What were you grateful for this week?My mother. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?The language barrier. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. Didn’t really have a wow moment this week. It was all pretty standard. 

Tell us about your week! 

Monday: After the kids went to daycare, I went on a bike ride to the beach and watched the end of beach Zumba. Before heading home to get the kids from daycare I grabbed lunch from a little beach cafe. In the afternoon while the youngest was sleeping, I helped the oldest work on his English words. I read books in English and tried to read one in Italian.

Tuesday: In the morning I went to the beach and did Zumba while the kids were in daycare. The teacher for daycare asked if I could read a book to all the kids before they left to go home. I read Green Eggs and Ham. While the youngest slept, the oldest and I had a water fight outside. In the evening we went roller skating again, afterwards I read the kids Goodnight Moon before they went to bed. 

Wednesday: In the morning I went to beach Zumba again while the kids were in daycare. Afterwards I got lunch but I lost track of time and wasn’t there to get the kids from daycare. Once the kids got back, the youngest took a nap and the oldest and I worked on learning English. We stayed at home in the evening helping clean the pool. Over dinner we discussed why the names of cities change in different languages. For example Venice in English and Venezia in Italian. 

Thursday: Today was a relaxing day. In the morning we went to the beach, then came home for lunch and a nap for the youngest. I’m feeling more homesick today, probably because A is in Greece and I don’t have any other friends here to hangout with while the kids do other stuff. Lignano is a beautiful town but it is isolating being farther away from everyone. 

Friday: I traveled to Rome and spent the day walking around the city. I had trouble finding my hotel, I spent an hour looking for it and could not find it. So I elected to get a new hotel. After getting the hotel, I went to the Trevi Fountain and I had dinner next to the Spanish Steps (you can not eat on the steps because it is a monument). I also walked to the Colosseum and enjoyed the sunset. 

Saturday: Saturday was spent attending a conference on language literature and culture. I attended the conference to learn how languages and cultures influence each other. There were several papers presented on the subject focusing and many different regions and nations. In the evening I watched the sunset over St. Peter’s Square. 

Sunday: I woke up early to go see the Trevi Fountain before it was too crowded. I walked all over the city and searched for the places I visited when I was last in Rome 10 years ago. Mostly I was looking for the location where I took a nap. I also returned to Lignano but unknown to me, July 21-22 was strike day for the trains. So I was stuck in Venice for 4 hours before I was able to get on a train back to Lignano.