I suppose it’s time for my second blog post now that week 2 has come and gone! Its funny, settling into a place, realizing the gravity of your choices, and also making necessary adjustments to a new lifestyle, culture and location. I’ve noticed my hair and skin adjusting, my demeanor maybe too. It’s good though, and I’m happy all of these small changes are happening as I begin to get more settled.
During the week I did find a lot of time to write and observe, I can share some of those things with you, along with some of the pictures they go with.
I have really been struggling with finding “meaningful” things to do during my free time during the days, and I don't think it will get better once the girls are in school. I gotta start networking or doing SOMETHING very quickly. I have been trying to do normal things that I do maybe with more intent, or trying to let myself enjoy things I wouldn't normally have time for. I spent an hour the other day making a mandala out of the rocks, or letting myself color, etc. Maybe I’ll try and make websites for every small business in Bordi because none of them have any and it drives me nuts, literally they don’t have opening and closing times on Apple, okay rant over. I’ve thought about making a poetry book, or trying to sell my photography maybe. I could start writing a book, who knows. I want to make jewelry out of the rocks on the beach because each one of them captivates me, they have the coolest patterns and designs in them. I need something to do, please leave a comment with your ideas! I’m going to do yoga every day, in addition to the 15,000 steps I’ve been doing everyday on my walks with wine.
I have been trying, and obviously will continue to learn the language during my free time which is definitely a task in itself. I found a podcast series that has been helping a lot, along with a bilingual book that I bought at the book festival this weekend!Speaking of learning Italian, I learned a hilarious term I thought I would share with you all. “Piantala” which means, ‘pack it in’ is my favorite expression that I’ve learned so far. I could not stop laughing when Bea told it to me. We use google translate a lot when we don’t know words, and I was having her save some for me to use that would be helpful she was showing me how to say “stop” which is “smettila”. She goes “oh this is a good one” and writes, “Piantala”- i just love the expression and get a hilarious visual everytime of someone just packing their attitude and all their baggage up and walking out. I just love that its a widely used expression here.
This week started out amazing, Ari was an angel all day on Monday, we went on a nature scavenger hunt, we had lunch and spent some time at the beach before a nice family dinner. I think most of the days actually echoed this pattern nicely. The family left for Madrid on Friday morning, very early, so i spent the day in Sanremo for my first time! It’s a super cute little town, lots of walking streets with shops and a beautiful “old town”. I love walking through these steep, cobblestoned roads with all of these tiny doors and old steps and cracked paint, there’s something incredible about it. People have lived in these homes for hundreds of years and I’m sure that they’re all a fun little community.
Yesterday I spent the day in Monaco, which is technically France, so that’s kind of fun to say! The beach was also beautiful there, as was the city. It was much harder to understand and communicate in French, but I made it through the day.
Thanks for reading again!
