Cousins.

Isacco and Angelina, cousins from one side of the Ocean to the other. Isacco is my oldest of 4 nephews, 19 years of age, just graduated from High School in Trieste. He is staying with us, for a few days, while he finds a new apartment for himself. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to share our apartment and our lives with him for a few weeks.
He and Angelina, one evening on the couch, and she got him to read some stories to her. It was the sweetest thing... Francesca could not resist from quietly taking some pictures. Isacco got a job last September, 2 months from his High School graduation day, and in Italy, in this economy, that is a big thing, considering that the job itself is in his field of studies, and it is a full time, permanent position.


Isacco graduated from the Technical Nautical Institute of Trieste. 5 years of grueling 38 to 40 hours/week nautical school that prepares the students to be "Ship Captains" and other highly specialized professions in the nautical / marine industry. He now works as an "Agente Marittimo" ( Ship Agent / Port Agent ) Basically , whenever a freighter comes in, he goes aboard to inspect the ship and make sure all documentation is OK, and does other administrative duties related to a ship's arrival. He loves it, even when he has to go aboard at 3:00AM, in the middle of winter ... in the middle of the Trieste Bay.
He is a good kid, with a great heart, and we love him.

Angelina's Eyes.

Today was an interesting day. We finally took little Angelina to the pediatrician, since her left eye had been crossing a little too much. Surprise ! The pediatrician told us we had to take her *immediately* to the local Children Hospital ( one of the best in Italy) for an eye specialist to see her right away.

So off we went, and after two buses, we managed to arrive. It all went rather smooth, if it wasn't for Angelina not really enjoying getting the "drops" in her eyes, an she had a dislike for the doctor and for what he was doing to her eyes, and she let him KNOW about it...

After 15 minutes of screams, she calmed down, and the doctor told us she needed glasses ( isn't that ... wonderful ... ) How on earth are we going to keep GLASSES on *her*, I really do not know. Oh, well. She also needs to have the "good" eye with a patch for 3 hours a day, and after 4 months, another checkup visit.
Another two ( or was it three ? ) buses and we got home, just on time for lunch....

See ya tomorrow !.

What to do, what to say ... ?

Oh, my .. It is mid-November, already, and this is the first post.

I promised to have this thing up and running sometime in August, a whooping 3 months ago. You all must think Italy gobbled us up, and we disappeared in a black hole, somewhere.

Nope, we are still here. Thanks to the "customer-disservice" of the main Italian phone company, Telecom, we have been waiting since August the 11th for a DSL line to be installed, but so far, nothing, nada, niente.

Internet Points in town are few, expensive, and sometime with weird hours or even weirder customers... Anyway, the local city library finally got up to the 21st century, got a sweet wi-fi "reading room", just acroos the streeet from a local old-timer snack place ( more will follow, and it is worth it, trust me...)

So, here we are, back in cyberspace from Trieste (Italy) , the town I grew up in, trying to spend some (quality) time in the old-continent...

More tomorrow, for real!