Super Bowl Monday!

Who knew the Super Bowl is shown on TV in Italy?! It's still a toss up as to whether it will be in Italian or English though. I asked Chiara if they had the station the Super Bowl would be shown on. She checked with Marco and told me that they do have the station and it will be on at midnight Sunday night. It will also be replayed Monday night at 9pm. With two different airings of the Super Bowl, you would think American football is popular in Italy. But it's not, at all. In fact Chiara said, I've heard of the Super Bowl. It's football, right? Ha, I don't know!"

She asked me if it was the final game and which states were playing. I told her it was the Denver Broncos from Colorado and the Seattle Seahawks from Washington. She said, "Who do you cheer for? I will cheer for Colorado because I've been there." I said, "I'm choosing to go for the Seahawks!" 

Later when Marco arrived home she informed him of the states that were in the Super Bowl. She said, "Colorado and what's the other one?" I said, "Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks from Washington." Marco said, "Oh, I will cheer for Denver. We've been there and it is very beautiful. We will be the cheerleaders!" Chiara and Marco both put their hands in the air and said, "Go Bronco!!" 

And no, I did not make a spelling mistake. They really did say, "Go Bronco!"

Super Bowl Monday should be very entertaining. 

Appointments for Days.

Last week was full of appointments for Giorgia and Mattia. It seemed every day there was a doctor's, dentist, or hearing appointment. I only had to attend two of these appointments with Chiara and the kids though.

The first appointment I went to was Giorgia's dentist appointment. I had to go so I could watch Mattia. You would think I would've just stayed at home with him, but of course Mattia wanted to go with his mom and sister. And of course, you should always listen to a two year old. But you see, there wasn't a waiting area in the office so Mattia and I had to sit in the car for 45 minutes. It was raining outside so we couldn't even get out to walk around. I was stuck in the car with a two year old who would intermittently cry out for his mama. It was a grand ol' time! We did take some fun photos though and I practiced rolling my R's. I actually learned how to make the rolling sound, but I'm still struggling to use it in a word. Marco loves to make fun of me for it. He thinks it's hilarious to try to make me say a word with a R. He literally cracks up laughing.

Giorgia's hearing appointment was the next one I went to. This time there was actually a waiting area for Mattia and I, which was filled with toys. Dirty toys. I used so much hand sanitizer that evening. When Chiara and Giorgia left the waiting room for their appointment, Mattia cried. Luckily, I found the remote and put cartoons on. Bear in the Big Blue House was on!! It was in Italian though. That visit lasted about an hour with Mattia randomly crying out for his mama.

The next appointments were for Mattia, which I didn't have to go to. One of his appointments was for his cough. I stayed home with Giorgia during this one. We watched The Ugly Duckling in Italian and cuddled on the couch. She can be sweet sometimes.

Mattia's next appointment was for his check-up, which he gets every three months. When Chiara was pregnant with him she contracted a virus. The virus was of no danger to her, but to Mattia it was serious. It's not a common virus, so doctors do not know a whole lot about it. Some of the potential effects on the unborn child are hearing loss and blindness. In fact, when Mattia was born he was deaf. He wore hearing aids from four months to ten months old. Luckily for him, the medicine worked and he has regained all of his hearing. The virus will stay in his system his entire life, but he will be clear of danger once he turns six. So for now, every three months he must go to get checked out.

Straighten the Leaning Tower...Say What?!

I was talking to Marco about my upcoming trip around Italy. I mentioned that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was definitely something I wanted to see. He then proceeds to tell me the following story.

He said, "One time there was an American man who had drank a little too much. Well, he decided he was going to straighten the Tower. He found a cable to hook up to his car and the tower. And it was no good. Nothing good happened from that."

So there you have it, folks. Never attempt to straighten the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Five More Minutes

My days in Italy are flying by. It's not like I have been doing much during the day except for watching Downton Abbey and writing blogs. But here I find myself three weeks into my stay in Italy, when it feels like I just arrived.

Tuesday afternoon Chiara had her third interview for a company similar to the one she currently works for. She had to be in Verona, which is an hour away, by 3:30pm so Marco got off work early to watch Mattia and pick up Giorgia from school. The grandparents also came over to help watch the children because Chiara and Marco had the Michael Buble concert to attend that night in Milan. Marco left to meet Chiara around 4pm, so it was just me, the children, the grandparents, and Senora. Senora is the lady who cleans the house once a week and does the ironing once a week. Yesterday she had so much to iron. It was unreal. Anyway, my job was pretty easy because Giorgia and Mattia only wanted their grandparents. I was able to just sit on the couch and play on my phone. 

Now, the grandparents know very little English. It is quite fun though trying to communicate to each other. It's almost like a game of charades! The grandmother was about to cook dinner, but she wanted to know what kind of sauce I liked with my pasta. She tried asking me, then the grandpa tried asking me, then I just said, "Show me". I pointed to the tomato sauce. The grandmother was making pesto sauce for them and motioned if I wanted some. I was like, "Oh no, Pomodoro!", which is tomato. I'm pretty sure they think I'm a crazy American for the sole fact I wanted tomato sauce with linguine. Because somehow she communicated that with linguine they do not like tomato sauce, only pesto. Tomato sauce is for spaghetti. 

The grandmother also must think Americans eat a lot because she gave me twice as much pasta as everyone else! I was like holy cow! She did tell me that I didn't have to eat it all though. Well, she spoke in Italian and the grandpa was able to translate. We also got to eat mozzarella with dinner. It is my absolute favorite thing so far in Italy. It comes shaped like a large egg almost. You slice it up and eat it by itself. It's delicious. Mattia and I normally eat all of it! I'm sure we probably have this in Kentucky, but I doubt it's as good as the kind in Italy. One night Marco told me they would export some to Kentucky for me when I leave & Chiara chimed in saying, "And Crispy M&M's"! I said, "Yes, please!!" 

After dinner I helped the grandmother with the dishes, then I thought they would be leaving. Nope, they stayed until the children went to bed. Around 8:30, they made Giorgia and Mattia go up to their parents room to watch some TV before falling asleep. Except that's not exactly how it happened. Giorgia refused to quit playing the Peppa Pig game on the iPad and Mattia wanted to play with his Cars puzzle. I told Mattia that it was time for bed and he could not do the puzzle. Of course he starts crying, so in comes Grandpa to save the day. He said, "Let him play five minutes." The grandparents were terrified of making the children cry or telling them no. Don't get me wrong, the grandparents are very sweet. They visit the children at least once a week and always try their best to communicate with me.

But by now it was almost 9pm and I was getting irritated. I finally told Giorgia she needed to stop playing the iPad. She had been playing it for a solid hour, at least. She didn't want to quit the game just yet, so the grandpa told her five more minutes. Finally, he coaxed her into handing over the iPad so they could leave. The grandparents live in Verona and had an hour drive ahead of them. Of course right before they left the grandpa said, "Let Mattia play five more minutes while we sneak out". 

Letting him play a little longer didn't keep him from realizing the grandparents had left, so he cried. He didn't want me to hold him, so I finally just put him in his parents' bed and let him watch TV while he cried. Giorgia tried comforting him, which was cute. I let them watch TV for another thirty minutes. By the time I went in to turn the TV off, Mattia was asleep. Giorgia, on the other hand, was sitting up wide awake. She got upset when I turned off the TV and tried to tell me to turn it back on. When I told her that it was time to sleep, she got mad and ran to her bed to cry. She then went back to her parents bed. Then back to her bed before finally falling asleep around 10pm. 

These kids need a better bedtime routine. 

Die Now or Die Happy?

As I mentioned in this post, Chiara is really funny when she tells jokes because her English sometimes isn't the best. Last night her and Marco attended the Michael Buble concert in Milan. Today she was showing me photos of the concert. She told me that he sang Happy Birthday to a girl in the audience and gave her a kiss. Chiara then said, "She can die now." 

A Day in the Alps!

Last Friday, Chiara took me to Decathlon, a sporting goods store, to buy me snow gear for the Alps!!  As we were looking for snow pants, boots, and gloves, the children were running a muck. They were playing in a tent in the middle of the store and had these exercise balls bouncing everywhere. I'm sure the associates hated us. Chiara bought me everything I needed, which was so nice of her. We had planned to leave Sunday morning with the entire family. Sadly though when I woke up Sunday, Chiara informed me that Mattia had been up all night sick so she would be staying home with him. I was a little bummed because Chiara is hilarious. The fact that half her jokes are in broken English make them even funnier. I was also worried because Marco and I have a hard time communicating sometimes with the language barrier. But everything went smoothly. There were a couple times when he couldn't think of the word to use, but it wasn't anything important. At least, I hope not. He did tell me how he wished he could've spent this day with Chiara since during the week they are apart. So sweet!

The drive to the mountains was about two hours, which consisted of Giorgia asking her dad to tell her stories the ENTIRE time. Of course the stories were all in Italian, so I had no idea what was going on. I could only understand random words like "here, there, two, wait, and Snow White". And when the stories are being told the radio must be off so Giorgia can hear clearly. Not a fan of story time during car rides.

Once we got up in the mountains the roads started getting super windy and narrow. Lately I've been getting car sick with all these round-a-bouts, so I was a bit nervous. Once we arrived, it was a madhouse. The parking lot was insane. Cars were parked every which way. (Side note: Italians park anywhere. If the parking lot is full no worries, there is always the sidewalk.) It had recently snowed, so obviously everyone was going to the mountains. After driving all around the parking lot, we finally saw a car leaving. Marco said, "I love that man!" as we pulled into his parking space.

We got all bundled up, grabbed the sled then walked toward the slopes. Giorgia wanted to play on the slide when we first arrived. While she was playing, Marco went to look around while I stayed with Giorgia. Well when Giorgia realized her "Papa" was gone, she started crying and running off. I don't know many words in Italian but "Basta" meaning "Stop" gets used quite frequently. I was yelling her name, but she just ignored me. It wasn't until I raised my voice and said, "Basta!" that she finally stopped running. I picked her up and walked back to the slide where I knew Marco would be looking for us. As soon as he saw that she was crying he took off running towards us. He hugged her tight and asked me if she had been crying long. It was sweet how concerned he was, but I mean the kid was fine.

One of the first things I noticed was that the lodge was playing American music. I sure wasn't complaining, but I found it odd. Marco said, "We like American music better. It's all they play at the disco." He asked me if i wanted to go skiing, but I chose to just go sledding instead. I haven't been skiing in ages and would much rather snowboard. But I'd definitely need some lessons first. My first time down the hill with Giorgia went off without a hitch! Once we made it down the hill, we hiked back up the walking pathway. Not to be confused with the moving sidewalk. I wish it had been the moving sidewalk, but no, you had to have a pass for that. Believe me, I tried. Anyway, my last time down the hill with Giorgia was terrible. She would not listen to me at all and was attempting to walk up the hill where the other sledders were coming down. I was afraid she was going to get wiped out. As I'm chasing after her yelling "Basta!", she just ignores me. Luckily Marco sees that Giorgia is out of control and walks down the hill to meet us. I'm pretty sure he told her that she needed to listen to me, but she doesn't even listen to him so that got us no where. After that Marco said, "You can't be alone with Giorgia anymore." I was thinking, "Thank God!".

We ate lunch in the cafeteria at the ski lodge. It was very crowded and hot inside waiting in the buffet line. I'm not sure if it's an Italian thing or what, but people kept hitting me with their trays and paying no attention to it. Like seriously?! I got pasta, a roll, pudding and french fries (don't ask me why). The food was decent. It took forever to find a seat, so by the time I was able to eat everything was cold.

To get down the hill to play in the snow, Marco thought it would be a great idea if all three of us rode the sled or "bob", as they call it. I was a bit hesitant, but he was all for it! I sat in the front with Giorgia in the middle. The sled was digging into my legs the entire time, but it was actually really fun. I was scared we were going to tip over though. Giorgia got upset afterwards when she realized her stuffed unicorn, Lillia, got snow all over her! I mean, she did bring her to the snowy mountains, not sure what she expected. We spent about another hour and a half playing in the snow, which was terrible by the way. It wouldn't stick at all so we couldn't even build a snowman. Such a bummer & some random little boy kept throwing chunks of ice at me. Not okay. The mountains were absolutely beautiful though!


Marco said, "I never let the sun set on me", so we headed back to the car around 4pm. I'm sure it's a proverb or something, but it was pretty funny when he said it. The ride back was relaxing as we listened to Jazz music. Giorgia and I even fell asleep. When I woke up, I was really enjoying the music. Unfortunately, shortly after, Giorgia woke up and it was of course story time.

Garda Lake, Not God's Lake

This past Saturday, Chiara, myself, and the children were planning to go to Garda Lake. When Chiara first mentioned about going to Garda Lake, I thought she had said, "God's Lake". It was only when I went to Google it, I found out the correct name and that it is the largest lake in Italy! I had been speaking with Sammie, my Au Pair friend, about her plans for Saturday since it was her birthday! When I mentioned to Chiara if Sammie could join us, she said, "Absolutely!" Chiara even offered to pick her up in Vicenza since it was on our way.

Chiara with Giorgia and Mattia

Garda Lake was about an hour and a half away. On the drive, Chiara would point out different sites for us to see. She really enjoys playing tour guide, I think. The town we went to was so neat! There were cobblestone streets, little shops everywhere and plenty of pizzerias and gelato shops! We walked along the lake where there was a little boat harbor, some ducks and two beautiful swans. I had never seen a swan so close before. Chiara said, "Watch out. Swans can be mean!" I believe her too. A swan tried to peck one of the ducks! 

Sammie and I on her birthday!

We ate lunch at this cute little pizzeria and gelato shop. Chiara was on top of it and ordered all of our meals in Italian. She had ordered tortellini with tomato sauce for me; however, that's not what they brought out. I ended up with tortellini with some type of creamy sauce and meat. It actually tasted great though! Sammie got the lasagna, which looked delicious too. The waiter brought a basket of bread out, so obviously Sammie and I took a roll to eat with our pasta. Chiara laughed at us and said, "Italians never eat bread with pasta!" We said, "Americans ALWAYS do!" Of course, we had to get dessert afterwards since it was Sammie's birthday! The dessert menu had so many different types of gelato. It was hard to choose, but Sammie and I decided to share the Banana Split! It was the best ever! We weren't even sure the flavors of the gelato, but it didn't matter. We loved it! 

I'm not sure what is "so funny!"

Giorgia and Mattia wanted to ride the train after lunch which goes around a part of the lake. Unfortunately, the train rides were closed until 4pm. But not to worry, Sammie and I made it very entertaining even with the train sitting still. We all climbed aboard and sat in one of the train cars. Sammie and I started saying, "Chugga chugga chugga chugga, Choo Choo!!" We even had our arms going like the wheels. It was as if we were on a real life train! Chiara just looked at us like we were crazy! She said in Italy they say the Choo Choo part, but not the Chugga Chugga. She then said if someone yelled at us for being on the train she would just say, "I am American! I don't know any better!" 

Italians version of a tire swing.

The kids played in a nearby park, which was super clean and nice. Of course, even in Italy, there were the teenage couples making out. Besides that though, we had a wonderful time! Sammie and I even tried out the see-saw. I also tried walking on this wheel that spins as you walk and goes uphill. It was tricky. I didn't last long on that. But I did push Giorgia and this random little boy on it. It was actually pretty cool because I was able to communicate to the boy. I would ask him, "Pronto?", which means "ready?". He would shake his head yes after he was situated. Then I would attempt to push them, which was way more difficult than it should've been.

Garda Lake was absolutely beautiful! I am so grateful to have a host family who likes to go on adventures and show me the beautiful sites of Italy!

Mamma Mia!

I had only been here a few days when I somehow found myself in the bathroom with both kids. Giorgia was finished and needed help. Being from America, I obviously grabbed the toilet paper to which she said, "No, no!" and hopped onto the bidet. She looked at me with her sad puppy dog eyes and said, "Pleeease! Pleeease!" I was like, "Sorry kid, you're on your own!" Meanwhile Mattia was on the potty, but was ready for the bidet which his sister was still attempting to use.

Luckily, Chiara came to the rescue. When she walked in I just looked at her, put my arms in the air, and said, "I have no idea what's going on!"

Everything is Bigger in...

"Everything is Bigger in Texas" is the common motto we've all heard. Well in Italy, they like to say "Everything is Bigger in America!"

It really is true.
I don't even know how Italians survive out here.

The washer and dryer are so tiny. Even though they have a dryer, they barely use it. Probably because you have to stop it every time you use a kitchen appliance and it takes hours to dry. The average American family would have three times as many loads of laundry if they had an Italian sized washer and dryer.

The refrigerator. My host family actually said they hope to one day own an American refrigerator. I mean, who knew there was such a thing. Chiara said, "I want one with three doors!" They find it amazing that we have filtered water that comes from the refrigerator door and an ice maker. Like I mentioned in my previous post, there is no ice here. And the water we drink comes from a big jug of filtered water like you would see in an office setting. Americans would have to visit the grocery store two or three times a week because there is no way everything bought in one trip would fit into the fridge or the tiny freezer. Yep, that little white box on top is the freezer. They actually do have another freezer next to the fridge, but it's just as small.








Oh and the gallons of milk! Err..I mean, a bottle of milk. Americans would have to buy like five at once and I doubt that would last a week. Isn't that about the size of the individual milk bottles we buy for on-the-go?

The oven is pretty tiny too. No way would Americans be able to cook a complete meal using this oven. Don't forget you'd have to stop the dryer first, too. Otherwise it would be a disaster and you'd have to put your shoes on to walk all the way around the outside of the garden to spend twenty minutes trying to turn a key to open the electrical box to flip the switch back on. By the time you returned, your food would be spoiled and you'd end up just going to McDonald's. Which according to Italians, that's all Americans eat anyway. An Italian guy told me he went to America for work once and he ate McDonald's everyday because that's what Americans do.



The trash cans are smaller too. The entire trash system is quite strange. All trash must be sorted by Used, Paper, Plastic, and Everything Else. There isn't one big giant trash can to throw everything into and the trash isn't picked up once a week. There is a different schedule for each specified bin. For instance, Paper only gets picked up every 15 days. Chiara actually has a print out of the trash schedule. Americans would have to change those trash bags everyday, if not twice a day.

Chiara often jokes about how everything is bigger in America. Italians make fun of our pizza because it's so thick. True Italian pizza is very thin with minimal toppings. Italians also think we use a lot of sauces, especially ketchup. While peanut butter is not common at all in Italy, Nutella is.  They actually have tiny individual packets of Nutella. Chiara said, "America has Nutella jars so big you have to use a shovel to dig it out!" Semi trucks are also larger in America. In Italy the front "nose" of the cab is cut off. They often make fun of how big cars are in America. Just the other day Chiara told me that a lady drove to the school in a huge SUV just to drop off four kids and of course, she was American.

My favorite conversation I've had on this topic was with an Italian guy at dinner my second night here. His English wasn't the best, but I truly appreciate that he tried to speak with me. He started talking about America and how he's visited California, Las Vegas and Florida. He was telling me about the time when he was in Las Vegas about to check into his hotel room. He said, "Oh and the people! The woman working at the hotel was just so so...gross. And the guy too! So gross." He was cracking up laughing this entire time while using his arms to demonstrate a large person. He didn't know the word obese so he just kept saying gross. His wife said, "He's not used to seeing people that big."

In the eyes of the Italians, everything is bigger and mostly better in the U.S.A.

So Far in Italy...

M&M's are better than Smarties. (Not the chalky candy in the US, but the wannabe M&M's in Europe.)

My host parents, Marco and Chiara, think M&M's with popcorn would be disgusting. I guess they've never experienced the deliciousness of salty & sweet before.

My New Warm Coat

My Italian coat's zipper is on the opposite side. Because of this, it takes me an extra 20 seconds to zip it.

Chiara attempted to warm my milk on the stove for my cereal. Warm milk with cheerios does not sound appetizing.

Dinner usually starts around 7:30-8pm and can last two or three hours.

A tablecloth is put on the table every evening for dinner and removed promptly afterwards to take outside to shake out then stored away.

A pitcher of water is always set on the table, but only a small amount is poured into each glass. I have to refill my glass at least three times throughout dinner.

There is normally a block of cheese on the table that is eaten in chunks.

There is no ice in Italy.

The microwave is never used. In fact, the microwave is in my bedroom not the kitchen.

Round-a-bouts are used primarily instead of traffic lights. I am not a fan.

A lot of public restrooms have a shared sink area with separate men/women stalls for the toilet.

Marco and Chiara can't believe Americans actually have butter that comes in a spray bottle or how much butter Americans use on their popcorn.

On our way to Marco's family reunion, Chiara said, "We are going to our destiny. Dun. Dun. Dun." Needless to say, she was not looking forward to it.

At the reunion, Marco's uncle said, "Welcome to our country!"

A cousin at the reunion said, "Thank you for speaking slow. It is the perfect speed for me to understand."

I was the official family photographer at the reunion.

I have met another American Au Pair, Sammie, who lives nearby. It is wonderful meeting up with her; mainly just so I can speak English at a normal speed. Sometimes I forget to slow it back down when I'm with my host family though. They look at me after I've spoken with the most confused expression.

Sammie and I in Vicenza

Apparently doing laundry and using any kitchen appliance will cause the electricity to go out in the entire house. Chiara stopped the dryer once so she could use the oven. I blew a fuse by using the toaster.

The electrical box that refused to open

It took me twenty minutes to open the electrical box, which was outside all the way around the garden. Chiara said, "The key is difficult to turn, but it is possible!"

I had text messaged both parents about the electricity being off not knowing who would be able to reply first. Apparently Marco called Chiara asking how in the world he was supposed to explain this to me! Luckily, Chiara was able to call me and tell me how to fix it.

Chiara said, "If we can communicate how to turn the electric back on, anything is possible!"

An Italian man named Franco told me I have beautiful eyes.

At the post office, the lady said she wanted to hand deliver my package just so she could visit KY!

There was a lady at the post office with an American flag purse.

Another man at the post office was yelling because they skipped his turn apparently. Chiara said to me, "It's early in the morning. Can't he keep his voice down?!"

In order to ship something, a secure door is used between you and the postal worker. The door must be shut and locked on one side before the other side will open.

I have eaten the best mandarin orange. It was from Sicily.

McDonald's Ketchup

McDonald's ketchup is available at the store.

Marco, Chiara and I watched American Pie together. Marco thinks it is the best movie ever.

There is a bell tower nearby which rings every hour.

To-Go boxes at restaurants are unusual. Marco thinks it isn't classy, while Chiara thinks it's a good thing so food is not wasted.

I am offered beer or wine at almost every dinner.

Marco said to me, "You probably think all I do is drink, but only at home. During the day I drink only water or tea!" To this Chiara replied, "She probably thinks you are an...umm." I said, "Alcoholic?!" She said, "Yes, yes! Marco, you are an alcoholic! Hahaha!"

Giorgia now says, "Please & Thank You" when she's speaking with me.

Archways Leading up to Basilica di Monte Berico in Vicenza

I have taken the bus to Vicenza twice this week. On the return journey, my bus ticket is never stamped. Score!

I accidentally told a boy on the bus that he wasn't allowed to sit by me. He spoke in Italian so I had no idea what he said. But I assumed he had asked if anyone was sitting there to which I replied, no. He then walked away.

The girl behind me spoke English so I told her I didn't mean to not let the boy sit in that seat. She giggled and said that he had asked if that seat was free. She then told the boy he could sit there. He hogged the seat the entire time while highlighting in his book. It was a 40 minute bus ride.

Chiara is always waiting for me at the bus stop. She gets out of her car and waves at me when she sees me walking up.

The grandparents visited yesterday afternoon. The children didn't want to play with me so I fell asleep on the couch while watching some cartoon movie in Italian.

Chiara and Marco are going to see Michael Buble' in Milan on Tuesday. I'm a bit jealous, but hopefully she'll take the kids to her parents' house and I'll have the entire night free.

Chiara wants to take me to Gardaland when it opens in April. It's the eighth most popular theme park in Europe.

I've been planning a trip around Italy, a trip to Paris, and a trip to London.

These past two weeks have flown by. My three months will be over so soon and I'll be back in America attempting to run the Derby Mini Marathon.

The Countryside two minutes from my house

Ciao!

Today marks one week since I left the States! It's crazy to think of how many new experiences I have had in just a short seven days. New continent, new country, new language, new family, new food, new house, new cars, new life.

My Au Pair family is wonderful! They are very friendly and welcoming. In fact, the other night Marco (the father) was on the phone. I'm not sure who he was talking to, but I heard him mention my name so I glanced up. He then spoke in English and said, "She is like a part of our family!" 

The parents, Marco and Chiara, are some of the sweetest people. Marco doesn't speak English as well as Chiara, but he really tries. He told me that he is very happy when I can understand what he is saying. But often times he has to refer to Chiara to translate a word. Sometimes she just laughs at him and says, "What are you trying to say?!". Once the daughter said something to me in Italian. I asked Marco what she had said. He paused for a moment and said, "Umm, uhh, she said you are very beautiful!" He had no idea how to translate it, so he just made that up! Marco uses the word marvelous a lot. He says it about everything! "Ah, it was a marvelous cake, marvelous town, marvelous wall, etc." Chiara is very funny. When we talked about my Elephant accident she said, "What scared your elephant? A mouse?!" Hahaha Surprisingly, that's the first time I've heard that one! 

The children are Giorgia (4) and Mattia (2). They are adorable kids, with quite the personalities. The first night I arrived Giorgia attempted to take photos of me, except she never turned the camera on. She did however make me pose all around the house, while "snapping" photos and trying to figure out how the camera worked. Out at dinner the other night a woman was eating with us who had a deeper voice. I even took notice of it, but of course said nothing. The woman said something to Giorgia about liking her tutu. Giorgia said, "You are not a lady with that voice!" This was all spoken in Italian and later translated to me by Chiara. Let's just hope that the woman did not hear that! Giorgia also loves to sing. She goes around the house singing, "Ah Ah Ahhh, Ah Ah Ahhh!" from The Little Mermaid. She also sings, "Aurora!" from Sleeping Beauty. Speaking of Disney Princesses, Giorgia tried teaching me how to say their names in Italian. However, we had issues when it came to Aurora. I cannot roll my R's, which is of course necessary when saying "Aurora". Every time I would repeat her she would laugh and say, "Nooo! Aurora!" (with the rolled R's) I got Snow White down though! "Bianca Neve". After I said that Giorgia replied, "Si! Brava!!". 

Mattia doesn't speak much but calls me Mama along with everyone else. When he's in a bad mood he doesn't want to be bothered. But when he's well rested, he likes me. He likes to cuddle while watching movies and loves for me to help him with his Cars puzzle. I can now complete that puzzle in less than 60 seconds WITH my eyes closed. 

I am slowly learning basic Italian words, which helps when dealing with the children. I'm supposed to be teaching them English though. Oops! Just kidding. I will say the Italian word followed by the English word. Giorgia seems to be picking up on some things, Mattia as well. I'm even helping the parents with their English. It's funny how it's the simple things they don't know the word for. Like napkin, curtain, mall, cotton candy, and even pancakes! 

One night we were talking and Chiara asked about a cake made in America. She said, "Even McDonald's makes them. It's like a type of cake with a sauce." This entire time I'm thinking, "Since when does McDonald's serve cake?!" She then asked, "What is the leaf of Canada?" I said, "Maple??" Her reply, "Ah, yes yes! Maple Sauce!" I giggled and said, "We call it Maple Syrup." At this point I was still utterly confused as to what kind of cake she was speaking of, but good ol' Marco was on top of it. He had Google translate out and said, "Pancake?" I replied, "Ohh, pancakes! Yeah, those are great! Have you had them before?" Their reply was jaw dropping. They said, "No"! Can you believe that?! They've never had pancakes before. They said that they would like to try them though and asked if I could make some one Sunday morning. I, of course, said "Yes"! I mean, no one should go thru life without having eaten pancakes at least once.

Another shocker, they have NEVER heard of a s'more! But don't worry, we'll be trying those too!  

Today we went to the mall so I could buy a warmer coat. I didn't think I'd need my heavy jacket since it's in the mid 40's and I was coming from Polar Vortex weather (which they have heard of because it made the news here)! Anyways, Italians like to stand outside. When we go to restaurants, we wait for the rest of the party...outside. When we arrived early at the cafe, we stood outside. I can't deal with this cold weather, so to the mall we went. At the third store I looked at, the sales associate asked if I needed help in Italian. I looked dumbfounded at first before I replied with, "I'm from America." (This is my typical response when anyone speaks Italian to me.) She said, "Oh there is a girl who works here who is from America!" I excitedly replied, "Which state? I'm from Kentucky!" The sales associate said, "I think that is where she is from." This whole time I'm thinking, "No way is this chick from Kentucky." She goes into the back room to get the American girl. She comes out and we start talking. Come to find out, her dad is in the Army and was stationed out here in Italy, which is where she was born. She'd lived here her entire life and chose to stay even when her dad got restationed to the States. And guess which base he is at?! Yep, Fort Knox! She has even been to Louisville a few times while visiting her parents. How crazy is that?! 

You never know who you'll meet when you travel. That's one of the marvelous things about it! 

Three-Two-One

Three flights, two layovers, and one 45 minute car ride later, I finally made it to my new home for the next three months in Campodoro, Italy. 

My first flight was to Washington D.C. A 6'5" guy sat behind me and begged me not to lean my seat back. Lucky for him it was a short flight. Once in D.C., I had to ride the AeroTrain to get from Terminal A to Terminal B. The layover was only a couple of hours, which gave me plenty of time to grab a sandwich from Potbelly Pig and relax for a bit; however, the airline had a different plan. After I finished eating my sandwich, I was told I had to check in my carry-on suitcase. Lufthansa Airline made everyone with luggage that would not fit in the ridiculously small luggage sizer check their bag to their final destination. I ended up spending the majority of my layover standing in line. A lady standing in front of me was not happy at all about this. Her mother had just passed away, so she was trying to arrive at her destination as quickly as possible without having to deal with baggage claim. She stepped out of line shortly after telling me this.

I finally checked my bag in and had a few minutes to charge my phone before boarding. I got super lucky with my seat this flight. I made it in row 19! Normally I end up at the back of the flight. I also had a window seat, which is my favorite. And completely normal people were sitting in my row. One lady was from Sacramento and was on her way to Athens, Greece to help her teacher pick out artwork for an upcoming exhibit. The lady who sat directly next to me was very sweet. She was on her way to Saudi Arabia to square things away so she never has to return to her homeland. We were discussing the headphone jack on the plane because it had two inputs, as opposed to the normal one. I was saying how I wanted to use my own headphones, but she was certain they wouldn't work. She then patted my cheek and told me, "You are too technical." (Just in case you're wondering, my headphones did actually work.) But she was a very smart lady. She said by my facial features, she could tell my descendants were from Northern Ireland. I'm not for certain, but I think that sounds about right. I can never tell where anyone is from, so I found it interesting!

The food on this flight was okay. For dinner we had the option of pasta or chicken. I chose pasta, which was probably as good as airplane food can get. It was served with a "salad" (lettuce and a cherry tomato), a brownie, a roll almost as hard as a brick, and butterfly shaped Pepperidge Farm crackers with cheese. For breakfast we were served a blueberry muffin, breakfast bar and fruit. The best part about meal times was that I didn't have to lean my seat up! Korean Air forces everyone to lean their seat up, which I hated. But Korean Air did have better movie options than Lufthansa.

Frankfurt Airport had some cool chairs

Creepy bear in the lounge area

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany the lady who was sitting next to me helped me figure out which gate my next flight was at. It was too early to be on the board, so we had to find the help desk. Luckily, she spoke German so it was super easy for her to communicate. She then told me how to get to my gate, to enjoy my travels and hugged me bye. 

This layover was four and half hours way too long. Since Frankfurt was the first Schengen country I entered, I had to go thru Immigration and Customs which made me a bit nervous. It was super easy though. I didn't even have to fill out a card. I handed the man my passport and ticket, which he scanned both, stamped my passport and off I went. I walked right thru customs and onto my next gate. Once I arrived at my gate I found a spot to sleep. I always feel like Tom Hanks in The Terminal when I sleep at airports. But don't worry Melinda, I didn't drop my crackers! 

Man being escorted by police

When it was time to board the flight, I scanned my ticket myself and went thru a turn-style. Only I didn't walk into a JetBridge, I walked outside and had to board a bus. At this point, I was starting to worry I did something wrong; maybe I was at the wrong gate. I was still half asleep. I tried to glimpse at someone else's ticket but to no avail. This bus ride lasted a good five minutes which felt like an eternity, as I was anxious the entire time not knowing where this bus was taking me. I was very relieved when we pulled up next to the plane. It was odd boarding the plane from stairs. I'm used to walking straight into the plane from the JetBridge. This flight was only an hour long, but I had an entire row to myself. This has never happened before so I was thrilled! The flight was pretty bumpy, but I managed to sleep. Once we landed, I realized a man I had seen being escorted by police in Frankfurt had been on my flight to Venice! He was being escorted by police off the flight too. He had no luggage with him. A bit scary. Other than that, the arrival went smoothly. I found both of my checked bags right away, so no worries that they didn't arrive! Luckily, the guards had stopped two girls right in front of me so while they were distracted I was able to walk right thru. I was thinking, "Better you girls, than me!" As soon as I walked out, Chiara found me and asked if I was Randi. She then tried to do the European greeting, which I was so not ready for so it just turned into an awkward hug. Epic fail on my part.