Luggage Drama Update

Well, after a few calls and queries to find out what was going on with my missing luggage, I finally got my bag on Friday. The relief of finally having all of my things back was a welcome feeling, until I discovered that in fact I was still missing something.

It seems as if somewhere during my bag's European adventure, someone decided to help themselves to my little bag of jewelry that was in there. There wasn't anything particularly valuable in there, but some of the pieces were souvenirs from places that we've traveled to.

For example, I had a pair of Murano glass earrings from Venice in there, and I also had a pair of beautiful brand new earrings I bought at a small shop in Vienna. These were one-of-a-kinds as everything in the shop was handmade and unique. Everything else was just inexpensive random pieces I've picked up along the way, but all things I wore often and liked very much.

So, although the monetary value of the individual pieces is not extraordinary, when you add them together (and when you factor in plane tickets, hotel costs, and sentiment), it adds up.

The Alitalia website sucks. They have a spot where I can file a complaint for damaged luggage, but nothing for missing items! I've decided to bypass Italy all together and just call the American number in order to get some real service, so I'll be doing that tonight in order to see what sort of compensation they can offer me.

In all honesty, I'm not that upset over the jewelry. I mean, it sucks, but it could have been worse (explain why they didn't take the Burberry sunglasses, for example), but what really gets under my skin is that someone was rifling through my belongings and helping themselves to whatever they fancied. I wonder if I'm missing any bras or panties?

New Foods

Charles has a saying when it comes to eating out at restaurants:

"I only expect it to be the best meal of my life."

And it's true, we do expect a lot from restaurants, because if we (read Charles) can make it better at home, why are we wasting our money? More often than not we are let down by restaurants, because it seems that most people don't have the same expectations that we do, and restaurants often receive praise undeservedly.

In Italy it's the same, and in fact it may be worse, because people tend to overpraise mediocre restaurants because things always look brighter when you are half drunk on the wine and enjoying your holiday. Because of past disappointments with highly praised restaurants, we have become even more critical when we eat out, and we are extremely distrustful of our guidebook's restaurant recommendations.

Wednesday night we decided to suck it up and try Cul de Sac, a popular restaurant in Piazza Navona that is always crowded with patrons. We'd heard nothing but rave reviews, and this restaurant is featured in several Italy/Rome guidebooks. We wanted a nice dinner, so we decided we'd give it a try.

I am happy to report that we not only completely enjoyed everything that was served to us, but we also tried two new dishes that were nothing less than outstanding. The first was pate. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's the liver of an animal cooked (I'm not sure of the specifics) until it's a paste that you spread on bread as an appetizer. It was unbelievable! We tried three different kinds, and only one of which we actually knew the translation for. We just sort of picked at random, so I'm not even sure what animals' livers we were eating!

Second, we tried escargots! That's right, snails. I've always been a little weirded out by the idea of eating snails, because I always feared the texture would be odd. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The texture is comparable to shrimp, and this particular dish was prepared with a basil pesto that was so fresh and tasty it left us wishing for more little snailies to devour.

In total, it was a delicious meal, with great wine and good conversation (we met the owner and his family and were able to exchange a few pleasantries in our new and improved Italian). Our faith in restaurants has been renewed, and now we have two new delicacies to add to our repertoire.

Side Note

My luggage is still AWOL. Julianna's bag came Wednesday evening, but they are still looking for mine! I called this morning to check the status and was told I had to call back later when they had someone there who spoke English! Grrr! I'm going to ask one of my students to call for me today so I can find out what the heck I am supposed to do!

It's been five days now with out any makeup, I haven't been able to pluck my eyebrows, my hair is a crazy puffball, and my new clothes I bought in Vienna are drifting through some baggage claim somewhere when I could be looking super cute and stylish, but instead I'm left with the same pair of jeans and only one pair of shoes!!

Did I mention not only are my awesome Burberry sunglasses in that bag, but so are my prescription glasses! I have to wear my contacts until I want to actually close my eyes and go to sleep or else I can't see the television or read the computer screen!

Depending on what they say today when I call, I may have to take a trip to Sephora to get some provisions (I have literally been using a butterfly clip as a comb for my hair!!). If it wasn't so frustrating I'm sure it would be pretty funny.

Vienna (It Is What Rome Isn't)

If you read Charles' recent rant about the "eccentricities" of Rome, just imagine the exact opposite of that and you have Vienna.

First of all, it's a stunningly beautiful city. Every building is architecturally elegant, and as you walk through the streets you almost feel like you have taken a step back in time. That being said, it is also a very modern city. I saw about 5 Starbucks shops, and as Charles mentioned before, I indulged in some Kentucky Fried Deliciousness on Sunday afternoon.

Julianna and I took the overnight train to Vienna from Rome, which was a long and uncomfortable ride, but it allowed us the opportunity to arrive in Vienna on Friday morning and have the whole day to explore. That night we took in a show that couldn't have been more perfect. It was a celebration of some of Austria's great composers, such as Mozart and Strauss, but done in a combination of ways. For example, one song might be done with just the orchestra, while the next might be an excerpt from an opera, or a piece from a ballet. All of this was done in an unpretentious and fun atmosphere that made it really entertaining.

But, you know how we travel, and it wouldn't be a Brezina holiday without some problems. Fortunately for me the problems didn't come until the trip home, and so the only thing that it affected was how early I arrived back in Rome (ipso facto it only affected Charles' boredom level).

We decided to fly back to Rome because we found a cheap deal and we couldn't stomach the idea of another 13 hour train ride. We arrived at the Vienna airport on time and checked in with no problems. Soon enough, we discovered that our flight had been delayed due to ill weather in our transfer city of Milan. Apparently a lightning storm was in progress and all the planes headed there were delayed.

At first the delay was only 30 minutes, then an hour. Some people began to get restless, and the attendant told them to go and have a coffee and come back at 1:15. We stayed put, and about 5 minutes later we were told that the storm had passed and we would start boarding right away. Well, needless to say, some people were not around to hear this information, and we ended up waiting for them while sitting on the plane. It was annoying, but they really can't be to blame since they were told to return at 1:15.

Finally, we set off, and made it to Milan with no problems. We asked the flight attendant what we could do about our connecting flight as we were landing in Milan at 3, the same time our flight was to depart! She told us not to worry because all flights had been delayed and we should make it no problem.

Well, as we headed to the board to find our gate, we discovered that this was not true and our flight had indeed left without us. We went to the desk to figure out what we could do. In typical Italian style we stood in two lines, only to be told at each time we reached the front that they were closing their desk and we had to go to the back of yet another line! A+ for customer service!

Finally we got set up with another flight and we were told that our baggage would be on this flight with us, which was yet another lie. On arriving back in Rome we waited at the baggage claim for a very long time, and finally went to the desk to inquire about our luggage that had not appeared. There was a note in the computer that our bags were still in Milan and would be on the next flight to Rome arriving at 10:45pm. At this point it was 8pm, we should have arrived in Rome 4 hours ago, we were hungry, cranky, and suddenly without all of our belongings!

We filed a claim and they told us our bags should be delivered to our house tomorrow evening. I can tell you that I got a call this afternoon and was told that they have one of our bags, and they should be able to find the other very soon!

Despite all of this, I am glad to be back in Rome, back to work, and back to the familiar, even if it is inconvenient.

Allie is Back!

Once again my life is complete! Is that reassuring or have I lost all independence? Who cares! She had a pretty good time though the trip home was a bit of a headache. She'll fill in the details soon.

Weekend Update

Well, I've spent the entire weekend bored out of my mind. I've been going to sleep very late (after work and a few beers) and staying in bed most of the day with about a half hour flurry of some kind of house work thrown in to make myself feel somewhat useful. I'm really looking forward to Allie's return Monday afternoon even though she sent me a text message that made me very jealous. It reads, "I'm eating KFC right now and I have to tell you it's delicious!" I suppose I can forgive her for that, perhaps she'll transport a bucket of extra crispy on the train with her to make up for the offense.

The Long Weekend-Day 1

Allie and our friend Jules have left for a long weekend trip to Vienna for some fun and excitement while I slave away at the pub for four straight nights! Actually, I told Allie to go because I knew she would be so totally bored because I would be working every night. It's strange to be apart from her for anytime at all. Considering we haven't been apart from each other for more than half a day at a time over the last year. As soon as I told her to go with Jules I regretted it immediately! Now who is going to entertain me since she's gone! I forgot that I had no friends as well, ha! Anyway, enough wallowing in my own sorrow for today.

It Is What It Is

Many of the reasons we decided to move to Italy are exactly the same reasons that drive us insane about this country, I should say more specifically, Rome. I don’t know how many times we’ve cursed this country and its people for their refusal to change, improve or try new things. When you think about how bad it is going to a bank or the post office in the u.S., multiply that experience by ten in Italy. Customer service is truly an American concept. We spent nearly two hours in the local bank a few weeks back. There was one cashier open with literally twenty people waiting, we kept waiting for someone to call for “back up” like in America, only that never happened. At the supermarket, Allie and I stood around with some other dumbfounded people wanting to pay for our goods while EVERY cashier counted the money in their tills. It would make more sense to leave one cashier open so that people could still pay and get the hell out, right? The busses are packed with people who don’t pay for tickets and enjoy free rides daily. The transit cops do sort of a sting operation every month or so but it’s completely half-hearted and usually some poor tourist who couldn’t find a ticket machine gets the fine.

When we discuss these problems with our students they all give us a similar type of response. They say that it makes them angry as well but that’s the way it’s always been. The refusal to change is a hallmark of this country, perhaps refusal is a bit strong, maybe an unwillingness to change is a better way to put it. So for the post office, the bus, and the banks an unwillingness to change is a bad thing but on the other hand this same attitude has produced an amazing food tradition. For instance, recipes that have been unchanged for many generations will most likely remain unchanged. The response to “Why?” is always “That‘s the way it‘s always been done in my family.” It’s unlikely that America will ever have such a food tradition because of our willingness to try to which is new, that which is different and to see how we can change things to make them better. That willingness to change is great for places like the bank, post office and grocery store but bad for the dining room table. Well, I don’t mean say trying new recipes and foods is wrong but one will never create a coherent tradition such as is found in Italy.

As Americans, it’s our right to have what we want, when we want it. No questions asked and no sideways looks given. Such is not the case in Italy. For example, one should not order a cappuccino after breakfast here in Italy. It’s not a rule but a tradition (one of thousands, I swear!). For an American, this is perplexing to say the least. I find myself sometimes wanting to lecture my fellow Americans (sometimes I do) but then I also realize it goes against all that it means to be an American to deprive oneself of what one wants. The Italians are also equally perplexed by our behavior, they cringe in horror when someone orders a cappuccino after a pizza or a plate of pasta with clams (makes me cringe too!). Sometimes they refuse saying that the machine is cleaned or that they don’t have milk! Ha! But most of the time they acquiesce to our strange behavior and just laugh about it to their friends or on call-in radio shows.

So my dreams of combining the best of both worlds, i.e., all the efficiency of America with the traditions of Italy is something that will probably never come together. So unfortunately for me, it seems that I can’t have my cake and eat it too.

Italian Course-Week 2

Ernest Hemingway once wrote that you could learn the Italian language in two weeks. He was either extremely gifted, or a big fat liar.

We have been studying hard and attending all of our classes over these last two weeks, and let us just say that Italian is hard! The grammar is where we have the most trouble. The rules aren't what get us, because it's not too difficult to understand when to use which tense, but the problem is memorizing all of those pesky irregular verb forms! Let me give you a very basic example of what we're dealing with:

In English grammar we have two basic verb forms, 1st person and 3rd person. In a regular verb we change something like "I/we/they want" to "he/she/it wants". Pretty easy. And even for irregular verbs this doesn't get too complicated. Let's take the irregular verb "to be". We have to change it from "I am" to "he/she/it/they are". So our verb actually changes form completely, but it's not too difficult to memorize the 60 or so irregular verbs in English.

Now, let's look at an Italian verb. For regular verbs we have to change the form for every person we're talking about (I, you, we, he/she/it, you plural, and they). Regular verbs follow a pattern, so once you get the pattern down you can basically figure out what you're doing, until you come across an irregular verb, that is! Let's take the irregular Italian verb for "to go" which is "andare". We have to conjugate it like this: Io vado, tu vai, lui/lei/e va, noi andiamo, voi avete, and loro vanno.

So that's six new words for one verb that we have to memorize! And this is only present tense! We also have the past tenses (there are more than one) and future tense, and formal language....the list goes on and on! And did I mention there are over 300 irregular verbs in Italian? Now we understand why Italian school children take six years of grammar!!

So anyway, we like to complain, and we have had a few conversations when we were feeling hopelessly overwhelmed about how we could easily go through the next two years here without learning anymore Italian than we already know, but we still aren't giving up! This course has given us a lot of missing puzzle pieces in our language development which will make studying a bit easier when we finish next week. We just have to get over the monotony of memorizing six thousand different verb forms!

Italian Course-Week 1

So, we're doing it. We are actually, officially, studying Italian in a language school. We are doing a three week intensive course, and tomorrow marks the finish of our first week.

So far it has been quite an eye-opener. First of all, we are not in the same class. As it turns out, even though I always make Charles do all the talking when we're in public, I somehow have a higher level of Italian than he does! Go figure! My class is really hard, and I have to come home and study grammar in the evenings just to catch up with my classmates, but so far I am hanging in there when it comes to conversation and listening. The school has a focus on practical Italian, meaning they want you to have confidence to go out and speak the language when you leave, so grammar is not a huge focus (lucky thing for me!).

Charles, on the other hand, is in a lower-level class, but he is clearly one of the better speakers and listeners in his class. He tells me everyday how he cringes at the pronunciation of the other students, and they look to him for help when they don't know the meaning of a word, but he sometimes envies their grammar knowledge.

It's only been one week, but so far I am really happy with my results. Everything is done in Italian, and since my classmates come from all over the world we generally keep speaking Italian with each other even when we're just having a coffee during the break. It's such good practice, and the school is really great. I wish that we had done this when we arrived last summer!! Our motivation has really been increased to keep studying Italian after the course finishes. We may even take another intensive course in six months or so just to keep challenging ourselves (that will just depend on the availability of funds).