obama

Starting Wednesday Nov 5 in the morning and on for days we have been congratulated on our choice of a President. I don't know how much Americans appreciate this, but Europe really looks to the US to set the tone and the pace and most people we have encountered have been disappointed with the last 8 years.

I had a few people tell me they didn't think it mattered much who won between McCain and Obama, since either one would be better than Italy's Silvio Berlusconi (in whose horse stable a man murdered by the Mafia just happen to appear some time back...) Friends also told me that they heard lots about the life of Obama, but all they knew about McCain was french fries (It's a brand like Oreida here).

The day after the election results were announced, I went to the edicola (news stand) at the bottom of the hill for my copy of the historic paper and announced, "I am proud to be an American again!" The shopkeeper laughed and said, "I believe it! Congratulations!"

It don't think it was more than a day after the election and a book from the biggest newspaper in the country was released- I couldn't figure out how they got it on the stands so fast, but then I looked at it (and bought it). It's a nice, full color glossy coffee table collection of all the recent reporting on the election. I suppose they were ready with the whole thing except the cover photo and the forward well in advance. OK- think about this: maybe it's not so far out to imagine USA today or the NY Times putting out a book like this after the election, but can you really imagine that book featuring another country's president?!

It was three days after the election and I was listening to the radio. I thought I heard something about 'young, handsome and tan' but it couldn't be... I still don't have complete faith in my Italian comprehension skills so I wanted to see if there was anything about it in the newspaper. Sure enough, the front page headline was (I'm translating loosely here) BERLUSCONI BLOWS IT, the text began something like this, We all knew it would happen sometime, we just didn't know when. Today the waiting is over and it's a doozy. Berlusconi's first official comments of Obama were, 'What's not to like? He's young, good looking and has a great tan. Of course we can work with him' A famous stand up comedian came out the next night with his hat off and said, "I can't compete with that."

And now we just saw on TV an ad for a new cell phone ring tone- it's 'Born in the USA.' with new Obama lyrics, sung in Italian.

firenze

Maddy and Gus wrote this note to a friend tonight- here it is with pictures for all to share:

Today we went to Florence and it was the prettiest city we've ever seen. We liked the big river (called the Arno) and saw so many pretty statues. We like the colors of the buildings- they mostly use green, white and red marble (like the colors of the Italian Flag). We climbed up a ginormous tower with 414 steps (scale). It was the bell tower of the Duomo (we think it's the 4th largest church in the world). Later, we saw someone in the bell tower while the bells were ringing and we hope he was wearing earplugs. We could see pretty much the whole city from up top (su la torre), and the people and a few horses looked like colored ants and beetles. We added some pictures for you to see.

estate di san martino

San Martino, you may know, was the saint who cut his cloak in half to share it with a beggar. As the legend goes here in Italy, God sends warm weather to Italy in honor of San Martino around his name day, November 11- this is called estate di San Martino (Italy's answer to Indian summer?). In any case, it has been a lovely one! Maddy and Gus and I went for a walk in the warm and sun on Sunday on top of the hill adjacent to ours while Gibbs put in some happy hours working on line.
It's almost like a mini spring with the return of the sun- shoots of grass and tiny plants are popping out bright green all over (in the freshly tilled fields waiting winter vegetable planting as well as our bristly straw welcome mat). In the last picture here, you can see the back side of the hill where we live- in the grey spots (called calanche, similar to fjords?) are tons of rocks covered in shell fossils. I'm very curious to learn more about the local geologic history which appears to include sea beds and glaciers.
For San Martino proper, it is traditional here to eat freshly roasted chestnuts and drink new wine. So yesterday, we picked these things up at the local green grocer (an Italian ex-american football player!?!) and invited the neighbors over to enjoy them with us. Cheers!

un viaggio dentro un viaggio

On our way to TOULON to visit our friends, we planned an overnight stop in Genoa (home of Christopher Columbus). Despite the rain we had while we were there, we all agreed it is a delightful city.
We found a great, relaxed restaurant. It was in Da Maria that I realized we have hit a milestone. When we walked in, the host asked us in Italian if we wanted to sit right there or eat 'sopra' (upstairs). Maddy picked out the word 'sopra,' and without a second's hesitation said, "sopra! sopra!" The host was delighted and showed us upstairs and I realized our kids were using Italian without thinking to engage with people outside the family and even outside school.
The next thing we noticed about Da Maria is that it's not built for foreign tourists as the menu a) comes without prices, and b) is hand-written in Italian cursive. On the first count, I have to say this is the first restaurant I've heard of that didn't have prices because you CAN afford everything (cheapest place we've been yet!). On the second count, it's clear to me that our hours of helping Maddy and Gus with homework are paying off- two months ago I wouldn't have been able to decipher this menu. When we did decipher it, we found it was full of fascinating names for the local dishes usually including the descriptor 'buonissimo' (super good). When we ordered our food they yelled the order down the dumbwaiter and up it would pop in a matter of seconds.
The next morning we went straight to the Aquario to see all kinds of fish, otters, penguins, and even hummingbirds. In one of the pictures here you might recognize the 'Finding Nemo' tank.

il blog di maddy- la francia

on a looong weekend we went to France. we spent our time in France with the Kerners. Sophie (who is an excellent cook) cooked rabbit on the first night we stayed. and believe me it actually tasted like chicken no joke . here are some other pictures of us in Francia.


in picture no. 1 is the family looking weird .

picture no. 2 is me (right) and Laura (left).











picture no. 3 is every one in the harbor in Can. wait, Cannes. picture no. 4 is my mom, with Austin Powers.

this is me, on the edge of mont Faron,over looking Toulon.

il blog di gus, amici

I have a friend and his name is Nicola.
One day I had a playday with him.
We were pretending that Maddy
was a monster. We hid in the bathroom.
And Nicola and I did a trick on Maddy.
In the beginning, Nicola and I communicated by going 'mee-meep' like the roadrunner- Now, I also speak Italian with him, and he sometimes speaks English with me.
Nicola and I are on the same team for Basketball, and so is my friend Marco, which I'll write about next time.

Obama vince!

An Obama victory- it's a great day! Everything feels a little different and a little better. We are missing family, friends and neighbors at this exciting time. To celebrate, however, I bought all the mamme (moms) coffee this morning. Here they are showing you this morning's Italian papers (most of which had to go to the presses before official news was announced).

There is a definite sense of optimism here that the world is in better hands now and that we will be in this together.

Did you know that a part of Italy decided last week that the American president is so important to Europeans and the whole world that they should get to vote, too? They put thousands of votes together and sent them to the Italian Embassy. No word what the embassy did with them or whom they favored...

Hugs to all of you! We are thinking of you all so much.