We couldn’t have picked a worse time to move: record high temperatures and humidity, with people literally falling down in the streets. In a particularly horrible accident the other day, a man on a street repair crew fainted. His colleague driving the tar truck didn’t see him on the ground, and backed over him. Our … Continue reading House-Moving in Italy
Our daughter is bilingual in English and Italian, and some people have asked “how we did it.” There really wasn’t much to it. While I was pregnant, I read the only book I could find on the subject (The Sun is Feminine Amazon UK | US), which happened to be written (in English) by a … Continue reading Raising a Bilingual Child
Rossella’s five years of elementary school took place at Parco Trotter, where she had also done scuola materna (preschool). We had been spoiled by a great scuola materna experience; elementary was… not so great. I’m reaching the conclusion that the quality of education hinges almost entirely on the quality of teachers. And there’s the rub. … Continue reading Elementary School: An Italian Experience
Anyone who has had the experience of setting up a household in Italy will wince at the list of things we have to do in the next two months: sell the family home in Rome (emptying it of many years’ accumulation of books – this is a family of professors! – furniture, etc.), set up … Continue reading Changing Homes in Italy
Over the years I’ve lived in Italy, I’ve ended up travelling to the US far more than I ever expected, mostly for work. The first such trip occurred soon after Incat Systems moved to California, in late 1993. I was the technical writer, so I had to meet with the engineers from time to time, … Continue reading Frequent Flier: The Strange Perks of Business Class
