New diggs

We made back to Italy. Claire was a champ as usual. She got her own seat on the flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

As you can see, she slept for part of the flight (4.5 hours out of 9). And Lynn said she slept the whole way on the flight to Rome (we were about 10 rows apart on that flight). After deplaning in Rome, Claire’s stroller was missing, despite handing it to the flight attendant on board the plane to gate check. He told me check the baggage carousel. After waiting about an hour and a half, our luggage finally started to come out, minus the stroller. Another hour in line at the missing baggage counter, we were on our way through customs, sans stroller. I felt bad that we held up the entire group, but we give out the grades at the end of the trip, and no one complained.

A three hour bus ride and we arrived in Montepulciano. Alberto and Heike (our hosts and owners of the school where we are teaching) made sure the three of us were whisked away to our apartment before anyone else. I feared the worst in terms of European apartments, but was pleasantly surprised. Out apartment is absolutely palatial by European terms. A parlor, living room, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, big kitchen, and most importantly a washing machine (and clothesline outside our second story window). As you know dear reader, from earlier posts, Montepulciano is a very hilly town. Our apartment is near the highest point of the town, which means we walk home uphill. Hopefully I can lose a few pounds in our 10 weeks here. Heike also arranged for a crib for Claire, so we didn’t have to take the pack and play with us. We put Claire down at 6pm and she slept until noon the following day. She was a tired.

Yesterday I went on a tour of the city with the students and ended up at the cell phone store. I got a sim card for Lynn, so you can call her at: Remember we are 6 hours ahead of east coast time. I also went grocery shopping, which was an adventure. Did you know the SKU for bananas (4011) is the same here as it is back home? Anyway I went with a male student and I spent 48 euros on food for the 3 of us. He spent 28 euros on beer, tonic water, Tylenol and toilet paper. Those were the days! Last night we went to dinner with the group at Alberto’s restaurant and Claire gave Alberto a bottle of scotch she picked up at the duty free in Frankfurt. He was very appreciative. And Claire’s stroller was at the restaurant when we arrived for dinner. Things are falling into place.

This weekend is the town’s annual festival of barrel racing, in which each neighborhood pits its team of barrel rollers against the others. I can hear the drums and the church bells right now, summoning people to the piazza grande (main square). The festivities start at noon. I hope Claire is up by then, so she can see this event that she will not remember when she is older.

Lynn is feeling ok, but is tired – she claims my snoring keeps her up, but I know I don’t snore. School starts tomorrow. Italian 1001 at 8:30am every morning! Lynn is teaching Monday afternoons and I teach Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Claire will start daycare next week.

Some photos are here