My Home - Az Én Hazám

In a few days, after having spent a couple of weeks here in Hungary, we'll be travelling back to Italy for Easter. In that time, the children were finally able to meet their great-Grandmother as well as the rest of my family, I've discovered more of our history and we're all staying in our ancestral home which is wonderful. Firstly because I love sleeping in a house with many loved ones, whether it's extended family or friends, I'm always relaxed knowing there is lots of love in the house, despite the extra noise and commotion.

Secondly, it's the only place that's ever felt like home for me. This might sound strange given that I've spent most of my life in Australia. But it was here I learnt to walk and talk and played countless games with my grandparents and uncles, from the time I was a baby until the age of 5 when my parents escaped the country. Since then I have moved close to 30 times, between 4 countries (the counting gets hazy after 25) so it's fair to say I haven't exactly put down roots.

In addition, my great-great-Grandfather built our house here over 120 years ago but my family has lived here, on these lands for centuries. There are three cemetaries in town, each one older than the next, and some ruins of a fourth. In each one are graves with our family name, most of them with full names and dates. One summer with my cousins we discovered the oldest one so far but the years had worn away the stone making it difficult to read the headstone completely, apart from recognising our name. Given the age of the others it probably dates back to the 1700's. Yes, it's a long time ago but somehow it gives me a sense of certainty to know my family has had a known presence here for so long. I feel connected to this place despite, or maybe because of, my travelling ways.

All this might sound macabre but I've been visiting family graves since I was little so it's never seemed strange. Also most Hungarian graves are regularly tended to and planted with bright flowers. It also helps that All Saints Eve on the 1st of November is a special occasion for many people which is observed with great reverence. Here is a great article describing the event which is similarly celebrated here in Hungary.

And another bonus of having a hometown : When I walk down the street old ladies recognise my features and from that alone immediately know which family I'm from. Their faces soften as they smile and start telling me tales of my mother playing in their garden. I'm never quite sure who they are though, they don't introduce themselves and I feel bad for not remembering so at home I ask my Grandmother, 'Who's the lady at No. 42?' and I get another wonderful story in return about the lady in question and how we're directly related 5 generations back.

Last week I took the children for a walk to the vineyards. On our way back an old man stopped his tractor on the road to offer us a lift back home. We started chatting, he was funny and kind and offered us all water as we'd been out walking. The kids took to him immediately. Afterwards he told my aunt Magda that when he asked our names he couldn't hear the response over the noise of the tractor - but when he first looked into my daughter's eyes he knew immediately she was a Bajomi.

Central Italy to Hungary

Also called 'How to drive 1200km in 2 days with 2 kids under 5 and survive'.

Our suggestions are: Frequent stopping, homemade panini (skip the food at the AutoGrill), non messy fruit, counting tunnels, patience, flashcards, plastic animals, blankets and pillows, singing, stopping to play and run around, and more patience.
Here they are on a pit stop outside Verona:


I love a road trip for many reasons. I love driving and seeing new things. I love finding exotic and intriguingly named items in the supermarket. I love the way your eyes are fresh to new sights every minute. Also, I don't mind the uncertainty of having to find necessities in unfamiliar places, or even that the everyday things we're used to may be vastly different, if they're available at all. Every change makes you fully experience the new place in which you find yourself and then, when it's over, it makes you appreciate home all the more.

Which is why it's a shame that my husband and kids do not like them at all. Now it's true that the kiddies are little (4 and a half and almost 3) so being an optimist I like to think they'll come around in due course. Sadly, Dan is pretty much fixed in his opinion. He thinks travelling is the annoying part before arriving somewhere. Which is a fair enough viewpoint but one that I think would limit the joy to be found in ordinary things. C'est la vie.

Things went pretty much to plan: on Thursday morning we set off for Avezzano, then Pescara where we had our first glimpse of the Adriatic.


No stopping allowed, unfortunately, we continued North-ish via Bologna, Modena and Verona to Lonigo, where Dan's cousin Sandra lives with her children. We spent a lovely night here catching up. Good food, good wine, good company, great family, is there anything better? Thank you, Sandra for conveniently living halfway between our families!


Day 2 we set off again, heading to Trieste before crossing into Slovenia. We found the best playground so far in Europe, at a fuel stop where the kids could run around a bit but otherwise driving through Slovenia took 3 and a half uneventful hours. I'm sure it's a lovely place but we didn't have time to find out. They do have cheap petrol though.

The first Hungarian words I heard were "Karcsi! Itt vagyunk!" (translation: 'Charlie, we're over here!') and I couldn't help but smile. We hadn't yet crossed the border but I knew we were close because Hungarian guys were crossing over to Slovenia to buy the aforementioned cheap petrol. It was enough to bring a tear to my eye.

A few minutes later we were here. Driving along the Balaton at sunset was magic and by dusk we had arrived.

Later on, I realised I had to wait till I was 35 before first driving in my homeland. Isn't that strange?

Saint Valentine's Day

This year I really wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day* but in a sweet, homely way. I was most inspired by this book, which I've been referring to often. I made templates of birds and used them to cut out bird biscuits which were strung up on our Valentine tree (it had a couple of red ribbon ties on it). I thought people might laugh or be puzzled over it, neither of which concerned me anyway as my main focus was the kids, but surprisingly it went down well. The kids were spellbound! Pretty soon they realised the birds were of the edible kind and began their usual pleading. We bargained that all the birds had to stay for a full day, then they could eat one per day. Naturally this quickly became three per day but they asked nicely each time and waited patiently when they were taken off the tree. Such is the power of biscuits.


The book has lovely ideas for festivals, special days and crafts. It's made me realise that since we now have our own little nuclear family, we can celebrate the things we want to, how we want to. Dan loves the idea too so now I'm planning our family calendar which will include those days special to us. Family and friend birthdays will be on it of course, Easter with its associated Christian days, plus National days from our respective countries.

In the past couple of years we've begun celebrating Christmas from Advent Sunday and I really appreciate the perspective this gives, as well as a structured time of anticipation and preparation. January this year was incredibly hectic but next year I'd like to finish the festive season with Three Kings cake for Epiphany on January 6th. When we heard about Pi day (as in π ) on March 14th, we thought how cool it would be to make pies on that day, or a cake with Pi icing - the amount of icing will be finite however!


Our calendar hasn't been finalised yet but really, I'd be more than happy for it to evolve as the kids grow and develop interests which they would like to include. Who knows what other interesting events we could be celebrating?


* Yes, this really should have been posted in February but we got sick just after these events took place.

Spring, where are you?

If any regular readers (I think there's 2 of you) have been wondering why it's been so quiet on the Italian front... the answer my friends was blowin' on the wind. The evil, cold wind that comes from Siberia and brings icy sleet, fresh snow and subzero temperatures. Just as we were getting optimistic about warmer weather and wearing T shirts, the new cold drove us back inside, back under 5 layers of clothing yet still freezing indoors.

The end result - we all picked up colds which turned into coughs and just to top it off, bronchitis. Since mid February, we've been coughing, sneezing and spluttering away. It's only been this week that we've felt really over it, which is a huge relief.

Now it seems as if the weather really is starting to turn. The cherry and plum trees are starting to blossom and we see more flowers and foliage every day. So hopefully this time, it's really happening. We're looking forward to getting out into the garden, weeding and planting in Zia Toni's garden, Toni being Dan's sister. The kids love visiting them for many reasons, not least being the new puppies born to their lovely dog, Maya.

In more exciting news we're planning to drive up to Hungary this week. If all goes to plan the next post will be from 1200km North East. We don't yet know if we'll go via Croatia or Slovenia. Originally we wanted to go to Innsbruck, Austria and visit the Swarovski Museum. A crystal dome, the largest crystal in the world, light displays reflected through crystals - what's not to like? Unfortunately their website told us they'd be closed till mid August for renovations. Back to planning.

Snow adventures

This weekend we went for a short trip to the mountains nearby. We live in the mountains anyway but you'd have to be a nimble goat to go for a serious walk around here; also it wasn't quite cold enough for snow. The snow fell in December and melted by New Years. So because snow was our objective, we embarked on our journey in search of it.

My brother-in-law Vincenzo took us on the scenic route there, first via the lovely town of Pescosolido. It's smaller than the town we live in here but so pretty, typical cobblestone paved streets, a lovely piazza with a small garden. Dan and I secretly wondered how this town could be so well kept and charming with such a small population. We diplomatically decided it was due to the resourceful commune (local council) which belongs to a different municipality than ours.

Then we arrived at the top of a mountain range called Forca D'Arce. From there onwards it was a beautiful picturebook scene - the winter forest covered in white, the sunlight shining through, children sledding between the trees. I decided it was my favourite place up here and was itching to build a snowman here but first we went onwards to Pescasseroli, which is a resort town right up in the middle of mountain peaks. Here were beautiful chalets, chic Italians dressed apres ski, ski fields. It all looked like a slice of Switzerland, in a nice way, of course. On our return drive we stopped at the woods to make our snowman. Due to the previous days' rain it was harder to make than in Hobart where we made a perfect one from fresh powder snow. He still had a lot of character though, as you can see.

Arriviamo in Italia

Amazingly enough, we survived the long haul flight and everything that came before it surprisingly well. The kids were well behaved, there were no tantrums during the 30 hours or so of airplane sitting, airport lounge waiting and more airport sitting. Let me repeat - NO TANTRUMS.

And then we arrived in Rome. And had to wait for my brother-in-law to pick us up.

It wasn't his fault, our plane was early. But the kids were at the end of their patience, as were we. I thought I was doing well by blowing up balloons for each of them until someone's got popped. Tears ensued, then screaming. From the parents and the kids. Pretty soon the entire airport was entertained by the antics of our crazy family but I was so relieved to have arrived I was beyond caring.

So now we're here in beautiful Italy. We watch the snow on our mountain every day, melting or covering more of the peak depending on the weather. Now that we've recovered from jetlag and colds from adjusting to the winter temperatures we've enjoyed being outside all the more. The other day I walked through olive groves surrounded by snow capped mountains... it was breathtakingly beautiful.


Every day I look around and ask myself, "Am I really here? Living in Italy with all the family together?" And I thank the gods for their blessings.

A New Year of Busyness

Still so much to do before we leave to go live in Italy for most of the year. Hard to believe sometimes, how to imagine what will happen? Even though we've lived there before - Dan for half of his life, me for a few months at a time, there is still the big exciting unknown.

This was our last trip to Hobart in January, before jetting off. We always go to check up on our block too, this time we took lots of photos and video footage also in the hopes there will be many changes on our return. This video is of our nearby beach where we walk to harvest oysters. On this particular day we took back a small bucketful to my parents for dinner that night. We prepared them crumbed, Japanese style to eat with miso mayonnaise and lemon juice.