Sometime this year

Not much to report today. Josh and I worked out this morning and then had lunch in the neighborhood. After lunch, we did a big grocery shop.

We seem to really go through a lot of food in this house. Or, is it the same amount of food that just requires more trips to the store? Last Thursday I bought what I thought was a huge amount of groceries, and we were eating scraps by Sunday. Part of the reason is that we can't buy more than will fit in the refrigerator. Ours is actually on the large side by Italian standards, but smaller than you'd find in most American homes. The other reason is that the best food here is fresh, and food without preservatives doesn't last long. So you need to go to the grocery several times a week just because the prosciutto you bought on Monday, doesn't taste as good anymore by Thursday. This is especially true for bread. They are not big on the bread that we consume in America that lasts for weeks and is great for toast and sandwiches. Freshly baked is the way to go. It's hard to get through a loaf before it's stale.

Today is the first day of after school activities at RIS, and Avery is trying football (it's football in "British" but called Calcio in Italian). I hesitated signing him up for anything after school since this is the first time he has gone to school for whole day and is therefore without a nap. I thought he'd be tired by the time he came home from school at 4pm each day. I was wrong. Last week, he had so much pent-up energy; in fact he was aggressive. So I decided he should put all that energy toward football and running around the gym, instead of hitting his family members. It's only day 1 but it seems to have worked. He's asleep :)

Charlotte and Olivia had swim practice today. Charlotte reported that they swam a really tough set. In general, she thinks the practices are tougher here than in Chicago. Swim attire is different here too. No one wears Crocs - which were all the rage in the States. The Italian athletes where flip-flops (but not the kind with the toe-divider, the kind with a thick band that you slide your whole foot through) and robes. All of Charlotte's teammates have robes with the team name - Aniene - stitched on them. Charlotte's friend told her you get one for being on the team. So today, Charlotte asked her friend (who speaks English) to ask the coach when she (Charlotte) can get her robe. The coach replied "I'll give her one sometime this year."

And that about sums it up here in Rome...