Our family has experienced all the same events during our time in Italy, but our kids are being shaped in an entirely different way than we are. Their childhood memories will be completely different than ours ever were. Riding trains are a normal part of life. They go to school in classrooms where the lights aren't turned on unless it's raining outside. Just different.
Of course, a big part of an Italian childhood are birthday parties. We have said it before, but they are just a huge part of childhood for the kids. We went to yet another party this weekend, and it was a fully typical Italian party.
The family of the birthday girl rented a social community center and invited every kid from class, plus all the extended family. Birthday parties are such a big deal that there are business who provide the entertainment and activities. This family hired such a company. Above, the kids are playing old-fashioned tug of war, facilitated by the entertainment guy.
Sack races, using trash bags
Of course, a group of boys gathered to play soccer. Gavin played for the entire evening.
In between planned activities, there was lots of dancing. Here is Hannah with her friends, doing a choreographed dance they often do during recess at school.
Mostly Ben sampled the food and made sure the swing got a workout.
Food is an integral part of every birthday party. And you usually have to feed a lot of people! At this party, they served fresh crescentini. Crescentini are something specific to Emiglia-Romagna (the region of Italy Bologna is in). In fact, our friends who live in other parts of Italy have never even heard of them. Very representative of what Italian cuisine is like--vastly different dependent on region.
Anyway, we LOVE crescentini. They are one of our very favorite things. Basically, they are sopapillas that you use as sandwich bread. You spread something similar to cream cheese on it and then top it with sliced meats. This meat is cured prosciutto. Then you fold it in half and enjoy! On the sweeter side, you can also spread nutella or jams on top. Yummy, yummy, yummy.
Italian etiquette is that you don't leave until the birthday cake has been cut--usually about two hours into the party. This cake was tiramisu. And it was good. :)
After the cake, but before the presents were opened, the entertainment crew did a magic show. That was a first for us.
The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed every minute of being outside. Gavin was quite upset when we finally left at 7:30 to get the kids to bed. "But Mom, we only got to stay for three hours!" And truly, we were the first people to leave.
This is where we seem to have the best ministry opportunities. Three hours of partying leaves a lot of time to chat with the other parents. It's what the kids will remember as their "normal childhood," and it's what we'll remember as the environment God used to teach us a lot about Italian family and culture.
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