These months really fly by!
Our last two weeks in tenerife we really felt settled in there, the kids started having playdates, we went to other people's homes and socialized with locals, and we really treasured the beauty of the place. The weather was warming and the ice cold sea felt tolerable to swim in. We missed Lily and her family, but also experienced the island through new lenses.
Jacob's parents visited our last week there and we booked a whale watching tour- at first all of us thinking about whale watching in cape cod where it is quite boring on a big ship and then you finally see a whale in the distance but its too far to really know what it looks like- were skeptical. But we boarded a small speed boat with a marine biologist as captain and were sooo close to these whales/dolphins.
The kids really appreciated the Kaleide school they went to. At first shiloh said he wasn't learning much, but soon became more accustomed to the democratic school's way of learning- more self directed. The teachers were so warm and nurturing, the class size was small and mixed ages, and the kids spent much of the day outside climbing trees and jumping on trampolines. There was a farm next door and there were cows that often popped their heads over the fence. The kids really started learning more spanish, adira had some playdates with kids who didnt speak english and her spanish rolled off her tongue! The last week of school the kids voted on a trip and decided they wanted a sleepover at the school with the teachers- and that is what they did! Adira's first sleepover without one of us! On the last day they invited families to join and I cried from joy- it was just such a magical feeling to be part of such a loving and positive school. I feel so fortunate we got to experience it and that they all welcomed us for just two months to join them.
Jacob and I continued our weekly hikes in the area and ate at little tiny local restaurants, and we just really enjoyed our house there and the ease of it all. But we were ready for the next adventure!
Italy
Sardinia-
When we first decided on sardinia, i was like why are we flying all day to just go to a different beach- we have so many in tenerife. But when we arrived i realized. This place was gorgeous- i mean see through salty water you just float in, set alongside the sounds of sacadas in the grass. I took shiloh on a stand up paddle board tour where we had dolphins swimming right by us in the open ocean- the guide was so impressed by shiloh's stregnth and endurance that he said he would hire him if he wants to move there! Our favorite day was a boat we hired to go around the smaller islands and take us to secluded beaches- we jumped off the boat, went snorkeling and stand up paddle boarding and truly felt grateful. We were in Sardinia with jacob's parents and it was so wonderful to see the contrast of a 4 year old and a 92 year old both exploring the world! We have been so fortunate that many members of our family have met up with us along the way this year.
The kids were in heaven mostly because they were in love with the kids club there and soon after we arrived jacob and i were squirreled away in our room trying to figure out what to do this summer- in two weeks we were meant to be in Israel and the war with Iran was underway. Should we go, no we thought not, so what would we do? We were supposed to go in two weeks and we had no back up plans- our apartments and camps were booked. We decided to try to postpone the trip and stay in Italy longer- the camp in piemonte agreed to let us stay for another week and our airbnb was available to extend the trip- so we booked a flight a week later that was refundable. But what if a week wasn't long enough- our visa was ending and so we called a lawyer to see if we could have a case for extending longer- there was a war, we had two small kids- but apparently no that wouldnt work- we could go back to the US says the lawyer- so we couldnt extend further-This just pushed off the israel decision but we were so tired of making decisions and planning at this point that it felt best to do this.
When we flew from Sardinia to Milan we contacted a friend of Jacob's that I also became friends with while we lived in DC- Victoria- who we hadn't seen since we left DC in 2013 but who we knew lived in Turin because of social media. She was so generous and offered for us to stay with her when we flew in- even though they were moving houses that weekend! The kids had a blast connecting with her daughters- adira was in heaven playing dress up with their clothing- and although it was boiling hot- we loved reconnecting with her and her husband and learning about life in Italy for them.
Village Forest School and Piemonte
Back in Costa Rica when we were planning our summer I found this camp in Italy run by a school called Village Forest School. The camp runs in one week increments with different themes (we did food and farm and survival weeks), is run in English, and attracts an international crowd. As a waldorf school its all outdoors, and when we first arrived for the meet an greet the sunday before camp started and the kids ran into the meadow my jaw dropped- this is what childhood should be about is what i thought. The school has deeply rooted nutritional values: from their website: The snacks and lunch they are given are prepared largely following the Nourishing Traditions philosophy developed by Dr Weston A. Price, which emphasises the use of organic, natural, non-inflammatory and unprocessed foods to provide a balanced diet which recognises the importance of a healthy digestive system to physical and neurological development.
This obviously really grabbed me- a school invested not only in the education of the minds but the nourishment of the body! The camp is set up so that the families are also given ample opportunity to connect with one another- and since most dont live there people are really open to meeting others and it felt like a true community. Every morning J and I did a HIIT workout called hyrox with another couple from upstate NY that we became friends with- in some open field. The fields here looked like a classical italian painting with rolling hills and hay rolls. We then spent the rest of the day doing work while the kids were at camp learning, making, creating and playing- and after camp we would go for a swim, go to ice cream and get dinner- usually with a bunch of other families. We became friends with an israeli family, a family from Hong Kong, England, Dubai- it was really quite beautiful. And I loved that most people had similar values due to the waldorf style- low tech, mostly nature and nurture.
When I found this camp we were living in LaEcovilla and I realized that Celia, a friend there, had lived in Italy so I asked her if she knew about it- and low and behold this camp was her kids school! and they were moving back!! So when we got here we reconnected- and as she had in CR, she did acupuncture on me that my body just melted into. It was so wild to reconnect with someone we met at the beginning of our journey- and felt comforting in some ways as most of the connections we have met felt so temporary.
We had one weekend in piemonte and decided the day of to go to Lake Maggiore- and it was such a great decision. It was a vacation from travels as we stayed in a sweet hotel overlooking the lake. We spent our one day there swimming and then taking a boat to a tiny touristy island with just 20 inhabitants on it and met up with Jacob's old babysitter Adrianna who happened to be nearby in switzerland! All together we stumbled upon an art gallery walked up these narrow staircases and learned about an artist who lived there and created sculptures after melting plastic he found in the lake as a sort of act of advocacy against pollution- and unfortunately ended up dying from inhaling the fumes. This was a great reinforcement for my kids about why plastic is so terrible for us and for the earth and why we try to avoid it- as difficult as that is!
On our last day in piemonte we went with Nava and Bryan (our HIIT buddies) to the most incredible restaurant for lunch- set it in a majestic building with beautiful murals and impressive food- i'm still drooling thinking of it. And that night we headed up to the Milan airport to stay in a hotel before our flight the next day. Marta, one of our former au pairs met us there for a meal and it was the perfect send off!
The next day we flew to paris at 650am and got to our connecting flight at which point they said- sorry the flight to israel is canceled. Now this was our second flight canceled to israel, and we already had some cold feet about if we should go, and our visa! and so this felt particularly stressful. So we are in the airport and i'm trying to tell the attendants at the gate that we cannot leave the airport because of our visa and they are like its fine your flight was canceled- and i feel like no one is listening- so i start to really panic, and jacob and i begin to fight and the kids are running circles around us and punching my stomach and it all feels terrible. I run to the bathroom and realize that i got my period- in my ONE pair of underwear i have because our luggage is on some imaginary plane to israel- and its kind of comical but mostly unnerving. But we get out of the airport after a police officer essentially extends our stay a day, and head to the hotel that airfrance puts us up at- which essentially feels like you are living in a submarine. And after a few hours of the kids having pillow fights we manage to get ourselves together and take a train one hour to the Jardin Luxembourg. Where its just the perfect place to spend the afternoon- they kids race these antique toy sailboats, go on a carousel and play in a wonderful playground (that you have to pay for!! this is def not the socialist part of western europe)- while I go shopping for new underwear and keep being directed to lingerie shops that dont have anything nearly suitable for having your period. But after two chocolate crepes and a successful cotton underwear purchase we headed back to the hotel in time to get some sleep before the next flight the next day.
Israel
We arrived in Israel greeted by my parents in the airport and went straight to our apartment in Jerusalem that we were renting from a friend of my sister who was in the states for the summer. The kids were in heaven with having their own bedrooms- which has been rare this trip, and having some toys here to play with. We were supposed to be in Jerusalem because my good friend Maital was coming and our kids were going to go to camp together, and Jacob was going to study at Pardes- well those two things got canceled, and so now we were here but didnt really know anyone or have a purpose for coming particularly here.
The kids started camp at All Stars Israel- and it was a 180 from their waldorf camp in italy- they served bread and nutella for snack every morning, and gave them ice pops in flimsy plastic they were told to bite on to break open! My heart was sinking- was two weeks of nurishment enough to cancel out two weeks of terrible nutrition and microplastics everywhere? The kids adapted well, but said there was very little hebrew. I was struggling a bit, our apartment had a beautiful huge balcony- but on the other side was an extremely busy loud street. I missed the peace and quiet of piemonte. The beautiful drives in the rolling hills. There was english everywhere and I felt like i was on the upper west side. My kids came home and shiloh asked for a kippah since most kids were religious here, and adira didnt seem to notice still asking for her belly shirts :)
But i remembered that a friend from residency moved here and connected with her- we met up at the most incredible playground i have ever seen at gan sacher- and our kids played beautifully while we ate at the yummy cafe overlooking the playground. It was a special night and helped me realize a bit about why we are here- the next day we visited my aunt who lives 40 minutes to the other side of the city. She hadn't seen me or my kids in 7 years- so it was a treat for them to meet and to see her and my uncle again. For most of my life I came to israel every year, so seven years is a really long time. So much has changed in this time for me in my life, for this country and the people here...
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