SIXTY-THIRD
DAY
OUR NEW
HOOD
November
15, 2005
It is Tuesday in Rome and
yesterday I thought we would begin our Winter experience. But no, the sun is
shining and the weather clear. It is now
getting dark about 5 PM. This time of the year is not my favorite because of
the short days and long nights. It is
made all the more difficult by our move to the ghetto and our general lack of
language. We have to redo everything.
Our phone in the apartment doesn’t work and neither does the mobile I
bought. Apparently, the store failed to
sign me up for the privacy document and I cannot make or receive a call until
they do. The problem is that the store
guys speak zero English and we speak very little Italian. Kim tries, but when we get the message on the
phone in Italian they are speaking very fast.
It took my Italian friend in the finance office at the Academy two times
to listen and figure out the instructions.
Now I must return to the store and get the document signed. In addition, the apartment needs lots of
fixing up including a hot water heater that is not working for the kitchen and
the guest bathroom (which by the way, strangely has no sink). It seems all very weird and we will keep on
keeping on.
Yesterday,
while Kimberly went to Italian class, I spent the morning exploring our
hood. It makes our whole trip seem like
a dream. When we look out of our bedroom
window, we can see the ruins of an ancient Roman Temple. Parts of the columns
of that Temple support our apartment building and that means they were built
before the coming of Christ. It is so
unreal you can almost see the people from that time walking by on their daily
rounds. You wonder what life was like
then. I guess they didn’t even have
water heaters. In the study of history,
imagination is a good thing to have on your side. Try to visualize events and
things going on centuries ago, what people wore, what language they were
speaking, who were they, did they have slaves?
The columns help put things in perspective. We have lots of time to
explore and look around, but initially I think we made a good location
choice. I make my way across Via
Arenula to the Campo de Fiori, the most famous food market in Rome. There are many markets in Rome; we recently
visited Testaccio and it was fascinating.
The Campo is everyday and wildly busy.
I am our shopper and somehow find myself speaking English with a veggie
seller. His English is limited but
better than my Italian and it helps me do the buying. He doesn’t weigh anything and tells me my
purchases are 14E. Very Italian, but I’m
suspicious and probably will find a different guy for another day. We even have a local supermarket where you
can buy milk and other staple items. All
of these tasks should be done on foot to get the maximum Roman effect. Museums, palaces, ministries, churches, and
small shops litter the narrow alleys of Rome, it is very spectacular and
intriguing.
Later in
the day, we go back up to the Academy for a meeting of the Christmas committee
and we’re pleased to be included.
Because we will not have the apartment ready for guests by next week, we
will have Thanksgiving dinner at the Academy, too. Though I look like Santa Claus, they have
asked another guy to do the gig; I am grateful because I’d have to speak
Italian to the staff’s kids. We will
slowly separate ourselves from this community so that we are not intruding too
much. When you leave the Academy to be
on your own, you realize how much they have done for us. We had a great time. I go to a reception for one of the visiting
artists, Anne Syberell from the Bay area.
She is inventive and artistic, making wonderful books and art that
really make you think. A committed and
talented artist, she will be here for another couple of months.
We met a
young American student in Rome this morning. She has an apartment in our
building. She is a student at a Catholic
College near our building. Her apartment
is cute and that gives us hope of making ours better. She tells us that there
are many vocations for women in the Church, especially in America. She is sweet and welcoming and makes us feel
good.
Just a
couple of travel notes. Alitalia was 2
hours late coming back to Rome. No word
was given the passengers who were sitting in the lounge about why or even when. They now join United on my list of unfriendly
airlines. The flight was smooth. We had fun on the cruise, but 7 days every
few years is enough for me. Check
carefully before you book any tours while on the ship.
Ohio
State creamed Northwestern and the Niners continue to lose.
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