Real Life Update

Well, if you can believe this, we are STILL waiting to hear from the last 2 schools that Dan applied to for his PhD. But, we've kind of already decided not to go. We both are feeling like its a better idea if Dan can get a teaching job right away, maybe at a community college or private school, and then we'll take it from there. So, we are looking!!! If you know of anything, let us know. :) As you can imagine, we are anxious to settle down for a while and have an idea of where we will be this time next year...but it looks as though we are destined to wait. And wait. And wait. And of course we are very patient and uncomplaining about it. Especially me. :) No whining here!
Okay, so here is some cool stuff we've done.

My Bday presents from Dan (from January): Homemade gelato, train tickets to Lucca, and gummies.

The Roman Amphitheater in Lucca...they turned it into buildings, but there is still a giant piazza in the middle.

Bday celebration with the Evertsens...Try blowing that out!

Dan did this to our computer. I had to find the real one, and get rid of all these files. And he didn't make it easy, because he put all our regular desktop files inside one of these so I couldn't just delete them all but one. And if you look, you'll see that he named each one of those files something different. He is crazy. And apparently extremely bored. :)

Lucca has the medieval wall intact, and its so wide that now they landscape it and have a bike path on top. Pretty cool.

This is our neighbor across the street who once tried to tell us the proper way to care for our basil plant over the noisy mid-day traffic. We tried to tell her we couldn't hear, but she insisted that we were wrong and that it wasn't noisy at all. Pretty sure she is going deaf. Anyway, we figured we'd better google the proper way to care for a basil plant, and now that I've finally started doing it right, she smiles and waves at me whenever she takes her smoking breaks out the window and sees us plucking leaves or moving it into the sun. I'm sure she takes all the credit for our basil plant now. I snuck this picture through a crack in our shutters so she wouldn't see...I feel like this is quintessentially Italian. We just need some laundry hanging below the window, and it'd be perfect. Italians don't mess around with anything that has to do with their food.

Chin puppets with the Evertsen chicas. They LOVED it. We have a good time with those kids.

A Londra! (In London!)

Well! I'm seriously behind. This was 5 months ago. Despicable me. Ah well. So, we went to London! When Abby was done with her study abroad in Spain, she met us in Italy for a tour around Florence, and then she and I flew to London! Dan met us a couple days later because he couldn't miss class. We had a great time! Our hostel was pretty cool, even if Dan's bunk mate was a meanie. I had a few meanie moments myself, for which I am sorry. I guess I get a little stressed when I travel, which is kind of the opposite of what you're supposed to do. But overall it was a lot of fun, I think.

I felt like the biggest nerd taking this picture, but I think its one of those things that had to be done. Abby is OBSESSED with HP, so I'll just say that I did it for her... :)

My lil' sis Abby and I walking where the Beatles walked...

They spelled "Abby" wrong. Oops!

The Goncalves family!!! This was probably the best part of London. We stayed a night with the Goncalves family, who Dan became close to when he was serving his mission. They are from Brazil, but lived in Italy for a while while Dan was on his mission, and then moved to London where they are working hard to learn English. This family is amazing! They were so kind to us, and they are some solid members of the church. Plus, Glaucia makes some amazing Brazilian food. Such good people. Hopefully we'll see them again someday.

This was a restaurant we saw in London...Texas is bigger than we thought.

I don't think this needs words. Although, I'm not sure what Dan is doing?

Dan has some sort of love for penguins. And so of course, this giant penguin picture was his only request for addition to the blog. He looks so happy.

Big Ben!

Red Phone Booth, of course.

Double Decker Bus, of course...

Glamor shot of me blowing my nose at the Tower of London. I think this might have been one of the only pictures we got there. Dan really knows how to capture the moments you never want to forget, and I love him for it. :)

So Happy. Love you all.

Espagna

Back in November we took a trip to Madrid to go to the temple and to visit my sister, Abby. The temple was awesome, seeing Abby was awesome, the city was very pretty (the colors were beautiful), and the food was...not good. Except for Paella. It was pretty good. And the churros con chocolate were okay, too, although they'd be much better if they used Costco churros. (I can't tell you how many times I've missed food from Costco. I never realized how much I love their food! Of course, "you don't know what you got 'til its gone.") Anyway, Dan and I were in a pretty bad mood because we were both really sick, and the food kept on disappointing us, and we had to drag our suitcases around with us while sightseeing in Madrid. Poor Abby had to deal with 2 very grumpy people. But, as always, she was very gracious and a great tour guide. She showed us Alcala de Henares, which is a suburb of Madrid and is where Abby did her study abroad. It was a cool little town, chock full of culture. Pictures? Obviously.

Il Tempio del Madrid. We did the work for some of Dan's Italian ancestors. Pretty coooool.

The famous suitcases (borrowed from the Evertsen's). Notice the look on my face?

The other half of our feelings are summed up in this beautiful face. We did NOT feel good. And I'm pretty sure people were making fun of the butterflies.

Alcala de Henares. I can't remember for sure what it is, but there is something special about the birds.

My sister is so hot. And we'll put an extra "T" on that for good measure.

I just like our faces on this one.

Cervantes was from Alcala! Remember Don Quixote and his stooge? Cause I don't. I've never read it. But I will, because I feel like I should now that I've been to Cervantes' house.

La Porta di Alcala....or something. This is in Madrid, and its really famous. So famous that I can't remember the name of it. But its the city gate that led from Madrid to Alcala de Henares, and its really big and really pretty at night.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the Paella! I thought I did, but maybe Abby has it on her camera. It looked amazing. All sorts of seafood staring back at us from a bed of rice. Literally staring, because they all still had their heads. After peeling the shrimp and de-clamming the clams, it was quite delicious. Unfortunately again, we didn't get a picture of the couple we stayed with in Alcala - The Crapos. They were an American couple in Abby's ward and were super nice to let us stay with them. Hopefully we can repay the favor.

A Firenze (In Florence)

A couple cool things about November:

Calcio (Cal-cho) aka Soccer!!! We went to see Firenze’s team play, which I think is a very Italian thing to do. We skipped out on the beer and wine, though, which I think is a very un-Italian thing to do. 

Dan’s friend Becca, whom he met while working in Alaska, was touring through Europe and she stayed with us for a couple nights. We did a bit of touring with her in Florence and Fiesole. One cool chick.

Firenze by night...It is beautiful.

My former mission companion, Filomena, lives in Bologna, and she came to visit on the same weekend as Dan’s friend. It was awesome to see her for the first time in a couple years.

 

Time out. Dan thought of the brilliant idea to put the two little ones on the hall heater when they need a time out. It is high enough that they can’t get down without help, and small enough that they can’t move. It didn’t last long, though. As you can see, it isn’t Malerie’s favorite. Kaisa, on the other hand, just thinks it’s funny. For a while there she kept asking Dan to put her on the heater. Backfire. 

Quotes of the Week

 Everyone I know posts pictures of their kids on their blogs, but I don't have kids, so I'll just share a couple moments from my nannying madness.

1. Malerie, in her cute little 2 year old voice: "Oh no, Chelsea, there are boogers on your coat!" 
    Me: "Are they your boogers?" 
    Malerie: "Uh huh." (with a nod and a smile)

2. Imagine this scenario: I walk into the bathroom to see a naked Kaisa sitting on the toilet with her finger sticking up in the air., and then she says, "Ewwww! Look!! This came out of my butt!"

Nice, huh? These kids make me laugh every day. They are the funniest and the cutest. Usually when I wake Kaisa up in the morning she hates me for the first 30 seconds (after the 20 minutes of me gently and gradually waking her up by pretending she is a mummy or a caterpillar or monster or something). She'll usually moan and yell something angry at me...but this morning the first thing she said to me was, "Chelsea, you're beautiful." Yes...I think we're making progress. :) I love it. Another funny thing about Kaisa...I think she is the only person I know that LOVES wearing tights. She sleeps in them. Strange, but true.

So, now that I think I've finally figured out this nanny thing, Dan and I are moving into our own apartment next week. Funny how that works. But I'll still be working for the family and seeing them every day. They keep my life exciting. I don't know what we'd do here in Firenze without them. But we are definitely excited to have our own place again. It will be on the same street as Dan's school, and close to some schools that I might take Italian classes from. There is room for a blow-up mattress in the living room, so please come and visit. :) We are missing you, family! And friends are welcome, too, of course. Ciao!

Pisa

I'm incredibly behind on pictures and "life in Italy" posts, but here is Pisa! (from October). Enjoy!

The shadow of the tower on the cathedral. Monstrous. And leaning.

Pisa!

Only in Italy would you have to have a sign saying that you can't play soccer on the field next to the giant, old, famous cathedral and leaning tower on the main piazza.

For the Texans...strangely enough, we found this in a store in Pisa. Probably made in China, but still cool.

Cinque Terre

Dan and I did a day trip to Cinque Terre a few weeks ago, and it was amazing. Cinque Terre is a group of 5 small coastal towns that are connected by a hiking trail that winds through the cliff sides with amazing views of the ocean (which is actually blue here as opposed to most places in the States). The hiking was awesome, and towns themselves were exactly what you'd think of when you hear "small Italian coastal town". Quaint, but lively. It was amazing. Here are some pictures. The sun wasn't cooperating with us, but we still got some good shots.

Remember how Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492? He was actually Italian (not Spanish), and he was from Genova which is a town near Cinque Terre. Why the random thought? No idea.

And of course, THE FOOD. Acciughe! aka Anchovies. Did I get these because I love anchovies? No. It's a special dish in the region of Liguria, so I decided to try some. I preferred the lemon or stuffed anchovies over the regular kind, but I'll probably never get them again. I did it once, so that's good enough. I'd say its a must if you're in Cinque Terre. I saw people with containers full of them like they were french fries.

Did Dan get prosciutto crudo e melone because he loves it? Yes. Indeed. And it is delicious. Its raw cured ham with cantaloupe. So good. Another specialty in the region is the Pesto alla Genovese (the green kind of pesto) with Trofie pasta, or Pesto Lasagna. Umm yeah. I want some more.

This is the Bench of Love on the Lover's Walk in between two of the towns. SO I made Dan take this picture with me. They do the lock thing on this pathway too. They were everywhere.

 Next Post: Pisa. Like, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.