A little boasting...

...sometimes is allowed, isn't it? Just to boost the spirits up

Elena found this article and Mattia couldn't help coming up with a big smile, thinking about the chess project he had started in Rwanda, among all the rest of the good things done with the YEAST group (Youth Empowerment: Arise from the Street and be Transformed).

He's started teaching-playing chess here, too, at mid-morning or lunch break in school and chess will be a big part of his youth project, if that comes true (more on that soon, we hope).

9...

years ago, someone special arrived among us...

Magnificent

Interesting 

Child

Happily

Elicits

Loving

Embraces

To celebrate him properly, here come two photo albums from his last year: the 12 coolest shots (among which the one above is our favourite) and the 12 most memorable moments!

Most 

Intelligent

Creature

Helps

Endlessly

Loving

Everyone! 

August

School: the third term (second for us, late comers) finished the first week of the month and the boys got very good marks! The next, fourth and last, started right after and will finish around mid October. We're not so happy with the school, but both boys are doing well, as they've got many friends, they enjoy it, they are good at what they're asked to do, their Spanish is amazing and they behave well. Mattia instead can't cope very well with the lack of discipline and interest of most of his students (and lack of any real action on this on the school's part) and is getting quite frustrated and depressed. Luckily, the athletics afternoons keep going well and that cheers him a bit; he's not believing in the school project much any more, but now he's found an option to try and develop those sport moments into a wider youth project, for which he's going to apply for funds through a good organisation dedicated to community activities, so we hope that can open new, better roads for his future.

TBPIT (The Best Physio In Town): just as before (see post below), working away in different projects, with good moments and harder ones, this month adding plenty of hours of studying for an online course, deserving huge amount of admiration for being able to do that in this context of tiredness and stress.

Family: kids doing well, swimming getting better and better as a positive afternoon activity (that is, they are not driving mum crazy to convince them to stay in the water and put some effort into the lesson...), more and more meetings with friends (now also on the roof, where we've finally been allowed to bring guests) and great excitement when daddy added them to his group of teenagers for the first trip to the athletics track (only three joined, but it was a success, despite the 1hour-3buses journey, one way, and same for the return). M&S also had a blast, together with daddy, getting in Olympic mode and following what Internet allowed us to follow of the Games; best moments? Phelps, athletics (400m, Bolt, the marathon with its protest-sing, the relays...), the Ivory Coast guy winning a medal in taekwondo (which we don't like at all, but it was shown between better sports and he won it at the very last second!)...

On the outings side, it wasn't an extraordinary month, but we still went to a fair, nothing special (food stalls with good food, food stalls with the same food, some games, food stalls with...) but lots of fun for the boys, and we took a couple more walks along the 6a, in the centre, for some festival-like activities or to visit the playground.