Birthday(s) party!

Seth's Uncle Bud celebrated his 70th birthday this weekend at his home in Buzzard's Bay, just inside Cape Cod. His kids, Mark, Beth, and Karen, were there with their families, and Seth's parents and his Aunt Mare came all the way over from New York. Chrissy's family made it, too, and everyone was able to meet Annika. It was so much fun to relax and catch up with the family! It has been ages since we saw some of them, even though we live practically down the road.

Uncle Bud with all the grandkids

Kate helping Chrissy unwrap Annika's gifts

Annika with her grandma

The Birthday Boy

Seth's parents came back to Waltham with us after the party and joined us for the New Music concert at Brandeis. This is where the composition graduate students have some of their pieces performed. I really wanted to hear Florie's work--she was in Seth's graduate seminar last year, but we met in Italian class back in August (we were probably the only ones over the age of 20!). Her boyfriend is Italian, so hopefully she will be able to come to visit us in Florence ;o)

It was great having Seth's parents stay at our place (they typically stay in Brighton, near Chrissy, so they can help with the kids), though they had to leave pretty early the next morning. Maybe on their next visit when they go for their walk they will be able to find the entrance to Prospect Hill!

Cut loose

The semester is coming to a close, and for me this was marked by our Italian final exam we took this afternoon. I studied quite a bit but I know I got confused over a couple tenses and botched a few sections. It would have been nice to have nailed it before going to Italy. Though the class was more work than I was expecting, it was good to have the structure and be made to plow through the language (we supposedly learned most of the grammar rules in these two semesters). Since I won't be able to take any more classes before heading off, learning the rest of the language will be left solely to myself, but at least I have a great partner to practice with! Of course, the end of the year is bittersweet--I really grew attached to my little class of only 11 students, and the professors for both semesters were amazing; we had outings, watched films, were invited to seminars, and there was even a party with lots of fantastic food yesterday. The truly sad aspect, however, is that due to the university budget cuts the department will have to drop the Italian major next year. Professor Servino has worked to build up the department over the past twenty years and she took the news pretty hard; it was obvious that this was a difficult year for her. At least it seems like she is willing to do her best to keep everything afloat, and maybe when we return Seth can teach some Italian/music inter-disciplinary classes to help support both departments.

Goodbye, Xena

Yesterday was a sad day. It was the last day of Yoga Club, which means it will probably be my last free class ever, unless I can think up some clever way to weasel my way into a few more when we return from Italy. The great thing about the Brandeis Yoga Club is that it is taught by Renee, the woman who owns the really nice heated Yoga Power studio on Main St. For the club she would teach twice a week at Brandeis and once a week at the studio. Renee isn't quite as spiritually fulfilling as Scott in Chapel Hill, but she is really, REALLY challenging, which is hard to find. Physically, she is sort of the female equivalent of Seth--a former classical ballet dancer, runner, and weight lifter. As a bonus, she looks like Xena AND has a very similar personality as Xena. How cool is that?

Arts hot

Ugh, so first off it feels really really hot this weekend. It's relatively not that bad, mid/high 80s and sunny, but we just aren't used to it up here so it feels pretty awful. It is made worse by the boiled water restrictions that were placed yesterday. There was some water pipe break and Boston and the surrounding communities had to switch to untreated reservoir water, which could last for days. Luckily Seth and I mostly drink tea so we are constantly running our electric kettle anyways, but for the big jobs, like rinsing dishes, we have had to boil big pots of water. This of course gets the hot apartment, which has no air conditioning, even hotter. Poor Lorenzo has been sleeping outside his little wooden house, and is stretched out flat like he is melting. At least we gave him an icepack to snuggle up next to. So much for creature of the desert, poor guy.

This week has fulfilled our year quota of attending live performances. On Wednesday I somehow ended up going to see a popular Italian singer, Jovanotti, by myself at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. It was offered through the Italian department but I was the only person in my class to go, and Seth had lots of work to do so had to sit out. Jovanotti has been around for a while and is like a rock star in the Italian community, so I was happy to experience some rather intense Italian pop culture. Also, I hadn't been to a fun dingy, dark, loud, venue like that since the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, so it was about time!

Brandeis had its big annual arts festival this week. We caught a performance of Love's Labour's Lost on Friday, much of which I inadvertently slept through, and yesterday was really special because my cousin, Phuong, came to visit for the day (this is the same cousin we met up with in Philly back in November, and this time around she was in Boston for a conference). I took her down Moody Street, showed her the apartment (and Lorenzo!), then went back to Moody St for dinner at an Indian place. We later had a brief tour of Brandeis before we met Seth for the Irving Fine Tribute Concert, conducted by one of Seth's senior undergraduate students (Seth was in attendance as an adjudicator for his performance). I'm so glad we got to meet up with her for the day!

Today was the culmination of Arts week at Uni. Mark, Gina, and the girls actually came over and met us on campus to join in some of the activities. The day is totally family friendly and we saw a performance of the AMAZING Tanglewood Marionetts, watched some world dances, did a bit of sidewalk chalking, and checked out a folk group. It is overwhelming how much goes on today--four or five venues across campus have performances and activities simultaneously throughout the afternoon. It had been a while since we saw Mark, Gina, Kate, and Adah, so it was wonderful catching up with them.


Time for dinner now (ironically we are having red bean soup... bad choice for such a hot day... ergh).

Apartment swap

I'm so excited that today we unofficially secured sublets for our apartment in Waltham and also an apartment in Florence. We will sublet our apartment to next year's vicar at First Lutheran Church, which is conveniently, literally, across the street. The vicar, Rachel, will be needing a place to stay for almost exactly the same time we will be gone. The only downside is that her stipend for rent will fall $100 short per month, but I'm sure we can work something out--it is already a HUGE relief to not have to move all our stuff into storage and also to have our wonderful apartment kept warm and waiting for our return.

Our current apartment:



For Florence, we were actually contacted by a current I Tatti fellow from MIT. He looked up Seth and offered advice as well as his furnished apartment. He raved about it and made it seem like it is this year's big hangout spot for the fellows. Apparently the landlady likes to rent to visiting American professors (she likes to practice her English) and so offers big discounts. The apartment is in a great location downtown (across from two essentials: the University and a huge market, San Ambrogio) and with two bedrooms and a loft it is even bigger than our relatively large apartment here in Waltham. We will be expecting lots of visitors!! :o)

The Italian apartment:


It is so fantastic having the biggest burdens taken care of--having our apartment and possessions in good hands while also having a reliable place to stay in Florence. I had already come to the conclusion that we would have to live in some nasty, dank studio for the year. Now only a few more hurdles to jump before we can leave...

Spring time and the lab

Since Easter Seth and I have been busy merging into the end-of-the-year rush--recitals, seminars, preparations for summer, etc...

In the week and a half following Easter, we were faced with a hike in our protein intake, from endless egg salad to ham in its various forms. We made ham sandwiches, spaghetti carbonara, split pea soup with ham, ham stir fry, ham fried rice, baked beans with ham, etc. The funny thing is that we even froze about 1 or 2 pounds for later, AND we never got bored of it! It is just so versatile and delicious! :o) The Jewish students and the Muslims at work must have loved me when I brought in my leftovers for lunch ;o)

As a followup to last May's post about the big turkey on Prospect Hill, and the previous post about the turkeys at Brandeis, a couple days ago we saw a big male in full display regalia strutting his glorified turkey stuff on a rocky slope up in the park. SO amazing! Once again, I wish I had my camera. I wonder if he was one of the baby chicks we saw last spring and watched 'grow up', or if this was one of the displaying males we saw this time last year? I hope we see him again!

April 15th was technically my last day at the lab, since I was only hired as a temp to work on the soymilk study. However, Dr Hayes and Andy (the senior research tech) both seem to really want to keep me on to help look at the data, work on the manuscript, and run another study or two. Since I was hired so casually, it has been easy for me to take the job for granted, but when I think about it, it has been nearly ideal. I can make my own hours-up to 20 hours per week, everyone is really nice, it is at Brandeis (I can walk up whenever I want, attend classes and lectures, go to the gym and yoga, meet up with Seth, etc), and it pays nearly twice as much as I would get as a summer field assistant (which isn't saying much, considering field assistants get barely over minimum wage). Of course, it is also great experience if I decide to go for a nutrition degree. Now if only there were windows...

As a perk, our lab is adjacent to the famed Alex Lab, directed by Irene Pepperberg. She is noted for extending the field of animal cognition and language to birds, pouring most of her efforts into an African Grey parrot named Alex. Alex sadly passed away a few years ago and since then Irene has been featured in documentaries, has spoken on NPR several times, gives numerous public talks, and is training two new parrots, Griffin and Wart. I have even seen camera crews crowd around their door.

Irene's new book about her relationship with Alex

I have always been intrigued by the lab and while sitting at my computer I occasionally hear the two parrots whistling across the hall. A week or two ago my curiosity finally overtook my fear and I got myself to knock on the door to ask about seeing the birds. An undergraduate was working--there is always someone in their little room to keep them company--and she seemed really excited to have a visitor (she must get bored hanging out there all day long...). She told me all about the birds and even did a little demonstration: she held a block of wood for Griffin, asked 'what material?' and got a response of 'wooood'. She then held up a plastic loop for him, asked 'what toy?', and he whistled back 'riiiing'. As his treat, she then asked 'what want?', and he eagerly said 'want nut!'. She gave him a nut. Griffin and Wart are still young and haven't learned as much as Alex, who was a young man of only 31. African Grey parrots can live to be over 70 years old, so it will be exciting to find out what they discover in the coming years!

On the Easter Hunt

I spent Friday then Saturday morning working, cleaning, running errands and driving myself crazy so that we could relax a bit and enjoy the holiday. It was worth it; we had a really fantastic weekend!

Saturday afternoon I met Bo over at the Watertown/Arsenal Mall. They only have just a few good stores, like Gap Outlet, Marshalls, Ann Taylor Factory Store, Target, and the RMV (which is actually really convenient), so it makes shopping pretty stress-free. After getting a few things, we took the bus back to Waltham, made up some dinner, then she and I went to the Easter Vigil at church. After the service, Cindy, Tom, and Clarisse hopped over for some good old-fashioned egg dying. Thanks to the eggs and wine from Tom and Cindy, the snacks from Clarisse, and the help from Seth and Bo, it went really well, and the party even developed into a 'best-egg' competition. Congrats to Clarisse on her Sunset Egg!

Seth, Cindy, Tom, Clarisse and Bo crafting their eggs

Voting for our favorites

The finalists (lower rows) and the winner (top)

The late night was followed by an early Easter morning. Bo had spent the night so that she could join us for some additional festivities, and Seth and I got up early so the three of us could make it to the Easter Breakfast at Church (it's always great running on a holiday morning, especially when the streets are barren and the sun is still on its way up!). After stuffing ourselves on the best meal of the day and attending a really nice service, we postponed an egg salad sandwich lunch and I took Bo on a tour of Brandeis. We couldn't believe how warm it had gotten--mid 70s with clear skies. It is definitely approaching skin-damage season already, ergh.

One of the wild turkeys on campus

Bo and Mr. Brandeis, on that hill no one ever walks up

Bo had to take off in the afternoon, leaving Seth and me to head over to the Cafe on the Common to fit in a couple hours of work. When we returned, I noticed the Easter Bunny had been by and left a few goodies for me to hunt around the apartment: 3 little, 1 big :o)

We had a late dinner of ham (why did Bo have to leave? It was a 7-pounder! We will be eating ham for the next several weeks!) and dessert of strawberry shortcakes (not nearly as good as Seth's mom's, but it had to do). Before we got too miserably tired to stay awake, we managed to watch the first hour of the 'Ten Commandments' on DVD. Probably my favorite movie ever, though I'm not really sure why. I will have to watch the rest over the next few days--it is a long one!

Thanks, everyone, for a fun weekend! Happy Easter!

I love that funky 'caught in the headlights' effect. This is why I try not to ever use the flash.