March Eats Mozzarella! (A Day in the Life)

It makes such a huge difference when P is at home, even when he is convalencing, and recuperating from a very exhausting work week. His presence gives off this positive source of energy I could feed on, and need to simply gain strength and better perspective, again.

from Summer 2009 - 03.07.09

from Summer 2009 - 26.06.09

Although he could have slept in this morning, he stood up with me and help prepare the girls for school by finishing the paper work for the application of days away from school, they need imperatively this month. After,the girls left, we shared a quiet breakfast together, while the littlest slept in. P took a nap on the sofa beside me, while I replied to emails, and wrote down how our week schedule will be.


Tomorrow, littlest will go again for a second Tuesday meeting to get to know her teacher and classmates before she officially starts with school on the 14th of November. The first getting to know day, a week ago, went marvelously. We were SO proud of her, and she was SO proud of herself. Since we were welcome to stay, we did, and was able to see how the day (at least half of it) went for the children. We left as they were taking their snacks, and two hours later we picked her up again.


So, when she finally woke-up this morning, and joined P and me on the couch, we enjoyed the moment with her even more knowing next week, she would no longer be there as we are used to, and that her days will also follow, albeit slowly, the school calendar.


One important email we got today, is from the doctor' clinic, telling us that the doctor's certificate, that I need to submit to qualify me for the Rome marathon will "only" cost €24,80! It is still costly but at least it is not € 60 or € 160! This was a huge relief for us.


We then checked again the cost of the room in the hotel we would like to get which is 20 minutes away from the city centre of Rome. I can't share specific details here now but I'll share some other things about the hotel in another blog of this series "Baby Steps to the Road Leading to Rome", as soon as we have made a reservation to give you a picture where we will be staying.


Both of us agreed, that if the prices stay as they are, until I have submitted all the papers and have gotten a confirmation of my participation in the Rome marathon, we will reserve 5 nights in our chosen hotel. We will get to stay 3 more days after I've ran the marathon!


The girls are all excited! Specially the eldest, who has been fascinated from Italy for quiet a while now, and intend to learn Italian outside of the school curriculum. It will be a short visit for now for the family but we think enough time to give the girls lasting impressions to initially satisfy their curiosity and fascination.


While I was once again checking the current prices for airline tickets, we searched for information regarding the climate and weather around mid-March in Rome. We stumbled upon this Italian phrase,"Marzo è pazzerello" - meaning March is crazy, as the weather at this time of the year, to quote the travel guide we read: notoriously capricious.

This reminded us of the German saying, "April, April es kann machen, was es will!" (literally meaning, April can do whatever it wants; this saying explains more or less, that April in Germany/Netherlands, can have almost every kind of weather in a day from sunshine to hail!)


Well, we are not at all daunted by this! :) The family lives by the saying, there is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!


When we searched how to pronounce "Marzo è pazzerello" , we had the giggles! It almost sounded like March eats mozzarella! lol


The rest of the early afternoon was spent simply repeating more Italian phrases; some words were even familiar because of our previous visits to an Italian restaurant in Hamburg, ran by an Italian family. I think it is the best way to learn a language, learn while you eat!


We all have at least 4-5 months to prepare, and perhaps we can order a simple family meal in Italian by Spring 2012. I think my family will even be happy if they can just each order one scoop of gelato by themselves! lol


Marzo sarà pazzesco! Gelato consumo pazzesco!