a little sun, a little rain, a lot of relaxation

these first few days in italy have been perfect. aliyah and i spent the first two days with the women of the parsa family in prato: fati, samieh, sepideh and shadi...and thier bunny mucchina (little cow). despite sepideh and shadi's need to do their summer homework (what crazy school system gives homework over summer vacation?) and samieh's having to study for her exams which could be next week or next month (what same system doesn't inform college students when their exams are?) and fati's ... well, motherhood is enough to do as it is :^), they did so much to make aliyah and me feel at home.

the first morning, we got down to business: the three sisters took me to the only mall within .... at least a 20-mile radius of florence. i almost fell over when i saw the large, perfectly spaced, white with black outline, pristine letters Z A R A . for those readers west of the mississippi, zara is a spanish clothing chain found in just about every country of the world except, until a couple years ago, italy. for the four years I was living here, I would save my lires for trips to zara while i visited haifa. the year before we left italy, zara finally broke into italy and opened its first store in milan. now here it was in the igigli mall and, as i discovered today, in the center of florence, in the very square where i used to work! i know, it's just a store, big deal. well, it just happens to be my favorite store and now it's in the place where i found it nearly impossible to shop for clothes for so long.

much of the rest of the time aliyah spent
playing on their terrace she loved so much.








after two heavenly days at the parsa home (honestly i felt like i was coming out of a spa), i came to mary jane's home. mary jane and i met six (!) years ago when i first came to florence and we both taught at the same english language school (yes, in the above-mentioned square). being the great friend that she is, mj invited me to stay at her place while she was away on a trip to the states. because of her i'm able to stay in florence for a good 12 days with my parents and really enjoy this city i love so much. here is a picture of mj's gorgeous veranda. what a dream to wake up to this beautiful porch where aliyah freely wanders in and out of... outside of the vine-covered gate is a huge garden with a beautiful gazebo in the middle. inside her home is the cutest little apartment ever... so comf, charming with a little rustic feel to it.. so tuscan. more pictures to come...