The Halfway Point

Our adventure is halfway over. We are feeling extremely fortunate to have this opportunity and the many, many experiences we've had. As Dave pointed out earlier this week, any slice of this trip could qualify as 'a trip of a lifetime'.

Tonight we had our weekly dinner at the local pizzeria and talked over how things have gone so far.

What do you miss most (that's not human, because, obviously we miss people)?
   Dave- Our shower. And the grill.
   Ben- Michigan Tigers (Soccer team- we decided that this answer would qualify)
   Ethan- My V-Tech watch
   Lindsay- My bed. No, the washer and dryer.

The boys being goofy on the bus.

What's your favorite thing about Italy?
   Dave- Taking Walks
   Ben- Playing Pokemon Go
   Ethan- Learning Italian
   Lindsay- Public transit has made daily life and tourism easy

Ben: POKE'MON GO.

Pokemon got to catch them all. Hello guess what I got Pokemon go. I am very good. 
better than Ethan. My highest Pokemon is a grumping. It is very good.
no jultian.

Ben:Soccer

Hello,

I am having a very fun time playing soccer.

At the Prato with friends.
everywhere with everyone.
I also got a Ronaldo jersey.

I Dolomiti

As you may have read, we spent a weekend in the Dolomites snowboarding. We rented a car and left Padova right after the boys were done with school at 1:00 on Friday. The boys did their homework in the back, then enjoyed playing video games and listening to music.

Mountains! From the Autostrada
(freeway)

It only takes an hour and a half to be at the foot of the Dolomites from Padova. Since we had time, we took the scenic route through the national park. The park itself was really nothing special- it was when we reached the far side of the park, in the mountains, that we had great views and a fun drive. There were lots of climbing S-curves, small towns, and snow. We stopped a couple of times to get photos.

We started at the bottom

From outside of our
apartment

The Dolomites appeared very 'sharp' to me. They were unlike any mountains I'd seen before. There are a lot of cliff faces and dramatic peaks, which is due to their geological makeup and the unique way that they were formed. Some of the best views came while we were snowboarding, and I didn't stop to take pictures. At one point, our piste (run) was right at the base of a cliff that was thousands of feet high. When the light hit the mountain in the afternoon... it was pretty awesome. 

The skiing. Ethan was especially excited about the weekend, and proved it by waking up at 5:45 in the morning, ready to go. Of course, he's the same kid we have to drag out of bed at 7:15 to get to school. We got him to rest a while longer, then took the car five minutes down the hill to the lift. The ski area was called Ski Civetta. There are several access points to the mountain, with the ski area in the middle. We stayed on one blue run for the first hour while the boys got used to skiing. Ben was reluctant to leave that run, but when we returned to it at the end of the day he said it was too easy. The colors here are a bit different than I've seen in Colorado. The easiest runs were blue, and those included groomed runs and catwalks.

I do need to mention that skiing was much more affordable here than in the U.S. We all rented gear for two days, and it only cost us 110 Euro. Ethan's ski pass was free, and for the other three of us it was about 100 Euro for two days of skiing.

The day couldn't have gone better. We stopped several times for snacks and lunch to keep the boys fed, and their spirits were high. Even when they got stuck on catwalks, their frustration was short-lived and disappeared once we were moving again. The weather was perfect for us- 40 degrees and sunny, which made the snow soft and fun to ski. We finally got on our last run at 4:00. It was red (medium difficulty), because that was what led to our parking area. Both boys pretty much went down the mountain standing up, and Ben decided that he was NOT returning the next day if we had to take the same route down.

We got gelato, because that's what Americans do in Italy, even when you are snowboarding. After showering, we headed up the street to a local restaurant for dinner. Then we piled together to watch Michigan play basketball.

It was a pretty perfect day, and we got to repeat it on Sunday, since Ben grudgingly agreed to return to the hill. Ethan made sure we were ready for another seven hours of snowboarding with a 5:00 wake-up call.

Go Blue! Half of us stayed
awake for the whole game.

Ethan: Questions about you

What are you doing today?
Who do you feel about me away for a whale?
Do you what to come here after you guys learn a little Italian|?

Ethan: school and questions

I hope you are having a good time with out me. Am I missing some thing fun like a really fun game that I have never leaned before? I hope not. I probably would really like it I really like everything though.

Rudderless: Culture Shock

I've had a rough week. There is no Starbucks here.

It's not so much that I miss Starbucks itself (though I do). I had envisioned that I'd be able to spend some time working at coffee shops while I'm here. It's such a part of the Ann Arbor, university town culture, and I love it. But it just isn't done here.

For one, eating and working are not combined here. Many people don't even sit down at the coffee shop, they just take their espresso quickly at the counter and move on. Those who sit are generally there to visit with friends. When we did ask for the wifi password at one bar, it was a string of letters and numbers on a sticker, on top of the cash register, behind the bar, underneath the calculator- which shows you how infrequently people ask for the wifi password.

This is one small cultural difference that can easily be worked around, but in combination with literally everything else that is new and different here, it's made for a rough week. I don't function well without structure and routine in my life. For the first few weeks, after getting the boys off to school I had a purpose each day. Learn this, go there, figure that out, etc. Now it feels like I drop them off and I'm purposeless, drifting around and trying to find things to fill my time.

I'm fairly certain that this is being compounded by culture shock. I've traveled a bit, and also studied culture shock as part of my teacher training. When living in a new place, there is a period of time that is the 'honeymoon', where everything is new and enjoyable. After that comes a period of homesickness and struggle, followed by gradual improvement and acceptance. I'm floating around somewhere in the 'grumpy and struggling to improve' phase. I'm tired of apologizing for not being able to make myself understood. I'm tired of waiting for the bus. I would rather not fight the teenagers for room on the bus in the morning. Being out in this new world is frustrating and exhausting.

So I'd rather just stay home. Which is why the last week has been so rough. I'm also tired of doing laundry and dishes. I'm tired of studying Italian at the kitchen table. I've already done two puzzles. And played enough solitaire. Wifi only works in one room here. Man, I'm starting to sound whiny.

This morning, I got up determined to have a better day. I went to the coffee shop around the corner, where the barista has been friendly and taken the time to help me with my broken Italian. I sat for half an hour and (gasp) worked on a few things while I was there. Then I found the post office and figured out which form to use to pay the bill for the boys' school (more on that another time). Finally, I succeeded in getting Dave some medicine for his sore throat at the pharmacy. I may not leave again until it's time to pick up the boys, but that was a win for today.

This town is big enough that there should be a Starbucks. McDonald's doesn't even have mochas, just a regular Italian coffee bar. Though now that I think about it, I did see a guy working on his laptop there the last time I took the boys...

Ethan:snowboarding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved loved loved 1000 loves snowboarding. it was so so so so so so fun fun fun fun. I have to go there again! Snowboarding is fun fun fun fun too! Their mountains are so high too! It is very very very very very  cool to go down too! No I am not kidding actually it's so fun though! Please leave a comment. my favorite part of that was going up the chair lift.

Venezia... The Post with Many Pictures

Excited

Venice was not on my bucket list. I honestly thought that it was going to end up overrated and tourist-y, not to mention expensive. Going to the Venetian in Las Vegas was close enough, right?

I was very wrong. Venice is amazing.

We visited for a few hours at the beginning of January (picture here and Ethan's post here) and got a small taste of what the city was like. Riding the vaporetto (water bus) was exciting, but cold. The architecture was impressive, and the tiny streets were fun to explore. Lunch with our friends was fun and delicious. The boys were intrigued by the scaffolding they had around town for when there were floods. We knew we would return at least once, so we weren't worried about trying to do everything during that visit.

Also excited

When we told some of the other parents here that we were going to Venezia, they were concerned about there being 'acqua alta', or flooding. Dave checked the forecast, and I did some Internet research to learn more about it. Despite the concerns of the Padovans, everything we found suggested that the flooding would be within the norms. The weekend would be a fine time to visit, because the city continues to operate normally during small floods.

Immediately after leaving the train station, we could see that the Grand Canal was high. The boys changed into the rain boots that we bought at the market that morning while Dave bought vaporetto tickets. There were warnings that some of the stops were closed due to flooding, but we rode all the way to St. Mark's on the regular route.

Ben: SNOWBORDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey people whats up? I will tell you we went snowboarding. It was so much fun.

I will show you my pictures and tell you.  I loved it there was a lot of easy ones. 

It was so fun to go down the hard one to. 

This is the box that leads to my favorite and the one I could do jumps on.

This was the one I liked the second best. 

I really liked one of the blue ones.

It was not very steep. There was also a box that we sat in to get to a very fun one. I could do wall jumps. they where my favorite.

                             

These are my second favorite.

Ethan:There is 9 boys and girls

Please leave a comment,
In my class I have 9 boys and girls that makes 18 people in my class right now including me.
It is not a big class right now but maybe some day there will be 20 people in my class too! And 30 and 40 and 50. They talk in Italian. I learned some Italian their.
   

Ethan: Pokemon go

I got a phone from Christmas
And in 2 months I got Pokemon go. I am level 12 now. I got to play it on the way home from school today too! I like it I can play it every day if I do my work too! It is so fun to play you guys should get it on your phones too! It is very very very very fun.Please leave a comment. I do not play Pokemon go much any more.

Language: Just Say Something

'Learning a language is weird.'

I listen to the Italian news broadcasts
on TV, and have started checking
on the newspapers, too.

-Text from Dave, February 12

This is the post that is never published. I have so many thoughts about language acquisition every day, and trying to organize them into a blog post has resulted in... nothing in writing. I keep thinking that we will hit a crossroads, a point at which I'll say, "I'm going to blog about THAT!" That hasn't happened, at least not at a time I was able to sit down and write. So here goes my attempt to say something.

Listening:
Before we left, we watched the Italian TV show Montalbano to practice listening. I also used the Duolingo app on my phone for a year or so.
As expected, I still struggled with understanding people here, especially when they speak too quickly. I have the most trouble with understanding children! Everything was overwhelming at first.
After about two weeks here, I really felt that I had made a leap in my listening comprehension. I could understand and interact in context without looking too confused. Things like making purchases at stores and having a conversation about Ben and Ethan were easier.

When the stars align, I get a few
minutes at home to drink tea and study.

Besides interacting with real people, I just started listening to some podcasts. I also turn on the TV when I'm home cleaning or working on a jigsaw puzzle.

Reading:
This has been the easiest area for me to get by in, because most of what I'm reading is short and in context. I tried to read a short story book in Italian before we left, and that was still difficult. I get by here by using Google Translate when needed, and practice reading the books that the boys bring home from school. We also went to the library and checked out some children's books in Italian. Elephant and Piggie is simple enough that I can usually handle the translation on my own!

I take lots of pictures of
signs to check whether or
not my translation is correct.

Speaking:
I felt great for the first week or so- I could ask questions! I could order food! Then I tried to have more conversations, and Spanish REALLY started interfering with what I was trying to say. I couldn't get a sentence out without it coming out half in Spanish. After a couple of weeks of that, I felt great again! Apparently, as I've always told my students, the process of learning a language is not linear.
Now I'm struggling with the two languages blending again. One of Ben's friends at school is from Venezuela, and his mother speaks Spanish. Sometimes it would be easier to communicate with her in Spanish, but now I can't put a Spanish sentence together without Italian coming out. I want to do some research on how to help with language switching.
In general, I can make myself understood, and most people here are more than kind and happy to help. In addition, many people here want to practice their English, so it's always easy to find someone to translate when necessary.

Ethan's first grade syllable
work has helped me with
my pronunciation.

Writing:
It takes a looong time for me to get ideas down in print. I've relied heavily on Translate, which is definitely not 100% correct. Sometimes I can catch the errors or choose a better word to use, but usually I just go with whatever it says. When I've had to send emails, I do the best I can with Italian and then write the message in English at the end.
I have been added to the text groups for both of the boys' classes, and having the messages from the other parents gives me authentic language to practice reading and writing. Most often, I read what they say and wait to see how others respond before responding myself.

We try to help the boys with vocabulary
we think they will need. I think it makes
us feel better more than it helps them, though.

I was overwhelmed by the garbage
system here at first, so I took a picture
to try to remember how to sort.

Ben: Weather

You know how it is so cold in Michigan. It is so hot here.
It is very hot over here 60 today. This is me with the Ronaldo shirt. It is very cool. The ice cream is very good here. Amarena  is very good.

that was Ethan with bunny ears.

Ethan:snowing

We haven't had one snowy day yet here.
And I herd that you guys have had 7 days off school yay I like school very much and I know you guys do too!
We miss you guys very much.

LOVE ETHAN HENRY PAWLOWSKI
Please leave a comment

Mistakes... We've Made a Few

Before we left, one of my uncles, with his usual cynicism, noted that this could be a great adventure or a great flop. So far, we've been lucky that this has been a great adventure. We haven't had any major catastrophes (knock on wood). Though we have made a few mistakes...

Language
My mistakes with language have been the smallest and the simplest- but still embarrassing to me. In Piemonte, I confidently ordered lunch for the waitress' wife. Just last week I realized that I've been using the plural form of 'week' incorrectly on a daily basis.
The best was a few weeks ago when Dave and I were at an appointment. A receptionist was explaining that after our appointment, we could return the next day to follow up. We thought she was saying that we missed our appointment and left the building... She kindly came running out to the parking lot to retrieve us.

School
We got a list of school supplies that the boys would need, and had two days to find them. We went to the large supermarket (similar to a Meijer), and found everything but the notebooks. Despite an aisle of them, they didn't have the type needed for primary school. We searched three stores in centro, near the University, to no avail. We sent the boys to school with the incorrect type for a few days before finding an awesome stationery store later that week. Four weeks later, we discovered that the store across the street from the school has all of the needed notebooks and supplies... just like the teacher tried to tell Dave on the first day.
In that same school supply email, it noted that we needed to 'comprare un diario' for Ben. We totally skipped that line. It turns out that a diario is a planner, and we needed to buy one because the students use it every day to write down their homework. I was so confused about all of the homework that the other mothers were talking about- how did they know what the homework was? What were these pictures of assignments that they were sharing on the classroom group text messages?- until one of Ben's friends came over and I saw his diario. Oops. He's started keeping track of homework, and actually completing some of it.

Navigation
We had a normal learning curve for getting around the city. There have only been a couple of days that I have been really frustrated by using public transportation.
Getting to IKEA was one of those. I took a 2.5 hour 'giro' of the area around IKEA (that included four miles of walking) because I didn't hail the bus correctly and couldn't cross the divided highway on foot. Eventually I just went home and tried again the next day.


The Bigger Mistakes...

Ben: soccer

This week was so much fun.
I played soccer the whole time almost.
I went to the Prato and play soccer with my dad. Then with my friend.

Ethan: I had a friend over yesterday and today

I had a friend over yesterday his name is Giovanni and Antonio too!
I was so excited yesterday and I am so excited for today too!

This is a picture of fish in the area of the Prato.

With Antonio I am going to teach him a game.

This is a picture of fish in the area of the Prato. 

Starting School

The libretto is very important
and has to go with the students
to school each day.

The school's policies and procedures
are listed in the libretto, including
emergency drills. It also has pages for
field trip permission and excusing
absences.

The boys' first day of school here was a Wednesday. We took the city bus to the school and arrived later than we'd planned, about two minutes before the bell. The boys' teachers were waiting to meet us in the hall, greeting the boys in Italian and telling them to join the line. Both kids shrunk into us, squeezing our hands. Dave walked with Ben up to his class, and I walked with Ethan. I had hoped to give the kids a pep talk and an extra hug, but it all moved so quickly... Before I knew it, they were following the other students into their classrooms. Luckily their classes were next to each other, and I got to wave goodbye to both before instruction began. I peeked in on Ethan, who was starting to tear up, and his class was getting ready to meet in a circle in the middle of the room. Ben looked at me from his desk with wide eyes. We smiled and waved.

And left. It was hard.

Ethan: Field Trip

Today I had a gita (field trip in Italian).
We want to the canile (kennel in Italian).
We had the biggest bus ever in the whole in entire world too!
Their were a  bunch of dogs.
I got to pet one of their dogs too!

Ethan: staying at Venezia

Dear who ever reads this

In Venezia we stayed their for 2 in a half days too!

I want to live there for ever! 

Their is a kind of ice cream and it was called Puffo and I did not really like it very much though.

There was a flood there this mourning too!       

Ben: Venezia

This weekend we went to Venezia. We like it so much.
There was so much ice cream and sweets.
We also went to this very good dinner and I got shrimp.
For dessert they had lemon ice cream.
We got to our house on a water taxi.
When we got to our house it was flooded

.
There was so much to see and so much to do. I hope we go back.

Making a Home: One Month in Padova

Dave posted a while back that we had a routine down and that he was comfortable in Padova. While I agree that everything was going well, it has really taken me longer to feel like we have a home here.

This first month has been spent just getting oriented. Where do we get food? How do we get around? What do we need to purchase to live here comfortably? Can we run the dishwasher and the washing machine at the same time? (No, as it turns out.)

We aren't totally there yet. I still have to get the grocery loyalty card, which will be one step towards minimizing our expenditures. We will see which of the community of people (there are quite a few) who have reached out to help us will become authentic friends. We have to do some sightseeing, including having the boys visit Dave's building, which has parts of it that are original to around the year 1200.

We had no interest in any day or weekend trips up to this point, but now that we have a home base, we are venturing to Venice tomorrow for the night. You'll see more about that sooner rather than later, I hope. I have a bunch of posts that are drafted in some form, but tonight I'll add some expectations I had coming into this, and what reality looks like after a month.

The Boys
   Expectation: They would struggle during the first two weeks of school, and we would see some
   unhappiness.
   Reality: The boys have been out-of-whack, but not unhappy, this entire month.

From teaching experience, I know that the first two weeks as a language newcomer can be especially rough. Some of my younger students have been in tears for that whole period of time. I was not confident that we would avoid tears. Ben has been anxious about going to school in Italy from the get-go. He always has a tough exterior, but there is a lot going on inside. I imagined that he might break down at pickup or before school. Ethan is really dramatic, so he was a wild card.
I've really appreciated that we haven't had unhappiness. Neither of them was thrilled that we were leaving them the first morning, but after reminding them that school only lasted 5.5 hours, they were ok. There were a few mornings that they didn't want to get up or leave the apartment, but that happens in Michigan.
What has TOTALLY thrown me is their behavior at home after school. They are wild animals. Their behavior is almost feral at times, and it has made me crazy. Spending time in a new environment, pretty much silent the whole time, they have so much to release at the end of the day, and they do it at home. This looks like physically playing with and fighting with each other, climbing the furniture, completely ignoring me... it demands all of my attention. Even to the point that I can't step away to make dinner. I'm glad that Italy is known for their wine.

Ethan:my school

I like this school so much you guys should come here some day too!
The homework is a little bit harder though.
I like it a lot!
It is very fun because I like recess.
I want to live their though.
We live by the second biggest Prato too!
You should come visit us some day too!