Andiamo in Svizzera

We are off to Switzerland tomorrow to hang out with Chris North, Emily Lane, Ngaire, Hannah and Emily’s parents in Lugano. We will be there for about a week – hopefully taking in some mountain scenery, some fresh air, some good conversations with friends, some playmates for the kids and a break from Milan.

In the last day or so we have managed to make contact with a young woman who is going to be able to help with language and childcare. We got her contact through word of mouth at the café. She is local, Italian, completely gorgeous and speaks some English. Alice is studying interior design and is able to help out when not at university. So I am looking forward to the boys building a relationship with someone that will mainly speak to them in Italian and for me also.  When we get back from Switzerland, Rory will go away almost immediately for most of the following week.

We have made a few acquaintances at the local park. The local park (I guess being a poorer area) is like the United Nations. Hard to guess all the nationalities but I have got talking to a guy called Haile from Eritrea who came here on a boat (you know those boats where people die or they sink or starve) with nothing about 10 years ago. He comes to the park with his son Ulyel (?) each evening who is somewhere between Silas and Gwilym’s age and likes playing soccer (Calcio) like Silas. I love the fact that the boys mooch around trying to find some fun or someone to play with and despite having no real friends and language barriers, they usually don’t feel sorry for themselves but just enjoy whatever is going on.

Silas’ ‘best friend’, as he calls him – is a boy called Mateo, four years old, who lives in the same apartment block on the ground floor and has a border collie called BooBar. He doesn’t smile much, doesn’t understand English but is pretty good at soccer and Silas thinks he is awesome.