La Dolce Vita

Just a quick reminder before I get started, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page there are more pictures. Okay so this week was fun. My friend Rebecca who is now in India (many people have referred to me coming to Italy, similar to the book Eat, Pray, Love, but Rebecca's story fits the bill much more than mine) anyway, she took me to the greatest place to eat on Tuesday night. It is called SAID and it is a very old, and possibly the first chocolate factory in Rome. It is known for it's amazing desserts but the food was to die for. I wish I would have taken a picture of the food. We shared the most amazing zuchinni flower souffle that melted in your mouth. The texture was unlike anything I've tried and they topped it with pistachio's and bacon. If you come to visit I will take you there.

On Saturday Luke and I spent the whole day in Villa Borghese. It is a beautiful, park, like Central Park in NYC. It is very big and there are many things to do. We rented a boat and boated around a pond that was full of turtles and fish as big as Luke. We rented a bike thingy and biked in the rain around the entire park, we went to the children's library and read children's books, but they were in Italian so I had to pretend I could read them and guess what they were about by looking at the pictures (which gave me a great idea of a way to improve my Italian, go read children's books and take a dictionary to tranlate), then we ended the day with a beautiful sunset on top of Piazza di Popolo where we could see the city of Rome and the beautiful St. Peter's Cathedral "Vatican".

The beauty here is indescribable. The pictures and my words will never do it justice. I haven't been able to find a job. A work visa is almost impossible to get in Italy, and people won't hire me without one, so my time here might have to be cut short. I would live here for years if I could get a good job, but I can't just walk around Rome everyday (as much as I love it) without a purpose. I need a job, so I'm not sure what to do from here. I do know however, that Italy will be a place I hopefully visit once a year. I just love it, and I am determined to speak Italian fluently.

Learning Italian has made me appreciate the fact that I can speak Spanish so well. I think I took it for granted, and I didn't appreciate it as a gift. Speaking another language really is a gift and I've forgotton how hard it can be for people to learn. I think Spanish came easy to me not only because of the mission but also from marrying Alex, working as an interpreter and other relationships I have with Spanish speaking people. I'm grateful now for the gift to speak another language and I will be a better Spanish teacher in the future for having gone through this experience. I really thought learning Italian would be easy but it is harder than I thought. I have been humbled, and I will be more patient and understanding to those I teach in the future. I won't give up though, I will be tri-langual, and who knows, maybe someday I will move to Paris (if I'm an old maid, and Luke is on his mission) and I'll learn French and then I'll be...... what's the word for 4 languages?

Observation of the Week:
Although Rome is beautiful, there are many things that remind me of a third world country, for example; there is dog poop everywhere, it is very dirty, there are beggars, Luke went on a ride and there was no seat belt, he almost fell out and could have gotton very hurt, the other day I saw a guy washing windows at a stop lights for money, you can buy packets of tissues from your car, and there are vendors on every corner selling roasted chessnuts, jewelery, shoes, clothes, and of course fruit. It really reminds me of my mission except the people speak Italian, dress much nicer, and they aren't as humble. It is a lot prettier however, and the food is much better, oh and the men are better looking.