Saturday afternoon I took a break from the country house to go to the most important/the nicest (I'm not sure which or if it's both, but each was used to describe it to me.) hotel in Rome. We were in a lovely ballroom, with a girl wearing white, a 3 or 4 layer tiered cake, everyone dressed up, live entertainment, catered food complete with wait staff and I'm fairly certain there was an open bar. You might have guessed I attended a wedding reception. Wrong. Just a small child's birthday party taking place in the Land of the Rich and Italian. I'm almost positive my jaw was dropped the majority of the time. I almost constantly feel like I'm having an out of body experience, living someone else's life! It's just so very different from the life I'm used to but perfectly normal for everyone I'm around. Bizarre.
So the party. Granted the food was mostly chicken nuggets, mini pizzas and popcorn but there was adult food too. It was all very good. Don't worry, I know, I sampled some of everything. And the entertainment! It was this weird mini circus thing with a couple of clowns, magician, ring master, scantily clad girls, a tiger-man and maybe a bouncer? I don't know what his purpose was but he was big and walked around the whole time. Let's call him a good behavior enforcer. It was all in Italian but I gathered that one of the clowns hold a Guinness world record. He then proceed to blow up a balloon/kickball looking bubble until it was huge. Then he put it over his head which was comical. Until he got all the way inside it and then popped out just his head. So a tiny head on top of this huge dancing, yellow, balloon/ball/bubble. I did not like it. Maybe here I should also mention I was scared of clowns as a kid. Who wasn't? It was just the three girls and I. They stuck pretty close to me except while I was going back and forth to the food table to bring them plate after plate of chicken nuggets. Besides that they entertained themselves by punching the tiger-man in the stomach or the back. I wonder if he hates his job. Maybe he really really really loves children. Also, his costume had tiger stripes but his gloves were leopard spots. What kind of cat is that?
Monday, January 30, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Lord, beer me strength
These children are terrible. That's not true. They just have listening/respect/obeying problems. X 4. Individually I like each of them. Cris (cristina) is by far my favorite and I have no problem saying so. Vitti (Vittoria) is who I consider the baby, even though they're all the same age. Leo is the most sensitive (not in a positive way) even though he's the boy. and Lala (laura) eh, I could probably take her or leave her and be fine either way.
None of them ever listen so I've taken up whistling (like for a dog) or turning their games/tv/ipads (that's right) off to get their attention if they don't respond after the second time I call them. If that doesn't work I flick them in the forehead. Since physical abuse is out, I've settled on inflicting tiny amounts of pain. They kind of think it's funny (especially when I do it to one of their siblings) but then they know I'm serious.
The other problem is that there has never been any consistent discipline. Example: Vitti is the worst about eating. She always fusses and refuses. Friday night we had spinach and she was refusing to eat it. I told her if she acted like a baby I was going to treat her like one so I fed it to her (which actually wasn't a big deal because their mom spoon feeds them all the time. Ridiculous) So after she'd been chewing a huge disgusting bite of spinach for a long time she spit it back on her plate. I fed it to her again anyway. Sunday night she did the same thing with her meat but we were eating with her parents (they usually eat later because Marco gets home from work so late.) so I didn't really feel like the authority in that situation. Needless to say I think I just added to the inconsistency.
The country house was huge, of course, but not what I expected. Marco is part of a horse racing team (except I don't think they race, it's all jumping, but the whole family kept calling it racing) so their house is in some kind of compound with other houses, stables, practice rings, etc. The horse riding they do is not for pleasure, it's for sport. I'm not as cool as I thought I was seeing as I never got to ride this weekend. The kids had riding lessons, but we didn't take the horses out just to ride. Not as much fun in my opinion.
In other news. My english might be getting worse and I've developed a bad Italian accent. If anyone ever tells you that you can't decorate your apartment with 36 4x6 photos, fishing line, mini clothes pins and plastic wrap, they are wrong. And Bagno means bodywash. Not shampoo...
None of them ever listen so I've taken up whistling (like for a dog) or turning their games/tv/ipads (that's right) off to get their attention if they don't respond after the second time I call them. If that doesn't work I flick them in the forehead. Since physical abuse is out, I've settled on inflicting tiny amounts of pain. They kind of think it's funny (especially when I do it to one of their siblings) but then they know I'm serious.
The other problem is that there has never been any consistent discipline. Example: Vitti is the worst about eating. She always fusses and refuses. Friday night we had spinach and she was refusing to eat it. I told her if she acted like a baby I was going to treat her like one so I fed it to her (which actually wasn't a big deal because their mom spoon feeds them all the time. Ridiculous) So after she'd been chewing a huge disgusting bite of spinach for a long time she spit it back on her plate. I fed it to her again anyway. Sunday night she did the same thing with her meat but we were eating with her parents (they usually eat later because Marco gets home from work so late.) so I didn't really feel like the authority in that situation. Needless to say I think I just added to the inconsistency.
The country house was huge, of course, but not what I expected. Marco is part of a horse racing team (except I don't think they race, it's all jumping, but the whole family kept calling it racing) so their house is in some kind of compound with other houses, stables, practice rings, etc. The horse riding they do is not for pleasure, it's for sport. I'm not as cool as I thought I was seeing as I never got to ride this weekend. The kids had riding lessons, but we didn't take the horses out just to ride. Not as much fun in my opinion.
In other news. My english might be getting worse and I've developed a bad Italian accent. If anyone ever tells you that you can't decorate your apartment with 36 4x6 photos, fishing line, mini clothes pins and plastic wrap, they are wrong. And Bagno means bodywash. Not shampoo...
Friday, January 20, 2012
Prima
I don't journal and I'm bad about taking pictures. But sometimes there are occasions when both are not only acceptable but necessary. After multiple friends (shout out Tessa Knight)/family members asked if I'd be keeping a blog while I spend this year in Rome I decided it probably wouldn't hurt. And let's be honest, I'm copying and pasting very similar (if not the exact same) emails/messages anyway. Whoops.
So here is my blog to keep all of you who care up to speed on my life while I'm gone. No promises on how frequent the posts will be but I'll do my best. And pictures will come when I'm ready so relax.
Initial information you should learn so future stories will make sense:
I'm spending the year as an au pair for a family in Rome, about a 20 minutes drive north of Vatican City.
The family consists of Marco (dad), Alessia (mom), Leonardo (7 yr. old boy), Laura, Cristina and Vittoria (6 yr. old triplet girls), Gina & Vito (old, ugly, somewhat mean dachshunds), a hamster (already bit me so I'm not learning its name), a turtle, a rabbit and four goldfish.
And then there's the live-in help:
Me- nanny
Edward(35ish)- Housekeeper/Driver/Butler extraordinaire
Mercy(30ish)- Edward's wife/Housekeeper/Cook/Maid/Children's personal gopher
Marlo(25)- Marco's driver/anything else he is asked to do or help with
(all three are Filipino)
And lastly, Melissa (26ish), the Australian non-live-in nanny/English teacher
So memorize this information while I go out to the country house for the weekend and I'm sure I'll have good stories for you when I get home.
So here is my blog to keep all of you who care up to speed on my life while I'm gone. No promises on how frequent the posts will be but I'll do my best. And pictures will come when I'm ready so relax.
Initial information you should learn so future stories will make sense:
I'm spending the year as an au pair for a family in Rome, about a 20 minutes drive north of Vatican City.
The family consists of Marco (dad), Alessia (mom), Leonardo (7 yr. old boy), Laura, Cristina and Vittoria (6 yr. old triplet girls), Gina & Vito (old, ugly, somewhat mean dachshunds), a hamster (already bit me so I'm not learning its name), a turtle, a rabbit and four goldfish.
And then there's the live-in help:
Me- nanny
Edward(35ish)- Housekeeper/Driver/Butler extraordinaire
Mercy(30ish)- Edward's wife/Housekeeper/Cook/Maid/Children's personal gopher
Marlo(25)- Marco's driver/anything else he is asked to do or help with
(all three are Filipino)
And lastly, Melissa (26ish), the Australian non-live-in nanny/English teacher
So memorize this information while I go out to the country house for the weekend and I'm sure I'll have good stories for you when I get home.
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