Conversation in the car

I would insert pauses in this conversation, but there really were none.

[Following a conversation in which we discussed Maya's favorite "M" word, which she refused to tell me.]

Maya: You can guess my favorite "F" word.  It ends in "Y."
Me: Fly?
Maya: Nope
Me: Fry?
Maya: Nope
Me: Furry?
Maya: Nope
Me: Fuzzy?
Maya: Are there ox in Texas?
Me: Ox?
Maya: Yeah.
Me: Um, actually I don't know.  We could look that up when we get home.
Maya: Are ox mean or friendly?
Me: I imagine they could be either.
Maya: Oh! We went on a field trip today!
Me: You did?  Where did you go?
Maya: To Africa.
Me: Oh!  How did you get there?
Maya: We took a bus.
Me: A bus across the ocean?
Maya: Yeah, it was a special bus that can float.
Me: Oh.  What did you see there?
Maya: We saw giraffes.
Me: Oh?
Maya: Yeah, but it was scary because the giraffes tried to eat us.
Me: Really?  I thought giraffes ate leaves.
Maya: These were special kid-eating giraffes.
Me: Oh, that is scary.  How did you get away?
Maya: We fed them some leaves.
Me: Oh. What else did you see?
Maya: We saw ice cream growing on trees.
Me: Really?  On trees in Africa?  How did it stay cold?
Maya: It had sticky stuff on it to keep it cold.

[As an aside.  I assume Maya meant "ox."  Maybe she meant "auks."  In either case, I think she thinks it is spelled "oks" and that the word is plural; she did use the word "ok" (pronounced "auk") to describe a single ox.]

Lists for Amy

So Amy asked me to put together a list of things we missed about the US but didn't realize until we got back.  I appreciate the assignment actually, because it made me actually take some time to reflect.  People keep asking how we're adjusting to being back, but it's really been smooth.  Like we were never gone in many ways.  Though every once in a while, something becomes apparent that we really miss about our time in Italy.  So my single list morphed into a set of lists instead:

Things we missed about the US but didn't realize until we got back:

• Maya's school.  It's truly superb.  Her Italian kindergarten was also great, but we were quickly reminded as to how thankful we are to have found Bluebonnet.
• NPR
• Potbelly's Farmhouse Salad
• My hair conditioner (though, to be fair, I purchased it in Iceland...)
• Our bed (what do you want me to say?  It's a nice bed.)
• Right turn on red
• KGSR
• Amazon (Prime)
• The Y
• [UPDATED] CTAH: Tim missed both working and his co-workers (though they would never hear him admit it...)

Things we knew we missed while we were gone and were glad to have back:

• Our puppies
• Our family
• Our friends
• Our clothes dryer
• Our kitchen and everything about it
• [UPDATED] Eating out before 7pm

Things we didn't miss about the US and were unfortunately reminded when we got back:

• Austin traffic.  Sigh.
• Poor quality restaurant food.
• Smartphones.  I thought I missed my smartphone.  I was wrong.  Maybe I should get rid of it.
• Stuff.  We have a lot of it, and clearly we can do without much of it.  We're slowly cleaning out.

Things we miss about Trento/Italy:

• Our friends
• Walking to things from our home
• The food.  Seriously.
• The pace of life (though this may have been significantly impacted by the fact that only one of us was working...)
• The huge number of things to do nearby.  We're being more deliberate about seeking things out in Austin now.

Hiking in Bastrop

Tuesday was Tim's day off, and the weather was gorgeous.  So we drove out to Bastrop State Park for a little hiking.  As surely everyone who's reading this knows, while we were in Italy, large portions of Central Texas were devastated by wildfires.  Bastrop State Park, unfortunately, was one of those areas.  The fire clearly ripped through the forests here in the park VERY quickly.  There is still a LOT of work to be done (and clearly many people working tirelessly) to get the park cleaned up and the hiking and recreation areas safe for visitors again.  However, in early December, a fair portion of the hiking trails in the park were reopened, so we wanted to go and see for ourselves.  It was beautiful in its own way, obviously sobering, and also hopeful.  And it was a great learning experience for the entire family, it turns out.  And it was a great way to spend such a beautiful Texas winter day.  We followed our hike with lunch on the deck of a nearby burger joint.

Dancin'

My parents gave Maya her Christmas presents before they left to spend the holiday in Chicago.  They got her a Dora dancing game for the Wii.  Maya loves it.  Here's a sample.

Christmas

Here's a smattering of photos from the last couple of weeks, including Christmas yesterday.  Maya and I got dressed up to go to see Beauty and the Beast; it was a great opportunity to take some photos with the Christmas tree.  Our Christmas celebrations were great.  We spent some great time with family and friends, who all showered love (and presents) on Maya.  All was a great hit!  Santa brought Maya a new art desk and lots of art supplies... and Mr. books in her stocking.  That was a huge hit.

Newsletter

Every year when I put together our family newsletter, I reflect and think, "Wow.  What a great year we've had.  This is the best one yet!"  And, yet again, it's true.  We've had a wonderful year, filled with great new experiences.

I'm still doing research and teaching at the University of Texas at Austin.  My research has been really exciting lately (at least to me), and I'm doing some really cool projects related to pervasive computing (the idea that there are computers everywhere in your environments, and interacting with them is becoming increasingly transparent to our daily activities).  I love doing it. And I love teaching, too.  So that's all great.

 

Tim's still at Central Texas Animal Hospital, where, to my understanding, he does sundry things to dogs and cats.  It's a fabulous place to work, he loves his co-workers, and he loves his job.

Maya's a blossoming pre-schooler/pre-kindergardener/kindergardener depending on which month and location she is in.  One of Maya's favorite activities this year was dance class.  She's matured quite a bit this year and has really become quite an opinionated conversationalist.  Her insights on various things are also interesting, sweet, and funny sometimes.  She's also super photogenic.

We did some significant traveling this year, too.  In May, we took a two-week trip to Hawaii.  The first week was a pure family vacation that we spent on Kauai.  It was perfect for us.  We did some hiking, saw a canyon, laid on some beaches, and just had an all around relaxing time.  The second week, we spent in Honolulu, where I had a conference, and Tim and Maya partook of some more vacationing.  We also all saw Pearl Harbor together.  It was really one of the most lovely trips we've taken in some time.

In June, Tim and I went to Reykjavik, Iceland.  I admit, Iceland had never really made it on my radar of places to visit.  But, again, I had a conference there, and, after just a tiny bit of research, it was clear that Tim would tag along.  The types of things we planned to do there (hot mineral springs, long hikes, scenic drives, glacier walking, etc.) didn't seem like the kinds of things that were particularly great for a kiddo, so Maya stayed home with her grandparents.  The trip was amazing.  It's actually surprisingly easy to get to Iceland from the US, and the country is so small and beautiful, it's really easy to see amazing things.  I highly recommend it.

But the biggest event for us, clearly, were the four months we spent late this year in Italy.  I went on a research sabbatical to visit the University of Trento in northern Italy.  Tim went along as a "veterinarian on vacation."  And Maya came along as a kindergardener.  That's right, while I got an amazing amount of work done in decreased working hours, Maya went to Italian school, and Tim did some sightseeing on his own.  Maya created her own blog to describe her adventures, and she even learned a decent amount of Italian in school.  Tim took thousands of photos.  He also broke his hand playing basketball, but it healed up before we came home.  We returned to Texas shortly after Thanksgiving, but not before actually cooking a Thanksgiving feast (along with one of our hosts, who is an American living in Trento) for some intrigued Italians.

We're definitely glad to be settling back into our life in Texas, though there are many things we miss dearly about our time abroad.  It was a truly amazing way to experience a different place, and so indescribably different than simply vacationing in a new place.  For a short time, we actually lived in this new place.  We had a routine, Maya had school, Tim was friendly with the vegetable guy.  It was truly the experience of a lifetime.

I have no idea what another new year will bring us, but since each year has a habit of beating the previous one, we're really looking forward to 2012.

Milan: Day 3

Our third day in Milan was also our last day in Italy.  We started early in the morning with tickets to see the Last Supper.  We had intended to skip this, but our friends convinced us that we really must see it, and we were glad that we did.  From the church that houses the Last Supper. we headed to the museum of science and technology (MUST).  It was fabulous.  They had great exhibits on electronics, communications, Apple, Leonardo da Vinci, musical instruments, airplanes, trains, boats, and LOTS of other things.  All three of us had a great time.  After the museum and a quick lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a nap.  For dinner, we had picked out a highly rated pizza and pasta spot, but on the way, we passed a restaurant specializing in cuisine from the Alto-Adige, and we couldn't resist one last canederli.  We were not disappointed.