1st December (Wed)
We were to go to "present" the children to the "director" principal
today but Toni's friend wasn't able so we had no plans once again. When
Toni came to tell me about the school arrangements he met Mimo. I told
him to ask Mimo quick for a translation for anything he wanted to know as
he is always asking us things. He just wanted to know what we thought of
Italian hospitality, luckily Toni answered that he didn't need to ask me
as I'd already told him. I asked Toni why exactly they are giving us so
much. He said that he believes they think we do need it, but also that we
are really something unusual in Giovinezzo.
It will be hard to get used
to a routine after this long holiday. Rosa had a "bath" in the new tub
and I took the boys for a walk to "Pirates Cove" Sammy was very pleased.
Later after chores and Mike had finished at the internet cafe I had
short walk by myself, always a luxury, and found a fish market mainly by
smell. It was finishing up for the day but I'll have to try and take the
kids sometime. We all walked again in the afternoon. Eli bought his
siblings a small bouncy ball each and they had a great time with them in
a little enclosed square in the old quarter. Mike made soup and pasta
and he and I got ourselves a movie. Something we are getting a bit
addicted to. The system here is very cool. There is a DVD dispenser
nearby and we just pass our card make our selection and away we go. The
first 6 hours rental cost only 1.25euro with 10cent every hour
thereafter. So Mike drops the movie off after we watch it. Mike's back
to olives tomorrow and I have to see what happens with school.
2nd December (Thu)
The days seem to be passing quicker and quicker but today was a
lovely long day because of the weather. I went to see Toni first thing,
leaving Eli in the apartment, to find out what was happening re school.
He says we will go tomorrow as his friend is in a political party and
has gone to Rome for a meeting. He shows the guys how his ice cream
machine works and lets them help scrape out the ice cream yogurt he has
just made. Rosa then watches while he makes the next batch and we both
laugh when he produces a big stick blender that looks about the size of
a small pneumatic drill. He gives us some older passion fruit sorbet
that he isn't going to sell and we head back with it to Eli.
It is like
a summers day. It had been warm yesterday evening but it is hot from
early morning. I decide to take the kids along the sea front to where we
spotted some large flat rocky with big pools at them. We stop in a
little shop and get a picnic. (Turkey rolls, crisps, water and Milk for
4.50euro!) Eli complains on the way there that it is too hot! We find a
nice spot although there is a bit of smell up the shore but its okay by
the water and spent a relaxing few hours with the kids paddling and
catching small crabs. I can't get over the temperature and wish Mike had
a day off today. We go back to meet him around 2.30 and while we wait
the kids get soaking in the little water pump in our piazza. Mike
arrives and we hang out in the piazza and I get Toni's sorbet which we
share. Its delicious. Unfortunately Mike has to go back at 6pm to keep
an eye on the trailer which is parked at the Massera and is half full of
olives. So we have diner and say goodnight to dad.
3rd December (Fri)
I get the kids up and ready to present to school. Toni and his friend
arrive and we go first to another school to the administration offices.
We fill out some forms and meet the principal and then the friend drops
us to the school. Toni comes in and helps explain everything. Eli's
teacher speaks a little English she take him off to introduce to the
class, and I go with Rosa. Her teacher speaks some French so we do ok,
and I find I have volunteered to help with the art for the nativity on
Tues afternoons. Rosa is pleased to meet some children and we are both
surprised by how informal they are with the teacher. When she kneels
down for a moment to say hi to Sammy they are pulling on her and one boy
hops on her back. We find it hard to get away and I'm conscious of
Toni's time so we go collect Eli. He is in English class! It turns out
each class has more than one teacher about three plus an English one we think. Toni explains
he thinks is it due to falling numbers of children as much as for
educational reasons to keep teachers employed. Lastly we go to Sammy's
school round the corner. His teacher is also very friendly and speaks a
little English Sammy is very pleased. She tells me her sister is and
English teacher who would be happy to meet me.
We head back to Toni's and I reward the kids bravery with -guess what.
After we go for a little walk and then wait for Mike. He usually gets in
about 2 or 3p.m. Its nice he's back so early in the day although he has
put in 7 hrs of work by then so is pretty wrecked. I go for a
little walk and get some bakery biscuits for desert. The weather is
turning rainy, but we have a nice Shabbat and movie.
4th December (Sat)
We are up with Mike and head to the farm. We worry we are a bit
late but arrive just ahead of the workers and Mike heads off. I stay at
the Massera with the kids for a while and Dominico arrives just as we
are coming outside. We are all delighted and the boys play for ages
with our guys, in the knight stuff once again. Then we head to the field,
but are waylaid by several things, the arrival of Dominico's
father-in-law, the kids playing under the big oak tree and discovering
neat bugs, and the thick clay of the field. By the time we get to Mike
they are finishing up a bit early so we head back again. All the others
leave, but we stay and have some lunch and clean the kids up before
going to Matera. Its about 30 mins away and our first stop is the huge
Carrefore supermarket on the outskirts. We try to restrain ourselves, but
end up spending 100euro and still don't know what we have for a meal.
Then we go into the town, and take a little time finding the center and
parking. We spend the rest of the afternoon and evening wondering round
the old town and the ancient Sassi. It is like being in Jerusalem really
amazing. There are some good shops in the town and the children get
drawn into an Indian one by the druming coming from inside. We meet a
friendly Indian man and Italian woman and child. It's late when we
decide to head back to Giovanazzo and we haven't had diner I buy the
kids some bakery things and fresh milk and we head home. Unfortunatly
Sammy drinks too much milk and has an upset tummy on the way home and
over night.
5th December
Sammy is much better today, but we take it easy and enjoy a late
morning- eventually tidying up a bit doing some washing-of clothes, kids
and us. Later we hang out with our neighbours Noami, Pierre Luigi,
Nicole and their parents and Francesca. Its really relaxed and pleasant
in the piazza and we are reasonably able to communicate.
6th December (Mon)
The kids are both nervous and excited about their first day of
school. So am I. Eli goes in very easily and Rosa clings a bit, but she
does go into her class after a minute. I take Sammy to his school and his
teacher Giovana's sister is there. She speaks fluent English and we chat
while Sammy settles in. She is suffering discomfort in her eyes as she
has just had laser surgery for eyesight, and is one of the unlucky few
for whom healing takes longer and is painful. Finn and I head home and
hardly know what to do with ourselves, but before long it is time to go
back for Sammy. He is very happy to see me but seems to have had a good
day. We play and picnic in a piazza and then get Eli and Rosa. Rosa
looks exhausted and relieved to be done and Eli tells me it was the
hardest day of his life. He says he didn't eat his lunch because he was
embarrassed that it was different from the other kids', and Rosa then
says that there had been no break for her. It seems they only get ten
minutes in the whole day and Rosa had missed it. I bring them home for a
big lunch and some TLC and tell them I am really proud of them all. Mike
is tired too so we do very little for the rest of the day.
7th December (Tue)
Amazingly just being over the first day the kids are fine about
returning to school. I meet Lorella (Sammy's teacher's sister) again and she invites me back to her
apartment for a cuppa. She lives in a wonderful apartment that has been in
the family a long time. It is right by the sea in the old town and is
very antique. We have a nice chat and tea is made by her friendly
Somalian housekeeper. After school it is warm so I let the children play
in the main piazza by the fountain. They surprise me by being thrilled with their
second day of school, and are pleased not to be given homework. Mike comes
back and I go with Rosa and Eli to what I think is afternoon school. I
have been asked to help with art for Christmas I think. It turns out Eli
does not need to be there as it is Rosa's class who are doing a show of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." They want my help with small backdrops from
the book. I set to work and peep in at Rosa's class singing. When Mike
meets us after school the teachers want us to go to an exhibition in
the main square. It is of all sorts of models of Christmas cribs. They
are done as small Biblical towns, very detailed including one in chocolate, but Finn and
Sammy fall asleep in our arms as we walk around it. After dropping them
back to the apartment I head out again for a kid free stroll and chat at
Toni's. Then I do a bit of shopping -butchers, gas man, and our local
little supermarket where the people are very good to us. I meet a
trombone player who's been to Ireland. He tells me to drop by and meet
him next Tues at the school of music in our square.
Mikes makes a very nice tomato sauce for our pasta - the local
ingredients are a help too. Then we sit and play tin whistle on the
balcony, and get a nice long call from mum and dad. Mike and I treat
ourselves to late night ice-creams.
8th December (Wed)
Today isa religious fiesta so everybody has the day of even Mike
off. We lie-in and have a lazy morning- In the afternoon we go for a
walk but its a bit rainy. We go to a small beach with lava rock and see
fish stalls so we get some for a barbeque on the balcony. Later I work
with the kids on their home schooling a bit and their diaries as the
website is finally going to get up and running as Lorella has broad
band/ADSL and is very happy for us to use it.
9th December (Thu)
The weather is a bit rainy and is considered bad enough for Mike to
be off - He is pleased to be able to come with me to take the kids to
school. On the way back we revel in a quiet tea together at Toni's.
Lorella invites me to go Christmas shopping in a mall near Bari in the
afternoon. I go home and make scones and brown bread as Mike got some
whole meal flour in a bakery when we were in Matera. I bake them at Toni's and give
lots away to people to try. The outing and company with Lorella is fun
and the Mall could be anywhere in the world. I manage to buy a tiny real
Christmas tree, and lights. When I return the kids are thrilled and we
have a great time making decorations for it including pasta strings.
10th December (Fri)
Mike is still off. The rain is very light to us but either way I get
a lie in while he takes the kids to school. Then I get up and tackle the
apartment again. I end up going back to the Mall with Lorella. We have
to change something and this time I do a bit of a food shop. We have a
good time again, and when I get back Mike has set the Shabbat diner
table which looks. lovely. I cook while the kids watch their movie. Lorella
invited us out for a drink but it was too short notice to get a
babysitter and we were both tired.
11th December (Sat)
Mike is still off and yet it is still a bit like a weekday as Eli
Rosa are at school. Eli pretty reluctantly. Together Mike and I tackle
large loads of laundry with the wee boys help. The weather is getting
nice again so we get it all outside to dry, After collecting the guys
Mike takes big guys to Lorella's to fiddle with the website and the
little guys and I try Italian napping but don't wake up again until 7pm. I
have to lift boys.
Mike was not back so we had diner. When he does
come back we read e-mail responses to web-launch and are very please. I
take the wee
boys out for ice cream -big guys had already had cake and ice cream at
Lorella's.
we chat to Tony and meet his friend Anna again. She is going to ask
sister re babysitting as Lorella has invited us out again on mon. Before
bed Mike and I watch the film/documentary with Michael Moore -
Fahrenheit 9/11 pretty scary stuff
but recommended viewing!
12th December (Sun)
Up after a 8.30 lie in. Great! Mike was making pancakes then we got
ready to go to meet Dominico and family for an outing and lunch with his
mother and family. We were late leaving and further delayed when Eli had
a fall while walking Cal, he slipped on the slippery slip way, and cut
his himself near his ear, it wasn't too bad but he was a bit shaken and
was helped back to the apartment by a nice man. Anna our neighbour (who
helps with the washing machine) and is a nurse auxiliary and training to
be a nurse said "steri strips" which I have so we fixed him up and left
about 10.20, we were due at the farm at 10. We rang Dominico at 10.40
and discovered they too were delayed leaving and were further delayed by
a fire on the road. When we all met up at the Massera I was reluctant to
let the kids out as I had them nicely dressed, and the mud around the
farm is awful but of course they wanted to run around with PiereValdi
and Giovani. I let the boys go but Rosa and I hung out in the van as she
was wearing light pink! After that Dominico said he was taking us for a
bit of sightseeing. First stop was an amazing canyon 90mtrs deep. It
was very impressive with three hawks circling over head and Neolithic
caves in the distance. It also had a fair number of old rusting cars at
the bottom, stolen and dumped according to Dominico, as well as, a load
of old tires that looked like they had been rolled down the steep slope
for fun.
Next we were off to learn about L'homo d'altamura, we arrived at a
little museum in the middle nowhere. It was a Massera similar to the
farm and was run by a voluntary society of cavers. We were the only
visitors and got a great tour. It isn't possible to go into the cave so
they have created a virtual tour on computers. It was fascinating. (If
you are interested read the next paragraph.)
In 1993 members of the caving group were exploring a long narrow cave in
the area, it was of great interest as it was very deep and very ancient.
The first cavern had many stalactite and stalagmite formations as well
as ancient animal bones from, bison, deer and hyenas. They felt wind
further into the narrow tunnel and decided to open it up a bit to gain
deeper access. Then they made a unique discovery of the skeleton of a
man later dated as coming from roughly 300,000 years ago. Previously
there had only been a skull from this time found in Germany and the
skeleton in the cave was complete and preserved due to calcification.
Its pretty creepy looking as a result. They think that he fell down a
hole while hunting or being hunted He didn't die as there were no broken
bones but rather crawled deep into the cave looking for a way out. The
museum also put on a 3D show to see the man better, they have all sorts
of camera equipment etc in the caves. The discovery was taken over for
scientific study and all the equipment was well funded as it was such an
important one. As he was studied it turned out the skeleton was even
more important as it did not display characteristics either Neanderthal
man or Homo erectus but rather both. His forehead doesn't stick out so
that was like homo erectus but his jaw was like a Neanderthal. They had
found a missing link between the two.
We all got a lot out of the visit and we are grateful to our volunteer tour
guide who spoke a lot of English and was very nice considering we had 6
kids with us. The kids were mostly interested but at one point got
carried away on the swing chairs by all the computers.
We then followed Dominico to his mothers apartment in Altamura. I was a
bit worried at first as she lives in a lovely old apartment and I
wondered about precious ornaments etc. It turned out that she has her
grandsons to visit often and one room had lots of their toys and the
precious things were mostly in a separate room that we didn't go into.
Well actually Mike and I went in for a peep at the old working
gramophone with Dominico. Our meal was served at two tables adult and
kid. There were another two teenage cousins who kept an eye on the kids.
Here's our menu.
1st pasta, tiny meat balls and fried aubergine/egg plants (Mike's
allergic to these so had to decline)
2nd polenta and steak) or spicy sausages. (Mike was known not to eat
pork hence the steaks)
3rd baked seafood and sliced potatoes complete with baby calamari (I
tried this but not the calamari)
4th fruit
and 5th two light deserts, a large Crème Brule and a white molded flan
type thing with kiwis, that is a specialty from the time when some court
only ate white foods.
The meal was eaten amid what we would consider a large amount of
exuberance. The children finished long before us and were soon playing
wildly. Ours were actually the quieter ones, probably as they
were exploring the toys. The male older cousin tore around after the
younger boys doing loops through the room where we where eating. The
adult conversation was equally lively and during one of Dominico's funny
stories Mike and I could not contain ourselves from giggling the whole
way through, before he got to the punch line, because of the whole scene. It was
great very Italian and I enjoyed the experience of being at a large
gathering and not being stressed and distracted trying to modify the childrens' behaviour. I like the Italian approach to children.
Also our children, who are like all kids naturally
affectionate, have already responded to the physicality of Italians
young and old. The kids they know greet them all with hugs and take them
by the hand. Sammy hugs and kisses his teacher when he see her and we by
comparison seem reserved with our new adult friends, but I watch
Italians
shake hands and hug all the time. All the kids we see hanging out
together, even the teenagers, show no awkwardness or affectedness about
this but do the same as the adults.
After our meal, of which, needless to say we had a sufficiency, we are
taken on a late afternoon stroll around the old town and spectacular
cathedral with Dominco's brother and sister in law. Francesco is very
knowledgeable and gives us a really nice tour translated by Clara who
speaks fluent English. I am going to help Clara at the high school where
she works as she is involved with a European funded project where a
group of students are learning about Ireland. Both she and Fransesco
have been to Ireland and liked it very much. On the way back to the
appartment Finn and Sammy fall asleep but Eli and Rosa are offered more
food which they have before we leave for Giovnazzo. We have a cup of tea and some of the
light fruit cake I'd brought as I'd learned it was a Christmas treat.
Then it was back with tired children to the appartment after a very full
Sunday.
13th December (Mon)
Back to our new routine, Mike off to pick Olives at 5am and kids up,
a bit late for school. When I tried to drop Sammy off he balked, no
matter how long I stayed and despite having hugged and kissed his
teacher when he saw her. I decided he was too tired after yesterday and
let him come with me and tried to make the morning pretty boring by just
cleaning and tidying all morning. He and Finn played away very
contentedly. We'll see how tomorrow goes. After school we had lunch and then
went to meet Maria Grazie - Anna's sister - our new babysitter.
Both
the kids and I check her out. She is just back from Brighton where she
was taking a course in English so we had no trouble communicating and
she is lovely. She is a p.e. teacher but would like to go back to
England if she can find work. Mike got back and was able to shower and
have his lunch in peace before joining us in the park. We arranged for
Maria Grazie to come back at nine for us to go out. I bathed Finn and
had a speedy shower as we have a very limited hot water tank and gave
the kids their tea. Luckily I had Finn and Sammy asleep before she
arrived as I don't think Finn would have let me go. We go and join
Lorella and her husband Luigi and a group of their friends in a cool
little place in the old town for a Mexican night. It a very
enjoyable evening with even a few English speakers. When we get outside
there is a message from Maria Grazie Finn was awake for 40mins, and the
our mobiles didn't work through the think walls. When we get back
Finn is curled up with Eli still sobbing in sleep. Poor pet.