We're trying to impress upon the kids how unique this experience is. I'm not sure they fully appreciate that they are doing things as a daily part of their lives that some people never get to do.
Take this weekend, for example. The girls had a stake youth activity...in Venice! Our stake is large and includes Aviano in Northern Italy and Bologna, which is south of Ferrara. Our stake center is located in Mestre, which is on the outskirts of Venice. The building is beautiful. Unfortunately, when we arrived to pick them up, it was dark, so no photos of this one yet. There's a patio with columns on the outside of the building and the chapel/cultural hall is located upstairs. It had 6 big chandeliers that reminded me of the rock formations called curtains that you see in caves.
To get them to the activity, we met up with the YW's president from the English-speaking branch in Vicenza at the Ikea store in Padova, Italy. We were in desperate need of lights since we'll be leaving the hotel Tuesday morning (hooray!) and there are almost no light fixtures in the whole house! I'm kicking myself for not checking the electrical specifications on the lamps because apparently they're relatively easy to use over here -- change the light bulb and add an adapter. Alas! Ours are in storage, and so we're spending lots of money on lamps I don't love that we really, really need. It feels a bit like buying tires -- no satisfaction! One of my pet peeves is spending money on things that don't provide satisfaction. However, I'm sure I'll be more than satisfied when we aren't sitting in the dark Tuesday night!
Our plan was to check the other kids into the Ikea play area so that we could take a good look at options for several different things we need at the house. That didn't turn out so well...we learned that The Net is too tall for the play area, and Deep Thinker refused to go in because he didn't want his hand stamped. Rosa, who had been begging to go there since we arrived at the store, bounded in by herself and literally had to be dragged out kicking and screaming an hour and a half later. The lady running it told us that Rosa talked and talked and talked and no one could understand a word she said, but she still kept talking! The woman also remarked on the fact that even though they provided Rosa with socks, she kept stripping them off. She prefers to go barefoot, which has earned us some hard stares in the marketplace as she rides around barefoot in her stroller, while everyone else is wearing coats. In our defense, it was only about 60 degrees F!
We met a man in the Ikea dining area who spoke a little English, and he was very proud to introduce us to his 2-year-old son who can count to 10 in English. The man reminded me a little of the Linguist, who used to talk loudly to me in Spanish at the grocery store, hoping someone who spoke Spanish would hear and he could start a conversation!
Then this morning we drove to Padova to visit the Italian Ward (congregation) there. We rehearsed Christmas carols with the choir for a performance at a hospital sometime in the future, and they sounded really good. I thought it unusual that the whole choir practice was done standing up. Maybe Americans just need to stand up more? Italians rarely sit down -- they drink their cappuccino standing up, they rehearse choir music standing up, they walk everywhere instead of sitting in cars. Lots of standing in Italy...and lots of fit people!
After choir practice, they invited us to stay for a few refreshments...I'm learning to be wary of that phrase. They brought out a spread of food and began filling our plates for us! Two or three plates of food later, I had to gratefully decline anything else! We had several interesting dishes -- one was a rice that had garbanzo beans, carrots, green olives and a bunch of other veggies chunked up in it. She served it with pickles that were a cross between dill and sweet, and sprinkled small croutons on top. Another was a sweet pasta that was made with prugna (plums). We also sampled meatballs and potato puree (mashed potatoes), some kind of baked cauliflower dish, a mushroom risotto, some kind of lasagna-looking dish, a soup that had beans and spaghetti in it, and some sort of spinach quiche. I had to refuse all of the desserts -- even though they looked good -- some sort of apple pie, another pie and cake. I guess it was considered "refreshments" and not a meal because they didn't bring out 4 different kinds of meat?!
The woman next to me was from Colombia and has lived in Italy for some time. Her husband, the Bishop, is from the Armenian part of Iran. I found myself talking to her in a mixture of Spanish and Italian, with everything getting jumbled in my brain again! There was also a couple visiting the branch who currently reside in France. He's Swiss and spent 16 years working at the Swiss Temple. She's French and joined the church while living in Boston. They are between places right now, and spending a few weeks touring around. The members were so happy to see us, and I don't know how many asked us if we'd be returning next week. There were a few shy stares, but for the most part people were bounding off of their chairs to speak to us and help us --whether or not they spoke English.
The boys hooked up with a couple of the Italian youth and played fussball and ping pong, hardly stopping to eat. Rosa captured a girl who looked about 7, and played upstairs in the nursery for most of the time. It was really a good experience and the kids would like to go back. We love our branch here in Ferrara, but there are no youth. Three hours of adult Italian church is really hard for the kids to enjoy and they are really missing all of the friends we spent so much time with homeschooling.
But it is a sad thing for me to think of leaving the branch (small congregation) here in Ferrara. We thought the timing would work out so that The Linguist and I could go to an hour of meetings in Ferrara and then pick up the kids and drive to Padova for church, but unfortunately, it isn't so. We're going to have to choose one place or the other to be on Sundays. I actually directed the music in Relief Society (the women's meeting) this morning in Italian, and this week we're getting together to make biscotti at one of the sister's homes. They said I'm still welcome to come to their activities if we choose to go to the Padova branch, but I'm feeling a bit like a deserter...I'm sure we'll get it all figured out eventually.
So as I said -- what unique opportunities! In just a weekend, we've had the opportunity to interact with people from at least 6 different nations and converse in 3 languages --not something I've ever done before. I was telling Songbird that at her age I think I'd visited a few states in the Western U.S. and Texas and never spoken anything but English...and maybe Pig Latin! What amazing times for our family!
