Tuesday, August 28, 2012

What really matters

I got a number of reports about the first day of school some of which I'll summarize soon, but one little nugget I liked a lot came from their first cello session. Jamie is a vet now but this was Connor's first day. They handed out a get-to-know-you kind of quiz for each of the kids. One of the questions was what do you care about most. Connor's answer, and I suspect it came very quickly, was "Jamie." Jamie's answer, he reported to great hilarity, was "The Little League World Series." "But," he said, seriously, "the next thing I would have said would be Connor."

This got him thinking so later he said, sort of out of nowhere, "Dad, here are the things I need to survive: you guys, Connor, food, water, baseball, reading, video games and Legos." I'm pretty happy to make that list!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Next stop

Another funny part of the boys' experience with the language in Italy was their tendency to notice certain words. We had a great time almost from the moment we got there because Cheerios had "I Pinguini di Madagascar" on the front of the box. We all had a great time with "pinguini" which frankly sounds like a made-up Italianization of the English word.

They also got very into transportation, especially the Metro which was only about a five-minute walk from our apartment. They quickly learned all the stops but made up their own versions. Some they just pronounced as if English ("Spagna" and "Republic" for Repubblica) but in other cases they got "Barberini" became "Barbie," and to constant giggles Flaminio became "Flamingo."

One final note on the metro, Jamie finally conquered his dread of escalators. I'm afraid it was just sheer volume. We went in and out of so many metro stations, eventually he started by taking short up escalators. In this case, I think it being so crowded actually helped so he didn't feel he would fall. Then, gradually he managed some down ones and before you knew it he was happily running off to get on every escalator he could to display his newfound skill. Well, almost every ones. There are some really big, long ones at Barbie and Republic that still freaked him out but frankly they sort of scared the rest of us to, so can't blame him too much.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Forza Italia!

One of the great fortunes of our time in Italy was that it coincided with Italy's run to the finals of the European soccer tournament. As their rather unlikely series of victories gathered steam the boys got more and more into it. Really they didn't watch too much actual soccer, but it was more the experience that they enjoyed. We got in the habit of walking to the square in front of the Pantheon to watch the games at night. The bars and restaurants turned the TV's outward so we could sit and watch the game with a beer while the kids ran around nearby in the square with no fear of cars. There were guys selling these rockets that shoot up in the air and then float back down, so the boys ran around with seemingly boundless energy trying to catch them. One night, someone with a laser point in one of the rooms above the square found Connor and there commenced the most hilarious game of tag in the world, first with the pointer following Connor and then with him trying to catch it. This went on for probably 15 minutes with Connor just laughing hilariously as he ran around. Really we were all laughing and by the end so were most of the people nearby in the square.

While there we could also walk back to Giolitti's, home of delicious gelato. The on the way back after victories they also loved all the beeping cars and flags being waved and people singing in the street and yelling "Forza Italia!!!!" One of Jamie's friends is in Germany and after the Italians eliminated the Germans, Jamie was particularly pleased thinking of how quiet it must have been in Berlin at that same moment. Granted we got paid back when Italy got demolished by Spain in the final, but still it was a great run.

It helped us integrate a bit too, because we got the boys Italia shirts which they wore proudly and to good effect with the Italians.  Sometimes we needed to proclaim our allegiance too. When we were in Assisi we were getting an English language tour. It happened that this was the day before Italy's quarterfinal against England, so at some point a Franciscan monk came over to the guide, gestured gruffly at us and asked where we were from. When told the US, he lightened up considerably and smiled and said to us all...wait for it..."Forza Italia." Connor's blonde hair aroused some suspicion at times. The weekend before the final we were in Florence and our hotelier started eyeing Connor closely. Finally, he gave me a sideways look at said "Tedeschi?" (Are you German?). No, no I said, Americani. He kept looking at Connor though as though he wasn't convinced, so the net day we made sure they wore their allegiance proudly.

It's the little things

So it was really interesting seeing how the boys reacted to being abroad. For the most part, and I think this is instructive, they carried pretty much as they would anywhere else, suggesting that for all we worry about where we go and what we do with the location is pretty much a background to each other and us. As Sarah observed, I think one of the great things about this trip was that boys got even closer to each other. They still fought, of course, but they also had a lot of fun together and I think it was nice for Connor especially not to have to contend with an older friend of Jamie's.

When we ask them about Rome it was really little things that they remember. Certainly the food. As a lover (almost exclusively) of pasta, Jamie was in heaven in Italy and had the good sense to appreciate it.  At one restaurant in Florence, he pronounced it the best pasta in the world (he may have been right too). We told the waiter this, who responded enthusiastically "Ha molto ragione, questo bambino!!!" It was a small restaurant so everybody there knew that this boy has a great deal of sense. And Connor faced with a margherita (cheese) pizza at times went nuts and ate more than he usually eats in a week.

Other things that stood out for them were, predictably, the toy shops. There were quite a number of these dotted around the city and by the end of our time there, we knew quite a few of them.  They each got to pick a toy every week but I think they also just enjoyed the experience of a toy store, which has been lost a bit in these days of Target and Amazon.

Jamie generally really liked the energy and bustle of the city, because he is really an urban person. It's funny that this is so clear at this age, but he finds the country to be boring and quiet, so he enjoyed walking around the city, which we did a lot of. One of the things that made this possible, and one the things they both loved best were the water fountains everywhere. Not just the big famous ones but all over they have these spigots that constantly run deliciously cold water that you can cool off with and drink. One of the best ones was right outside one of the toy stores so we could kill  a good bit of time in the hot day going there. The spigots have a hole on the top so if clap your hand under the spigot it spurts out the top so you can drink it. This one had a lot of pressure so it would go a long way. The boys delighted in spraying the cars on the street. They were frankly horrified when we went to Florence for the weekend and there were no street fountains. The boys really seemed like ancient Romans shocked at the lack of civilization out in the country.

Little linguists

So one of the fun things about Italy was watching the boys cope with the surprising fact that people everywhere didn't speak English. We had sort of prepped them for this, but I think despite the prevalence of Spanish here in Tejas, they really couldn't conceive of it. At some point towards the end of the trip, Jamie seemed a little worn down by it, and admitted in a tired moment at the end of the day that he wanted to be where people spoke English again. But he actually did great with a little Italian. He was very good about saying "Grazie" and "per favore" at appropriate moments and often curried some real favor with it. By the end, he had also gotten to be able to really order a gelato in Italian, and I don't just mean "Gelato, per favore." He could say the whole thing, "Un piccolo cono, con ciocollato e straciatella, per favore." It was really cute. Unfortunately Rome being Rome and Romans being Romans, the gelato place was often far too busy and loud for the barristas to even note that he was doing it. He was pleased about his knowledge and looked forward to coming back to Houston and baffling ice creams stores with his Euro-skills. And then in the car yesterday he announced to a friend "I know deutsch! I know the word for German: deutsch, and for Rome: Rom!"

For his part Connor was a little shyer than Jamie about speaking to actual Italians, but he was picking it up in his quiet, attentive little way. We had to ride an elevator up and down to our apartment a few times everyday and an automated voice would announce the floor. Suddenly one day just before we got to our floor Connor beat the voice and said "Quarto piano" complete with rolled r and a little Sylvia Poggioli lilt. Clever bunny.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Yawn

Sorry for the long pause in posts, as you all know it's been a crazy summer. At this point there is so much stuff to blog about that it's a little defeating thinking about where to start. So I'll just hop in with some short things. Jamie has been producing some very funny comments lately. Yesterday he was riding in the car with some friends and she mentioned that we were having people from my work over for a party that night. "Yes," he sighed, "art history people are soooo boring." For the most part, I can't really argue too much with him about that one.