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…

Leonardino va in treno (3)

Leonardino è un leoncino che vive a Nairobi…

The moving childcare

Last week-end we went to Val Seriana, north of Bergamo, where Mathilde’s old university mates organized a reunion.

Nice week-end (we’ll tell you more about it in another post). But Val Seriana is not just around the corner - we had to travel twice three hours and half by train in three days. And three hours and half on a train with a 20 month-old and a 5 weeks child may be very long.

But les M&M’s have plenty of resources. To the great joy of the passengers of our coach, we transformed carriage n. 8 into a moving childcare: every kid on the train was welcome to join and share his/her own toys, books, and snacks.

And so, have to admit, the three hours and half of the trip passed relatively quickly. At least for us - but if you want a piece of advice, in the future, if you travel alone or in couple, try to avoid coach n.8…

Tommy, one month and one week

It’s probably too early to start speculating on Tommy’s personality, but so far we had the impression he is going to be a very serious boy…

Mirò o Picasso?

Leonardo!

Lefty

From Giulio Cesare (and before him, apparently, Alexander the Great) to Napoleon Bonaparte and Fidel Castro. From Michelangelo to Picasso, passing from Raffaello*. From Ludwig van Beethoven to Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Paul Mc Cartney. From Lewis Carroll to Moravia. From Mc Enroe to Maradona (or Gigi Riva if you prefer). From Bill Clinton to Barak Obama. Charlie Chaplin. Bill Gates. Albert Einstein. Gandhi… and our Leonardo (??)

All these people have a common characteristics, which one?

(*) Leonardo da Vinci was ambidexter: he was writing with the left and painting with the right hand - and does not entirely belong to this category.

Tommy, one month and one day!

Happy monthi-plus-one-versary, Tommy!

A special honey moon

‘How has Leo taken the arrival of Tommy’. This has been the recurrent question we have been asked for the past three weeks.

And we, slightly embarrassed by the possibility of disappointing our interlocutors by contradicting their expectations, tried to provide vague answers: ‘So far not too bad’, ‘Well, at the moment they had very little opportunities to interact with each other’, and so on and so forth.

The truth is that, since day one, Leo has been very sweet with Tommy - or ‘Pommy’, as he calls him. He looks for him, he observes him, he asks about him, he gently - and apparently of his own will and initiative - caresses or kiss him. So far we have not observed a single sign of jealousy or a call for more attention or care.

We know times will come when Leo may express some form of jealousy, and times when the two brothers will be fighting and arguing with each other.

But for the time being we enjoy this very special honey moon…

The future Cristiano Ronaldo and Francesco Totti (or Zinedine Zidane)?

Bon anniversaire Mathilde

Avec quelque jour de retard, bon anniversaire Mathilde !

Et voilà, Macha et Pacha !

Des landes au-delà des Alpes, voilà Macha et Pacha, à connaitre Thomas et à câliner Leo, et à porter beaucoup des cadeaux et de bonne humeur.

Revenez bien tôt !

Attacked by Spam - how we are trying to protect us

You may have noticed it, in the past weeks we have been victim of a spam attack: our posts were loaded by a number of unsolicited bulk comments, mainly advertising.

Initially the issue was more annoying than anything else: we were receiving a few spam comments per day, which we regularly deleted. But lately the number of spam messages has increased to few hundreds per day - which made the issue unmanageable.

To prevent the problem, we have decided to set up a 'word-verification' system. From now onwards, if you wish to post a comment, you will be required to complete a word verification step similar to the one above before your comment is published.

We are aware that this additional step could make posting comments a bit more burdensome, and we apologize - but we are sure you do understand, and we hope this would not discourage you from keep on posting your comments. 

Please, let us know if you encounter any difficulty or problem.

Thanks, 

Les M&M's