Bianca Roma

Most of you probably know that I LOVE SNOW! You know how some people get mad and frustrated with snow cause it means that schools are closed, you can't go to work, or traffic is bad. Well, I am NOT one of those people. I love it when I do not have to go to school or work, and I do not care that the traffic is bad because all I want to do is play in the snow. That being said, you can not even imagine how excited I was today when it started snowing in Rome. This apparently never happens, but it did, and while I was here as a witness! Not only that, but it is supposed to snow all night and all day tomorrow!!

Here are a few pictures from the beautiful snow!

Okay so maybe this is mostly slush, but still really amazing!

This is the view from our balcony. 

The view from Capitol Hill. 

The Vatican

Okay, so maybe the last two pictures I stole off of facebook, but how cool are all of these! If you want to check out some more pictures, go to this website: http://www.corriere.it/. This is one of the Italian Newspaper sites, and they have some pretty amazing pictures of the snow!

Now to pray that we get even more tonight so the girls and I can make snow angels tomorrow!

A small taste of Umbria

A couple of weeks ago, one of my friends invited me to tag along with her, her cousin, and his kids on a trip to Umbria. I, of course, said yes, and was so glad I did. It was a great break from au pair life even if it was just for a weekend.

We spent the weekend visiting a few little towns in the province of Italy called Umbria.
The first town we visited was a small town nestled in the rolling hills. It is called Todi. This town is tiny and so very different from Rome. We ate a great lunch there at this local place that did not even have menus!

Here are a few Todi pictures...

On the way up the feniculare. This is a cool elevator/lift thing that helps you get up the hill into the town!

Yeah, that is the city...soooooo cool! Oh and those are the two kids I spent the weekend with. They are hilarious!

We then made our way to Perugia which was about 40 minutes or so from Todi. Just in case you are thinking to yourself, "Perugia, that sounds familiar" it probably does. Perugia is where Amanda Knox (you know the girl who was convicted and then unconvicted of killing here roommate) lived when she was in Italy. Despite this rather unfortunate publicity, Perugia is so beautiful! Like Todi it sits up on a hill, and the city has built these cool outdoor escalators. With these you can get from the bottom of the city to the top which is where the historic center is located. From the top you can see some amazing views of the countryside!

This really nice street artist let the kids help him out with his drawing. They loved it!

Perugia is also really famous for chocolate. If you have ever had a Bacci (a type of Italian chocolate candy) it comes from Perugia. Of course we had to get some really yummy cioccolato caldo which is much different form our American hot chocolate. It is so stinking good!

Can we please talk about how beautiful Italy is!!

Our final stop on our trip was the absolutely beautiful city of Assisi. This is now perhaps my favorite place in Italy (other than Rome). It looks just like old Italy looks in the movies. It is also super clean which is refreshing and has a lot of great history!

 One day I will live here...so quaint!

One of my favorite meals I have had since I have been here!!

I told you it was amazing!! I will definitely be going there again!

This was such a great weekend and I am glad I got to go see a different part of Italy! It was also such a nice weekend to be away with such a fun family and some pretty hilarious children!

So Un-Italian

Now, do not get me wrong; Italy is cool. Great food, great shopping, 2,000 year old buildings on every corner. What is not to love?

I am pretty content in my Italian life. I have adjusted to eating all the extra carbohydrates by buying new clothes. I have started drinking coffee again (and by coffee I mean a little espresso), because what Italian does not drink coffee. I eat fruit after lunch and dinner because that is just how it is done, and I now think it is strange to eat salty things for breakfast. Bring on the breakfast cookies! A thirty minute walk somewhere does not seem like a long way. If the temperature drops below 60 degrees I don't leave the house without a coat, a scarf, and gloves. And of course I get annoyed at all the tourists that are always walking around.

But there are sometimes when I just need to be not Italian. Do any of my other friends who live outside of the US feel this way? I mean you love the culture you are living in, but sometimes you just need to be American.

So when I have those feelings, I have to act upon them. Sometimes no one notices, but sometimes the kids, or the parents, or the Italians on the street look at you funny and ask what you are doing because clearly you are doing something they would not do.

For example today after having my pasta for lunch with Lilli, Alberto and our maid, I got out a jar of peanut butter, cut up an apple (and left the peel on...gasp!!) and proceed to spread peanut butter on my apple and eat the whole thing. And let me just tell you, it was great! Of course the response I got was a strange look from the maid, and an "oh my goodness" from Alberto. Then, when I offered some peanut butter to Lilli since she was also eating an apple (she peeled hers though) she said no with a tiny bit of a laugh in her voice. (not in a mean way but in a "that is so strange kind of way" But you know what, that is okay by me because sometimes you just need to sit there, eat your unpeeled apple and peanut butter and revel in the fact the you are American and that is okay.