So far so good....

Just returned from lunch with Aviva and Jonah. We picked them up at their school at 12:15, and returned them there at 1:30. Jonah seemed happy. Aviva was upset...but only that we got there too early and had her dragged out of class! Both seem quite happy -- Aviva has captivated the class which is almost all girls. (Jonah's class is almost all boys). Her teacher is exceptionally nice and speaks some English, and all the kids are eager to practice their English on her. Jonah said the maestra is kind of mean...but he has said that about every teacher, at least at first! The kids were fascinated with him and were so impressed by his math skills and by the fact that he could say Me llamo Jonah. His seat-mate (they each share a desk -- just like I did with Sabine Stein in Germany way back when) immediately turned to him and said: "Michael Jackson -- King of Pop," the story of which prompted much laughter.

We took them around the corner to Tonno, a nice pizza and pasta restaurant we went to on day 2, and watch Argentina come from behind and beat Russia in some soccer competition. Yells of joy from everyone in the restaurant. We returned the kids to the school, with the girls yelling for Aviva through the gates of the playground.

So far so good!

Earlier in the day I had a lovely time with Laura Vallinotto, the sister of Cecilia, one of my architecture students at UMass. She gave me all kinds of advice and helped me (well, she did all the work and I looked on) get cellphone chips for both Eve and myself.

Clearly, I won't be blogging every few hours for the next five months! But the school issue is especially important and the solution has made us both so happy we thought we send out a note right away, for those following the blog on a minute by minute basis (!!)