responsibilities.

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I live in Italy. That has been a thought that randomly enters my mind. For example, at dinner or while I am strolling through Torino preparing to pick David up from school, it will hit me and a smile will run across my face. Sometimes for a few seconds sometimes a few minutes. I fit in rather nicely until this “I live in Italy” expression finds its way to my mouth.

My first week of work has been very relaxed as the family has given me more than enough time to prepare myself for my duties. The only task I have had for the last 5 days is playing with David and prepping him for swim class. But in the future I will be taking him to school, picking him up from school and tidying the house regularly (among the aforementioned tasks that I have already begun). Life will be pretty easy for me here in Pianezza. If of course I finally get the swimming class routine figured out. The first time I attempted this was a complete and utter failure. Of course, this falls on the part that I don’t understand what most people say to me and they don’t understand what I say to them. The result can be quite comical and sometimes quite frustrating (if you let it). So, my first time I was instructed on what to do and when and then was left to figure out where to sit for David’s class. Without further instruction I ended up entering the swimming area with all of the children in swimming suits (I wasn’t wearing a swimming suit) and once I reached the pool area and was met by a few dozen surprised and shocked faces (on the parents sitting in the bleacher behind the guard rail that I happen to find myself on the wrong side of) I then and only then realized I must have gone the wrong way. I eventually found the way outside of the building and into another building and finally properly sitting in the bleachers with those same peculiar looking faces now turned to me with the same surprised and shocked faces. “Oh boy, the American au pair has made his grand entrance,” I thought to myself. That was my introduction to the swimming class community. Good start.

The next swim class was schedule two days later on Friday and I would be in charge of getting David ready prior to his lesson. But before that could even begin, I of course forgot that we even had swim lessons and found myself working on my bike not dressed appropriately for swimming lessons around the same time that David and I were supposed to be at swimming lessons. So Max, David and I rushed to swimming lessons where the stress really began. There is a strict routine that must be followed by David and I to get him prepared for swimming class. Of course this consists of getting David out of his normal clothes and into his swimming outfit but this can be complicated by an inexperienced caretaker, a crunch for time and a strict no shoes (or cover them with a plastic pair of blue booties) policy before entering the locker area. Of course, those were the same blue booties that I so smoothly ended up wearing all the way to the car after the first swim lesson. Either way we rushed into the locker room to begin the change-tango. First thing that was to be done was to take David’s shoes off and put some flip-flops on to enter the changing area and of course put my blue booties on. I made the first mistake by giving David his water shoes instead of the communal flippy-floppies1 that he so adamantly insisted for. Once I found those I was told they were the wrong ones (again, communal). The second mistake was made when I looked for a different pair of the same brand communal flip-flops. I took my eyes off of the child (foreshadowing). Once I turned back around and begged him to accept his flip-flop fate for the next four seconds that it would take for him to walk into the changing area and immediately change into his water shoes, the mistake had already occurred unbeknownst to me. So, reluctantly on went the communal flip-flops that were exactly like the other communal flip-flops and on we went into the changing area. We rushed to find a spot on a bench and the dig into his backpack began to find his swimming attire. Panic sets in. No swimsuit. No swim cap. No swim lessons. Quickly I think of my options and realize that since I forgot about swim lessons I must be the one responsible for not having his bag ready properly before lessons. This is all my fault that he is late and now it is all my fault that he will not be able to go to swim lesson today. Of course he was the happiest little 6 year old in the world when he realized what this meant (as you can imagine he was pretty traumatized by the rushed attempt to make swim class on time and most importantly the temper tantrum-induced state that was brought on by having to wear the wrong communal flip-flops). Either way my next mission was to find Max before he left to make sure we were not stranded at swim lessons without an actual swim lesson to take part in. As I grabbed David to carry him quickly out of the changing area I was quickly relieved to see Max peering around the corner to ensure everything was moving smoothly before he left. “There is no swim suit,” I calmly explain, expecting there to be a hint of disappointment with me. He quickly turned to his phone to call Laura and ask/blame her for the missing swimsuit. It was only after this phone conversation that we realized it was not at the house and must have been in the car or the changing room or the shoe changing room. The shoe changing room! I then was quickly brought back to the moment when I took my eyes off of young David. I looked back to where he was sitting at that moment and I saw the bag in which he puts his swimsuit and swim cap. In that split second I was looking for the correct communal flip-flops, he too was frantically tearing apart his backpack to see if the correct communal-leave-at-the-swim-facility-so-everyone-can-use-them-flip-flops where somehow magically in his bag. And in his panic he pulled out his swimsuit and swim cap. Swim class was back on. We repeated steps one through three and I was sitting in the bleachers sweating my ass off (swimming areas tend to be very hot so the swimmers don’t catch a cold) in no time. Max was waiting for me in the bleachers and we had a quick laugh and then he told me that he wrong about the time in which class actually starts and in the end David was 5 minutes early for his Friday swim lesson. Phew.


1I’m On A Boat (The Lonely Island), reference. (Apparently superscripts don't translate well on this site).

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Comments

[Mom]

Memories!
Oh, Jake, this brought such a laugh and so many memories!! Late to team pictures without your uniform and getting stopped for speeding on the way, for example! Just a part of parenting and you will learn so much...like patience, forgiveness, and perseverance!! Sounds like all is well and for that I am so thankful!! LYMTLIS!!