long over due
first: a belated buon natale, buon capodanno and buon anno to everyone
in brief: three hours before mom left on wednesday dec 15th, my uncle richie (actually my great uncle) was taken to the hospital because he went outside, went into shock from the 20 degree weather and couldn't breathe. mom had to leave anyway and she arrived on thursday for the last day of school and met all my teachers, etc. friday we found out uncle ritchie had had blood clots in his legs which had traveled and lodged themselves in his pulminary arteries. they had him on 80% oxygen and heavy seditives so he wouldn't pull out the intubation. Dad was spending most of his time in queens in the hospital because he was truely my father's father-figure and dad is also the executor of the estate. mom and i took the eurostar to formia (an hour south of roma) and spent the weekend with her friend and his whole family. i spent the entire time translating which was exhausting, but I adored their younger daughter (18, the 21 yr old lives in firenze) even if she did take me out to a bar where all the boys from the us 6th fleet hangout. couldn't spend time with the elder daughter as her close friend's father died suddenly from cancer (he'd been given 3-4 months, but this was only about 3 weeks after they found it)and she was with the family alot and then had the funeral. monday we went to roma, tuesday they took uncle ritchie off the intubation and seditives to see if his body could break up the bloodclots better on its own. I think the thought of living the rest of his life so inhibited by an oxygen tank (which he would definetly need from then on) broke his heart and at ten minutes to one a.m. on wednesday morning, his blood pressure plunged suddenly and he died. dad, clearly, did not get on his flight on christmas eve. he had to go identify the body, arrange for the cremation, speak with the lawyer about the estate, not to mention, go through all of his grieving process. that day, mom and i returned to firenze. we had quite a bit of room as our apartment was originally for 3 people. for the last 10 days, we went to plenty of museums, san giminagno, lucca, had dinners out, cooked dinners in, and watched the 24-hour tsunami coverage. I am hoping against hope that lucky did not go home to indonesia like normal but rather that and his family decided to spend christmas in switzerland for a change. new years ended up being a fortutious night, we didn't have enough food to make dinner and all the shops were closed, so we wandered trying to find a reservation. managed to snag one for under 100 euros a head at a restaurant by my house and I ended up meeting a wonderful man. mom adores him (in fact she practically threw me at him) and i went to a club with him and all of his co-workers after dinner. we then ran into all of them on sunday at the uffizi (which we'd both already known about), but then weirdest of all, mom and I sat down for dinner at aqua due, and just as our food came, they came walking by having just finished their dinner. his name is zain, he's from london but has been living here since september, and we have a date for sushi (he knows the way to my heart) in 2 and a half hours. needless to say, even if it wasn't at midnight, this is the first new years that I've ever had a new years kiss for. oh yeah, and right now, my sister is in her call-back for a new play at steppenwolf which john malkovich in coming from london to star in (its down to 5 girls from 25) I've got my fingers crossed!!!!
alright, that was long, I must run and prettify. but one additional note, for everyone in london - drop me a line with your number or something if you'd like to meet up, i'll be there from this wednesday jan 5th until saturday jan 15th. mwah!!!
in brief: three hours before mom left on wednesday dec 15th, my uncle richie (actually my great uncle) was taken to the hospital because he went outside, went into shock from the 20 degree weather and couldn't breathe. mom had to leave anyway and she arrived on thursday for the last day of school and met all my teachers, etc. friday we found out uncle ritchie had had blood clots in his legs which had traveled and lodged themselves in his pulminary arteries. they had him on 80% oxygen and heavy seditives so he wouldn't pull out the intubation. Dad was spending most of his time in queens in the hospital because he was truely my father's father-figure and dad is also the executor of the estate. mom and i took the eurostar to formia (an hour south of roma) and spent the weekend with her friend and his whole family. i spent the entire time translating which was exhausting, but I adored their younger daughter (18, the 21 yr old lives in firenze) even if she did take me out to a bar where all the boys from the us 6th fleet hangout. couldn't spend time with the elder daughter as her close friend's father died suddenly from cancer (he'd been given 3-4 months, but this was only about 3 weeks after they found it)and she was with the family alot and then had the funeral. monday we went to roma, tuesday they took uncle ritchie off the intubation and seditives to see if his body could break up the bloodclots better on its own. I think the thought of living the rest of his life so inhibited by an oxygen tank (which he would definetly need from then on) broke his heart and at ten minutes to one a.m. on wednesday morning, his blood pressure plunged suddenly and he died. dad, clearly, did not get on his flight on christmas eve. he had to go identify the body, arrange for the cremation, speak with the lawyer about the estate, not to mention, go through all of his grieving process. that day, mom and i returned to firenze. we had quite a bit of room as our apartment was originally for 3 people. for the last 10 days, we went to plenty of museums, san giminagno, lucca, had dinners out, cooked dinners in, and watched the 24-hour tsunami coverage. I am hoping against hope that lucky did not go home to indonesia like normal but rather that and his family decided to spend christmas in switzerland for a change. new years ended up being a fortutious night, we didn't have enough food to make dinner and all the shops were closed, so we wandered trying to find a reservation. managed to snag one for under 100 euros a head at a restaurant by my house and I ended up meeting a wonderful man. mom adores him (in fact she practically threw me at him) and i went to a club with him and all of his co-workers after dinner. we then ran into all of them on sunday at the uffizi (which we'd both already known about), but then weirdest of all, mom and I sat down for dinner at aqua due, and just as our food came, they came walking by having just finished their dinner. his name is zain, he's from london but has been living here since september, and we have a date for sushi (he knows the way to my heart) in 2 and a half hours. needless to say, even if it wasn't at midnight, this is the first new years that I've ever had a new years kiss for. oh yeah, and right now, my sister is in her call-back for a new play at steppenwolf which john malkovich in coming from london to star in (its down to 5 girls from 25) I've got my fingers crossed!!!!
alright, that was long, I must run and prettify. but one additional note, for everyone in london - drop me a line with your number or something if you'd like to meet up, i'll be there from this wednesday jan 5th until saturday jan 15th. mwah!!!