Ottobre 26, 2010
So I'm not completely sure how great an idea it is to write this blog EVERYDAY... even Mom and Dad have trouble keeping up... and then if you get behind it's murder trying to catch back up... (assuming you care that much about my sordid affairs).
So today we had class... like every other Tuesday. When we got there, it was just Barbara (older Dutch girl), Camilla (younger French girl), and myself. The others had gone back home for the week while their families were hanging out with the kids sense they had a vacation from school this week. My kid has vacation next week, so that means this weekend I get to have a long weekend in GERMANY!!! I'm going to visit a bunch of AWESOME Aggies studying in Bonn, including Kristina Benson, Greg Ontiveros, Leslie Snyder, Brent Bailey, and so many more... I'm super excited. I may even get to experience a little bit of German Oktoberfest and Halloween at the same time. Matt Lamkin recommended two clubs while I was there... ;) Thanks Matt.
After class I had two objectives, go buy new 'cyan' printer ink for the printer and to go to Nic's school to watch his presentation on the Liver, and the rest of his group on the body systems. When I got to the store, they'd just closed and they would reopen at 1500, no worries, I could go get it while he was at Catechism class... so I head to the school, just a bit down the road on via Panama. When I get there, I'm about 25 minutes early so I look at some of the student board displays in the stairwell (cheap labor RA bulletin boards ;)... everything from U.K., U.S., India, Indonesia, Czech Republic, modern Graffitti art used as political perspective... all done by kids from the third to sixth grades.
It came time for the kids to give their presentations, Nic's group was first, talking about the different body organs and systems... they did very well (probably the most informative out of all of the groups) he knew a lot and talked on parts of different organ systems. He more or less led the group's presentation. The other groups did a great job presenting their topics as well, the importance of balance, eating healthy, and exercising... some were less informative, but very entertaining. ;) Goofy 9 year olds...
When we got back we did a little homework as quick as we could before Nic and Lavi had to go to Catechism class... Nic decided to take an alternate route to get there... on my way back I picked up the ink for the printer. :) *OBJECTIVES: Achieved*
When they got home, we had dinner, then Nic, Lavi, Marti, and I watched TV (they're having their apartment painted downstairs and everything has plastic on it...)
Then off to dream world for the little tykes.
Tomorrow's plan is to print off plane/train tickets and do laundry for the trip...
"Don't let the sun go down on me..."
night everyone...
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Does He Have an iPad?
Ottobre 25, 2010
So this morning, I lazed around a bit, not having enough time to do much of an exercise since I was going to meet my new friend Gemma at 1100 to show her some sites. I was a bit late, and she was a bit early... busses can always be counted on to tamper with your schedule... we finally met, she was very nice and we started our trip at Piazza del Popolo. We took the 'Dolce Vita' stoll, down via del Corso, then made a jaunt to the Spanish Steps and saw some high dollar shops... We talked about school, how we both were enjoying Rome so far, family, shops, everything... We stopped at OVS industry, a nice, non-expensive clothing store that was on via Tritone. Gemma was looking for a bigger bag for her books (I don't know if I mentioned, she's also an Au Pair and is in the other Italian beginner class at school).
After OVS, we turned and went to Fontana di Trevi and I recommend her try and come at night if she can (She lives WAY out in the boondocks north of Rome, but she said it's beautiful, just a long trip in) to see the lights and people at night. As we were walking around Fontana di Trevi, through the throngs of people, taking pictures, the gladiators (out of place) posing with tourists, we noticed one Gladiator scrolling on an iPad... we both saw him and said at the same time, "Was that... Did that guy have a... " then we both started laughing... it was SO out of place, iPhones are rare to see here... that was the FIRST time I'd seen an iPad, and it was funny to see a big burly guy, dressed in quasi-authentic gladiator attire, using one... :)
After Trevi, we headed to the Pantheon to see it in all it's wonders. It was cool to see again, there was a light drizzle on the floor under the occulus. We marveled at the dome and how the geometric shapes add to the dimensions of it. Then we headed outside toward Piazza Navonna. We marvelled at the main fountain, and some of the art (not all as they were covered for the drizzle). Then we headed to Campo di Fiori, found an interesting pub "Drunken Ship", looked around, stopped for some good pizza and suppli for lunch then went to Piazza di San Pietro walked around a bit, took some pictures, then made our way back to the Pantheon for some gelato from Fiocco di Neve, one of my favorites now... (Al Capo, Fiocco di Neve, & Giolitti) all around the Pantheon...
After our delicious gelato, we headed back to Piazza del Popolo so she could catch her train back to the house and start on her two girl's ironing. I headed back and made it back just in time to go with Zio Marco to pick up the kids at school. (Apparently I was supposed to wait downstairs with all the parents and not go up to the class room, oops, now I guess I know) We did some homework, but then Lavi had to leave and go to Pop dance lessons, so Nic and I finished, and he put off his writing a review of one of his books until later *due Friday* because he needed to get some pictures for his presentation tomorrow to "Aliens" (parents) about the liver. We did a lot of searching for just the RIGHT picture... finally after some tweaking on paint shop (professional paintshop worker here ;) we finished and tried to print... no ink... Zio Marco's... only black and white... Cugino Umberto... Success!! It turned out well. It will look good when he "cuts open" Lavi to show the 'aliens' where the liver is in relation to the other organs... Then we had some pork, penne rigate al pesto, and zucchini/carrots. Buonissimi.
A beautiful day to be alive and in the presence of God... :)
So this morning, I lazed around a bit, not having enough time to do much of an exercise since I was going to meet my new friend Gemma at 1100 to show her some sites. I was a bit late, and she was a bit early... busses can always be counted on to tamper with your schedule... we finally met, she was very nice and we started our trip at Piazza del Popolo. We took the 'Dolce Vita' stoll, down via del Corso, then made a jaunt to the Spanish Steps and saw some high dollar shops... We talked about school, how we both were enjoying Rome so far, family, shops, everything... We stopped at OVS industry, a nice, non-expensive clothing store that was on via Tritone. Gemma was looking for a bigger bag for her books (I don't know if I mentioned, she's also an Au Pair and is in the other Italian beginner class at school).
After OVS, we turned and went to Fontana di Trevi and I recommend her try and come at night if she can (She lives WAY out in the boondocks north of Rome, but she said it's beautiful, just a long trip in) to see the lights and people at night. As we were walking around Fontana di Trevi, through the throngs of people, taking pictures, the gladiators (out of place) posing with tourists, we noticed one Gladiator scrolling on an iPad... we both saw him and said at the same time, "Was that... Did that guy have a... " then we both started laughing... it was SO out of place, iPhones are rare to see here... that was the FIRST time I'd seen an iPad, and it was funny to see a big burly guy, dressed in quasi-authentic gladiator attire, using one... :)
After Trevi, we headed to the Pantheon to see it in all it's wonders. It was cool to see again, there was a light drizzle on the floor under the occulus. We marveled at the dome and how the geometric shapes add to the dimensions of it. Then we headed outside toward Piazza Navonna. We marvelled at the main fountain, and some of the art (not all as they were covered for the drizzle). Then we headed to Campo di Fiori, found an interesting pub "Drunken Ship", looked around, stopped for some good pizza and suppli for lunch then went to Piazza di San Pietro walked around a bit, took some pictures, then made our way back to the Pantheon for some gelato from Fiocco di Neve, one of my favorites now... (Al Capo, Fiocco di Neve, & Giolitti) all around the Pantheon...
After our delicious gelato, we headed back to Piazza del Popolo so she could catch her train back to the house and start on her two girl's ironing. I headed back and made it back just in time to go with Zio Marco to pick up the kids at school. (Apparently I was supposed to wait downstairs with all the parents and not go up to the class room, oops, now I guess I know) We did some homework, but then Lavi had to leave and go to Pop dance lessons, so Nic and I finished, and he put off his writing a review of one of his books until later *due Friday* because he needed to get some pictures for his presentation tomorrow to "Aliens" (parents) about the liver. We did a lot of searching for just the RIGHT picture... finally after some tweaking on paint shop (professional paintshop worker here ;) we finished and tried to print... no ink... Zio Marco's... only black and white... Cugino Umberto... Success!! It turned out well. It will look good when he "cuts open" Lavi to show the 'aliens' where the liver is in relation to the other organs... Then we had some pork, penne rigate al pesto, and zucchini/carrots. Buonissimi.
A beautiful day to be alive and in the presence of God... :)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Step it UP!
Ottobre 24, 2010
Today I woke a little later than I wanted to since I wanted to attend an English speaking Catholic mass at the Irish, St. Paul's Catholic Church on via Boncompagni... I made it there, after taking the wrong bus and having to walk 1/3 of the distance, only 15 minutes late. Apparently I had just missed the message unfortunately, but I did make it for the offering, and a three of four hymns... I liked the hymns, the man leading us all in the hymns had a great voice... I sang out from the back row... :) Still had a little morning voice going on. It had been a LONG time since I'd been to a Catholic mass and I don't know if they're always this short... I know I missed 15 minutes, but DANG, I think the whole process took 30 minutes total... I'm not complaining... I picked up the hand out that spelled out every detail of the mass and was actually able to catch up with what I missed after mass. The priest asked me where I was from originally after mass when I shook his hand, I said, "Texas." (I always respond with Texas first, just in case they know where it is, and then can possibly circumvent the next question of, 'where in the United States?'...
It was a good mass... when I got home I had a little time to self reflect on some things and just zone out and focus on God... It was nice. Some good prayer and meditation time is always good to ease any worries or stresses away. Also a good book, 'Illusions'.
Aneta messaged me back, she'd been in the country with her family and wanted to know if I wanted to go see Step Up 3D. I didn't particularly care to see the movie, but to get out of the house and go out is always nice. We met at Piazza del Popolo, after 30 minutes of waiting, she found me... we had different ideas of our meeting place... haha. The cinema that we wanted to go to was not showing the film, so we went to another, at Piazza Repubblica', it also was not showing it, and she really wanted to see it... so we went to McD's and checked some showtimes and locations for it... Piazza Cavour, right next to my language school. Very easy to get to. We stopped and got some lunch, I had a banana and cookie at 9 and it was 2 now... I bought too much food and spent too much money (we were near the Pantheon) but we saved some for later. We got to the film and bought our tickets, an extra 2.50 euro for the 3D...lame... then we wandered around the Piazza for a bit before the movie started. We discussed why Harry Potter (it comes out 19/11/2010 here!!! I'm so freakin' excited) is so much better than Saw 3D... she likes one, I like the other (guess which is which ;) We found our seats (I like that when you buy your ticket, your seat is assigned to you, makes it easier, and I've not had a bad seat yet) then the movie began... about halfway through the movie, it stopped so they could have 2 vendors sell popcorn and snacks to the viewers... Right at a minor climax in the film... all in all I enjoyed the movie, awesome dancing, good music, and the acting was actually good as well. The film definitely incorporated the 3rd dimension. I liked seeing Mike Chang from Glee in it, there were so many good dance scenes... (I understood a LOT more of this movie than Mangia. Prega. Ama., I'll pretend that it was my language comprehension, and not the subject matter of the film. ;)
Then I returned home and caught up a bit with the family, they went and saw 'Despicable Me', Nic liked it a lot, they said it was funny, I agreed. Then I did my best to explain the word 'despicable' to them... here the film is called 'Cativissimo Me'...
ok.enough for tonight. my butt hurts from sitting in the chair now.
night everyone.
Today I woke a little later than I wanted to since I wanted to attend an English speaking Catholic mass at the Irish, St. Paul's Catholic Church on via Boncompagni... I made it there, after taking the wrong bus and having to walk 1/3 of the distance, only 15 minutes late. Apparently I had just missed the message unfortunately, but I did make it for the offering, and a three of four hymns... I liked the hymns, the man leading us all in the hymns had a great voice... I sang out from the back row... :) Still had a little morning voice going on. It had been a LONG time since I'd been to a Catholic mass and I don't know if they're always this short... I know I missed 15 minutes, but DANG, I think the whole process took 30 minutes total... I'm not complaining... I picked up the hand out that spelled out every detail of the mass and was actually able to catch up with what I missed after mass. The priest asked me where I was from originally after mass when I shook his hand, I said, "Texas." (I always respond with Texas first, just in case they know where it is, and then can possibly circumvent the next question of, 'where in the United States?'...
It was a good mass... when I got home I had a little time to self reflect on some things and just zone out and focus on God... It was nice. Some good prayer and meditation time is always good to ease any worries or stresses away. Also a good book, 'Illusions'.
Aneta messaged me back, she'd been in the country with her family and wanted to know if I wanted to go see Step Up 3D. I didn't particularly care to see the movie, but to get out of the house and go out is always nice. We met at Piazza del Popolo, after 30 minutes of waiting, she found me... we had different ideas of our meeting place... haha. The cinema that we wanted to go to was not showing the film, so we went to another, at Piazza Repubblica', it also was not showing it, and she really wanted to see it... so we went to McD's and checked some showtimes and locations for it... Piazza Cavour, right next to my language school. Very easy to get to. We stopped and got some lunch, I had a banana and cookie at 9 and it was 2 now... I bought too much food and spent too much money (we were near the Pantheon) but we saved some for later. We got to the film and bought our tickets, an extra 2.50 euro for the 3D...lame... then we wandered around the Piazza for a bit before the movie started. We discussed why Harry Potter (it comes out 19/11/2010 here!!! I'm so freakin' excited) is so much better than Saw 3D... she likes one, I like the other (guess which is which ;) We found our seats (I like that when you buy your ticket, your seat is assigned to you, makes it easier, and I've not had a bad seat yet) then the movie began... about halfway through the movie, it stopped so they could have 2 vendors sell popcorn and snacks to the viewers... Right at a minor climax in the film... all in all I enjoyed the movie, awesome dancing, good music, and the acting was actually good as well. The film definitely incorporated the 3rd dimension. I liked seeing Mike Chang from Glee in it, there were so many good dance scenes... (I understood a LOT more of this movie than Mangia. Prega. Ama., I'll pretend that it was my language comprehension, and not the subject matter of the film. ;)
Then I returned home and caught up a bit with the family, they went and saw 'Despicable Me', Nic liked it a lot, they said it was funny, I agreed. Then I did my best to explain the word 'despicable' to them... here the film is called 'Cativissimo Me'...
ok.enough for tonight. my butt hurts from sitting in the chair now.
night everyone.
Empty Promises
Ottobre 23, 2010
So it's Saturday... No homework with Lavi or Marti, and Nic is going to a party... I... well I went to get some Christmas shopping done. I found a great gift for Dad at United Colors of Benetton, hopefully he likes it... then I saw something in a window that screamed, "IVAN!"... so I bought it. :)
Afterwards, I went back to the house to catch my mom and grandpa on Skype before they left for a gun and knife show. Mom said that if I was around about 2 or 3 my time, I'd get to chat with them... so I got back at 1330, just to be on the safe side... Grandpa is usually early anyway. I signed on to skype... they were not online yet... I waited... 1500... still nothing... 1600... nothing... I at least go and make some lunch, I'm hungry with all the waiting... after I finish lunch, I get back to the computer, still nothing. Sad Day.
So then I made a trip to the south east side of Roma to check and see if I could find any cheap shopping areas... I googled one area and found it, but it was closing... I found a place I thought might have cheap stuff... called 'Coin'... just by the name I should have known better... holy cow, expensive... not Armani or Gucci or D&G expensive, but still. Not in my price range. I wandered around the area a bit... found some shady places... when I say shady, I mean they were less luminous, actually more shady... but it had less graffitti... probably because the people that lived there would mess up some punks who painted on their buildings. ;) As they rightfully should. In my wanderings, I found a really cool area that has a sort of maze garden through a wall and over a bridge... it's kind of hard to explain, I'll go back and take pictures and post them on FB.
Then I headed home and sat... read some... navigated the web... was asked why I wasn't out... responded because all 6 of my friends here are out of town or are busy... Saturday nights at home aren't terrible though. I got a good sleep, I am ALWAYS a fan of that.
ok kids. been real. been fun. more fun than real though... kind of feels like a dream... I'll enjoy it at least until I wake... maybe I'll make some of my own rules up since it's my dream...
So it's Saturday... No homework with Lavi or Marti, and Nic is going to a party... I... well I went to get some Christmas shopping done. I found a great gift for Dad at United Colors of Benetton, hopefully he likes it... then I saw something in a window that screamed, "IVAN!"... so I bought it. :)
Afterwards, I went back to the house to catch my mom and grandpa on Skype before they left for a gun and knife show. Mom said that if I was around about 2 or 3 my time, I'd get to chat with them... so I got back at 1330, just to be on the safe side... Grandpa is usually early anyway. I signed on to skype... they were not online yet... I waited... 1500... still nothing... 1600... nothing... I at least go and make some lunch, I'm hungry with all the waiting... after I finish lunch, I get back to the computer, still nothing. Sad Day.
So then I made a trip to the south east side of Roma to check and see if I could find any cheap shopping areas... I googled one area and found it, but it was closing... I found a place I thought might have cheap stuff... called 'Coin'... just by the name I should have known better... holy cow, expensive... not Armani or Gucci or D&G expensive, but still. Not in my price range. I wandered around the area a bit... found some shady places... when I say shady, I mean they were less luminous, actually more shady... but it had less graffitti... probably because the people that lived there would mess up some punks who painted on their buildings. ;) As they rightfully should. In my wanderings, I found a really cool area that has a sort of maze garden through a wall and over a bridge... it's kind of hard to explain, I'll go back and take pictures and post them on FB.
Then I headed home and sat... read some... navigated the web... was asked why I wasn't out... responded because all 6 of my friends here are out of town or are busy... Saturday nights at home aren't terrible though. I got a good sleep, I am ALWAYS a fan of that.
ok kids. been real. been fun. more fun than real though... kind of feels like a dream... I'll enjoy it at least until I wake... maybe I'll make some of my own rules up since it's my dream...
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Homework Doesn't HAVE to be Boring
Ottobre 22, 2010
This morning I woke up, ran, then went to the library to do my homework. Before I left, I got a quick layout of the area around the bus stop, I needed it to do part of my homework. When I got to the library, I found a relatively empty table, and started... I had to describe with directional prepositions what was around my bus stop... the real estate office, the furnishing store, the women's clothing store, the coffee bar, the gelateria, and even the apartments above them all. After I finished all my descriptions, I then had to conjugate some verbs into present tense using certain pronouns and make sentences with them... there were no specifics on what the sentences had to have, so I was creative with mine... it took probably an extra hour, but I think the final product will speak for itself... :)
Some of the sentences were simple, what you expect on homework sentences, others were more creative, like; "You take 3 nuns with you when you drink at the pub?"... you know, fun quirky sentences like that... it made for some entertaining trains of thought...
After I finished, I headed back to the flat. On the way, I walked by a woman on the ground surrounded by a crowd with a belt around her upper led and two men at her side. She was concious, but had blood on her face... I heard one woman ask if anyone had called an ambulance, I wanted to help, but felt kind of helpless, so I decided to at least help by not contributing to the staring crowd...
When I got home, I put my stuff up, started to take a nap, then heard the buzzer, Nic and Mattise got finished with school about 30 minutes early and were rearing to go... we had snack, then played some Mario Kart, then had to go to tennis... Nic, Lavi, Mattise and I all walked down to the courts (only a few minutes late, they have tiny legs, what can I say). Nic and Lavi got their tennis on, while Mattise and I watched, a guy asked me to come and pick up Nic's uniform, so I did, I wasn't completely sure of all his size stuff, but the guy said we could bring it back next week if it was too big... Zio Marco came to watch Lavi play and picked up her stuff as well... apparently though, they'd run out of her stuff and had to order more, so he just got her socks... Marco was apparently VERY good at futbol when he was younger and that's how he paid for his education, a striker. He also apparently learned English by studying in English speaking public schools for 1 month per year for 5 years... that's pretty impressive, and a lot of dedication.
After tennis, we went and got a birthday present for one of their classmates' party on Saturday... it was a type of Lego thing we ended up picking I think. Then back home for some pasta rotelle al sugo and some amazing skewered chicken with Mom's picante salsa! MMMmmm.
Live . Laugh . Love
Tomorrow you may never know what you might have missed out on.
This morning I woke up, ran, then went to the library to do my homework. Before I left, I got a quick layout of the area around the bus stop, I needed it to do part of my homework. When I got to the library, I found a relatively empty table, and started... I had to describe with directional prepositions what was around my bus stop... the real estate office, the furnishing store, the women's clothing store, the coffee bar, the gelateria, and even the apartments above them all. After I finished all my descriptions, I then had to conjugate some verbs into present tense using certain pronouns and make sentences with them... there were no specifics on what the sentences had to have, so I was creative with mine... it took probably an extra hour, but I think the final product will speak for itself... :)
Some of the sentences were simple, what you expect on homework sentences, others were more creative, like; "You take 3 nuns with you when you drink at the pub?"... you know, fun quirky sentences like that... it made for some entertaining trains of thought...
After I finished, I headed back to the flat. On the way, I walked by a woman on the ground surrounded by a crowd with a belt around her upper led and two men at her side. She was concious, but had blood on her face... I heard one woman ask if anyone had called an ambulance, I wanted to help, but felt kind of helpless, so I decided to at least help by not contributing to the staring crowd...
When I got home, I put my stuff up, started to take a nap, then heard the buzzer, Nic and Mattise got finished with school about 30 minutes early and were rearing to go... we had snack, then played some Mario Kart, then had to go to tennis... Nic, Lavi, Mattise and I all walked down to the courts (only a few minutes late, they have tiny legs, what can I say). Nic and Lavi got their tennis on, while Mattise and I watched, a guy asked me to come and pick up Nic's uniform, so I did, I wasn't completely sure of all his size stuff, but the guy said we could bring it back next week if it was too big... Zio Marco came to watch Lavi play and picked up her stuff as well... apparently though, they'd run out of her stuff and had to order more, so he just got her socks... Marco was apparently VERY good at futbol when he was younger and that's how he paid for his education, a striker. He also apparently learned English by studying in English speaking public schools for 1 month per year for 5 years... that's pretty impressive, and a lot of dedication.
After tennis, we went and got a birthday present for one of their classmates' party on Saturday... it was a type of Lego thing we ended up picking I think. Then back home for some pasta rotelle al sugo and some amazing skewered chicken with Mom's picante salsa! MMMmmm.
Live . Laugh . Love
Tomorrow you may never know what you might have missed out on.
Warhammer
Ottobre 21, 2010
This morning I went to class... we covered a lot of positioning prepositions, over, under, on top, below, on the floor, next to, between, in front, behind, inside, outside, ecc... honestly it's the hardest thing we've done so far just because there are a lot of them and some of them are interchangable with other prepositions that mean the same thing. I think I've got it figured out though, we'll see. We did a bit of practive in class, Marina seemed to pick up much quicker than everyone else, I was first confused because I didn't realize there was a legend of symbols we were using to answer the questions, so for my first attempt, I was just guessing at a preposition, improvisation. ;)
After class, on my way back to the flat, I stopped at a bar near the intersection of via Salaria and via Po and had a plate of gnocchi(pasta with potatoes inside) with sugo(red sauce)and pancetta (bacon) and a dolce...(I don't remember the name of the sweet, but it was like a crisp, flaky croissant with icing on it. Apparently good with dipping in your caffe'.) It was a new experience to order from the bar and then take the plate to the back to eat and enjoy before you paid... ***By the way, when people realize I'm not from Italy, they usually ask if I'm English. I don't know how many times I've said yes, at first thinking they're asking if I speak English, then realizing afterwords what they actually said...***
Then I walked through the street market on via Salaria, saw some cheap things that looked nice and I might go back and get but a lot of it was just random stuff... one guy wanted to sell me a hat really bad... I happened to walk by two or three times and he kept offering to sell it to me. I kept thinking, my head isn't THAT ugly. Rude. When I got back to the flat, I took a bit of a nap (only about 15 minutes) then it was time for Nic to get home, he was bringing his friend Claudio today.
When they got home, we had gelato for snack then we had a play date to go to a shop down the street to see if they would be interested in a new game. The game is called Warhammer. It is basically like the soldier game we play, you have your army versus another army and then you can roll di to see which armies can move, and attack, and damage ecc. They decided to play the Elves with Prince Altran, versus the Rat Horde... Daniele was our guide through the adventure... he explained all the directions, how you moved, and could attack, the benefits of some attacks, and then he played the Rat Horde against Nicolo' and Claudio's Elves. His descriptions of battles, attacks, defenses, near misses, and successful hits, were DM Matt Lamkin worthy, he even through in Jace Barrow-like acting to make it more realistic. ;) The Engineer Rat's pistol faltering and not being able to blast the Elf wizard... then the gruesome death of the "Capo di Clan" after being brutally eviscerated by Prince Altran's gryffin. They Elves ended the battle by killing all of the ranks of Rat Hordes, and only one fleeing to the mountains in fear... the boys REALLY enjoyed it... then Daniele took them and Marco (Anita's son 6 year old son who wanted to look in the store in passing and saw Nic and joined us for the end of the battle) to show them the other half of Warhammer, my favorite part... Unlike playing toy soldiers, with the armies in Warhammer, you can paint each soldier by hand. Daniele had a small studio set up in the back of the shop and let Marco, Claudio, and Nicolo all paint one soldier, one elf and two rat men... After donning their finite fighters with armour, weaponry, and fur/hair, we said our thank yous to Daniele and left. Each of them carrying their newly painted gifts from the shop with information about how to play Warhammer, and how to get started. I have a feeling by their conversations walking/running back to the flat, that we will be returning to the shop eventually.
Afterwards, at the flat, we had a marshmellow/toy sword battle (2 Davids vs. Goliath) there was much sneaking, ambushing, sniping with the marshmellow shooter, and full out charging assaults... minor injuries occured... but nothing that couldn't be handled with a more entertaining distraction, like hitting me with the plastic sword. When Raffa got home, they regaled her with the immensity of the Warhammer battles, and the painting, and the price of the starting box set... (75euro I think) I told her I wasn't sure if you HAD to have the starter box to play, but she said she'd just go down and ask about it sometime. Claudio was staying over for the night, so we had dinner, watched some TV, played some chess on my iPod, then went to bed...
all in all, a terrible day to be a member of the Rat Horde, but a good day to be 9.
FOR ALTRAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!
This morning I went to class... we covered a lot of positioning prepositions, over, under, on top, below, on the floor, next to, between, in front, behind, inside, outside, ecc... honestly it's the hardest thing we've done so far just because there are a lot of them and some of them are interchangable with other prepositions that mean the same thing. I think I've got it figured out though, we'll see. We did a bit of practive in class, Marina seemed to pick up much quicker than everyone else, I was first confused because I didn't realize there was a legend of symbols we were using to answer the questions, so for my first attempt, I was just guessing at a preposition, improvisation. ;)
After class, on my way back to the flat, I stopped at a bar near the intersection of via Salaria and via Po and had a plate of gnocchi(pasta with potatoes inside) with sugo(red sauce)and pancetta (bacon) and a dolce...(I don't remember the name of the sweet, but it was like a crisp, flaky croissant with icing on it. Apparently good with dipping in your caffe'.) It was a new experience to order from the bar and then take the plate to the back to eat and enjoy before you paid... ***By the way, when people realize I'm not from Italy, they usually ask if I'm English. I don't know how many times I've said yes, at first thinking they're asking if I speak English, then realizing afterwords what they actually said...***
Then I walked through the street market on via Salaria, saw some cheap things that looked nice and I might go back and get but a lot of it was just random stuff... one guy wanted to sell me a hat really bad... I happened to walk by two or three times and he kept offering to sell it to me. I kept thinking, my head isn't THAT ugly. Rude. When I got back to the flat, I took a bit of a nap (only about 15 minutes) then it was time for Nic to get home, he was bringing his friend Claudio today.
When they got home, we had gelato for snack then we had a play date to go to a shop down the street to see if they would be interested in a new game. The game is called Warhammer. It is basically like the soldier game we play, you have your army versus another army and then you can roll di to see which armies can move, and attack, and damage ecc. They decided to play the Elves with Prince Altran, versus the Rat Horde... Daniele was our guide through the adventure... he explained all the directions, how you moved, and could attack, the benefits of some attacks, and then he played the Rat Horde against Nicolo' and Claudio's Elves. His descriptions of battles, attacks, defenses, near misses, and successful hits, were DM Matt Lamkin worthy, he even through in Jace Barrow-like acting to make it more realistic. ;) The Engineer Rat's pistol faltering and not being able to blast the Elf wizard... then the gruesome death of the "Capo di Clan" after being brutally eviscerated by Prince Altran's gryffin. They Elves ended the battle by killing all of the ranks of Rat Hordes, and only one fleeing to the mountains in fear... the boys REALLY enjoyed it... then Daniele took them and Marco (Anita's son 6 year old son who wanted to look in the store in passing and saw Nic and joined us for the end of the battle) to show them the other half of Warhammer, my favorite part... Unlike playing toy soldiers, with the armies in Warhammer, you can paint each soldier by hand. Daniele had a small studio set up in the back of the shop and let Marco, Claudio, and Nicolo all paint one soldier, one elf and two rat men... After donning their finite fighters with armour, weaponry, and fur/hair, we said our thank yous to Daniele and left. Each of them carrying their newly painted gifts from the shop with information about how to play Warhammer, and how to get started. I have a feeling by their conversations walking/running back to the flat, that we will be returning to the shop eventually.
Afterwards, at the flat, we had a marshmellow/toy sword battle (2 Davids vs. Goliath) there was much sneaking, ambushing, sniping with the marshmellow shooter, and full out charging assaults... minor injuries occured... but nothing that couldn't be handled with a more entertaining distraction, like hitting me with the plastic sword. When Raffa got home, they regaled her with the immensity of the Warhammer battles, and the painting, and the price of the starting box set... (75euro I think) I told her I wasn't sure if you HAD to have the starter box to play, but she said she'd just go down and ask about it sometime. Claudio was staying over for the night, so we had dinner, watched some TV, played some chess on my iPod, then went to bed...
all in all, a terrible day to be a member of the Rat Horde, but a good day to be 9.
FOR ALTRAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
I Practice to Fit In
Ottobre 20, 2010
This morning I woke up and went to Villa Ada to play some futbol... I am tired of doing the same work out every other day... so instead today I went to the park and did some dribbling drills in between trees, some passing drills to trashcans and around rocks, and practiced some shots through swing sets... I am not the world's greatest futbol player... but I can see potential for improvement (mainly because there's always something greater than 0 ;) I did have a couple of pretty good shots into the corners of my 'net' that I was rather impressed with, like the one that soared just below the top bar and kept climbing until it started to fall, right where a dad was walking with his kid in a stoller... he expertly avoided the ball as it careened past them both, like a pro. After about 30 minutes of semi-continuous play (over 2 miles on the pedometer) I went back to the apartment.
As I was heading upstairs I saw one of the men that worked on the house waiting for the lift, when he saw me he smiled, I smiled back and went on my way... it wasn't until I got back to my room and went to the bathroom that I realized I had mud all over my face from practicing head shots... whatever. ;)
After a shower and getting dressed I went al centro to check out another hotel for my parents that was right in the piazza of the pantheon. I figured on my way, I'd stop by a toy store I scoped out on Saturday and get a couple of Christmas presents bought. The woman remembered me from Saturday and we spoke for a little while about me living here and what I thought about Roma and how I was enjoying it... she said she hoped I continued to learn the language and take it back as something I experienced here... I told her I was trying ;) She said if I want to return, I don't have to buy something, but she'll quiz me on my Italian. I said ok. It may be a good marker for my progress. haha. I also stopped at another shop in the area to buy a couple more things.
When Nic got home we read his new book in English and then he had to go to tennis... he really wanted to keep reading, it was a suspense book... but he left and came back and Giorgio and he did Italian storia and scrivere (history and writing)... we had some good fettuccini for pasta, formaggi e prosciutto e spanacci... mmm. Then after some tv he headed to bed and I went to my room to weep in the woes of homework... but I finished... somewhere before 10 so no worries. :)
OK Follow the path less travelled in the mean time... :) and walk that way to the beat of your own drum.
This morning I woke up and went to Villa Ada to play some futbol... I am tired of doing the same work out every other day... so instead today I went to the park and did some dribbling drills in between trees, some passing drills to trashcans and around rocks, and practiced some shots through swing sets... I am not the world's greatest futbol player... but I can see potential for improvement (mainly because there's always something greater than 0 ;) I did have a couple of pretty good shots into the corners of my 'net' that I was rather impressed with, like the one that soared just below the top bar and kept climbing until it started to fall, right where a dad was walking with his kid in a stoller... he expertly avoided the ball as it careened past them both, like a pro. After about 30 minutes of semi-continuous play (over 2 miles on the pedometer) I went back to the apartment.
As I was heading upstairs I saw one of the men that worked on the house waiting for the lift, when he saw me he smiled, I smiled back and went on my way... it wasn't until I got back to my room and went to the bathroom that I realized I had mud all over my face from practicing head shots... whatever. ;)
After a shower and getting dressed I went al centro to check out another hotel for my parents that was right in the piazza of the pantheon. I figured on my way, I'd stop by a toy store I scoped out on Saturday and get a couple of Christmas presents bought. The woman remembered me from Saturday and we spoke for a little while about me living here and what I thought about Roma and how I was enjoying it... she said she hoped I continued to learn the language and take it back as something I experienced here... I told her I was trying ;) She said if I want to return, I don't have to buy something, but she'll quiz me on my Italian. I said ok. It may be a good marker for my progress. haha. I also stopped at another shop in the area to buy a couple more things.
When Nic got home we read his new book in English and then he had to go to tennis... he really wanted to keep reading, it was a suspense book... but he left and came back and Giorgio and he did Italian storia and scrivere (history and writing)... we had some good fettuccini for pasta, formaggi e prosciutto e spanacci... mmm. Then after some tv he headed to bed and I went to my room to weep in the woes of homework... but I finished... somewhere before 10 so no worries. :)
OK Follow the path less travelled in the mean time... :) and walk that way to the beat of your own drum.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Hot and Cold
Ottobre 19, 2010
This morning I woke up a little chilly... tonight I'll have to put an extra blanket on to stay warm and snuggly. I hopped in the shower (more accurately I bounced, the showerhead is kind of low so hopping would be painful ;) then watched the parade of everyone leaving (all a little later than normal and in a bit of a rush) then sat down and had some colazione.
I headed to the bus determined to have a quick transit time recorded... I left a bit after 9.05... and after 1 bus and 1 train and several busy intersections I arrived at my class at 9.40... not bad, but I think I can do better. One intersection was so crazy I eventually just stepped in front of the cars and used my jedi force powers to make them stop and let me by.
Before class I talked with the head of the school about some difficulties some of the other American students had been having and she wanted to make sure I wasn't having any problems. (I don't feel it's my place to advertise the problems to the world, but if you would like to know feel free to email me or facebook message me) I spoke with Prescilla and Marina before class and now I have a couple of new facebook friends... yay... also, Barbara, one of the girls from Holland found me on the bookface... I guess there can't be that many Dubs in Rome... The main message we covered and wanted to make sure was expressed today was this: If there is a verb for something (guidare-to drive) you don't use fare-to make/do then the infinitive of that verb. You just use that verb. EXAMPLE: incorrect- Non fa mai guidare la macchina in centro. correct- Non guida mai la macchina in centro. There were several instances when "we" tried to do something more or less like the incorrect version in class today... Quote from class today, "Abbiamo quattro gatti. Uno gatto e' morto." " E' morto?" " Si, uhm, uh... *right hand passing from back of left hand to left arm* una macchina." "Ah, si, il gatto e' sotto la macchina." ["We have four cats. One cat is dead." "It's dead?" "Yes, uhm, uh... *squish* a car." "Ah, yes, the cat is under the car."] HAHAHA poor kitty...
Lavi and Marti were not here, but Nic and Sophie and Sophia had snack downstairs (because I locked the key in the apartment, thanks Anita for helping me out) then we headed upstairs to do a bit of English math before heading to Catechism... Nic and Sophia were chatting back and forth (doing some math in the middle) and I could understand a good bit... I am glad I can understand 9 year old conversations at least...
We were running late to Catechism because of X,Y,Z... and blah blah blah... we got there EXACTLY on time... when I came to pick Nic up, we spent the whole walk back talking about religion and the differences in other religions and Judaism and Muslims and a legitimate discussion... it was cool... he asked some questions I didn't know and I told him he could ask his Catechism teacher... he said if she learned that at some point, she's so old, she probably forgot by now. Ha! I doubt that somehow. After finishing the math, then some shower, and dinner, he did his Italian with Raffa. (When Raffa saw me after I'd picked up Nic, she inadvertently gave me a compliment, "Are you going out?", I think she was content with my 'casual wear'... it's hard to explain) After Italian, some TV, then bed. Long, but fulfilling day... now for some AWESOME Beauty rest...
(by the way, mid afternoon naps rock)
This morning I woke up a little chilly... tonight I'll have to put an extra blanket on to stay warm and snuggly. I hopped in the shower (more accurately I bounced, the showerhead is kind of low so hopping would be painful ;) then watched the parade of everyone leaving (all a little later than normal and in a bit of a rush) then sat down and had some colazione.
I headed to the bus determined to have a quick transit time recorded... I left a bit after 9.05... and after 1 bus and 1 train and several busy intersections I arrived at my class at 9.40... not bad, but I think I can do better. One intersection was so crazy I eventually just stepped in front of the cars and used my jedi force powers to make them stop and let me by.
Before class I talked with the head of the school about some difficulties some of the other American students had been having and she wanted to make sure I wasn't having any problems. (I don't feel it's my place to advertise the problems to the world, but if you would like to know feel free to email me or facebook message me) I spoke with Prescilla and Marina before class and now I have a couple of new facebook friends... yay... also, Barbara, one of the girls from Holland found me on the bookface... I guess there can't be that many Dubs in Rome... The main message we covered and wanted to make sure was expressed today was this: If there is a verb for something (guidare-to drive) you don't use fare-to make/do then the infinitive of that verb. You just use that verb. EXAMPLE: incorrect- Non fa mai guidare la macchina in centro. correct- Non guida mai la macchina in centro. There were several instances when "we" tried to do something more or less like the incorrect version in class today... Quote from class today, "Abbiamo quattro gatti. Uno gatto e' morto." " E' morto?" " Si, uhm, uh... *right hand passing from back of left hand to left arm* una macchina." "Ah, si, il gatto e' sotto la macchina." ["We have four cats. One cat is dead." "It's dead?" "Yes, uhm, uh... *squish* a car." "Ah, yes, the cat is under the car."] HAHAHA poor kitty...
Lavi and Marti were not here, but Nic and Sophie and Sophia had snack downstairs (because I locked the key in the apartment, thanks Anita for helping me out) then we headed upstairs to do a bit of English math before heading to Catechism... Nic and Sophia were chatting back and forth (doing some math in the middle) and I could understand a good bit... I am glad I can understand 9 year old conversations at least...
We were running late to Catechism because of X,Y,Z... and blah blah blah... we got there EXACTLY on time... when I came to pick Nic up, we spent the whole walk back talking about religion and the differences in other religions and Judaism and Muslims and a legitimate discussion... it was cool... he asked some questions I didn't know and I told him he could ask his Catechism teacher... he said if she learned that at some point, she's so old, she probably forgot by now. Ha! I doubt that somehow. After finishing the math, then some shower, and dinner, he did his Italian with Raffa. (When Raffa saw me after I'd picked up Nic, she inadvertently gave me a compliment, "Are you going out?", I think she was content with my 'casual wear'... it's hard to explain) After Italian, some TV, then bed. Long, but fulfilling day... now for some AWESOME Beauty rest...
(by the way, mid afternoon naps rock)
Monday, October 18, 2010
Life is a Game Show
Ottobre 17, 2010
This morning I woke up. YES! I FREAKIN' LOVE WAKING UP! (because it beats the alternative) I decided I didn't feel like running or doing push ups or pull ups or sit ups or crunches... so I got some stuff together and walked to Villa Borghese. I brought a camera this time. I took some lovely pictures and was able to see much more of the park this time around. (go check my facebook album if you'd like to see the pictures) So walking to Villa Borghese I got to see more of the places I drive by on the bus, but don't ever get to stop at, shops and markets, things like that. Then I walked around Villa Borghese and saw lots of interesting things... being a weekday morning not a weekend afternoon, it was a lot more desolate on the occasion... I haven't decided if I like that more or not... less people watching opportunities, but more alone, thinking time without distractions. I felt like I could take my time, enjoying myself, strolling, taking 20 pictures of a duck just to delete 90% of them, sitting... this morning was great. When I headed back, I walked a longer route back. Saw more of via Veneto than I'd seen before and more of the side streets off via Salaria and via Boncompagni.
On the way I checked the price for a hotel near the flat for my parents, from what I gathered, they're estimating the price to be 70 euro in april... un cento settanta could have been what the guy said (170) but that seemed a little high for this place... it's very nice, don't get me wrong, but it's not in centro near all the monuments and sites...
when I got back, I went and finished picking up, and folding my laundry. When Nic and Lavi got home BOTH of them forgot 2/3 of their homework so they could only do geografia... which is fortunate since it was due tomorrow... since it was in Italian, Zia Paola helped them with it. I love the way she does homework with them... It's like a game show and she's the announcer calling on the contestants whichever can raise their hand first. However, if the question is easy, you get both of them responding inspite of the elevated hand. I think they enjoy it more too, it's not as tedious and they feel like they're having fun. It's harder to do that with math or reading when the main point is practicing their English.
After we left Lavi's, we came upstairs and Nic worked on my computer to do his project one the liver. He researched through wikipedia (useless details) and some website titled "Mama's Health" or something like that (much more age appropriate details and info). I showed him some keystroke shortcuts he loved... bragging probably no one else in his class knew how to copy/paste/change screens with the ctrl key. ;) His typing is tediously slow, but he's 9... I'm pretty sure mine was still that bad when I was a freshman in high school... I don't think I picked it up until later, really coming into my own with the keyboard at University. ;) *I casually bragged to Nic that when I'm tired, but still have writing to do, I lay my head on my arms and keep typing without looking, he was impressed. ;)*
We had dinner fettucini con sugo al tonno (with tuna red sauce) and fried chicken breasts, spinach, and fruit (super healthy with the fried chicken, yeah?) He didn't want to stop reading his Topolino (Italian Mickey Mouse comic) while he was eating, he couldn't put it down... but he finished his food anyway... even the stuff I snuck on his plate while he was reading...hahaha.
Ok... that's all she wrote... Buondi!
This morning I woke up. YES! I FREAKIN' LOVE WAKING UP! (because it beats the alternative) I decided I didn't feel like running or doing push ups or pull ups or sit ups or crunches... so I got some stuff together and walked to Villa Borghese. I brought a camera this time. I took some lovely pictures and was able to see much more of the park this time around. (go check my facebook album if you'd like to see the pictures) So walking to Villa Borghese I got to see more of the places I drive by on the bus, but don't ever get to stop at, shops and markets, things like that. Then I walked around Villa Borghese and saw lots of interesting things... being a weekday morning not a weekend afternoon, it was a lot more desolate on the occasion... I haven't decided if I like that more or not... less people watching opportunities, but more alone, thinking time without distractions. I felt like I could take my time, enjoying myself, strolling, taking 20 pictures of a duck just to delete 90% of them, sitting... this morning was great. When I headed back, I walked a longer route back. Saw more of via Veneto than I'd seen before and more of the side streets off via Salaria and via Boncompagni.
On the way I checked the price for a hotel near the flat for my parents, from what I gathered, they're estimating the price to be 70 euro in april... un cento settanta could have been what the guy said (170) but that seemed a little high for this place... it's very nice, don't get me wrong, but it's not in centro near all the monuments and sites...
when I got back, I went and finished picking up, and folding my laundry. When Nic and Lavi got home BOTH of them forgot 2/3 of their homework so they could only do geografia... which is fortunate since it was due tomorrow... since it was in Italian, Zia Paola helped them with it. I love the way she does homework with them... It's like a game show and she's the announcer calling on the contestants whichever can raise their hand first. However, if the question is easy, you get both of them responding inspite of the elevated hand. I think they enjoy it more too, it's not as tedious and they feel like they're having fun. It's harder to do that with math or reading when the main point is practicing their English.
After we left Lavi's, we came upstairs and Nic worked on my computer to do his project one the liver. He researched through wikipedia (useless details) and some website titled "Mama's Health" or something like that (much more age appropriate details and info). I showed him some keystroke shortcuts he loved... bragging probably no one else in his class knew how to copy/paste/change screens with the ctrl key. ;) His typing is tediously slow, but he's 9... I'm pretty sure mine was still that bad when I was a freshman in high school... I don't think I picked it up until later, really coming into my own with the keyboard at University. ;) *I casually bragged to Nic that when I'm tired, but still have writing to do, I lay my head on my arms and keep typing without looking, he was impressed. ;)*
We had dinner fettucini con sugo al tonno (with tuna red sauce) and fried chicken breasts, spinach, and fruit (super healthy with the fried chicken, yeah?) He didn't want to stop reading his Topolino (Italian Mickey Mouse comic) while he was eating, he couldn't put it down... but he finished his food anyway... even the stuff I snuck on his plate while he was reading...hahaha.
Ok... that's all she wrote... Buondi!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
DANCE DANCE!
Ottobre 16 & 17, 2010
Saturday and all is well. I wake up and have breakfast with la famiglia. Then Nic heads to his Calcio* tournament. (*Calcio means 3 things- soccer, I kick, and calcium) I spent the day wandering in the center, doing some window shopping, and pricing for some Christmas presents. I found a couple of places where I'm probably going to buy at least a few of the presents.
Then I wandered by Trevi and there was the usual crowded masses of people, but I noticed some people that looked stangely out of place. In suits with large boxes next to them. Not really paying attention to the fountain, but chatting with each other... turns out Vodafone was doing a HUGE promotional thing where EVERYONE at the Piazza that day got a red rain jacket and cap and at 15.30 we ALL threw a coin over our left shoulder. (A tradition that is supposed to bring you back to Rome someday, hey it worked once for me ;) It was really cool... there was about 30 minutes of build up to the toss with a DJ that was entertaining, mixing English and Italian for the tourists as well... I didn't understand much because of his speed, but appreciated the English bits... which was very little.
After the toss we all went different ways. I headed to the shopping center near by, like a mall for super rich taste... I looked... I did find a very nice jacket at a cheaper store on via del Corso, only 80 euro... just about $100 for a wool rain coat... I may look at getting it after all the gifts are bought and I decide where I want to travel and the costs and stuff.
I headed back to the flat for some refueling... made some nice pasta, pulpette, veggies, and a pear... delicious. Then Sasha and I decided we were going to DANCE. Well aside from a lot of walking initially... we did eventually get to dance. The first place was on the south side of town... we finally found it after some difficulties, but it was closed for construction. Then we went to a place near the Colosseo. It closed at 2.00, we still wanted to dance, so we found our way (in the rain, after stopping under some over hangs) to our final destination. Loud music, lots of people, good drinks, and tons of fun to be had. It was crowded but still a good place to dance too... more modern music and individual dancing in groups, not really the paired off dancing, which works fine for me. ;) So we danced and danced and danced... we snuck our way into the VIP area and danced some more. Bwahahaha. We actually got invited to the after party at yet another club, but we decided after this one, we were too tired and we headed home. Got home way late, good news is I didn't have to take the night bus home. ;) I had a blast, this 'morning' I woke up at 1400.
Today I'm going to combine blogs since 1/2 the day I slept through.
I woke up. Had a FULL bowl of coco puff cereal for ?lunch? and then spent some time on the computer, and did some laundry (finally). When the laundry finished, I went to hang it up but realized the sun could not shine on it because the building was blocking it, so I moved it. The building... just kidding. (obviously) I just left if up there and will go grab it in the morning... so yeah, that's about all I did today, slept, laundry, daydreamed, facebooked, rested my feet, ate some food. Super exciting. ;) OH! I did make some pretty amazing grilled cheese sandwhiches... oh so good... I'll have to add some ham and tomatoes next time and maybe share some with Nic. ;) All in all, I think restful days are important once in a while. They make you appreciate the world around you.
That's about all I have today... thanks for tuning it...
Go apprecaite what you have.
Saturday and all is well. I wake up and have breakfast with la famiglia. Then Nic heads to his Calcio* tournament. (*Calcio means 3 things- soccer, I kick, and calcium) I spent the day wandering in the center, doing some window shopping, and pricing for some Christmas presents. I found a couple of places where I'm probably going to buy at least a few of the presents.
Then I wandered by Trevi and there was the usual crowded masses of people, but I noticed some people that looked stangely out of place. In suits with large boxes next to them. Not really paying attention to the fountain, but chatting with each other... turns out Vodafone was doing a HUGE promotional thing where EVERYONE at the Piazza that day got a red rain jacket and cap and at 15.30 we ALL threw a coin over our left shoulder. (A tradition that is supposed to bring you back to Rome someday, hey it worked once for me ;) It was really cool... there was about 30 minutes of build up to the toss with a DJ that was entertaining, mixing English and Italian for the tourists as well... I didn't understand much because of his speed, but appreciated the English bits... which was very little.
After the toss we all went different ways. I headed to the shopping center near by, like a mall for super rich taste... I looked... I did find a very nice jacket at a cheaper store on via del Corso, only 80 euro... just about $100 for a wool rain coat... I may look at getting it after all the gifts are bought and I decide where I want to travel and the costs and stuff.
I headed back to the flat for some refueling... made some nice pasta, pulpette, veggies, and a pear... delicious. Then Sasha and I decided we were going to DANCE. Well aside from a lot of walking initially... we did eventually get to dance. The first place was on the south side of town... we finally found it after some difficulties, but it was closed for construction. Then we went to a place near the Colosseo. It closed at 2.00, we still wanted to dance, so we found our way (in the rain, after stopping under some over hangs) to our final destination. Loud music, lots of people, good drinks, and tons of fun to be had. It was crowded but still a good place to dance too... more modern music and individual dancing in groups, not really the paired off dancing, which works fine for me. ;) So we danced and danced and danced... we snuck our way into the VIP area and danced some more. Bwahahaha. We actually got invited to the after party at yet another club, but we decided after this one, we were too tired and we headed home. Got home way late, good news is I didn't have to take the night bus home. ;) I had a blast, this 'morning' I woke up at 1400.
Today I'm going to combine blogs since 1/2 the day I slept through.
I woke up. Had a FULL bowl of coco puff cereal for ?lunch? and then spent some time on the computer, and did some laundry (finally). When the laundry finished, I went to hang it up but realized the sun could not shine on it because the building was blocking it, so I moved it. The building... just kidding. (obviously) I just left if up there and will go grab it in the morning... so yeah, that's about all I did today, slept, laundry, daydreamed, facebooked, rested my feet, ate some food. Super exciting. ;) OH! I did make some pretty amazing grilled cheese sandwhiches... oh so good... I'll have to add some ham and tomatoes next time and maybe share some with Nic. ;) All in all, I think restful days are important once in a while. They make you appreciate the world around you.
That's about all I have today... thanks for tuning it...
Go apprecaite what you have.
Whistle Whistle, Click Click.
Ottobre 15, 2010
Friday! Another beautiful friday... weather wasn't super all week, but it looks like it will be nice today. I ran my six miles this morning... 3 laps around the two mile circuit... then 'sprinted' (what I had left) the last 100 yards (80 of which were uphill). Then I walked back, took a shower (I like taking showers when I'm gross and disgusting, it's very 'cleansing' so to speak, like after a really bad rain and your covered in mud, or super sweaty... showers feel great.). I got dressed and went walking around. I was unable to start my laundry, Anita had a load in there... it'll get done sometime this weekend. I'm not too worried.
When Nic got home (he had been at an outdoor adventure park, not school) he was so excited about it and telling me all about the ropes course that he had spent all day doing. Apparently he's pretty fearless and climbed all the things they would let him climb... sometimes inappropriately because climbing just to the top of these steps he didn't figure required being attached to anything... so he climbed when the instructo wasn't looking apparently. He had so much fun he said he momentarily forgot to eat his sack lunch he brought. He said he only was freightened by the heights once, but he got throught it quickly. Such a trooper. ;)
Tonight we went down to Zia Paola's and Zio Marco's to watch the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Italian with English subtitles... they speak really fast in the beginning of the movie. I had trouble keeping up with the reading, forget about the speaking. ;) I didn't eat with the kids because I was afraid they'd run short on food... Carmita had made some LEGIT hamburgers and homestyle fries... oh they looked so good, Sophie, Marti's friend ate her's ravenously, and all her fries and more fries... it was cute. I had some fries, they were great, but then Carmi made some tuna pasta arrabbiata (with some anger aka spicy pasta) it was delicious. We talked for a while while we were eating and the kids were still watching the movie, I missed half the movie, but enjoyed staying in the kitchen and chatting about food, italy, people, weather, everything. I can usually understand Carmi pretty well. I think maybe since she learned the language as a second language too... I like chatting with her.
After dinner, we said goodnight and headed to bed. A great day all in all. :)
Thoughts to ponder...
*If Pinocchio says "My nose is about to grow", what happens?
Friday! Another beautiful friday... weather wasn't super all week, but it looks like it will be nice today. I ran my six miles this morning... 3 laps around the two mile circuit... then 'sprinted' (what I had left) the last 100 yards (80 of which were uphill). Then I walked back, took a shower (I like taking showers when I'm gross and disgusting, it's very 'cleansing' so to speak, like after a really bad rain and your covered in mud, or super sweaty... showers feel great.). I got dressed and went walking around. I was unable to start my laundry, Anita had a load in there... it'll get done sometime this weekend. I'm not too worried.
When Nic got home (he had been at an outdoor adventure park, not school) he was so excited about it and telling me all about the ropes course that he had spent all day doing. Apparently he's pretty fearless and climbed all the things they would let him climb... sometimes inappropriately because climbing just to the top of these steps he didn't figure required being attached to anything... so he climbed when the instructo wasn't looking apparently. He had so much fun he said he momentarily forgot to eat his sack lunch he brought. He said he only was freightened by the heights once, but he got throught it quickly. Such a trooper. ;)
Tonight we went down to Zia Paola's and Zio Marco's to watch the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Italian with English subtitles... they speak really fast in the beginning of the movie. I had trouble keeping up with the reading, forget about the speaking. ;) I didn't eat with the kids because I was afraid they'd run short on food... Carmita had made some LEGIT hamburgers and homestyle fries... oh they looked so good, Sophie, Marti's friend ate her's ravenously, and all her fries and more fries... it was cute. I had some fries, they were great, but then Carmi made some tuna pasta arrabbiata (with some anger aka spicy pasta) it was delicious. We talked for a while while we were eating and the kids were still watching the movie, I missed half the movie, but enjoyed staying in the kitchen and chatting about food, italy, people, weather, everything. I can usually understand Carmi pretty well. I think maybe since she learned the language as a second language too... I like chatting with her.
After dinner, we said goodnight and headed to bed. A great day all in all. :)
Thoughts to ponder...
*If Pinocchio says "My nose is about to grow", what happens?
Friday, October 15, 2010
Viva la Revolution!
So today I decided I would take the bus to Piazza Barbarini, then from there take the Metro to the stop near the Vatican, then walk the rest of the way. It was BY FAR, much easier, and at LEAST 25% faster. When I got to class I'd forgotton the book I was going to bring, Illusions (same author as jonathan Livingston Seagull) and my iPod was charging, so I just sat for a bit, 30 minutes early to class. Priscilla and Marina came in a bit after me and we sat in awkward silence for a couple minutes... then Priscilla went outside to have a cigarette. I decided to talk to Marina (we were on equal footing since neither of us spoke Italian very well). We talked for a bit about a lot of things, France, Texas, class, the dinner tonight, ecc. When Priscilla returned, we talked for a bit as well, but then it was almost time for class, so we went to the class room. In class we talked more about prepositions... how some words, always use the same prepositions, like dare (to give) always uses the preposition su... Le finestre danno sul giardino... (the windows 'give' over the garden) It was interesting. We go over our homework, then put a personal touch to it, applying it to ourselves, making us speak, then we have questions and they spawn further discussion and we spend most of the class talking, which I think is what is most helpful. Maestra Barbara told us that she and the other teacher would not be attending the dinner because Cinzia had a family crisis, but she hoped we'd all go. We were all planning on attending.
After class, I walked to the metro, but decided to try to walk to the one at Piazza del Popolo, I think it was closer, it was definitely a nice walk, along the river, through the piazza... Then I took the train then bus home... so much easier and almost NO waiting in comparison with taking two buses. I always waited at least 15 minutes for 492, ususally more. So I got home ready to talk to my mom on Skype because she'd emailed me, 1330. 1330 came and went... I wasted time on Facebook... then I noticed she came online around 1400, 700 her time. Well, apparently she had woken up late and she had to run to school. My dad didn't even know we were supposed to chat, but I was lucky I got to chat with him anyway. We talked about them possibly coming in the spring and what the trip would cost and the hotels and planes ecc... then he called my mom for the hotel names, so I indirectly got to talk to both of them. :)
When Nicolo got home from school, he didn't have any homework (COS'E'?!) so we played some playstation FIFA '98 then had target practice. FIFA was a LOT of fun, we were Italia and we could pick teams we played against then beat... first, we started off with teams that weren't very good... Northern Ireland, Morocco... then we moved up and up... then, we played the '98 World Cup Champions, Brazil. We won!!!! 1-0. It was no blow out like the 6-0 against N. Ireland, but it was a win. ;) Then we shot army men off his bed with the 'mellow gun and McDonalds jumbo straw. I won round 1, I got a 2 pointer and a 3 pointer. He won the 2nd round with 2 one pointers and a 3 pointer.
When everyone got home, dinner was a little late getting started, and Nic was a little late in the tub, but it all got ready and finished. I finished the pulpete and pasta and then headed to change and make my way to the dinner. I was worried I was going to be late, and I was, about 5 minutes, and there were probably 10 people there... I found Priscilla and Marina sitting with another French girl. We sat, soon 2 more French girls came and joined us... the table was for 4 but eventually we had 7 there... two moved to eat somewhere else, but we sat and enjoyed. Morgan and Valerie both spoke more Italian than Marina and myself, but they were very helpful in helping me out. I'd guess about 90% of the conversations were in Italian... When they started chatting in French, one of the others would make them stop and speak Italian so I could understand, I appreciated it. Dinner was great, a lot less formal than I expected, which I was ok with. It made for easy conversations. Pasta arrabbiata ("spicy"-ish), lots of fried veggies, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant, ecc., pizza margherita, then tiramisu'. With house wine, coca-cola, and fanta in between. An American girl joined us a little later, she was from Detroit, and was just starting classes at the school. She spoke a little spanish, and was really new to Italian, so I got to do a little translating, it made me feel good, helpful, like I knew what I was talking about... at least part of the time anyway.
We left there about 2330... I started heading to the bus deciding to take the metro from Piazza d' Espana to Barberini, but then discovered there was just a big tunnel all the way to Via Veneto, so I'd just walk there... when I arrived to Via Veneto, I couldn't actually find it, so I asked a bus driver that was off duty where it was and he directed me to it and told me I'd better hurry since the last bus leaves the station in 5 minutes, I said thanks and I will... I got to the stop by the American Embassy and waited... while I was waiting a guy asked if this stop was for bus 63, I said I hope so, that's the one I need. We talked for a bit about Roma, and foreigners here and such... (he knew I was American at this point) and about his job and about my school. He lives just one stop away from where I live so who knows, maybe I'll see him again, or maybe we'll hang out sometime. Meh?
After class, I walked to the metro, but decided to try to walk to the one at Piazza del Popolo, I think it was closer, it was definitely a nice walk, along the river, through the piazza... Then I took the train then bus home... so much easier and almost NO waiting in comparison with taking two buses. I always waited at least 15 minutes for 492, ususally more. So I got home ready to talk to my mom on Skype because she'd emailed me, 1330. 1330 came and went... I wasted time on Facebook... then I noticed she came online around 1400, 700 her time. Well, apparently she had woken up late and she had to run to school. My dad didn't even know we were supposed to chat, but I was lucky I got to chat with him anyway. We talked about them possibly coming in the spring and what the trip would cost and the hotels and planes ecc... then he called my mom for the hotel names, so I indirectly got to talk to both of them. :)
When Nicolo got home from school, he didn't have any homework (COS'E'?!) so we played some playstation FIFA '98 then had target practice. FIFA was a LOT of fun, we were Italia and we could pick teams we played against then beat... first, we started off with teams that weren't very good... Northern Ireland, Morocco... then we moved up and up... then, we played the '98 World Cup Champions, Brazil. We won!!!! 1-0. It was no blow out like the 6-0 against N. Ireland, but it was a win. ;) Then we shot army men off his bed with the 'mellow gun and McDonalds jumbo straw. I won round 1, I got a 2 pointer and a 3 pointer. He won the 2nd round with 2 one pointers and a 3 pointer.
When everyone got home, dinner was a little late getting started, and Nic was a little late in the tub, but it all got ready and finished. I finished the pulpete and pasta and then headed to change and make my way to the dinner. I was worried I was going to be late, and I was, about 5 minutes, and there were probably 10 people there... I found Priscilla and Marina sitting with another French girl. We sat, soon 2 more French girls came and joined us... the table was for 4 but eventually we had 7 there... two moved to eat somewhere else, but we sat and enjoyed. Morgan and Valerie both spoke more Italian than Marina and myself, but they were very helpful in helping me out. I'd guess about 90% of the conversations were in Italian... When they started chatting in French, one of the others would make them stop and speak Italian so I could understand, I appreciated it. Dinner was great, a lot less formal than I expected, which I was ok with. It made for easy conversations. Pasta arrabbiata ("spicy"-ish), lots of fried veggies, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant, ecc., pizza margherita, then tiramisu'. With house wine, coca-cola, and fanta in between. An American girl joined us a little later, she was from Detroit, and was just starting classes at the school. She spoke a little spanish, and was really new to Italian, so I got to do a little translating, it made me feel good, helpful, like I knew what I was talking about... at least part of the time anyway.
We left there about 2330... I started heading to the bus deciding to take the metro from Piazza d' Espana to Barberini, but then discovered there was just a big tunnel all the way to Via Veneto, so I'd just walk there... when I arrived to Via Veneto, I couldn't actually find it, so I asked a bus driver that was off duty where it was and he directed me to it and told me I'd better hurry since the last bus leaves the station in 5 minutes, I said thanks and I will... I got to the stop by the American Embassy and waited... while I was waiting a guy asked if this stop was for bus 63, I said I hope so, that's the one I need. We talked for a bit about Roma, and foreigners here and such... (he knew I was American at this point) and about his job and about my school. He lives just one stop away from where I live so who knows, maybe I'll see him again, or maybe we'll hang out sometime. Meh?
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Ottobre 13, 2010
Today I headed down to Villa Ada for some intense pullups/pushups/inclined bicycles/ and some sort of oblique exercise I improvised... then I ran back... my abs haven't felt that "bad" in a while. I walked to the post office and figured my way around its ticket system, waited a bit, then picked up my package. The man asked for my verification of who I was, I gave him my driver's license... he then began to tell me about big John Wayne and how great he was... duh. I agreed whole-heartedly. I got my package from my friend and it was 2 books for my birthday. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is one of the best books I've read... I couldn't put it down until I finished. Fortunately and at the same time unfortunately , it was short. Nonna came by to help Nic with his Italian math then take Nic to tennis and cook dinner for us tonight... (ossobuco- tastes like tender, delicious smoked brisket YUM, and ravioli al sugo). She also made a cream torta I'll have to try tomorrow. I didn't do much of anything today... But I did do a bit of art... some not much... but more than none. Short post today... lame I know. sorry. Now Giorgio and I are watching an old WWII film in Italian, it had the bomb scene that Valkyre had, the valkyre mission... less dramatic, but still went boom.
Ok, ttyl... :)
like Paula Dean says...
"Best wishes and best dishes y'all! oh, and slather some butter on that, then it's dunn!"
Today I headed down to Villa Ada for some intense pullups/pushups/inclined bicycles/ and some sort of oblique exercise I improvised... then I ran back... my abs haven't felt that "bad" in a while. I walked to the post office and figured my way around its ticket system, waited a bit, then picked up my package. The man asked for my verification of who I was, I gave him my driver's license... he then began to tell me about big John Wayne and how great he was... duh. I agreed whole-heartedly. I got my package from my friend and it was 2 books for my birthday. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is one of the best books I've read... I couldn't put it down until I finished. Fortunately and at the same time unfortunately , it was short. Nonna came by to help Nic with his Italian math then take Nic to tennis and cook dinner for us tonight... (ossobuco- tastes like tender, delicious smoked brisket YUM, and ravioli al sugo). She also made a cream torta I'll have to try tomorrow. I didn't do much of anything today... But I did do a bit of art... some not much... but more than none. Short post today... lame I know. sorry. Now Giorgio and I are watching an old WWII film in Italian, it had the bomb scene that Valkyre had, the valkyre mission... less dramatic, but still went boom.
Ok, ttyl... :)
like Paula Dean says...
"Best wishes and best dishes y'all! oh, and slather some butter on that, then it's dunn!"
Another Libra in Our Midst
Ottobre 12, 2010
I had school today (imagine that, it's a Tuesday/Thursday class and I have class on Tuesday?! Go figure ;). At class we went over using some prepositions like "a" and "in"... the homework isn't hard, but trying to figure out how to actually understand it is a little more difficult. I think it's just one of those things you have to get the 'feel' of with time. When we do the conversations in class it's hard because I'll start with something but if my partner doesn't understand, all I can do is say it again, in another way, or use guestures... the same when I don't understand them either. We're doing more talking in class and I think I speak fine... better than some of the others, but I don't think I understand as well as Priscilla or Marina sometimes. I think they have a leg up on me since their mother language is also Latin based. After class I made an announcement (if that's what you'd call my blabbering pathetically in a foreign language) about me going to see "La Bella e la Bestia" on the 22nd of Ottobre, Barbara, the teacher, asked some details about it, and I didn't know, I was just looking for some interest in the class before I got the details. I wasn't sure how long it was going to be playing so I thought I'd get the 22nd just to make sure if it was a one night performance, I wouldn't miss it. When I asked Raffa about it, she said they're performing 300 shows... 2 per day. holy cow. that's a lot of singing. I'm guessing that's rough on their voices... to say the least.
After class I attempted to find another bus stop to go back instead of waiting by the one that has the most amazing tie I've ever seen. Speaking of busses, on the way to class I got distracted by chess and missed my bus... so I walked to the next stop and caught one that was less crowded and not far behind it. Stupid crowded busses. When I got back to the flat I headed to the post office to pick up a package that I had there... the post office closes at 1400. I got there at 1430. Oh well. I'll try again tomorrow.
When the kids got home we did a little homework (most of it was Italian so it was Zia Paola that helped more). Today is Carmita's birthday!!! Felize Cumpleanos!! She turned 35, a great year. There were many well wishes given, and a BEAUTIFUL fruit cake as I've never seen. slices of so many kinds of fruit all on a thin layer of cheesecake and delicious crust.
Greg still never called, I hope he got to see Roma in all it's glory... if he did get to make it... Greg where are you?!
I hope a monkey did not tie you to a submarine in the Mediterranean so they could test their ability to cast bubble head charms... because we all knows that monkeys only excel at transfiguration, and not charms. ;)
I had school today (imagine that, it's a Tuesday/Thursday class and I have class on Tuesday?! Go figure ;). At class we went over using some prepositions like "a" and "in"... the homework isn't hard, but trying to figure out how to actually understand it is a little more difficult. I think it's just one of those things you have to get the 'feel' of with time. When we do the conversations in class it's hard because I'll start with something but if my partner doesn't understand, all I can do is say it again, in another way, or use guestures... the same when I don't understand them either. We're doing more talking in class and I think I speak fine... better than some of the others, but I don't think I understand as well as Priscilla or Marina sometimes. I think they have a leg up on me since their mother language is also Latin based. After class I made an announcement (if that's what you'd call my blabbering pathetically in a foreign language) about me going to see "La Bella e la Bestia" on the 22nd of Ottobre, Barbara, the teacher, asked some details about it, and I didn't know, I was just looking for some interest in the class before I got the details. I wasn't sure how long it was going to be playing so I thought I'd get the 22nd just to make sure if it was a one night performance, I wouldn't miss it. When I asked Raffa about it, she said they're performing 300 shows... 2 per day. holy cow. that's a lot of singing. I'm guessing that's rough on their voices... to say the least.
After class I attempted to find another bus stop to go back instead of waiting by the one that has the most amazing tie I've ever seen. Speaking of busses, on the way to class I got distracted by chess and missed my bus... so I walked to the next stop and caught one that was less crowded and not far behind it. Stupid crowded busses. When I got back to the flat I headed to the post office to pick up a package that I had there... the post office closes at 1400. I got there at 1430. Oh well. I'll try again tomorrow.
When the kids got home we did a little homework (most of it was Italian so it was Zia Paola that helped more). Today is Carmita's birthday!!! Felize Cumpleanos!! She turned 35, a great year. There were many well wishes given, and a BEAUTIFUL fruit cake as I've never seen. slices of so many kinds of fruit all on a thin layer of cheesecake and delicious crust.
Greg still never called, I hope he got to see Roma in all it's glory... if he did get to make it... Greg where are you?!
I hope a monkey did not tie you to a submarine in the Mediterranean so they could test their ability to cast bubble head charms... because we all knows that monkeys only excel at transfiguration, and not charms. ;)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
This may be the longest birthday ever... :)
Ottobre 11, 2010
This morning I woke up and asked Anita how far it was around the outside of Villa Ada. She said she had no idea, bu (more a sound than a word, but it means, I don't know, not literally, but commonly used as such. Some people throw some phlegm on the end too.). I ran around Villa Ada in the rain... got nice and wet... ran by Nic's school... a hole in the wall that was a "secret" entrace into the villa, and back to where I started. Just about 3.13 miles, so then I took an inside lap in Villa Ada, to tack on another 1-2 miles for good measure. It's funny how desolate a park can be when you add some water. While I was running (I was using the thumb and forefinger make a ring position like I'm holding a pin) I was thinking... remembering... (it's unfortunate how much I can remember things that aren't that important, but things that are important are transient) back when I was 8 or 9 and I lived in San Saba and our family would go to the football games and sit in the stands (that's ironic, we sit in stands). I remember once, I was sitting with my mom and my dad while my sister was sitting with her friends and my mom said, "Why don't you go sit with your friends?" I was shy and rather attached to Mom and Dad, so I remained planted. Slowly, I became more accustomed to the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone. Now, 15 years later, I'm a bright, outgoing guy who loves trying new things and meeting new people. Just one of the lessons that my Mom and Dad taught me through the years. Thanks Mom and Dad. (While I'm running I'm thinking this, and the strings on my sweater are bouncing back and forth, up and down, when BOOM, one of the strings lands in my "finger-hoop". Now it becomes a game... :)
After I get back, I head to Piazza di Spagna to check the location of a dinner I'm having with a lot of other baby sitters on Thursday, I get to the Spanish Steps, not to the ristorante yet, when Raffa calls and tells me the Telecom worker is at the house and I should hurry back to help figure it out. So I turn back and head back to the flat. It's raining this whole time... luckily my new sweater is keeping me warm and snug.
I get back and the man is just packing up to leave. He says the last two routers don't work because Telecom works best with a router called Alice and our other Alice router was broken, so he replaced it with a wireless router. Anita was there helping figure it all out and he was doing his best to explain it to both of us, but instead, only explained half to each of us, in English and Italian... I don't think the router will have to be paid for because I think he said since the last one was broken, they replaced it free? We're still out the router Raffa bought, but she says that if Dile or Iacopo need it, it will work for them... so... I HAVE INTERNET!!!! WHOO-HOOO!!
When Giorgio gets back he brings me more good news, I got a package in the mail that I have to go pick up from the post office, and a birhday card from my sister and cousins!!!!!! Sweet! The card said lots of 'We love you' and 'we miss you' and Had a shiny sun that said I hope you have the best birthday under the sun. :) It was great! And the cherry on it all! $15 iTunes! WHOOP! I'm undecided between the new Phil Collins album or the new Linkin Park album... help me decide with comments...
Greg never called, he said he may be getting in late though so... let's hope/pray he's still alive. :)
NIGHT ALL!
This morning I woke up and asked Anita how far it was around the outside of Villa Ada. She said she had no idea, bu (more a sound than a word, but it means, I don't know, not literally, but commonly used as such. Some people throw some phlegm on the end too.). I ran around Villa Ada in the rain... got nice and wet... ran by Nic's school... a hole in the wall that was a "secret" entrace into the villa, and back to where I started. Just about 3.13 miles, so then I took an inside lap in Villa Ada, to tack on another 1-2 miles for good measure. It's funny how desolate a park can be when you add some water. While I was running (I was using the thumb and forefinger make a ring position like I'm holding a pin) I was thinking... remembering... (it's unfortunate how much I can remember things that aren't that important, but things that are important are transient) back when I was 8 or 9 and I lived in San Saba and our family would go to the football games and sit in the stands (that's ironic, we sit in stands). I remember once, I was sitting with my mom and my dad while my sister was sitting with her friends and my mom said, "Why don't you go sit with your friends?" I was shy and rather attached to Mom and Dad, so I remained planted. Slowly, I became more accustomed to the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone. Now, 15 years later, I'm a bright, outgoing guy who loves trying new things and meeting new people. Just one of the lessons that my Mom and Dad taught me through the years. Thanks Mom and Dad. (While I'm running I'm thinking this, and the strings on my sweater are bouncing back and forth, up and down, when BOOM, one of the strings lands in my "finger-hoop". Now it becomes a game... :)
After I get back, I head to Piazza di Spagna to check the location of a dinner I'm having with a lot of other baby sitters on Thursday, I get to the Spanish Steps, not to the ristorante yet, when Raffa calls and tells me the Telecom worker is at the house and I should hurry back to help figure it out. So I turn back and head back to the flat. It's raining this whole time... luckily my new sweater is keeping me warm and snug.
I get back and the man is just packing up to leave. He says the last two routers don't work because Telecom works best with a router called Alice and our other Alice router was broken, so he replaced it with a wireless router. Anita was there helping figure it all out and he was doing his best to explain it to both of us, but instead, only explained half to each of us, in English and Italian... I don't think the router will have to be paid for because I think he said since the last one was broken, they replaced it free? We're still out the router Raffa bought, but she says that if Dile or Iacopo need it, it will work for them... so... I HAVE INTERNET!!!! WHOO-HOOO!!
When Giorgio gets back he brings me more good news, I got a package in the mail that I have to go pick up from the post office, and a birhday card from my sister and cousins!!!!!! Sweet! The card said lots of 'We love you' and 'we miss you' and Had a shiny sun that said I hope you have the best birthday under the sun. :) It was great! And the cherry on it all! $15 iTunes! WHOOP! I'm undecided between the new Phil Collins album or the new Linkin Park album... help me decide with comments...
Greg never called, he said he may be getting in late though so... let's hope/pray he's still alive. :)
NIGHT ALL!
An Unexpected Guest?
Ottobre 10, 2010
I had planned last weekend to go to an English speaking church with Aneta today, but the logistics were never planned and so we were unable to make it this week, but hopefully next week. She's having a lot of difficulty with her new arabic class (her new language of choice). Apparently the alphabet is the same, just with different symbols and characters, except, there are three different forms of the alphabet. I guess like capital, lower case, and something else... she said it takes forever to write out. Anyway, I didn't really have any plans today. My friend Greg who is studying Architecture in Germany mentioned on facebook that he would be in Roma on Monday and Tuesday, so I thought I would go to the library and try and get more info about the trip and how we could meet up and stuff. Well, the library is closed on Sundays and Mondays...so I headed to a personal wifi favorite... you guessed it, McDonalds! This time I decided to go to the one at the Pantheon though, I hadn't been there excessively yet. So after some window shopping on the way to the Pantheon, I bought yet another tiramisu' milk shake (the one near the flat has better ones if that's possible). I checked on the status of Greg, but he had not responded, checked some emails, FB stalked some... then went out to the Piazza to enjoy the weather (it's not expected to be great weather this next week). I doodled some filigree for a bit, people-watched a lot, I actually think I was being people-watched... which is a strange feeling, but honestly, watching people who are people-watching are the best people to watch. No? haha. Headed back to the flat, cleaned my bathroom (it was getting a bit ridiculous) then Aneta texted me because she wanted to get away from Arabic for a while. So facciamo una passaggiata around Villa Ada (My turf) then my neighborhood, then back to her neighborhood so she could finish her Arabic. We talked a lot, mostly in Italian, but English too, when I have a story I just want to finish, I get lazy and just tell it in English, or if it is complicated... like my connection of how I know 5 people randomly studying in Bonn, Germany right now, and met all of them in different ways at different times. :) Getting back to her neighborhood was an adventure all its own because she kept second guessing herself when I think she really knew where she was going the whole time. ;) But we made it there, I took a couple of buses back to mine, then had some "fun" trying to get Shanti (the cat) out of a hole under the stairs that she was hiding in and refused to come out (sushi eventually worked for Raffa). I went to a pizzataglio in Piazza Verbano, really close to the flat for some LATE LATE LATE dinner but it was DELICIOUS!!! Pork with marinara, and un pezzo (piece) of marinara pizza, just red sauce and some green herbs on the pizza... amazing. Some late stracchiatella and tiramisu' gelato, then back to the flat for bed... (I'm being really cautious in the bathroom now, it was too much like cleaning Lela Haus at Ranch and now I have to use it... I'll just have to keep it clean after EVERY use!) At least the room is small and easy enough to clean though, right? The most difficult thing is laundry, and that's just because it takes a while.
OK... next time... Stay classy San Diego.
(and the rest of the world!)
:D
I had planned last weekend to go to an English speaking church with Aneta today, but the logistics were never planned and so we were unable to make it this week, but hopefully next week. She's having a lot of difficulty with her new arabic class (her new language of choice). Apparently the alphabet is the same, just with different symbols and characters, except, there are three different forms of the alphabet. I guess like capital, lower case, and something else... she said it takes forever to write out. Anyway, I didn't really have any plans today. My friend Greg who is studying Architecture in Germany mentioned on facebook that he would be in Roma on Monday and Tuesday, so I thought I would go to the library and try and get more info about the trip and how we could meet up and stuff. Well, the library is closed on Sundays and Mondays...so I headed to a personal wifi favorite... you guessed it, McDonalds! This time I decided to go to the one at the Pantheon though, I hadn't been there excessively yet. So after some window shopping on the way to the Pantheon, I bought yet another tiramisu' milk shake (the one near the flat has better ones if that's possible). I checked on the status of Greg, but he had not responded, checked some emails, FB stalked some... then went out to the Piazza to enjoy the weather (it's not expected to be great weather this next week). I doodled some filigree for a bit, people-watched a lot, I actually think I was being people-watched... which is a strange feeling, but honestly, watching people who are people-watching are the best people to watch. No? haha. Headed back to the flat, cleaned my bathroom (it was getting a bit ridiculous) then Aneta texted me because she wanted to get away from Arabic for a while. So facciamo una passaggiata around Villa Ada (My turf) then my neighborhood, then back to her neighborhood so she could finish her Arabic. We talked a lot, mostly in Italian, but English too, when I have a story I just want to finish, I get lazy and just tell it in English, or if it is complicated... like my connection of how I know 5 people randomly studying in Bonn, Germany right now, and met all of them in different ways at different times. :) Getting back to her neighborhood was an adventure all its own because she kept second guessing herself when I think she really knew where she was going the whole time. ;) But we made it there, I took a couple of buses back to mine, then had some "fun" trying to get Shanti (the cat) out of a hole under the stairs that she was hiding in and refused to come out (sushi eventually worked for Raffa). I went to a pizzataglio in Piazza Verbano, really close to the flat for some LATE LATE LATE dinner but it was DELICIOUS!!! Pork with marinara, and un pezzo (piece) of marinara pizza, just red sauce and some green herbs on the pizza... amazing. Some late stracchiatella and tiramisu' gelato, then back to the flat for bed... (I'm being really cautious in the bathroom now, it was too much like cleaning Lela Haus at Ranch and now I have to use it... I'll just have to keep it clean after EVERY use!) At least the room is small and easy enough to clean though, right? The most difficult thing is laundry, and that's just because it takes a while.
OK... next time... Stay classy San Diego.
(and the rest of the world!)
:D
Card Carrying Member
Ottobre 9, 2010
This morning I went to check out Biblioteca Europea, a European library "nearby". Nearby means it is about 2 miles... but not bad really, an easy walk or quick bus ride. Speaking of buses... I don't remember if I mentioned or not, but I'm a much bigger fan of the metro than I am of the buses. The buses get so crowded so fast, sometimes smell bad, and are often hot and stuffy. The metro can be crowded, but it's much easier to find an empty car in a metro than it is to find an empty 10-14 cubic feet of space to stand in on a bus. Anyway, I went to the library and asked to use the internet and was told I needed a library card. I don't know when the last time I had a library card was, but I know I had one when I was about 9 or 10 because if I recall correctly, I spent a good deal of time at the San Saba Public Library... if nothing else playing checkers on a big rug with red and black pieces of plastic by myself. ;) So, for 5 euro, I bought a year worth of internet, books galore, and (as Willy Wonka would say) "A World of pure immagination". I'm excited to start reading some new books because I like using the Sherlock Holmes stories as in between book stories, but I'm almost finished with the next mystery, so I need a new book. :) I was thinking rereading Dante Alghieri's "Inferno" because there is a play here "La Divina Commedia", and I wanted to go and not miss TOO much. ALSO! Speaking of the theatre, I am planning on making an announcement after class on Thursday then again next Tuesday to see if anyone wants to go with me to see... wait for it... "La Bella e la Bestia"!!!! I KNOW!!!! DISNEY! IN ITALIAN!!! Even if I couldn't speak ANY Italian, I know this movie/play/story so well I could narrate it for them! I'm so freakin' excited... it's on the 22nd of this month, that's a week from this Friday, oh my, so close. Anyway, enough of that train of thought (jumping tracks), after the library I was near Villa Borghese (Middle-class Garden; literally) so I thought I'd go see what everyone talked about so vehemently. Let me tell you, no one lied. It is beautiful! and HUGE! I covered about 1/2 of it, maybe... there's a zoo, a castle, a lake, several restaurants, a few bars, a Shakespearean Globe Theatre, a modern theatre for concerts, 2 museums, and lots of hills and trees and runners and bikers... Mamma mia... I decided to eat at the ristorante, Casina del Lago, a mediocre tuna sandwich and a fanta later, I was 8.20 euro poorer... the fanta was SO not worth the 4 euro... stupid table charges. ;) As I was SITTING and eating (I could have saved about 3-4 euro standing at the bar) I could hear some music coming from another part of the park, just a little further down the path. I heard the Eagles, "Desparado", and Abba, "Take a Chance on Me"... When I walked by I HAD to give the guy some money because he was rockin' out and the music was great! I wanted to make a request, the Beatles, "While my Guitar Gently Weeps"... maybe next time. I think if he played it, I'd give him all the euro in my pocket. (Usually about 1-5 euro).
I headed back to the flat for a recharge, water, nap etc... then called Sasha to see if he had any plans for the night because he had texted me the night before asking if I wanted to go dance, and I would have, but I was watching Nic while Mom and Pop were at the movies. He texted back and we decided to meet at the Colosseo at about 21.30 to figure it out. I got there then we walked around the Colosseo for a bit (It was in red lights with Chinese writing in lights on it and Chinese lanterns hanging from street lamps, interesting and cool) trying to figure out what we wanted to do. He said he didn't really feel like dancing, he was still tired from the night before, so we decided facciamo un passaggiata, we'd take a walk around. This is becoming one of my favorite things to do. I'm getting to know the center of Roma fairly well, and I like it more and more everytime. We walked and talked, and talked and walked. In Italian because he doesn't speak English, but when I come to something I don't know how to say, if I say it in English, he can usually help me put it in Italian. I think it's helping me learn faster, maybe... We went all over, he showed me a new Piazza I hadn't been to before behind the Vittorio Emmanuele monument and it was quaint. Small, but intruiging at the same time. No one there at the time and a beautiful fountain to top it off. We went by Trevi, and Piazza Navona, he showed me his building (near the Colosseo) then we ended up back at the Termini where I departed eventually. I say eventually because as we were waiting for my bus, I didn't reallize it had come and then we saw it, but it was leaving so I ran after it... banging on the door shouting "Aspetta, aspetta" (Wait, wait), but to no avail. What kind of bus leaves at 00:57? That is NOT a departure time?! But another bus came in about 3 minutes and then left at about 1.15. The passaggiata was great, I logged about 5-6 miles for Mom's "Walk Across 'Texas'", got to know a friend a little better, practiced some Italian, and learned more about "La Citta' Eterna", the Eternal City.
*Side note* There was a large group of German tourists on the night bus and one drunk Italian that apparently did not like Swedish people. He also thought they were Swedish. He was loud and rude and thankfully another Italian man (who had a beer in his hand) was telling him to turn around and leave well enough alone. Oh drunks... not just college students anymore, but the world 'round... you baffle me...
Ciao ciao.
*word of today* - ambasaggiata= embassy
This morning I went to check out Biblioteca Europea, a European library "nearby". Nearby means it is about 2 miles... but not bad really, an easy walk or quick bus ride. Speaking of buses... I don't remember if I mentioned or not, but I'm a much bigger fan of the metro than I am of the buses. The buses get so crowded so fast, sometimes smell bad, and are often hot and stuffy. The metro can be crowded, but it's much easier to find an empty car in a metro than it is to find an empty 10-14 cubic feet of space to stand in on a bus. Anyway, I went to the library and asked to use the internet and was told I needed a library card. I don't know when the last time I had a library card was, but I know I had one when I was about 9 or 10 because if I recall correctly, I spent a good deal of time at the San Saba Public Library... if nothing else playing checkers on a big rug with red and black pieces of plastic by myself. ;) So, for 5 euro, I bought a year worth of internet, books galore, and (as Willy Wonka would say) "A World of pure immagination". I'm excited to start reading some new books because I like using the Sherlock Holmes stories as in between book stories, but I'm almost finished with the next mystery, so I need a new book. :) I was thinking rereading Dante Alghieri's "Inferno" because there is a play here "La Divina Commedia", and I wanted to go and not miss TOO much. ALSO! Speaking of the theatre, I am planning on making an announcement after class on Thursday then again next Tuesday to see if anyone wants to go with me to see... wait for it... "La Bella e la Bestia"!!!! I KNOW!!!! DISNEY! IN ITALIAN!!! Even if I couldn't speak ANY Italian, I know this movie/play/story so well I could narrate it for them! I'm so freakin' excited... it's on the 22nd of this month, that's a week from this Friday, oh my, so close. Anyway, enough of that train of thought (jumping tracks), after the library I was near Villa Borghese (Middle-class Garden; literally) so I thought I'd go see what everyone talked about so vehemently. Let me tell you, no one lied. It is beautiful! and HUGE! I covered about 1/2 of it, maybe... there's a zoo, a castle, a lake, several restaurants, a few bars, a Shakespearean Globe Theatre, a modern theatre for concerts, 2 museums, and lots of hills and trees and runners and bikers... Mamma mia... I decided to eat at the ristorante, Casina del Lago, a mediocre tuna sandwich and a fanta later, I was 8.20 euro poorer... the fanta was SO not worth the 4 euro... stupid table charges. ;) As I was SITTING and eating (I could have saved about 3-4 euro standing at the bar) I could hear some music coming from another part of the park, just a little further down the path. I heard the Eagles, "Desparado", and Abba, "Take a Chance on Me"... When I walked by I HAD to give the guy some money because he was rockin' out and the music was great! I wanted to make a request, the Beatles, "While my Guitar Gently Weeps"... maybe next time. I think if he played it, I'd give him all the euro in my pocket. (Usually about 1-5 euro).
I headed back to the flat for a recharge, water, nap etc... then called Sasha to see if he had any plans for the night because he had texted me the night before asking if I wanted to go dance, and I would have, but I was watching Nic while Mom and Pop were at the movies. He texted back and we decided to meet at the Colosseo at about 21.30 to figure it out. I got there then we walked around the Colosseo for a bit (It was in red lights with Chinese writing in lights on it and Chinese lanterns hanging from street lamps, interesting and cool) trying to figure out what we wanted to do. He said he didn't really feel like dancing, he was still tired from the night before, so we decided facciamo un passaggiata, we'd take a walk around. This is becoming one of my favorite things to do. I'm getting to know the center of Roma fairly well, and I like it more and more everytime. We walked and talked, and talked and walked. In Italian because he doesn't speak English, but when I come to something I don't know how to say, if I say it in English, he can usually help me put it in Italian. I think it's helping me learn faster, maybe... We went all over, he showed me a new Piazza I hadn't been to before behind the Vittorio Emmanuele monument and it was quaint. Small, but intruiging at the same time. No one there at the time and a beautiful fountain to top it off. We went by Trevi, and Piazza Navona, he showed me his building (near the Colosseo) then we ended up back at the Termini where I departed eventually. I say eventually because as we were waiting for my bus, I didn't reallize it had come and then we saw it, but it was leaving so I ran after it... banging on the door shouting "Aspetta, aspetta" (Wait, wait), but to no avail. What kind of bus leaves at 00:57? That is NOT a departure time?! But another bus came in about 3 minutes and then left at about 1.15. The passaggiata was great, I logged about 5-6 miles for Mom's "Walk Across 'Texas'", got to know a friend a little better, practiced some Italian, and learned more about "La Citta' Eterna", the Eternal City.
*Side note* There was a large group of German tourists on the night bus and one drunk Italian that apparently did not like Swedish people. He also thought they were Swedish. He was loud and rude and thankfully another Italian man (who had a beer in his hand) was telling him to turn around and leave well enough alone. Oh drunks... not just college students anymore, but the world 'round... you baffle me...
Ciao ciao.
*word of today* - ambasaggiata= embassy
Slow and Steady
Ottobre 8, 2010
Friday. The end of another beautiful week. I finally did my laundry... now my room smells wonderful as it is filled with shirts and pants strewn about, as they finish drying. I was really lazy with abs and chest and did the two rapidly in about 14 minutes... just bicycles and pushups... lazy. What can I say. It's Friday. I was hoping on hope that today Enrico would follow through for me and I'd have internet by the end of the day. Alas, it is almost 2200 and there is no internet, nor do I think I will get it over the weekend. I'm beginning to think my book (which I finished today) is right, Roma doesn't run on time like the rest of the world. It runs on experiences. Romans don't worry about making ends meet, they enjoy the time putting the ends together, and spending time with family and friends. I like that. I admire that. I don't want that to change about Roma. I don't mind the inconvenience too much. I like walking around the city and seeing encounters slowed in time. If I got anything out of the book, it's that Romans enjoy life. They take it as it comes and get a great satisfaction out of living it. It is for this reason that when you are at a ristorante and you have finished eating, you have to ask the cameriere for your conto, bill. He will never bring you the bill until you ask for it because who is he to decide when you are finished enjoying the experience that is dining? Dining is more than just eating the infalliable chef's creations, more than just drinking red wine that chills your throat, and yet warms you from the inside. It's an experience all together. You know when the experience has run its full course. You and only you. Romans take life slow.
I, obviously, did some reading today and some laundry and some hanging out in the flat waiting for my laundry to finish. I finished 'The Devil Wears Prada', it was less predictable than I previously predicted... I liked it as a whole. I was hoping to go downstairs to check the routers but since Zia Paola was not home, I did not want to impose and so was unable to check. When Nic got home he had snack then we played with the marshmellow shooter my mom sent me (him). He really enjoys it... he's not very good at shooting (he doesn't breathe from the diaphragm) but he tries never the less. He was assaulting Shanti, Marco, (the cats) and me with the fluffy, white, slightly sticky sweets... However, I found that if I could keep him laughing he could not breathe in enough air to shoot at me... so we laughed for a good five minutes. Then I died. I was a lonely corpse, so he killed Shanti, Marco, then himself, so we could all talk to each other. When he shot himself, he turned the mouth piece around and fired. Point blank range at his chest, right below his throat. The marshmellow stuck, a sticky mark of death. He said he could bring us back to life though if he shot us with the marshmellow that had the spit of a living person on it... I told him I liked being dead. SO, he brought himself back to life. I was lonely once again. Then he had to change for tennis and athletics (one hour of athletics after school everyweek, Friday works best with his schedule). We read until Zia Poala called him down to go.
While Nic was gone, I went to a nearby clothing store that advertised some cheap clothes, my interest was peaked. I went in and looked at some things, the adverts were for a small selection of things, but I liked some things so I tried them on. A vest, a t-shirt, a couple sweaters, a button down shirt, all size small. They fit me ok, but I felt like I was going to rip them, so we went for medium. Much better, room to move around without hulking out is nice. I didn't get anything but the woman helping me was very nice and I saw some jackets that I may go back and look at later.
Nic had put a toy octopus that my mom sent in water so it could grow, 24 hours later, it is roughly twice the size it was and still growing... it's like our own experiment. Nic poked his eyes and they fell off, but we decided since he has eight arms, he doesn't need eyes too bad. For dinner Lavi and Marti came up, we had some fresh tagliatare al sugo (with red sauce) for our pasta and pulpete for il secondo. Nic LOVES my mom's homemade salsa picante, and Carmi (amazing house keeper downstairs) loved it too, she wanted to know all of what was in it, I couldn't really tell her everything since I don't remember all of it, but I remembered, tomatoes, rotel, pepper, and jalepenos. Nic and I had it on our pulpete. Zio Marco came up for a bit and brought me a birthday present, he apologized for it being late, but I was not worried about it in the least (after all, I did just get my family's gifts yesterday) it was a beautiful chestnut colored sweater that is so soft and nice. I graciously thanked him then finished eating dinner with my new sweater on. :) After dinner we watched the movie "9", the animated film that has small puppets running around in the post-apocolyptic world. It's not easy trying to describe what happened at the end to two nine year olds when you yourself can only guess at the meaning of the ending. However, I did my best.
*SPOILER*
I like to think that since the dolls were the last remaining souls of humanity, when they were released into the atomosphere and it began to rain, that was the world allowing humanity to begin again, when it was on hold throughout the disaster.
"It's our world, and it is what we make it."
As Nic was getting in bed, Marco (cat) was waiting to crawl under the covers, and he was trying to get all the covers organized. I said, "Are you ready for me to turn off the light?", "No." Seconds later. "Now are you ready?", "No, you go to fast, life is better slow." Words of wisdom from a 9 year old.
So now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
and if I should die before I wake (be natural causes or marshmellow snipers),
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Love. Laugh. and Live...slowly.
:)
Friday. The end of another beautiful week. I finally did my laundry... now my room smells wonderful as it is filled with shirts and pants strewn about, as they finish drying. I was really lazy with abs and chest and did the two rapidly in about 14 minutes... just bicycles and pushups... lazy. What can I say. It's Friday. I was hoping on hope that today Enrico would follow through for me and I'd have internet by the end of the day. Alas, it is almost 2200 and there is no internet, nor do I think I will get it over the weekend. I'm beginning to think my book (which I finished today) is right, Roma doesn't run on time like the rest of the world. It runs on experiences. Romans don't worry about making ends meet, they enjoy the time putting the ends together, and spending time with family and friends. I like that. I admire that. I don't want that to change about Roma. I don't mind the inconvenience too much. I like walking around the city and seeing encounters slowed in time. If I got anything out of the book, it's that Romans enjoy life. They take it as it comes and get a great satisfaction out of living it. It is for this reason that when you are at a ristorante and you have finished eating, you have to ask the cameriere for your conto, bill. He will never bring you the bill until you ask for it because who is he to decide when you are finished enjoying the experience that is dining? Dining is more than just eating the infalliable chef's creations, more than just drinking red wine that chills your throat, and yet warms you from the inside. It's an experience all together. You know when the experience has run its full course. You and only you. Romans take life slow.
I, obviously, did some reading today and some laundry and some hanging out in the flat waiting for my laundry to finish. I finished 'The Devil Wears Prada', it was less predictable than I previously predicted... I liked it as a whole. I was hoping to go downstairs to check the routers but since Zia Paola was not home, I did not want to impose and so was unable to check. When Nic got home he had snack then we played with the marshmellow shooter my mom sent me (him). He really enjoys it... he's not very good at shooting (he doesn't breathe from the diaphragm) but he tries never the less. He was assaulting Shanti, Marco, (the cats) and me with the fluffy, white, slightly sticky sweets... However, I found that if I could keep him laughing he could not breathe in enough air to shoot at me... so we laughed for a good five minutes. Then I died. I was a lonely corpse, so he killed Shanti, Marco, then himself, so we could all talk to each other. When he shot himself, he turned the mouth piece around and fired. Point blank range at his chest, right below his throat. The marshmellow stuck, a sticky mark of death. He said he could bring us back to life though if he shot us with the marshmellow that had the spit of a living person on it... I told him I liked being dead. SO, he brought himself back to life. I was lonely once again. Then he had to change for tennis and athletics (one hour of athletics after school everyweek, Friday works best with his schedule). We read until Zia Poala called him down to go.
While Nic was gone, I went to a nearby clothing store that advertised some cheap clothes, my interest was peaked. I went in and looked at some things, the adverts were for a small selection of things, but I liked some things so I tried them on. A vest, a t-shirt, a couple sweaters, a button down shirt, all size small. They fit me ok, but I felt like I was going to rip them, so we went for medium. Much better, room to move around without hulking out is nice. I didn't get anything but the woman helping me was very nice and I saw some jackets that I may go back and look at later.
Nic had put a toy octopus that my mom sent in water so it could grow, 24 hours later, it is roughly twice the size it was and still growing... it's like our own experiment. Nic poked his eyes and they fell off, but we decided since he has eight arms, he doesn't need eyes too bad. For dinner Lavi and Marti came up, we had some fresh tagliatare al sugo (with red sauce) for our pasta and pulpete for il secondo. Nic LOVES my mom's homemade salsa picante, and Carmi (amazing house keeper downstairs) loved it too, she wanted to know all of what was in it, I couldn't really tell her everything since I don't remember all of it, but I remembered, tomatoes, rotel, pepper, and jalepenos. Nic and I had it on our pulpete. Zio Marco came up for a bit and brought me a birthday present, he apologized for it being late, but I was not worried about it in the least (after all, I did just get my family's gifts yesterday) it was a beautiful chestnut colored sweater that is so soft and nice. I graciously thanked him then finished eating dinner with my new sweater on. :) After dinner we watched the movie "9", the animated film that has small puppets running around in the post-apocolyptic world. It's not easy trying to describe what happened at the end to two nine year olds when you yourself can only guess at the meaning of the ending. However, I did my best.
*SPOILER*
I like to think that since the dolls were the last remaining souls of humanity, when they were released into the atomosphere and it began to rain, that was the world allowing humanity to begin again, when it was on hold throughout the disaster.
"It's our world, and it is what we make it."
As Nic was getting in bed, Marco (cat) was waiting to crawl under the covers, and he was trying to get all the covers organized. I said, "Are you ready for me to turn off the light?", "No." Seconds later. "Now are you ready?", "No, you go to fast, life is better slow." Words of wisdom from a 9 year old.
So now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
and if I should die before I wake (be natural causes or marshmellow snipers),
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Love. Laugh. and Live...slowly.
:)
Gifts From Afar
Ottobre 7, 2010
Class today. I've decided I don't like my bus routes very much, I go from one to the other, but I wait almost 30 minutes for the second bus to come at via Tritone. I want to find another route... maybe it will be less crowded too. I get to school, as prepared as I could be having done the homework completely, without any problems the night before. Easy stuff. No problems. When I arrived to class I found out I had misunderstood the instructions and had done the right pages of homework, but in the wrong unit. Oops. Luckily, it was easy and I finished it before we started. Just masculine and feminine artiles, indefinite and definite. Today we did a lot of verbs, some regular, some irregular. I think that just practicing saying the words is helpful... especially the irregular verbs. They tell us that the school is doing a dinner for all the Au Pairs on the 14th at 16.30 near Piazza Spagnola, the Spanish Steps... 20 euro for a LOT of food... I asked Raffa if it would be ok to take that night off and go to dinner, as it turns out she also has a big company dinner that night in a museum with over 400 guests from around the world. Woah. That's a lot of food. She says it's no problem for me to go though, I'm still not certain what the exact details of the night will consist of for anyone, myself, Nic, Giorgio... ecc. in time it will be revealed. When I got back from class, I had planned to take the old router downstairs to test it while leaving the new one still plugged in. (COME ON ENRICO!!) I called downstairs but Paola wasn't home so I'd have to wait a little bit. I got distracted from my battle though when Annita told me I had a package. YAY!! I got my Mommy's package in the mail. Only about 9-10 days, much better than I thought it would be. It had so much stuff in it. My mom is the BIGGEST goofball I know. There was confetti (which has a completely different meaning in Italian; sugared almonds) streamers, hats, cheap toys, goofy toys, jacks, stick balls, bouncy balls (one of the bouncy balls fills with a powdery glitter when you bounce it, I pretend it's my 'rememberall'... I'm good as long as the blue glitter doesn't turn red, then I've forgotten something), birthday cards, animal crackers, halloween socks, nerf rockets, bracelets, a flashlight ring, antibacterial hand gel, HOMEMADE HOT SAUCE!!!!, model magic sculpting dough, too many things to list all of them, but I loved them all. I think when she sent the package, she meant for half of it to go to Nicolo, because she knew he would love it 100X more than me which would make me love it even more. She also put some arrowheads in a satchel for him, I tried to explain them to him but he was distracted with the marshmellow shooter... I haven't shown him everything yet because I want to extend the cultural high as long as I can... but he said he LOVED the hot sauce because it was a little spicy, but he wishes it was spicer and thicker... we are trying to think of things to eat it on... we had it with our pulpete, meatballs, and it was great, maybe some eggs tomorrow. He recommended I use it on a kebab from the 'Auditorium', sounds like a good plan. Zia Paola didn't get home before the kids did, so I didn't get to check the routers, but Giorgio wasn't worried, he said we can do it later. Raffa helped me find on a map a couple of libraries that I may utilize to study and such... even if Giorgio's theory is right and that the router's work fine and it's the line that is messed up, I'm still not sure how it is going to get fixed if he doesn't trust Telecom to fix it. I guess only time will tell.
I started looking at movies in the house I haven't seen... don't ask me why but I started watching "The Devil Wears Prada" today, kind of predictable, but funny too. I haven't finished it yet, maybe tomorrow. Who knows, maybe it's not predictable.
Class today. I've decided I don't like my bus routes very much, I go from one to the other, but I wait almost 30 minutes for the second bus to come at via Tritone. I want to find another route... maybe it will be less crowded too. I get to school, as prepared as I could be having done the homework completely, without any problems the night before. Easy stuff. No problems. When I arrived to class I found out I had misunderstood the instructions and had done the right pages of homework, but in the wrong unit. Oops. Luckily, it was easy and I finished it before we started. Just masculine and feminine artiles, indefinite and definite. Today we did a lot of verbs, some regular, some irregular. I think that just practicing saying the words is helpful... especially the irregular verbs. They tell us that the school is doing a dinner for all the Au Pairs on the 14th at 16.30 near Piazza Spagnola, the Spanish Steps... 20 euro for a LOT of food... I asked Raffa if it would be ok to take that night off and go to dinner, as it turns out she also has a big company dinner that night in a museum with over 400 guests from around the world. Woah. That's a lot of food. She says it's no problem for me to go though, I'm still not certain what the exact details of the night will consist of for anyone, myself, Nic, Giorgio... ecc. in time it will be revealed. When I got back from class, I had planned to take the old router downstairs to test it while leaving the new one still plugged in. (COME ON ENRICO!!) I called downstairs but Paola wasn't home so I'd have to wait a little bit. I got distracted from my battle though when Annita told me I had a package. YAY!! I got my Mommy's package in the mail. Only about 9-10 days, much better than I thought it would be. It had so much stuff in it. My mom is the BIGGEST goofball I know. There was confetti (which has a completely different meaning in Italian; sugared almonds) streamers, hats, cheap toys, goofy toys, jacks, stick balls, bouncy balls (one of the bouncy balls fills with a powdery glitter when you bounce it, I pretend it's my 'rememberall'... I'm good as long as the blue glitter doesn't turn red, then I've forgotten something), birthday cards, animal crackers, halloween socks, nerf rockets, bracelets, a flashlight ring, antibacterial hand gel, HOMEMADE HOT SAUCE!!!!, model magic sculpting dough, too many things to list all of them, but I loved them all. I think when she sent the package, she meant for half of it to go to Nicolo, because she knew he would love it 100X more than me which would make me love it even more. She also put some arrowheads in a satchel for him, I tried to explain them to him but he was distracted with the marshmellow shooter... I haven't shown him everything yet because I want to extend the cultural high as long as I can... but he said he LOVED the hot sauce because it was a little spicy, but he wishes it was spicer and thicker... we are trying to think of things to eat it on... we had it with our pulpete, meatballs, and it was great, maybe some eggs tomorrow. He recommended I use it on a kebab from the 'Auditorium', sounds like a good plan. Zia Paola didn't get home before the kids did, so I didn't get to check the routers, but Giorgio wasn't worried, he said we can do it later. Raffa helped me find on a map a couple of libraries that I may utilize to study and such... even if Giorgio's theory is right and that the router's work fine and it's the line that is messed up, I'm still not sure how it is going to get fixed if he doesn't trust Telecom to fix it. I guess only time will tell.
I started looking at movies in the house I haven't seen... don't ask me why but I started watching "The Devil Wears Prada" today, kind of predictable, but funny too. I haven't finished it yet, maybe tomorrow. Who knows, maybe it's not predictable.
Losing Battle
Ottobre 6, 2010
Today the goal was to work on the internet and do laundry after the work out. I did and easy abs and chest work out in the flat (leg is feeling better, but not 100%), and that completes the list of accomplishments for the day. I tried to do laundry, I put all my laundry in my laundry bag and put in my sheets as well, but Annita was doing several loads and by the time I would have been able to do mine, the sun was cooling off and drying them would have taken forever. I don't remember if I mentioned in general, Italians don't use dryers. My gifted book says it's because Italians don't trust technology, I think it's because it's a waste of money and energy. Why pay for what you could get done for free? Yeah, it's a little less work but c'e' non problemma, that's not a problem. So I will do it on Friday. I began today's assault on the internet connection. I called Telecom. I said, "Vorrei parlare con qualcuno parla inglese." (I would like to speak to someone who speaks English). I was told they would call me back in about 5 minutes. I waited. Enrico called. Enrico said he didn't speak much English. I did not notice any confusion he had throughout the conversation, so I'd say his English was good. He asked me to turn off my router. I obliged. He then said to turn it back on. Again, I obliged. He told me to wait 2 minutes and then to tell him if the ADSL light was on. I waited. Then told him no, it was not. He told me that means that the problem is with the line and that he will send an email to the technicians and they will have it fixed in 2 days, but in the mean time, I'm not to turn off the power to the router so the technicians can fix it. Awesome. I told Giorgio I'd take the router down to Zio Marco's and test it just to make sure the router's work, but since I was able to speak with Enrico, and he told me to leave the router on, I decided against moving the router... in terms of this internet issue, as Spongebob would say, "I'm ready!"...for this to be over.
I read a lot today... went to McD's and checked my emails... did a bit of facebooking... just to let everyone know I'm still alive... and to stalk a bit... ;) I also went and had some pizza. Not from a Pizzeria, but a 'Pizzataglio', where they have long rectangles of pizza and cut you a piece and weight it and you pay. Great for walking and eating. Usually more variety than at ristoranti, bit thicker crust too. When I got back to the flat, Nonna was there and had baked a pie, some kind of cream pie. Looked good. She helped Nic with his Italian math, then we did some drawing for some health in English then he had to go to tennis. When he got back we had penne mezzine with pesto and ham... it was a delicious ham, salty and had a flavor about it that was reminiscent of bacon... yum. After dinner, when Giorgio got home, he asked if I'd tested the routers, I said no, but I had spoken with Telecom and they said it would be fixed in 2 days. He said that everytime I call Telecom, they call him. Oops, I did not know that, sorry. He said that most likely it would not be fixed in the two days and that this was probably just their protocol when someone called with a problem. Tell them it will take a few days and then work on it later... I hope this is not the case... (I'm pulling for you Enrico) I don't like how the book I'm reading makes me think things that I haven't experienced yet, but it does make me wander if, as a whole, Italians are skeptical of technology, or if that is just the book showing its age as it was published in 2000. I apologize to Giorgio about the calls and tell him I'll try and work on the routers tomorrow. Tomorrow will be another battle. As it stands, the points are as follows: Internet 6 vs. Dub 0. :(
Facebook status if I had one right now...
Dub Walston is "I go out walkin' after midnight, out in the moonlight, just hopin' you may be somewhere a walkin' after midnight, searchin' for meeee."
Today the goal was to work on the internet and do laundry after the work out. I did and easy abs and chest work out in the flat (leg is feeling better, but not 100%), and that completes the list of accomplishments for the day. I tried to do laundry, I put all my laundry in my laundry bag and put in my sheets as well, but Annita was doing several loads and by the time I would have been able to do mine, the sun was cooling off and drying them would have taken forever. I don't remember if I mentioned in general, Italians don't use dryers. My gifted book says it's because Italians don't trust technology, I think it's because it's a waste of money and energy. Why pay for what you could get done for free? Yeah, it's a little less work but c'e' non problemma, that's not a problem. So I will do it on Friday. I began today's assault on the internet connection. I called Telecom. I said, "Vorrei parlare con qualcuno parla inglese." (I would like to speak to someone who speaks English). I was told they would call me back in about 5 minutes. I waited. Enrico called. Enrico said he didn't speak much English. I did not notice any confusion he had throughout the conversation, so I'd say his English was good. He asked me to turn off my router. I obliged. He then said to turn it back on. Again, I obliged. He told me to wait 2 minutes and then to tell him if the ADSL light was on. I waited. Then told him no, it was not. He told me that means that the problem is with the line and that he will send an email to the technicians and they will have it fixed in 2 days, but in the mean time, I'm not to turn off the power to the router so the technicians can fix it. Awesome. I told Giorgio I'd take the router down to Zio Marco's and test it just to make sure the router's work, but since I was able to speak with Enrico, and he told me to leave the router on, I decided against moving the router... in terms of this internet issue, as Spongebob would say, "I'm ready!"...for this to be over.
I read a lot today... went to McD's and checked my emails... did a bit of facebooking... just to let everyone know I'm still alive... and to stalk a bit... ;) I also went and had some pizza. Not from a Pizzeria, but a 'Pizzataglio', where they have long rectangles of pizza and cut you a piece and weight it and you pay. Great for walking and eating. Usually more variety than at ristoranti, bit thicker crust too. When I got back to the flat, Nonna was there and had baked a pie, some kind of cream pie. Looked good. She helped Nic with his Italian math, then we did some drawing for some health in English then he had to go to tennis. When he got back we had penne mezzine with pesto and ham... it was a delicious ham, salty and had a flavor about it that was reminiscent of bacon... yum. After dinner, when Giorgio got home, he asked if I'd tested the routers, I said no, but I had spoken with Telecom and they said it would be fixed in 2 days. He said that everytime I call Telecom, they call him. Oops, I did not know that, sorry. He said that most likely it would not be fixed in the two days and that this was probably just their protocol when someone called with a problem. Tell them it will take a few days and then work on it later... I hope this is not the case... (I'm pulling for you Enrico) I don't like how the book I'm reading makes me think things that I haven't experienced yet, but it does make me wander if, as a whole, Italians are skeptical of technology, or if that is just the book showing its age as it was published in 2000. I apologize to Giorgio about the calls and tell him I'll try and work on the routers tomorrow. Tomorrow will be another battle. As it stands, the points are as follows: Internet 6 vs. Dub 0. :(
Facebook status if I had one right now...
Dub Walston is "I go out walkin' after midnight, out in the moonlight, just hopin' you may be somewhere a walkin' after midnight, searchin' for meeee."
How Well Can You ACTUALLY Know a Language?
Ottobre 5, 2010
Today was a school day. Class was interesting, we learned a lot more adjectives, practiced the old ones too, did a couple more famous people then identified them. I really enjoy the class but do wish I could just understand the language without having to take it... In my book, "As the Romans Do", I feel envious of the author's sons because they have been in Italy since the age of 1 and the age of 4... Now they speak perfect Italian and English, with no classes taken for either. How long does it take an individual to become fluent in a language just by living it day to day? Never taking a class, never studying the language, just being around it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? 3 years? Do you ever really know a language? One of my best friends, one of the smartest people I know, is Cuban and moved here when he was 14 (sorry if I'm off). I remember playing word games at University with him and he would always say he was terrible at them because he did not know many English words. Well, he didn't suck, but he wasn't the most amazing player either. Sometimes he'll ask me the meaning of a word or why people use a word or something. Sometimes I can answer, sometimes I can't. This tells me two things, he's 22 now and has been living this language for 7 years and is still 'learning' it. It also tells me that I'm 23 and still learning it, I can't answer all his questions about the language, this language is constantly changing while at the same time, my brain wants to store so much stuff, I swear it has to make decisions to put some thoughts and memories and facts of knowledge in "retainer files" where if the information is not accessed in a certain amount of time, it will subsequentially be deleted. Like tiny little men are running around in my head sorting and organizing things like in some ziggy or spongebob cartoon. This is why I try to recall things randomly, as often as possible (it's as good a reason as any for my absurd train of thought). My hope is that by the end of this experience I can speak half as well as my Cuban friend speaks now. Is that a lofty goal? Is it unattainable? Am I setting myself up for failure and disappointment? I hope not, but for now I just read as much as I can, understand things slowly, and enjoy and experience the Italian life God's given me for now. :)
Any-who... When Nico got home, he was there only a short while, we did some homework (Lavi had not finished her math which I made Nic finish) but they both worked on their 'tema', theme. It was a paper about themselves in Italian, telling their likes and about their family and such. Nic's went like this, only more eloquently written... I have brown curly hair, I like soccer, my brother is tall, my sister is thin, my other sister is tall, my dad is normal, my mom works at ENEL. I have two cats, one is a twin. My favorite part was, My dad is normal. While it's true, his brother Iacopo is tall, about 6'4", and his mother does work for ENEL, the energy company, there are defining characteristics of Giorgio. Meh, he's normal. ;) After homework, Raffa got home and we (Raffa, Lavi, Nic, and I) walked to catechism class. I was to come back and pick them up at 18.30. The church was right behind Piazza Verbano, about a 10 minute walk. Raffa and I stopped at the "War Hammer shop" after dropping the kids off so she could look at the possibility of Nic coming with a friend and seeing if he liked it... apparently there are 3 ways to play, you get to paint your own landscape and such... sounds interesting at least... maybe a Thursday afternoon or Saturday when he's not busy... I told her I had played something kind of like it, Dungeons & Dragons and as it turns out Raffa played D&D when she was younger and there were bars for it in Roma that she and some friends spent several hours at. Cool points. CHECK. After class, they told me they read about Cain and Able. Cool stuff.
We had dinner... good stuff... don't remember what it was though, but I haven't had anything that I didn't like yet; therefore, it was good stuff. :)
Today was a school day. Class was interesting, we learned a lot more adjectives, practiced the old ones too, did a couple more famous people then identified them. I really enjoy the class but do wish I could just understand the language without having to take it... In my book, "As the Romans Do", I feel envious of the author's sons because they have been in Italy since the age of 1 and the age of 4... Now they speak perfect Italian and English, with no classes taken for either. How long does it take an individual to become fluent in a language just by living it day to day? Never taking a class, never studying the language, just being around it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? 3 years? Do you ever really know a language? One of my best friends, one of the smartest people I know, is Cuban and moved here when he was 14 (sorry if I'm off). I remember playing word games at University with him and he would always say he was terrible at them because he did not know many English words. Well, he didn't suck, but he wasn't the most amazing player either. Sometimes he'll ask me the meaning of a word or why people use a word or something. Sometimes I can answer, sometimes I can't. This tells me two things, he's 22 now and has been living this language for 7 years and is still 'learning' it. It also tells me that I'm 23 and still learning it, I can't answer all his questions about the language, this language is constantly changing while at the same time, my brain wants to store so much stuff, I swear it has to make decisions to put some thoughts and memories and facts of knowledge in "retainer files" where if the information is not accessed in a certain amount of time, it will subsequentially be deleted. Like tiny little men are running around in my head sorting and organizing things like in some ziggy or spongebob cartoon. This is why I try to recall things randomly, as often as possible (it's as good a reason as any for my absurd train of thought). My hope is that by the end of this experience I can speak half as well as my Cuban friend speaks now. Is that a lofty goal? Is it unattainable? Am I setting myself up for failure and disappointment? I hope not, but for now I just read as much as I can, understand things slowly, and enjoy and experience the Italian life God's given me for now. :)
Any-who... When Nico got home, he was there only a short while, we did some homework (Lavi had not finished her math which I made Nic finish) but they both worked on their 'tema', theme. It was a paper about themselves in Italian, telling their likes and about their family and such. Nic's went like this, only more eloquently written... I have brown curly hair, I like soccer, my brother is tall, my sister is thin, my other sister is tall, my dad is normal, my mom works at ENEL. I have two cats, one is a twin. My favorite part was, My dad is normal. While it's true, his brother Iacopo is tall, about 6'4", and his mother does work for ENEL, the energy company, there are defining characteristics of Giorgio. Meh, he's normal. ;) After homework, Raffa got home and we (Raffa, Lavi, Nic, and I) walked to catechism class. I was to come back and pick them up at 18.30. The church was right behind Piazza Verbano, about a 10 minute walk. Raffa and I stopped at the "War Hammer shop" after dropping the kids off so she could look at the possibility of Nic coming with a friend and seeing if he liked it... apparently there are 3 ways to play, you get to paint your own landscape and such... sounds interesting at least... maybe a Thursday afternoon or Saturday when he's not busy... I told her I had played something kind of like it, Dungeons & Dragons and as it turns out Raffa played D&D when she was younger and there were bars for it in Roma that she and some friends spent several hours at. Cool points. CHECK. After class, they told me they read about Cain and Able. Cool stuff.
We had dinner... good stuff... don't remember what it was though, but I haven't had anything that I didn't like yet; therefore, it was good stuff. :)
Oo- Something Shiny
Ottobre 4, 2010
I ran today. 6 miles. Nothing particularly long, but my achilles tendon was still recovering from the 1/2 marathon so I only did the short run and will be doing all my abs and chest at the flat for the rest of the week to give my body some time to recover.
It's getting harder and harder to do this blog... without internet I have to do it twice basically. For some reason I would rather put it off to do later when it is not getting posted directly to the internet. That, however, makes me forget some things and when I do come back to write them, I'm not even sure if it's the first time I've written it... it all sounds familiar... I probably think about it subconciously before I write it throughout the day... but if this is repeated... feel free to skim... like I'm sure most of you do anyway. ;)
So after that, I spent a while working on the computer, called the telephone company, got some information that I thought would fix my problems, it did not... I'm still trying to find my way around the difficulty of speaking over the phone to people who can't understand me and I can only understand a little of what they say... but it's coming along. So after a long fought battle, I suspend the onslaught temporarily and distract myself elsewhere before I throw the computer or router in frustration... (at this time the CD drive in my computer doesn't want to work either and that makes downloading the software from the wireless CD difficult). I go into Roma and look around at some of the shops. Much more enjoyable than not knowing what you're doing but doing it anyway with no results. ;)
When Nic and Lavi get home we do some math and some Italian... the math is fairly easy, but they get distracted easily... Lavi ends up having to leave to go to her pop music dance class so I make Nic finish upstairs since he has catichism tomorrow. After dinner downstairs (delicious pesto from Nonna in Genova), there's some more homework done then back upstairs.
Giorgio has been working on the computer a bit and wants to get the technicians from work to look at the connection but he also asks me if I can check the routers (new and old) downstairs to make sure it's not the ISP (internet service provider[i didn't know that before this whole ordeal]) and not actually the router. I hope this isn't the case because the new router was apparently expensive and that would mean they spent the money for nothing.
I go to McD's again and check my emails and facebook and such... then get a bit lost trying to take a more direct route home that actually is not very direct... but made it back safe.
Hey Mr. Internet, I know a song from a great '70's Disney movie called the parent trap... "Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah..."
peace love rock and roll.
I ran today. 6 miles. Nothing particularly long, but my achilles tendon was still recovering from the 1/2 marathon so I only did the short run and will be doing all my abs and chest at the flat for the rest of the week to give my body some time to recover.
It's getting harder and harder to do this blog... without internet I have to do it twice basically. For some reason I would rather put it off to do later when it is not getting posted directly to the internet. That, however, makes me forget some things and when I do come back to write them, I'm not even sure if it's the first time I've written it... it all sounds familiar... I probably think about it subconciously before I write it throughout the day... but if this is repeated... feel free to skim... like I'm sure most of you do anyway. ;)
So after that, I spent a while working on the computer, called the telephone company, got some information that I thought would fix my problems, it did not... I'm still trying to find my way around the difficulty of speaking over the phone to people who can't understand me and I can only understand a little of what they say... but it's coming along. So after a long fought battle, I suspend the onslaught temporarily and distract myself elsewhere before I throw the computer or router in frustration... (at this time the CD drive in my computer doesn't want to work either and that makes downloading the software from the wireless CD difficult). I go into Roma and look around at some of the shops. Much more enjoyable than not knowing what you're doing but doing it anyway with no results. ;)
When Nic and Lavi get home we do some math and some Italian... the math is fairly easy, but they get distracted easily... Lavi ends up having to leave to go to her pop music dance class so I make Nic finish upstairs since he has catichism tomorrow. After dinner downstairs (delicious pesto from Nonna in Genova), there's some more homework done then back upstairs.
Giorgio has been working on the computer a bit and wants to get the technicians from work to look at the connection but he also asks me if I can check the routers (new and old) downstairs to make sure it's not the ISP (internet service provider[i didn't know that before this whole ordeal]) and not actually the router. I hope this isn't the case because the new router was apparently expensive and that would mean they spent the money for nothing.
I go to McD's again and check my emails and facebook and such... then get a bit lost trying to take a more direct route home that actually is not very direct... but made it back safe.
Hey Mr. Internet, I know a song from a great '70's Disney movie called the parent trap... "Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah..."
peace love rock and roll.
A New Direction
Ottobre 3, 2010
Today Aneta, Sasha, and I were supposed to meet at "The Space", a cinema in Piazza Repubblica to go see the Julia Roberts film, 'Mangia. Prega. Ama.', at 16.00. I got there a little early, checked my email at McD's and found Aneta there as well, she skypes with her former host family, who are now in New York, as often as she can. It came time to meet and go to the film, but we couldn't seem to find Sasha. Apparently, something had come up and so Aneta and I watched the movie together. I enjoyed the movie, I didn't get all the details since it was in Italian, but I got the big points. Aneta said she thinks she would have enjoyed it more in English as well.
After the film we went for a 'passagiata', a walk down the streets. We covered a lot of ground. We went from the center of Roma to the Pantheon, to Giolitti, near Trajan's Column, to Fontana di Trevi, Campo di Fiori, Piazza Navona (my Rick Steves knowledge of certain sites was useful in these places ;), then we went to Piazza San Pietro, she took me to her old neighborhood, Trastevere, a beautiful panorama of Roma near the Spanish Embassy, Piazza Garibaldi, and all over... She even took me by the Bambino Gesu hospital, just so I'd know where it is, but I doubt I could easily find it by myself. Probably the coolest thing we did though was when we were somewhere near the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, we happened to come across the home where Julia Robert's character lived in the movie! It had the same tiny door, the same giant call button selection, the same terrace that over looked the alley between the streets. It was a little different, like the terrace didn't have the greenery on it, there was some construction inside it (yes we opened the door and looked inside) but other than that, it was exactly the same... the street signs and everything were all original and still there, and I thought it was very interesting. Fun times.
Giolitti's was delicious, a little over priced, but the Carmelleta con fighi... was amazing! Sweet and smooth, and this time, they were a little more generous with the serving size as opposed to last time... miniscule at best, but they were kind of swamped with customers then too.
After a long walk up, down, around, across, and through Roma, we called it a night and headed to the Termini to catch our respective buses back to our homes. Aneta had to start classes in the morning and I had to... wake up? Ok, yeah, let's go with that. I found a McDonalds closer to my flat than the Train Station, it's around a 15 minute walk. 10 going there since it's mostly down hill. ;) So until the internet actually decides to function properly, I'll start to become a 'regular'.
Duck Dodgers was right, the time machine worked, he is now in the 20th century, 1955 to be exact, and is lost amongst poodle skirts, slick hair, leather jackets, and fun music... what ever will he do?
~DANCE BREAK~
Iggy and Shirley help DD back to his broken time machine and with the power of Rock and Roll, send him back to the 24 1/2 century.
(I hope your dance break was as much fun as mine... it consisted of 'Grease's: "You're the One That I Want"')
Today Aneta, Sasha, and I were supposed to meet at "The Space", a cinema in Piazza Repubblica to go see the Julia Roberts film, 'Mangia. Prega. Ama.', at 16.00. I got there a little early, checked my email at McD's and found Aneta there as well, she skypes with her former host family, who are now in New York, as often as she can. It came time to meet and go to the film, but we couldn't seem to find Sasha. Apparently, something had come up and so Aneta and I watched the movie together. I enjoyed the movie, I didn't get all the details since it was in Italian, but I got the big points. Aneta said she thinks she would have enjoyed it more in English as well.
After the film we went for a 'passagiata', a walk down the streets. We covered a lot of ground. We went from the center of Roma to the Pantheon, to Giolitti, near Trajan's Column, to Fontana di Trevi, Campo di Fiori, Piazza Navona (my Rick Steves knowledge of certain sites was useful in these places ;), then we went to Piazza San Pietro, she took me to her old neighborhood, Trastevere, a beautiful panorama of Roma near the Spanish Embassy, Piazza Garibaldi, and all over... She even took me by the Bambino Gesu hospital, just so I'd know where it is, but I doubt I could easily find it by myself. Probably the coolest thing we did though was when we were somewhere near the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, we happened to come across the home where Julia Robert's character lived in the movie! It had the same tiny door, the same giant call button selection, the same terrace that over looked the alley between the streets. It was a little different, like the terrace didn't have the greenery on it, there was some construction inside it (yes we opened the door and looked inside) but other than that, it was exactly the same... the street signs and everything were all original and still there, and I thought it was very interesting. Fun times.
Giolitti's was delicious, a little over priced, but the Carmelleta con fighi... was amazing! Sweet and smooth, and this time, they were a little more generous with the serving size as opposed to last time... miniscule at best, but they were kind of swamped with customers then too.
After a long walk up, down, around, across, and through Roma, we called it a night and headed to the Termini to catch our respective buses back to our homes. Aneta had to start classes in the morning and I had to... wake up? Ok, yeah, let's go with that. I found a McDonalds closer to my flat than the Train Station, it's around a 15 minute walk. 10 going there since it's mostly down hill. ;) So until the internet actually decides to function properly, I'll start to become a 'regular'.
Duck Dodgers was right, the time machine worked, he is now in the 20th century, 1955 to be exact, and is lost amongst poodle skirts, slick hair, leather jackets, and fun music... what ever will he do?
~DANCE BREAK~
Iggy and Shirley help DD back to his broken time machine and with the power of Rock and Roll, send him back to the 24 1/2 century.
(I hope your dance break was as much fun as mine... it consisted of 'Grease's: "You're the One That I Want"')
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The Many Gifts of McDonalds
Ottobre 2, 2010
Saturday, saturday, saturday! Raffa bought a new router and told me if it had instructions in English, I could set it up, but if I was unsure, to not do it (this makes me feel like it cost a lot, now I feel even worse). She said she'd be out of town for a while and she'd get back Sunday evening/afternoon. I started working on the router right away (I knew my readers would be almost starved for lack of material, I must work quickly). The instructions were in 12 different languages I think. Yes English was one of them. Holy cow. The router was easy to set up, instructions were easy to follow (lots of pictures), but while I was setting it up, it asked for information only my internet service provider (ISP) could provide. Dang. Well, I figured out the number to the ISP by asking Paola, I called them, and after about 2 hours found someone who could understand me and I them, then was told they don't have any technicians there until Monday morning. Lame-0-saurus Rex. So at best, the router will be working Monday. In the mean time, these temporary blogs that you can't actually read, but that keep me from getting so far behind I forget copious amounts of details.
I play some computer games a little while, read some... then hit the town for some more strolling. I take my computer to McD's and try to connect, I'm having some difficulty, but am able to get to the sign in page when a girl asks if I am getting the wireless signal. I say yes, we start talking, I try to help her get her signal working, she asks if she and her friend could join me, I say of course. Her name is Aneta and his name is Sasha. We introduce everyone and chat about where we're all from and what we're all doing here and so on and so forth. Sasha is a language student from Russia, he speaks Russian and Italian, but understands English. Aneta is from Poland and is an Au Pair as well and speaks Italian, English, and Polish. We hung out for a little while, then they asked if I wanted to go with them to check some movie times for the Julia Roberts movie, Manga. Prega. Ama. (Eat. Pray. Love). We went to Piazza Repubblica and checked the show time for the next day, we decided on 16.30, then headed to the termini were I
could take a bus to the flat and Aneta could take one back to her residence near Villa Borghese, and Sasha could walk back to his, near the Colosseo. It was nice meeting people my age, strange circumstances, but I think things happen for a reason. ;)
I went back to try and fix the router again, niente... read some, won some chess (I'm getting more consistent at that), then nodded off to dream world.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
(one of Nicolo's spelling words on Friday, he only got halfway)
Saturday, saturday, saturday! Raffa bought a new router and told me if it had instructions in English, I could set it up, but if I was unsure, to not do it (this makes me feel like it cost a lot, now I feel even worse). She said she'd be out of town for a while and she'd get back Sunday evening/afternoon. I started working on the router right away (I knew my readers would be almost starved for lack of material, I must work quickly). The instructions were in 12 different languages I think. Yes English was one of them. Holy cow. The router was easy to set up, instructions were easy to follow (lots of pictures), but while I was setting it up, it asked for information only my internet service provider (ISP) could provide. Dang. Well, I figured out the number to the ISP by asking Paola, I called them, and after about 2 hours found someone who could understand me and I them, then was told they don't have any technicians there until Monday morning. Lame-0-saurus Rex. So at best, the router will be working Monday. In the mean time, these temporary blogs that you can't actually read, but that keep me from getting so far behind I forget copious amounts of details.
I play some computer games a little while, read some... then hit the town for some more strolling. I take my computer to McD's and try to connect, I'm having some difficulty, but am able to get to the sign in page when a girl asks if I am getting the wireless signal. I say yes, we start talking, I try to help her get her signal working, she asks if she and her friend could join me, I say of course. Her name is Aneta and his name is Sasha. We introduce everyone and chat about where we're all from and what we're all doing here and so on and so forth. Sasha is a language student from Russia, he speaks Russian and Italian, but understands English. Aneta is from Poland and is an Au Pair as well and speaks Italian, English, and Polish. We hung out for a little while, then they asked if I wanted to go with them to check some movie times for the Julia Roberts movie, Manga. Prega. Ama. (Eat. Pray. Love). We went to Piazza Repubblica and checked the show time for the next day, we decided on 16.30, then headed to the termini were I
could take a bus to the flat and Aneta could take one back to her residence near Villa Borghese, and Sasha could walk back to his, near the Colosseo. It was nice meeting people my age, strange circumstances, but I think things happen for a reason. ;)
I went back to try and fix the router again, niente... read some, won some chess (I'm getting more consistent at that), then nodded off to dream world.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
(one of Nicolo's spelling words on Friday, he only got halfway)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tanti Auguri
Settembre 28, 2010
Today is my birthday! YAY! 23 years ago today I was evicted from my mother's uterus.:)The beginning of a new life that I have enjoyed immensely! When I got to the breakfast table, all ready for class, I found at my seat a package. Raffa had given me a book about an American family in Rome, and their take on Roman life. I am very interested in reading it! I went to class and was a little early. I brought a pear and coronetto for a snack (however, I did not pack them in my X-Men lunchbox ;). My teacher's name is Barbara, she is from Roma and is 34, if I remember correctly. There are 7 girls in my class. We are all Au Pairs here in Roma. 3 girls from France, 23,23, and 21, 2 girls from Holland, both 18, 1 girl from Polland, 24, and myself, a new explorer in the world of 23. The entire class is taught in Italian (I was unsure how a beginning Italian class would be taught with students from around the world). In the beginner class before me there is one guy as well, and there is one guy in the advanced class that takes place during my class... I've seen 3 guys total at this school. The first lesson was mainly review for me, how letters are pronounced, spelling (how it sounds, Mom, you may actually be pretty good at it ;), and masculine and feminine words and articles. I can definitely tell that one of the French girls has studied Italian before, probably two of them have, but one speaks particularly well. I really enjoyed class and the ninty minutes flew by. I'm looking forward to Thursday's class.
After class, I went to have lunch then have some birthday gelato, it was great. I went over some of my notes from class, rewrote them, looked up some words that were unfamiliar, tried to grasp the large while understanding the small. When I got back to the flat I got on skype and talked to my lovely mommy and awesome daddy! They finally bought a webcamera and I actually got to see and talk to them! YAY no more creeping! ;) We talked about nonsense and about life, family, animals (I said hi to Molly, our dog, and she tried to find me in the computer, SO cute), it was a great addition to my birthday! Then Mom had to go to school and Dad had to leave for work eventually as well. So they left the camera on and I tortured Molly and the cats for a while. Hehehehe, just kidding, I didn't we said farewell and I left the pets alone...this time ;)
When Nicolo got back from school, Lavi, Nico, and I did some homework then played some... I've decided my mother and father must have been saints to be able to handle me when I was nine. I have a short attention span as a 23 year old, and it's tough to keep these kids' attention... I can't imagine how distracted I was when EVERYTHING takes you away from what you're doing. At least these kids can get their work done.
For dinner, Raffa taught me how to make a simple version of pasta al carbonara, YUMMY!!! After dinner, Marco, Paola, Lavi, Marti, and Carmi (the family's house keeper) all came upstairs and wished me a happy birthday (Marco actually entered dancing and singing it, hahaha ;). Later, they all sang "Happy Birthday", Nicolo even had a toy gnome that sang happy birthday in English singing along, and Lavi played some of Happy Birthday on the piano... some sang English, some Italian, it was great. Auguri. "Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri a Dub. Tanti auguri a te." It's like Well wishes, it's how Happy Birthday is conveyed in Italian. We all gathered around the beautiful "all white" cake for the kids and I to blow out the candles. It was a kodak moment. Paola took some pictures, I hope I can get a copy of them. We enjoyed the hazelnut, cream, and meringue cake, then we (the kids and I) watched some cartoons before bed while the adults chatted a bit.
This post is a little delayed/short because the internet has gone down and I don't remember everything. However, it was a great birthday!
Today is my birthday! YAY! 23 years ago today I was evicted from my mother's uterus.:)The beginning of a new life that I have enjoyed immensely! When I got to the breakfast table, all ready for class, I found at my seat a package. Raffa had given me a book about an American family in Rome, and their take on Roman life. I am very interested in reading it! I went to class and was a little early. I brought a pear and coronetto for a snack (however, I did not pack them in my X-Men lunchbox ;). My teacher's name is Barbara, she is from Roma and is 34, if I remember correctly. There are 7 girls in my class. We are all Au Pairs here in Roma. 3 girls from France, 23,23, and 21, 2 girls from Holland, both 18, 1 girl from Polland, 24, and myself, a new explorer in the world of 23. The entire class is taught in Italian (I was unsure how a beginning Italian class would be taught with students from around the world). In the beginner class before me there is one guy as well, and there is one guy in the advanced class that takes place during my class... I've seen 3 guys total at this school. The first lesson was mainly review for me, how letters are pronounced, spelling (how it sounds, Mom, you may actually be pretty good at it ;), and masculine and feminine words and articles. I can definitely tell that one of the French girls has studied Italian before, probably two of them have, but one speaks particularly well. I really enjoyed class and the ninty minutes flew by. I'm looking forward to Thursday's class.
After class, I went to have lunch then have some birthday gelato, it was great. I went over some of my notes from class, rewrote them, looked up some words that were unfamiliar, tried to grasp the large while understanding the small. When I got back to the flat I got on skype and talked to my lovely mommy and awesome daddy! They finally bought a webcamera and I actually got to see and talk to them! YAY no more creeping! ;) We talked about nonsense and about life, family, animals (I said hi to Molly, our dog, and she tried to find me in the computer, SO cute), it was a great addition to my birthday! Then Mom had to go to school and Dad had to leave for work eventually as well. So they left the camera on and I tortured Molly and the cats for a while. Hehehehe, just kidding, I didn't we said farewell and I left the pets alone...this time ;)
When Nicolo got back from school, Lavi, Nico, and I did some homework then played some... I've decided my mother and father must have been saints to be able to handle me when I was nine. I have a short attention span as a 23 year old, and it's tough to keep these kids' attention... I can't imagine how distracted I was when EVERYTHING takes you away from what you're doing. At least these kids can get their work done.
For dinner, Raffa taught me how to make a simple version of pasta al carbonara, YUMMY!!! After dinner, Marco, Paola, Lavi, Marti, and Carmi (the family's house keeper) all came upstairs and wished me a happy birthday (Marco actually entered dancing and singing it, hahaha ;). Later, they all sang "Happy Birthday", Nicolo even had a toy gnome that sang happy birthday in English singing along, and Lavi played some of Happy Birthday on the piano... some sang English, some Italian, it was great. Auguri. "Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri a Dub. Tanti auguri a te." It's like Well wishes, it's how Happy Birthday is conveyed in Italian. We all gathered around the beautiful "all white" cake for the kids and I to blow out the candles. It was a kodak moment. Paola took some pictures, I hope I can get a copy of them. We enjoyed the hazelnut, cream, and meringue cake, then we (the kids and I) watched some cartoons before bed while the adults chatted a bit.
This post is a little delayed/short because the internet has gone down and I don't remember everything. However, it was a great birthday!
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