Oui! Si! Yes!

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Ciao a tutti!



Come state? How are you all? We hope you’ve had a joyous holiday season and are feeling as blessed and as loved as we are! Life certainly is good. J



As usual, we have a lot to catch up on…and my limit of two pages (thanks, Phil…) tends to fill quickly, so let’s begin!



Being abroad for the holiday season was an amazing experience. Florence began putting up Christmas lights after Thanksgiving and beautifully decorated the city streets for all to enjoy. It was wonderful to walk through the city and feel illuminated by the Christmas spirit with dazzling lights on every street. I’m sad to say that most of the twinkling magic has been taken down now…



We had family and friends visit for Christmas and New Year’s…and it was awesome! For starters, our wonderful friends Leslie and Luke made the trek across the ocean – and they literally hit the ground running. Within their first four days, Phil took them to Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and San Gimignano (beautiful Tuscan towns) to climb numerous towers and work on their stamina for Rome and Florence. J The Friday morning before Christmas and my first day of freedom from work, the four of us took off for Rome to spend Christmas weekend with the gladiators.



Once we were in Rome, we had quite the itinerary:



Day 1: Checked into our hotel and proceeded to visit: the Roman Forum (old), the Colosseum (three words: The Hunger Games), Palatine Hill (Roman ruins), Circus Massimo (chariot horse races/Ben Hur), the Trevi Fountain (tradition has it if you toss a coin over your right shoulder into the fountain, you will return…dun dun dunnnnn), the Pantheon (WOW!), and a lovely Christmas Market (YUM!). Google any of this if you’d like more information – or send Phil an e-mail…😉 Hey, I’m not the history buff…Although I would suggest having Rick Steves accompany you via your Ipod on any touristic adventure you may have in the future…he’s awesome.



Day 2: We got our butts out of bed on Christmas Eve and enjoyed the jaunt out to St. Peter’s Basilica – where we basically had the bellisima church to ourselves. It hosts Michaelangelo’s Pieta, which was breathtaking. After the basilica, we patiently waited in line for the Vatican Museum (and were approached by numerous tour guides, might I add). It was a short wait and VERY WELL WORTH IT to see apartments that various popes have lived in, Raphael’s outstanding artwork, and of course, Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel (for us, it was the second time). It was also fun to watch the kid with the squeaky shoes run all over the room while the Italian men working in that room constantly said “Silenzio”…Shhhhhhh. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, marched over to check out the Spanish Steps…and then headed back to the hotel for a NAP. See Day 1 for explanation of the nap. We had a fabulous dinner, wine, played Whist, and watched ‘Friends’ to end our splendid Christmas Eve…



Day 3: CHRISTMAS!! Santa Maria Maggiore is said to be the first church to house “Christmas Mass”. So what do you think we did?? That’s right – we went to Christmas Mass. In Italy. In Rome. In the first church to hold “Christmas Mass”. We. Are. So. Cool. It was actually quite neat and the perfect way to celebrate this super special day. J Our adventure in Rome was over…we hopped on our train and headed back to Florence.



Once back in Florence, it was interesting to find much of the town “asleep”. It was just so different from the normal hustle and bustle the city center offers. Of course, it was Christmas…so we expected it. It was really nice!



When we got home from Rome, we gathered up our food and cooking utensils and headed over to Hannah Banana Mogen’s apartment to create a fabulous Christmas dinner with all of the above company plus our great friend from family camp, Gretchen Hoff! She came over for a visit from Turkey, where she is living the dream teaching high school students. Yay Gretchen! Our SWEET Christmas meal consisted of: Ribollita (a traditional Tuscan soup – SO GOOD), Quail, Asparagus, and homemade Focaccia bread (go Gretchen!). It was incredible!! A memorable Christmas with excellent people – cheers to that!



The NEXT day…little bunny fu fu…oh sorry, not the song. The NEXT day, the ‘rental units arrived (AKA Dec. 26^th, Boxing Day)! I miei suoceri! The in laws! Woo hoo! Jim and Michele skipped across the ocean to visit for the holidays and we were SO happy to have them here. Fortunately for them, they did not have the first four days filled with towers galore like the Behaunek’s…however, I think they got their workouts in during the up and down adventure I like to call: climbing the “tower” to Hannah’s apartment. Ask them if they thought their buns got tighter…😉



The Mogen’s trip overlapped the Behaunek’s trip, and it was fun to share time together. We went to the Cascine Market in Florence – a big market for the locals to buy various things from peanuts to bathroom supplies to leather boots. We also took a day trip to Assisi to visit St. Francis…breathtaking church and gorgeous city. I spent some time in a gift shop swapping Italian and soldi (money) with a great Italian gentleman who opened his shop the year I was born. Yeah 1986! 😉 We also had a wonderful meal in a fun ristorante where most of us got pizza…the wood oven that cooked the pizza was right behind us and the ‘donna simpatica’ (nice woman) who spoke only Italian really made the memory a fun one!



Now, I am nearing the end of my second page…but still have so much to say! Let’s see how much I can fit…We climbed the DOME in Florence (my first time, Phil’s second) with Luke and Leslie – it was scary and amazing. To be standing inside of and on top of the work of Brunelleschi was awesome. Trying to understand the amount of work and genius that the creation of such an engineering masterpiece would have required, was beyond comprehension. No wonder Phil wrote his senior thesis on this! I was glad I did it – and happy to be back on solid ground when we were finished. 😉



With the ‘rental units, we spent time at a more relaxed pace and visited the places in Florence we are coming to call home. We went to Trattoria Anita, Anna’s Bagels, San Miniato, Piazza Michaelangelo, and of course, frequented our favorite gelateria: Gelateria De Neri. In all of the nooks and crannys, we spent time creating wonderful meals together and playing cards.



One of the best moments together was at a local market called Sant'Ambrogio. We went there to purchase fresh, homemade pumpkin, pear, lemon, and orange pasta. Phil ALSO snuck in a purchase of CAVALLO (horse!!) which was…interesting. Anywho, the mom, dad, Gretchen, Philipe, and myself all ate at a FABULOUS trattoria – “Trattoria da Rocco” that is set up unlike any other restaurant I have seen. It is rectangular in shape and the doors from the outside open directly into your booth – you choose from outside of the restaurant where you’d like to sit. The booths surround an aisle that the waiters walk up and down to serve the customers. The INCREDIBLY happy and jolly “grandpa” who served us was a delight to talk to and brought a superb amount of joy to our table. The food was great, the atmosphere was really fun, and the wine, of course, was finished in its entirety – much to the pleasure of our waiter.



Onto the next big thing…(sh, please don’t tell Phil I’m over my 2 page limit…) New Year’s Eve! We started out the evening with the fam – a nice dinner, some cards, and some wine. Around 10 PM we headed over to - my friend and colleague - Rachel’s party – which just happened to be on THE ROOFTOP of a hotel overlooking the PONTE VECCHIO. Wow is all I have to say. It was surreal – like from a movie! We drank (very expensive!) wine and had funky conversation until it was about 10 minutes to midnight. Phil and I jetted out of there to the nearest square and joined the massive crowd in the countdown – I’ve never seen anything like it! The countdown backwards in Italian was my favorite part: “DIECI! NOVE! OTTO! SETTE! SEI! CINQUE! QUATTRO! TRE! DUE! UNO! ZERO! BUON ANNO!!!” An Italian couple next to us popped open a bottle of champagne and shared it with us to celebrate the arrival of the New Year! There were fireworks GALORE and people shouting all over the place! It was incredibly fun, really exciting, and something I will never, ever forget.



In the middle of all of the above commotion, we moved to a new apartment that we absolutely LOVE. It is a studio apartment on the ground floor (yes!), with a loft (yes! yes!) that is ready for us to create memories just for us (yes! yes! yes!). On Friday night we had our first get together and it was SO much fun – tanto divertente! We had friends who were French, Italian, Scottish, and American who were speaking in French, Italian, and English! Take that and add it to Phil’s awesome chili and of course, excellent wine – and you will find yourself with a darn good time! It felt so good to host great company and start the next six months here with a bang. J



So, I bet you’re wondering about the title of this blog…well, my friends, let me tell you. Setting: my French School in the hallway with SEVERAL children running around getting ready to leave. Characters: strange English teacher Gina; beautiful first grade student Omar – who also speaks Arabic. Scene: Omar, do you have the note to give your parents about English lessons this week? (Said in very broken Italian by English teacher Gina). – Omar is busy looking around at the rest of the commotion in the hallway – Omar? Did you understand? (Hai capito?) Omar stares at me with a curious look on his face – Oui! (his face changes because he knows that’s not the right language…)…Si!! (wait…hold on…I can find your language somewhere, Gina..)..YES!! – His face lights up and I can’t hold back from giving him a huge hug and sending him out the door whether he understood me or not. Three languages…amazing students…incredibly, incredibly life-changing and fruitful experience. Children are amazing.



Friends Count: Season 6, Disk 2, Episode 5: The One with the Apothecary Table



In closing, we’d like to ask for any two-person card game suggestions – love cribbage, but it’s time to spice it up…Thank you Leslie, for two person Whist!



Love, peace, happiness, and CHOCOLATE to you all. J All the best for 2012!! A dopo.



*Update* We had this blog ready to post on Sunday, but had some technical difficulties. There aren't any drastic updates other than the DRAMATIC PROGRESS we made on Friends...Season 6, Disk 3, Episode 4: The One with Unagi. Yup, it was a long Monday...😉

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Photos

Gina Holding up the group
This is Gina chatting with the shop owner in Assis

Temple of Minerva in Assis
Mom and Gina touchin old stuff

Gina and Leslie
Showing Mad UPS in Assisi

Gina and I at the Colosseum
She wanted to do a Gladiator pose...I said no. So she and Leslie did one later!

Thank you Rick!
Gina and Leslie learning real good from Rick Steves at the Colosseum

Gina stepping on the Colosseum
She likes taking advantage of situations that don't make her look tiny!

Gina and Leslie again
Jumping on the Spanish Steps