Check me out, all with the posting two days in a row over here. So efficient. Well, actually, not, because what I really should be doing is showering and/or cleaning the apartment and/or planning this week's lessons, not messing around on the internet, but whatever...
The church bells are ringing (so, is it the Duomo or San Prospero? and how will I ever find out?), the sun is doing its best to shine through the haze, and there is a soft sort of warmth coming in through the window. 60-ish degrees, says google. This places us squarely in problem-territory in terms of footwear, because for me, 60 degrees is still definitely flip-flop weather. Because my flip-flops are classy and nice and why wear uncomfortable footwear (which I haven't had time to buy yet anyway) when you could just be wearing classy flip-flops? For the Reggiani, 60 degrees is coat and scarf weather. I actually saw an older lady wearing wool gloves the other day, in the middle of the afternoon. (?!) I mean, come on now, I'll give you a cardigan or even a light jacket, but... scarf? Gloves? No. Let's just all calm down a little and take note of the fact that the sun is still shining. The perma-fog has not yet set in!
The Reggiani and I will clearly never see eye to eye on this matter, though (or at least, not before I reach the age of seventy or something), and so, I will continue to wear my sandals (at least until I find time to purchase some respectable flats in which to walk) and they will continue to give me weird looks, and everyone will know that I am straniera. It's funny, though - I don't really mind anymore. I used to be all 'no, must blend in and seem Italian and not embarassingly American' but... meh.
Now I'm a straniera who can deal with most situations that come up in everyday life here, and speak decent enough Italian to follow a conversation or the news or whatever with minimal fuss, and perform her job at least moderately decently (people occasionally even tell me I'm good at it, so that's always nice). I'm not so embarassed to be a straniera anymore, because I'm one that's holding her own in the land of the native Reggiani. I'm the straniera that can tell you hilarious stories about first moving here, while smoothly ordering off the menu or paying bills at the post office. Granted, I can still tell you funny stories about stupid things that I did just this morning, but they're the type of stupid things I probably would've done at home, too. So, yay. Successful straniera.
Uh, wow. All with the introspective over here. I was totally just planning to come and remark about the weather, in the manner of my grandmother or something, and move on - not tell you all about my relative levels of self-esteem as a foreigner. Sigh. So blather-y, self. (Also in the manner of my grandmother, actually.) Now it's time to head off to work and get some stuff done, methinks. Ciao ciao!
Sunday, October 3
Saturday, October 2
In which I blather on about a pair of shoes
So, I feel the need to write an entry (or whatever it's called) in order to commemorate my most awesome pair of shoes ever. Bear with me, here. Essentially, the reason my shoes are so super awesome is that I bought them one fine spring break (the one of my senior year) because I was starting to think about wrapping up my honors thesis (and by 'starting to think about wrapping up' I mean, 'going all "oh shit, why did I not start collecting data months and months ago??"') and then it occurred to me that I would have to defend said thesis, and then it occurred to me that I would want to be professionally dressed for the occasion in question, and that I would need snazzy heels in order to be able to do so.
So I bought these excellent professional-looking black heels that were high but not too high and pointy but not too pointy and a little uncomfortable but not excruciatingly so. Also, with a pencil skirt and some nylons? It seems there is a reason women choose to wear these things to work. It makes your legs look magically grown-up and business-like and sexy all at the same time. Definite win. And they continued to be total win through several important life events.
First, some research presentations. These involve young student-researchers making a poster about their research (which involves a night or two spent in the lab, wringing some sort of sense out of your insufficient data, and another night or two spent in the science library, obsessing over the layout and finally printing the sucker) and then standing around in front of it while people mill around, pretending to be interested in your topic of research. I wore my excellent shoes to two or three of these events, and stood in front of my poster, and even if my data analysis was total crap (or missing entirely, at some of the earlier conferences), I looked professional and my poster had photos of cute babies on it.
Then, the thesis defense. My voice did not wobble and my shirt matched my eyes (apparently) and when I forgot the age group of the children in one study I referenced, my mentor helped me out, and at the end, they told me they would give me high honors if our college awarded them, and that it was some of the most clear writing they'd ever seen from a student (you'd never know it, reading this, though), and that that was the mark of a clear mind, and that they looked forward to seeing what I did in the field. I walked all the way home in my short-sleeved eye-matching shirt and my excellent shoes, in the early spring early morning chill, and when I got home my feet were bleeding but I didn't even care.
After that, I decided to get a job in Italy. I wandered around Bologna for a few days with my CV, wearing flip-flops and carrying my excellent shoes stuffed in my purse. When I came across a language school, I'd put on the shoes and ring the bell and offer my CV to whoever was there. I also wore them on my first-ever Italian train ride from Bologna to Reggio to interview at the school where I currently still work.
Similarly, I wore them to the daycare where I worked for a few months when I was home a year ago... and was massively over-dressed, looking even snazzier than the boss and the director, with my CV all equipped with research experience and my fancy degree and all that. How to get a job instantly: apply for something for which your are massively, hideously over-qualified, but smilingly tell them it's actually what you've always wanted to do.
Then I came back to Reggio, back to teaching, and was sent to the Uber-Fancy Local Fashion Company to teach. I went wearing all black and my excellent shoes, and have not been tossed out yet (it was threatened that we wouldn't be sent there if we weren't well dressed enough). I can clearly remember my first morning there, (mentally) sweating bullets and hyperventilating just a little while waiting for the managing director of god-knows-what to show up so I could teach him English. Hoping no one would see me and be all "ew, a shoddily clad american - get her away from our fashion awesomeness". No one did, and the managing director of god-knows-what was a delightful gentleman, and to this day I have still never been thrown off the premesis. In fact, I sometimes go wearing jeans and my excellent shoes, and still look decent enough to teach at least the younger, non-manager types. My shoes have always been loyal and awesome.
Until yesterday, when I noticed that they have sort of become all stretched and loose, and one of the heels feels not to stable, and also I've been mean and haven't polished them in ages. I've had new bottoms put on the heels (you know, that rubber part that gets worn down when you stomp around in your shoes like I do?) several times, but I think this time they are unsalvageable. And since I cannot have bits falling off when I am teaching at the UFLFC (or, uh, anywhere else, really) I think it is time to retire them. Poor shoes. I feel like I should bury them or something. Perhaps I will just bury them in the back of my closet, since I am not quite ready to let them go.
I sound like a nut job. In other news, the perma-grey has returned to the sky as of this morning. You know how my one student told me once that, in Reggio, you can tell it's spring or summer when you can see individual clouds in the sky, and winter when it's just a sheet of grey? Well, it's a sheet of grey. It looks like a layer of compacted fog, ready to descend on the populace at any moment. Delightful...
So I bought these excellent professional-looking black heels that were high but not too high and pointy but not too pointy and a little uncomfortable but not excruciatingly so. Also, with a pencil skirt and some nylons? It seems there is a reason women choose to wear these things to work. It makes your legs look magically grown-up and business-like and sexy all at the same time. Definite win. And they continued to be total win through several important life events.
First, some research presentations. These involve young student-researchers making a poster about their research (which involves a night or two spent in the lab, wringing some sort of sense out of your insufficient data, and another night or two spent in the science library, obsessing over the layout and finally printing the sucker) and then standing around in front of it while people mill around, pretending to be interested in your topic of research. I wore my excellent shoes to two or three of these events, and stood in front of my poster, and even if my data analysis was total crap (or missing entirely, at some of the earlier conferences), I looked professional and my poster had photos of cute babies on it.
Then, the thesis defense. My voice did not wobble and my shirt matched my eyes (apparently) and when I forgot the age group of the children in one study I referenced, my mentor helped me out, and at the end, they told me they would give me high honors if our college awarded them, and that it was some of the most clear writing they'd ever seen from a student (you'd never know it, reading this, though), and that that was the mark of a clear mind, and that they looked forward to seeing what I did in the field. I walked all the way home in my short-sleeved eye-matching shirt and my excellent shoes, in the early spring early morning chill, and when I got home my feet were bleeding but I didn't even care.
After that, I decided to get a job in Italy. I wandered around Bologna for a few days with my CV, wearing flip-flops and carrying my excellent shoes stuffed in my purse. When I came across a language school, I'd put on the shoes and ring the bell and offer my CV to whoever was there. I also wore them on my first-ever Italian train ride from Bologna to Reggio to interview at the school where I currently still work.
Similarly, I wore them to the daycare where I worked for a few months when I was home a year ago... and was massively over-dressed, looking even snazzier than the boss and the director, with my CV all equipped with research experience and my fancy degree and all that. How to get a job instantly: apply for something for which your are massively, hideously over-qualified, but smilingly tell them it's actually what you've always wanted to do.
Then I came back to Reggio, back to teaching, and was sent to the Uber-Fancy Local Fashion Company to teach. I went wearing all black and my excellent shoes, and have not been tossed out yet (it was threatened that we wouldn't be sent there if we weren't well dressed enough). I can clearly remember my first morning there, (mentally) sweating bullets and hyperventilating just a little while waiting for the managing director of god-knows-what to show up so I could teach him English. Hoping no one would see me and be all "ew, a shoddily clad american - get her away from our fashion awesomeness". No one did, and the managing director of god-knows-what was a delightful gentleman, and to this day I have still never been thrown off the premesis. In fact, I sometimes go wearing jeans and my excellent shoes, and still look decent enough to teach at least the younger, non-manager types. My shoes have always been loyal and awesome.
Until yesterday, when I noticed that they have sort of become all stretched and loose, and one of the heels feels not to stable, and also I've been mean and haven't polished them in ages. I've had new bottoms put on the heels (you know, that rubber part that gets worn down when you stomp around in your shoes like I do?) several times, but I think this time they are unsalvageable. And since I cannot have bits falling off when I am teaching at the UFLFC (or, uh, anywhere else, really) I think it is time to retire them. Poor shoes. I feel like I should bury them or something. Perhaps I will just bury them in the back of my closet, since I am not quite ready to let them go.
I sound like a nut job. In other news, the perma-grey has returned to the sky as of this morning. You know how my one student told me once that, in Reggio, you can tell it's spring or summer when you can see individual clouds in the sky, and winter when it's just a sheet of grey? Well, it's a sheet of grey. It looks like a layer of compacted fog, ready to descend on the populace at any moment. Delightful...
Tuesday, September 14
The weather
Dear Reggio,
I would like to inquire about your weather plans for the remainder of the season. Specifically, why is it already wintertime? As far as I can tell, the calendar indicates that we are barely halfway through september. And I seem to recall that when I was a child living in America, it was routinely broiling and stuffy well into the beginning of october. I remember this because I was never able to wear my awesome back to school clothes during the first weeks of school because it was always too hot.
Reggio. Are you not located in Italy, the land of sun and warmth and all that good stuff? I understand that you specifically are more the land of fog and damp, but still. Could you not give us a couple more weeks of sun and summery-ness? I don't think it's asking for that much. I'm fully prepared for the wet and the fog and the damp and the grey starting in mid-october, but that's a whole month away.
Yesterday I was freezing despite long sleeves, and someone told me I should go home and make polenta to warm myself up, and I don't even know how to make polenta. Also, I didn't bring a coat back from America with me. If you could just give me enough time to procure a coat and learn how to make polenta, I would appreciate it. Please take this into consideration.
Kisses,
Straniera
P.S. Ahahaha, I just realized that not two days ago I wrote an entry that was all ode-to-the-good-weather. How ironic.
I would like to inquire about your weather plans for the remainder of the season. Specifically, why is it already wintertime? As far as I can tell, the calendar indicates that we are barely halfway through september. And I seem to recall that when I was a child living in America, it was routinely broiling and stuffy well into the beginning of october. I remember this because I was never able to wear my awesome back to school clothes during the first weeks of school because it was always too hot.
Reggio. Are you not located in Italy, the land of sun and warmth and all that good stuff? I understand that you specifically are more the land of fog and damp, but still. Could you not give us a couple more weeks of sun and summery-ness? I don't think it's asking for that much. I'm fully prepared for the wet and the fog and the damp and the grey starting in mid-october, but that's a whole month away.
Yesterday I was freezing despite long sleeves, and someone told me I should go home and make polenta to warm myself up, and I don't even know how to make polenta. Also, I didn't bring a coat back from America with me. If you could just give me enough time to procure a coat and learn how to make polenta, I would appreciate it. Please take this into consideration.
Kisses,
Straniera
P.S. Ahahaha, I just realized that not two days ago I wrote an entry that was all ode-to-the-good-weather. How ironic.
Sunday, September 12
Bel tempo
Finally, un attimo di bel tempo. The sun is shining outside, my apartment is clean, someone is playing Ligabue (Le donne lo sanno) from somewhere so it is just audible enough to be pleasant but not enough to be distracting, I have some delicious cheese (viva il pecorino toscano!) and maybe a salad to eat for lunch, and also delightful evening plans, and life is good.
Not even the fact that I am working on the translation of Death, also known as the translation that Refuses to End, can dampen my spirits. Evviva il bel tempo! I had better finish the sucker before November, or else there will be no more bel tempo to cheer me up and I will probably chuck my laptop (or myself) out of the window in frustration.
Perhaps when I finish the stupid thing, I will have time to update the internet world on the minutiae importantissimi of my life, including a stint as secretary, a brief escape to the Lago di Garda, our first week back at work and the trauma of preparing for our school's open day... etc.
Not even the fact that I am working on the translation of Death, also known as the translation that Refuses to End, can dampen my spirits. Evviva il bel tempo! I had better finish the sucker before November, or else there will be no more bel tempo to cheer me up and I will probably chuck my laptop (or myself) out of the window in frustration.
Perhaps when I finish the stupid thing, I will have time to update the internet world on the minutiae importantissimi of my life, including a stint as secretary, a brief escape to the Lago di Garda, our first week back at work and the trauma of preparing for our school's open day... etc.
Tuesday, August 31
Not in ferie
Aaaand we're back. Back in the land of plentiful gelato and stores that close irritatingly early. In fact, I should probably plan all future returns to the bel paese around the closing times of local supermarkets. Because otherwise I end up like I am now: all greatful for the fact that I stuffed a package of goldfish crackers into my purse before leaving America (three or four days ago) and subsequently forgot to remove them.
You know how in America you can get pretty much anything you want at anytime you want it? I mean, definitely during extended daytime hours - you can do your banking and your post office-ing and your grocery shopping and your dry cleaning and all sorts of things until considerably later than you can in Italy. (Or France, for that matter.) Similarly, you can go to the bank on a Saturday and to the supermarket or the mall or pretty much anywhere on a Sunday. (Except the bank or the post office, I suppose. Still, though.) Like, if you suddenly need a soda at three a.m.? Probably there is a 24 hour convenience store somewhere within comfortable driving distance. McDonald's at midnight? For sure. In fact, once I was with some friends in New York and we decided we needed a board game to play (I forget what the context of this was) and it was ten p.m., but that's fine, because we just sauntered into some random Wal-Mart and there we were: toys in the middle of the night!
Here in Reggio, though, it is a different matter. Good luck to you if you happen to show up some fine evening at 8:40 and notice that you have no shampoo, no laundry detergent, no bottled water, no food, and a pressing desire to shower, do your laundry, and, uh, ingest food/hydrate yourself. You are in trouble. In fact, this is how I come to be dining on goldfish crackers and savoring the little bottle of water that I grabbed (kind of on a whim, really... but so fortunate!) before getting on the train. Not to mention eagerly awaiting Acqua e Sapone's opening time tomorrow so that I can get soap, in various forms and for various uses. Yay soap!
Hm. I feel that I am starting to make very little sense. It has been a long and largely boring day of travelling, though. In fact, I would like to take a moment to boast of my travelling prowess. Today, my trajectory was as such: tramway halfway around the periphery of Paris --> RER train around the rest of Paris --> airport shuttle to correct terminal --> airplane to Malpensa --> shuttle bus to Milano centrale --> regionale train to Reggio --> taxi to here --> very tired arms and legs lugging suitcases up three flights of stairs --> me sitting at this desk, eating goldfish and too lazy to go get ready for bed and thus continuing to type instead...
Yes, anyway. Oh, one more parting thought, though. You know how in America you can get anything anytime, pretty much? And in Italy you are quite restricted and on a Sunday afternoon, just about all you can get is a coffee or gelato? Well, in France, it's like that except for the bread. You can always, always find a boulangerie that is open and ready to feed you a fresh baguette/croissant/eclair or whatever, no matter what day it is. It's like, if it's the god-given right of an American to have tylenol and board games at whatever time of day we damn well please, it's the god-given right of French people to have fresh bread any day of the year, right down to Easter Sunday and Christmas, and don't anyone try to take it away from us!
Okay. Now I really will go to bed. 'Notte Reggio. It's good to be back.
You know how in America you can get pretty much anything you want at anytime you want it? I mean, definitely during extended daytime hours - you can do your banking and your post office-ing and your grocery shopping and your dry cleaning and all sorts of things until considerably later than you can in Italy. (Or France, for that matter.) Similarly, you can go to the bank on a Saturday and to the supermarket or the mall or pretty much anywhere on a Sunday. (Except the bank or the post office, I suppose. Still, though.) Like, if you suddenly need a soda at three a.m.? Probably there is a 24 hour convenience store somewhere within comfortable driving distance. McDonald's at midnight? For sure. In fact, once I was with some friends in New York and we decided we needed a board game to play (I forget what the context of this was) and it was ten p.m., but that's fine, because we just sauntered into some random Wal-Mart and there we were: toys in the middle of the night!
Here in Reggio, though, it is a different matter. Good luck to you if you happen to show up some fine evening at 8:40 and notice that you have no shampoo, no laundry detergent, no bottled water, no food, and a pressing desire to shower, do your laundry, and, uh, ingest food/hydrate yourself. You are in trouble. In fact, this is how I come to be dining on goldfish crackers and savoring the little bottle of water that I grabbed (kind of on a whim, really... but so fortunate!) before getting on the train. Not to mention eagerly awaiting Acqua e Sapone's opening time tomorrow so that I can get soap, in various forms and for various uses. Yay soap!
Hm. I feel that I am starting to make very little sense. It has been a long and largely boring day of travelling, though. In fact, I would like to take a moment to boast of my travelling prowess. Today, my trajectory was as such: tramway halfway around the periphery of Paris --> RER train around the rest of Paris --> airport shuttle to correct terminal --> airplane to Malpensa --> shuttle bus to Milano centrale --> regionale train to Reggio --> taxi to here --> very tired arms and legs lugging suitcases up three flights of stairs --> me sitting at this desk, eating goldfish and too lazy to go get ready for bed and thus continuing to type instead...
Yes, anyway. Oh, one more parting thought, though. You know how in America you can get anything anytime, pretty much? And in Italy you are quite restricted and on a Sunday afternoon, just about all you can get is a coffee or gelato? Well, in France, it's like that except for the bread. You can always, always find a boulangerie that is open and ready to feed you a fresh baguette/croissant/eclair or whatever, no matter what day it is. It's like, if it's the god-given right of an American to have tylenol and board games at whatever time of day we damn well please, it's the god-given right of French people to have fresh bread any day of the year, right down to Easter Sunday and Christmas, and don't anyone try to take it away from us!
Okay. Now I really will go to bed. 'Notte Reggio. It's good to be back.
Sunday, August 29
In ferie
Well, actually, I'm tornando-ing dalle ferie. (You know you've reached a certain level of comfort with a language when you can mix it in with your first one and double conjugate the verbs, right? Just, uh, don't mistake "certain level of comfort" for "anything near proficiency", at least in my case.)
Anyway. Vacation. Were you picturing me lounging on the beach, getting a stellar tan and... I don't know... doing beach-type things? That's nice. Because, actually, I was working at the daycare from my previous stint in the childcare-world and generally wearing a lot more baby spit-up and bleach than sunscreen.
I sound bitter, don't I? But actually, I'm completely not. I am a big fan of working there, in fact. It's just kind of more interesting to write about your life if you're either bitter or having adventures that make you seem completely retarded. Don't worry, though - I generally do plenty of the latter, so probably things will be up and running (read: puttering along) at their usual speed shortly.
So, to recap this summer since that last post: there was one more week after that of working in the ridiculous heat of Reggio in July. (Actually, remind me never to work full time at a job that requires me to look halfway decent through the middle of July in Reggio again: brutal. Particularly when showing up for lessons at companies that are thoroughly air conditioned, looking all disheveled when the employees have been hanging out in the subarctic temperatures all day and look at you like you're from a different planet for even considering short sleeves. Sigh.)
Then, in a colossal bout of over-ambitiousness regarding scheduling, managed to book a flight (from Milan) a mere six or so hours after the end of my last lesson (in Reggio), which somewhat compressed the activities of finishing packing/taking out the garbage/remembering to lock my apartment/calling a taxi/buying train ticket/taking navetta from Milano Centrale to Malpensa/actually boarding plane, etc. but I made it. Subsequently arrival in Paris in the dead of night, merciful picking up by mother at airport (yay! mother is awesome!). Next day spent traipsing around Paris at breakneck pace, determined to enjoy all of favorite haunts and also company of aforementioned awesome mother in just one day. Day after, return to airport and oh-so-fun flight back to Newark. Newark (and NJ in general) very humid and sticky. Highly reminiscent of Reggio, except with bigger and slower highways, more ethnic food, and crappier pizza.
Sleep it all off and return to work at daycare the next morning (because am valiant! and tireless! and maybe slightly less than sane!), marvel at growth of children cared for during previous stint at daycare, marvel at ridiculous turnover rate of staff, get assigned a classroom and offered yet another uniform polo (wrong size, do not take for fear of always looking like some sort of crazy Tent Monster; better to stick with own, bleach-stained uniform polos). Spend six weeks caring for mildly psychotic but highly entertaining 18-month-olds, while occasionally sneaking to classroom of 12-month-olds (more familiar territory - class from last time), and classroom of infants (where things are peaceful and calm and filled with cooing babies... okay, maybe sometimes they teethe and cry hysterically and frequently they spit up on you, but this is still peaceful and calm compared to the psychosis of the toddlers).
Overall, six weeks of familiar, satisfying work in familiar, pleasant workplace. Six weeks of family and friends and familiar surroundings. Many evenings spent filling up on food that Italy does not seem to have: Indian and Thai and Mexican, oh my. (Italy, don't get me wrong: I love your food. It is probably among the most excellent in the world, but... have you tried food from other countries? It also can be excellent.) Also iced coffee (I know, it is wimpy and watery and frequently unnecessarily sweet, but I have a serious weakness for iced coffee). Six weeks of coming home from work and sinking pleasantly into piles of books borrowed from the library, the words like a deliciously warm bath. (Uh-oh, now I am becoming gooey.)
Then, after quasi-tearfully hugging my little monsters and tickling all my favorite babies under the chin one more time and hearing their little giggles, loaded self back onto plane (sat next to cheerful and overly talkative couple that wanted to know whether I was leaving home or going home... surprisingly difficult question to answer), ate goopy rice under some dish that was apparently masquerading as chicken teriyaki, and then managed to sleep on plane (unprecedented!) before arriving back in Paris.
Here it is grey and slightly gloomy, but armed with a sweater and a scarf, it is a rather pleasant sort of grey. Am eating ridiculous amounts of yummy stuff that they only have in Paris, and continuing to gorge myself on books until return to Reggio the day after tomorrow. And now I think it is sufficiently late to trick myself into sleeping, since I bravely fought the jet lag upon arriving yesterday and managing not to nap in the daytime. Huzzah!
Right. Anyway, a good night to all!
Anyway. Vacation. Were you picturing me lounging on the beach, getting a stellar tan and... I don't know... doing beach-type things? That's nice. Because, actually, I was working at the daycare from my previous stint in the childcare-world and generally wearing a lot more baby spit-up and bleach than sunscreen.
I sound bitter, don't I? But actually, I'm completely not. I am a big fan of working there, in fact. It's just kind of more interesting to write about your life if you're either bitter or having adventures that make you seem completely retarded. Don't worry, though - I generally do plenty of the latter, so probably things will be up and running (read: puttering along) at their usual speed shortly.
So, to recap this summer since that last post: there was one more week after that of working in the ridiculous heat of Reggio in July. (Actually, remind me never to work full time at a job that requires me to look halfway decent through the middle of July in Reggio again: brutal. Particularly when showing up for lessons at companies that are thoroughly air conditioned, looking all disheveled when the employees have been hanging out in the subarctic temperatures all day and look at you like you're from a different planet for even considering short sleeves. Sigh.)
Then, in a colossal bout of over-ambitiousness regarding scheduling, managed to book a flight (from Milan) a mere six or so hours after the end of my last lesson (in Reggio), which somewhat compressed the activities of finishing packing/taking out the garbage/remembering to lock my apartment/calling a taxi/buying train ticket/taking navetta from Milano Centrale to Malpensa/actually boarding plane, etc. but I made it. Subsequently arrival in Paris in the dead of night, merciful picking up by mother at airport (yay! mother is awesome!). Next day spent traipsing around Paris at breakneck pace, determined to enjoy all of favorite haunts and also company of aforementioned awesome mother in just one day. Day after, return to airport and oh-so-fun flight back to Newark. Newark (and NJ in general) very humid and sticky. Highly reminiscent of Reggio, except with bigger and slower highways, more ethnic food, and crappier pizza.
Sleep it all off and return to work at daycare the next morning (because am valiant! and tireless! and maybe slightly less than sane!), marvel at growth of children cared for during previous stint at daycare, marvel at ridiculous turnover rate of staff, get assigned a classroom and offered yet another uniform polo (wrong size, do not take for fear of always looking like some sort of crazy Tent Monster; better to stick with own, bleach-stained uniform polos). Spend six weeks caring for mildly psychotic but highly entertaining 18-month-olds, while occasionally sneaking to classroom of 12-month-olds (more familiar territory - class from last time), and classroom of infants (where things are peaceful and calm and filled with cooing babies... okay, maybe sometimes they teethe and cry hysterically and frequently they spit up on you, but this is still peaceful and calm compared to the psychosis of the toddlers).
Overall, six weeks of familiar, satisfying work in familiar, pleasant workplace. Six weeks of family and friends and familiar surroundings. Many evenings spent filling up on food that Italy does not seem to have: Indian and Thai and Mexican, oh my. (Italy, don't get me wrong: I love your food. It is probably among the most excellent in the world, but... have you tried food from other countries? It also can be excellent.) Also iced coffee (I know, it is wimpy and watery and frequently unnecessarily sweet, but I have a serious weakness for iced coffee). Six weeks of coming home from work and sinking pleasantly into piles of books borrowed from the library, the words like a deliciously warm bath. (Uh-oh, now I am becoming gooey.)
Then, after quasi-tearfully hugging my little monsters and tickling all my favorite babies under the chin one more time and hearing their little giggles, loaded self back onto plane (sat next to cheerful and overly talkative couple that wanted to know whether I was leaving home or going home... surprisingly difficult question to answer), ate goopy rice under some dish that was apparently masquerading as chicken teriyaki, and then managed to sleep on plane (unprecedented!) before arriving back in Paris.
Here it is grey and slightly gloomy, but armed with a sweater and a scarf, it is a rather pleasant sort of grey. Am eating ridiculous amounts of yummy stuff that they only have in Paris, and continuing to gorge myself on books until return to Reggio the day after tomorrow. And now I think it is sufficiently late to trick myself into sleeping, since I bravely fought the jet lag upon arriving yesterday and managing not to nap in the daytime. Huzzah!
Right. Anyway, a good night to all!
Saturday, August 28
Filial piety
"So, she needs to go out to get her hair cut and she wants to go to the Galeries Lafayette... you'll take her, right?" the hope in my mother's voice is palpable even over the phone.
'
"Yes, yes," I say, full of filial piety and duty-towards-ones-grandparents, etc. (I am in Paris with the grandmother for a few days before returning to Reggio after the summer.) I picture my grandmother and myself strolling through the Galeries Lafayette, chatting amiably, and how good I will feel afterwards, knowing that she has at least been out of the house once this month.
I really should know better by now.
I am hanging out in the living room of my mother's apartment, when I hear my grandmother in the building's courtyard, having finally made it down from her fourth floor apartment (they have apartments in neighboring buildings that share a courtyard).
"Is he in the hospital?" she is inquiring, her voice full of concern. What? I get up to see who she is talking to.
"No, no," a medium-sized boy is saying, having apparently been stopped midway through taking the garbage bins back into the basement. He must be the caretaker's son. "He just has a little cold, really." My grandmother shakes her head mournfully.
"Ah!" she heaves a sigh of great regret/concern/god-knows-what. "Tell him to be careful, though. The number of times someone I know has had 'just a cold' and then, you know... " she lets her voice trail off almost mournfully. The boy looks a bit confused now, and I don't blame him. I stick my head out of the window and call, "I'll be right down." My grandmother is in her element, though, and doesn't even acknowledge me.
"Anyway, you should tell your father..." and she goes off into a list of remedies ranging from the innocuous (lots of sleep) to the minorly bizarre (boiling a mixture of herbs and medicines and breathing it). I have been subject to this last one at various times throughout my childhood, and let me tell you, it is not pleasant. It is like being suffocated by an herb garden that has been liberally doused in cough syrup. The awkward thing is that it does kind of work as a decongestant, so I can't really say anything.
"Right, well, time to go!" I say cheerfully upon reaching her. I wave to the kid and hurry her on my way. For the next twenty minutes, I am treated to a litany of our many family members and acquaintances who have had horrible things happen to them after having made light of a cold. Bronchitis... peumonia... death... lung cancer... colon cancer... (?!) I find this hard to believe, especially that last one, but I concentrate on getting her across the various streets between us and the bus stop, as she is completely not paying attention to traffic. (I think she is under the impression that anyone would stop for a little old lady with a cane. While I hope that this is true, I have my doubts. I don't think she has met very many people in my generation.)
As I grab her arm to keep her from walking into oncoming traffic, she looks up at me.
"But why are you only wearing one shirt?!" she exclaims, horrified. It is seventy degrees out and I am wearing a light sweater, and already starting to bake a little. I know better than to answer her - if I stay quiet, she'll run out of steam faster.
"Look at me: I'm wearing an undershirt and a blouse and a fleece vest, and even I'm chilly. Why aren't you wearing a fleece vest? I have a lovely fleece vest just like this one that I could've given you - it's red with orange flowers embroidered on it!" (I shudder and thank god for my lucky escape.) "Why don't we go back and get it?" (Crap.)
"No, I don't think that's a good idea. Look how close we are to the bus stop!" I try to distract her. No dice.
"Who cares about the bus? How can I ride the bus knowing you are freezing and you will probably catch a cold, just like the poor guardien, and then you will forget to take medicine and you will get a pneumonia and- "
"No, really, I'm fine," I insist. "Come on. Here, I have tickets already."
"I don't want a ticket. I need to go to the post office," with this non sequitar, she veers off in the direction of the post office, dragging me with her.
"Are you sure you don't want to run back to the apartment and get the fleece jacket? Just think how warm your ribs would be! Your ribs are probably freezing and it's terrible to let your ribs catch a chill. Did you know that your lungs are just underneath your ribs, and you've left them with practically no protection at all?"
"My ribs are FINE!" I raise my voice ever so slightly to get the point across. A man walking in front of us turns around and looks at us. Super. My grandmother thinks this is the height of hilarity and giggles to herself.
Good humour and cooperation are momentarily restored as we spend a moment laughing together about the man's likely confusion and his contemplation of the state of my ribs. We enter the post office. I patiently wait in the line so that she can sit down, and when it is her turn, we smoothly switch places. We have done this many times before and we are like a graceful and coordinated team of... I don't know. Something very coordinated.
I sit down and take the opportunity to delete all of the useless publicity-related text messages from her phone (she insists on keeping them 'in case they might be useful'... and probably also because she doesn't know how to delete them). I am about halfway through when the sound of raised voices cuts through my contemplation of a message offering discount trips to Dubai. (Tempting, but I don't think my grandmother would go for it.)
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we can't withdraw money from your account without a valid form of ID," the teller is patiently informing my grandmother, who is brandishing a passport that is twenty years out of date.
"This is perfectly valid! It even has my photo on it! Just because my hair is a little more gray, nowadays!" Oh dear. The poor teller has no idea what she's gotten herself into. Almost better to just hand over the cash and risk fraud or whatever.
"Right, but-"
"Okay, fine," interrupts my grandmother, clearly having lost patience with the poor young woman. "What if I write myself a check and then cash it?" She is already pulling out her checkbook.
"Well, I'm afraid I'll still need a valid pièce d'identité... a current passport, perhaps?"
"A current passport?! You expect me to carry my current passport around on the streets with me?! In this day and age?! With all of the hooligans about?! That is a ridiculously foolish suggestion, and I do hope that you don't carry your own current passport around for all the world to rob, young woman!" This looks like it could go on for a few more minutes, so I get up and go to her side.
"You know, maybe we should just..." I trail off. I don't really know what we should 'just' do, except maybe leave ASAP, before someone calls the police, or the nearest psychiatric facility.
"Ah, is this your granddaughter?" the teller asks cheerfully, "perhaps she could just run home and get your current passport?"
Wrong answer.
"So that she can get mugged and have my passport stolen from her and god-knows-what-else done to her?! [Insert brief but packed summary of the most recent rapes and kidnappings featured on the news in the last month or so - my grandmother's specialty.] On top of which, it's freezing out there and my granddaughter refuses to wear my extra fleece vest, even though it's orange with red flowers embroidered on it, so even if she didn't get mugged or killed, she'd probably catch a pneumonia. Never mind!"
She wraps up her discourse by zipping her handbag closed with force and begins to make her way out off the premesis. Her exit is somewhat marred by the fact that she can only walk very slowly using both crutches, but she takes the extra time to mumble just-barely-audibly about the lack of cooperation exhibited by the teller and the lack of respect for their elders of young people in general (the teller, by the way, is probably about 40, but whatever... at least she got to be called "young lady" today, right? Silver lining.).
After vetoing three or four fine-looking establishments, we are finally able to choose a cafe in which to sit down and rest and get some food before continuing our arduous journey towards the center of town. She criticizes my choice of salad to anyone who will listen - including the waiter and the woman at the table next to ours, who happens to look over at an inopportune moment - and then regales the poor waiter with the whole of our post office adventure. She finishes by asking him if he usually carries his passport around. I focus carefully on my grilled goat cheese salad, pondering what makes salad dressing in France so delightful (mustard, perhaps?) and try to smile apologetically at the waiter every so often.
Insomma, another run-of-the-mill outing with the grandmère. Sigh.
'
"Yes, yes," I say, full of filial piety and duty-towards-ones-grandparents, etc. (I am in Paris with the grandmother for a few days before returning to Reggio after the summer.) I picture my grandmother and myself strolling through the Galeries Lafayette, chatting amiably, and how good I will feel afterwards, knowing that she has at least been out of the house once this month.
I really should know better by now.
I am hanging out in the living room of my mother's apartment, when I hear my grandmother in the building's courtyard, having finally made it down from her fourth floor apartment (they have apartments in neighboring buildings that share a courtyard).
"Is he in the hospital?" she is inquiring, her voice full of concern. What? I get up to see who she is talking to.
"No, no," a medium-sized boy is saying, having apparently been stopped midway through taking the garbage bins back into the basement. He must be the caretaker's son. "He just has a little cold, really." My grandmother shakes her head mournfully.
"Ah!" she heaves a sigh of great regret/concern/god-knows-what. "Tell him to be careful, though. The number of times someone I know has had 'just a cold' and then, you know... " she lets her voice trail off almost mournfully. The boy looks a bit confused now, and I don't blame him. I stick my head out of the window and call, "I'll be right down." My grandmother is in her element, though, and doesn't even acknowledge me.
"Anyway, you should tell your father..." and she goes off into a list of remedies ranging from the innocuous (lots of sleep) to the minorly bizarre (boiling a mixture of herbs and medicines and breathing it). I have been subject to this last one at various times throughout my childhood, and let me tell you, it is not pleasant. It is like being suffocated by an herb garden that has been liberally doused in cough syrup. The awkward thing is that it does kind of work as a decongestant, so I can't really say anything.
"Right, well, time to go!" I say cheerfully upon reaching her. I wave to the kid and hurry her on my way. For the next twenty minutes, I am treated to a litany of our many family members and acquaintances who have had horrible things happen to them after having made light of a cold. Bronchitis... peumonia... death... lung cancer... colon cancer... (?!) I find this hard to believe, especially that last one, but I concentrate on getting her across the various streets between us and the bus stop, as she is completely not paying attention to traffic. (I think she is under the impression that anyone would stop for a little old lady with a cane. While I hope that this is true, I have my doubts. I don't think she has met very many people in my generation.)
As I grab her arm to keep her from walking into oncoming traffic, she looks up at me.
"But why are you only wearing one shirt?!" she exclaims, horrified. It is seventy degrees out and I am wearing a light sweater, and already starting to bake a little. I know better than to answer her - if I stay quiet, she'll run out of steam faster.
"Look at me: I'm wearing an undershirt and a blouse and a fleece vest, and even I'm chilly. Why aren't you wearing a fleece vest? I have a lovely fleece vest just like this one that I could've given you - it's red with orange flowers embroidered on it!" (I shudder and thank god for my lucky escape.) "Why don't we go back and get it?" (Crap.)
"No, I don't think that's a good idea. Look how close we are to the bus stop!" I try to distract her. No dice.
"Who cares about the bus? How can I ride the bus knowing you are freezing and you will probably catch a cold, just like the poor guardien, and then you will forget to take medicine and you will get a pneumonia and- "
"No, really, I'm fine," I insist. "Come on. Here, I have tickets already."
"I don't want a ticket. I need to go to the post office," with this non sequitar, she veers off in the direction of the post office, dragging me with her.
"Are you sure you don't want to run back to the apartment and get the fleece jacket? Just think how warm your ribs would be! Your ribs are probably freezing and it's terrible to let your ribs catch a chill. Did you know that your lungs are just underneath your ribs, and you've left them with practically no protection at all?"
"My ribs are FINE!" I raise my voice ever so slightly to get the point across. A man walking in front of us turns around and looks at us. Super. My grandmother thinks this is the height of hilarity and giggles to herself.
Good humour and cooperation are momentarily restored as we spend a moment laughing together about the man's likely confusion and his contemplation of the state of my ribs. We enter the post office. I patiently wait in the line so that she can sit down, and when it is her turn, we smoothly switch places. We have done this many times before and we are like a graceful and coordinated team of... I don't know. Something very coordinated.
I sit down and take the opportunity to delete all of the useless publicity-related text messages from her phone (she insists on keeping them 'in case they might be useful'... and probably also because she doesn't know how to delete them). I am about halfway through when the sound of raised voices cuts through my contemplation of a message offering discount trips to Dubai. (Tempting, but I don't think my grandmother would go for it.)
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we can't withdraw money from your account without a valid form of ID," the teller is patiently informing my grandmother, who is brandishing a passport that is twenty years out of date.
"This is perfectly valid! It even has my photo on it! Just because my hair is a little more gray, nowadays!" Oh dear. The poor teller has no idea what she's gotten herself into. Almost better to just hand over the cash and risk fraud or whatever.
"Right, but-"
"Okay, fine," interrupts my grandmother, clearly having lost patience with the poor young woman. "What if I write myself a check and then cash it?" She is already pulling out her checkbook.
"Well, I'm afraid I'll still need a valid pièce d'identité... a current passport, perhaps?"
"A current passport?! You expect me to carry my current passport around on the streets with me?! In this day and age?! With all of the hooligans about?! That is a ridiculously foolish suggestion, and I do hope that you don't carry your own current passport around for all the world to rob, young woman!" This looks like it could go on for a few more minutes, so I get up and go to her side.
"You know, maybe we should just..." I trail off. I don't really know what we should 'just' do, except maybe leave ASAP, before someone calls the police, or the nearest psychiatric facility.
"Ah, is this your granddaughter?" the teller asks cheerfully, "perhaps she could just run home and get your current passport?"
Wrong answer.
"So that she can get mugged and have my passport stolen from her and god-knows-what-else done to her?! [Insert brief but packed summary of the most recent rapes and kidnappings featured on the news in the last month or so - my grandmother's specialty.] On top of which, it's freezing out there and my granddaughter refuses to wear my extra fleece vest, even though it's orange with red flowers embroidered on it, so even if she didn't get mugged or killed, she'd probably catch a pneumonia. Never mind!"
She wraps up her discourse by zipping her handbag closed with force and begins to make her way out off the premesis. Her exit is somewhat marred by the fact that she can only walk very slowly using both crutches, but she takes the extra time to mumble just-barely-audibly about the lack of cooperation exhibited by the teller and the lack of respect for their elders of young people in general (the teller, by the way, is probably about 40, but whatever... at least she got to be called "young lady" today, right? Silver lining.).
After vetoing three or four fine-looking establishments, we are finally able to choose a cafe in which to sit down and rest and get some food before continuing our arduous journey towards the center of town. She criticizes my choice of salad to anyone who will listen - including the waiter and the woman at the table next to ours, who happens to look over at an inopportune moment - and then regales the poor waiter with the whole of our post office adventure. She finishes by asking him if he usually carries his passport around. I focus carefully on my grilled goat cheese salad, pondering what makes salad dressing in France so delightful (mustard, perhaps?) and try to smile apologetically at the waiter every so often.
Insomma, another run-of-the-mill outing with the grandmère. Sigh.
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