Piano-a-piano

As our blog has indicated or implied, life here is not without its challenges. We’re finding that the romance and reality of this adventure are beginning to overlap - or at times, collide!  That's probably timed about right, as we end our second month in Genoa and truly begin to transition from visitors to residents (albeit temporary). 

There’s the patience-testing bureaucracy of Italy, the infrastructure breakdowns due to neglect or occasional strikes, the mind-bending adjustments to language, culture and true urban living, and the periodic meltdowns as the girls navigate their new school and all of the changes they are experiencing. 

The Italians use a lovely phrase for “little-by-little” which we've adopted as our motto: “piano-a-piano” (or sometimes, “poco-a-poco”). It is a perspective that helps as we slowly settle in.  

Another helpful perspective often comes from the nearby piazza, where the romance of Genoa is on full display: couples embracing, children playing, and spectacular views. A week full of taxing "reality checks" was capped by this sunset over the harbor and the Mediterranean beyond.  It eased us – piano-a-piano – into a peaceful reminder of our good fortune in being here.

First Week of School

Some things we have noticed about our scuola nuova (new school) so far:

• We walk there.
• We have a lot of books and heavy backpacks, which dad and mom often end up helping to carry. ;-)

• The crossing guard is actually a policeman.

• Many kids arrive to school riding on motor-scooters!

• We say goodbye in the courtyard, pass through the school gates, and go up some stairs to enter the school.

• The school is a big city building with lots and lots of stairs inside too!

• The language is Italian, and people also “talk” with their hands.
• We wear uniforms, which are called grembiule (apron). It is kinda cool and kinda not. Mostly boys wear black and girls wear white.
• There are a lot of supplies that need to be a certain way: we have many textbooks that we have to cover with clear plastic to protect them; and many different notebooks (or 4-ring binders) for our work in each subject, with different kinds of lines, margins, paper sizes, and other things; we each have kits with colored pens, pencils, rulers and other items.

• We have traditional classrooms, and there are a few religious symbols on the walls. We also have a religion class once per week.
• We have one main teacher, but different teachers for some of the subjects.
• The school day ends at 1:00, and we go to school every other Saturday. (Boo!)
• There is homework. At least the English homework is easy. :-) 
• Everyone is really nice to us, and they are really curious about the Americans!

Buoni Meloni!

Today’s visit to a neighborhood fruit stand brought to mind the rumor that melons are often grown to match the optimal size of certain body parts, as a subconscious way of promoting more purchases. Urban legend or not, the Italians have taken it to a whole new level: thanks to the wax seal that is not-so-subtly placed where the stem was broken off!

(With apologies to parents reading this with young children, since you now might have some explaining to do...hey, it's a "teachable moment!")

Veni, vidi, vici!

The girls conquered Day 1 of school, notwithstanding a healthy dose of le farfalle nello stomaco (butterflies in the stomach) for all of us. Warm and welcoming parents and classmates made everything a bit easier.

As new parents, we were allowed to enter the school with the first-year students and their families. This included enjoying the tradition of the fifth-year students cheering for the doe-eyed newcomers as they made their way up the dramatic staircase. C was part of the flag-waving throng, doing her best to navigate the chaos of it all.

The Montessori section of the school is on the uppermost floor (yes, we’re getting used to climbing stairs!), and we arrived to find signs welcoming the girls to their classrooms.

The teachers and students were incredibly kind and attentive, showing us around the classrooms and helping the girls feel more at ease. The fifth-grade class even introduced themselves one-by-one, using the opportunity to struggle through sharing their names and ages in English.

Five hours later, we greeted our brave girls at pick up and were rewarded with shining smiles and (remarkably) still-shining white grembiule. 

All in all, a very successful first day!

Time, Travel

As with travelling to many parts of the world, Italy forces you to recalibrate historical timelines. In Portland, we marveled at the “1915” stamped into a concrete corner near our home, marking when sidewalks where first laid out in our newly-founded neighborhood. 

In Genoa, we’ll routinely walk across streets and floors that are hundreds of years old, including this date marker on the marble floor in a local church:

For the girls, it’s especially difficult to grasp these notions of time. At the site of the first monastery in Genoa (Santa Maria di Castello) we saw a gravestone from 1493, and tried to help the girls understand this date in the context of Columbus’ first voyage to the new world – noting that he was born in Genoa. Even this didn't make much of an impression.

     

So, we looked at the physical impressions on the stone stairs in our apartment building: comparing the nearly unscathed top stairs on our 5^th-floor apartment’s landing to the wear on the entryway steps from over 150 years of foot traffic.

That caught their interest for a moment…until a cool lizard scurried across the path in front of our building!

Maybe the real lesson is for us, since the girls are much more “present” with what’s going on currently. At the moment, that includes the start of school on Monday: a timeline they are definitely tracking, and that's making a significant impression!

Apartment Tour

Here is a little video of where we are living. Hope you like it!

Scuola Italia

In 10 days the girls start Italian public school: a Montessori track in the local elementare, grades 1-5. They are taking tentative steps toward accepting this reality.

We've walked by the outside of the school, and also "played school" at home.

In addition to the language, wearing grembiule each day will be a big adjustment. 

But so far they seem to find it as entertaining as we find it adorable!

The Oregon Trail stretches all the way to Italy!

Our mom and dad dragged us to the one big mall in Genoa today.

We tried out some kind of Mexican food at a Wild West themed restaurant.

It was terrible, but at least we got to visit Oregon!! :-)