Done and done...

So, we made it...we both received our teaching certificates yesterday! It felt so good to finally be done, and we both aced the class, which made all the hard work even better. Sean did ever so slightly better than me...which makes no sense because he pretty much cruised through class, while watching me agonize over ever assignment, exam or lesson I was teaching. No fair! I decided that I love teaching. I mean, I really love it...and I think I am good at it, if I do say so myself. I taught an 8 year old boy named Nicolo for my last lesson. He was this tiny, cute, little Italian boy, with that great olive skin and thick coke bottle glasses. I am guessing he is going to be your regular Don Giovanni when he grows up, but I adored his innocence now. Anytime I asked him a question, he said "yes". Then I realized that he had no idea what I was saying, so I had to change my technique slightly. I ended up teaching him jungle animal vocabulary. He had so much fun during the lesson, and I almost cried when I heard him using the words that I taught him, in his next lesson. Very gratifying feeling. He will probably not remember how he learned those words...but I feel good knowing that I made somewhat of a difference.

We found a place to live...yah! It is in an area called Trastevere, which is this darling little neighborhood, with cute little bakeries, toy shops and pizzarias sitting on cobble stone streets. It is right near the River Tevere, which is lined with beautiful, huge trees that are loudly announcing falls arrival. We are signing a 6 month lease, so we are officially settling in Rome for a while. Our apartment isn't actually ready until the 15th, but our landlord found an equally adorable studio for us to stay in right down the street, until we can move in. The major bonuses are that all of Trastevere has wireless Internet, our apartment has a washer (no dryer) and it has a TV. So, we can be somewhat in touch with what is going on. We are for sure not missing our old ghettohood, and are so glad to be (almost) settling in. We are excited to have a place we can call home.

Today is COLD...it has been raining, thunder, lightening and hailing, which is actually kind of nice. I have said it a million times, and I will say it again, that I really love this time of year...and more importantly we love Roma.