Udinese Calcio vs. AS Roma

Prior to coming to Italy I talked a big game about going to soccer/football/calcio matches. Udine is a medium-sized city about an hour east of us and they have a Serie A (top flight Italian league) team, Udinese Calcio. We watched some games on ESPN3.com while still in Altus and had big dreams of going to Champions League matches when they finished 3rd in 2011/2012. But Udinese flamed out of the qualifiers, and after being here over a year we still hadn't gone to a single game, let alone watched one on TV given that we lost our ESPN3 access and we don't have satellite TV here.

Thankfully, Greg Trifilo, a family medicine physician and a great friend of ours, gave us a swift kick in the rear this summer about getting season tickets. One Saturday in late August Greg, Ben Crandall (pharmacist), Isaac and I drove out to Stadio Friuli in Udine and obtained our "Udinese My Passion" tifoso (fan) cards, necessary for buying the season tickets. Our first game was against Bologna, which was a 1-1 draw. Isaac and I then went to the Cagliari (from the island of Sardegna) game which we won 2-0 (Greg and Ben were in Assisi seeing Papa Francesco).

At the Cagliari game Udinese's star player, Antonio "Toto" Di Natale scored a free kick in our corner of the stadium and ran over in front of our section to celebrate. We were loving it and texted Greg & Ben to make them jealous. I mean, the Pope, or calcio? Come on.

But Oct 27 was the big game against AS Roma. Roma had not done so well the past few years, but this year they are destroying people. They came into the match undefeated with 24 points from 8 games, while we had a measly 10. But they were without Totti, their captain, and they were coming to our turf. We had high hopes.

Here is Isaac with the pitch and Stadio Friuli grandstand in the background. We sit in the cheap seats. Notice the umbrellas. It was drizzling at kickoff and we were all sitting with our heads uncovered. An older Italian gentleman sitting behind us tried to give us his spare umbrella. When we refused he told us we were going to all become deathly ill from being wet and cold (it was about 60 degrees F). Ben laughed and told him that he was a pharmacist and that Greg and I were physicians. The guy made the sign of the cross over us, supposedly to ward off the evil spirits that cause illness, and left us alone. Classic Italian moment.

Ben, Greg, and Isaac moments before the match began. Check out how stylish Ben & Greg are with their Udinese scarves. The gentleman in the top right corner with the black hooded jacket was our erstwhile umbrella pusher.

Here you can see the Udinese squad in black & white stripes just breaking from their pre-game huddle. Their nickname is "Le Zebrette," the Zebras. The Roma players are on the other side of the field in red jerseys with white shorts. Their nickname is "Le Lupe," the She-Wolves, after the famous mother wolf that nursed Romulus and Remus.

 Not quite sure what is going on with Isaac's face here, but I was happy to be there!

This video tells you everything you need to know about Serie A. The fans inside that caged-in area are the Roma "Ultras", the crazy tifosi that travel with their team, set off smoke bombs, wave flags with fascist slogans, and shout pro-Roma chants THE ENTIRE GAME. The noise you hear in the video is from them, not from the many more Udinese fans in the stadium. They have a conductor up front that stands with his back to the pitch and keeps them in sync with each other and lets them know which chant is coming next. It was impressive and intimidating. Those guys are nuts. They are caged in for good reason. Also notice the 8-foot wide and 10-foot deep trench going all the way around the cheap seats. No storming the field here.

At halftime we walked down closer to the pitch. It was 0-0 at that point, but it should have been 2-0 Udinese. We hit the left post only three minutes into the match and then had another golden opportunity flubbed by Toto, which rarely happens.

 Here Isaac is right down at the pitch level with the concrete trench just behind him.

This is the order in which we sit in our seats. Isaac and I both wear jersey #8, Dusan Basta, a Serbian midfielder who hussles like mad and is always sacrificing his body to win the ball. Greg wears #9, Luis Muriel, a Colombian winger and one of the promising future stars. And Ben has Toto Di Natale, the veteran captain and striker who wears the coveted #10 jersey. In retrospect, Isaac or I should have been Badu, an African midfielder who wears #7, and we could have been 7-8-9-10 in order. But honestly I would rather have #70, Maico Suel, another African who seems extremely talented but gets limited playing time for some reason.

Unfortunately, we blew another golden opportunity in the second half to find the back of the net. Even after #13 on Roma was shown his second yellow card and sent off at 65 minutes we couldn't manage to score playing 11 against 10 for the final 25 minutes. Down a man, Roma pressed, centered to US Men's National Team midfielder Michael Bradley, and Bradley unleashed a rocket into the left part of the net. The Roma fans went berserk. And they held the lead until the three minutes of stoppage time were up. Our first home loss in two years or so. What a bummer. Still, we had a fantastic time overall and consoled ourselves with fried scones dipped in sugar and slathered with Nutella from the carnival stands set up in the parking lot.

Next week: Internazionale di Milano, also known as Inter Milan, one of the most storied clubs in Europe. Can't wait.

Hey !YAY! Georgie Girl

Hey !YAY! Georgie Girl

This bright smiling face down there ↓ just had an AWESOME week at school.

We couldn't be more relieved, happier, more proud, or more excited about the little "click" that appears to have happened for Georgie sometime at the end of last week.   Last Thursday when Joey picked Georgie up from swimming, he found her talking with the really nice Italian lady who works at the front desk of the community pool.  She stroked Georgies hair and told Joey, "I love talking to her.  Her Italian is so good!  Really, she speaks it beautifully."  Georgie beamed.  Joey came home bragging about her to the rest of us and again, she beemed.  We rarely hear her speak Italian (why would we?).  Her teachers had told us that she spoke really well but that she was still a bit shy to use it.  She had confessed the same to me.  "I like talking to adults that I know or friends that I've had for a long time but I am shy talking to the kids in my class."  She and her American friend play alone at school, rarely getting involved in the big group games on the play ground.  Which is fine except that it shows that they are not yet fully integrated.  After the compliment that came from someone other than her parents or her teachers, Georgie must have decided that she was ready and comfortable enough for things to be different.  Before recess, she asked an Italian friend, Genevera, if she and Lana could play with them.  Genevera said, "yes!".  Ever since she's had a happy posse of girls, American and Italian, to play with and she feels comfortable at school!!  Just yesterday, once again, Joey found her talking to an Italian parent while she waited for him to pick her up from swimming and an Italian grandma complimented her "beautiful" Italian! 

We're summiting big mountains over here across the pond and it's a HUGE relief, especially for the kids, I'm sure.  Georgie has also made leaps and bounds in her ability to be responsible.  She follows through more with her tasks, helps out with Juliet, makes her bed almost every morning without being reminded, makes her own breakfast gladly and puts things where they go much more readily than before.  She is really growing up.  I reflect, a lot, lately on how much I worried about her, was stern with her, yelled at her or got frustrated with her, imagining she would always be an irresponsible 6 year old even when she was 20.  Through it all, Georgie has been pleasant and loving and generous, rarely sad or weepy, positive, and just all around cute!  The other night Joey and I were lying in bed talking about the kids.  When Georgie's name came up he sighed with such sincerity, reflecting on his time spent with her that evening driving her home from swimming, "...she's so cute," he said.  Amen;)  Love that Georgie girl!

xoxo
Ash

Isaac Bo-Bisaac

Isaac Bo Bisaac

As you recently read on the blog, Isaac eats fish eye balls.  But he also speaks some pretty awesome Italian.  For the past couple of months I have enjoyed the pleasure of driving Isaac and his Italian friend, Pierre-Antonio, to and from soccer practice every Tuesday night.  I drive down the road like a big dork with this huge, proud grin on my face because I can't stop smiling at hearing my son ramble off in a different language with his cute, chubby little buddy, Pierre.  It's freaking awesome!  He has full use of his sense of humor in the language, his accent sounds perfect (to me) and I love witnessing his total confidence with his friends. 

They frequently play a word game that really gets them tickled.  It goes something like this:  "Che facendo ora?", which translates into something like, "what am I doing now?"  and then the other one has to guess what the asker envisions himself doing.  "Ballaro"(dancing) or "Cantaro"(singing)...even if the word isn't supposed to end with "aro" they put that ending on it anyway and somehow that makes it all so funny to them.  And of course they always choose words like dancing, farting...funny stuff.  Half the time I don't understand what they're saying but even to me it sounds so funny! Another plus: Tonight they rocked out to "Get Down On It"by Kool and The Gang, which has a lot of repetition in it.  I overheard Pierre singing "Gedown a it" in total botched English.  And Isaac was totally giggling at/with him.  It was pretty funny!  

Isaac is completely fitting in at school now (phew!!).  He has his little posse and is happy almost every day when he comes home from school.  MOst of the time he can't wait to get back out the door to play soccer with his friend Alessandro who lives across the street.  At school he plays mostly with a cute kid named Phillipo but it sounds like he plays paper airplanes, makes club houses, has running races etc. with everyone from the three girls in his class to some of the 5th grade kids.  It's a nice change from last year...when we were all jumping all kinds of hurdles.  It's a steep learning curve, but I think he's over the hump.  POor guy climbed a lot last year!  Bravo Isaac!

Anyway, that's our Isaac update!

xoxo

Ash

Plitvice National Park, Croatia

We had been dying to get back to Croatia since our trip to the beach town of Baska on Krk island back in June. It seems as though everyone in Croatia is friendly and speaks English, plus the natural beauty of its coastline, rolling hills, and greenery is impressive. So on October 18th we loaded up the minivan and headed to Plitvice National Park. Several of our friends had been there and had raved about it. It is one of the oldest national parks in Europe, opening in 1949 shortly after the end of WWII.

The drive down took about 5 1/2 hours, and aside from a place on the border between Slovenia and Croatia that makes amazing veggie burgers being closed, it went pretty smoothly. Our DVD player has been broken for months but the kids were entertained listening to "Anne of Avonlea" on CD, having finished "Anne of Green Gables" on the French Riviera trip. That's what your kids listen to on road trips too, right Jake and Ashlee? I have to pretend like I'm not listening, but L.M. Montgomery just sucks you in to the drama of turn-of-the-century small town PEI.

We stayed just south of the park in Plitvice Miric Inn, a family-run place fronted by the daughter with the parents behind the scenes. Of course they were very friendly and their daughter spoke excellent English. She gave us the advice of parking at entrance #2 and riding the shuttle bus all the way to the top of the lakes then walking down.

This first lake is what we saw almost immediately after leaving the bus stop. 

An extensive network of wood-plank walkways travels around, through, and over the numerous lakes and waterfalls. It gives you the feeling of being right in the middle of a natural wonder.

This is an ode to the Mitch and Jodi Alley Family, although Cade was about twice Juliet's size when they took their Christmas picture. Father of the year right there. This is also an ominous sign of things to come.

Being there in Autumn was superb, with the leaves changing and falling, the weather not too hot or too cold, and plenty of time to ourselves especially in the early morning.

 A picture postcard around every turn.

And with cuties like these we went a little photo crazy.

 Here the kids are sitting on a tangled mass of exposed moss-covered roots along the trail.

Despite the natural beauty, Juliet could only stay entertained for so long, so we had to bust out the time-honored "tick-tock" maneuver to keep her happy at times.

One of the best things about being here, with the kids going to Italian school and traveling as a family so much, is that Isaac and Georgie have rekindled their extremely close relationship that they had started to lose during the last couple of years in Altus.

 These branches were hanging right out over the path and we couldn't resist the photo op.

 Gorgeous waterfalls in the background, but Juliet is starting to fade again.

 I love how the moss hangs down off of the cliff and looks like green waterfalls.

 We stopped here on a bench for lunch. Not a bad view.

The kids just hanging out a bit after lunch.

We packed up after eating and headed down the trail again. With the wooden walkways over the lakes we had been pretty vigilant with the kids, especially Juliet. But for some reason both Ashley and I wandered ahead of the kids as we started out. We had walked no further than 30 feet when Georgie let out a shriek of pure terror. "JULIET!" Ju-B had stepped off the dirt pathway and into the crystal clear water. It was pretty shallow and her head stayed above the water, but it was very cold and she was pretty shaken up. Plus, we had no change of clothes for her. Parents of the year.

You can see how far in she fell by the water marks. Thankfully it was warming up. Georgie had taken off her extra sweater and Juliet wore that as a shirt. Isaac took off his hoodie and we put Juliet's legs through the sleeves and zipped it up in back. Her socks and shoes were soaked so she went barefoot, but we put on her rain jacket to keep her warm. Isaac threw in his hat for good measure. The result? 

 As if the Europeans didn't think we were insane enough already.

 The CamelBak now doubled as a drying rack.

 We ended up carrying her the rest of the day, but it was still worth it.

The last waterfalls of the first half of the hike were especially stunning. We made it down to where we had started and from there boarded a ferry which took us to the north end of the park. From there we hiked down past more lakes and waterfalls to the "Big Waterfall," the largest in the park.

Part of the walkway was flat and clean enough to put Ju-B down in her socks which she had worn-dry. You gotta love how she has to hike up the sweatshirt so the hood doesn't drag on the ground. Classy.

 Still cute though.

There was a cave that must have been carved by falling water at some point, and it had been made accessible with stone steps and iron railings so you could climb from the water at the bottom to the top where the valley road was. I love this picture because Georgie is so genuinely afraid of what is living in the water inside that cave behind them.

We had to climb a fairly perilous, wet, steep staircase to get to this part of the cave, which Ashley did while holding Juliet in one arm. Awe-inspiring or foolhardy, I'm not sure, but I was proud.

 These are the switchbacks leading out of the cave to the path up above.

About this time Juliet had been through enough and decided to sack-out on my shoulder. She slept through the remainder of the hike, and although I enjoyed the admiring glances and "awwww" noises made in several different European and Asian languages as I carried her, my arms were on the limit at times.

 Crossing the lake to the Big Waterfall.

 "Awwww"

 Ju-B completely missed the Big Waterfall, which was a gorgeous and fitting end to our hike.

 We climbed back up to the path but couldn't resist some parting shots. 

 Juliet woke up in time to get a final shot of the fall foliage.

Since we had started early we got back to the hotel with plenty of time to make a rash decision: let's go to Bosnia! The border was only 15 minutes away. None of us had ever been to a predominantly Muslim or recently war-torn country before, so we decided to check that off of our list. That being said, we also barely got out of the car so the pictures are not the best.

 A mosque up on a hill.

 Bosnian countryside and window glare.

Although somewhat similar to Croatia, there was a noticeable change as we crossed the border. Namely in the color schemes of the houses.

We had researched a restaurant in Bihac, the border town, and had plugged it into Google Maps via Trip Advisor. We promptly drove up a dirt path and into a shocked Bosnian woman's farmhouse driveway. I had to do a twenty-point turn in her corn field entrance as she stared daggers at us from her porch. We fumbled around town trying to find the place sans directions but soon realized we were in over our heads. No one spoke English. We had no idea what the currency or exchange rate was (Bosnian mark, about 0.5 euro). We tried a roadside restaurant that was full of smoking men (try again) and then a roadside stand (no euro accepted), but failed at both.

I did not handle the failure well it must be said. The low point was when we made a wrong turn trying to get back to Croatia, couldn't find a place to turn around, and had to play a game of "chicken" with a drunk Bosnian man in the street. The Croatian border guard, seeing the times on our exit/entry stamps, asked me, "Did you eat some (insert Slavic food item here) in Bihac?" I blurted out, "No! We were too scared to do anything!" Ashley was mortified, partly because she wasn't sure if the guy was Bosnian or Croatian at first.

With our tails between our legs, we went back to the hotel and asked if we could eat there. They were very gracious and did not rub the failure in our faces. We met an older couple from Israel on a weeklong trip to Croatia at the table next to ours. He was from South Africa and she from Zimbabwe originally. Their daughter is married and living in Madison, Wisconsin, where they visit twice a year. He moved to Israel shortly before the Six Day War and has been there over 30 years. They have a granddaughter about Juliet's age that resembles her somewhat and they asked our kids all about living and going to school in Italy. They were somewhat shocked that we had driven down there just for the weekend.

The food was excellent. It started with homemade chicken noodle soup and a wine vinegar salad. Then they brought out this big platter of sausages, a whole fish, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, beans, risotto with peas, pasta, kale, zucchini, peppers, and a cucumber cole slaw. We finished everything except part of the fish and the potatoes.

Looking at that whole fish on Ashley's plate reminded me of a time in my childhood when we had come back from a fishing trip and one of the adults was dared by his buddy to eat the eye of a fish. I couldn't believe that he did it at the time. So I said to Isaac, purely in fun, "How many euro to eat the eye?" Isaac said, "Twenty." What? That was totally doable. But I pressed, "How about ten?" "Okay." I chickened out at that point and said, "No, Isaac, don't do it, that's disgusting." But Ashley put 20 euro back on the table and Isaac dug that eye out of that fish head, put it in his mouth, swallowed it whole, and chased it with a glass of water. Georgie and I almost lost our dinners. Ashley could not stop laughing. Way to go, buddy. You totally redeemed that evening after the Bosnia debacle.

Hats off to Ashley for planning, as usual, and to the kids for being very good hikers and travelers. All around it was a great weekend trip.