’t seem to be an English Mass anywhere near here, but today I think I got much from the homily which is probably 25% understandable to me. We end up talking about the homily right after Mass, checking with each other as to what we each understood — and in doing so we receive more fully the richness of the teaching, even if we only got it in bits and pieces… the sharing is what pushes it in, deeper.
By being here together, by ourselves, far from the things and people we’ve gotten used to, we are forging something that in many ways feels like a new alliance. Growing family is so much more purposeful and true in these circumstances. There are so mamy things we are thankful for. Lent this year, perhaps, is not so much the giving up of pleasures, as much as it is the development of a clearer perception of what gifts are. Here in Italy, away from our “regular world”, we have been given the gift of time, and clearly, the message is — don’t waste it.
just some notes as I’m writing in a hurry. we’ve forgotten how slow dialup can be!
- no high speed internet yet. there’s wifi at several hotels in the area including one a block down, but not here — and i really don’t feel like walking there with my laptop and the kids.
- there are 2 options available to us — high speed internet at 1 hour a day, or 10 hours a day (or unlimited, which we don’t need or want). what, nothing in between?
- we have yet to figure out how to do the cell phone thing. right now we use our US cell phones, at 99 cents per minute PLUS roaming charges. good thing the company will be footing that bill. last time i placed an emergency call to dh while he was in germany and i was in the US we talked for only a few minutes and paid $30+.
- the hotel is really nicely situated as far as the beach goes. and since it’s not the height of tourist season yet we pretty much have it to ourselves… though still a bit chilly. the Adriatic is just beautiful this morning.
- our hotel room has a kitchenette — housed in cabinetry — and there are 4 burners, out of which one is working. and probably at 3000 BTU judging from how slow things get hot. it took me 4 hours to cook fish the other night, in an itty-bitty 6-inch skillet. non-stick aluminum weight from what i can tell. a langostina that fails to impress me. i guess cheapy cookware is everywhere. i shouldn’t complain, are still smiling.
me: so i was thinking of having coffee tomorrow morning (at 10 pm at night)
dh: you better start heating up your water now. - the fridge is so small. so funny considering we made sure they understood there were going to be SEVEN of us, counting the baby. there are enough beds and cots for seven of us, alright, and 7 towel sets too, but man — how did they expect us to cook our meals here?
- so far meals have been simple. eating out we opt for the pizzas/foccacias/paninis at the mall/grocery. cooking here i made fried merluzzo (cod, i guess?) and some carnaroli. i was planning to make some yummy broccoli with lemon and parmigiano, but if i had done that we’d have had dinner at midnight. so we’ll wait ’til saturday to cook it, when we’ve moved into the condo.
- dh wanted to take me to his favorite arrosticini place last night (la rusticana) and to meet his work colleagues, but we had to change plans since i still have canker sores on my tongue and inside lip — stress-induced from the last couple of weeks of preparation. i should be back to normal soon.
- with the help of some L-Lysine, which i managed to find yesterday — yay! asked at two different herb places, but they didn’t know what i was talking about. finally asked at the farmacia — it’s called lisina here.
- we are having so much fun shopping and take 2 hours or so at the grocery just looking and browsing — dd17 and me anyway. the boys stay at the toy section or electronics section most of the time.
- italian men so far are not impressing dd-17 haha! the young guys are always in tight black jeans and black zippered leather jackets and black boots. a lot of the girls too. not too many flowing, girly, decent skirts around here, but dd spotted a beautiful patchwork dress last night at the store. skirt to ankles — but we’ll have to wait until we’re settled in to do some serious shopping.
- so we’ve figured out the meats: bovino = cow, suino = pig, coniglio = rabbit, vitello = veal, equino = horse. that last one we have yet to try. maybe we’ll wait until we have some visitors, just for kicks (no pun intended).
- they fuss and fawn over the kids! i didn’t notice this behavior 5 years ago when we were in rome, florence and assisi — i suppose those are too touristy. now that we tend to go where the natives/regulars are it’s more apparent. everyone just stops to look and stare esp. at the baby. yesterday at the grocery an elderly couple stopped me and asked to gently touch baby’s cheek, with their apologies — they are so sweet!
more later… dh has to get going to work, and i have to relinquish his laptop. if i can figure out how to connect mine, i’ll be back.
This might sound ridiculous considering people keep telling us we’re so lucky we get to do this (travel as a family with hubby)… but I’m really looking forward to learning to do without. That looks like a nice van up there but it is WAY smaller than the American van we are used to — hubby calls it a microvan… I see it as an opportunity to learn how to get along and be patient with each other in a really confined space.
We will stay at the nice hotel for the first couple of months, come back for maybe a week here, then back again until the assignment ends… I will bring my knives (as per usual, the chef and paring anyway) but nothing else in the way of kitchen paraphernalia. So I’ll be missing my pots and pans and all the stuff I’ve come to depend on all these years.
Homeschooling will be very different — I’ve tried to stick to the one book per subject rule… so right now that’s looking like this:
- The Holy Bible
- The CCC
- The Liturgy of the Hours for the season (so this will be our saint book as well)
- no “reading” books per se — we’ll have to do that online, I don’t know yet how accessible English books are where we’re going to be, I mean the classics that we love and use in homeschooling
- one Math book per child
- Handbook of Nature Study
- a bunch of classical composer CDs loaded into my dd’s laptop’s iTunes software
- Artistic Pursuits
I actually have a bunch more books that I want to bring but I have yet to seek dh’s approval as he has limited our luggage to 2 large suitcases, 2 small ones, and backpacks. At confession today I told my priest that I’m having a hard time submitting to dh on this issue — 7 people / several months / 3 seasons / not enough space ??? … and he teased that I probably need 3 suitcases for all my clothes. I guess Father doesn’t know me well enough — I told him I was content with half a suitcase — it’s the BOOKS I can’t seem to part with!! Aiaiai…
But really… I’m looking forward to learning to do without. Living in the US has really spoiled us — everything is accessible, most things are affordable… it will be a lesson for the kids and myself to learn to get by with much, much less. I suppose it sounds almost hypocritical to write this out since we are — in essence — going on “vacation” for almost a year … but it will be a trial in patience and endurance as well… hopefully much purification will come out of it. Most of all I look forward to doing without regular Internet service, the company of friends whom we love and run to all the time, the many conveniences of a life here… not because I’m not going to miss those, but because we really need a big dose of reality (including me) and that’s not always easy to obtain in the good ol’ US of A. And the biggest plus is that we get to cocoon again — just have each other and not much else — last time this happened we really GREW.
