School days...dear old golden rule days

Julian is in scuola materna ( preschool) along with other 3-5 years olds. The preschool is provided for everyone free of charge from the government. ( not sure which level provides what between national, regional or provincial and comune/city governments) Here is Neive, the preschool runs from 8:10 - 4:20, though one can opt for half day and in fact the times seem rather flexible. Tuesdays and Fridays are always half days. The class right now has the mix of all the preschoolers, but as the year progressed the group will spend more time divided into the three age groups ( 3, 4 and 5 which correspond to preschool, preK and Kindergarten). My experience is with a preschool in Portland that was highly organized with a medium emphasis on anything academic before kindergarten - more emphasis on learning to socialize etc. Here chaos seems to reign? This may change as the kids get into the year more I am not sure? I hope so. From what I can tell, the Pandas - which are the kindergarteners like Julian- mostly already know how to write their name. Perhaps they will learn more writing soon as we have just been asked to bring three notebooks for Julian. The kids all - except Julian- 1. eat with bibs, 2. take naps. Julian was appalled the the thought of using a bib! There are about 15 kids per class and the teachers team teach - at least right now. None of Julian's teachers speak English.

Today Carlo and I went to the preschool to teach a little English, It was fun and the kids were smiling but shy of course. One thing I noticed was that during coloring time, some kids were coloring the hands purple or green and the teachers would tell them your hands are not purple - and have the kids use pink color instead! Same with hair black or brown not green.

Augustin is in the Scuola Elementare. He has five teachers for the various subjects that they do. The kids though stay in one classroom. He has three workbooks and multiple notebooks with prescribed colored covers per subject for them. He also has a homework diary. Strangely not all homework assignments are written in there? Confusing to me. He is learning Italian and cursive writing in addition to the standard third grade topics ( history, geography, science, math, and reading and writing )but is opted out of religion. Recently, his writing assignments included descriptive writing, fictional writing and an essay about a time he felt embarrassed. The science is rather theoretical like what is science and how do scientists work etc etc. No hands on sciency stuff so far. Math seems standard math stuff - right now large columns of addition and subtraction. Augustin has 17 in his class. His classes run 8:05 - 4:30 - though like Julian Tuesdays and Fridays are half days. Some of Augustin's teacher speak English. There is an English teacher too and obviously she does.

Neatness is big here...with each paper pasted into the quaderno ( notebook). Also parents have to sign the diary at times acknowledging receipt of a note or form letter or whatever.

It seems that the playground has "rules" more similar to when I grew up rather than what I have noticed these days in Portland public schools. A little more rowdy let's just say.

Altogether, things seem fine at the school. As always, some of the things I notice may be particular to Neive or to smaller towns ( Neive has ~3000 people) in Italy rather than to the more cosmopolitan areas.

Well them's the school observations so far....

JT

Lets do lunch

It is difficult to land in a bad restaurant in Piemonte, even in the wine country tourist towns like Barbaresco. Like Portland, one finds the restaurants' menus reflect seasonal ingredients. Right now, mushrooms and chestnuts have come into season and the hunters are taking rabbit and wild boar while plums, tomatoes and zucchini are waning. The truffle season is starting now too - peaking in mid-October I think and of course the grapes have been pressed and are being bottled over the next weeks and months ( and years for some wines).

Traditional cuisine has a tremendous influence on the menu as well. Some regional specialties include:

mozzarella di bufala: fresh buffalo mozzaralla (very prevalent)

vitello con tonno - veal with tuna sauce,

plin - tiny ravlioli "pinches"

carne cruda - aka raw beef,

conglietto - rabbit

Tagliarini ( sp?) with ragu - hand cut long flat egg pasta with beef/tomato sauce or sage butter

Risotto con fungi ( risotto with mushrooms)

Bagna Cauda - "hot bath" dressing of lemon, garlic, oil, anchovies and parsley that is used on meats and braised vegetables ( i have only seen with meats so far)

There is a big influence of the slow food movement in eating out as well as cooking in- enjoy local fresh foods and enjoy their preparation- which started nearby in Bra and is everywhere here in Piemonte. Bra has a slow food school in fact. One thing I saw on the slow food website was that the slow food movement is also advocating towns without neon signs and such ( as neon signs often accompany fast food type places).

For lots of info there is http://www.slowfood.com/ .

The Agiturismo is a somewhat recent phenomenon where the local farmer opens a kitchen and possibly a sort of B&B at the family farm. Lunch at the agriturismo and elsewhere actually starts about 1 and lasts until about 5 perhaps 3 if there is a rush.

There seems to be a distinct lack of vegetables at these meals. In fact this is true at most restaurants here. Caprese salad is available and once in awhile there is some green salad offered - probably at places frequented by tourists.

One definitely rolls out of the Agriturismo with any thought of eating again impossible. This past Sunday our lunch consisted of the following 10 courses accompanied by grissini, a couple bottles of the local red table wine and naturale and frizzante water ( as always!)

10 cold antipasti of lard, salami, coppa and pancetta

9 a quiche with cheese,onion and mushroom

8 deep fried mushrooms

7 veal with tuna sauce topped with shaved mushrooms in light vinaigrette

6 cheese with cheese fondue and black truffles

5 seasoned plin (pasta pinches) with a light tomato sauce

4 filet of beef

3 rabbit w carrots

2 cheese plate

1 tiramisu

Phew. I left with the kids after the pasta as they had had enough of sitting fter a couple of hours. Carlo and his brother were another 2 hours at the meal and they were out early compared to the others there!

Ciao for now-

JT

Autostrada limit=80

Yeah driving is great here as long as there is not too much traffic nor too many aggressive drivers.

Where we are out in the countryside there are no traffic lights and little traffic in fact. I realized this on our first trip into Milan. The biggest holdup is the RR crossing in the lower village that closes regularly - maybe 10 times or so per day?- and is on the route to school. Did I mention the ding ding ding ding of the RR crossing???

The speed limit on the main freeways between cities is 80 and there are people who drive upwards of 100. There are also old Panda's that go about 50. Driving even on straight freeways involves much more action - avoiding the super slow cars and getting out of the way of the speedsters. ( I have been passed by a ford focus wagon going about 110!) Then of course there are the trucks that have a top allowed speed of 50-60 - and some try to pass another - and well the speedsters start flashing lights like maniacs. People have no trouble in following VERY close and or coming up very close behind if they wish to pass.

On the other hand....with the exception of some trucks trying to pass, slow vehicles stick to the right-most lane and indeed cars move smartly to the right to allow others to pass. In other words, those that might hang out in the left lane are not driving in Italy. There are minimum speeds for the left and middle lanes at times ( 55 and 37 respectively)

I like the "fuzzy lanes" both on the freeway and in Milan. I have not driven in Rome perhaps it would too much! On the freeway, one routinely shifts lanes - with or without signals, and some straddle the lanes as they weave. In the city, traffic flows more like a liquid without regard to lanes- are there two or three it is not clear. Perhaps driving in Boston or New York is similar? I cannot remember anymore. The city driving during morning rush was a bit much. The round -abouts are places where the true Italian drivers are separated from the rest of us. Squeezing in here and squirming the car into a little opening is amazing to watch and a little harry to be in the middle of. I just ignored the horn blasts as my French plated minivan made its way through the melee. I must say a breathed easier that morning when I finally hit the A7 ( or A5 or some number like that).

Still you do find it startling when someone drives on the wrong side of the road for a bit in order to avoid a line of cars, and people pass ( aka overtake) very much more and more aggressively. Again maybe West Coast living has influenced my perception of US driving style.

So the minivan - Carlo and the kids are fans. Love the reclining seats and extra space between the boys when we're on roadtrips. I am a 100% true minvan driver. I have hit two things already when backing up - AND i have never is 30 years done anything to a car. This minvan even has an in-dash display and backup warning system!!!! OK OK so things are a bit closer around here. Smaller parking lots and spaces and the minivan is quite huge. But anyway I feel like a middle aged mama...

My fav part of the minvan? When i really get tired of try to understand Italian, I turn on the navigation system and talk to the nice nav lady :-)

chow for now!

JT

Beyond Marcorino

Marcorino is the name of the hill just outside the gates of Neive where the house and a few others are located. Here are a few shots from around Neive.

Blogger is sort of messing with formatting so hopefully my descriptions are clear enough to figure out the few photos.

First there is via Cavour as I walk away for our driveway. The house on the left has been under construction forever. ( THINGS take FOREVER here). The building with green shutters is one of my favorites. It has been renovated from when it was built 300 or 500 years ago or so. The most obvious sign of the renovation is the re motaring of the bricks which makes the final facade so smooth compared to the old.

One shot shows the intersection where we must make a three point turn to turn left every day. The Rocca's who live there have been there since the grandparents generation were in school here. The shot with the Ivy covered building includes also one of the four churches in the upper village ( two are small chapels). There are fives churches if you count the small Macedonian orthodox church - which I only know as a standard looking wooden doorway into a building also occupied by a seamstress. Finally, I just liked the entryway on the pink building.

OK OK it been a whole month already

So as I look back upon this month here is what I think of:

very frustrating to not speak the language or well to speak it like an Italian two year old! Plus if someone *actually* speaks to me - I freeze and cannot remember what little i know. Eeeks. Sometime the abundant wine ( see below) helps in this area.

!(*#&)(!*& paperwork to get anything done like 42 signatures for a bank account and social security number to buy a cellphone! EVERYTHING takes TIME.

Don't try to do anything on Monday - shops and businesses are closed. Efficiency is not especially important.

local wine - yes indeed the wine is good, relatively inexpensive -except for barbaresco ( ~ E30) and anything from Gaja ( ~ E150) and it is at lunch an dinner with any gathering.

local food- very good and fresh, abundance of cheeses, lots of meats, not spicy, lots of fish, most food here is indeed the local, traditional cuisine. Carlo and I did see one chinese take out place in Bra. It had gnocchi!

having family near is nice - I have not loved near family for about 20 years and is it nice

not having friends nearby is not sustainable :-)

The fuzzy driving lanes are not too bad except in rush hour in the city then they are just scary and the drivers seem like "the bad guys"

Moving here is just like moving anywhere one slowly explores further afoot from home - starting with the grocery store and school and on from there...yesterday the Le Clerk 5 km from here, today Bra 20 km from here and next week Torino perhaps ~ 1.5 hr drive??

Chow for now;

JT