Five years ago today I embarked on an adventure that would change the course of my life. Dramatic any? Oh yea. But it is also true. Five years ago today-on April 18, 2006-I bid a tearful goodbye to my mom, dad, sister, nephew and a culmination of 30 years of life as I’d known it....Read More
Although I’m still six or seven weeks away from being an official expat mamma, the stress, worries and insecurities have crept in and in addition to over-thinking diaper brands, bottle warmers and car seats, I’m perhaps even more concerned about our baby’s eventual bilingualism. Like many modern bi-cultural families, my husband and I want to...Read More
Earlier this year I wrote a post with five tips for surviving a long-distance relationship and interestingly enough, Google Analytics says a lot of people like it. Since this is my our anniversary week-yes, we are celebrating all week-I thought I’d revisit how we got here and offer some more tips for those of you...Read More
I started this post last week as part of the “My Favorite Things” series on traditions I love in Southern Italy, but old memories kicked in and well, that post got long. So, last week I told you about my first aperitivo in Calabria and today I’m going to elaborate on the “Aperitivo Experience,” something...Read More
I’ve been running down the list of some of my favorite southern Italian traditions and have covered the long, leisurely lunch and the nightly passeggiata. Today, we’re returning to the table, but before I tell you about this pre-meal, appetite-inducing tradition, I need to go back-five or six years, actually, and tell you about my...Read More
Italian is the most romantic, enticing language on the planet and lucky for us, many common words have immigrated into our world and are now part of our everyday language. However, many of those common Italian words and phrases are constantly mispronounced in English. While I’m not one of those expats who get all riled...Read More
I get a lot of hits and a good deal of personal emails from people who are either involved in a long-distance relationship with an Italian or are planning to tie the knot with a foreigner and want to talk to someone “who’s been there.” Interestingly enough, I’m actually the “foreigner,” in this relationship, but...Read More
Adjusting to life in southern Italy-without a drop of Italian ancestral blood in my veins-took a bit more practice than it did for my Italian-American counterparts. You see, I didn’t grow up eating seven fishes at Christmas or fearing the dreaded malocchio.Read More
You’d think having an Italian husband who speaks four languages and a father-in-law who is a retired Italian professor would help my quest to perfect the language. You’d think. The problem is, they think it is cute when I butcher their beautiful words and they take their sweet time correcting me on them.Read More
(This post was originally published on this site in May, 2007) Old Wives’ Tales. We’ve all heard them. We’ve all repeated them. We might even believe a few of them. Like, “Don’t play with fire or you’ll wet the bed,” which always scared me a little bit. Or, “Don’t cross your eyes or they’ll stay...Read More
