This past weekend, the family took a trip to the Italian countryside town of Urbino. Think fields of sunflowers and rolling hills with orange and yellow villas spotting them. It had landscapes from out of dreams, and the place we stayed out was a cute hotel that embraced the countryside feel.
Let me just say, both Alessandra and Guido are some of the nicest people, and they're incredibly generous to bring me along. That being said, I still cannot wrap my head around the disconnect between these extremely nice people and how their children can be such hellions.
I basically was left at the hotel with the twins all weekend long, and they were the most ill-behaved I've ever seen them: throwing food, lighting sugar packets on fire, dumping water on each other in the bathroom, grabbing each others' crotches... and all this at the dinner table in the hotel restaurant. Italians already stare more than Americans, and I was getting full-on dirty looks from the entire place. There was no controlling the monsters, and they were like this all weekend.
On top of this, I had gotten stop-the-car-I'm-going-to-barf-on-your-windows car sick (Italian driving, ugh) on the 7 hour drive there. (Seven hours, let me tell you, is a looong time to be stuck in a mini-van with any six people.) Also, I had to share a room with all four kids and a BED with Alfonso. There was no place to get away: I sat in the hallway after I somehow managed to get the twins to sleep.
As we were leaving, Alessandra asked me how I liked the place, and I replied (wearily) "It's beautiful." She then revealed that we would be coming back in a few weeks... for not 3 days, but 5 days this time. Since we'll be minus one child (Federico is going to camp that week) I'm praying that I can at least get my own bed this time. Maybe that will ease some of the countless types of pain I felt this weekend, and maybe I can stave off a nervous breakdown.
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