Babbo Natale

Above: Eli meeting Babbo Natale for the first time ever
Below: Eli was not quite enamored of him.



Above: Eli munching on some of the chocolate Babbo Natale gave to him.
Below: Eli checking out the man in red.

Above: Babbo Natale handing out some treats.
Below: Eli playing around before the big man arrived.

Above: Caroline and Sonata waiting for the event to begin.



Hey there. Not a ton to report, but I'll try to make it interesting.

School just finished yesterday, and now I am officially on Winter Vacation. Caroline is sick with a cold, and Eli is just getting up from a nap. We don't have too many plans for the vacation. Caroline is 34 weeks pregnant and doing fine. We canceled some of our travel plans because she is not too mobile these days. All for the best, I think. We all are pretty wiped out after a pretty hectic fall semester. We do have an apartment booked in Rome for three days after New Year's. That should be fun.

Eli's school had a Christmas event last weekend while Sonata was visiting us. One of the dads dressed up as Babbo Natale, a.k.a. Santa, and handed out presents. Needless to say the kids were a little skeptical of the jolly fellow dressed in red. There were many tears and even more cameras. It was truly an event to behold. The upshot is that Eli is getting into the Christmas spirit for the first time in his young life. By "getting into the Christmas spirit," I mean waking up every morning, grabbing a present from under the tree and saying, "Open it. Open it." All consumerism aside, this is a nice time of year here in Viterbo. The students families are here visiting, the town is decorated for the holidays, the christmas market is in full swing and people are crowding the streets every evening for the passeggiata. The weather has turned sunny again after about three weeks of on and off rain. It is great to be on vacation and have loads of time with the family.

We are having a few people over for a Christmas Eve dinner. I am cooking a turkey (covered in sage and pancetta) for the first time. (Wish me luck. Any advice is much appreciated.) Planning for that meal is a nice project for the first part of this break. Other than that we are just trying to relax and get some quality time in with Eli before his little brother arrives in four weeks or so.

We hope that you all are well and that you are enjoying the holiday season. We miss you all and are thinking of you. We are off to a cafe to grab some hot chocolate. Lots of love,

Sam

What Thanksgiving?

Above and below: Caroline's first attempt at sculpture, and the fruit of her labor this weekend.


Below: The olive harvest at Pat's house. The little girl in the photo is our friend Emma's daughter. A great playmate for Eli.



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Below: Eli and Caroline check out some vintage planes.





I can't believe it has been a month since our last post. Tempus fugit.

All is well here. Eli is smack in the middle of his "terrible two's." He cries over spilled milk, literally, and he is pretty much a maniac most of of the time. We are slowly adjusting to the new reality and are hoping that we can make some headway before Eli's little brother comes on the scene in 8 weeks!!!!!

We have mostly stayed around Viterbo since we got back from Gaeta. Caroline, Eli and I have all had our bouts with sickness, and we are finally coming out the other end of that tunnel. We did manage a trip to a nearby aeronautical museum near Bracciano. Eli loved checking out all of the planes, and we had a fun time watching him. We also managed to fit in some olive harvesting at Pat's house (Pat is the director of the school and he has over 60 olive trees on his property outside of town.) and a short trip to Orvieto to eat pasta with fresh truffle shavings and do some shopping.

It has been pretty rainy over the last couple of weeks. We were awoken last night by a spectacular thunderstorm, although somehow at 3:30 am it was not that exciting. Caroline is in Rome this weekend doing a two day sculpture seminar. She is taking some pictures of the finished product today. Maybe I can convince her to post a few. Next weekend we head to Napoli for a three-day weekend. We are excited to eat lots pizza, drink some excellent Neapolitan coffee, visit the Museo Arcaeologico and do whatever else suits our fancy.

School has been a bit of a bear for me lately. I was acting director for a week or so while Pat was at a meeting in India (he got back two days before the events in Mumbai), and suffice it to say that all was not peaceful in his absence. This has been a pretty tough fall for a few reasons, not the least of which is that there have been no long weekends since school started. I got a bit of a break by staying home while the kids traveled to Torino for a four day trip a few weeks ago, but I am very much looking forward to the holiday break and recharging my batteries.

We missed you all very much on Thanksgiving. It was a normal school/workday for us here. We took out rotisserie chicken for dinner and watched an episode of Weeds or Gossip Girl or something like that. We feel lucky to have such great friends and family like you. We have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope that you all enjoy the pics and the post. We'll try to be better about posting more frequently in the next few weeks. Ciao! A presto,

Sam

three observations and a pipi in the potty

A few weeks ago I had to get our annual smog check done. I took the car to the mechanic and asked him when I should pick it up. He said "Pick it up? This will only take a few minutes. Has your car been causing you any trouble?" I said no. He said "Ok then. Here's your certificate for 2008-2009." He never asked to see the car. This may be why Italy has an air pollution problem.

Last week we went for a walk one evening and saw that a fire truck pulled up to a small apartment building. Two firemen had climbed a ladder onto a second floor balcony and were breaking into a window. Presumably a rescue effort was in effect. A third fireman was at the foot of the ladder holding it for them - while having cigarette.

Yesterday, I found out that most Italian grocery stores provide a dedicated check-out line for pregnant women and the disabled. Brilliant idea, if I do say so.

In other news, Eli just made the move to a big-boy bed. The transition is smooth thus far because I don't think he realizes yet that he can get down from the bed by himself. It's only a matter of time before he figures it out so we're enjoying it while it lasts. He's also shown great interest in the potty lately. The other morning he got up and suddenly wanted to use it. He went pipi in the potty three times that morning like it was old hat. ...still waiting for a repeat performance.

Look, Ma! A marble elbow!

Above: Eli learns the hard way that sand doesn't make for a good snack.
Below: Eli playing in the sand. If you look closely, you can see Tiberius' grotto in the upper left hand corner of the pic.

Above: Even our car enjoyed a great view in Sperlonga. Note pregnant Mama on the right.
Below: Sam and Eli exploring the ruins and ancient fish farms.

Above and Below: Inside the grotto (sculptures have been removed and are now displayed in a nearby museum).

Above: View of Sperlonga from the grotto
Below: Sam shows Eli Tiberius' digs.

Time for another blog post. All is well here. I've been feeling mighty pregnant these days. It's hard to believe that I still have 14 weeks to go. This pregnancy has definitely been more draining than the first, but I have a feeling that running around after our newly willful 2 year old might have something to do with it. We're still hot on the name game. Any suggestions out there?

Last weekend we had a wonderful couple of days in Gaeta and Sperlonga, two coastal towns between Rome and Naples. Both towns are really lovely and picturesque. Definitely internationally underrated places to keep in mind for a mediterranean vacation. Anyway, we had dinner at a cute little seafood restaurant in Gaeta on Friday night. I felt like I had taken some sort of translation syrum because I actually understood everything that the waitress said. For the language inept, such as myself, this is a very big deal. Makes me think the hard work in the Italian arena this year is paying off. Woohoo! However, I still sound mentally impaired when I try to speak. We can't have it all. The other day, an Italian asked me if I was Italian (though he did express some confusion over this idea). I thought it was a hilarious question. Did he think I had a speech impediment or that I was retarded?

Anyway, I'm digressing. Back to the weekend. Saturday we started the day exploring Tiberius' summer digs. Very impressive indeed. He built his compound next to a natural grotto which he transformed into an aquatic sculpture garden for outdoor dining and entertaining. The Roman elite definitely knew their luxury. I'm always impressed with what Roman imaginations came up with (of course, unlimited funds and slavery don't hurt in carrying out these dreams). Interesting fact: apparantly the compound wasn't "discovered" until the mid 1950s, though it's easily accessible from a very popular vacation spot. It's hilarious to think of Italians sunning themselves on the beach with kids running back and forth from the grotto, "Look Ma, I just found a marble hand!" "That's great dear. Throw it in the beach bag and we'll take it home." Seriously, this must have happened at least once or twice.

We also explored the town of Sperlonga, a very charming village overlooking the water. The weather was so nice that we even got some beach time in. We topped off the day by going to a great restaurant in Gaeta that night called "Ex Macelleria" (trans: "Ex-Butcher Shop") where I made great strides in rectifying my pregnancy-enduced anemia with a huge Tuscan steak. Success! (Sam was jealous.)

On Sunday we attempted to go to place called Ninfa, but it was closed. Ninfa is an old abandoned mideval village that is now a national garden. The cool thing about Italy is that no one is remotely concerned for your personal safety so apparantly you can roam in and out of the old buildings and gardens at will. Would have been great. Oh well, next time.

orientation

Above: the SYA Viterbo class of 2008-2009
Below: Eli and Caroline outside of San Francesco in Arezzo


Above: Eli and Caroline in Piazza Grande in Arezzo
Below: Eli taking in the scene

Below: I did a candlemaking activity in Bevagna with the studens in a candlemaking workshop that has been active since at least the 13th century. The leader explained to us that in the middle ages people, especially tradesmen like carpenters, used wax as bandaids to seal wounds. I happened to have an annoying cut on my thumb and the guy let me dip my thumb into a vat of hot wax. It worked really well.



Sorry for not posting in a while. Here's some recent news.

All three of us traveled with the students on the orientation trip to Umbria. We visited Bevagna, Assisi, Perugia and Spoleto and spent some quality time with the SYA student body and faculty. We stayed in a big vacation type resort thing on the shore of Lago di Trasimeno, about 30 min from Perugia. The sunset over the lake was beautiful, and it was nice to spend some time with Eli out in the country. Eli was a hit with the students (of course he was), and we now have a list of about 12 babysitters thanks to Eli putting on the charm during the trip.

We spent the weekend after the trip in Arezzo in eastern Tuscany. We decided on Arezzo because that weekend they were having the semi-annual antique photography market. As it turns out the market was only photographic equipment and not prints like we had hoped. Nevertheless, Arezzo was well worth the visit, and we plan to go back in November for the famous Arezzo antiques fair which takes place once a month and is supposed to be the best in Italy. The antiques shops in Arezzo were certainly promising at any rate. They were filled with museum quality furniture and art. We are really looking forward to the market which apparently takes up most of the town with 1000 vendors. We'll be sure to take photos of the event. Arezzo had great stuff to offer besides the antiques. We visited Vasari's house, a really beautiful duomo, some wonderful piazzas, one of the most famous fresco cycles in Italy, and we stayed inside the walls of a quintessential (and almost revoltingly cute) Tuscan hill town, Anghiari. In that town we tried florentine steak for the first time, and it was pretty freaking awesome.

Since then we have been pretty much in the routine of school. Caroline is enjoying her Italian classes with the kids at SYA, and Eli is loving his time at school too. Caroline's tummy is getting bigger, and Eli is getting used to saying, "I'm going to have a baby brother," and "fratellino" which are about the cutest things ever. I am working hard trying to impart the wisdom of the ancients on the younger generation without making too many digressions about 70's rock music, Jainism, and Survivor.

That's gonna be it for now. Eli is getting restless, and I'd better get dinner going. I hope you all are well. A presto,

Sam

It's a ...

boy!!!!! Yesterday the three of us went down to Prima Porta just north of Rome to have the 22 week ultrasound, and the doctor showed us some pretty definitive evidence that the soon-to-be younger sibling of Eli is in fact a boy. His words were, " E maschio... E molto maschio." Loosely translated that means, "He's a boy... very much a boy." As he said this, on the ultrasound monitor was the undeniable presence of an appendage that we can only assume was the newest jewel of this family. Needless to say we are all very excited even if Eli is still a little iffy on the whole idea. (One of the nuns at the clinic asked Eli, "Vuoi un fratellino?" I translated for him, " Do you want a little brother?" His answer was a swift, "No." The nuns response to that was, " E chiaro," or ,"He's very clear." Then again, if she had asked whether or not he wanted a million dollars, the answer and conviction would most likely have been the same. Such is his contrary nature these days.)

The clinic we went to for the ultrasound is the same place we are planning to have the baby in January (January 31 is the due date). It is a private clinic run by Catholic nuns. They were very welcoming, at least more so than your average health care worker. The place gets good recs from a person we know here in Viterbo and our O.B.Gyn., a french woman who speaks English and works out of an office on the Aventine in Rome. I'd be lying if I said all of the international intrigue of this whole ordeal isn't an added bonus. It's sort of like "Ozzie and Harriet" meets James Bond...at least to me. Anyway, we are very glad the the baby and mother are healthy and happy, and we are also glad to have nailed down all of the necessary infrastructure to have this baby boy here in Italy.

Now the name game begins. We are in the very preliminary stages/negotiations. It's time to dredge up all of those ridiculous attachments to various names (My favorite is Caroline's connection of the name Virgil to the chimp in Mathew Broderick's acting tour de force, "Project X."). I have my own absurd name associations that shall remain, well, nameless at this point. Suffice it to say that we are happy to have 4 plus months to deal with this aspect of Mr. Little Man #2.

All else is well here in Viterbo. School was crazy last week with all sorts of drama, none of which I can detail here unfortunately. All is well now, and my classes seem to be on track. I am teaching an extra section this year which is making my days a bit busier, but I am enjoying each one of the classes. Eli is more or less settled into his asilo nido (or "nursery asylum", a.k.a preschool). He is having a good time with the bambini in his class, and Caroline reports that the days of tearful goodbyes are over. He eats lunch there with the other kids, usually a three course affair. I don't how he (and the rest of us) are going to get over the gastronomy of this place. Caroline is going to start an art class in Rome this next week, and she has taken on several conversation partners here in Viterbo. Our lives here have taken on more of a routine than they did last year, and for this we are all thankful. Next week we are off to Perugia and other points in Umbria for the school's orientation trip. We will not return to Viterbo with the group, however, because we are going to spend the weekend in Tuscany in search of zuppa di funghi porcini (which are in season now) and attending the semi-annual antique photography open-air market in Arezzo.

That's it for now. We'll post again soon. Drop a line or log on skype if you get the chance. Until soon,

Sam

Second year, many firsts.

We arrived only two days prior to the students this year so we hit the ground running. We arrived on Thursday and spent the weekend fighting jet lag. Sam was back to work on Friday with meetings and placement tests etc.

Monday was also Eli's first day at the asilo nido (Italian pre-school). It was a rough week. Much confusion and many tears were involved. By the end of the week Eli would cry if I even mentioned the word "kids". (I mentioned kids often because I thought would be a selling point for the whole experience, "There'll be lots of kids there....") Doh! By the end of the week though, there was less emotion behind the tears and I think (I hope) he was beginning to settle in. We're gradually working our way up to half days, 9 to 1pm, so I can take an Italian class in the mornings. I'm trying to keep a stiff upper lip, but any and all supportive messages would be much appreciated ;-)

Speaking of Italian class, I attended my first on Friday. I'm taking the class with the high school students at Sam's school. They're definitely a very professional bunch. I, however, have forgotten what it's like to hold a pencil. I have to spend some extra hours this next week getting my act together.

We also interviewed our first Italian ObGyn on Friday. Actually, she's French and speaks English which is a plus. In fact we love her. She doesn't have patience for Italian superstition nonsense, of which there is much surrounding pregnancy and birth. It'd be very Brangelina: French doctor, the birth in Rome... But we have to work out the insurance first. She might be off limits to us. Next up is an Italian doctor in Viterbo. It's rumored that they don't allow drugs during the birthing process at the hospital in Viterbo (example A of provincial beliefs). If that's true, it's going to be either Rome or Umbria! We'll keep you posted.

Even with all that going on, we managed to fit in the Santa Rosa festival on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. We also went to Orte last night to take part in a huge feast celebrating their patron saint. The food was fabulous. Both events hold up in our second year in attendance. All in all, a good start.

Summer Highlights

Here are a few pictures of the highlights from our Summer spent stateside.

PS. One definite highlight to add to the list: Caroline is preggers again! The baby is due at the end of January. We're going to have an Italiano bambino!

The Savages visit more Savages in Phoenix

Above: Eli and Papa on Big Cheese. "Eli, do you love it?" "Love it!"

Below: Sam and Eli go for a ride in the roping arena as well.

Above: Eli and Big Papa read and play together.

Below: Eli splashes around at the water park at the Phoenix Zoo
(which was already scorching by 10am that morning)

Above: Eli explores at the Children's Museum

(highly recommended if you happen to be going to Phoenix)

Below: A little afternoon reading in Mimi's new kitchen

Cousin Cody's Birthday Party

Above: Auntie Debbie made a fabulous light saber cake out of Twinkies and Ho-Hos

Below: The cake was a huge hit with Eli and cousin Lexi

Eli Turns Two!

Above: Caroline made a truck cake (yes, the whole thing is edible!)
Below: The entire Savage family came to Walnut Creek to celebrate

Above & Below: We had a great time catching up with old friends and their new additions.

Stephanie & John get married!

Above: We were so lucky to be able to attend Stephanie and Jon's wedding in Napa. The occasion was definitely worth the wait!


The Savages' East Coast tour

Our tour included NYC, Mahopac, Long Beach, Fire Island, Skaneateles, and Deerfield, MA. With all that travel we didn't have time for much picture taking, but here are a few from the gorgeous days we spent in Fire Island. Eli and Ceci hit it off with flying colors.

Tarot Garden

Before heading to Puglia this month, we had one very noteworthy day trip to a little town in southern Tuscany called Capalbio. It's a wealthy little town on the coast that's a bit of an Italian Communist retreat. We're not sure why this town is especially attractive to wealthy Italian Communists, but that's the town's niche market, and I must say Italian Communists have good taste.

We had a great meal there, followed by a nice walk around town. We ended the day by visiting a nearby sculpture park that was Niki de Saint Phalle's passion project. It's made up of enormous, interactive sculptures. She was obviously very inspired by Gaudi, but leans more toward sculpture than architecture. It was absolutely FANTASTIC! Definitely one of the most underrated sights this region has to offer (probably because Niki was French). Adrian, you would have loved it!