Estate Romana - I want to dance with someone?

Summer along the Tiber, complete

with multiple outdoor cinemas

Just lounging along the Tiber

The Tiber river transformed with bars and

restaurants along its banks
Happy 4th of July to me and America,

found some hot dogs to grill up

Discovering beachside grilled corn

on the cob at the beach in Ostia

Summer nights in Piazza Trilussa, Trastevere

Enjoying my beachside corn on the cob,

but mostly I posted this picture so you

could enjoy a taste of the awesome people

watching that the beach in Italy affords.

Exhibit A over my right shoulder (left in photo),

of some of the hot bodies and swimsuits that

make the beach even more enjoyable. Bathing

suits in Italy never cover more than 1/4 of your

butt, no matter your size - at first it can be

intimidating, and then it is just awesome especially

because as stated previously ogling is not only

welcome but encouraged

Embracing summer

The Italian countryside in summer

New visitors arriving shortly for vacay in Spain/Italy-

A testament to what happened the

last time we went on vacation together,

Espana - I hope you're READY

for this trio

And this is what happened last time

the three of us got together - in case

you're scratching your head about

your track of time - yes indeed we did

turn 30 this year.

I've had so many visitors (THANK YOU FRIENDS) and travel (THANK YOU WORK), and thesising (I guess I'll thank you again Fulbright, although right now it's hard to) - that I haven't been able to even tell you about what Rome is like in summer or fill you in on my latest exploits a la Italia. This Friday I have another set of visitors descending on Rome, so better get this in while I can before summer is over.....here's a bit of my Estate Romana (Roman Summer)

Summer transformation - Now while Rome is always romantic and beautiful, in summer it's on another level. As I explained previously, for some reason it is not considered 'summer' in Italy until June 1st, and then really not fully until July 1st - which is a shame because it is hot starting May 1st or earlier, but anyway. I came back from Thailand and went for a run only to discover that all of a sudden there was a bar/restaurant at my favorite look-out hill, and then another one at my favorite fountain, and then whoa - 100s of them along the Tiber. Basically Rome decides to construct a million temporary bars/restaurants at the most scenic/grassy/outdoorsy of areas just for summer, and they look like they've been there all year - complete with comfy couches/murals/wooden sculptures, etc. I should also mention that normally the Tiber is either a) flooded, or if not and you venture down to its banks, b) smells like a mixture of rotting bodies, feces, and the fish from two weeks ago - BUT somehow they turn this into a very pleasant summer dining/drinking/music/cinema experience where you don't even feel like you're in the city anymore. I was so excited to tell you all about it, and then the NY Times went and blew up my spot,http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/roman-festivals-offer-al-fresco-dining/

Fashion D'Estate - People warned me about the temperature come this estate in Rome, but I always thought it couldn't be worse than DC. I quickly learned that DC is no match for the Mediterranean sun. My first challenge with the summer in Rome is the fact that I walk everywhere. My walk to/from work is about 40 min each way and even in cool temperatures, one can work up a sweat if I walk above the normal passegiata pace. But I refuse to change my habits because frankly the bus is only marginally cooler, and instead of sweating in the freedom of the outdoors, I would be sweating smashed against people. On top of my transport options making me sweat, I work on the top floor of our office building that was maybe constructed in 1945, and lacks real air conditioning, so at times when it is 40 degrees (that's about 100 in F) outside, its about 34 (93F) in my office - hence this has severely challenged my summer wardrobe options. I basically have to find something that keeps me cool/airy AND also hides the rivers of sweat pouring down my body the entire day WHILE looking professional - as you can imagine a conundrum. So having to get real creative made me realize that bridesmaid dresses are ideal to fill all of these requirements, given their thick fabric and petticoats to keep the air moving. Last week I managed to wear two of my bridesmaid dresses to work. With the first one I was bit nervous that everyone would know I was wearing a bridesmaid dress, and then I remembered they don't do bridesmaids outside of the US so no one would even have any idea what it meant - and I was pleasantly surprised by many people asking me if I bought it in Rome and that they really wanted something similar. Thank you Eve and Rebecca for honouring me in attending your weddings AND keeping me cool, fashionable, and professional at work during the heat of d'estate Romana. I wish I had pics, but I'm sure I will need to wear them again given this heat, so please stay tuned....

Aggressive Males - A lot of people have asked me whether Italian men are aggressive, and I've always said no, they've mostly left me alone, haven't bothered me. Well, apparently with the summer heat so comes the male population of Rome, and they can not be deterred, but I've gotten crafty.....Oh yes, Italian men I will also beat the heat of you until we can be friends again in the Fall, back into our nice respectful routine where you hold my bags and I graciously smile at you - and that's it

Making a house a home - yes I've now lived here six months (crazy) and I can confirm that time moves faster even in the not so far future as New Zealand. I was lucky to find an apartment with nearly everything (sheets, towels, artwork, dishes, books, etc.), but none of it is mine, which is fine as I'm not possessive, but there are certain things you want in order to feel like yo u really live somewhere. For me, this amounted to a loungechair for my terrace and a barbecue in order to fully enjoy the luck of having a large outdoors space in d'estate Romana. The problem is, these items can really only be purchased with a car and far outside of Rome so I have let them slip by and have made the best with what my landlord had so nicely provided. This weekend I finally ventured to IKEA again, AND a Home Depot like store, AND a super grocery store - I almost felt like I was in the US again, and I've literally spent the whole day in my loungechair (typing away on my thesis, but enjoying it so much more sitting outside). Granted my new loungechair sort of looks like a dentists chair and my bbq cost 5 euro and may melt when I actually light a fire to it - but they have combatted my newest bout of homesickness - next week I might buy a kiddie pool. The only downfall to the summer in Rome on my terrace is the mosquitos are sort of like the men, extremely aggressive and undeterred. I have tried everything from lathering myself in repellant (which I hate), to buying candles, plug in zapping devices, and weird smelly coil things - and they somehow still get me. And somehow, nowhere sells mosquito nets. When I asked where I could find some, someone told me I should just look for them when I got to Africa - ummm, I'm not going to Africa, it's for here. But yes I'm basically living like I'm in Africa but without the malaria

Home sweet home - I originally was told by my landlord that I had to leave August 1st, but just as I hoped, he has been charmed by my wit and is allowing me to stay until Dec. He continues with his ridiculous quirky/grandpa-ness in the form of - last Sunday my doorbell rang and when I opened it no one was there but there was a new basil plant (mine had just died) and at first I got scared cause how would somehow know my basil plant had died and then I remembered Pietro and his adorableness. Or the fact that I have been stealing internet since I arrived hence my slow connection/dropped calls/slow upload of pics/no streaming of video and after two months of asking he finally installed real internet (granted through my shower, which is weird, but alas its Italy)!!! It's like 1996 all over again and I am currently typing this from the comfort of my dentist/loungechair with a full internet connection - happy summer indeed! I only have to contend with my neighbor who has taken up opera lessons - at all hours of the day. Pietro instructed me to just turn up the top hits from the radio to drown her out

And with that, I'm ready for more visitors!! So Spain get your hams ready, and your tapas filling. The last time I was in Spain I was 17. I'm excited to return as an adult to a place that I know respects a proper dance party. A few words about my guests and fellow travel companions -

-These ladies and I ventured to Italy 2.5 years ago to what will always be remembered as an epic vacation, but little did we know we would be back so soon - oh Trevi, you really do hold your end of the bargain up. We lamented not having enough time to spend in Tuscany or get to experience Italy in the warm weather - ask and you shall receive

They have been talking about Spain for over two years now, even though Stephanie hates tapas and Erica hates lisps - so it's going to be a true cultural experience

They're going to put me to the test and make me host them in both Spanish and Italian to see if I can really go between and come out with anything more than gobblety gook from my mouth - como se dice, come se dice?

Eroc arrives in Rome and we hit up some villas and Italian family laughs in Tuscany, followed by some days in Rome to show off d'Estate; then we head to Spain and stuff ourselves with ham and cava with Steez in Barcelona and the Costa Brava for a week, then Steez heads back to Italy with me (and Eroc goes home (sad) but hopefully with a ham in her shoebag), and Steez and I have a romantic weekend wine tasting in Montelcino and risk our lives amongst the Italian fervor that is the Palio in Siena.

Oh besties, I can't wait to reunite in Europa and have a ham/wine taste off between Italy and Spain, while we unleash our best onto the respective dance floors.

Ci vidiamo presto/Nos vemos pronto, regazze/chicas

The Land of Smiles

Bangkok, Thailand

Touring the many Wat in Bangkok,

this guy was begging for me to pose like

him
The largest reclining Buddha in the world,

Wat Pho, also the largest and oldest wat pho sho.

One night in Bangkok, sampling the many

many tasty street stall meals
Total stalls visited that night - 6

Total money spent 4 dollars

= Land of Smiles

First massage in Thailand, included

a post massage snack of tea and a banana.

Had a Thai massage, quickly learned why you

need the banana

The reason I went to Thailand -

the "evil" palm oil

Palm oil processing mill -

never have I wanted buttered popcorn so much

Trying my hand at loading fresh fruit bunches

from the truck to mill.
Each FFB weighs about 30kgs,

even though this dude is making it look glam

Harvesting the FFB from full grown trees.

Also tried this, and picture not included

because it was an epic fail resulting in me

drenched in sweat.

And then work got real hard.....Phi Phi islands

(not pictured - snorkeling and canonballs off our private boat)

Smiles = pimped out tuk-tuk
Krabi, Thailand

As much as I've complained about my job on this blog, apparently they may be reading.....I arrived back from the weekend in Ponza with Marietta and Cornelia with a lot of stress about missing a day of work, only for them to tell me on my first day back that they thought I should go to Thailand, and not just Thailand, but to Krabi. So thank you job for the hard sell, keep it up and I may like you after all. Here's a few of the highlights from my time in Thailand which included two days in Bangkok and ten in Krabi/Phi Phi Islands:

Palm oil - What brought me to Thailand you ask - visiting palm oil mills and farmers as part of a study I'm conducting on the benefits and challenges for smallholders. Palm oil gets a real bad rap as I am sure you are aware - one day it's responsible for the extermination of orangutans, the next it's responsible for all of climate change and deforestation, and the next Girl Scout Cookies are the culprit because they use palm oil. I will take a rare soapbox/bully pulpit moment on this block to state that all palm oil is not created equal. Like many agricultural products, one fresh fruit bunch (FFB) of palm can deliver over 10 products that you use everyday. While doing this, the residues and effluent can also produce electricity - all at the same time from one little orange kernel. I have visited palm oil plantations and mills now in three countries, but this was my first experience in Asia. A few of my main findings - 1) smallholders are making a killing on palm oil cultivation while growing other products like mushrooms, rubber, grazing cattle, and conducting tourism businesses; 2) it is not easy work even if it looks glamorous/alluring; 3) palm oil mills smell like popcorn

Khab kun krab Thai people - Thai people are possibly the nicest/kindest people that I have ever met. When you say thank you or hello in Thailand you slightly bend with your hands in prayer formation at your chest. Something about this is really soothing (which from me is possibly the highest compliment you can get) and polite. I had wondered about traveling alone in Asia, and always thought I would wait to go there until I had a travel buddy until work decided otherwise for me. I guess I always thought I would stick out a lot more than in Latin America and not have any clue about the language. What I found is that it was actually easier to get around/negotiate on my own. I attribute this to the kindness of people; the unagressiveness of men; the cheap massages and beauty treatments; and the development/tourism of Thailand and their ease at dealing with us weird white people. Please see further explanation below, but I also experienced the unbelievable kindness of Thai people when I became sick all alone, and yet didn't feel alone because of how caring/sweet/above and beyond the hotel reception people were in caring for me. Thailand you passed the test in my inadvertent damsel moment. Do you want to date??

Massages - So about those massages, yes I had one everyday and sometimes twice a day = the land of Elizabeth's smiles. I learned quickly however about which type of massage to ask for - at the end of my first day, I stumbled (literally because I was exhausted from flying the night before and then touring so many wat I didn't know wat to do with myself, then stuffing myself with streetcart food, anyway) into a massage place right outside my hotel. I figured I had to do it since I was dedicated to getting a massage everyday. So as a novice I requested the Thai massage - figuring when in Rome (but not in Rome).....they gave me some comfy pjesque outfit to wear that already got me excited until it started - for the next 1.5 hours I was caught between a fit of giggles from being tickled to outright screaming from the pain that was being induced from a small man climbing all over my cute pj outfit. Never was I so relieved when it was over, especially when they gave me a banana and a green tea as a small offering for what they'd inflicted on me. All discomfort aside, I woke up the next day to all my aches/pains from carrying my luggage gone - as they told me no pain no gain. However, I didn't have it in me to revisit this experience and opted the rest of the week for the "oil massage" which basically equals a tamer version more similar to our Western view of massage. Average cost of massage = 5 dollars. Oh Thailand, I miss you already, giggles/screams and all

Im leaow - You may have noticed that I'm a bit behind in this blog, but for once I am thankful for that, since I don't think I would have been able to write about the food any sooner. I was so looking forward to leaving unending pizza/pasta behind for awhile to finally have some ethnic cuisine that is so hard to find in Rome, in addition to just getting excited to taste what real Thai food in Thailand tastes like. I had a fantastic ten days of street cart sampling (average 1 dollar per meal); delicious restaurants and blends of papaya and spicy, two of my favorite things - until on the last day I woke up with the worst sickness I have ever experienced, including fever, hallucinations, fainting, and a lot of other things that I won't mention here. I have oft talked about how I never get food poisoning because I always drink the water and eat the street food so I must have built up some immunity, obviously I thought I had jinxed myself - but I hadn't - I finally determined the culprit of my sickness as, no not the streetcart food, but oysters that I had at a fancy restaurant for my last dinner. Not just me saying this, determined by the fact that my dining companions (all except the one that didn't have the oysters) came down with a similar affliction. Needless to say, I loved the food, the cheapness and variety of it. And I will be avoiding oysters for probably awhile to come, so don't try and convince me with some aphrodisiac jargon

Germans - You may be wondering what Germans have to do with a blog post about Thailand? Well, the seminar and projects I was visiting are facilitated by Germans, and while Nik my former intern and Miriam by friend from New Zealand had already given me an appreciation of their efficiency, directness, and predicatability - I have a whole new appreciation after this trip to Thailand. First of all the seminar/whole week of events was so well organized and on time, that I felt like I was in heaven compared to life in Italy. Plus, Germans are hilarious in that they don't quite realize their very Germanness but are quite happy when you point it out to laugh at themselves. One German asked me about the word "marvelous" and if we use it much in English. I replied that it was a bit antiquated/royal sounding, but that yes at times we use it. He then replied that he was going to attempt to bring it back into fashion. Every email I have since received has included marvelous in it - the German dedication and persistence to a cause.

You may have noticed some Thai language above. The only two phrases I learned while in Thailand were how to say thank you and I'm full - very fitting summary for my trip.

And so with that, thank you work, you've now helped me check off Africa and Asia in my first four months of employment. If you can swing a stop by Antarctica (they must be farming something!), I'll be ready to come home having completed world (continent) domination. And thank you Thailand for 11 days (minus one for that food poisoning) of smiles that will last me awhile to come