October Various

Ray is becoming quite the photographer. Here are some photos of "Ray's World". We now have about 100 in his collection.


I am fighting a cold these days so will just give a quick rundown on what has been going on in the past month. Sorry I haven't responded to any recent emails. I will try to do so soon.

After the first week of returning to a full-time job (after 5 years!), I was desperate to spend the weekend out of Bologna so we finally went to visit Lake Garda. It was misty and cool but a nice break nonetheless, and Ray really loved learning how to shoot darts at imaginary wild boar (free lessons courtesy of the owner of the bed & breakfast we stayed at: http://www.cervano.com/) and the boat ride we took across the lake.









Ray took his first "real" pony ride at his friend Isabella's birthday party recently. He was so serious.

We also had a weekend visit from cousins Ma-chan and daughter Kahori. Kahori is training at a Japanese bank in London for the year and her mother is staying with her for a bit. They only stayed in Bologna for two days and I had to work, so we didn't see other much but we had a nice dinner with Andrea (who then had to take off to Florence for a conference) and the lunch I cooked the next day was fun as I invited language-school-friend Yoshi to eat with us.



My job at the International School is going well. Here is a photo of Michele with his friends and one of the players of the Bologna basketball team (who is American - there are a number of players who come from the states to play here). Michele is recovering from cancer and I spend the afternoons tutoring him in private during his classes. The mornings in class with the first graders can be fun - but tiring. What a change from PU!




Andrea began teaching his class - here is his syllabus for anyone who cares about which films he is discussing: http://www.bcsp.unibo.it/BCSPcourses/pdf/SYLLABUS%20Ricci%20Fall%2008-ingl.pdf



The International Women's group invited a speaker last week, Susie of J Brand Jeans in Los Angeles (http://www.jbrandjeans.com/ check out her blurb under designer's notes). She was a real hoot and is a friend of a member so she came just to give the talk (and was able to throw in a couple of press interviews while she was here) so I hosted an aperitivo with 12 members to welcome her. Here she is on the right, and as a thank-you, she promises to send me a pair of her jeans when she is back in LA (which I could never afford here at 240 euros a pair, or $325 with the exchange rate!). I want to set her up on a blind date with cousin Jun in NYC. What do you think?

Ray is not as crazy about school this year as he was last year. I understand why as he doesn't get nearly the amount of attention as he used to, and though the facilities are adequate enough (in fact, the building is in the middle of Bologna's "central park"), still the drawings he brings home are in only one color, and when I pick him up all the kids are sitting around tables without books or toys, and also he doesn't really seem to have much to share when we chat on our drive home. We are considering sending him to the International School next year (since I have to pay only a small percentage of the 10k tuition) or reapplying at the Montessori school that we didn't get into this year. One thing is for certain: he is going to have a Happy Halloween. Hope you do too.

Ray is in school!

Just a quick note to say that today Ray officially finished his inserimento (insertion) into scuola materna (nursery school). (Italians believe that children should not be traumatized in being separated from their parents and so this system of slowing introducing children to school can run from two to six weeks! We had to go through this last year too.) The first few days, he stayed for 60 minutes, the next few 90 minutes, then 3 hours each day of this week, and now next week he can stay until 4 pm. You can only imagine the juggling we had to do to make the drop-offs, the pick-ups, then the babysitting arrangements for the mornings and the afternoons. It was stressful as I was in the throes of a new job, but it was a temporary situation and as Ray loves his new school and my job is enjoyable enough, things should smooth out from hereon. Today when I picked up Ray, the teacher asked me if he was as tranquillo and sereno at home as he is at school, which was nice to hear. His Italian should really improve now and the other day, he actually corrected mine. Ouch.


Okay, here is the real reason I took Ray's photo at a bus stop. She cuts quite a figure around town, no pun intended.

Pico and miniMasters

Here is a nice article featuring Pico and the school she works for:

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_279/wherethefirst.html

And here is the link of her in the band for the Letterman show where she is sometimes called in to play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLMDIOUlB1E

And here she is playing at our wedding back in '03. When she was little, everyone thought I was her mother. Now at 25, everyone thinks she is my sister (heehee).

In Florida '02

September 11th

I was in Clio Hall on Princeton's campus when the news came through about the first plane. By the time morning was over, we had closed the department, canceled all the events scheduled to kick off the new academic year, and hoped to feel safer at home. I remember reading this some days after and put it on my desk at home where seven years later, it still sits in my in-basket.
(For those of you who might not know, Toni M. is a now-retired Professor at Princeton. Even if you didn't know that she was a recipient of the Nobel prize, she cut an intimidating and intriguing figure around campus. I suppose I was especially drawn to her expression of that raw period.)

The Dead of September 11
Toni Morrison
September 13, 2001

Some have God's words; others have songs of comfort
for the bereaved. If I can pluck courage here, I would
like to speak directly to the dead - the September dead.
Those children of ancestors born in every continent
on the planet: Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas…
born of ancestors who wore kilts, obis, saris, geles,
wide straw hats, yarmulkes, goatskin, wooden shoes,
feathers, and cloths to cover their hair. But I would not say
a word until I could set aside all I know or believe about
nations, war, leaders, the governed and ungovernable;
all I suspect about armor and entrails. First I would freshen
my tongue, abandon sentences crafted to know evil - wanton
or studied; explosive or quietly sinister, whether born of
a sated appetite or hunger; of vengeance or the simple
compulsion to stand up before falling down. I would purge
my language of hyperbole; of its eagerness to analyze
the levels of wickedness; ranking them, calculating their
higher or lower status among others of its kind.

Speaking to the broken and the dead is too difficult for
a mouth full of blood. Too holy an act for impure thoughts.
Because the dead are free, absolute; they cannot be
seduced by blitz.

To speak to you, the dead of September, I must not claim
false intimacy or summon an overheated heart glazed
just in time for a camera. I must be steady and I must be clear,
knowing all the time that I have nothing to say-no words
stronger than the steel that pressed you into itself; no scripture
older or more elegant than the ancient atoms you
have become.

And I have nothing to give either-except this gesture,
this thread thrown between your humanity and mine:
I want to hold you in my arms and as your soul got shot
of its box of flesh to understand, as you have done, the wit
of eternity: its gift of unhinged release tearing through
the darkness of its knell.

Okay, I understand the point but...

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/travel/escapes/05wineries.html




Where is the fun in not having to deal with Italian bureaucracy and taking years to get your home projects approved and off the ground? Seriously, the light and the air is what makes it so special, and that delicious espresso at the bar in town drunk while listening to two Italians having a passionate "conversation" (I used to think everyone was having an argument) that makes one enjoy la dolce vita. And the amazing food that is eaten accompanied by all that wine. Can you really recreate that in Texas or upstate NY, or anywhere in the US? (Ok, ok, the wineries in California are really quite lovely, I admit - but oh so young.)

The end of summer

I apologize for not writing more frequently these days. The month of August was busy with an unexpectedly delightful vacation, a couple of job offers to sort through, and getting Ray potty trained. In addition, I was able to finally finish some home projects: I sewed new curtains for Ray’s bedroom window (which is a very odd shape that includes an angle and is very high, so I had to concoct a series of pull strings and hooks to pull them up towards the ceiling to open them); painted his ceilings blue with gold stars on one section and the sun on the other (it's divided by a beam); stripped and refinished the two double front doors; ditto on the front metal railings; trimmed out those huge, glass, interior doors that pass through the kitchen to Andrea’s study; hung a couple more curtains on our veranda and so on and so on.

But in between, I was invited to use Philippa and James’ house in the Marche for nine days (with Poppy) while they took their vacation (in rainy London) and so did the 3 hour drive down with Ray. Andrea came later on his motorbike for a few nights. It was a blissful nine days of warm, sunny days, cool night breezes, mountainous views and swimming (and watching the Olympics). I have never seen saw many shooting stars in my life, and to watch Ray crouching down to inspect insects, dig holes and make mud pies, and run through the laundry drying on the clothes line was just so sweet and simple – I just loved it (more on these thoughts in a later post…).

So, this week I started my new job as an assistant teacher to first graders at the International School of Bologna (http://www.isbologna.com/). I am having a great time with it but I’ll wait for the kids to return this Wednesday before I say more. But it is down the street from where I live and the others I work with (there are 6 newcomers this year) are a hoot. This job will allow me to drop some of my private students so that will free up more of my evenings. Ray doesn’t start school until the 8th, so it has been a juggle on trying to have his care covered, and he is a bit unhappy about me leaving every morning.

Andrea’s students have arrived now and last night we had the annual newcomer’s pizza party at home – they are a really nice group; very focused on speaking Italian and embracing the whole study abroad experience. I gave them an open invitation for tea and cheesecake at any time, so I hope to get to know some of them better. Next Saturday, Ray and I will join them on the day trip to Ravenna, then on the Urbino a week later. This brings me to say that last weekend, Andrea and I had lunch with Ray at a Chinese restaurant, and he sat and ate and behaved beautifully the entire hour. We are so happy (well, more just me I suppose) that we have moved on to this next step with Ray that opens so many more doors in being able to take him out socially. He is such a tesoro (treasure).

By the way, here is the link to Andrea's program's website: http://www.bcsp.unibo.it/ (see under events, student parties for the photos of the pizza party)

And another travel article on Bologna: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/italy/article4465152.ece?Submitted=true

Language School

I attended language school for the month of July at Cultura Italiana (http://www.culturaitaliana.it/). It is located in the very center of town, very close to the two leaning towers and convenient enough that I could commute by Vespa every day (and then zoom home after with Keiko on the back during the first two weeks of classes). I enjoyed the course - two hours of grammar and two hours of conversation every morning – though it moved along more slowly than I hoped, and I didn’t study as hard as I should have, though I did attempt to speak at least a couple of hours of Italian daily outside of school. But it covered enough material for me to build upon what I know, and the instructors there are very nice. I had attended a class there for two weeks when I was nine months pregnant, and was happy to have one or two favorite teachers again (they circulate instructors which is a positive and negative feature). Anyway, they take photos of the class every week so you can fondly remember your teacher and classmates – getting to know the other students was actually the highlight of the course. Being in a room together and feeling humiliated in attempting to express oneself in another language makes for some fast, intense bonding and we socialized outside of school as well. Here are some photos of a couple of dinners we had at our apartment – one with Japanese students, Yoshi, Ai and Chika, while Keiko was here (photo forthcoming), and another a few weeks into class. We also met at a park for a picnic where Julia, who is a chef, cooked some nice dishes (and carted it all over to the park) and a few nights ago, we met at a restaurant to bid farewell to a few outgoing posse members.










How often does one get tossed into the air by a rugby player named Scott? Ray had a great time at the picnic - lots of attention. Yoshi, always the most popular-guy-at-the-party, learned how to juggle in just a couple of hours.

It was fun to have Father Michele in class with us. He is a retired Franciscan priest from France who had Andrea teach him how to play Italian cards (http://www.virtualitalia.com/sports/cards/cards.shtml) and was quite the class clown.
Chika had her mother send this nice gift from Japan after I told her how much I loooove osembe!

Keiko's visit

Keiko left this past Sunday to return to New York and her cats. We had a lovely visit with her, albeit a bit hectic as we both attended language school everyday and my promise to her that we will speak only Italian at home for two weeks was quickly broken. Four hours of class in the morning and then homework of thinking about and in Italian seemed to give us a brain drain. We did some other fun things though that gave up plenty of exposure to the language, including a corporate party (courtesy of a friend) at an ex-monastary that is now a four star hotel in the hills, a weekend in the Marche to celebrate my friend Philippa's birthday (she just had a beautiful inground pool completed, some friends from their hometown of London even came, and Ray roasted his first marshmallow), and a sunset aperitivo on the roof of one of Bologna's medieval towers (pictured above and now a b&b http://www.prendiparte.it/. What a climb that was.). We also had a vegetarian lunch at an

agriturismo which was better than expected, and I think Keiko enjoyed getting around Bologna on the back of my Vespa. We also attended the theater to see an English/Italian version of The Vagina Monologues (we know now how to say the v-word in Italian, among others we wouldn't learn in class). The weather was quite hot while she was here, so we kept mostly to the indoors until it cooled down in the evenings. The cinema festival is in the process of showing films on the big screen in Piazza Maggiore, but so far we haven't managed to see any (the Kubrick segment begins this week - every year they show 2001 but this year they include a number of others - Andrea is looking forward to seeing the beautiful women in Eyes Wide Shut on the huge screen).

By the way, James and Philippa put up all their guests at a hotel in a small town in the Marche that was bought in its entirety and renovated into something of a resort yet still sits at the end of a dirt road. A great place to stay if you are planning a trip through the region: http://www.castellodellapieve.it/

This photo is for SusieQ.

Sicilia

During my first summer here in Italy, just before I became pregnant with Ray, Andrea took me on what my friends called "the kidnapping" - a two week trip to Sicily via ship (Ravenna to Catania) transporting our scooter and without any hotel reservations. This was unlike any vacation I had been on, it was to be the last big ka-bang before parenthood, and I was stubborn and reluctant to "rough it" (a.k.a. no hotel reservations) and with only the amount of clothing that could be crammed into the container attached to the back of the scooter seat. But, naturally, in spite of all my reservations, the trip was amazing and I will always remember it as one of the most beautiful and fulfilling vacations. The ocean coast and internal desert scapes in addition to the amazing number of Greek and Roman ruins made every new region and town a treasure, and the scents of the land and sea (and dust) inhaled from the back of the scooter could never be experienced from the interior of a car.

But the most unexpected discovery were the Sicilians - we were approached with outstretched hands regularly and given tours and recommendations. They were extremely friendly and hospitable (and rather petite to us!). The only downfalls of this beautiful island are the areas that are heavily polluted with trash, the high number of stray dogs, and the vulnerability of the more isolated homes - many of them were obviously vandalized and our idea of perhaps one day buying a former shephard's hut for retirement was quickly shot down - if you don't live there full-time you run the risk of losing all your possessions; even the plumbing and water heater might get ripped out. But in spite of her thorns, Sicily is beautiful, mysterious, enchanting and raw.

This article appears in this weekend's NYT and reminded me of the beauty of the land and the history of her people: http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/travel/06leopard.html?pagewanted=1wanted=1
(that is not me adjusting my bathing top, unfortunately)

Happy 4th

Happy Independence Day to my American and stateside friends. For some reason, it is always this particular holiday that gets me down while living abroad - perhaps because it is celebrated by the majority of (patriotic or not) Americans with a bbq and beer (two wonderful things) and it slips by here as just another summer day.

These photos are of a past bbq with the American/Italian offspring playing soccer and a slew of Italian meats on the grill.

We have been having a heat spell - temps in the 90s with 100% humidity. If we thought last summer we could survive without air conditioning in this apartment on a hill, then this year we have changed our minds. Keiko arrives on Sunday and we start language school the next day. I will attend for a month and Kei for the two weeks she is here. This language hurdle is to be overcome now or never for me - I am throwing myself into it 150% or else....

Ray started camp - he seems to love it. In true Italian fashion, we learned on Monday that he would be unable to begin summer camp on that Tuesday for logistical reasons (we had registered two months earlier and paid in full), but Andrea was able to be such a pain that they placed Ray elsewhere and he is doing full days at a camp run by a convent without any obvious trauma.

Here are some photos of how we are cutting through the heat: