...SINCE WE LAST SPOKE...

OK. Dad is home with us now, and things have just taken a great turn. Saturday and Sunday last week we went with Stefania (zia fefa) to her house in Toscany. We visited some wonderful places, like Torrita di Siena, Pienza and S. Gimignano. Needless to say, the sites were gorgeous, the food was fantastic, and company even better.

Back home for the last week of camp for the kids, we got to see zio Luca at nonna's house, get around Rome a little bit more, and do a great deal of tourist shopping! (great news for our family!).

Tomorrow (friday) we will follow the kids to Lago di Vico and take some nice pictures of their great camp adventures and friends they had a chance to make. Marco finally speaks a great deal of Italian with his own friends and does not need much help from mom.

We are still having fun and hope all of you are also enjoying your summer.

Hope to be able to update this blog soon again. on Saturday we are on our way to Campobasso.

Take care everyone,

Vale

Pizza and Friends Galore!

We are truly having a great time (in case any of you have not noticed that yet!). Though hot and sticky, Rome is great as usual (fatta eccezione per quelli dietro il volante sulle strade di Roma!).

We have had fabulous pizzas, ice-cream breaks, visits with friends and tours around Italy. Nothing to be forgotten any time soon. Here some pictures of Michele, Marco, Agnese, Marco, Daniele e Luca at a great pizza time on July 8. We loved the place and we can testify to the amazing taste of the items we ordered.

Here we share a few more pictures of these beauties and hope you all enjoy looking at them as we did living the experiences together.

We are all convinced that these great experiences are worth all the sacrifices in the world, especially for Michele and Marco. This is how great friendships are born and nourished, through the years, in spite of distance of place and time.

Qui accanto una fotina di Roma, in giro con nonna Anna (che per la seconda volta in vita sua ci ha accompagnato e mangiato a MacDonald's. Che mitica caprese!

Lunedi sono stata con Luca in giro per l'Umbria - a Viterbo e Civita di Bagnoreggio (la citta' fantasma). Notare la fotina dei salami da un negozietto tipico (for those of ou who do not quite understand the titles of each cold cut...I suggest you do not try to attempt to use the words too often).

Che paesaggi indimenticabili - cosi come la compagnia!

Here on the left, you can see part of the Duomo di Orvieto, an unforgettable cathedral, which amazes its viewers with a fantastic facade.

On the right and below, corners of the city, on the day after the great victory of Italy at the World Cup. Can you believe this on the left is the inside yard of a common apartment building? Unbelieavable corners of Italy that make this country, my country, an amazing place on earth. When to all that you add the best friends in the world, I wonder sometimes, how on earth I got to leave all this behind.

However, what I found back home is as great and important, and as long as the links and ties are strong and true, I will always have the best of both worlds!

Talk to you later.

Valeria

July 9 , 2006 - The Best Day Ever

La nostra giornata mitica (il 12mo anniversario di matrimonio di me e Nick) e' cominciata bellissima, con una bella gita al centro agriturismo IACCHELLI sulla strada dei laghi, vicino Roma. Qui abbiamo mangiato alla sbafo ed i cuginetti si sono incontrati un po. (notate il menu appeso sull'albero fuori dal ristorante).

La sera dagli amici e' stata anche un'altra bellissima esperienza. Notate il trasloco della televisione di Daniele e Giorgiana dal 5to piano fino a sulla terrazza ( e la grande magia portata dalla bella bottiglia di Champagne). Ci ha portato davvero fortuna.

I notri bimbi qui sono in piedi a cantare l'inno dell'Italia e noi siamo tutti in trepidazione per il primo goal dell'Italia.
Our prayers have been heard and we are all in awe for the great work of our team. Watching the game last night was the good thing to do: the best now that we have it written in our memories and we can all say: when Italy won the cup we were....

Michele, Marco and I were at Giorgiana and Daniele's house, old good friends with a heart of gold. Many other firends joined us and we spent three unforgettable hours on the roof of a nice apartment in the outskirts of Rome. Good food, better company, the best of games.

And on our way home, the whole city overflew the streets of Rome (a mere sample of a nation in joyful state) to celebrate a victory of the heart.

Grazie Azzurri!

Valeria

WHERE WE ARE!

Just for the few of you who are curious, here some pictures of the Borgo don Bosco place where we are just about every day of this holiday.

Borgo Ragazzi Don Bosco is like a second home to my family: my dad went to school here, I spent the best years of my life growing up here and we got married here. Almost everybody here knows me and now they know my kids: Valeria's kids. They treat us all as family and we really feel that sorrounding feeling of warmth and friendship.

It is nice to be back home!

This is the little room from where I also catch up with work.

Bye now

Valeria

7 luglio 2006 - GIORNATA MITICA

Visto che molti dei miei lettori hanno richiesto note su questo blog nella loro lingua natia, vi accontento in questo piccolo diario di oggi.

La giornata e' cominciata presto con tanta tanta pioggia - che mi ha lavato la macchina (grazie!). Stamane faceva quasi freddo! (ah ah!).

Visto che non c'era molto da fare, ho deciso di prendere il 14 (tram) arrivare alla stazione Termini e farmi una bella passeggiata per la mie grande citta'. Che dire: palazzi e stradine, e stradone piu' o meno note - bellissimi. Viverci non mi faceva venire questa curiosita' quasi morbosa di guardare gli angoletti piu' strani e meno trafficati ed osservarli nella loro bellezza architettonica.

Mi sono incontrata con Fefa e ci siamo fatte presto presto un po' di shopping per via Frattina. (le scarpe carinissime a saldo resteranno nella storia!...Nick non ti arrabbiare!).

Poi un po' da mangiare ad un interessante MacDonald (vedi foto carine) dove ti servono insalatine carine (magari fosse cosi a casa!). Piazza di Spagna rimane bellissima...insomma: tutta Roma, senza eccezioni, continua a darmi la sensazione di serenita' e di orgoglio di esservi figlia, di nascita, di sangue e di origini tutte.

Ancora un po' di shopping per mio conto, con il pensiero di tanti amici che mi aspettano di ritorno a Edmonton. Cosine piccole e carine prese apposta con il pensiero di qualcuno in particolare in mente.

La camminata e' stata gratificante in tutti i sensi e la conclusione ancora piu' da favola - una telefonata in fretta a Nick (condividere queste esperienze con chi ami e' il massimo!).

Any how...I really enjoyed the break. Can almost say this was teh very first break of the holiday. Especially since yesterday and the day before I worked hard trying to keep up with the work load at the office. I guess this was much needed, and I am happy and grateful to be able to do such important things for me and my children.

As the kids end their second week of camp we will close their day with some nice hot pizza and possibly an ice-cream thinking of you all (slurp!!!!).

I should go out with Lalla tonight, and catch up like only old friends do (and Lalla is quite old - ...ah ah ah !). Maybe a drink in some exotic fun place...we will certainly be late. I will not miss any of you at that time. But I know you won't either!

(boy is it ever fun to keep up with this story!...hope you enjoy it as well.)


Have a fun weekend...did I mention I will?

Forza Azzurri!!!

Vale

Thursday, July 6

The kids are on their way to another beautiful destination around Italy - their weekly field trip. Thet still do not fully understand or appreciate the scope of their opportunity, here at hand. With 150 Italian children for 4 full weeks, they have a treasure at their fingertips, for which, at times, they still complain to me. " I am tired"; "I want to sleep in today!"; "...they only speak Italian here!..."

Surely I have to push at times, but Nick and I are sure this trip, done on a regular basis will build a profound knowledge of their roots, their heritage, the Italian language and culture, and will solodify friendships and build long term relationships. It is a somewhat forced immersion...or so it seems to then right now. But it will pay off, for sure.

I plan to work a little bit more today (as I was on-line all afternoon and evening last night working with my team at LTB), and then be a tourist in my own city.

We will be visiting friends tomorrow and Saturday, and we plan to share the finals of Italy-France with the entire community here at the Borgo on Sunday night. We sure hope that our soccer players will be the greatest ever.

Keep reading...we will keep you updated.

Vale

FORZA ITALIA!

...need I say more? The game was great; the players were fabulous; the cheering was fantastic; the support and the fans here in Rome and all over Italy were superb! Both teams were grandious but Italy showed its superiority all along: our team commanded the game all along.

Given that my kids were fast asleep by the end of the end of the second period (and my mom wished she was before the pandemonium begun); given that we beat all odds against the negative cheering of some very skeptic co-workers (you know who you are!); and given the fact that Rome did not sleep till the wee hours of the morning...I think this holiday is being a great one indeed!

We plan to join a great group of people (friends and family) here at Borgo on Sunday night, to see our team be the champions once again. And Sunday will be a great day: 12 years ago, on that day my own family begun - Italy won against Spain - the number 9 is a perfect number...and all prayers will be with our team.

FORZA ITALIA!

4 luglio

It seems that two of our dearest and most avid readers have requested some further updates and visual clues of how much fun we are all having here.

So we suggest to them and to you all to go and visit a new photo album (album strip) that we have freshly set up for your enjoyment.

Here you can all verify Marco's mission to enjoy at least one ice-cream per day. In fact, Michele and Marco, the other day, were discussing this very important fact. Given the 42 days on our vacation, and considered that we must get at least one ice-cream a day, times three scoops per ice-cream cone that we usually get at any decent and respectable ice-cream corner here in Italy...how many scoops in total? (this question is for Michele and Marco's cousins. Please send us your response soon!).

No more comments!



Tonight is the big Italy-Germany game. Needless to say we are all very excited and nervous at the same time. It will be a pandemonium either way! (but we all know we will win!).

Check this link for more pictures. http://w77.photobucket.com/widgets/dynamicflash.php?featuretype=bucketstrip&featurename=grandiosefotodiroma&pa=/j71/paperella/

Ciao

3 luglio 2006

Lunedi mattina, qui al borgo. Finalmente abbiamo trovato la soluzione ai nostri problemi (o necessita di accedere all'internet). Qui al borgo siamo a casa nostra, praticamente, e possiamo accedere al mondo senza problemi. Credo che ora si riuscira' a fare molto di piu' con questo blog e con il lavoro in generale. Michele e Marco cominciano la seconda settimana di campo estate, con tanta gioia ed entusiasmo ancora dentro. Sono gia' stanchi morti ma stanno bene e si divertono.

Sabato siamo andati in giro per Roma e li ho fatti camminare tantissimo. Piazza di Spagna, il Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi... che dire? Devono imparare che questi sono luoghi per loro di casa.

Domenica siamo andati a trovare papa' e poi, la sera al ristorante cinese con zia Lalla e Massimo. Insomma, nonostante la pausa, troviamo il tempo di tenerci occupati e aspettiamo che arrivi papa' ( we miss you all!).

Speriamo che continuiate a leggere il nostro blog e tenervi aggiornati sul nostro andare in giro per Roma. Hope you are all having a great time!

Love

Val