Celebrating with Spumante

Lidia and Nick, cooking lasagna for our

lunches for the week and a cake for the

peeps who work in the coffee bar

Oh Happy Unification Italy!!

The fireworks from my apartment

Rome Marathon

Yes I know it looks like I just got punched in the face

and may as well have run the marathon, although I did not

That's just the look of a month long diet of prosciutto

As you know, I'm very far behind in this blog, so I will post this that I had started before I returned to America to try to catch up.

Italy anniversary - Happy Anniversary Italia!!!! A little info about what this is actually an anniversary of: "1861 is the year recognized as the beginning of an independent and unified Italy, when the first Italian Parliament was assembled and the first King of Italy was declared – which is why 2011 is going to be such a big deal in Italy." Apparently this is the first year that people have actually had off work for this day (except me of course). In honor of the celebration all museums and a lot of buildings not normally open to the public at all were open the night before the big day until midnight. I celebrated my anniversary with Italy by partaking in some of the same activities I enjoyed two years ago, by strolling around with some other FAOers sipping prosecco and wandering in and out of piazzas, palazzos, and museums.

Rome Marathon - I've discussed how it's a bit more difficult to be fit in Italy and when I first arrived I thought maybe I would try to run the Rome Marathon. Clearly I have been too busy eating (and working) to make that happen, so I settled for donning my running clothes and my huge camera (thanks family!!) and running alongside the course snapping pics. When someone then asked for my press pass I realized how ridiculous I looked. Even though I wasn't running it, it was still so exciting and if I am here next year, definitely going to try to power through the prosciutto haze and do it. Although one item of note that I might not enjoy while running is that everyone on the sidelines of the course is yelling - "Dai, Dai, Dai!!" which sounds like Die Die Die, and really means go, go go (or so I'm told although it doesn't translate). That might not motivate me when I feel like I want to die

Italian - Still struggling along and definitely not practicing speaking enough. I try to speak Italian whenever I can (in shops, at the coffee bar at work, to myself while I'm cooking, etc.) but it's not enough. Most recent example - 10am in the coffee bar and I decide to order a juice (which they make fresh squeezed from blood oranges and it is AMAZING). So I say - "Io vorrei un spumante". And my good pal Carol laughs and just looks at me, then Lidia orders a coffee, and Carol says and what would you like to me. And I say "Un spumante". At which point she's like - "So would I dear". Well, what I wanted to say was Spremuta (juice) and what I asked for was champagne (spumante). So now my Italian (or lack thereof) is making me known as an alcoholic at work

Eating - Working at the Food and Agriculture organization in Italy, you'd think that they would have a good cafeteria. Now it's not terrible, but it got old real fast. Partly because everything is laden in grease, and partly because it's always a mob scene of disorganization. I decided instead to institute a little tradition of cooking with my colleagues on Sunday for the week, not only to avoid the cafeteria but also expand my Italian repertoire of recipes. Lidia, Nik, and I cooked up some vegetarian lasagna with alfredo sauce, and decided while we were at it to bake a chocolate espresso cake for our favourite workers in the coffee bar (and maybe make them forget about my alcoholism). While we felt awesome about it, bringing your lunch is not de rigueur to say the least. People frequently say, "Oh I knew you were American cause I've seen you walking around with your water bottle and tupperware".

Should I have some more ham??

It may not be Lago di Como but enjoying

Lago di Albana none the less
The Pope's summer residence
One of the many amazing villas in Frascati
Me and the Latins on a Piazza in Castelli di Romani
Lago di Albana, cliffside town/summer residence

of the Pope
Just another anti-Berlusconi protest with armed guards and tear gas at the ready
The sunset view from the roof of FAO, the Forum in the background
Making Ribollita, soup for lunches for the week,

I'm cheating and have ventured into Tuscany again

One of my new best buddies

Anniversary week - It is both the two year anniversary of when I first touched my toes to this sacred soil and the 150 anniversary of the unification of Italy. Thinking back two years ago, I would NEVER have imagined that I would actually live here, even though of course we joked about it - that Trevi Fountain I tell you, now if only Juliet would get her act together. For Italy anniversary day which is March 17th, most of Italy's offices/businesses are closed, but of course not the UN. You'd think maybe as a trade off for not celebrating Italian holidays that we could maybe celebrate some international ones - haven't seen it yet. On Italy anniversary day it is recommended to wear red, white, and green or one thereof. How convenient that it is also St Patty's Day and I can double up on my green, oh Italy you're so thoughtful

Getting away - When we came here on vacation two years ago, after five days in Rome we were ready for the Amalfi Coast and some strolling (passegiato). The fact remains that while beautiful, exciting, etc. etc. Rome is also exhausting and sometimes you need to just leave it behind for a bit. After reviewing easy day trips from Rome, I decided on Castelli Romani, a region just to the South of Rome, where the Pope has his summer residence. I mean if it's good enough for the Pope....So off I went with three Latins and an Itlalian (more on this in the language section of this post). Castelli Romani is also home to Frascati, a small town known for its villas and white wine - um yes and yes. After a short stop there, some pizza and supli (fried ball of rice with tomato sauce and melted cheese in the center) we headed up to Castel Gandolfo on Lago di Albano, where we enjoyed a nice stroll and some gelato and pretended a) it was summer and b) we were the Pope.

Rome - People keep asking me for directions, and no not tourists - Italians. At first I was really confused by this (and proud) and then my friend Sarah back home told me they were all trying to pick pocket me. Since my first confusion about this, it has continued to happen constantly even with my ipod in people are waving me down to ask directions. So I've decided to take this as 1) I am doing such a good job of dominating the streets AND 2) looking like an Italian that they think this girl knows where she's going (false) and can speak Italian (false).

Language - My first week here I signed up for Italian class for Expats, partly because it was so cheap and partly because I thought it would be a good way to meet new people. It's once a week for one hour and it 25 euro a month, at a different bar in a different neighborhood each time. I have really enjoyed it each time, except that I seem to be the only one who goes every week in my beginner group - which means each time a new person shows up we're back at learning how to say our nationalities again. And for the last three weeks, everyone in my group will say, "wow, how do you know so much?". Umm, because I've been coming for four weeks and we haven't progressed. Yes I can say 'Io sono americana' quite well at this point. Added to that is that I share an office with two spanish speakers so I speak Spanish all day (thank you because I didn't want to lose it) and for work I speak English all day. I've been trying to teach myself on the side, and the grammar books that I have (thank you Ulix!) are great and I can get 100% on the tests, but then as soon as I enter a store or try to speak I'm at a loss. Speaking four words a week at my chance store encounters isn't going to be enough to drive this home. I am still pulling from the small italian I know and then in a pinch inputting some French or Spanish when i can't remember a word. Yes, it gets me my prosciutto, but it doesn't make me feel like I actually live here. Although, maybe this comes back to my favorite lesson - patience. The other day it was raining and I was not happy waiting for the bus and this old cute Italian lady offered for me to share her umbrella. We then chatted in Italian a bit and she asked me how long I had been here and I said, one month. And she said, "Wow, you know heaps" (or translation a sack/big garbage bag - which I assume means heaps?).

Work - A lot of you have asked why I haven't said much about it. Frankly, it's not my dream job, but everyone is really nice and I understand what I'm supposed to do. To give you a flavour - I am the only native English speaker in my department. There are only 6 funded months left of the project/department that I work for, so in essence I was hired as clean-up crew - to turn what they have worked on for 3 years into something polished and to deliver some of the deliverables they have been funded to complete. What this equals is a lot of me reading things that have been prepared/researched in order to put them into something publishable in ENGLISH - aka rewriting a lot of non-native English. So as you can maybe gather from above - being hired to be an English writer/editor on a technical topic while learning Italian and speaking Spanish all day has amounted to me being good at none of them. Add to that my Spanish friend wanting me to teach her phonetics in English. Umm, I don't even remember learning phonetics, all I could think of was Hooked on Phonics. Note English deterioration on this blog and I'm sure it will get worse

Eating - Not a day goes by where I don't think to myself, "Should I have some more ham?". Now while on vacation, my fellow vacationers could cut me off. Living alone, there's no one between me and that ham. This saying, "Should I have some more".....has also translated into - nutella and cheese. I have managed to eat cheese, prosciutto/pancetta, and nutella at least twice a day each since the day I arrived, most times more than that. Now while that's nice on vacation - I'm pretty sure it's not sustainable. I've now been here a month and my body is revolting against this behaviour.. Without going into the nitty gritty of my bodily trauma that has been caused by a month of eating like this - just one example is having two eye infections in one month when I haven't had an eye infection in two years before my arrival, or the fact that I'm constantly exhausted (eating cheese, nutella, and prosicutto all day long is exhausting). Additionally, somehow with all this ham/nutella/cheese eating I'm still constantly hungry. My officemates say at least twice a day - "You're eating AGAIN?" So I've decided two things - 1) I will continue to have as much of these items as I want, I mean gosh darnit I'm in ITALY and this is the home of TI, and 2) I need to figure out how to counterbalance them in order not to keel over from a heart attack/goiter. On that note...

Working out - FAO has two banks, two post offices, a grocery store, a second hand clothes store, 5 cafeterias, a pharmacy, a clinic, a bookstore - but no gym and no daycare (not that I need this second one, unless my food baby needs additional care than what I am giving it). This is somewhat characteristic of Italy - but also a bit ridiculous. So with winter here, and working 50 hours a week, and my Mom mentioning mace on every call we have when I talk about running or strolling - I've been left with few options for expelling my agro-ness from sitting at a desk all day other than counting as exercise watching my food baby grow. Lucky for me I live near a ginormous park - Villa Doria Pamphili. Unlucky for me that winter is here and all non-work hours it is already dark. There are apparently pervs among the bushes so it is not exactly safe to run in the dark, alone. I refuse to run without my Ipod in, so I've taken to entering the park and immediately finding a group of people to stealthily run behind so I that I am always in a group. I usually try to target old people as they're slower and they help pace me so I don't run too fast as I am tend to do. What I realized the other day is now I've become that weird creep in the park that is probably freaking all the old folks out

Weeeeee - that's how I spent my day on Saturday, on a scooter, and I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures. More to come - and maybe purchasing one of my own

Lidia, Giuseppe, and Nik - As often as I ask myself if I should have some more ham (and say yes), I think to myself, 'Thank god for Giuseppe, Lidia, and Nik". Going it alone in NZed was one thing when I spoke the language.

Lidia and Nik - both are volunteers at FAO and started on the same day as me so we get to experience the "What?, Really?" UN moments together, but also they are new to Italy so we get to share finding apt stories, and the like. First off, yes I can't believe people come to Rome as volunteers either, I can't imagine living here with no salary. But the majority of people my age at FAO are either volunteers or interns and I've found that I should feel very grateful for my consulting contract...

Lidia is from Spain and has been living in Sierra Leone volunteering for FAO for the last year. She studied in Australia and learned English in the streets and now has spoken Creole English in Africa for the last year. She brightens my day everyday with her hilarious English confusions/sayings (Can you borrow me your headphones?) and on top of that she calls me Ellie, which I've missed from IDB. She also is notoriously lost and refuses to speak Italian as she thinks just combining Catalan/Spanish/French/English is fine (most of the time it is actually). Her perspective from Africa is also refreshing from the largesse that is Rome/FAO

Giuseppe is Italian, from Sicily, but lived in DC for 7 years so he's basically the perfect combo of understanding my American questions, but also Italian so he can answer them. I was introduced to Giuseppe through a mutual friend from DC and I often wonder what he's getting out of our friendship as I usually have a list for him everytime I see him with questions/things I need negotiated/Italian I want to learn, etc.. He has helped me set up internet at my house, review my lease, introduce me to countless people, and is a strict Italian teacher.

Nik - Is German, and learned English studying in San Diego. He is also the social coordinator of the interns/volunteers and always rolls his eyes when Lidia and I say we're too old to hang out with them (he's 28). We take Italian class together and he knows French so we usually translate for each other in French. Lidia, Nik and I start each day with coffee and chocolate croissants and gossip about our latest trials and tribulations. Then I coax them back to the office as the guilt that I'm getting paid and they're not sets in.

A few things that are not going to get old in Italy -

-the guys and Carol(told me her name as Christmas Carol) who work at the coffee bar by my office. They're so friendly and lovely and patient with our terrible Italian.

-people yelling/saying bella

-taking public transport for free (more on this soon)

-going for a run in Circo Massimo and then around the Colloseo during lunch/post work

-strolling down Via del Corso and around the Spanish Steps trying on shoes and clothes

-appertivos (basically free dinner in the form of a buffet during happy hour)

-buying vegetables/fruit at the market and them always throwing something in for free and then wishing me a Buona Domenica (Have a good Sunday) on Saturday morning, and I always think in confusion, "What about Saturday?"

-eating a chocolate croissant everyday

So that's my first month here in a nutshell - it's not all pizza and gelato as I said before, but it is all ham, cheese, and nutella