Tommy’s first smiles

The grimaces of a few weeks ago are little by little becoming true smiles…

What bliss!

Foto di classe

Asilo Nido San Gregorio al Celio

Anno Scolastico 2012/13

Classe dei Medi

All’interno del giardino segreto

Caro Leo,

oggi ho varcato la soglia alla quale ti lascio tutte le mattine, e sono entrato per la prima volta in un mondo in cui finora non ero stato ammesso e che tu, se non con i tuoi sorrisi ogni giorno al ritorno da esso, non eri stato in grado di raccontare.

Mi sono seduto al tuo tavolo, ho giocato con i tuoi giochi, ho ascoltato le tue storie, e mangiato il tuo cibo.

Oggi, per un giorno, sono stato tuo compagno, e nei tuoi occhi vedevo la gioia di poter finalmente mostrare, condividere con me il tuo giardino segreto.

Non mi sono sentito un intruso, ma un ospite, e ti ringrazio per questo.

Oggi ho conosciuto un po’ del tuo mondo, e con esso, un po’ più di te.

Ed è stato bello…

Zia Chiara & Zio Marco a Roma

Vedersi con Chiara due volte in un mese era una cosa che non capitava da anni, forse da quando ho lasciato Milano tanti anni fa.

Una rarità. E un privilegio. (O un privilegio raro…) 

 

La grande famille - Mai 2013

A sincere thanks to Macha, Pacha, Constance, Jean-Marc, Victoire and Hortense for having taken care of Mathilde, Leo and Tommy during my absence.

Travelling has always been the most interesting and exciting part of my work, but have to admit that lately these long and frequent periods of distance from my family have become more and more difficult to bear.

What comforts me and makes these trips a bit easier to accept is to know that you are taking care of them as I would - and probably better.

Thanks.

Il ritorno di Frau Constance

We can’t really complain about Tommy: he eats well, sleeps well, and hardly cries. But after two months he still used to wake up in the middle of the night to be breastfed.

No problem: two weeks with Frau Constance in Paris, and since we are back in Rome he sleeps tight the entire night.

We don’t know her tricks, but the facts speak for themselves… thanks Constance!

Leo in Paris

Street Jazz

À l'aquarium

Fleurs pour Macha

-       Di che colore sono questi fiori, Leo?

-       Giallooo!!!

Leo & Tommy

 Leo

 Tommy

Leo & Tommy

Two

Two weeks away from Tommy means I have missed 25% of his life. And in a life span equivalent to a quarter of your life things change!

Tommy has grown: he is taller, heavier, his hair longer and his chicks chubbier. His glance is more present and attentive. We can’t say whether he already recognizes faces, but we like to think so. And although more grimaces than proper smiles, he has begun to give the hint of a smile…

And today he is two-month-old.

Happy monthiversary, Tommy: one-thousand-two-hundred of these days!!!

Enfin tous ensemble!

After a couple of weeks apart, finally all together again - chaotic but joyful!

While Matteo is playing the Afghan...

Pizza Afghani

Pizza ‘Margarita’: sauce, chicken (?), cheese, pineapple (??), mashroom, onion, black olive (???)

Pizza ‘Funghi’: sauce, cheese, tomato, orange… and the mashrooms???

Postcard from Afghanistan

The Blue Mosque, Mazar-e-Sharif

Saluti & baci, Matteo

Pictures from the field (2)

I like these two pictures - this old man on a bike and this group of kids running home after school - because they well portray the Afghanistan I see: a country torn by hundreds of problems, but where its people look and move ahead. With hope and optimism…

Pictures from the field

I vecchi e i bambini

How do you do with ten?

-          How many children do you have?

-          Ten

-          Congratulations! I have two children only and struggle. How do you do with ten?

-          [laughing] I manage…

Once I was Zilamy

Last year when I came to Afghanistan I was given an Afghan name: Zilmay, young.

This year I was welcomed by the same people that last year named me Zilmay with the following words: “Hey Matteo, your hair grew grey!”.

But what I initially felt as a rather impolite remark, was on the contrary meant as a form of regard. Here in Afghanistan having grey hair is a sign of wisdom and commands respect.

And if next year I announce a second wife, I would be even more respected…

In the field

Don’t worry, mum, I am taking all the necessary precautions…

Good morning Kabul!

Although I can’t deny my departures to Afghanistan are always preceded by a perhaps unconscious feeling of discomfort, by the time I land I feel - if not at home - certainly in a by now familiar and welcoming place.

Good morning Kabul!

(See you in a couple of weeks…)

Matteo & Chiara in Paris (2)

Au café d’Amélie Poulain en Rue Lepic

Chez Marie, Bistrot en Montmartre

Il paradiso secondo Matteo

Matteo & Chiara in Paris

After Addis, London, Washington, Delhi, and Rome, for once it was me who went visiting Chiara abroad.

Chiara, 60/60 at the school leaving examination, magna cum laude at the university graduation, the smartest among the Marchisio brothers, is another example of ‘fuga di cervelli’ (‘brains’ escape’) from Italy.

What to wish her? Perhaps that… it won’t end up as for the Monna Lisa, and that the French, sooner or later, will give us Chiara back!

Our first trip in four (by plane)

Christmas at the tropics has always been one of our old unrealized dreams.

A couple of weeks ago I came back home saying: “Hey, I may need to be in Bangkok the week before Christmas. Why don’t you join me there with the kids, and we spend our Christmas on a secluded island in Thailand?”

Yesterday we had our first trip in four by plane: a two hour flight from Rome to Paris.

At the end of which our idea of spending our Christmas leaves in Thailand has been abandoned forever…