It comes as no surprise that with 46 kids from 21 families gathering from all over the world, a sneaky bug might tag along. This week Guille’s nose kept running, Vivi was sent home from school due to a (noncontagious) viral rash, and Melissa was down for the count with laryngitis. But we still managed to enjoy our time!

Before all that, Guille and Vivi’s classes focused on letters and numbers, at their own levels. It’s been really interesting to see how the school teaches the same lessons to different ages – you can see in the photos that Guille is practicing writing his own letters, while Vivi is learning the shapes. Both classes read Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” but engaged with the story in different ways – Vivi’s class explored with magnifying glasses and learned about transformation, while Guille’s class explored the difference between living and non-living objects, and created their own versions with pipe-cleaners and beads. They also spent time together outside at the park, which is very cute!

On Tuesday, we parents were enjoying an exquisite Tuscan wine tasting with a knowledgeable and verbose sommelier, when we got the dreaded message right after the 3rd wine was poured to come get Vivi due to a mysterious rash. Guillermo took the hit and went to collect her, while Melissa finished the tasting, and bought a bottle of the last wine so Guillermo could have some at home. In the evening, Melissa walked Vivi to a lovely pediatrician whose office was upstairs in a mall, went back-and-forth between his 4 words of English and Melissa’s Spanish, got the “all-clear” after in-room immediate testing, paid him in cash (including change from his personal wallet), and walked Vivi home. It was very different from the experience in the US!

On Wednesday, Vivi had 1-on-2 time with Mom & Dad, but was decidedly less excited about missing school. For lunch, she got a chicken cutlet sandwich bigger than her face, but was more focused on the mayo – turns out she’d eat it by the spoonful if she could! We learned that the key to a good affogato is choosing the right gelato, and have been testing pistachio affogato around town. Guille came home and started writing everyone’s name – he’s really loving practicing his letters!