A January Check-Up

For months and months we talked about the upcoming year in Italy. We dreamed about the great food we’d eat, the amazing towns, festivals, and landscapes we’d see. But there were also the questions. Would we get our Visa, allowing us to actually go there for more than three months? Would we then get our Permesso di Soggiorno, the Italian version which technically would be the final document necessary allowing us to legally stay for a year? Where would we go? Where would we live? Would we like our new home? Would we adjust to life in Italy? What about schools for the kids? Would the language be easy? What would it be like not having a job?

      The halfway point of our time abroad has already now passed, though, reminding us that we won’t be here forever, that eventually we’ll be boarding Swiss Air in Rome to head back to New Hampshire, and that the new set of related questions percolating up may deserve some attention. Maybe we’ve started thinking about our return also because it finally seems that we are all healthy and somewhat used to living in Lucca. Absent as much stress or as many health problems to deal with, maybe you are the type of person capable of just “going with the flow” or “enjoying the moment”. I commend you; it must be nice! We’re trying to do that, too, of course, but our propensity to plan ahead—now that immediate issues are currently less urgent—brings scenarios and questions of our return more often to our thoughts.

         When will we return home? We need to change the return tickets and fix a date soon. What else do we really want to do here before we go home? Where would we like to visit? Will Lauren be able to find a job? Where will Nikolai go to kindergarten? How will we afford a car (we sold our family vehicle before we left) and should we start looking for one already? What work will need to be done on the house after a year’s use by another family? These are but a few of the current questions on our minds and, as you can see, thankfully none are life-threatening. It’s just us looking ahead.

            So, let’s take stock here at just past mid-way point. Call it a January check-up. 

            Are we glad we came to Italy? Yes.

            Is it much different than taking a week or two vacation here would be? Of course, and I expected that; I’ll let you ponder what exactly that means. But again, yes, we’re happy with our choice.

            Is our Italian as good as we thought it might be at this point? No. Better than when we arrived? I hope so! Sometimes I wonder, though. Recently when I was getting my hair cut or, another time, talking with a waiter, I got a furrowed brow, a pause, and then “Ma non ho capito niente” (“I didn’t understand a thing you just said!”). The kids are faring better. Sometimes when Niko is playing alone at home I’ll find him chattering in Italian. Ingrid usually likes to use English with us but occasionally she’s in the mood for la bella lingua. Yesterday when I picked her up from school we spoke in Italian during our bike ride to the grocery store and while shopping (When the bike key lock broke as we went to head home and were stranded there with both bikes and her backpack locked together and a brother to pick up in a few minutes we did revert to English)! She’s also got a good Italian friend who speaks no English so along with a little sign language when they talk Italian is the only option.

    Are Lauren and I having a weekly date-night while the kids run around the house practicing their Italian with a babysitter? Not yet, but the two times we went out together at night when family was here to baby-sit were a couple of our best evenings so far and much appreciated. Thank you family!

           Do I have the power by my words to conjure up misfortune when I repeat that we’re ‘all finally healthy’? You may knock on that wood for me, thanks, but I’ve never quite caught on to the saying. Anyway, now that ‘that’ is true (saying it three times just may put me over the edge into a believer), hopefully we’ll:  a) find a babysitter b) call her up and c) have some meals out in peace now and then. 

            Are we glad we are taking a sabbatical year together? YES! The change has been very challenging overall (I know this may seem crazy to you. Sabbatical? Challenging? Just trust me.). As a former amateur endurance athlete and current teacher, of course, I am a firm believer in challenges making us stronger and wiser. And it has been wonderful to be around Lauren, Niko, and Ingrid much more than usual. I am still so grateful for this opportunity.

            And last, but not least, do we miss home? YES! What I’m most looking forward to is fresh air and the rural location. Friends, too, of course, colleagues and students, but we’ve got a ways to go yet. The earliest we’ll be back is mid-June, perhaps early July. Until then, we hope to take advantage of all of the time we have here and enjoy this special year together. 

Searching for Winter

On the sixth night, the night before we were to leave for our trip to the Dolomites, Niko did not wake us several times with screams, vomiting, or diarrhea. The decision was made; we would make the trip after all. Good timing, son! This journey will be described minus details of the nausea due to curvy mountain roads, difficulty keeping body parts to one’s own side of the car, endless talking in rhyme, countless bathroom stops or hunger pangs needing to be addressed, our GPS voice saying for the nth time “Recalculating” after we apparently would go off her planned route, and all of the snafus of living together in one room for several days once we got to our hotel. Let’s forget all of that, or, now at a comfortable distance from it, just smile in recognition, happy it isn’t presently occurring, but kind of proud we did share in those temporarily unpleasant experiences familiar to any family who’s driven off for a vacation together. At some point maybe a few of the tough times will be amongst the “remember when…” stories whose annual retelling inflates them until the curvy mountain climb literally went on for hours.

         The route we took did include some more secondary roads that took us up away from the polluted plains of Lucca and very soon, at one of those first bathroom stops, I noticed a clarity to the air and a quality of light that I hadn’t seen for a long time. We were in a small gorge, it was windy and cold, the sunlight was just starting to hit the rock wall on the opposite side of the road, and it was immediately apparent we had escaped the smog. We reached Abetone, the nearest ski area to Lucca, after about two hours and they indeed did finally have snow and plenty of skiers and snowboarders making use of the mountain. Eventually we entered the Emilia-Romagna region and its beautiful open landscape with huge, gradual hills, and then joined the autostrada near Modena. Having stopped at many AutoGrills (in themselves definitely worth the visit) in past excursions on Italy’s highways, I was surprised at the enormous complex of eating establishments we found at the first gas pull-off. 

This enormous white building with windows and skylights galore had Burger King and a few other fast food options but also a huge cafeteria-style open restaurant with dozens of delicious choices staring at you, ready to be taken. But you had to be ready to resist (at least a bit) so steep were the prices (at BK, for example, a Whopper was $11.00). Hundreds of other travelers joined us around 2pm in this huge building. The vast majority seemed to be enjoying their lunch immensely and didn’t seem to mind the prices for they had water, wine, bread, first course, second course, side, sometimes dessert, and, of course, coffee. Nobody seemed in a rush to eat or in any hurry to get back to the autostrada. Il pranzo was being taken very seriously indeed.

         

       Our first night was spent just outside of Trento in Terlago at Hotel Lilla, difficult to find but worth the drive through one mountain and between two others. When we woke up the next morning we saw the nearby frozen lake and the first rays of sun hitting the summit of the snowy mountain just across the ice. Winter! Back to the autostrada then off it again at Ora as we wound up higher into the mountains and eventually into the Val di Fiemme, site of past Nordic World Championships and indeed also site of the 2013 iteration. Our destination, Tesero, is the town where the championships will be held and where, during our stay, the 2012 Tour de Ski would be stopping by for the final two stages of the race. Yes, I was pretty pumped to be there. Even more so since they finally got snow the week before we arrived. More incredibly narrow streets and a final super steep driveway climb and we made it (and didn’t even need to put on the chains since all roads had been cleared)!

         

        Agritur Darial, the agriturismo where we would stay for the next three nights before heading back to Lucca, sat above Tesero and afforded a beautiful view of mountains all around and of the valley below. A friendly yellow lab sauntered over to greet us. The kids found the barn of sheep, goats and cows (and eventually the horses, rabbits, chickens, and donkey and mule) and, 

when we discovered that this small hotel also had a decked out kids common room with trucks, scooters, bouncy balls, and art supplies we knew it must’ve been created by someone who knew what kids like and that if the kids are happy, so too will be their genitori. On the last morning I met a man who has been bringing his family here every year for the past ten! The homemade breakfasts also made a big difference, as did the delicious multi-course dinners (the only tough part being keeping Niko up waiting that long as la cena didn’t start until 7:30pm). So animals and food figured high up there on the list of our favorite parts of the trip.

         

         Snow and skiing also made the favorites list, although not at first. I decided it would be awesome to head right down to Tesero del Lago, where the penultimate stage of the Tour de Ski was about to start. Thousands of people, colder temperatures, and some general confusion made the scene harder to appreciate for the rest of the family after the first hour or so, but once I got them some food and found a warm tent with some beer bands playing and a huge contingent of Norwegian fans singing and waving their flags they felt a little better... but not enough to stay to watch the women’s race. I stopped to wish the US racers luck and then we headed back to the hotel (where thankfully our TV got Eurosport so I caught the entire race anyway!).

         The second part of ‘not at first’ was actually the skiing itself. While part of Niko’s deception after watching professional racers was that he himself would not be able to ski (all trails were being used f) when we finally got on snow the next day at Passo Lavezè (5400 feet) both he and Ingrid made us wonder why we’d gone through the effort to bring them up there and get them geared up such were the screams, refusals, problems, etc. 

Luckily for us that only lasted thirty minutes and from then on it was discovery, growing confidence, smiles, and fun! Thanks to Lauren, while they took a break for lunch I got to ski for the first time since February or March of last year. 

I took their longest loop then open (about 9k) and, despite my pitiful state of endurance, had a great time, stopped to take photos, couldn’t believe I was finally skiing—and in such a gorgeous setting!

         

         Our final full day in the Dolomites saw us taking a cable car up to a section of Latemar (a large alpine ski area) in Predazzo which departed right next to the ski-jumping complex. 

Today’s main adventure was the trip up, alpine coaster rides, the subsequent meal in the lodge (where you could slide down to the bathrooms if you didn’t want to use stairs), and trip back down in the gondola. The sun was out and the views were stunning.

         

          We were hoping to find a skating rink open when we got back down but couldn’t so the rest of the family agreed to me driving them for another hour to see the Pale di San Martino and the town of San Martino di Castrozza. The drive there and the views were worth the numerous twists and turns, and definitely worth celebrating with some hot chocolate. The mountains seemed to shoot straight up right from the village, and their rugged, jagged summits the most “Dolomiti” of the mountains we had seen. 

         

          The next morning we bade farewell to Emma of Agritur Darial, the donkey and yellow lab, and set about our final adventure of another full day in the car. Niko’s health had held up the whole trip and it wasn’t until late that night back at home that he vomited again. Now this week he’s had strep throat and possibly scarlet fever (there was a case at his school). While mowing the lawn the other day ( I thought my last mow was in November but it was just getting a little too raggedy and when else would I be able to say I mowed a lawn in January?) I was thinking that I just might have to take Niko up to the snow again. True winter, fresh air, I think that’s a better cure than any medicine.