So the time has come for me to bid farewell to this land that I have called home for almost 8 months now...

There are no words to describe feelings like this. I will miss it here for sure. Alba has become my home and these people are my family. I have spent the past few weeks trying to do as much as possible and say all of my goodbyes to my friends here. I was able to try out snowboarding a couple more times with friends which was very fun! I want to go back. :) I am also eating my full share of Italian cuisine (and everyone else's) before I head off. It has made me laugh that everyone here thinks that Americans only eat hamburgers, fries, and coca-cola for every meal. We all know that's not true...but the food is certainly different and my taste buds will miss certain small pleasures. I think 'the basics' are my favorite things here...good olive oil, tomatoes, parmigiano, gelato, fresh cheeses and hams, focaccia, etc.

My family here had a very nice 'going away meal' for me last night and gave me their wishes. I am trying to finish up last minute packing now and the kids will get home from school in about 1 hour. Then I will say my last goodbyes and head out for Milano. Will I cry? Yes, I think so. It will be so hard to leave these little munchkins. They don't even fully understand right now that I'm going away. Isabella, the oldest, understands, however I'm not sure about the younger ones. Ginevra is constantly asking me to stay and live with them forever and be her momma. :) It breaks my heart. And little Claudio just says "perche vai via?" and "sei bellissima!" This is a big improvement from what he used to call me. They are like my children and I will miss them very much!


In any case...this is it. My future in the states is still quite undetermined so it's very weird going off into the 'unknown'. At least my good friends back home have been giving me many exciting things to look forward to upon my return. I love you guys and can't wait to see you. Just try to bear with me if I start getting too nostalgic about Italy.

Real world...here I come!

 
I had a great time with my family and friends from Tennessee this past weekend. It was so nice to see some familiar faces and quite funny to watch them interact with the Italian culture here. I had almost forgotten how much my mom makes me laugh with her Southern phrases, accent, and charm. I love it!

Of course, the main thing that we did all weekend was eat. I mean, it's Italy! I had to make sure that they tasted all the typical dishes. Saturday (as would be our luck) just happened to be the rainiest and worst weather I think this beach has ever seen. It rained hard almost all day and night, but my parents were not discouraged. It was like a ghost town here because Italians hate bad weather. I think my parents must be used to lots of rain because it didn't phase them at all. We toured several cities along the Ligurian coast that afternoon including Noli, Varigotti, and Borgio Verezzi. Every time it started to downpour we would duck into the closest bar for a cappuccino, focaccia farcita, or crepe.

Noli is a beautifully preserved fishing village next to Spotorno. And like all villages throughout Italy, there is an old castle/fortress at the top of the hill with 12th century walls that once protected the entire town. So what did my parents want to do?? Hike up to the top of the castle, of course. Luckily during this part of the day it had briefly stopped raining, though all of the brush was still soaking wet. By the looks of things, this 'trail' hadn't been walked on in a few years. It was completely overgrown with brush, cacti, weeds, and lots of creepy crawlies along the path (luckily they weren't big enough to be squishy). Upon arrival at the top we were absolutely soaked and filthy with a few minor flesh wounds, but we had accomplished our goal. The castle remains are not really tourable, but it was still cool to see with gorgeous views of the coastline. On clear days from here you can see all the way to the Cinque Terre.


Varigotti is the next town over and though they are all very close each town has its own unique character. This was a gorgeous yet tiny little town with the feeling of a high class beach resort. It had a beautiful rocky pier out into the sea and plenty of sandy beaches running along the coast right behind a pink row of 'old town' shops and bars.  Borgio was also a lovely town worth mentioning with a cool old city set up on a hillside, but by this point we were soaked and quite tired so we only stayed long enough for a gelato. My favorite part here was the beautiful gardens along the hills growing everything you can imagine to eat. I love how fresh the food is here.

By Sunday the sun was back out along with all of the visitors geared up for the beach. However, being with my mom and Peggy we spent our morning shopping the market. We did make it to the beach with enough time for them to see Sara and the little kiddos playing in the water. My parents were so excited to meet the children! For lunch, Luca and Sara treated my family and friends to an all-out Italian feast. We had several courses including homemade salami (one of those foods that I usually don't like at home, but this stuff was delicious), homemade bruschetta, pasta with fresh clams and herbs, steamed white fish with potatoes, chocolate and pear torta, and gelato. And you can't have an Italian feast like this without wine. Since Sara's father (the winemaker) was also in town at the time, we had about 4 or 5 different bottles to try...white wine, sparkline wine, several reds, and a very rare dessert wine that is no longer in production. Luca also broke out shots of his special Dutch bourbon just for the occasion. It was all quite amusing considering neither my family nor their friends actually drink, but I had forgotten to mention this to Luca. As polite Southerners not wanting to offend Italian tradition, they partook.

Sunday night we took a trip over to the town of Albisola to check out their famous ceramics and pottery. There were very interesting displays of art throughout the town and ceramic designs covering the sidewalks. It was also one of the prettiest beaches I've seen around here if you can get past the fact that your view is of the surrounding factories. Next we ventured to Varazze to walk along the marina at sunset. This was a truly romantic setting so I will have to find someone to take me back sometime for dinner there at the harbor. ;) Gorgeous.

Sunday was a very big holiday here in Italy...Ferragosto. Because of this I expected there to be much more going on, but this didn't seem to be the case in Varazze. It just meant that all the shops were closed and everyone was eating out that night. We asked what the day celebrates, but no one really knows. Apparently that part of the tradition was lost somewhere so now it is just a big party day for people to take off and go to the beach. Italians find reasons to celebrate anything.

Now I'm back in Spotorno getting geared up for another adventure with the folks this weekend, only this time the setting is Switzerland. With this crowd there's bound to be some funny stories to come!

As exciting as it is for me to hear these little children trying to speak English words to me (with very thick, but cute Italian accents), sometimes it's just funnier to hear their Italian expressions. Nothing makes me laugh more than when little 2 year old Claudio does something like dropping his red Hot Wheels Ferrari into the middle of his pile of pesto tagliatelle and exclaiming "Oh, Mamma Mia!!"

We're finally starting to make some progress with the kids learning English! It's been slow and steady, but up until now they have really had no desire to learn another language. It was only their parents desire for them. So that made things a bit difficult.

However, it's like something has finally changed this past week. The girls are suddenly excited about learning and always wanting to know how to say things in English. They enjoy showing people what they know and they are proud of themselves. Claudio just repeats everything that anyone says, so that works out fine. He was running around yesterday afternoon screaming 'doggy doggy!' for about an hour while playing with his nonna's Cocker Spaniel. This caused some confusion because nonna didn't know what he was saying and kept telling him that her dog's name was Lily, not doggy. Haha.

The comprehension levels of all three children has greatly improved as well. Let's hope this excitement keeps up!  :)

Generally when you think of Italy you think of ancient towns with history, fascinating architecture, winding cobblestone streets, etc. At least that's what I always think of. Spotorno meets all of those criteria except for one thing...Luna Park. Luna Park is the random, gaudy, neon lit amusement park on the edge of town. I can always here the park announcers over the loud speakers from my house. The flashing signs are reminiscent of the famous 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign. This place really caught me off guard when I first saw it. Just doesn't seem to fit in. But hey, every town has got to find some way to please the children.

We took a little risk tonight with the kiddos and decided to take them to play (against our better judgement because they're always really tired at night, then they get cranky and don't want to walk home). Tonight, however, all was well. Claudio was terrified of the Indiana Jones kiddy coaster we took them on. He started out silently shocked, but by the 5th lap he was crying hysterically in his mom's arms. The girls loved the trampolines with the harnesses that pulled them up into the air when they jumped. And then my favorite part...the fun house. At Sara's suggestion, I got to take the girls with me into the fun house. ;) Talk about childhood nostalgia! I loved those things then, and I still do now. It turned out to be much harder than it looked too. Ginevra at one point ran into one of the clear walls so hard she almost started crying. And then again when we got stuck on opposite sides of the plexiglass and she couldn't figure out how to get to me. But all in all, we loved it. Good times.

Things here are getting better each day. I had a wonderful weekend with friends. I enjoyed a nice stroll at the market this morning, which I love! Although, it's a good thing I didn't bring much money with me. And to top things off, I am on vacation all next week! I leave on Saturday for my little adventure and come back home the next Sunday. I don't have many plans set in stone yet, but I'll tell you more later. God is so good to me and His timing is always perfect. :)  Goodnight for now...

Finally posted some pics to Flickr! if you want to check them out....

I achieved a small victory last night as I survived my first time at home alone with all three children for the entire night. I am appreciating my mom more and more every day! I was left alone by around 5pm with Isabella, Ginevra, and Claudio. We played outside for a long time, mostly with the gardener and the cleaning lady. Then they helped set the table while I cooked them dinner. We ate a lovely meal out on the patio (with only a few pieces of food flying across the table and only one glass of water being spilt). Then we played some more and had a little English lesson. They watched some cartoons and then when I turned off the TV, two out of the three of them willingly went upstairs to start getting ready for bed. Pretty good numbers! We skipped bathtime (shh...don't tell), but they did all brush their teeth. And all was quiet by 9:30pm!  I think I did a pretty good job considering the vast language barrier. I can only imagine how funny this would have been from the outside looking in.

A lady on my flight over to Italy told me that what I'm doing would not only be a great experience for me, but also an excellent method of birth control. Not that I really need that right now - but I get what she meant...