Tanti Auguri

Settembre 28, 2010

Today is my birthday! YAY! 23 years ago today I was evicted from my mother's uterus.:)The beginning of a new life that I have enjoyed immensely! When I got to the breakfast table, all ready for class, I found at my seat a package. Raffa had given me a book about an American family in Rome, and their take on Roman life. I am very interested in reading it! I went to class and was a little early. I brought a pear and coronetto for a snack (however, I did not pack them in my X-Men lunchbox ;). My teacher's name is Barbara, she is from Roma and is 34, if I remember correctly. There are 7 girls in my class. We are all Au Pairs here in Roma. 3 girls from France, 23,23, and 21, 2 girls from Holland, both 18, 1 girl from Polland, 24, and myself, a new explorer in the world of 23. The entire class is taught in Italian (I was unsure how a beginning Italian class would be taught with students from around the world). In the beginner class before me there is one guy as well, and there is one guy in the advanced class that takes place during my class... I've seen 3 guys total at this school. The first lesson was mainly review for me, how letters are pronounced, spelling (how it sounds, Mom, you may actually be pretty good at it ;), and masculine and feminine words and articles. I can definitely tell that one of the French girls has studied Italian before, probably two of them have, but one speaks particularly well. I really enjoyed class and the ninty minutes flew by. I'm looking forward to Thursday's class.

After class, I went to have lunch then have some birthday gelato, it was great. I went over some of my notes from class, rewrote them, looked up some words that were unfamiliar, tried to grasp the large while understanding the small. When I got back to the flat I got on skype and talked to my lovely mommy and awesome daddy! They finally bought a webcamera and I actually got to see and talk to them! YAY no more creeping! ;) We talked about nonsense and about life, family, animals (I said hi to Molly, our dog, and she tried to find me in the computer, SO cute), it was a great addition to my birthday! Then Mom had to go to school and Dad had to leave for work eventually as well. So they left the camera on and I tortured Molly and the cats for a while. Hehehehe, just kidding, I didn't we said farewell and I left the pets alone...this time ;)

When Nicolo got back from school, Lavi, Nico, and I did some homework then played some... I've decided my mother and father must have been saints to be able to handle me when I was nine. I have a short attention span as a 23 year old, and it's tough to keep these kids' attention... I can't imagine how distracted I was when EVERYTHING takes you away from what you're doing. At least these kids can get their work done.

For dinner, Raffa taught me how to make a simple version of pasta al carbonara, YUMMY!!! After dinner, Marco, Paola, Lavi, Marti, and Carmi (the family's house keeper) all came upstairs and wished me a happy birthday (Marco actually entered dancing and singing it, hahaha ;). Later, they all sang "Happy Birthday", Nicolo even had a toy gnome that sang happy birthday in English singing along, and Lavi played some of Happy Birthday on the piano... some sang English, some Italian, it was great. Auguri. "Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri a Dub. Tanti auguri a te." It's like Well wishes, it's how Happy Birthday is conveyed in Italian. We all gathered around the beautiful "all white" cake for the kids and I to blow out the candles. It was a kodak moment. Paola took some pictures, I hope I can get a copy of them. We enjoyed the hazelnut, cream, and meringue cake, then we (the kids and I) watched some cartoons before bed while the adults chatted a bit.

This post is a little delayed/short because the internet has gone down and I don't remember everything. However, it was a great birthday!