Italian Class

So I went for two weeks to an advanced Italian class.  The classes where 4 hours a day from 9 to 1.  The first two hours were grammar and the following two were conversation.  I learned a lot, lots of phrases and words that were very new to me, and mostly I learned what my weakness are and what I need to continue to improve on.  We were a really small group, sometimes 5 sometimes just 3.  So it was very personalized and we got to talk and make all sorts of mistakes to later on be corrected on.  The two students I mostly spent all my time with were a Professor at a school in Princeton, highly educated in literature, German and history in general.  The other student was a 21 year old from Oxford, studying French and Italian and wanting to do PhD studies in Medieval Literature... Both played various (more than 3) musical instruments.... I felt a little small!!!

Grammar time was probably the hardest for me, since I don't know any rules or tenses in any language, not Spanish, not English and least of all Italian....  but I worked my way through it.  Conversation was very entertaining, we spoke about many things, we read and we had a final project which was to choose one topic related to Italy and speak for 15 min. or more.  The professor chose "I Promessi Sposi" by Manzoni, English title is "The Betrothed", so I was able to learn a lot from it, without even reading it.  It is a book that is read by all Italians in school and is considered to be one of the most important.  The Oxford student spoke of the Palio in Sienna, or the Horse race they have in the Piazza at Siena and I spoke about the huge flood they had in Florence the 4th of Nov, 1966.  If you have been in Florence you may have noticed some plaques on the walls, the plaques say that the water reached this point, some points being more than 5 mt. from the floor, for those of you that have not been in Florence yet, when you come..... keep your eyes open!

Anyway, here are two pictures, the one in the top is the one of the classroom and the one on the bottom is from the view of the window.

Walk to the supermarket

When we returned form our Easter break there was pretty much just pasta and some pomodori pelati in the kitchen, so I took a walk to the supermarket and remembered that I had just purchased a new camera!  So I thought I would share with you what my walk looked like.  The walk is about 10 minutes, or maybe a bit more, not sure, but its a beautiful walk. 

First thing I see is the Chiesa di San Frediano in Cestello.  Another beautiful church in Florence and about a 2 minute walk from my house.  Inside its very light, not dark and not that I know a lot about architecture, but the sign before entering tells you that is a Baroque structure and the facade is unfinished.  Inside you see a lot of decoration on the columns and altars, so while I may not know a lot about it, you can definitely see what they mean once you are inside.

This is the oltr'arno view of La Chiesa di Ognissanti (or the Church of all Saints).  It's actually across from the River, but on my walk I get a gorgeous view of the Church and the Piazza.  The Church is supposed to be gorgeous, I have not yet been, its on my to do list!   Inside the Church is a fresco by Ghirlandaio called Last Super, which Leonardo da Vinci was very familiar with before he made his own. 

These are the walls that contain the historic center of Florence. We live inside the walls, but the supermarket is outside.  Isaiah loves the fact that we live inside the "historical center" as he always calls it.

So I had to show this, because we love it!  Its a motorino with its own hood!  Love it!

 

This is a monument to those who died in a war, not sure which one, guessing World war II.  I liked the sculpture, a headless angel, basically it could be any angel!  My uneducated interpretation of art!

A beautiful facade.  

Clothes hanging out dry!  I had mine hanging out to dry at the same time!  

Arrived!  The supermarket is called Esselunga, that's why it has a LONG s.  Cause thats what Esse lunga means. 

Well, that was it!, I thought of taking pictures inside, but even though it was a Wednesday morning it was PACKED with people! Maybe next time! 

Hope you enjoyed the walk with me!

Love, Natsha

Not so good at this blog thing

Ok, so I am not so good at this blog thing!  I would love to have the, whats the word I am looking for here.... dedication...devotion....commitment...  I guess they all fit...I got it!  Insistence! *Note:  I was wrong, not insistence, Persistence (Guy helped me out on this one)  I guess I should work on it....

Lot's of things have happened of course, it's been a little more than a month since I last wrote and lot's of things are yet to happen as well...

Camera died
My camera seems to have some unknown issues.  Tis the reason I have not posted or sent pictures in awhile.  Very sad, miss it a lot, many kodak moments have been lost.

Settimana Bianca
Settimana Bianca is the term used here in Italy for a week dedicated to skiing.  Isaiah's school offered an organized trip, which I agreed to go to with Isaiah and Isabella, Guy stayed home, he needed to work so that he could go on another trip we have planned.  So off we went to Pila, which is located in Valle D'Aosta, the smallest and least populated region in Italy, bordered by France, Switzerland and Piemonte (Region where Turin is in).  Pila is gorgeous, the resort was a ski in/out and had amazing views.  Completely covered in white.  From Pila you can see some of the highest peaks in the Alpine mountains, The Cervino (or Matterhorn), Monte Rosa, Monte Bianco and the Valley of San Bernardo, which was the way Napoleon used to invade Italy.  All this info was given to me by my ski instructor!  So basically all you do this week is SKI, Isaiah went to a Kids club 9-5, were they group the kids by skiing ability and went out to ski in the morning, back for lunch, then in the afternoon and back for snack and later at 5, I would pick him up.  Isabella went to what they call a "Garderie",daycare.  I would drop her off at 9:15 and then pick her up at 4:45.  I was also grouped with the other 11 people in the resort which had no idea what to do with skiis and poles!  We, like Isaiah, had morning and afternoon classes.  Isaiah and I found our calling!  Skiing!  We LOVED IT!    Isaiah loved it so much, he even asked his instructor if there were houses for sale in Pila, so that when he had the conversation with me, he could later tell me, that he wanted us to move to Pila, and that I couldn't tell him no, since he had already found out there were houses for sale!  It was a wonderful experience which we are both looking forward to doing again, hopefully next time we can all go together.

Judo
Isaiah's Judo gym is full of great people.  For Carnevale they gave the kids "Cenci" or "Chiacchiere" (sweet treat eaten during this time of year), which for us Dominicans is like a yaniqueque with sugar and for those of you non Dominicans they are kind of like a flat version of a funnel cake (kind of).  For the International Woman's Day they gave all the Moms and the girls, a Mimosa, which is tradition here in Italy. And then lastly since we are approaching Easter and in Lent, they had the Priest of the Santa Maria Novella church go to practice and at the end he blessed us all with holy water.  Really a wonderful place to be a part of.

 Florence just gets better every day, its even started to warm up and the flowers have started to bloom!

Happy Easter to all.

Love,

Natsha

Back

Hello!  Sorry we have been absent for awhile! A lot has happened in the almost two months???  That I have posted anything.  First of all, we moved from the Palazzo Tornabuoni to a wonderful place in the "Oltr'arno" neighborhood.  For those of you not familiar to Florence, in the middle of the city is a River called the Arno, the historic center is divided by this river.  The river starts in the hills of Florence and continues all the way through Tuscany to Pisa and out the Tyrrehnian Sea.  The Oltearno neighborhood is on the less touristy side, since the major attractions are where the Duomo, David, etc.  So to those of you more familiar to Florence we are two bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio at the Ponte alla Carraia right on top of one of Florence's most famous gelaterias.. "Gelateria La Carraia".  Our apartment is on what Italians call the 3rd floor and what we on the other side of the Atlantic call the fourth floor.  It has stunning views of the River, the dome of the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore, the Bell tower of the Palazzo Vecchio and from some windows the Ponte Vecchio.  It is a typical italian home with the exception of the size.  Its pretty roomy, which is not the norm, specially here in Florence.  Most of you will find this amusing and those of you who know me very well, will probably burst out laughing, but while we do have a dishwasher and a laundry machine!!  THANK the Lord!  We DO NOT have a dryer.   So the clothes are dried the old fashion way, the mother hangs them out to dry and then the mother must iron them!!!  I have to admit and say its not as annoying as I thought it would be, you actually get into a routine and if you stick to it, it all works out fine, and I even find myself enjoying it!.. not the ironing of course, I haven't gone THAT mad!

Soooo with the moving came the absence of the conveniences of being in the Palazzo, like having free WIFI and Cable TV.  When I went to request the Internet, I was told that after the request is made they have 10 days to call you, since we were leaving somewhat unexpectedly to the USA for Christmas, I decided to wait until we got back.  When we got back I made the order request and a little more than two weeks later I still hadnt heard from anybody.  So after a visit to the office and then a call I was finally able to set up an appointment for 2 weeks later.  So we finally have internet!  It was installed last week!  As for the cable, the story is long and similar, but we have that too finally... and just in time for the Olympics AND my birthday!!

The kids are doing great.  Isaiah has been to a few playdates and the Mothers tell me he is speaking italian wonderfully.  We received his report cards this week and the Teacher also gave him good praises.  His grades are great and the only thing he needs improvement in is in.... Italian!  As for little Isabella, she started ballet a couple of weeks ago and she is CRAZY about it.  Loves her classes and loves to put on her little tights, shoes and her skirt.  She now loves going to school, runs through the door after a quick kiss to mommy.  She is speaking a mix of Englitanish which is pretty funny!

Hope you are all MAGNIFICENT in what ever corner of the world you are and whoever you may be.

Love,
Natsha

@ Milano & Cernusco Lombardone

Palazzo Pitti

This weekend we wanted to go to the Boboli Gardens with the kids, but when we got there they were closing in an hour, so we decided to go to the Palazzo Pitti instead. The Palazzo Pitti is where Royalty, the Medici (the most important family in Florence) and even Napoleon used to live. We set off the security alarms a couple of times but all in all the kids behaved pretty well.  The first part was an exhibition on stolen artifacts that have been recovered by the Carabinieri (one of the police groups in Italy).  Then we moved on to the Pallatine Gallery, which was probably the most difficult for the kids, then the Royal apartments, which were a little better, and then the Modern Art Gallery, and then once we were out the kids started running around outside like crazy!!!  I took this picture of Florence from one of the windows.

These are pictures of once we got out of the Palazzo!

Here are some other pics of the weekend.  Isaiah saw on the menu of the restaurant below Hamburger, so he gets all excited and tells me to order one for him, with cheese.  I tell him I am not sure it comes with a bun, he looks at me kind of weird and asks me what do you mean?  Well, things here are not the same.  Hamburger might just mean the meat and not the whole thing.  I ask the waiter and unfortunately I was correct.  No bun, just the meat.  So in Sunday, we had lunch with Dimitri and he recommended a place called the American Diner.  Isaiah had his Bacon Cheeseburger at last.

This is the Ponte Vecchio at night and the other Ponte beside it!  I need to try to get a better pic.

One more picture! Christmas decoration in Florence!

Hair

Isabella has beautiful corn silk hair.  I have been drying her hair with a blow dryer after her baths so she doesn't go to bed with wet hair.  She was hesitant at first and while she still complains she LOVES the end result!  She has the kind of hair I have always wanted.  I barely have to use the brush to dry her hair, her hair is a LOT finer than mine so it dries pretty quickly.  So after we are done, she shows everyone around her hair.   After I dressed her up for Thanksgiving dinner with her dress, tight, shoes etc..  We went down stairs to meet everyone, the first person she started showing off for was for Dimitri, she was twirling her dress around, batting her eyelashes, etc...  So I HAD to take a pic of the two of them!!!

Continuing on with the hair issues.  As some of you may know one of the first things I do when I move anywhere is try to look for a Dominican hair dresser.  Anguilla, I found one.  Greenville, there was a Dominican girl, but she learned in the States so I ended up going to a Colombian, though I have been told by Alex that there is a REAL Dominican hair salon.  Dallas I found one, and now in Italy I tried looking.  I walked into hair salons and ask them if they had a Dominican hair dresser, their answer NO, but anyone can do it.  Yeah, but no thanks.  So after realizing we were going to have dinner at the Four Seasons and knowing my hair was not in a Four Seasons condition, I decided to call a hair salon, make an appointment and see what would happen.  I walk in and I am received by the person that is going to take care of me, she looks African to me, ears pierced like 6 times, two piercings on the lips, even one the back of her neck ( I had to ask her if that one hurt, it looked painful, she said yes by the way and still hurts after 3 weeks. Note for anyone who wants to try that one!).  And her hair is short and afro like. While she is washing my hair she asks me if she is washing to hard, I'm like no, no worries, in my country the scrub a lot harder than this.  So where are you from? she asks.  Dominican Republic. Where? Dominican Republic.  I'm from the Dominican Republic she says.  NO WAY!  And off in Spanish I went! hahaha!  I got what I was looking for without even looking for it.  It's the little things in life that make me happy!!!

One more hair story.  Isaiah. He decided yesterday he wanted me to cut his hair, but not too short.  So I plugged in the razor with the adapter and started.  Thank goodness I started in the back side, because 2 minutes later a popping sound and the razor shuts off, smoke comes out of the razor!  I guess I should have connected a converter to the plug not only an adapter. So I think we will be trying out the local barber shops soon!  Very soon!