As you may well be aware, Italian women are known for their keen fashion sense. They brave the cobblestone streets of the centre in the highest of heels, and they flock to Via del Corso and the area of the Spanish Steps for all of the designer shops.
In Rome there are two times a year when shopping hits full throttle. Saldi time. Every January and July the stores go into overdrive with sales, and the women drag their husbands out to buy as much as their credit cards can take. The streets are packed with people browsing in shop windows, and the shops are packed with people looking for the best deals. It’s like the Olympics for any person who loves to shop, and truth be told, you’re always a winner.
My dear friend Juliana hails from New Jersey, just a 45 minute drive from Manhattan. The girl was either born with a shopping gene, or she has been raised to appreciate the finer things in life. Her closet is a veritable who’s who of the fashion world. Fendi shoes with matching bags, Burberry totes and scarves, Dior flats and Bvlgary sunglasses. The girl knows what she likes, and she isn’t afraid to charge it!
This weekend I got to see her action, and let me tell you, it was inspiring. I met her first at Burberry, where she had just dropped 365 euros on a bag to match the 280 euro shoes she bought a few days back. She was feeling good, and we headed to another shop called Furla. She bought another bag for about 50 euros, a big knockdown from it’s original price, so even if she never uses it the price was right. After a little spree of makeup shopping at Sephora she left 180 euros poorer.
All the while we were shopping, she was kept telling me about a great pair of sunglasses at Burberry on sale. She knew that I had been desiring a pair of designer sunglasses to call my own, and fighting the urge to buy the bootleg version on the side of the street. The reality is that I always feel a bit like a fraud in a designer store because I know I can’t afford anything. What’s the point of torturing yourself if you know you won’t buy? But with her by my side I felt a new confidence. Everything she was wearing was designer (while nothing I was wearing was), so she convinced me to at least go and try the glasses on.
Once inside the store I felt suddenly at ease. The crowds of people were left outside in the heat, while we browsed in the comfortable air-conditioning of the rich. She showed me the glasses and I tried them on without looking at the tag first (I decided if they were perfect I would get them no matter the price). They were quite nice, and when I looked at the tag I was shocked to see they were only 90 euros! What a steal! I thought for sure I’d be paying at least 150. I took them up the register with a great confidence. “That’s right people! Move out of my way, I’m buying Burberry sunglasses!”
The check-out experience was a comfortable one, with friendly smiling clerks helping me along. I was even more pleased to discover that at the register there was another discount and my designer glasses were only 60 euros! This was awesome! Not only have I evolved from the mobs of mongoloids that crowd the “little people” shops, but I was making it out of there for a lot less than I had thought. The clerks put my glasses into a beautiful case, then into a beautiful box, then into a beautiful bag tied with a ribbon. It was like I had just bought a diamond necklace or something!
Finally, I was finished and getting ready to walk down the streets of Rome with a new air of arrogance about me, when Jules stepped up behind me at the register. Turns out, while she was waiting for me she had found herself yet another bag! This one ended up being 230 euro, and she would have got the matching shoes as well but they didn’t have her size (I imagine she’ll be going back for them soon). When we finally did leave I didn’t feel as self-important as I thought I would. My little sunglasses bag, although beautiful and very special to me, just didn’t hold up against the five giant bags Juliana was carrying!
Baby steps, Allie, baby steps.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
We're Sooooo Cultured (A.K.A. Chuckie's Birthday)
Charles had seen a poster for an opera being shown in the center of Roma so he decided that for his birthday we would go to this opera for an “adult” evening that would surely be culturally uplifting as well. A friend with a school id card got us the cheap student tickets and so we didn’t have to pay full price which saved us about 20 euro. The opera was Don Giovanni with the music of Mozart, we dressed up and set off for the show which began at 9pm. The plan was to enjoy the show and then after go to a pizza place nearby that Charles had been wanting to try.
As usual, we arrived a little early and had a chance to enjoy the beautiful venue the opera was in. It was held at Cortile di Sant’Ivo Alla Sapienza, meaning in the courtyard of the church. We really had high hopes for our first opera. After about thirty minutes we were both bored but still with hopes something interesting might happen and our minds wandered onto other subjects. After an hour all hope of something exciting happening had left us. After an hour and half, Act 1 finished and we bolted for the door never to return.
So after escaping the excruciating boredom that was Don Giovanni we sought the refuge of the Abbey. We had a few beers and then went off to get a couple pizzas. The pizzas were very good so the night wasn’t a total loss!
So the opera experience led to a single question in my head. Do people that go to opera actually enjoy it or do they go to impress other people by telling them that they have in fact ‘been to the opera’? We both spoke with our students about the opera and they asked which we had seen and once we said Don Giovanni they all said that the music of Mozart was boring and that Don Giovanni wasn’t a great one.
Apparently there is another big opera coming to Rome to a place near our house so we may check that one out. We were told that this particular opera has lots of action and is much more exciting. Depending on the night and the price we may check that one out so we haven’t completely written off the opera based on this one experience.
As usual, we arrived a little early and had a chance to enjoy the beautiful venue the opera was in. It was held at Cortile di Sant’Ivo Alla Sapienza, meaning in the courtyard of the church. We really had high hopes for our first opera. After about thirty minutes we were both bored but still with hopes something interesting might happen and our minds wandered onto other subjects. After an hour all hope of something exciting happening had left us. After an hour and half, Act 1 finished and we bolted for the door never to return.
So after escaping the excruciating boredom that was Don Giovanni we sought the refuge of the Abbey. We had a few beers and then went off to get a couple pizzas. The pizzas were very good so the night wasn’t a total loss!
So the opera experience led to a single question in my head. Do people that go to opera actually enjoy it or do they go to impress other people by telling them that they have in fact ‘been to the opera’? We both spoke with our students about the opera and they asked which we had seen and once we said Don Giovanni they all said that the music of Mozart was boring and that Don Giovanni wasn’t a great one.
Apparently there is another big opera coming to Rome to a place near our house so we may check that one out. We were told that this particular opera has lots of action and is much more exciting. Depending on the night and the price we may check that one out so we haven’t completely written off the opera based on this one experience.
Friday, July 20, 2007
A "New Year" Resolution
You've all heard it time after time, and we're sure you're as sick of it as we are. I'm talking about how much we complain about not speaking Italian as well as we would like. We whine about how time and again we get screwed over, and if only we spoke a little better we could have prevented it. Well, no longer!
While we were in Sardinia we were very humbled by our friend Phil. He studied Italian a bit in college, but he has only been in the country for a few months and he has no fear when it comes to speaking the language. Even if his pronunciation isn't great or he doesn't know exactly how to say something, he still tries, and usually with success. We were inspired by this and have made a resolution for the upcoming year.
Instead of promising to study our Italian grammar books at home (I think we make this resolution every month), we have decided to enroll in an intensive course at a local language school. Starting Monday the 30th of this month we will be doing 20 hours a week of Italian study for 3 weeks. That's 4 hours of study a day, every morning, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. Do I sound scared? It's because I am.
It will be a long 3 weeks, our brains will be exhausted and our pocketbooks will be empty, but we know it's important to do it, and we hope to leave the course with a new confidence and some highly improved language skills. Our friend recommended this particular school because she had great success their last year with her own course. So, we are pumped about it now, but you will probably be hearing some complaints after we actually start the course!
While we were in Sardinia we were very humbled by our friend Phil. He studied Italian a bit in college, but he has only been in the country for a few months and he has no fear when it comes to speaking the language. Even if his pronunciation isn't great or he doesn't know exactly how to say something, he still tries, and usually with success. We were inspired by this and have made a resolution for the upcoming year.
Instead of promising to study our Italian grammar books at home (I think we make this resolution every month), we have decided to enroll in an intensive course at a local language school. Starting Monday the 30th of this month we will be doing 20 hours a week of Italian study for 3 weeks. That's 4 hours of study a day, every morning, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. Do I sound scared? It's because I am.
It will be a long 3 weeks, our brains will be exhausted and our pocketbooks will be empty, but we know it's important to do it, and we hope to leave the course with a new confidence and some highly improved language skills. Our friend recommended this particular school because she had great success their last year with her own course. So, we are pumped about it now, but you will probably be hearing some complaints after we actually start the course!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Sardinia
Wow! What an incredibly beautiful place! We had a fabulous weekend in Cala Gonone, but as usual the trip had a few hiccups that could only happen to us.
The plan was to get the train to a city north of Rome called Civitavecchia. They have a port where you can catch the ferries to Sardinia. We had already booked our tickets for the 8:30am ferry, and Charles checked the train schedule at Termini station and saw that our train left at 5:45am (ouch).
We arrived at Termini at about 5:15 and were a little confused to discover that our train was not on the board. We wandered around a bit and then on closer inspection we discovered that this particular train did not run on Saturdays. A quick panic came over us, because the next train would not get us to the port in time to make the boat.
We called Phil and told him the news. He said there should be a train leaving from the San Pietro station near his house that will get us there in time, if we could get to that station before it departed. We hustled to the subway and literally ran to the train station, making it just in time! Phew, one disaster averted.
The boat ride was pleasant enough, although there were a lot of noisy children and the seats weren't very comfortable for sleeping in. We arrived 30 minutes behind schedule, which in turn made us late to pick up our rental car.
At the port we asked how to get to the street where the rental car company was located, and we were told it was too far to walk and we would need to get a taxi. We waited or a cab (there is a real shortage of them in Olbia), and then we were driven literally 5 minutes to the location. We easily could have walked and not only would it have been faster than waiting for the cab, but it would have saved us 15 euros!
As we got to the car rental place (about 45 minutes past our appointment time), we discovered that it was not open. At first we were really angry, but we figured that it was siesta time and we should go grab some lunch and wait for them to reopen again around 4. While we were eating our paninis we tried calling the rental company several times to make sure that our car was there for us, but they didn't answer! We were beginning to get worried.
Back at the rental company a man finally showed up, only to tell us that their office closes at 1 on Saturdays. We explained that was impossible because we scheduled through the internet to pick our car up here at 2:30. He was very helpful and tried to find our reservation in his system, but it wasn't there. He suggested we try the airport, where the majority of the rental companies are located.
We took another (overpriced) taxi to the airport to get a car. It turns out that the company we rented from forwarded our rental to another agency because they don't have an office in Olbia any longer. That agency, in turn, did not forward our reservation to the first office we went to like they were supposed to. So, our car was in fact waiting for us at the airport this entire time. We were now about 3 hours behind schedule.
After all of this trouble we finally got the car and got on our way to Cala Gonone. We are happy to report that we didn't have any trouble at all finding the tiny resort town, and the drive was absolutely beautiful. That night we treated ourselves to a delicious seafood dinner (it was the best seafood we've had thus far), and then we went to a bar that was playing live music for a few drinks and to mingle with the locals.
The next day we woke up and went to the beach in front of our hotel. It was a nice beach, but there were rocks instead of sand, and the usual steady stream of Africans trying to sell you sunglasses or braid your hair. We decided to get into the car again and head to another beach that was a short drive away. This proved to be our best decision yet.
This other beach had gorgeous sand, clear blue waters, and no people trying to sell things! It wasn't too crowded, and the number of children was at a minimum. In summary we spent a fabulous afternoon lying in the sun and swimming in the crystal waters.
The next morning came too quickly! We had to get back to the port by 12 for our boat home. We left at around 9, and made the drive easily enough, but then we got lost trying to return the car to the rental company. We finally figured it out and had to hustle to the boat! We were literally the last people to board the ferry, and we almost didn't make it! And then, to top it all off, the ferry home was an hour and a half behind schedule! This meant we got home very late, and we were very hungry when we finally made it back.
But we made it, and although we had some troubles it was a fabulous weekend, and we definitely want to go back to Sardinia in the near future (and now we know how to do it without getting so mucked up)!
The plan was to get the train to a city north of Rome called Civitavecchia. They have a port where you can catch the ferries to Sardinia. We had already booked our tickets for the 8:30am ferry, and Charles checked the train schedule at Termini station and saw that our train left at 5:45am (ouch).We arrived at Termini at about 5:15 and were a little confused to discover that our train was not on the board. We wandered around a bit and then on closer inspection we discovered that this particular train did not run on Saturdays. A quick panic came over us, because the next train would not get us to the port in time to make the boat.
We called Phil and told him the news. He said there should be a train leaving from the San Pietro station near his house that will get us there in time, if we could get to that station before it departed. We hustled to the subway and literally ran to the train station, making it just in time! Phew, one disaster averted.
The boat ride was pleasant enough, although there were a lot of noisy children and the seats weren't very comfortable for sleeping in. We arrived 30 minutes behind schedule, which in turn made us late to pick up our rental car.
At the port we asked how to get to the street where the rental car company was located, and we were told it was too far to walk and we would need to get a taxi. We waited or a cab (there is a real shortage of them in Olbia), and then we were driven literally 5 minutes to the location. We easily could have walked and not only would it have been faster than waiting for the cab, but it would have saved us 15 euros!
As we got to the car rental place (about 45 minutes past our appointment time), we discovered that it was not open. At first we were really angry, but we figured that it was siesta time and we should go grab some lunch and wait for them to reopen again around 4. While we were eating our paninis we tried calling the rental company several times to make sure that our car was there for us, but they didn't answer! We were beginning to get worried.
Back at the rental company a man finally showed up, only to tell us that their office closes at 1 on Saturdays. We explained that was impossible because we scheduled through the internet to pick our car up here at 2:30. He was very helpful and tried to find our reservation in his system, but it wasn't there. He suggested we try the airport, where the majority of the rental companies are located.
We took another (overpriced) taxi to the airport to get a car. It turns out that the company we rented from forwarded our rental to another agency because they don't have an office in Olbia any longer. That agency, in turn, did not forward our reservation to the first office we went to like they were supposed to. So, our car was in fact waiting for us at the airport this entire time. We were now about 3 hours behind schedule.
After all of this trouble we finally got the car and got on our way to Cala Gonone. We are happy to report that we didn't have any trouble at all finding the tiny resort town, and the drive was absolutely beautiful. That night we treated ourselves to a delicious seafood dinner (it was the best seafood we've had thus far), and then we went to a bar that was playing live music for a few drinks and to mingle with the locals.
The next day we woke up and went to the beach in front of our hotel. It was a nice beach, but there were rocks instead of sand, and the usual steady stream of Africans trying to sell you sunglasses or braid your hair. We decided to get into the car again and head to another beach that was a short drive away. This proved to be our best decision yet.
This other beach had gorgeous sand, clear blue waters, and no people trying to sell things! It wasn't too crowded, and the number of children was at a minimum. In summary we spent a fabulous afternoon lying in the sun and swimming in the crystal waters.The next morning came too quickly! We had to get back to the port by 12 for our boat home. We left at around 9, and made the drive easily enough, but then we got lost trying to return the car to the rental company. We finally figured it out and had to hustle to the boat! We were literally the last people to board the ferry, and we almost didn't make it! And then, to top it all off, the ferry home was an hour and a half behind schedule! This meant we got home very late, and we were very hungry when we finally made it back.
But we made it, and although we had some troubles it was a fabulous weekend, and we definitely want to go back to Sardinia in the near future (and now we know how to do it without getting so mucked up)!
Friday, July 13, 2007
A Year has Passed...
Today marks a huge milestone in our adventure: The One Year Mark!! Congratulations to us! We did it! Hooray!
We have had an incredible year. There have been amazing adventures that we will never forget, and some struggles and embarrassments that we would prefer to erase from our memories, but hey we've got some good stories out of them. We have greatly improved our situation in the last few months, our social lives are thriving and we are having a great summer so far. Our confidence has officially been renewed for another year to come, and we hope to see some familiar faces on our doorstep in this next year!
To celebrate our achievement we have a long weekend planned in Sardinia, a beautiful island with amazing white/pink beaches and clear blue water. We plan to relax and get a start on our summer tans (we are way behind compared to everyone else in this city!). So, expect some beautiful photos when we return next week.
We did some reflection on this last year and we've compiled for you a little summary of our year-in-review. Enjoy:
Things We Haven’t Done in the Last Year (in no particular order):
1. Driven a car
2. Seen our families
3. Gone to Costco
4. Had a proper barbecue
5. Been to a movie theater
6. Had an American beer
7. Had ice at home
8. Been to Tuscany
9. Dried our laundry in a machine
10. Been to Taco Bell
Things We Have Done in the Last Year (in no particular order):
1. Learned to make wine
2. Ridden lots of trains
3. Met people from all over the world
4. Traveled all over the country (and beyond)
5. Learned British English
6. Learned (a little) Italian
7. Read a lot of books
8. Drank a lot of espresso
9. Eaten a lot of cheese
10. Watched a lot of the same DVDs over and over….and over….
We have had an incredible year. There have been amazing adventures that we will never forget, and some struggles and embarrassments that we would prefer to erase from our memories, but hey we've got some good stories out of them. We have greatly improved our situation in the last few months, our social lives are thriving and we are having a great summer so far. Our confidence has officially been renewed for another year to come, and we hope to see some familiar faces on our doorstep in this next year!
To celebrate our achievement we have a long weekend planned in Sardinia, a beautiful island with amazing white/pink beaches and clear blue water. We plan to relax and get a start on our summer tans (we are way behind compared to everyone else in this city!). So, expect some beautiful photos when we return next week.
We did some reflection on this last year and we've compiled for you a little summary of our year-in-review. Enjoy:
Things We Haven’t Done in the Last Year (in no particular order):
1. Driven a car
2. Seen our families
3. Gone to Costco
4. Had a proper barbecue
5. Been to a movie theater
6. Had an American beer
7. Had ice at home
8. Been to Tuscany
9. Dried our laundry in a machine
10. Been to Taco Bell
Things We Have Done in the Last Year (in no particular order):
1. Learned to make wine
2. Ridden lots of trains
3. Met people from all over the world
4. Traveled all over the country (and beyond)
5. Learned British English
6. Learned (a little) Italian
7. Read a lot of books
8. Drank a lot of espresso
9. Eaten a lot of cheese
10. Watched a lot of the same DVDs over and over….and over….
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Fun With Words
So I walked into my local fish shop to pick up some mussels for our dinner. The word for mussels in Italian is cozze. Since working in the pub I've really started to pick up all of the swear words that I love so much in English. The more vocabulary I have the better, right? The "F" word in Italian is cazzo. In my head I had everything worked out in terms of how many grams of mussels I needed and even how to say it correctly. So I step up to make my order and say "Vorrei (I would like) cazzo." very calmy and very well (so I thought). Now, look at the word for mussels and the "F" word. Pretty close, right? Switch some vowel sounds around and there you go. Some how I had switched the two words in my head and uttered a sentence fit only for sailors. So the guy behind the counter says to me in English, "I don't think you do." Face goes bright red. As I realized what I had just asked for I turned and broke the hell out of the place never to be seen again.
Friday, July 6, 2007
A First for Allie
After weeks and weeks and a lifetime of hoping for work, applying for and being rejected from job after job, I (Allie) finally landed that job we told you all about a few weeks back. This week I quit.
Turns out the director of this particular school is a crazy person. He was born in New York, but has basically lived in Italy his entire life. Not only is he very demanding, but he is also extremely confusing! It's nearly impossible to explain, but once Charles started working for him too, he completely understood what I had been trying to tell him.
The last straw was last weekend. I called him on Thursday wanting to come by his office and drop off my hours for the month. He said he would be there all day, but when I went at one o'clock he wasn't there. I waited for twenty minutes or so and then decided to leave. He called me on Sunday at about 7:30 asking if he could swing by our place in 30 minutes to pick up the sheets. He didn't show up until 9:30! Then he stayed for an hour telling me I had to switch my Washington School students around or cancel their lessons so I could fill in for another teacher that was leaving next week. It was all too much.
Sunday night, after he left I literally got two hours of sleep because I had a headache was stressing out over looking like an unprofessional teacher to my WA School students (who were my students first and are very busy and shouldn't have to be shuffled around like that). I knew that our new contracts with the Air Force at WA School were about to begin, so I went in this week and asked the boss how fast we could fill my days if I quit this other school. He said he could fill them right away, and so the decision was easy!
Unfortunately now Charles still works for this other school, and he is after him to change his hours to cover what I've left behind! Luckily Charles is a little more assertive than I am and can stand up to his nonsense.
This marks a great milestone for me, as I have never quit a job before. I felt bad for a short while, but I think actually he is quite used to this happening (although he doesn't seem to do much to fix the problem). I will miss my students that I was just getting to know at this new job, but my lessons with Washington School are closer to home and the pay is better, so in the end I had to do what was best for me and my sanity.
Turns out the director of this particular school is a crazy person. He was born in New York, but has basically lived in Italy his entire life. Not only is he very demanding, but he is also extremely confusing! It's nearly impossible to explain, but once Charles started working for him too, he completely understood what I had been trying to tell him.
The last straw was last weekend. I called him on Thursday wanting to come by his office and drop off my hours for the month. He said he would be there all day, but when I went at one o'clock he wasn't there. I waited for twenty minutes or so and then decided to leave. He called me on Sunday at about 7:30 asking if he could swing by our place in 30 minutes to pick up the sheets. He didn't show up until 9:30! Then he stayed for an hour telling me I had to switch my Washington School students around or cancel their lessons so I could fill in for another teacher that was leaving next week. It was all too much.
Sunday night, after he left I literally got two hours of sleep because I had a headache was stressing out over looking like an unprofessional teacher to my WA School students (who were my students first and are very busy and shouldn't have to be shuffled around like that). I knew that our new contracts with the Air Force at WA School were about to begin, so I went in this week and asked the boss how fast we could fill my days if I quit this other school. He said he could fill them right away, and so the decision was easy!
Unfortunately now Charles still works for this other school, and he is after him to change his hours to cover what I've left behind! Luckily Charles is a little more assertive than I am and can stand up to his nonsense.
This marks a great milestone for me, as I have never quit a job before. I felt bad for a short while, but I think actually he is quite used to this happening (although he doesn't seem to do much to fix the problem). I will miss my students that I was just getting to know at this new job, but my lessons with Washington School are closer to home and the pay is better, so in the end I had to do what was best for me and my sanity.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)