Morro Reatino- July 14

Aperitivo - Something cool and
something salty.

A Day Trip to Visit more Friends. We had scheduled a day trip with zio Morino to go visit a family that my dad was very good friends with. They live in a small town in the region of Lazio, called Morro Reatino.  We also visited a lovely nearby town called Leonessa. I posted sample pictures of both places. The good news for the kids was that they had a small bunch of little kittens, a gigantic dog (his name is Argo - more a lion than a dog in my opinion) and plenty of lizards to catch for Marco.

Leonessa

Alberto came last summer with Morino to our house for a month, so we reminisced a bit about the days in Canada and, once again, the differences between our two lifestyles. As you will see from our pictures (I hope to have some time soon to also post a nice video montage of the day) life here, especially in hot days like these last few ones goes at a different pace.  In comparison we go 200 km/h with our meetings, deadlines, submissions and workloads. I am working on a small contract with a college in Edmonton, and I just processed a short video clip talking about cultures and their different concepts of time. They are called monochronic and polychronic. One is set to deadlines, to the idea that schedules are necessary and important and that life beats at pre-determined paces. Time is money, in other words. The other has a more flexible idea of time, where more than one thing can and should be taken care of at one time, if unexpected things happen along the way, or if friends and people around us happen to interrupt our flow, it is ok. All will be attended to in its own time. I let you figure out which is which in my mind, when I converse and stop and reflect about the two cultures I am familiar with and belong to…

Corner of Morro Reatino

My vacation-mode time here is obviously different than the rushed pace at home, and the heat is a great criminal in this matter. We will reach 39 degrees tomorrow + 90% humidity. I let you draw the conclusions.

In the meantime we take a break from the traveling (I get to do more work at home, in the wee hours of the night, since I do not get much sleep anyhow) and we are back to more visits the next few days before the kids leave for Calabria with our friends Giovanni, Pino e Isabella. They will have one more exciting week by the ocean in another beautiful part of Italy (which part is not???) on their own, building new memories that they will bring with them forever. …and practicing ever more Italian in meaningful ways. Every year that passes by, the culture and the language become more a part of their identity – something that Nick and I truly believe in for their own growth as citizens of the world.

Do not forget to check the new pics.