Little Italy 23

[BananaGio]

Siamo qua!

Eccomi!
Damn Gio I was going to suggest Cola di Rienzo for our meet up as it's one of my favourite shopping streets. You forgot to mention Castroni on your list btw. Maybe we could organise for next week, this week has been really hectic for me.
Sorry about your DS, sounds a bit like what happened to my DD at materna so I know how you feel.
Alba: I like it myself, haven't watched TV here in ages so no associations for me, this won't be a problem in the UK either. A good name I think as she could go practically anywhere and people wouldn't have problems spelling or pronouncing it.
Eurocommuter, don't see the point in a course if his Italian is fine, sounds like the teacher is making assumtions because of his quietness.

next week not great for me cos have my Mum over, week after would be good tho? I will make a special sacrifice and venture to Cola di Rienzo for you Sput! And I didnt mention Castroni because I don't see Castroni as luxury shopping- it's an essential - where else would I get my Heinz salad cream

OH BUgger just started anither MN 23 Will try and erase it !

Marking place, need to catch up with n22!

Have just been asked in school playground to do lessons with a child. Whose father is English.

Hello!

Eurocommuter - if you think he is a bit shy, perhaps he could try another activity instead (drama thing in small groups?) - probably more helpful than a course for stranieri [sceptical] .

Anyway, does anyone feel that the mood on MN is quite tense at the moment? Some of these threads on benefits CB etc are really quite nasty... (coward emoticon)

Minerva totally agree re mood. CB ones and also the politics ones at the moment have me wringing my lefty hands together in despair. Also the continuous God vs No God ones that seem to say the same things for 1000 posts!

I have steered clear!
Good idea re the other activity MI.

Just popping in to say hello after a long absence, have started getting into mn again having weaned myself off when I was working all hours.

How are you all? What's been going on? I must have a trawl through some of the old threads but don't have the energy right now, plus I need to be up early tomorrow for DD's swimming lesson. Another lie-in bites the dust, there's only Sunday to argue over now!

I'll come back another time when it's not so late and catch up with you all.

'notte!

I have also read some of the threads on CB and it is scary even tho i have strong feelings about them i have not dared posy any messages.

I was planning on enroling him into a Drama class just for that reason. But have to convice DH that the course they are suggesting is not meant to help shy children (that's my understanding anyway) but help children who do not speak Italian to catch up. He thinks it does the same thing even through so might as well use it because its free. I would more than happy to do it if I was convinced she didn't pick on him be cause he was a 'straniere'. I suggested she speaks to the Materna teachers, who are just down stairs, who will tell her that he was shy but when he got confindence in them he was okay in terms of communication. Even the maths teacher has clocked that. She says its not neccesary. I feel like she thinks because he is Bilingual he cannot communicate.

Thank you all for your suggestions. It feels good to have other people who understand.

Eurocommuter! Hello my love, t'is I calling in from A$$ End! Glad you found your way here!

You know what I think about the school teacher, so I won't rehash here, just to say that she must be a bit if she thinks a bilingual child can't speak/understand Italian! Have you asked her how she thinks ds communicates with the nonni??? Have you thought of asking dh to talk to her? You don't think that because it's you as a "proper" foreigner that she deals with that she somehow has this mental block? I have in the past had a few of these wtf moments, when I've been chatting away to Italians for ages and then suddenly someone will say "Ma lei parla italiano?"

Must go and mop my balcony in true southern Stepford fashion (only because there is pomegranate juice everywhere which makes it a) sticky and b) look like I've done dp in overnight.)

Hello my love
Glad to see you here! I have sent DH and she apologised profusely to him but not to me. But she has somehow convinced him that the school will still be beneficial because it will make him talk to other people more freely, unblock him becuase he might be thinking in English. Wtf! The reason he doesn't talk to people he is not used to is not because he doesn't know the language.

lol re "ma lei parla Italiano?" It's so true.

Hope all is well down there!

marking my place after a very long absence

Welcome back Brange! hope things are good with you.
And Samoa, you are in Rome aren't you?

Gio: sorry to hear about your child. What were the teachers doing??

How long did it take you to stop feeling an expat? Was just reading a post about a trailing spouse and thought I feel the same, despite having been in UK for over 10 years. Perhaps it is because I am an 80pc SAHM at the moment and nct group did not really work out, but essentially I feel like time in the UK is wasted if DH not at home. Which means about 50-60 hrs per week.
Also, everybody I have met round here on the mummy circuit does GF, early weaning and children in bed at 7, so my hippier approach does not really fit (even in practical ways: we go out after merenda, when others are going home for bath and bed). Sorry, bit of a moan, but am in Italy now and don't really look forward to going back to the UK next week ( though want to be at home with DH). Also have friends in London, but they all work or live too far away to meet in the afternoon...

Found you!!!!

I've read the thread, at last.

Brangelina, welcome back! So good to see you dear, how are things?

Eurocommuter, how bizarre, I've always found that Italians are generally rather enthusiastic of bilingual children, especially if the second language is English! Ds's teacher for instance is always keen to have him as a helper during the ora di inglese at school.
Are there many foreign children in your ds's school? Perhaps they aren't enough for the language course and are looking to fill it?

Gio, yes, I'm now worrying that the presence of a zarahome that I can reach in less than 15 minutes tram ride will seriously endanger my credit card.
Sorry to hear about ds, sadly, it is something that can occurr at asilo, especially with the younger ones, who are still a bit "selvaggi"

SG: I've never felt like an expat (I loathe the term), but I've always felt I didn't belong 100%, even if it really got better once I made some (a handful) real friends and I witnessed the children being so at ease at nursery, school, at the gym club etc.
I think that in general it is difficult being a new mother when you are far from your friends and family. New mothers, I believe, need sympathetic ears and some practical help, that's my mantra.

Franca: spot on, as usual. Things were a lot easier (from the point of view of being abroad) when I worked full-time, esp as I worked in a very international environment where being in a city as cosmopolitan as London was great because we were all equally at home (but not quite) in it. Now it almost feels like I don't live in London anymore- I go to the centre so seldom and almost never meet the international lot, and therefore feel quite isolated. Maybe the solution is to try and join the international mummy set. Which may be easier than I thought- have just found a local Italian playgroup

Eurocommuter: I hope the teacher sees sense- she sounds very insular...

I'm sure things will get easier as your ds grows and you and him can make the most of all the opportunities offered to toddlers/children by such a vibrant place like London.

Italian playgroup sounds like a good place to find people you can chat to... In my experience (obviously it's just a personal experience) it is easier to embark in non committal chit chat with the average Italian person, plus there might be more mothers/fathers looking for friendship.

I felt very alone in Ex. when ds was a baby, I really understand how you feel.

You know what used to cheer me up? Once ds had fallen asleep I used to waste half hours into WHSmith browsing through gossip mags and property porn magazines, in fact I developed an obsession with Country Living

HI , I did a huge post about CB but it never seems to have made it . Oh well it went on the lines of non sanno quanto fortunate sono .
Brangelina great to see you again hope you can stay a bit longer this time.
Gio - Nasty biters hope you have recovered I expect ds will have forgotten all about it !
SG - Saw your post about bedtimes. When I was in primary there was a suggestion about bed times most of the times my parents stuck to it - aslo because on getting home generally we would race round the garden or did some other activity . ( It was also a very snobby school with school shoe requirements from Clarks !). I find that here I am the odd one out dds are in bed generally 7.30-8 and when in the UK again mine seem to be up later. However each child / family are different and you should do what is best for you. DD1 needs on the whole more sleep than minirosa! As for feeling like an expat - snap. In dd1 first 18mths I felt like an alien - work friends sorted of filtered out. no real baby friends the cosnultorio was my lifeline. Then since dd1 started nursery the world is starting to open up again. I am still often the odd one out buy hey ho !
Franca how is dh did he swell up ?

Rosa, thanks for asking. He seems to be recovering well, he swelled a bit, but it's better now (thank goodness for Aulin )

Same as Rosa, my dc used to go to bed at 8 when we lived in the UK (they were younger, of course), that was considered extremely late.

Their bedtime is now at 8.30/9 (I've relaxed a bit) which is considered very early here. "Ma come fai?" they ask me... I usually answer that "Comando io (not sure for how long...)

Ha property porn - loving that.

Sui if you're in London there will always be an international lot but depends on what lot you're looking for.

I did see something about an Italian playgroup a while back - one in ealing on in east finchley. Same organiser - meant to be very good.

Oh sui - nct groups didn't work out for me either. It reminded me of speed dating. People just desperate to hook up with anyone that could be a 'friend'. Plus they were uber into bfeeding and at 39 with 30gg breasts I wasn't able to do it in public without killing ds and so I'd have to bring a bottle and they'd be tut tutting. I loathed it. Honestly it gets better. When they get to about four the mum's are far more honest about what they are doing. What is GF?

My parents were very relaxed (aka didn't have a clue) about my bedtime until I was about 7 and they went to a parents evening where they were told I was sleeping in class. They then imposed a bedtime for me. Yikes. It was a shock as I was used to watching a bit of late night tv until then.

DS at 4.5 doesn't have an enforced bedtime but gets down about about 8.30 - 9 naturally now he's at school. I'd love him to sleep at 7.30 as I'm 100% responsible for parenting and would love the evenings to myself but it's never happened. I can't be arsed to force the issue as if he aint tired, he ain't tired. Oh and we still cosleep so I'm more than likely to fall asleep with him. But of course I'd never admit any of this to his teachers so shhhhhhhh.

I have to tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever had a bedtime when I was a child. I used to watch tv with my parents or play/read in my bedroom in the evening... I think I've always been a night creature

SG having small babies is isolating at the best of times, even more so when you are in a foregn country and away from your family who would normally be a lot of support at that time. Italian playgroup sounds like a good idea to start off with. And it does get easier once they get bigger, as others have said.
Re bedtimes, we aim for 8-8.30 in term time, but with small babies I would say anything goes pretty much, especially if it's the first, who doesn't have to fit into the routines of the older ones.

Is there even a word for bedtime in Italian? :o
Actually woud make an interesting cross-cultural study, no?

It's "e' ora di andare a letto, Raus!"???

Ah yes, totally agree with Sput, anything goes with small babies.