The other day I was reminded by a friend that “non è mai troppo tardi” to learn another language.

It is never too late.

It made me think about how my late mother fostered her Italian skills when she moved to Italy. She moved to Italy in 1960 when the show “Non è mai troppo tardi” started to air.

It was actually for analphabets/illiterates or “returning-analphabets/illiterates” ( there is a linguistic term for it (I only know it in Italian: “analfabetismo di ritorno”).

Those days many had only the “quinta elementare” (it was obligatory to attend school only until the 5th class / primary school) before starting to work and some really forgot or never really learned how to read and write.

My mother learned Italian in the most natural way: she mirrored the speech of others around her, which surely wasn’t easy as she was the “foreigner” (and one of the few at that time in that region), but she was very curious and learned quickly.

She told me about the show when I asked her later how she managed to learn Italian – I knew there weren’t any classes or and help for accompanying partners like her (neither for my father actually, who worked for EURATOM).

She told me about the show and how the teacher would walk everyone through how to decode the language / read. She read the daily and weekly newspapers and was always up to date on everything “one needs to know” (and she was a very curious person ).

Before moving to Italy in 1960 she had lived in Belgium (Bruxelles) for 2 years, where she also learned a bit French “très vite” (she liked to say that…) but only on a very superficial level.

So, long story short:

“It is NEVER too late” to learn a language!

I hope you get inspired by this and start learning a new language!

Which one will you learn next? Let me know in the comments!

by Rolf Limacher (2022)

Many car owners are reluctant to replace their combustion-engined car with an all-electric car. They might refrain from buying one not only due its considerable price tag but possibly also due to the reduced range and the duration of charging stops.

After we had cleared the first hurdle of car purchasing, we undertook our first long-distance trip in July 2022 in the EQV 300 from Mercedes as a family with three almost grown-up children and a dog. It turned out to be a really pleasant experience.

Our 3000km round trip starting from the Netherlands and including the Swiss Alps, required however some planning as we had the new car delivered to us only three months earlier and therefore had neither developed a feeling for its range (especially in the alpine environment) nor for its repeated charging at rapid charging stations.

Although there are many different providers of rapid-charging networks for electric cars in Europe, which span combined an dense network, especially in the Netherlands and Germany, both their reliability and the tariffs proved to be unsatisfactory during personal test runs in the Netherlands and Great Britain. Some charging stations turned out to be very busy, not functional and/or to refuse our payment attempts, which led to prolonged queue times or required a detour to another charging location. In addition, the various providers of rapid chargers exhibit an astonishing tariff range with the costliest one being up to four times more expensive than the cheapest.

For this reason, we decided to only haunt on our trip charging stations of the very single provider from which we had a subscription. This would allow us to charge the car battery sufficiently in a relatively short time for a uniformly low price. The individual charging stations of our provider consist usually of four rapid chargers, which allow thus up to four vehicles being charged concurrently.

The batteries used in today’s electric vehicles allow fast charging at rapid charging stations, but for technological reasons the charging is slowed down automatically as soon as the battery charge level exceeds about 75%. This means that the battery of our electric car could be charged from 10% to 80% within 45 minutes, but that it would take significantly more than an hour to get the battery fully charged.

In order to maximize the battery life time, the car manufacturer recommends to initiate charging only when the battery charge drops below 30%. Taking into account a safety margin, charging should therefore preferably be initiated within a charging window of 5% – 30% of remaining battery charge. This represents a significant limitation compared to cars with combustion engines when it comes to scheduling the refueling. The manufacturer of our car therefore provides the “Electric Intelligence” travel planning tool as part of the vehicle’s navigation system, which would not only recommend appropriate fast charging stations along the route after a travel destination had been entered into the navigation system, but would also indicate the percentage to which the battery would have to be charged at each of the automatically determined charging stations to enable the charging window to be reached again at a subsequent charging station.

According to our test runs, the “Electric Intelligence” system appears to currently not support the dynamic adjustment of route and suggested charging stops, resulting in intolerable navigation suggestions in case of the driver ignoring a suggested stop. The system also does not offer a filter option to only consider charging stations from preferred providers.

Because of these teething problems, we decided not to use the “Electric Intelligence” for this first long-distance trip. We manually identified all preferred charging stations on the route in advance instead, from which we concluded that their location density would be sufficient for our trip. We then determined which of these rapid-charging stations we would visit and to about what percentage we would charge the battery in each case, which also included ensuring that the charging would take place at lunch or dinner time. This determination was done based on a self-developped model implemented as a spreadsheet, which also took the effect of steep ascent and decent on the consumption in a simplified manner into account, namely as an additional 10% consumption decrease/increase per 100m altitude difference for trajectories.

The official reference range of 336km indicated for our electric car according to the WLTP (“Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure”), which corresponds to an average consumption of 27kWh per 100km, turned out to be way too pessimistic given our car driving pattern. We were actually able to maintain a consumption close to and even below 20kWh/100km while traveling with an average speed of about 90km/h on the motorways from the Netherlands via Germany to the Swiss Plateau. On the way back to the Netherlands, we even managed to drive once over 400km without charging the battery.

This resulted in an extremely pleasant travel rhythm for the journey with sections of three to four hours driving time, interrupted by rest breaks that were anyway necessary for the driver to recover. Fortunately, we found in most cases at least one immediately available charger at each of our fast-charging stops.

As expected, car driving in the Alps resulted in an increased consumption for a steep ascent (as e.g. 65kWh/100km on a 20km section overcoming 1000 meters of altitude difference), whereas during the equally steep descent almost three quarters of the energy used for the ascent could be recovered through recuperation, i.e., re-charging the battery while driving.

Analyzing the data collected during the trip, it turned out that using for the model a flatland range of 425km, which corresponds to a consumption of 21kWh / 100km and targeting a charge level of 25% at each of the rapid charging stations, would reflect the reality such that the set charging window requirement, namely to be between 5% and 30% when reaching a charging station, could be ensured for any reasonably imaginable situation. Unfortunately it turned out, that the trajectory-based power consumption as displayed in the dashboard of the car, had to be considered to be a mere indication rather than representing a reliable value, since it eluded any attempt to match it to distance travelled combined with battery charging level difference, and with reasonably expected current maximum battery capacity.

In summary, we can conclude that long-distance journeys in an electric car are very relaxed if you know your car and given a proper route planning. The increased driving time caused by the lengthy charging stops of an electric car appear to be actually only significant for a longer trip distance, if there would be two drivers in the combustion-engined vehicle taking turns while eating in the car.

With regard to the remaining shortcomings in terms of planning effort, it will be only a matter of time until the car-integrated travel planning tools are sufficiently sophisticated, until an even denser network of fast charging stations with a unified interface for payment is available, and until the price spread for rapidly charged electrical energy closes in to the one we are used to for petrol.

Even though for the planning of this first trip a spreadsheet was involved (and even online accessed and updated while traveling), in the intermediate future we will most probably use instead the mobile phone application APRP (“A Better RoutePlanner”), which we were able to easily customize such that it matched the model and data collected in the spreadsheet.

We all have different ways to cope in the many phases we go through not only now, but in any situation. At the moment, we try to find a new normal every day. Some days seem almost surreal, and at times we just wish that the day will be over, other days we wish that certain moments would last longer.

A dear friend shared a picture on facebook, which said that during these times, the days of the week all seem the same. It feels like there is no Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc. but only a yesterday, today and tomorrow. Days are very similar, yes, and although we still have meetings and appointments and are aware that the days in the week differ in names and schedules (to some extent), they feel the same because it all happens from the same place: home. At least for some of us.

We are fortunate that this time of isolation gets somehow interrupted by Easter. The Guardian published an article where they ask readers to share how they are celebrating Easter in lockdown, and you can read other newspapers in the Netherlands , Germany, Switzerland, UK etc. In Italy, they indicate where people can follow the messa di Pasqua online.
On TV there are commercials talking about this Easter being different because families can’t meet in person.

Our children seem to need more than ever a sign of hope and normalcy, and Easter is one of the moments in the year that gives us hope every single year.

This year we won’t celebrate it, like planned, in Italy and Switzerland, we’ll celebrate it at home instead. We will decorate our home, have a long skype session on Sunday with our family in Germany and Switzerland, and enjoy the time with each other here. It’s not the first time that we spend Easter without our extended family. For internationals and expats this is nothing new. But still: knowing that you can’t even if you would like to, is what makes a huge difference. The freedom to decide yourself is taken from us this year, and maybe this is why we long for it even more.

We try to keep our minds busy by binge-reading, writing a lot (like I just did in the past days…), and binge-watching Netflix series. Celebrating Easter is becomes a new meaning this year because we long for a new beginning, we long for this all being over soon in the best possible way for our dear ones and for us.

Some parents might think that teenagers don’t really like to celebrate Easter. In Italy there is a saying “Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi” (“Christmas with your family, Easter with whoever you want (=usually it means friends)”), but this year is different.

All celebrations become more important right now because we are more aware of what it means to celebrate in a more isolated way. Our children miss their friends and family even more… Easter invites to contemplation and there is a positive side of it in celebrating in a more calm and personal way: “In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft” (= the strength is to be found in serenity).

I wish you and your family and friends a healthy Easter, no matter if you celebrate it with your core family, with your partner only (because your children live abroad) or if you are alone this year: bake or cook something delicious, enjoy nature if you can, listen to some good music and enjoy the colors of this season.

Here is a little virtual tour to the Keukenhof here in the Netherlands.

We will watch Andrea Bocelli on Easter Sunday, and his Music for Hope live streaming from the Duomo di Milano – would you like to join us in a virtual way?

How are you celebrating Easter this year?

#wereallinthistogether #stayhomestaysafe

What can they possibly do during these long hours, if they don’t need (or want) to study every day, can’t meet up with friends, or do any of the activities they did with friends in the past…

We have a great collection of board games, but what if nobody wants to play at the same time?

I must confess that during the first days I thought that a stricter schedule for everyone would help us “stay connected” and would be beneficial for the whole family. Those who know me, know that I like plans...

But my children and this situation taught me that flexibility and compromises are key these days.
The more I let them just be and decide about what they want and need to do at different moments of the day and week, the better for us all. The only restriction they have is: no loud music, playing table tennis, being louder than “normal dB” when my husband or I have online meetings.

We now have what I call time pillars where we meet and connect: breakfast and dinner.

We also have regular random moments of one-on-one or small group time, where we play table tennis in the garden, board games, card games, where we watch a Netflix series etc.

I know that regular random moments sounds silly and impossible (how can something be random and regular?!) but we try our best to have a conversation and a bonding moment with at least 3 persons per day: that’s the regular part of it. Only that this can’t be scheduled and it doesn’t happen every day! If one misses out one day for some reason, he or she will try to make up for it the following days (note the plural: no need to be strict!).

The decision not to plan doesn’t mean that all is chaos. We allow more space and freedom to everyone. This is actually what I like in having to stay at home with my three teenagers: I don’t have to be around them all the time, their attention spam is quite long (!) and they have their ways to either cope with boredom or keep busy – I need to work on my tendency to be OCD and “let it go” when the kitchen is a mess and I have to clear spaces before I can sit, eat or anything else… (I hear my children already complain… “but that’s not so bad, mum!…”)

The other day, when one of my daughters couldn’t get her siblings to play a game with her, she made a cake. At another time, she rearranged the pantry. – There is so much to do in a house where 5 persons and a dog are constantly moving around…

One of my initial plans consisted in distributing tasks equally among all of us: it failed because I didn’t assign the tasks depending on the skills of the individual person, but was rather focusing on what everyone should contribute, and there is a continuum from tasks I don’t like at all to tasks I really like. All I had to do is find out who is where on the continuum for every task on my list.

If I had handled the situation in the same way I distribute tasks among collaborators, it would have worked like a charm! And so it does now. Everyone has tasks they like, and that they’re good at. Surprisingly, those tasks I don’t like were happily taken by two of my children: everyone is happy now.

Last but not least: it’s all in the way we say things…

I should know this as I train people become more effective communicators, and still… when we deal with our own family, we always hope that they read the air (= understand without us needing to explain why, when etc.). It won’t happen. Not even with our dearest ones! Therefore: it’s better to never assume things are clear if we don’t use a clear language…

What I learned so far with planning and not planning:

• having a plan does not guarantee that it works, and that everyone is happy with it…
• it’s more a combination of plans that works best with teenagers and adults: everyone has a (different!) feeling for “time” and doesn’t need to be bossed around (and honestly, I need that energy for other things)
• my family is my team, and if I am a good leader, teamwork works like a charm
• it’s all in the way we communicate with each other: “wie man in den Wald hineinruft, so schallt es heraus”/ what goes around, comes around.

How is it with your family these days?

Do you have a set plan, a clear routine?

What works for you, and what not?
Please share in the comments – yes, I’m curious…

As my husband and I tend to have meetings during lunch hours, we have either an early or a late lunch these days. This allows our three teenagers to make their own (very inventive!) lunches and spend some time among peers, have a chat (or a fight), share their thoughts etc..

Since we all started learning and working from home a few weeks ago, the conversations during breakfasts and dinners changed.

In the first week it was all about what restrictions we would follow. As we were following very closely the news from Italy, we had long discussions about how the situations differed in China, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium… and the Netherlands. We ended up agreeing to opt for a stricter rule than the one recommended by the Dutch prime minister, and follow a combination of the Italian and Belgium one , with the sole exception of the 200m rule. – It was not a gesture of solidarity, it was rather the result of our family-common sense or gesunder Menschenverstand .

***

Since our children are on a term break right now and school topics are not first priority during our breakfast and dinner conversations, I notice a great range of topics among which we shift back and forth, quite fast (…too fast sometimes!).

So, one morning, after talking about a movie he saw on Netflix that involves some discoveries at CERN (Lausanne), my son decided to explain Quantum entanglement to his sisters. He mentioned the gloves hidden in two boxes, one sent to the north pole, the other to the south pole… – All this was quite clear and made sense, until one of my daughters said that if the gloves were rubber gloves, that you can wear on both hands, this example would not work… They agreed that the situation in which these gloves are put into the boxes and the kind of gloves needed to be specified.

We all went on, imagining possible other scenarios that made the explanation of quantum entanglement surreal.

The general tone of these breakfast conversations is quite light and we all notice how the current situation is transforming our view on the whole “flatten the curve” approach too. What does “average” even mean? If we compare the calculations that are made in the different countries – we follow news from Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherland, but also form all other countries… – it changes depending on the numbers collected – the official ones – and parameters, and this all differs from country to country, which makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to compare them at all…

Breakfast is the moment where we talk about the current situation.

The other day, one of my daughters said “what if what we are actually living right now, were a dream… and we would wake up one day, but nobody would believe us?” – The next 20 minutes were filled with colorful images, where the children would meet their friends in capsules, hovering over the town, meeting with their classmates in a virtual – but parallel-virtual –room… I guess this was a fantasy over how the remote learning could have been done more realistically, if we had the technology. Face time and synchronous learning are not what they meant. It was more like learning and meeting in VR…

What I found interesting and important to explore was that this whole surreal situation we are thrown in, feels like living in a parallel world, in another dimension.

I understand that our children need time to process, to define for themselves (!) what is “real” and what could be “normal” in the future, they have to find out what makes sense and what not. It’s not for us parents to tell them, it’s for them to explore.

It is difficult for us adults already, even those who have experienced war or similar situations where they had to adjust to a situation that was out of their personal control in the past. – The fact though, that the whole world is affected, gives it a whole new dimension. I would say it is much more bearable because we know that everyone else in the world is going through the same.

Our dinner conversations tend to be quieter than those in the morning. We talk about what we did during the day, what topics we read about. We cook together, share the meal and let the day “sink in”.
I actively stopped conversations to spin around the current situation during evening hours because I noticed that it affected our mood and my personal sleep. I had days where I could hardly sleep. My thoughts spin around the “why’s” and “if’s” at the end of the days and I need something soothing and distracting, like reading books or watching a Netflix series…

It surely didn’t help that my mother in law fell, broke her wrist and had to undergo surgery in the midst of all this. She is fine now, but there were moments where the communication was lost and my husband was very worried. We tried to not make a big deal out of it in front of our children, but they “read the air”, i.e. sense what is going on, so we had a long talk about this. We explained that we can’t just take the car and go to Oma and Opa in Munich or to Grosi and Grospapi in Switzerland, we can’t just go and meet my sister in Ticino, our friends in Italy, France, Spain… These kind of discussions took place in the evenings, until I decided that these are too heavy for evening conversations.

They feel much “lighter” in the morning, when the sun shines and we have a whole day in front of us to talk about it, process the feelings and find ways to make sense of what happens.

What I learned during these days is that we have to have conversations about all that we think, what worries us, what makes us happy, our experience and fear during this time, but all this can’t be randomly shared.

We have to respect each others’ mood and psychological state and avoid a topic if we see that one can’t take it at the moment. We shared tears, we fought, and we shared silence, relaxed and exhausted silence: the whole spectrum of emotions is on our daily menu plan. It can sound scary and overwhelming, but it is important to at least acknowledge it because it helps us to connect and stay connected as a family.

At some point we talked about a series of books and movies about the topics that we tend to talk about and books like The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, or A la Recherche du Temps perdu, and movies like the Matrix etc. (the list was very long…!)

Independence Day comes to mind: although we all are spending 24/7 together, we have to make sure that we don’t disconnect with each other. We have to work on our communication every day

What kind of conversations are you having with your teenagers these days?
What are they – and you – reading at the moment?