The Transition

It's been 5 days since we arrived in Rome and I finally have a minute to breathe and write down some of my thoughts. To say it has been busy would be an understatement, but a different kind of busy. Everything takes us longer, but probably because everything is different and new. Our apartment wouldn't have gas until Tuesday, so our hope was to buy everything we needed Monday, so we could move from the temporary to our apartment, then. Monday we didn't get out of bed until 12:30pm, and we didn't get to the mall until 2pm. Honestly - I don't remember much of what we did that day, I think we went to our apartment and unpacked a bit and probably went to the store. I do know that we really didn't get anything done. We went back to the temporary apartment that night, had dinner and got everyone to bed, but now on Italian time - aka - the kids didn't get into bed until 9pm. Tuesday I think we managed to peel ourselves out of bed around 10:30am. Everyday we get a little better, and shave an hour off of the time we wake up. The Italians all have these wonderful shutters on every window that completely block out light, so we've had to wake up the kids everyday. Naturally, Ryan and I have already talked about putting them on our house in the future. Tuesday we set out to go to the mall, hopeful to get to IKEA so we could move in. We needed to get Italian SIM card for our phones and set up internet at our apartment, so we did that first. We had to wait for Stephano to come with us to IKEA to translate, so we did some shopping at the mall. Got a few things for the house, then decided to check out the 2nd floor of Auchans. We found an iron, blow dryer, flat iron, clothes drying rack, a skillet, a few kitchen gadgets and some other things for the kitchen. After buying these few things, we knew our little Fiat would be full, and it was already 7:30pm. We dropped our things in our car and back into the mall for dinner. Wednesday we were determined to get into our apartment, so that morning we repacked all our stuff that was in the temporary apartment, loaded up what we could and took it to our apartment. We desperately needed to make an IKEA run- as we hadn't done our big shopping trip. This time we made it, and were lucky enough to do it without kids - thanks to Airane Woods. Here's what I had on my list : plates, cups, glasses, bowls, utensils, kids plates, cups and silverware, mixing bowls, strainer, pot holders, can opener, cheese grader, potato peeler, knives, pots and lids, skillets, cookie sheets, dish towels, dish rags, trash cans, place mats, clothes hampers, serving spoons, wooden spoons, cutting boards, ladle, spatula, rubber scraper, flour and sugar containers, hangers, broom and dustpan, 9x13 pan, bread pans, bathroom shelves, baskets, shoe organizers, bath mats, shower curtains, sheets, duvet covers, command hooks, kitchen counter/buffet, pantry shelving, pads for kitchen table chairs and table cloth. We were there 3 hours and didn't get it all. It was exhausting and slightly overwhelming. We filled 2 carts and could've done more. We picked up the kids and went back to our apartment. We went to work putting stuff away and trying to make our house into a home. At about 6pm, Ryan took Clark back to IKEA to get finish getting what we needed. I took Kate and the littles to the market near our apartment to get some food for dinner. This experience alone was probably the hardest thing I've had to do. It doesn't sound like it should be that difficult, but finding food to cook with in a foreign country is hard. When everything is in a different language, and you cant read labels, picking out milk becomes hard. Does it say whole milk? Is there such a thing as 2%? Then there's flour. Moses. Italians have 15 different kinds of flour.

What do all the differences mean? Are they made from different grains? Is it a baking flour that already has baking soda or powder in it? And what the heck does "00" mean? So you can imagine me standing there looking at the flours, trying to decide which one to buy while my kids are saying "Mom, I'm hungry". I decided to make pancakes and eggs - easy enough, right? But what else do I buy? Some sandwich bread, mayo, mustard, cheese and sandwich meat? Sure. Sounds good. It's hard to explain, but I was so mentally tapped out, that trying to think of food to make and ingredients to buy was so hard. I bought what I could fit in the bottom of my stroller, and we walked home. On a side note, Charly and JR figured out that if they said "Ciao" to people in the store- they would say "Ciao" back. It was quite entertaining. They just kept saying "Ciao Ciao" to everyone. It was 7pm when we got back home and now I had to start cooking. That was a chore in and of itself. All of my cook ware and utensils, were still in packages, so I was unwrapping the skillet, spatula and the hand mixer, while getting my recipe and opening the ingredients to make the pancakes. Only to realize I didn't buy sugar. Shoot, now what? Luckily I had brought some powdered sugar from home - so I used that instead. I finally get cooking and get the eggs and pancakes going - when the kids start asking for syrup. No such thing as maple syrup in Italy. No worries- I brought maple flavoring to make buttermilk syrup. Only I couldn't find buttermilk at the store, and I forgot sugar, remember? So I improvised with regular milk and that powdered sugar. Not my best buttermilk syrup- but everyone was so hungry they didn't even notice. We finally finished dinner around 8:30pm and now I had to get kids to bed.

Unwrap the towels, find the shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Finally got everyone to bed around 9:30pm, about the time that Ryan and Clark came home. After they ate and we got Clark into bed - I broke down and started to cry. I've never had to worry about what I was going to feed my kids - and that was terrifying. Not because I didn't have the money to buy food, but because I couldn't find the food I'm used to and couldn't even read the labels to find what I was looking for. Granted, I had other food they could've eaten, but, as a Mom, making dinner is one of the most basic duties - and I could barely do it. Each day is getting better and easier. As I learn my way around my new kitchen, new cookware, and utensils - it gets easier and I get faster. Another funny cooking mishap. I planned on making parmesan chicken for dinner, and got everything out to start cooking, only to realize I had no bread crumbs and no crackers to make bread crumbs. So lucky for me, my good friend Erin Merrill, made sure to pack my box of Nila Wafers, and I turned those into bread crumbs. The kids didn't notice, but Ryan noticed it was a little bit sweeter than usual. I do have so say one good thing about the Italian food- the produce is amazing. No USDA making farmers put a waxy preservative on the food. Everything is fresh. It tastes like the food out of my dad's garden. And the tomatoes. No wonder Italy is famous for it's tomato sauce. We have been eating cherry tomatoes like candy. Other things that have taken me longer to do because I am re-learning how to do it. Laundry. Oh boy. We have a machine that is a washer and dryer in one. I am not sold. For one, it's small, so the loads have to be really small. And I have still to figure out why everything comes out so dang wrinkly.

I'm going to have to iron everything. The laundry detergent isn't great, the water is really hard, and for some reason the clothes are shrinking. Ryan's socks that he's had for over a year, came out looking like they were Clarks. Looks like I'll be buying new clothes sooner than I thought. Blow drying my hair. First, I have to say that I am a creature of habit. I have been using the same blow dryer for over 14 years. When one dies, I buy the exact same one. When I would do my hair - that blow dryer was like an extension of my arms and hands. So having to use a new blowdryer, takes some getting used to. No dishwasher. Well, we have one, but is currently not working. Do you know how much time it takes to hand wash the dishes of 6 people 3 times a day? Too much. The Italians do have a nifty little cupboard for a drying rack. It does it make it nice to keep the dishes off the counter, and then you can close the cupboard and forget all about the dishes.

No microwave, yet. We have it sitting in the box on the floor in the dining room, just haven't had the time to get it out and plug it in. Plus, without my kitchen counter/buffet, I have no where to put it- it would just sit on the ground. You don't realize how much you use a microwave until you don't have one. Melting butter, reheating leftovers, softening coconut oil, ect. Again, a little more creativity - but so much more time! Modern conveniences really do save time! The last 2 days have been full of organizing, unpacking and trips to Ikea, Auchan's and Leroy Merlin (aka - Italian Home Depot). Anytime you move somewhere new, you discover all the little nuances of that place. For example, both shower heads were just old and crappy. Luckily for me, I have a husband in construction, so any little thing like that, drives him nuts and he has to fix it. Plus, the more you move in, the more you realize you need or don't have. Hence all the trips to the store. Now, since we only have one car- Ryan has been doing all the shopping for us. I'm not gonna lie- its been really nice not to have to run the errands. And I'm pretty sure Ryan is just about done fighting the crowds at the store, finding things for me, and assembling the stuff from IKEA. Luckily- had ordered all the furniture before we left, and was assembled by IKEA for us - its just been the little things like shoe racks, bathroom cabinets, extra kitchen chairs, ect. Through all these hard moments, I've made myself stop everyday, to look out my kitchen window and tell myself that I am living in Rome Italy - and that it's all worth it.

I am truly grateful for this experience and what we came here for. I just have to take a step back and remember that we have been given an amazing opportunity - to be a part of building a temple of God - and it doesn't get much better than that.