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.

Il Coccodrillo Come Fa?

Well, the Holidays are over, so we are back to real life here in Italy. For me, this is actually great!
I will be having a whole lot more time since I will no longer be in Italian class. This means I can catch up on blogging, reading, applying to graduated schools, writing postcards to friends, and wandering around Rome!!

Those long anticipated Italian lessons and quizzes will be headed your way soon, as well as pictures of further explorations of the eternal city.

In the meantime, please enjoy the following video...

"Il Coccodrillo Come Fa?" is my favorite Italian children's song. Do you know what it is saying???
Well, regardless of if you know what it means it is a pretty catchy tune, and kids all over Italy love it!

Enjoy!!

Natale a Roma

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Well at least it was a little more than a week ago when it was actually Christmas.

As the holidays approached, I found my self getting more and more homesick each day. Who would have thought? They say there is no place like home for the holidays. While, I was very far away from mine, I did get to experience what Christmas was like in the homes of others. Just like my family and all of us in the States, Italians have there own Holiday traditions. One of these is the construction an elaborate Nativity Scene that they build of literally the whole town of Bethlehem.

I spent the first part of the Christmas holidays in Napoli (Naples) where we celebrated with Alberto's family. We stayed at Lilli's parent's apartment because they were in Rome.

This is the view of the Mediterranean Sea from the window of my bedroom. It was Lilli's room when she was growing up.

Kind of awesome. 

 Alberto's family have their big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve, and it involves sea food...lots and lots of seafood. I don't like seafood. There was shrimp salad, squid, octopus, tuna mousse, and thankfully regular pasta so I could at least eat something.

But, before we ate, we had to wait for Babo Natale to arrive. In case you have not heard of him before, he is simply the Italian Santa Claus. He came and brought everyone there gifts. Then, while we were eating, the youngest child in the family (who can talk) recites a poem that they memorized for Christmas.

The next morning, we got up and hurried back to Rome to celebrate Christmas with Lilli's family. We had a great Christmas lunch and then opened presents! I even got to skype with my family back in GA and we opened our stockings together!

Christmas here was a lot less stressful because Lilli's family is much smaller than Alberto's.

I got some really great things from my Italian family including tickets to see Madame Butterfly at the Opera House in Rome! I am super excited!!

Overall, Christmas was fine, but as we were driving back from Rome and I was reading and listening to Behold the Lamb Of God  (this CD Christmas is now a staple for me, and the book is excellent as well), I was struck with how devoid of Christ Christmas is in Italy. Though they build these huge nativity scenes and they celebrate the Buon Natale or good birth, no one focuses on Jesus. I don't know why this surprised me since Italy is pretty much devoid of religion, but it did. There was no mention of the star shining in the sky, the young mother and her husband on their way to Bethlehem trying to find a room in the crowded city, or the scared shepherds keeping watch over there flocks. There was not any mention of the tiny baby born in a manger, the incarnate son of God come to take away the sins of the world. No one even suggested attending a Christmas mass. Apparently, in Italy, unlike in the US, there are not Christmas and Easter Christians. Christmas is just completely secularized, and well I guess I will find out what happens on Easter.

Needless to say, I was thankful that I had those two short hours in the car where I could at least remember why I was celebrating.

And as our celebrations come to an end, remember Italy. At Christmas we celebrate that nations who have long walked in darkness have beheld a glorious light, the light of Christ, the Wonderful Counselor, the Might God and Everlasting Father coming to earth. Italy needs this light, it is very dark here, and this has never been more clear to me than it was this Christmas.

Buon Anno!!!!

Hello!

Is anyone still there?? Are you still reading??

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. Clearly, I am not the best at keeping up this blog! Many people have pointed this out to me, so in order to satisfy their requests...a new post for a new year.

Happy New Year! Or as we say here in Rome, Buon Anno! Can you believe it is 2012? I sure cannot. Where has all the time gone? I feel as though I am constantly marveling at how quickly it disappears. Here we are facing another year. The end of 2011 was certainly full of surprises for me, and I am relatively certain that 2012 holds many more!

Here are a few pics from my celebration here in Roma! I went out with some friends, and we watched fireworks right next to the Colosseo. We had a blast, but I am exhausted...5 a.m. is not an appropriate time to be going to bed! But, I guess I only get one New Year's Eve in Rome!

The road in front of the Colosseo and all the way down to Piazza Venezia was full of people, except for places like these where people would just throw in fire works!

How amazing is this!

The streets were littered with confetti and broken bottles. I would not want the job of cleaning that up!

No we move on to the New Year's resolutions. I never really make them, because I know I will never really keep them. But since, I am in a new place, maybe I will have a new resolve to keep them.

So here is the list...

1. Post at least once a week on my blog

2. Read 30 books...I read about 24 in 2011 and I really do not think that is enough.

3. See more of the world

4. Become conversationally fluent in Italian

5. Run...there are lots of places to run in Rome, and I just need to get out there and do it, at least 3 times a week. If I don't, I will likely come home from Rome twice the size I was when I left.

6. Learn how to make my own pasta

7. Visit a place in Rome I have not been at least 2 a week.

8. Find a way to eat healthy in Italy

It is not very long, but I am not really ambitious when it comes to New Year's resolutions. However, I think setting goals is important. Most importantly, as I look to the year ahead, I look back and can see how richly blessed I am. Sometimes, I do not see these blessing. I focus on the negatives, and start to throw a small private pity party when I think that my life is not what I thought it would be. Therefore, my number one New year's resolution is to live by Psalm 16:5 because it is so true in my life: "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance." 

What are your New Year's resolutions?? Should I add anything to this list??

Let me know!

Birthdays and Thankfulness

I turned 26 this past week. Boy do I feel far behind in life considering I am living in Rome, and I am a nanny. I am sure my parents love seeing the money they spent on my college education going so far. Who would have thought I would celebrate my 26th birthday in Rome? Not me! I am not even remotely close to where I thought I would be at 26, but I have learned to never expect your life to go a certain way. God's plan is certainly better than my own, and for that, I am quite thankful.

That brings me to Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for many things...

1. My family back home whom I love and miss!

2. My friends back home whom I love and miss!

3. My Italian family who have shown me so many new things, and who have graciously invited me to be a part of their family for a year.

4. My new friends here in Rome. I am so blessed to have met each of you, and am so thankful for you!

5. Rome and all it has shown me.

6. Italian food

7. Italian wine

8. The opportunity to learn a new language and culture.

9. Oatmeal and peanut butter (thanks Mom and Dad and Kelly and LK!)

10. Cornbread dressing even in Italy (thank you polenta)

11. My Kindle, I could not survive this year without it. 6 books down, many more to go!

12. Getting to listen to Christmas music as I stroll through Rome. Tis's the season already here in Rome, and I love seeing the decorations and lights!

13. Skype

14. Leggings, why have I not been wearing these my whole life?

15. Eating two Thanksgiving dinners even in Rome!

Most of all I am ever so thankful for Jesus. Thanksgiving is a day we remember how God provided for the physical needs of the pilgrims after they arrived in America, but I think we have so much more to be thankful for beyond God meeting our physical needs. Today at Thanksgiving dinner with many of the friends I have met here, we had Communion. I have never done that before at Thanksgiving, but I think it is so appropriate. After all, the Lord's Supper is supposed to be a time of remembrance for believers. We are supposed to stop and reflect on Christ sacrifice for us. What better time to do that then at Thanksgiving?! And so, I am thankful for what Christ has done for us. I am thankful for His life, and I am even more thankful for His death and resurrection. I am thankful that He gives us grace, because without it I would be ever so lost. Living in a country that is lost sometimes it is easy to get discouraged, but today I was reminded that God is still working even here, and so I am thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Paul Anka in Rome

You heard right...Paul Anka lives in Rome. In fact, I see him every single day in the park, called Colle Oppio, when I take the girls to school. I thought it was weird too; I mean Paul Anka in Rome?? But he is always there, taking a walk, every morning.

See, look! There he is!

He is a little camera shy, so I had to sneak these pictures.

Paul Anka is not the only strange thing I have seen in Colle Oppio. The other day I snapped a picture of this:

Sure enough that is a girl in a wedding dress. I mean, Colle Oppio is a nice park, but I would not want to take wedding pictures there. There is a lot of graffiti and dog poop, which means it is not an ideal photo location. I mean especially when the Colosseum is only 4 minutes away.

Plus, Paul Anka does not like to be upstaged by a bride...the park is his.

Fun on Via San Gregorio: Naples Part 2

Naples is known for many things throughout Italy and the world. Naples is a port city, and thus has been central to the Italian economy before a united Italy existed. There are churches and buildings that are hundreds and hundreds of years old all over the place! Lilli took me past her University which is in Naples. She said that it is the oldest university in Naples, which means the oldest university in Italy, which means the oldest university in the world. Crazy.

Naples is situated on a hill overlooking the sea. It really is such a beautiful place!

 I think I could live right on top of this hill!!

On Monday, which was Halloween, Lilli, Nonna, the kids and I went to Via San Gregorio. Now, you would think since it was Halloween that we went there because the street was haunted...nope this is the street in Naples known for the many stores and booths that sell hand made ceramic and wax nativity pieces. The assembly of the Creche is an extremely important part of the Neapolitan Christmas traditions. Families in Naples do not just build a simple manger scene. The create the entire town of Bethlehem complete with store fronts, people working, vendors selling fruit, flowers, and cheese, all centered around Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus.

The pieces are beautiful! And if you go to the right store they are completely made by hand, which means they are very expensive! Here are a few pics San Gregorio.

 This table was full of different ceramic food items to add to the Nativity Scene!

 Nonna Paola showing the girls something about one of the parts of the Nativity!

I wish you all could see the detail on these figurines. They are so beautiful!

I bought a Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus to start my own Neapolitan Creche. The girls were really excited that I wanted to do this! 

We then went in to a few churches and into a Cloister which is where the nuns live. The church was beautiful like all the Italian churches are! Then once inside the cloister, we went in to these little spaces where the cloistered nuns used to sit and look down into the church to watch the mass. At the doors of the cloister there were these other, little doors, and Nonna Paola explained that this is where people would bring their unwanted babies, and the nuns would take the babies and care for them and raise them. I thought that was a nice thing for the nuns to do.

I am not going to lie as we walked through the garden of the cloister I kept singing to myself..."How do you solve a problem like Maria." If I do become a nun while I am here (just kidding...) I think I would live in this cloister. The nuns there seemed nice. 

Here are a few pics:

 The typical Catholic Crucifix: Jesus still on the Cross

 I snuck this picture right before I was told to put my camera away.

 Looking down at the church from where the nuns used to watch Mass.

The entrance to the Cloister.

Although I loved Naples, I was really excited to get back to Rome. It has really started to feel like home!