when in rome...

stay in rome...as long as you can...you will not want to leave...

so anyways, this is us: in front of the trevi fountain, making our wish (can you guess what it is?) and what you can't see is the hundreds of people crammed in next to us, doing the same. i know, i know: i was that person!! can you believe it? i was a bit suprised at myself, and greg rolled his eyes, but i rolled with it, and had no shame in doing the touristy self-portrait with my cell-phone. hence, it is blurry and dark. it is not a great photo. there is even another person in it. but it still caught the rare moment of the three of us, together, and it captured the memory.

we can say: "remember that time when..." and we are all included in the inside joke. we can laugh at the memory, and we were all there. no one left out.

and now when francis complains it is hot outside, i can rightly say: "what??!! are you kidding me? this is NOT hot. you have seen hot. remember that time in rome when you clung to inches of shade, moaning: "how many degrees hot is it?" now THAT was hot!..." and then i freely laugh at him. (ok ok, WITH him!)

ah, rome: missing it already.

so that's it for now...
one photo, one snippet...
stay tuned, more to come...

home again home again jiggety jig

can you believe it's august???

well, we nyssens are back state-side, for about a week now. francis and i returned and received a welcome home present of: the flu. puking and out of commission for about a week. greg came home during that as well, exhausted, and a little under the weather after his week in india, with spicy indian food, and lots of it, for three meals a day! but he survived it quite well, i should say, and we are slowly getting back on track to life as we know it in seattle.

there shall be stories, in snippets, and there will be photos, someday, but for now i will say that it was entirely wonderful and exhausting. and worth it. and we are glad to be home.(except for the fact that we'd rather be in rome!) if anyone's wondering how it was traveling with a 10 year old: francis was absolutely great! (despite the fact that we are going thru the "terrible 10's" right now, and have to deal with some wannabe-teenage attitude lately...on the trip he did very good.) he was old enough to keep up with us, often til midnight every night, he carried (er, wheeled) his own luggage, needing only our help up and down the many many subway stairs we encountered along the way. he didn't need naps, and often had more energy than we did by mid-day. he thought every single thing we saw was "AWESOME", and he's at an age where i'm hoping this trip lasts as a wonderful memory. also, not being a teenager yet, he was still entirely content with our company, except when he saw kids playing at the beach, or park, and would ask us: "how do i say: can i join you? in italian?" and we would look it up in our book, he would memorize it and run off, loudly announcing "non parlo italiano! posso giocare anch'io!" (i don't speak italian! can i join in?) and the kids would then either practice their grade-school english on him, or just play side by side, chattering away in italian, but play often needs no translation, when there's smiles and sandcastles...

we were totally content to not even try to do everything.

we went to: rome, venice, the cinque terre, marseille, paris, dover (that was francis' pick) and london. and even that, in 18 days, was alot. we wished we had stayed more days in rome. i think that was a definite favourite.

we stayed out late, and could not get up early, no matter how hard we tried. in italy, we ate paninis, gelato, and pizza every day and didn't tire of it. i really loved ordering cappucinos, and practicing my limited phrase-book italian, and the italians were very happy to watch us try. francis even picked up on the tonal influctions, and would announce "grazie mille!" with enthusiasm, and they got a kick out of that.

in france, i had a much harder time with the language, and left most of the communicating up to greg, seeing as he took french in high school. not one single word is pronounced the way it looks! and they weren't as happy as the italians to watch us try. but, despite their reputation, and some of our own experiences with rudeness, we encountered many friendly french that proved they can't be stereotyped. maybe it was traveling as a family? i don't know. but we had fun wandering the streets, eating crepes, baguettes, croissants, and "cafe cremas"...

we traveled on foreign trains, planes, busses, ferries, boats, subways...everything an adventure. i am sorry to report that i did not cope as well as i would have liked, i was not as easy going as i remembered either, and i became a bit of a frantic spaz when it came to making our connections. we had some frustrating moments, dealing with the "lost in translation" language barrier, and always winging it. but that should be expected i guess, and i remember the vacation being wonderful, so it must not have been that bad!

anyways, real life beckons at this very moment, the sun is shining, and i must get outside. more to come later...

au revoir

it has been so very long since i've posted, and i thought that before i leave, i should tell you where we are going. the nyssens are embarking on their first ever, out of the country, family vacation. we are going to england, france, and italy for three weeks, and after that, greg is going on a week-long business trip to india. exciting! so, that is what i have been busy doing these past few months, and why i have not been blogging, or cooking, or cleaning (much!) i have been trying to plan a short-notice vacation, in the peak of summer, with the abysmal overseas dollar, and all that. i have reinforced how much i love, LOVE google. the world wide web truly is an amazing thing. if you have a question, surely someone else has had the same one. you type it in, and get all sorts of answers. it truly is a technological feat that connects the people of this big wide world and makes it a small one. how does one get to Nice, France from the Cinque Terre, Italy i wonder? i just plug it in and get results. it's truly amazing. i have been reading the lonely planet guide books. reading about cities, choosing destinations, researching train time-tables, booking B&B's with people who don't speak very good english, but better english than i speak italian. and on and on and on...

we leave in two days, and it really hasn't sunk it yet...still so much to do. but i am starting to let the excitement seep in, and hope to be fully relaxed once we touch ground on the other side.

so this is au revoir for now...

we wish you all a wonderful, hot and sunny july!

see you in august!

ready or not...

what can i say? somehow the time has just flown, and francis is done with school in 6 days. crazy! and yes, he is counting down! i think we are ALL ready for a summer that will hopefully dole out some sunshine, because, let me tell ya: it's been scant around here!

we've had weeks and weeks of gray, and rain, and baseball games rained out, and then the make-up games rained out...i don't know if seattle knows that it's actually june, i think it thinks it's still april, and May wasn't much better. (sigh) but one good thing was we didn't feel guilty for all the movies we've been seeing! perfect for rainy days! iron man, prince caspian, indiana jones...all in one month, and summer not even officially here yet! what a summer for the kids! we thoroughly enjoyed these movies along with francis, who was literally on the edge of his seat, every time!

i'm trying to wrap things up before school is over, and that means: all my spring cleaning that i procrastinated on is now a mother-lode chore! i've got post-it notes cluttering up the kitchen, and when i get to take one down and throw it away: success! you'd think that with all these gray days we've been having, that i'd be done by now, but no: when it is gray outside, it does not inspire me to clean. it inspires me to read and drink coffee and be lazy, and so i did manage to finish the lord of the rings trilogy. but when it is sunny, and the apartment is bright, THAT is when i get the gumption(sp?), the energy, and the will to get some things done. strange, i know. most people like to go outside when it is sunny, and i do too. but i also like to clean when it is sunny. so, i finally cleaned our bedroom, where the dust had been forming a nice solid layer (so gross!) and it felt so nice to sit and read in a clean, and tidy room, with the sun shining. francis was in a reading marathon, and could not put down "the Hobbit" until he was done. that's been so nice to see: him getting so into reading a book that he doesn't want to do anything else. he is now halfway done with "the fellowship of the ring" and wants to finish all three books this summer!





francis helped me spray-paint a big iron outdoor coffeetable, that we collected for free off the side of the road. it was rusty, but we cleaned it, and sprayed it down with this rustoleum paint, and now it looks as good as new. when the sun shines in our "back yard", we like to sit back there and eat and drink and read and play... (more pics on flickr)





on memorial day, after a glorious sunny saturday and sunday (it was a 2 day special only) it was back to gray, so i thought going to the zoo would be a nice distraction. i naively thought it wouldn't be crowded; wouldn't everyone be at home, enjoying their families and having BBQ's? nope! everyone was at the zoo, too! not our cup of tea. we like the zoo all to ourselves, so we did not stay too long. too crowded. too loud. even francis commented on it. we must have tainted him with our own preferences, because pretty soon, he wanted to go home, too. but we did get to visit the new creatures at the zoo: the flamingoes. they cracked francis up. you'd think they'd be a nice, quiet, regal bird, as beautiful as they are, in their familiar one-legged stance. but no. we were shocked at how noisy and feisty they are (they honk like geese), fighting constantly for food, and their whole area stank like a cooped-up bird house, even tho it was a brand-new habitat, and outside. startling. but they were still beautiful. i think it must be God's sense of humor to give such a boorish, pushy bird hot-pink feet.



and maybe it's because he's an only child, or maybe it's because he's still really just a kid, francis really wanted a stuffed flamingo. huh? i was suprised because what 10-year old boy wants a pink stuffed animal? but i caved, because first thing that popped into my head was suprise, and then "he's probably not gonna be asking for stuff like this very much longer." so many times he can get under my skin, acting like a pesky wannabe teenager, trying out attitude to see what it does... that when he is acting like a kid: i just want him to be a kid! and do kid things.so i said yes. and of course, he carried that flamingo around all day. (someday: he's going to be really embarrassed by these pictures! haha! but thankfully, not yet...)

bright like yellow

school days

here's my little british schoolboy. for multicultural week at school, the kids gave presentations of their family heritage. we have no trinkets or traditions, sad to say, from greece and finland, (and other various scandinavian countries on greg's side of the family,) and were really at a loss for what to do. finally, last minute, i suggested to francis that he choose great britain: i spent a few years of my childhood there, and have trinkets and memories in abundance. greg has been there too, and has much fondness and memories as well. so francis was very excited to do that. he wanted to wear my school uniform's coat and scarf, (which hasn't changed) and chose black pants and a blue checkered button-up shirt, to look like the boys school uniform. very clever! we then scoured our house for british souvenirs, which was quite easy. he brought a ribena can (my favorite drink), a smarties pack, a toy double-decker bus, a london mug, a tote bag of the london underground, and some photographs of me in my school uniform from when i was about 7 or 8. but i sadly couldn't find any coins. (i know i have some somewhere.)he was very cute giving his presentation. he had interviewed me on things that are different in the UK, things that a kid would be interested in. the kids in his class were very surprised to hear that if they lived in england they would all be wearing uniforms, would most likely have tea-time at 4 o'clock, and their favorite drink would probably be black currant! they didn't even know what black currant was! also, francis shared the sad plight of the double decker bus, and the iconic telephone boxes, to also show that many things are indeed changing. (modernity! ever forwards and upwards!) strangely, top on his list of places to visit someday, next to london, is Dover! he saw on special on tv about it recently, and has been talking nonstop about it. (the WWII museum, the castles, the cliffs!) then i really surpised him even more by (serious digging this time) finding my chalk rocks from dover that i had stored in a jar, which i found way back under my bed. needless to say, he was very impressed. i do hope to take him there someday...we're workin' on it.

hoping for a brighter may

well. my brain has been on overdrive these past few weeks, with no time to write. may day (the first of may) completely slipped past me without my usual celebration of waffles (in memory of the may day i celebrated in germany many many years ago.)many people in the world celebrate may day, but we americans do not, it would seem. for us, may day is an exclamation of danger: "may day! may day!" --where did that come from?

i realize i forgot to comment on our anniversary dinner at teatro zinzanni: let me say it was excellent, and well worth the money for a special night out. we were pleasantly suprised. i think we thought "dinner theatre" would be a little bit of comedy, a little bit of magic tricks, etc, trusting it to be entertaining, but really had no idea the grandness of it all. it was more moulin rouge-y than circusy, with only one american in the troupe, the rest hailing from russia and europe. people who have spent their lives in training. trapeze acts, contortions, illusions, mime, all very "old world european" and all following a thread of storyline. (my favorite was a girl who was the marionette puppet of the magician. amazing and endearing!) so yes: it was a very good time! and the 5 course meal was also delicious! we do highly recommend it!



i went and saw "baby mamma" with some girlfriends on opening night (VERY funny, by the way!) and it was filmed in philadelphia. in one scene, they're getting walk-up philly cheese steaks, and i don't know what came over me, but i got such a craving for philly cheese steaks like i have never had. in all my 6 years living here, i have not once ventured a philly cheese steak; call me a purist but i never saw any need to attempt seattle's version of a philly cheese steak. i guess that makes me a philly cheese steak snob. but this craving would not be subdued. it was all i was thinking about, so...on saturday night, our actual anniversary, (we did teatro zinzanni on sunday night) we decided to try and find some. the night was oddly balmy after a gorgeous warm and sunny day. i googled for seattle philly cheese steak, and decided to try this place: which claimed to be "most authentic philly-style cuisine west of south street" . but i will say this: i think i have satisfied my craving until i am ever in philadelphia ever again. i was talking to my sister on the phone, sharing with her my agitation and disappointment, and she said: "i mean, really, how hard is it to make a philly cheese steak right?" i mean, it's so easy. first you need a nice hardy roll, not a hot dog bun. then you fry up the thin meat, and ripple it onto the bread, do not hack it into tiny pieces! then top it with grilled onions and peppers, that are soft and succulent, and simmering in a nice tidy pile off to the side of the grill. do not dice them up and fry them with the meat, for the meat takes only minutes, and the onions take much longer. finally, the biggest no-no of all, do NOT place the cheese unmelted UNDER the meat, hoping the meat will melt it! what??? the crowning joy of the philly CHEESE steak, is all the wonderful melted cheese ON TOP of the meat, and is it's most best when the bun is toasted! i was so frustrated, i wanted to step behind the counter and show them how to really do it. and they called this sloppy joe of a cheese steak: "authentic"?? authentic what??? (sigh) so sad.

we walked off our meal strolling through the park, in capitol hill. it was unseasonally warm, and it reminded me of new york. we talked of life, summer, traveling, parenting, wishes for francis...

greg always manages to catch me making a funny face...



but that's ok. here is greg's version of a smile! haha



confession: i have started to excercise for the first time in many many many years. you may be shocked by this unless you remember that i am very very lazy. definitely too lazy to go to a gym. i do walk my boy to school everyday, but that doesn't really count because i don't think it actually burns any calories. jennifer informed me that i have free excerise tv on my cable channels, so now i have been "working out" when i get home in the morning.(i even dug out my "run,lola, run" cd to aid in this effort!) well, today was only my 8th day, but i am going to try really hard not to give up. i really want to stick it out until francis is out of school. my goal is sadly: vanity. i am thinking ahead to bathing suits & summer (sigh) so this is something to busy myself with.

francis is thoroughly enjoying our reading of "the fellowship of the ring" and i am, in my own reading, half-way thru book three: "the return of the king".

side note, and totally unrelated: i found my childhood school on the internet. (isn't the world wide web an amazing thing?) i still have my uniform, my little straw hat, my blazer... and the uniforms are still the same, almost thirty years later...