Tutti Giorni

 Let's go over my schedule, to give you an idea of what I do here.

I wake up at 7:30 AM weekdays, get changed, wake the kids up, we eat breakfast as a family, and then I rush the kids to get ready for school. 

I walk them both to school, then I have an hour to clean my part of the house and wash/iron my clothes, before heading off to my school at 10:15.  I take the metro to Piazza del Duomo then I pass through Galleria Vittoria Emanuele, to La Scala, and arrive at Il Centro Lingua Scuola.  Such nice scenes to have as part of my daily routine!

Once I get home at 1:40 PM I eat lunch and have tea with the nanny, Alina.  (I found out she hates drinking water, just like me!  She says the Polish rarely drink plain water; only tea.)  Since she doesn't know English, I get to practice all the Italian I learn that day in school.  We have agreed to do a language exchange; I will start teaching her English as she helps me practice my Italian! :)

Then at 3:55 PM Alina and I leave to pick up Matteo from school.  We come home for merendo (a snack) and head back out at 4:25 PM for Sara.

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The kids have an activity for nearly every day, which keeps Alina and I busy along with them.

• Lunedì is pool day.  There is a small palestra (gym) nearby our church, Sant' Ildefonso, and right across from Alina's apartment. Sara's swim lesson is right after Matteo's so it's hectic but we have a system now.  Alina takes care of Sara (who takes forever to shower and dry her hair) and I run around with Matteo waiting for them.  Somehow I get some reading done in between.

• Martedì is English day!  We have three of the kid's classmates/friends over to the house for lessons with a teacher.  My job is to entertain the group of kids who are waiting for their turn, and Alina joins in to the lesson to learn with them.

• Mercoledì is catechism day for Sara, and gioco-sport day for Matteo.  From what I gather, gioco-sport is a mixture of fun sports.  It literally means "game sport".  I have been taking Sara to catechism class, but I want to see what this is all about one week.

• Giovedì is chill day.  There are currently no activities for Thursdays.  We play hide and seek and red light green light, they take turns riding on my back like a horse, and then we watch all of the "Mother Goose Club" nursery rhymes that I found on YouTube. They are really entertaining videos, and get the kids to sing along with me, in English!

• Venerdì is everyone's favorite day.  Sara usually goes over to a friends which allows Matteo and I to bond. So far either Simone or Daria's parents have visited us. It depends on the weather if we go somewhere or not.

After our activity for the day, Alina goes home at 6:30 PM and the parents arrive around 8 for family dinner.

• Sabato varies also, but it's spent with the whole family (including some type of relatives) no matter what we decide.

• Domenica is a close second to Friday for me.  I love going to church with the family and then spending the day relaxing together.  I've always loved my Sundays.