Dicembre 15-27
So, I got a new camera for making video-blogs (vlogs) and the newest post covers most of these days... I ended up missing some things so I'll cover them here... but this should make the blogs MUCH easier to do and to follow... hopefully.
Dicembre 17, 2010
So on the Friday before I left, there was SNOW!!!!!! WHOOP!!! About a half inch maybe... it was beautiful. Nic and Lavi had their Winterfair which was just booths and fun things that they were selling and food and games... all the money was to go to charity... very cool and a lot of fun. I thought Nic's winter play was today, turns out, it was the following Tuesday, when I was not there. Dang.
Dicembre 27, 2010
Today we watched "The Expendables". It was pretty good, nothing spectacular but worth the watch. Then we went to the ranch to get ready to work cattle tomorrow. (Yes, I'm from Texas and have cattle... does everyone from Texas have cattle, no. I just happen to.) So Mom, Dad, Sis, and I all moved fence and chutes old school Egytian slave style, moving the heavy objects on rolling pipes... I felt like an engineering student trying to figure out the most effective way to move the chute, it sucked. I will take my anatomy classes or bio classes any day. ;) Tomorrow we spend a lot of time at the ranch, working cattle, then going hunting. There may be some rain... we'll see.
Well...Here's the link, let's hope it works.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Bombs and Baby Jesus
Dicembre 14/15, 2010
Dicembre 14, 2010
Today I "cleaned" my room a bit. I didn't do a full on 'Lela Haus' clean, because I'll have to do that later before I leave, but a good clean. Then I went to Piazza di Spagna to meet everyone for coffee. I was on time, barely after having to get off the bus because they said they were told they couldn't drive into the center. I waited 10 minutes, then found Jelco, then slowly, after an hour, everyone else showed up. Apparently, everyone else had the same trouble with their buses.
We went to au pair central for coffee, aka McD's, and I tried a "special" cafe'... it turned out to be like a caffe flavoured hot pudding with cream on top. Not a fan. I met a friend of Femke's that is also from Finland and she actually works about 3 blocks away from me! We then walked to "Little Big Town", a toy store near Piazza Venezia to find out the whole Piazza was surrounded by police in riot suits. Someone mentioned it was voting day, when Parliament decides if the current Prime Minister would remain in office, Berlusconi. As we were walking to the store we heard some strange bangs from a distance... it turns out there were riots earlier in the day and explosions in Piazza del Popolo. Raffa later told me this. The explosions were 'paper bombs'. I don't know what they are but there apparently were 90 through out the day, so that's what I think we were hearing... I haven't heard of anyone being hurt but it is a frightening concept. Berlusconi narrowly won the vote and will remain the prime minister.
A happier note... in the toy store, we found some fun things... I wanted to buy two teddy bears... both bigger than a VW Beetle, 2900 euro each. I took pictures with them. :)
Dicembre 15, 2010
Today I woke up and was planning on meeting Jelco at Piazza Navonna... I wanted to buy pieces for a presepe of my own. They were all so interesting, there were probably about 10 vendors selling the pieces and I found a set that I liked and bought some... I did my best to limit myself and not buy too much. I knew I wanted baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the 3 Magi, and an angel. This way when I come back I can have something to buy... an on going collection. ;) But I also want to make some of the pieces... all hand made, but not all Italian hand made. Then I went and had a great lunch where the pasta, secondo, tiramisu', and water all cost less than 25 euro, AND it was really good. I met the owners of the restaurant and they were really nice, I decided to buy a bottle of their wine. (I should stop buying things... I still have to get it all in a bag)
When I got home, I watch Nonna Jo help Lavi and Nic with their Italian homework, I learned about superlativo definitivi aggettivi... it is when an adjective describes something to it's maximum. If some thing is the slimiest, crunchiest, tallest, nicest, most elegant...etc. I used this knowledge when Nonna Jo made sausage cannelloni and fritatta tripa (super yummy omlet more or less)... I love eating here... freakin' awesome!!!!!
I then started getting some of my stuff together for my trip on Sunday. I was right, I have a lot of stuff... Dang. I am squishing everything down without trying to break anything... there are some fragile things... but I'm doing my best to protect everything. :)
Ok... caught up. Whoop!
OH!!!!!!! AND ONE OF MY BESTEST FRIENDS BECAME A UNITED STATES CITIZEN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS Jesús Alejandro Pérez Rementería!!!
Dicembre 14, 2010
Today I "cleaned" my room a bit. I didn't do a full on 'Lela Haus' clean, because I'll have to do that later before I leave, but a good clean. Then I went to Piazza di Spagna to meet everyone for coffee. I was on time, barely after having to get off the bus because they said they were told they couldn't drive into the center. I waited 10 minutes, then found Jelco, then slowly, after an hour, everyone else showed up. Apparently, everyone else had the same trouble with their buses.
We went to au pair central for coffee, aka McD's, and I tried a "special" cafe'... it turned out to be like a caffe flavoured hot pudding with cream on top. Not a fan. I met a friend of Femke's that is also from Finland and she actually works about 3 blocks away from me! We then walked to "Little Big Town", a toy store near Piazza Venezia to find out the whole Piazza was surrounded by police in riot suits. Someone mentioned it was voting day, when Parliament decides if the current Prime Minister would remain in office, Berlusconi. As we were walking to the store we heard some strange bangs from a distance... it turns out there were riots earlier in the day and explosions in Piazza del Popolo. Raffa later told me this. The explosions were 'paper bombs'. I don't know what they are but there apparently were 90 through out the day, so that's what I think we were hearing... I haven't heard of anyone being hurt but it is a frightening concept. Berlusconi narrowly won the vote and will remain the prime minister.
A happier note... in the toy store, we found some fun things... I wanted to buy two teddy bears... both bigger than a VW Beetle, 2900 euro each. I took pictures with them. :)
Dicembre 15, 2010
Today I woke up and was planning on meeting Jelco at Piazza Navonna... I wanted to buy pieces for a presepe of my own. They were all so interesting, there were probably about 10 vendors selling the pieces and I found a set that I liked and bought some... I did my best to limit myself and not buy too much. I knew I wanted baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the 3 Magi, and an angel. This way when I come back I can have something to buy... an on going collection. ;) But I also want to make some of the pieces... all hand made, but not all Italian hand made. Then I went and had a great lunch where the pasta, secondo, tiramisu', and water all cost less than 25 euro, AND it was really good. I met the owners of the restaurant and they were really nice, I decided to buy a bottle of their wine. (I should stop buying things... I still have to get it all in a bag)
When I got home, I watch Nonna Jo help Lavi and Nic with their Italian homework, I learned about superlativo definitivi aggettivi... it is when an adjective describes something to it's maximum. If some thing is the slimiest, crunchiest, tallest, nicest, most elegant...etc. I used this knowledge when Nonna Jo made sausage cannelloni and fritatta tripa (super yummy omlet more or less)... I love eating here... freakin' awesome!!!!!
I then started getting some of my stuff together for my trip on Sunday. I was right, I have a lot of stuff... Dang. I am squishing everything down without trying to break anything... there are some fragile things... but I'm doing my best to protect everything. :)
Ok... caught up. Whoop!
OH!!!!!!! AND ONE OF MY BESTEST FRIENDS BECAME A UNITED STATES CITIZEN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS Jesús Alejandro Pérez Rementería!!!
Monday, December 13, 2010
I'm Too Sexy... (future tense)
Dicembre 13, 2010
I found a gym about 5 buildings away. For 6 months (Jan-July) it will cost 51.20 euro per month. I will begin in January. I am excited. I will be turning heads like never before. (or at least not running in the rain anymore :)
I spent all of today catching up on blogs and watching TV online... and for lunch I had the salad with tuna at the little bar down the street. Very good. :)
On occasion I suffer from orthostatic hypotenion... and I'm not alone. It plagues everyone from time to time. :)
I found a gym about 5 buildings away. For 6 months (Jan-July) it will cost 51.20 euro per month. I will begin in January. I am excited. I will be turning heads like never before. (or at least not running in the rain anymore :)
I spent all of today catching up on blogs and watching TV online... and for lunch I had the salad with tuna at the little bar down the street. Very good. :)
On occasion I suffer from orthostatic hypotenion... and I'm not alone. It plagues everyone from time to time. :)
Hard Rock
Dicembre 10-12
Dicembre 10, 2010
The big thing today was that I went to go see Rock the Ballet. Was I all alone surrounded by couples and families? Yes. Did that the experience in general any less enjoyable? NO!!! IT WAS AMAZING! 6 guys and a girl and a lot of good music. The first half was a kind of love story, but the second half was just all Queen and Michael Jackson music. Very entertaining. Afterwards I went to get pizza Napolitana in Trastevere. A filet of bacala' and sausage and cheese pizza. Very, VERY good!
Dicembre 11, 2010
I went to the center and shopped around a bit. I bought a new jacket for the weather... it's colder than I thought it would be, but no snow, dang. I bought Mom's Christmas present finally. Then went to dinner at Di Fronte a... with Jelco, Femka, and Gemma. Pizza Diavola= delicious/spicey! We drove to the center in Femka's car and had fun trying to find a parking spot (think the opposite of fun). Finally, we found a spot but we were not sure if we could park there or not, so we (Jelco and I) asked an officer writing tickets if we could park were we left the car. He said that we could, one cross bar sign (where we parked) is ok, but two (where he was writing tickets) was not. He also said it didn't matter because this was going to be his last street to check. ;) SCORE! Eventually we met everyone for drinks at the Drunken Ship, we had a fun night. I kept getting paid cash to buy drinks with my discounts! :) We watched some fashioned challenged Russian guys dance out of control (OOC) and we were pretty sure two were brothers. They were crazy and fun. Then we wandered around a bit (one of us, not me had too much to drink) and she kept us from going to the club afterwards. So we drove her home, 12 km outside Roma. The car ride was not much fun... Motion sickness in Roman traffic/streets is inevitable in a hot car with stop/go motions. Got back and went to bed, glad to be on firm ground ;)
Good news is there was not vomit of ANY kind on my new jacket.
Dicembre 12, 2010
Stayed at the house most of the morning and some in the afternoon watching online tv... then went and watched "Tangled/Rapunzel" in Italian. I figured I could handle it since it was probably written for 7 year olds. I understood all of it, not every single word, but all the ideas. Then I went and ate at a fancy restaurant called "I Carnivori" The antipasta, prosciutto e mozzerella buffala was AMAZING! Appartently, the owners make their own wine... maybe I'll have some another time.
Dicembre 10, 2010
The big thing today was that I went to go see Rock the Ballet. Was I all alone surrounded by couples and families? Yes. Did that the experience in general any less enjoyable? NO!!! IT WAS AMAZING! 6 guys and a girl and a lot of good music. The first half was a kind of love story, but the second half was just all Queen and Michael Jackson music. Very entertaining. Afterwards I went to get pizza Napolitana in Trastevere. A filet of bacala' and sausage and cheese pizza. Very, VERY good!
Dicembre 11, 2010
I went to the center and shopped around a bit. I bought a new jacket for the weather... it's colder than I thought it would be, but no snow, dang. I bought Mom's Christmas present finally. Then went to dinner at Di Fronte a... with Jelco, Femka, and Gemma. Pizza Diavola= delicious/spicey! We drove to the center in Femka's car and had fun trying to find a parking spot (think the opposite of fun). Finally, we found a spot but we were not sure if we could park there or not, so we (Jelco and I) asked an officer writing tickets if we could park were we left the car. He said that we could, one cross bar sign (where we parked) is ok, but two (where he was writing tickets) was not. He also said it didn't matter because this was going to be his last street to check. ;) SCORE! Eventually we met everyone for drinks at the Drunken Ship, we had a fun night. I kept getting paid cash to buy drinks with my discounts! :) We watched some fashioned challenged Russian guys dance out of control (OOC) and we were pretty sure two were brothers. They were crazy and fun. Then we wandered around a bit (one of us, not me had too much to drink) and she kept us from going to the club afterwards. So we drove her home, 12 km outside Roma. The car ride was not much fun... Motion sickness in Roman traffic/streets is inevitable in a hot car with stop/go motions. Got back and went to bed, glad to be on firm ground ;)
Good news is there was not vomit of ANY kind on my new jacket.
Dicembre 12, 2010
Stayed at the house most of the morning and some in the afternoon watching online tv... then went and watched "Tangled/Rapunzel" in Italian. I figured I could handle it since it was probably written for 7 year olds. I understood all of it, not every single word, but all the ideas. Then I went and ate at a fancy restaurant called "I Carnivori" The antipasta, prosciutto e mozzerella buffala was AMAZING! Appartently, the owners make their own wine... maybe I'll have some another time.
La Festa Dell'Immacolata Concezione
Dicembre 7-9, 2010
Dicembre 7, 2010
I went to class this morning, it was just Barbara and I... we did verbs and words in the kitchen to help prepare us for the party at school where we had to bring a dish from out home country. After class Erica, Gemma, Axelle, and I went grocery shopping for our foods. They were making Rice Krispies(US), scones(ENG), and crepes(FRA) respectively. I then returned home to start cake #2 it turned out a little over done, and not enough sugar, but next time I GOT it. Good news is the applesauce works. My pasta carbonara tonight was wicked awesome ;)
Dicembre 8, 2010
La festa dell'immacolata concezione is to celebrate the (phonetic clues) immaculate conception of the Holy Mother.
I took the bus to get some applesauce (I didn't buy them all at the same time yesterday, dumb) I finally finished the cake (and watched the Christmas GLEE while it baked) then attempted the arduous journey to school with a cake that was not quite finished cooling. I got on the bus and had never seen it this croweded! One guy accidently dropped the people's elbow on it and one lady refused to give me ANY room for the cake and kept bumping it, so I held it above her tiny head and taunted her with the possibility of me dropping a 7lb/3.5kg cake on her head. Finally I made it to the party... 45 minutes late.
There was SO much food there! I tasted food from: ENGLAND, THAILAND, AUSTRIA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, BRAZIL, AUSTRAILIA, BELGIUM, and USA. There were probably more, I just don't remember all of them. The final cake turned out great! It was one of the MANY things I ate. After consuming WAY too much food, I went back to the flat and slept for about 2 hours. Afterwards, I did some Christmas decorating, hung out with some friends, and had a good holiday in general. I've decided the presepe is my favorite Italian Christmas decoration. It's like a nativity, but on a completely different scale. They're HUGE! Most people set aside a small table for the whole city of Bethlehem. Mountains. Streams. Everything.
Dicembre 9, 2010
At school today we got to eat some of Camilla's cake she had left from the party, and we talked about how we could stay caught up with our Italian over the break. We then covered some more cooking terms and did about 10 minutes of reflexive verbs...
Barbara, Gemma, Erica, and I went for coffee after class then a couple of us did some Christmas shopping afterwards.
[i've decided that the primary difference between men and women shopping is that women like to look at things and buy them. Men, on the other hand, generally already have something in mind that they want to buy and just do more 'purchasing' not so much shopping. However, I enjoy 'shopping' more because it's just time to hang out with friends walking around and talking; it does however, get tedious when the conversation never changes from the clothes or the same thing that is being perused... I just like the socialization tied with the 'shopping' while it is my belief that more women actually like to find new places to spend their money. ;) I did my best to express my thoughts without sounding stereotypical/sexist ;]
Then when I got home we did MORE about Ben Franklin...
Dicembre 7, 2010
I went to class this morning, it was just Barbara and I... we did verbs and words in the kitchen to help prepare us for the party at school where we had to bring a dish from out home country. After class Erica, Gemma, Axelle, and I went grocery shopping for our foods. They were making Rice Krispies(US), scones(ENG), and crepes(FRA) respectively. I then returned home to start cake #2 it turned out a little over done, and not enough sugar, but next time I GOT it. Good news is the applesauce works. My pasta carbonara tonight was wicked awesome ;)
Dicembre 8, 2010
La festa dell'immacolata concezione is to celebrate the (phonetic clues) immaculate conception of the Holy Mother.
I took the bus to get some applesauce (I didn't buy them all at the same time yesterday, dumb) I finally finished the cake (and watched the Christmas GLEE while it baked) then attempted the arduous journey to school with a cake that was not quite finished cooling. I got on the bus and had never seen it this croweded! One guy accidently dropped the people's elbow on it and one lady refused to give me ANY room for the cake and kept bumping it, so I held it above her tiny head and taunted her with the possibility of me dropping a 7lb/3.5kg cake on her head. Finally I made it to the party... 45 minutes late.
There was SO much food there! I tasted food from: ENGLAND, THAILAND, AUSTRIA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, BRAZIL, AUSTRAILIA, BELGIUM, and USA. There were probably more, I just don't remember all of them. The final cake turned out great! It was one of the MANY things I ate. After consuming WAY too much food, I went back to the flat and slept for about 2 hours. Afterwards, I did some Christmas decorating, hung out with some friends, and had a good holiday in general. I've decided the presepe is my favorite Italian Christmas decoration. It's like a nativity, but on a completely different scale. They're HUGE! Most people set aside a small table for the whole city of Bethlehem. Mountains. Streams. Everything.
Dicembre 9, 2010
At school today we got to eat some of Camilla's cake she had left from the party, and we talked about how we could stay caught up with our Italian over the break. We then covered some more cooking terms and did about 10 minutes of reflexive verbs...
Barbara, Gemma, Erica, and I went for coffee after class then a couple of us did some Christmas shopping afterwards.
[i've decided that the primary difference between men and women shopping is that women like to look at things and buy them. Men, on the other hand, generally already have something in mind that they want to buy and just do more 'purchasing' not so much shopping. However, I enjoy 'shopping' more because it's just time to hang out with friends walking around and talking; it does however, get tedious when the conversation never changes from the clothes or the same thing that is being perused... I just like the socialization tied with the 'shopping' while it is my belief that more women actually like to find new places to spend their money. ;) I did my best to express my thoughts without sounding stereotypical/sexist ;]
Then when I got home we did MORE about Ben Franklin...
MMmmmm... Delicious...
Dicembre 4-6, 2010
Dicembre 4, 2010
This morning I ran in Villa Borghese for an hour, then met some friends who are leaving for good at the end of the year and NOW they've decided that want to see Roma... We did some shopping at the San Giovanni market...(I found a leather jacket that looks like Wolverine's from X-Men, but way sexier, since it was on me, I talked the woman down 50 euro, but I didn't buy it, if it's there in January, maybe. We'll see.)
Then we went and had a coffee at a cafe' above COIN. Two of the girls got some white hot chocolate that was apparently "sour" and I talked to the barista and got them refunds and another drink... by the way, "sour" doesn't translate into Italian in regards to something that has gone bad, it's just 'bad'. ;)
Then we went to the countryside to see some catacombs (218 infront of San Giovanni). We went into a REALLY beautiful church and saw some fantastic villas, then after we'd finished our adventures at the catacombs (really just like the one's here in town, but the walk to them was more spectacular) we went into the large, San Giovanni cathedral.
Afterwards, on my way home, I ran into Giorgio and we went out to get the shopping stuff done for the week. Afterwards, I went out and met with Jelco, Nora, and Erica and we went out for some drinks, I met two of their friends... but didn't ever talk to them since they ran off talking to some random guys... but we ended up leaving having a good night. I got a free drink at the Drunken Ship and got discounts for the girls with my student ID. :) Awesome!
Dicembre 5, 2010
I ate really well today and if I ever kept a food journal of all the great food I ate here... this food would be included:
-Mezzi rigatoni with homemade ragu' (sugo/carne)
-Pasta rustica, with zucchini and prosciutto
-(a new favorite candy) layered milk/white chocolate bites
-Insalata russa
-HOMEMADE 4 cheese gnocchi!!!
(still haven't had any food I didn't like)
Dicembre 6, 2010
Nic had his friend Ricard over. We played them against me, where I cornered them in a room and scared them... then we broke a loose door handle and I fixed it (I know; I cook, I clean, I fix things, I'm great with kids, I'm smart, and I'm not hard on the eyes... lucky, I know. ;) They ended up making a HUGE mess in Nic's room that I had to help clean up... oh boys... Then I went out and danced some... tada!
Dicembre 4, 2010
This morning I ran in Villa Borghese for an hour, then met some friends who are leaving for good at the end of the year and NOW they've decided that want to see Roma... We did some shopping at the San Giovanni market...(I found a leather jacket that looks like Wolverine's from X-Men, but way sexier, since it was on me, I talked the woman down 50 euro, but I didn't buy it, if it's there in January, maybe. We'll see.)
Then we went and had a coffee at a cafe' above COIN. Two of the girls got some white hot chocolate that was apparently "sour" and I talked to the barista and got them refunds and another drink... by the way, "sour" doesn't translate into Italian in regards to something that has gone bad, it's just 'bad'. ;)
Then we went to the countryside to see some catacombs (218 infront of San Giovanni). We went into a REALLY beautiful church and saw some fantastic villas, then after we'd finished our adventures at the catacombs (really just like the one's here in town, but the walk to them was more spectacular) we went into the large, San Giovanni cathedral.
Afterwards, on my way home, I ran into Giorgio and we went out to get the shopping stuff done for the week. Afterwards, I went out and met with Jelco, Nora, and Erica and we went out for some drinks, I met two of their friends... but didn't ever talk to them since they ran off talking to some random guys... but we ended up leaving having a good night. I got a free drink at the Drunken Ship and got discounts for the girls with my student ID. :) Awesome!
Dicembre 5, 2010
I ate really well today and if I ever kept a food journal of all the great food I ate here... this food would be included:
-Mezzi rigatoni with homemade ragu' (sugo/carne)
-Pasta rustica, with zucchini and prosciutto
-(a new favorite candy) layered milk/white chocolate bites
-Insalata russa
-HOMEMADE 4 cheese gnocchi!!!
(still haven't had any food I didn't like)
Dicembre 6, 2010
Nic had his friend Ricard over. We played them against me, where I cornered them in a room and scared them... then we broke a loose door handle and I fixed it (I know; I cook, I clean, I fix things, I'm great with kids, I'm smart, and I'm not hard on the eyes... lucky, I know. ;) They ended up making a HUGE mess in Nic's room that I had to help clean up... oh boys... Then I went out and danced some... tada!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Beautiful Candlelit Dinner
Dicembre 1-3, 2010
Dicembre 1, 2010
I seriously opened the computer and caught up on blogs today... (then as you can tell by this posting date, I got a little lax again) I started my Christmas calendar opening it and finding a small square of chocolate with a poinsetta or stella di natale.
Dicembre 2, 2010
This morning I woke up to no power... There apparently had been a wire short under the street and it resulted in no electricity in our building.
It turns out I didn't do as spectacularly on my test as I'd hoped, most of it was stupid mistakes I didn't go back and re-read. meh. It's not for a grade or anything, just to see where you stand. I'm still confident I knew the material, I was just rushing...
When I got home, Nic and I had fun trying to re-research Ben Franklin without electricity, ironic, right?(his teacher kept his last report with all the info, and now we were supposed to make a timeline) After we finished, we had a nice, beautiful romantic dinner by candle light... 10 candles in 2 candelabras make a lot of light.
It was also the greatest woman in the world's birthday today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!! :) I was fortunate and got to call her and talk to her and dad for a bit after hanging out with Erica, Nora, Jelco, and Axelle in the center. We went and saw some Christmas decorations at Piazza Navonna. Really neat.
Dicembre 3, 2010
FRIDAY!!!! Went to class for a series of games and "get to know you" activities this morning... I thought it was a performance that the advanced class had been working on. Turns out, they were just games... Barbara, Camilla, and I were the only ones there NOT in the advanced class, but I think we did pretty well... there were games to meet people and remember names, and things like that... but the hardest was the last game. We were in a circle and we had to go one after another making up parts of one big story... REALLY forcing you to listen, comprehend, then speak. I liked Camilla's take on the game... she just killed the princess to make things easier. ;) We did some fun "acting" scenes... make a series of yes's and no's make sense with body language... do stupid movements until you get close to a previously assigned (unknown) group movement...Turns out the performance will begin in January and we're supposed to say if we would be interested in participating... I think I may, I'll look at the text over the holidays and see...
Mattis came over and we played soldiers while Nic was at tennis... I taught him the beauty of a suicide kill... (kill yourself and your opponent just for the sake of prohibiting your opponent the joy of the kill. that was for all my smash bro. friends... ;) Then we watched HP 4, I did my best to not quote it too much...
Dicembre 1, 2010
I seriously opened the computer and caught up on blogs today... (then as you can tell by this posting date, I got a little lax again) I started my Christmas calendar opening it and finding a small square of chocolate with a poinsetta or stella di natale.
Dicembre 2, 2010
This morning I woke up to no power... There apparently had been a wire short under the street and it resulted in no electricity in our building.
It turns out I didn't do as spectacularly on my test as I'd hoped, most of it was stupid mistakes I didn't go back and re-read. meh. It's not for a grade or anything, just to see where you stand. I'm still confident I knew the material, I was just rushing...
When I got home, Nic and I had fun trying to re-research Ben Franklin without electricity, ironic, right?(his teacher kept his last report with all the info, and now we were supposed to make a timeline) After we finished, we had a nice, beautiful romantic dinner by candle light... 10 candles in 2 candelabras make a lot of light.
It was also the greatest woman in the world's birthday today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!! :) I was fortunate and got to call her and talk to her and dad for a bit after hanging out with Erica, Nora, Jelco, and Axelle in the center. We went and saw some Christmas decorations at Piazza Navonna. Really neat.
Dicembre 3, 2010
FRIDAY!!!! Went to class for a series of games and "get to know you" activities this morning... I thought it was a performance that the advanced class had been working on. Turns out, they were just games... Barbara, Camilla, and I were the only ones there NOT in the advanced class, but I think we did pretty well... there were games to meet people and remember names, and things like that... but the hardest was the last game. We were in a circle and we had to go one after another making up parts of one big story... REALLY forcing you to listen, comprehend, then speak. I liked Camilla's take on the game... she just killed the princess to make things easier. ;) We did some fun "acting" scenes... make a series of yes's and no's make sense with body language... do stupid movements until you get close to a previously assigned (unknown) group movement...Turns out the performance will begin in January and we're supposed to say if we would be interested in participating... I think I may, I'll look at the text over the holidays and see...
Mattis came over and we played soldiers while Nic was at tennis... I taught him the beauty of a suicide kill... (kill yourself and your opponent just for the sake of prohibiting your opponent the joy of the kill. that was for all my smash bro. friends... ;) Then we watched HP 4, I did my best to not quote it too much...
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Cakes and Lights
Novembre 29/30, 2010
Novembre 29, 2010
I went to the supermercato today and bought the necessary ingredients for my "Apple Cake". I did all the prep work and conversions, then baked it right before the kids got home from school. It turned out "OK". I wouldn't call it a success because it was a bit too 'oily' and a bit too 'sweet'... I can't call it a success until it has arrived at least close to the delectable perfection that I know it can be. The kids seemed to like it, but they'll like the next one even more. I then finished some homework then some 'skype-time'... just a chilled day. (note to self: give the cake at least 30 minutes to cool before trying to remove it from the bunt pan to avoid crumbling.)
Novembre 30, 2010
This morning I headed to school and we had a test over what we'd coved so far. There was 75% attendance, 3. All in all, the test was pretty easy. I'm hoping that after we all score fantastically on it, our teacher will get a little "harder" with the material. (not harder exactly, more like, let us go further, as of right now, I think we'll stop after we get to future tense, but there's so much more...)
After class, two of the girls and I walked to McDonalds to meet some peoples... we had an Au Pair party at McD's. (I swear I NEVER eat at McD's this much state side, I guess it is just more popular here or something, I don't know, it's cheap, I think that's why au pairs are drawn to it.)
Then, since there was strike on the Metro, Erica and I went to wait for the busses on via Tritone. After I got home we did homework and had dinner. Raffa bought me a calendario di festivale, a calendar to count down the days until Christmas, each day I open a little tab and eat a small chocolate. :) She said it's for kids, but I love it...
I went to go take some pictures of some Christmas decorations. There were some, but I can tell there's more to come. There was A big tree in piazza venezia, but it's not quite finished yet. Soon, I'll have more pictures. It was raining while I was taking pictures, but I stayed dry/warm enough. I went to Fontana di Trevi and at one point while I was there, there were literally 5 people in the Piazza...beautiful. :)
sometimes not being in a crowd is nice. ;)
Novembre 29, 2010
I went to the supermercato today and bought the necessary ingredients for my "Apple Cake". I did all the prep work and conversions, then baked it right before the kids got home from school. It turned out "OK". I wouldn't call it a success because it was a bit too 'oily' and a bit too 'sweet'... I can't call it a success until it has arrived at least close to the delectable perfection that I know it can be. The kids seemed to like it, but they'll like the next one even more. I then finished some homework then some 'skype-time'... just a chilled day. (note to self: give the cake at least 30 minutes to cool before trying to remove it from the bunt pan to avoid crumbling.)
Novembre 30, 2010
This morning I headed to school and we had a test over what we'd coved so far. There was 75% attendance, 3. All in all, the test was pretty easy. I'm hoping that after we all score fantastically on it, our teacher will get a little "harder" with the material. (not harder exactly, more like, let us go further, as of right now, I think we'll stop after we get to future tense, but there's so much more...)
After class, two of the girls and I walked to McDonalds to meet some peoples... we had an Au Pair party at McD's. (I swear I NEVER eat at McD's this much state side, I guess it is just more popular here or something, I don't know, it's cheap, I think that's why au pairs are drawn to it.)
Then, since there was strike on the Metro, Erica and I went to wait for the busses on via Tritone. After I got home we did homework and had dinner. Raffa bought me a calendario di festivale, a calendar to count down the days until Christmas, each day I open a little tab and eat a small chocolate. :) She said it's for kids, but I love it...
I went to go take some pictures of some Christmas decorations. There were some, but I can tell there's more to come. There was A big tree in piazza venezia, but it's not quite finished yet. Soon, I'll have more pictures. It was raining while I was taking pictures, but I stayed dry/warm enough. I went to Fontana di Trevi and at one point while I was there, there were literally 5 people in the Piazza...beautiful. :)
sometimes not being in a crowd is nice. ;)
Jason Statham
Novembre 27/28, 2010
Novembre 27, 2010
This weekend since I was planning on going to Napoli then that got cancelled, I didn't really have any big plans set up...
Saturday Morning I took a passaggiata around the city, saw some nice clothes, almost bought a "fashionable" jacket (puffy, tan, fur-lined hood) just so I'd look more Roman, and warm... but ended up letting it go. ;)
I ate some GREAT tiramisu' in the southeast side of town, near Furio Camillo. Apparently a VERY popular place. Very crowded, but big, so there was room for everyone. Ate some sausage and potatoes for dinner. Mmmmm. I met some friends after dinner and one of them said I looked like someone famous only with a beard, but they couldn't remember the person's name. They said the head bad guy in the movie "Cellular". I'd actually just seen part of it on TV the night before and it happened to be a scene with the head bad guy. Jason Statham. ;) I asked if they'd seen "The Italian Job", they said no, but they had wanted to. I took the compliment anyway. ;)
Novembre 28, 2010
This morning I met Aneta at Pza. del Popolo and we went to Porta Portese, a HUGE street market near Trastevere. It was awesome. Everything was there from cheap junk to really nice clothing and shoes. I bought a couple of things, one being an umbrello for 2 euro because it was raining, yet again... this week looks like it will be week 3 of straight rain. At least once everyday for 3 weeks. So much stinking water. Troppa pioggia.
Afterwards, I went to a friend of a friend's birthday party... I thought it was going to be a small get together with a small group at the pizzeria... we were supposed to be there at 20.00. We got there at 20.15 and it was a small group of people... then more people came... Eventually there were from 35-40 people there and we ACTUALLY started eating about 21.30. There were four courses (riso, pasta, carne con verdura, torta di frutta)... very good! It was just after 00.00 when we finally finished wishing happy birthdays and opening gifts and everything... I had loads of fun even though the entire group spoke Italian, I got bits and pieces here and there. I got a ride home on a motorino since the metro had stopped running. They're pretty fun.
All in all a fun weekend!
Novembre 27, 2010
This weekend since I was planning on going to Napoli then that got cancelled, I didn't really have any big plans set up...
Saturday Morning I took a passaggiata around the city, saw some nice clothes, almost bought a "fashionable" jacket (puffy, tan, fur-lined hood) just so I'd look more Roman, and warm... but ended up letting it go. ;)
I ate some GREAT tiramisu' in the southeast side of town, near Furio Camillo. Apparently a VERY popular place. Very crowded, but big, so there was room for everyone. Ate some sausage and potatoes for dinner. Mmmmm. I met some friends after dinner and one of them said I looked like someone famous only with a beard, but they couldn't remember the person's name. They said the head bad guy in the movie "Cellular". I'd actually just seen part of it on TV the night before and it happened to be a scene with the head bad guy. Jason Statham. ;) I asked if they'd seen "The Italian Job", they said no, but they had wanted to. I took the compliment anyway. ;)
Novembre 28, 2010
This morning I met Aneta at Pza. del Popolo and we went to Porta Portese, a HUGE street market near Trastevere. It was awesome. Everything was there from cheap junk to really nice clothing and shoes. I bought a couple of things, one being an umbrello for 2 euro because it was raining, yet again... this week looks like it will be week 3 of straight rain. At least once everyday for 3 weeks. So much stinking water. Troppa pioggia.
Afterwards, I went to a friend of a friend's birthday party... I thought it was going to be a small get together with a small group at the pizzeria... we were supposed to be there at 20.00. We got there at 20.15 and it was a small group of people... then more people came... Eventually there were from 35-40 people there and we ACTUALLY started eating about 21.30. There were four courses (riso, pasta, carne con verdura, torta di frutta)... very good! It was just after 00.00 when we finally finished wishing happy birthdays and opening gifts and everything... I had loads of fun even though the entire group spoke Italian, I got bits and pieces here and there. I got a ride home on a motorino since the metro had stopped running. They're pretty fun.
All in all a fun weekend!
Celestina
Novembre 26, 2010
The Big Bang Theory. Such a great way to start your day. :)
(GLEE, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory) Some of the main ways to pass down time... while Nic's at tennis or catechism. :)
So this morning the plan was to go and have the hard copy of my letter of intent for medical school printed saying I would like my seat back when I return, then have it sent to the Texas A&M Health Science Center. I couldn't print it here because the room where the printer normally is is being repainted and so all of the stuff has been removed from it... so I went to the library and they told me they don't do prints there, but there was a print shop around the corner. So I printed one page for 20cents... dang. Then I learned a few words, busta, francobollo, spendire... (envelope, stamp, send) So as I was feeling a little crunched for time since I promised I'd send it today... and the shops were about to close (because all shops besides eating establishments close from approximately 13.00-15.00) I was in a bit of a rush... I got the francobollo, busta, and indirizzo all together just in-time before the tabacchi closed. Mission accomplished!
Then I went to a popular restaurant that had been closed but was reopened by Raffa's cousin... Celestina. It is on via Parioli, near the bottom of the hill. It's a very cute restaurant, not too expensive, delicious! I ordered the Zuppa di cecci and small tiramisu'... So good. Also a bit of bread to go with the soup. Mmmm. I highly recommend anyone go if you're in the neighborhood. ;) Later that night we watched Nanny McPhee... not bad...
HD 883
The Big Bang Theory. Such a great way to start your day. :)
(GLEE, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory) Some of the main ways to pass down time... while Nic's at tennis or catechism. :)
So this morning the plan was to go and have the hard copy of my letter of intent for medical school printed saying I would like my seat back when I return, then have it sent to the Texas A&M Health Science Center. I couldn't print it here because the room where the printer normally is is being repainted and so all of the stuff has been removed from it... so I went to the library and they told me they don't do prints there, but there was a print shop around the corner. So I printed one page for 20cents... dang. Then I learned a few words, busta, francobollo, spendire... (envelope, stamp, send) So as I was feeling a little crunched for time since I promised I'd send it today... and the shops were about to close (because all shops besides eating establishments close from approximately 13.00-15.00) I was in a bit of a rush... I got the francobollo, busta, and indirizzo all together just in-time before the tabacchi closed. Mission accomplished!
Then I went to a popular restaurant that had been closed but was reopened by Raffa's cousin... Celestina. It is on via Parioli, near the bottom of the hill. It's a very cute restaurant, not too expensive, delicious! I ordered the Zuppa di cecci and small tiramisu'... So good. Also a bit of bread to go with the soup. Mmmm. I highly recommend anyone go if you're in the neighborhood. ;) Later that night we watched Nanny McPhee... not bad...
HD 883
Blessed
Novembre 25, 2010
Today is Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I miss you all and count you ALL in my blessings! I would just like to say thanks God for SOOOOOO many blessings and opportunities.
-Eternal life, everlasting love...
-the BEST family a guy could ever ask for
-friends that don't give up on you
-LOVE; in all it's shapes/sizes/colours/degrees
-Recognizing differences to appreciate commonalities
-All flavours of beauty
-Fortunate opportunities and blessings...all of them, even the ones I don't recognize...
-LIFE
-Understanding
-Health
-Food/Water/Shelter...
This list could go on forever... but I'd just like to say thanks. Thanks for all of it. Said and unsaid.
Today is Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I miss you all and count you ALL in my blessings! I would just like to say thanks God for SOOOOOO many blessings and opportunities.
-Eternal life, everlasting love...
-the BEST family a guy could ever ask for
-friends that don't give up on you
-LOVE; in all it's shapes/sizes/colours/degrees
-Recognizing differences to appreciate commonalities
-All flavours of beauty
-Fortunate opportunities and blessings...all of them, even the ones I don't recognize...
-LIFE
-Understanding
-Health
-Food/Water/Shelter...
This list could go on forever... but I'd just like to say thanks. Thanks for all of it. Said and unsaid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)