Hydromania!!!

I finished my classes yesterday, Ale has gone to Puglia for the weekend to visit her parents, Brian doesn't arrive until tomorrow and it was going to be a 97 degree day.  AND, I discovered that a water park called Hydromania was only a single bus ride away.  That's all we needed!  http://www.hydromania.it/ here we come!

So, after stops to our local pasticceria and grocery store, we hopped bus 088 to Hydromania.  There were so many foreign aspects to this place that they are hard to name, but I'll say that the whole experience, while SUPER fun, was so completely different for the three of us!  The most significant issue for us is that we seemed to be, not only the only Americans there, but possibly the only native-English speakers.  Unless the words were uttered from our mouths or the mouths of employees who were valiantly trying to communicate with us, we never heard English once.  When we arrived, we bought tickets (the prices for kids, like most places in Italy, was not based on their age, but their height) and entered.  Immidiately we were confronted by a group of lockers with a change machine and a strange looking keypad and screen thingie.  I suspected we would need a locker, so I put the 4 euro required and valiantly tried to figure it out.  After a few mistakes and watching others, I realized that the system assigned us a locker based on availability and I was prompted to choose a 6-digit pin code.  Each time I wanted to re-open this locker, I'd re-enter that pin code.  Ok, valuables stowed in locker.

Next, we found an empty lounge chair in the shade to put our towels and my phone and we climbed the stairs to the nearest water slide we could find. We noticed that some of the others ahead of us had 2-person inflatable "boats" but some did not so we didn't worry too much.  When we got to the top, a slighly-annoyed young man explained to me that we could only go down in twos.  What about me and Sam together and Nate separately?, I tried to ask (in Italian)?  Nope.  What about without the inflatable boat?  Nope.  Are there other water slides at the park where we can go as three? Nope.  (This, thankfully, turned out to not be true - I must have asked it wrong or he must have been tired of my questions and just trying to get rid of me).

So, a bit dejectedly but not completely deterred, we went back down the stairs to find another slide. There was a 6-wide slide I had seen on the website with pictures of happy families holding hands on their way down and we made our way to find said slide.  First, we found a pool structured a bit like a beach with a very gradual slope from dry to deep and we cooled our bodies and moods there before moving on.  Next to it was the 6-wide slide and we climbed up to give it a try.  It was awesome and super fun. We went down it several times before it was closed for lunch (1pm - 2pm).  This gave us time to retrieve the boys goggles from the locker (why did I leave them there?) and get some lunch of our own.

Like most other places in Italy, you pay first then get your food.  It was a bit strange because we didn't really yet know what we wanted, but we managed to secure Nate a chicken cutlet sandwich (panino), two thin triangular sandwiches (tramezzini) for Sam and me, three bottles of water and three gelatos.  We shared our one lounge chair in the shade and ate our lunch. 

There were a set of pools near the base of the 6-wide slide that we swam and jumped and splashed and played in.  We rode the slide several more times and had lots of cool-down fun in spite of rules which we broke and were required to remedy (I was not allowed to have sunglasses on in the pools, boys were not allowed to have goggles on nor was I allowed to have a plastic clip in my hair on the slide).  We could see other slides but after observing people splashing out of them at the bottom, I never saw kids coming out - not to mention little kids with their moms or dads, so I imagine if my Italian (or their English) were better, I could understand the rules better. 

At one point, Sam dutifully told me he needed to go to the bathroom - we found a bit of a surprise - individual clean stalls with no toilets, just holes in the floor with formed ceramic around them where one was clearly supposed to put their feet when standing or squatting over said hole.  No problem, I thought!  Sam will pee standing up, it will be an amusing thing to share with Nate and all will be fine.  Then, Sam says, "I think I have to go poop".  Well, I'll spare you the details.  It did all work out, but not without a little bit of messiness and chuckling. 

Finally, the bathing suits were just like we had seen in Terracina.  Prepubescent girls without bathing suit tops, boys in speedo-like trunks... Most amazing to me was that ALMOST NO women wore one-piecs bathing suits.  Of the hundreds of women we saw, of all ages and all shape and sizes, I think I only saw two one-piece suits.  Word to the wise, then, for anyone wanting to travel to Italy in the summer and who prefers to wear one-piece suits: don't plan on being able to buy them here.  I suspect they are a specialty item!

But, with all the differences we found, we had a really fun time and I think Nate and Sam came away from the experience thinking Italy was really cool (both literally and figuratively). 

Sciopero!

There is a transit strike today in Rome, or "sciopero" (show-perow), which means that the trams, busses, metro and trains won't run, except for brief morning and evening commute hours. Our apartment is not particularly close to the city center, but we are very conveniently connected by a single tram. Conveniently, that is, until there's a transit strike. I might normally take this as a sign from the universe that I should cut class for a day except for the fact that today is my LAST day of Italian class here in Rome and we have a test! So, even though my school starts at 12:30 p.m., here I am, off to grab the tram before 8:00 a.m. to make sure I am able to get into the center before the trams stop running. I guess it's an opportunity to semi-laze about in Italian cafés, studying for my exam. A sciopero is part of Italian living and we're living it!

Without a watch - On Italian time

So, because of ALL the numerous warnings about pickpockets and theives, Brian and I decided it would be better to travel only with my wedding ring and no other jewelry (not that I am an austentatious wearer of jewelry, but everything I wear is very special).  So, when deciding to not bring my nice watch, I was left to decide what watch I would wear instead, and I decided not to wear one at all.  Those who know me, know that I like to be prompt and usually am very aware of what time it is and how much time remains between one thing and the next.  So, I figured that while I was on vacation, in Italy, no less, I could stand to relax a bit and "do as the Romans". 

One of my discoveries.  A place where Italian boy scouts meet!

What has ensued is an interesting philosophical and awareness-raising set of experiences.  First of all, I've been late for stuff - lots of stuff.  I have not missed any airplanes or trains, but I have missed trams, been late for class and late for timed museum tickets.  And, you know what, nothing horrible happened to me!  Maybe I annoyed some people, but I can say, it has been a bit liberating.  And, it has helped me understand others better, too.  A few times, when I did not know the time, I felt freer to find an alternative route to school or whatever shop I was looking for and got lost and stumbled upon areas and neat stuff that I never would have found if I had realized I really didn't have time to explore. 

Even more importantly, perhaps, is that this experience has allowed me to enjoy experiences and be in-the-moment much more than I clearly am usually.  I know this will not come as a surprise to those who have not been a slave to the time like I sometimes am, but when I am not obsessed with schedule and promptness, there are more opportunities to enjoy fully the here and now. 

So, in Italy at least, I will remain watch-less.  And, I will be eyes-open ready for me and new experiences to find each other. 

Hot, busy, exhausting, fun!

I finished my second week studying Italian and the four of us set off for Napoli for the weekend. Ale, Sam, Nate and I met Friday at 6pm at Piazza Argentina for Roma Termini, the central station in Rome. We took the "64" bus, which is the most famous in the city for pickpocketing. Yes, we made it with all our belongings... After a little confusion about whether we needed to print anything after having purchased our tickets online, we boarded our train. We were fortunate to have four seats facing each other and Nate said, "This is cool - I never thought I'd get to ride on a train like this". As fortunate as our kids are, it sure is nice when they appreciate the cool opportunities they get!

During our very short, one-hour train ride, we chatted with a nice Napoletan business man who knew San Jose, California because he had worked as a tax consultant for Cisco for several years. Then, we were in Naples! We found a taxi and made our way to the Hotel Caravaggio, a hotel I had booked a few months ago. Ugh! It was horrible! I really don't know what I did wrong when booking it, but WOW! We had to walk through an outdoor janitorial/storage area to get to it. The room was stuffy and smelly; there was one double bed and two fold-out cots - one of which, Ale's, had little bits of black "dust" that had obviously come from the beam ceilings above. The A/C chuffed through the night to try to make the room bearable and the beds were hard and the sheets were scratcy. Addind insult to injury, we got no cell service in the rooms and neither the hotel's wifi nor my portable mifi worked! So, I couldn't comfort myself in the rebooking until morning.

But, in the morning, rest assured, I booked a different option for that night. After getting that settled, we went of to the National Archeological Museum for our 11:00 a.m. reservation. So, I can't say as I know how big that museum was because it was not only labyrinthine but way bigger than a party with 2 kids, aged 3 and 7 can see in its entirety. What we did see was pretty incredible. This museum contains the treasures found in Pompeii as well as all other archeological findings throughout Italy. Huge sculptures and mosaics being the most impressive to me.

The boys started to fade and we still wanted to have some famous Napoletana pizza before we took off, so we trekked out in search of pizza. We walked for more than 45 minutes then waited outside (in the shade, at least) of Sorbillo's for 30 minutes until we got a table. Once inside, we ordered 4 waters (3 frizzante and 1 naturale - Sam doesn't like his water bubbly) and 4 pizzas. I had the margherita, Ale the margherita buffula, Sam the margherita with sausage and Nate the 'diavola'. We waited another pretty fair bit of time, but when they came, boy were they awesome!

From there, back to the hotel, checked out and caught a cab to the station. We took the regional rail to a little station near the coastal town of Sperlonga. Then, another cab to the town of Terracina. We checked in to our hotel (not a WHOLE lot better than the one in Napoli, but acceptable) and went down to the beach. We played and walked in the water for about an our, met a nice crab who we did not get too close to, gathered some neat shells and went for dinner.

This morning, we woke, had breakfast at the hotel and went to the beach. We had a nice spot with two chairs under an umbrella. A man strolled by with a cart full of water toys and we bought a sand toy set for 8 euro. Ale and the boys collected sand crabs into the bucket until it became clear that the bigger ones were "picking on" the littler ones. My American boys stuck out like sore thumbs with their (comparably so) huge swim trunks! I was glad I brought a bikini because I saw absolutely no women (no matter the shape or size) in a 1-piece suit or tanktini. In fact, girls under the age of 5-8 only wore bikini bottoms.

We all had a great time there, but the sun was getting hot and our bellies were empty, so we cleaned off, changed up, gathered our bags and headed to the bar (not like an American 'bar') for gelato and drinks. We found a nice spot in the shade with a pleasant breeze and just sat and vegged for a while. I did my Italian homework while Ale chatted on her phone and the boys played with ipads and ipods. We hoped to take a look in some stores, but everything was closed so we just took a little walk. Then, it was time for our bus, train, taxi back to Rome. The train was CRAZY crowded but we all made the best of it and by 8:00 p.m. at the end of our adventure weekend, we were home, ready for showers, a little cold dinner and bed.

One last week of Italian classes starts tomorrow and one week from now, Brian will be with us for the next steps of our adventure.

Day camp in Italy

One of the greatest benefits (and burdens, it sometimes seems) when traveling with small children, especially for as long as we are, is making a meaningful and fun experience for them. So, this week, they are at day camp. Each morning, they have breakfast then head out with Ale. While the camp director speaks English, the other kids are Italian. So, in one sense, it's just a typical day camp: relay races, swimming, playing soccer, eating lunch, sweating, laughing... But on the other hand, they are making Italian friends, practicing and learning their Italian and having slightly new and different experiences each day. They really seem to like it and the exercise they're getting helps them work off those daily gelati!

Tourists ++

Too much time has passed since I last wrote! Each day that passes makes it that much harder to write... Saturday was our first full tourist day together. We didn't have any major logistics to deal with, I didn't have class and we could just DO. Alessia's boyfriend, Federico, and his parents were visiting from Mantova (Mantua) and Ale had the weekend off. So, Donia, Sam, Nate and I went to the Borghese Gallery.

Unfortunately, I had booked the reservations 2 weeks ago when we were still in the US for a 9:00-11:00 visit. I knew 9:00 reservations were early but I had read (and intuitively understood) that a museum trip would be easier for the boys to do when they were fresh. What I didn't know at that time was that the boys would be going to bed between 10 and 11 p.m. every night and a plan of leaving the apartment at 7:30 a.m. was a bad one. But, get up we did and go we did.

One tram into the center and one taxi later, we arrived to the Northeast corner of the huge and amazing Villa Borghese. With one grumpy and one quiet child, we walked through and saw the amazing sculpture, architecture and paintings there. The wonder of it was completely lost on Sam, of course, but I tried to engage Nate with some of it. "How do you think he was able to make the 'fabric' of her dress look so drapey?" and "Look how soft and comfortable that cushion looks, but it's made of rock!" But, of course, he is 7, so what captured his curiosity most was the subject of penises! Why some were covered in fig leaves and some were not - and worse! why some were broken off!

After the museum, we had planned to make for the small zoo within the villa grounds. Along the way, we found multi-person bikes for rent and so "added" that to our itinerary! The boys loved seeing all the dogs out for walks on the grounds! From there, we went to the zoo, but as we arrived, it started to rain. We stood under a little shelter for a bit, hoping it would stop. While we waited, we chatted with an Italian grandpa and his two grandsons, cousins, one from Naples and one from Rome. We tried to get the 4 boys to chat with each other, but they were all shy. My boys kept darting out into the rain for a bit of fun, but this man (and, presumably, his wife) would not let their boys get wet. Donia told me this is a typical thing, to not let kids get wet in the rain. The man clarified that it is mostly a central and southern italian thing.

We eventually accepted that the zoo was not in the cards for that day as we needed to meet Ale, Federico and Fede's parents for lunch so we took a few pictures of the turtles and koi and walked to Piazza del Popolo to meet them. After a few bits of misdirection, we found a charming trattoria (Trattoria Giggi) and shared a very nice meal, the 8 of us together. We had very pleasant conversations in Italian with Ale only every so often having to jump in to translate. The boys are becoming very open to Italian food (this time, ate tortellini with cream sauce and grilled veal) and were super well behaved. Fede's mom was very impressed with their restaurant manners.

After lunch, we parted ways and Donia, Sam, Nate and I went off to find a gelateria that we hadn't tried before. Then, a taxi to bring us and our tired feet back to the apartment.

Here's another random and amusing Sam / Italian story: while we have spoken Italian around Sam for many months and while he has been taking classes, he hasn't been exposed so much to forms of courtesy or typical daily situations with strangers in Italian. One evening in particular, we went to a bar (not like an american bar, but a place for coffee, water, snacks...), to a restaurant and to a gelateria. In all of these places, when given food, information, change, etc. I would say, "grazie mille", which means 'a thousand thanks' or 'thanks a lot". I said this without thinking, but obviously he was listening. Finally, he said, "Mom, why are you calling everyone 'Mille'? I didn't understand at first, but then had to explain... Funny guy, listening to everything!

Some Observations

We've been here four full days now.  I've had the opportunity and pleasure on three of those days to ride a tram from our apartment to the historical center of Rome on a tram approximately 25 minutes each way and observe silently.  Further, I've walked a bit, shopped a bit in grocery stored and spoken a bit to Italians.  Finally, we are so extremely fortunate to have an Italian live with us and share her culture.  So, it's late here and I still have homework to do, but here's a few things.

• Romans seem to have acclimatized here in a much different way.  While I am wearing sleeveless dresses and sandals and can't stand to have my hair down on my neck and all other tourists that I see are doing similarly, I have spotted MANY Romans wearing long pants, sweaters, corduroy pants, suit-coats (for fashion - these guys didn't look like bankers), boots and, if the women are wearing shorter skirts, they also have tights underneath!  Because in a month or two it will go from 80 and moderately humid to 95 and unbearably humid, this must seem like mild spring weather to them. 
• Italians have a strange relationship to milk and milk-products.  At the supermarket, one can buy "fresh milk" from the refrigerator section and then shelf-stable milk out of the cold.  One can even buy shelf-stable "panna" which is cream.  It's actually a bit confusing.  Also, Italians generally feel it is not good for your digestive system to ingest milk after lunchtime.  This is why they don't drink cappuccino or caffè latte in the afternoon.  It's apparently really bad to drink milk after you've eaten.  Have I mentioned that if they have cereal in the morning, it is with warm milk?
• Italians don't appear as homogeneous as we have been told (or even as I remember having observed).  Especially on my tram, I see all walks of life, all nationalities, sizes, ages and colors.  And it's especially interesting to hear them speaking Italian!
• Studying Italian in a place where people come from all over the WORLD to do so makes for fascinating cross-cultural learning.  In only 3 days, I have had conversations with classmates from Japan, Brazil, Switzerland, Poland, Australia, England and Russia in Italian about film, smoking, shopping, emigration, discrimination, abortion, narcissism, working conditions, maternity practices, sports and driving in our respective countries.  This is in 3 of my 15 class days!
• Lastly, I have observed (or, have been reminded) that Brian and my kids are amazing!  We pulled them out of their home, away from their TVs, routines, toys and schedules and they are just rolling with everything with happiness and an adventurous spirit.  Maybe the daily gelato helps a bit and surely every day won't be perfect, but it is a relief and a joy.

More pictures next time.  For now, a joke from Sam: How did one from communicate with the other frog? By ribbeting!

Sto imparando l'italiano

Prima, alle mie insegnanti d'italiano negli stati uniti: grazie e mi dipiace. Grazie per mi aiutate arrivare qui, così pronta per questo. Mi dispiace perché non farò tante revisioni di questi "posts". Voglio potere rileggere dopo i miei lezioni e vedere cosa ho imparato. :-)

Stamattina, sono arrivata alla Scuola di Leonardo DaVinci a Roma ed era una coda da dentro a fuori alla piazza. Ho parlato con una gentile donna di Svizzera. Da qui, sono andata su un livello e dentro un'aula per un esame. Ho fatto l'esame, ha parlato con una insegnante che ha detto che comincierò a livello 3 e sono partita a tornerò tra un ora per più informazione.

Ho bevuto un caffè con la donna della coda e mi sono collegata a internet. Alle 10:30, mi hanno detto quale lezione seguirò e a che ora a tornare. Tra 10:30 e 12:30, ho comprato i biglietti per il tram, ho fissato i "sim cards" per i nostri cellulari e ho pranzato (il peggiore insalata caprese!)

La mia prima lezione (di un ora e mezzo) era conversazione. L'insegnante ci ha condutto le discussioni diverse riguardo i regali: i regali tipici in italia, la differenza tra i regali in italia ed altri paesi... e abbiamo giocato un gioco di indovinando. Ero un po' in ritardo per quesa lezione, in cui odio io, forse domani mi piacerò di più!

La mia seconda lezione (di tre ore) era "livello 3" - più grammatica ma ancora tanto conversazione.  Questa insegnante è molto brava!  Era espressiva, intelligente e interattiva.  Gli altri studenti, mentre siamo tutti ai levelli diversi, erano gentili, interessanti e intelligenti.  Abbiamo passato in rivista la differenze tra passato prossimo e l'imperfetto, forma impersonale e i pronomi locativi.  Con tutte le cose, imparavo qualcosa nuova. 

Ho un po' di compiti, allora, devo andare e farlo prima di dormire.  Non ha fatto le foto oggi - ero troppo impegnata.  Domani!

Getting Settled

Weeee're heeeere!

Brian drove us to the beautiful Newark airport: we arrived 2 1/2 hours before our flight, as planned and after we checked our baggage, went thorough security and found our gate, we had 2 1/4 hours to wait. Ugh. But, the boys were great and I chatted with a very nice retired couple while we waited.

The flight was smooth. Our plane was very nice and modern. Each (coach) seat had individual touch screens in front of it with tons of movies and games. We all loved that! The boys had been prepared that we needed to sleep as much as possible on the flight (and our doctor had given me the green light to give them melatonin) so after our "dinner" they went off to sleep like champs.

We arrived at the Fiumicino airport in Rome and while I had previous plans of getting Euros in cash and buying a SIM card for my mobile wifi, everyone was a little on edge after we waited through the interminable passport screening line that once we got our luggage, we jumped into a taxi for our apartment. In spite of our being an hour early, the woman who showed us in was very gracious and we were in by 9:30 a.m.

We unpacked, explored and Sam tried EACH. AND. EVERY. key, swich, lever, button, knob and pulley he found at the apartment. Especially those which looked or worked differently than he was used to. Basically, this means everything. The light swiches, the window blinds, the door keys, the BIDET! That boy definitely appreciates a good mechanical device!

We went out a bit on the tram line by us: #8 "l'otto" and found a bit of lunch, a bit of food to bring home and ice cream bars. We came back for bathroom breaks and to drop off our food. At this point, maybe 1:00, I was not sure how I was going to stay awake until nighttime.

In the late afternoon, after a good bit of rest and playing, I showered, which gave me newfound energy (don't know why I didn't think of that earlier...)  Ale showered, too and we headed off for the center of Rome. "L'otto" goes all the way into the center of Rome and so we did. How beautiful it is! Brian and I have been there before and I DO remember it being beautiful, but (I think) because our apartment is outside the center, there isn't as much pure architectural beauty out here. We walked around, found our first "real" gelato, walked some more and the boys had pizza while Ale and I had prosciutto and melon, salads and "vino bianco". Sam fell asleep at the table so we trammed back to the apartment.

Today, I hoofed it off to my Italian class, which was really great! The mix of students is very diverse and the instructors seem very good. I will write more about the process of learning and the content of the classes, but I want to try to write those posts in Italian, so it will be separate. I will say, though, that everywhere I went today by myself (wireless store, 2 "tabacchi" shops looking for tram passes, asking for directions twice, and a restaurant, I spoke only Italian. It was difficult and fun.

The boys and Ale went into the center, found a playground and played with a Roman boy named Romeo (no joke!), ate gelato, played with legos and were cheerful and happy to see me return. This evening, Donia arrived from Germany! The boys remember her and love her so much! In fact, she is already off reading them stories for bedtime! The rest of this week with her should be great, exploring and sharing time together! Tomorrow, we need to buy some more groceries and full-size bottles of shampoo!

If you want to see more photos, please visit our Picasa album: 8weeksinitaly album

Today's the Day!

Our bags are packed, the electronics are charged, preparations have been made...  it's time to do this thing.  Next post will be the 1st post - of our trip!