Settimana prima di Pasqua

All of our students were on their Easter break last week for “Settimana Santa” (holy week, before Easter) and so we hardly worked any hours. I am sure we will be complaining when we get paid, but we weren’t complaining having the free time, away from our restless students. Sean’s sister, Tiffany, and her boyfriend were visiting. The weather was amazingly warm, and sunny and we really enjoyed their company. Playing tour guides for a few days made us re-realize how incredible this city really is, and how proud we are to call it home.

Sean and I went to Firenze last weekend for literally 24 hours. It was really nice to get out of Rome for a bit and be someplace totally different. Florence is a beautiful city. It was Sean’s first time going, but my second, so I vowed not to take any photos to add to the 2000 I took on my last journey...except for photos of us of course. We arrived in the evening, and were feeling groggy from the train ride, which wasn’t so fast, since we opted for the low-priced train option that stops every 5 minutes. I had a caffé macchiato which is just shot of espresso and a drop of latte, and was ready to go. I was full of energy and dragged Sean to all the sites that I remembered. We walked the whole city in the evening since it is small enough, and it was just as I remembered - romantic, with a dream-like energy that comes from the small city tucked away in the Tuscan countryside. We even managed to go out and experience the nightlife at the popular Santa Croce, ending the night with some Italian karaoke. When we checked into our “quaint” hotel, the cutest, old Italian man, who reminded me of Giupetto from Pinocchio, greeted us. He spoke only Italian, and when we took out our American passports, he told us how impressed he was that we spoke Italian, since Americans can NEVER speak Italian. He called me out on being Italo-Americana because of my name and started having a conversation with me on where my family was from, where I was born and general information like that. Sean held his breath as I answered all his questions perfectly. The next day, we woke up bright and early and toured the city again. It was hot and bright in every piazza, and I got in some shopping (new, black, leather hand-bag!) We headed back to Rome on a 4-hour train ride, again, that stopped every 5 minutes. We were exhausted and ended up sleeping through Easter Sunday, besides waking up to watch mass on TV and eat chocolate bacci.

Villa Pamphili - my happy place

Una Bellissima Giornata

Domenica Perfetta

Today was a perfect day. After a glorious night’s sleep (which was desperately needed, since I have been suffering from the spring fever time change all week), we got up and made our regular strong espresso from the caffetiera, then headed out to the market to get some fresh fruit, bread and snacks. The sun was shining and the city was already alive and bustling with Sunday-morning families and tourists. We couldn’t help but stop and smell the roses at the local fiorista where millions of bright, colorful spring flowers over-flowed from the shop doors onto the sidewalk. The cutest little girl, about 3 years old, with golden blond curls and big brown eyes was in line in front of us at the market with her nono. As she carefully placed each item onto the conveyer belt, she said what it was, “uova, banane, spaghetti, tacchino...” It took about an hour for her to finish, and Sean and I were cracking up the whole time. She finished and I said, “brava!” Her nono smiled at our patience and was glad we saw the humor in his cute little grandaughter.

We then decided to go on a passeggiata (walk) and headed up to this area which is high above the city called San Anselmo, providing amazing views. A church sits on top of this hill, and when you look through the keyhole, you see a crystal clear view of the top of Basilica San Pietro. There was a little garden full of happy orange trees, fountains and people basking in the sun. We sat for a long time in the sun eating our crisp apples and making daisy chains.

After this, Sean went to his soccer match and I headed up to my favorite place in all of Rome, Villa Pamphili, for a long run. The park was packed with people, as today had to have been the nicest day of the year so far. After my run, I kicked off my sneakers, laid down in the grass, and let the hot sun kiss my face. I could have laid there forever. One thing there is no denying is that Italians love babies. There were millions of olive-skinned children, called names like Dario, Filipo, Giussepe, Flavio, Francesca, all running around, playing and providing the smiling adults with endless entertainment. Each family seemed to revolve around the children and there was such a genuine happiness radiating from everyone. It reminded me of my own happy childhood. Once the sun started to go down, I headed home and showered and am now feeling sun drained and satisfied from this domenica perfetta.

Allora, piu calcio

Sean has been playing in various soccer matches lately and tonight he invited me to come along to watch. I decided to go because it was a beautiful day to be outdoors and I wanted to check him out on the field and support the team. The public transportation was way out of sorts today due to the Roma Marathon (which we watched earlier in the day and was very inspiring), so we rushed over to the nearest metro by foot, since there were no buses, and took the longest route possible to an area of Rome totally new to both of us. With the help of 3 friendly old ladies, about 5 other random locals on the street, several metro workers, and a handful of homeless Romanians lighting fires in trash cans, we found our way to the field. I was sweaty and tired before we even arrived.

Sean met the other players in the locker room and then we all headed out to the field. I sat in this little “dug out” among all the player’s bags and jackets, and was asked to help out by shouting “cambio!” every 5 minutes. I was a little nervous about my role, and didn’t really understand why I was doing this, until half way through the game I realized I was telling them to change goalies. Sean is a beautiful soccer player, and I was so proud when he scored a goal, I clapped and said, “bravo!” The other players ranged in skill, but Sean seemed to be the most graceful. I noticed how dramatic Italians can be, shouting swear words, and “Mamma Mia!” and I was slightly afraid some might start crying at some points in the game. One guy, who seemed to have had his fair share of pasta in his life, actually kept getting hit in the face by the ball, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. As the sun started going down, the chill in the air grew almost unbearable. I huddled in my little cave on the sideline and bundled up and enjoyed the game very much.

Villa Pamphili

A few weeks ago we discovered an amazing park called Villa Pamphili. It is like a diamond in the rough, water in the desert, a blanket on a cold night, a bright green oasis in the middle of an over-crowded, dirty city. The park goes on for miles and miles, and is all the green lushness you could ever want; complete with incredible fountains, petite flowers and enormous cypress trees scattered throughout the emerald grass. A lovely lake sparkles in the middle of the park while big white swans glide across it, and a small golden church even sits tucked away amongst the trees with bells that sing on the hour. The park is full of other runners, joggers, and beautiful Italian families and babies playing and laughing and living the life we came here for. The sun drenched the park one afternoon we went on a long run, and I felt like the park was almost magical. I stumbled upon an alcove where half-naked, Italian men around the age of 80 sun-bathed and tanned their already dark, brown skin. I giggled and jetted past them as the lake came into my view. I wasn’t sure if I was running for exercise, or running like a child runs from the excitement of such a beautiful setting.

I love "I love shopping"!

Last night Sean (reluctantly) and I went to the cinema on the famous Via Del Corso, to see the original version (in English!) of “I Love Shopping”, which is the title translated from “Confessions of a Shopoholic”. Yesterday was opening day here in Rome, and having been an avid reader of all of the books in the Shopoholic series I was so excited to find out that the original version was playing here in the center. It was so nice and relaxing to be able to watch a movie in English - understanding 100% of a film is something I have always taken for granted before living here. I highly recommend this movie, I laughed through the whole thing, and I even heard Sean laughing at some parts too. It was a very cute movie and I thought the casting was very true to the books. Only problem is now I want to go shopping.

The weather has been incredible lately. We have been able to shed all of our bulky layers, and enjoy the bright, warm sun during the day, and even warm nights. It’s almost as if Spring just arrived over night. Little flowers are starting to bud all over the city, the birds are chirping, the tourists are arriving and the city is springing back to life. I found a safe place for me to start running again - meaning safe from any insane Italian drivers - called Circo Massimo. This is an ancient stadium - a site of public games and festivals from the 2nd century BC, and a perfect open area to go for a nice run! Funny to be jogging in a place where the ancient Romans used to hold chariot races and things like that. It has felt great to get my body moving again after 5 months without my beloved 24 hour fitness.