What were you grateful for this week?Peaceful places in the middle of a busy city. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?Feeling like I’m not doing enough because my family is out of town.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. Went back to the school on A’s last day at creche to help her find a toy she had left behind.

Tell us about your week! This week was a lot of exploring on my own! My host family was only back from the coast for a few days before heading off to Verona for a family reunion, so we squeezed in as much kid time as we could. 

Both A and L love coloring, which is great because it doesn’t require us knowing the same language, plus it gives us a simple way to swap vocabulary words, which is fun. They also love a very straightforward board game they own — but some of the squares have instructions on them. And I can’t speak Italian. And L can’t read words. So I sound them out with my (Spanish-influenced) accent and he tells me what they mean! It’s pretty amusing, I have to say. Adds a whole new level of entertainment to a straightforward game.

I finally feel like I’ve really got a grasp on the transportation system now! I have several different routes into the city center or to a couple other frequently-visited spots that I don’t have to think about anymore. And that don’t rely at all on buses, which is very good in this city because I have yet to encounter a bus that arrived on time. Metro all the way for me. 

I’ve now visited the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Trastavare neighborhood, and the Non-Catholic cemetery! The quiet peacefulness of the cemetery and Trastavere gardens is amazing compared to the crowds in the city center. I also got to see fireworks at the Piazza del Popolo for the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and stumbled across an aria concert at a church and a Leonardo da Vinci museum!