I have to admit, hearing "ciao bella" is a great way to start the morning. I might see a familiar face in the neighbourhood on my walk to the metro who will call out the familiar greeting, or it might be from one of the baristi at the IFAD coffee bar. It always puts a smile on my face, because the thing is, they are genuinely happy people and that is why they say it. There is also one lady at the bar at IFAD who always has a smile as well, I love seeing her and smile back as she says "Ciao cara." Italians are so endearing and happy. It doesn’t even matter if I don't always understand what the baristi are saying to me in Italian, but it always makes me smile as I see their beaming faces and hear them speak in Italian that sounds like a song.
I wish I could see more of that everywhere. It's safe to say that it is an Italian thing. Italians simply are loving people.
So, like hearing “ciao bella” in the morning, life in Rome has had small things here and there that have made a huge difference. Writing about Italian’s genuine happiness makes me also think of the closeness of the people here. Not close as in knowing each other, but just the way they treat each other, with affection. A greeting is always two “kisses” and the same with a farewell. This greeting isn’t even reserved for close friends. There have been many occasions where I have just met someone and they always give everyone kisses when they say goodbye. Also, affection is across the board and the Italian guys are so sweet too. One morning on the metro I saw a high school aged boy cross through the packed metro train to an older gentlemen and they had the hugest smiles as they greeted one another.
Seeing these things and experiencing them is because I’ve been able to actually LIVE here. It’s been fun living in an apartment with an Italian roommate and working here and thus knowing people throughout the city. I might randomly run into a friend or meet up spontaneously and they always have a huge smile on their face and then the Italian greeting. Sadly enough the greeting doesn’t really work though if the people don’t truly embrace the Italian lifestyle…I’ve contemplated it and I don’t think if it would work with the American lifestyle…it’s Italian.
Little things are happening and evidentially I am becoming more and more Italian every day. One transformation has taken place that I would have not even expected; I am in love with Acua Minerale Naturale. Who would have guessed? It all started when I was at my supervisor’s house for dinner, the drink options where wine, beer, and mineral water. They insisted on me having some wine and kept insisting on me to have more. Luckily I was able to keep it at bay because I would have been asleep in my seat if I had anymore. Thus, I reached for my only other option, the mineral water. I’ve never liked it before, but it was the only option. Then it happened, I was transformed, ended up loving it and ever since I have been addicted. Turns out mineral water is even better for you than regular water and that they recommend to drink it in the extreme heat…the little things I learn from my Italian friends (and then verify through research). Thus, now as I type I am treating myself to my favourite, S. Pellegrino Acqua Minerale Naturale.
Il mercato is definitely one of my favorite parts of living here and especially of working at IFAD. There is the Testaccio market which sometimes I frequent on Saturday mornings, but my main mercato is the one close to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My vegetable vendors always smile when they see me approaching. We chat in broken Italian and they know my usual purchases. They just continue to hand me the little brown sacks that I fill up with fruit and vegetables. It is unbelievable how cheap it is and how delicious the food is. As I have already explained, I am addicted to the tomatoes. The tomatoes have changed while I have been here. The small ones are no longer in season and now they are a different type, still on a vine, but larger. Other fruits and vegetables that I had at the beginning of my stay here are no longer in season. I just have to adapt to what they have. It is funny to think of how much asparagus I ate when I got here, now I haven’t seen asparagus for ages. A new fruit that is recently in season that I have loved are tiny green pears; they are super cute and delicious.
Of course the people in IFAD have made a huge difference too. I have no idea what I would have done without meeting my amaaaaazing Italian friend in IFAD. We are so close and it’s scary to think about saying goodbye. We have had so many fun times in IFAD together and fun times on adventures through Rome. Of course my IFAD experience has mainly been shaped by my supervisor and her assistant. They were fabulous and I can’t imagine a better team. Last week my supervisor left for holiday, thus we already had our goodbye. It was sad and harder than I thought, but I think it was good to say goodbye before I actually left IFAD. It has made it an easing process. It was exciting to hear her feedback after months of work; I wasn’t expecting all the great things she had to say about my time here. It was great to hear, and now who knows what the future will bring!
This week our Portfolio performance report for Eastern and Southern Africa was published which was quite the excitement for my “team.” It is what was started when I first came here and the main reason I was brought in. Seeing the hard copy finally finished is so exciting, I can see my work in it and it looks so simple, but I remember the months of hard work that it took to get to that point. It’s funny now too because I can go through the report and understand what it is all about. My first week here I was given last year’s report to read and it didn’t make nearly as much sense as it does now. It’s truly been a learning experience. It’s going to be an adjustment to not talk about loans, grants, and missions when I get home. I’ve come to know ESA so much better and hopefully in the future I can even go there to see some of the projects taking place.
Since the report was published things have been closing up. I worked on some other projects for the Regional Economist and worked on another assignment dealing with, of course, loans and grants. Also I get to do some research for a mission my supervisor is going on later in the Fall. It’s all exciting to be wrapping up, but surreal at the same time.
Along with things wrapping up, I have a three day weekend coming up, which was just turned into a four day weekend the other day. Thus, after weeks of looking for accommodations in Cinque Terre and then expanding my options to pretty much all of Italy and the surrounding islands, and getting stressed with work on top of this and bad headaches…I found a trip down to the south of Italy with the same company as the three day trip I took in Ireland. The trip in Ireland was tons of fun and I met so many great (young) people, so hopefully this one will prove to be fun as well. It meets in Rome (fantastic and saves me lots of money) and takes me down to Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri, and Amalfi. Saturday will be spent all day in Capri on our own, so I am PUMPED for that. Relaxation, thank you very much. Maybe I will meet some great people or maybe not. I don’t mind adventures on my own, as they always have an amazing twist in them, so it should be a good time. Is it strange that I am also just looking forward to sitting on the bus, being taken care of, and reading?! The past three months have been tiring taking care of everything; I just kind of want to be whisked away.
(Side note as to why no available accommodations: all the Italians in the big hot cities leave this weekend for holiday, it’s literally eerie how empty Rome is right now, everything is shut down. I’ve never seen anything like it before.)
So, at the moment I am looking forward to Capri. Also, who knew four years later I would be returning to Pompeii and Amalfi. I’m looking forward to that bus ride again on the coast :) Too bad Granny Riffel won’t be there to sit next to be and be afraid of us falling to our death!
Of course I have excitement before I leave for my trip tomorrow. My best friend here in Italy (my Italian friend from work) and I have to celebrate our last night together. I woke up this morning upset with the thought of leaving her and she too is so sad. It’s crazy how close we have become. Her mom even said it is as if we have been friends for a lifetime.
Well, I do believe this is the longest post yet. Hopefully it makes sense as it was the result of typing here and there at different times and actually different days. I was able to finish it up now with the relevant upcoming events. Events like slicing my toe open and other things happened in between which made finishing this a bit more difficult. All the crazy things that have happened that I can’t even keep track of!
Ciao ciao and can’t wait to write about adventures in the South!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Work at the United Nations
A lot of my blog has been more about my roaming in Roma than where I actually spend the majority of my time, at the UN. I suppose this is because it is hard to write about work in a blog, especially when it is so much more fun to get my mind off of work and to write about adventures throughout the city. However, work is a different adventure every day. Waking up around 6:45 and then getting home at 6; long and tiring days. Sometimes I go to work knowing exactly what to expect. I have been working on several projects while I am here, and some days I know that I will be working specifically on those. Other days I wait for feedback on my projects, thus I end up doing other work that needs to be taken care of while being slightly nervous to get the response on my work.
The projects deal with the loans, grants, and accounting of all the different projects in my division, Eastern and Southern Africa. I’ve learned so much finance and accounting wise as well as about the workings of the UN. I also have been able to learn more about projects and what is going on in the countries. Finance is the backbone of all the projects and it is beneficial for me to be learning that side of things. Sometimes people want to neglect the details of it, but it’s going to come up in every part of the work for the country projects.
Aside from the actual work I do, I also have access to so much information on the IFAD intranet. It’s a fantastic opportunity to read up on different things when I get the chance. I love reading about the agricultural projects taking place that all the work here goes into. IFAD really is enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty. The president sometimes blogs as well; he just wrote an entry that I think everyone should read too. It’s short, sweet, I love it, and you can find it here.
After being here for more than two months, it is amazing how much I have learned, how much I have become comfortable with the work, and how homey the place has become. I feel like I have been here for ages. I have even gotten comfy in my clothes. A couple of weeks ago I decided to invest in comfortable shoes to walk to work in. I resisted the temptation to buy THEM the whole time, but once I tried them on I knew I had to get them for the benefit of my hurting feet…Birkenstocks. EVERYONE in the city wears them. It is unbelievable. With the arrival of the heat I started to see people not only wearing them to work, but wearing them at work. After my investment into the world of Birkenstock, it started out with me just walking my mile to the metro in them, and then it slowly became me never changing out of them. Black pencil skirt with Birkenstocks? Yes please.
Work as also gotten comfortable with not only how much I have learned with the projects and wearing comfy clothes, but also because of the people I have met. I came into this thinking I might meet some interesting co-workers; never did I think I would be making close friends. It sounds cheesy when I write that, but it is true. They are from so many different places around the world. Recently I realized that I hardly speak with Americans. It was funny to actually get together with Gina (from L.A.) and talk about “our home” even though our homes are so far apart in the states.
Here I spend time with my closest friend who is Italian/ Swiss, and also hang out with a friend from Holland, others from Italy, Africa, England, Jordan, Kuwait, Germany, and a bunch of different places. Lately I have spent time saying goodbye to them. I didn’t know how blue this would make me feel. After becoming close friends in and outside of work and then having to say goodbye is difficult. They have been apart one of my biggest adventures and have been an essential part of my time here.
So lately that is what I have been thinking about. I LOVE it here and have a good amount of time left so I am excited. It’s just weird to say goodbye even before I leave.
Enough sentimentalism; time to think about all the work and fun that is yet to come! More work adventures to take place, more out of work surprises along the way. Ciao ciao!
The projects deal with the loans, grants, and accounting of all the different projects in my division, Eastern and Southern Africa. I’ve learned so much finance and accounting wise as well as about the workings of the UN. I also have been able to learn more about projects and what is going on in the countries. Finance is the backbone of all the projects and it is beneficial for me to be learning that side of things. Sometimes people want to neglect the details of it, but it’s going to come up in every part of the work for the country projects.
Aside from the actual work I do, I also have access to so much information on the IFAD intranet. It’s a fantastic opportunity to read up on different things when I get the chance. I love reading about the agricultural projects taking place that all the work here goes into. IFAD really is enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty. The president sometimes blogs as well; he just wrote an entry that I think everyone should read too. It’s short, sweet, I love it, and you can find it here.
After being here for more than two months, it is amazing how much I have learned, how much I have become comfortable with the work, and how homey the place has become. I feel like I have been here for ages. I have even gotten comfy in my clothes. A couple of weeks ago I decided to invest in comfortable shoes to walk to work in. I resisted the temptation to buy THEM the whole time, but once I tried them on I knew I had to get them for the benefit of my hurting feet…Birkenstocks. EVERYONE in the city wears them. It is unbelievable. With the arrival of the heat I started to see people not only wearing them to work, but wearing them at work. After my investment into the world of Birkenstock, it started out with me just walking my mile to the metro in them, and then it slowly became me never changing out of them. Black pencil skirt with Birkenstocks? Yes please.
Work as also gotten comfortable with not only how much I have learned with the projects and wearing comfy clothes, but also because of the people I have met. I came into this thinking I might meet some interesting co-workers; never did I think I would be making close friends. It sounds cheesy when I write that, but it is true. They are from so many different places around the world. Recently I realized that I hardly speak with Americans. It was funny to actually get together with Gina (from L.A.) and talk about “our home” even though our homes are so far apart in the states.
Here I spend time with my closest friend who is Italian/ Swiss, and also hang out with a friend from Holland, others from Italy, Africa, England, Jordan, Kuwait, Germany, and a bunch of different places. Lately I have spent time saying goodbye to them. I didn’t know how blue this would make me feel. After becoming close friends in and outside of work and then having to say goodbye is difficult. They have been apart one of my biggest adventures and have been an essential part of my time here.
So lately that is what I have been thinking about. I LOVE it here and have a good amount of time left so I am excited. It’s just weird to say goodbye even before I leave.
Enough sentimentalism; time to think about all the work and fun that is yet to come! More work adventures to take place, more out of work surprises along the way. Ciao ciao!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Fountains, restrictions, and fun times.
With the abundance of fountains in Rome you would think there could possibly be a swimming pool for people to swim in. When I think about it, some of these fountains are like fancy ornate pools. Thus, with the arrival of the intense heat, my Floridian instinct is starting to take over me: when hot, jump into water. The heat in Rome is like Florida, it is hot, but you can live; however, add to that business clothes and getting on a metro cramped with other hot sweaty people and you start to wonder if you are going to make it. When commuting home in the afternoon, I just want to get off of the metro where all of us passengers have created a pool of sweat, and fling myself into the nearest fountain. Too bad I would receive a fine. Restrictions...
On a recent trip outside of Rome to Orvieto with Gina, a fabulous friend from L.A., we ended up on a bus packed with people in the intense heat. I was excited to get a move on it considering the stagnate air and the unusual proximity to the people around us; however, the bus had other plans...it was not starting back up. Thus, Gina and I stared at each other with tired delirious faces while getting entertainment from the French couple sitting next to us. The couple, who even though they knew we were American, continued to engage us in their conversation in French. At one point, I was leaning over laughing and all the sudden got a spray of something in my face. First my reaction was of fear of what was being sprayed at me by this little French lady, then I realized it was something I had never seen before, a can similar to spray on sunscreen, that sprays cooling water. Gina and I started laughing even more as the lady continued to spray us down. Funny memories on a nice trip outside of Rome.
Delirious laughing from heat and tiredness is a common occurrence now. The day after the Orvieto trip, I went on a trip out to Tivoli with two friends from IFAD. There we visited Villa Adriana (Hadrian's villa) and Villa d'Este. Thankfully we had been told to go to Adriana first and then Este. Adriana is an amazing estate that was created by the Emperor Hadrian. Full of ruins and little ponds we spent our time roaming around, taking pictures, and staying out of the sun. It is a huge piece of land that made it so we didn't see anyone else while touring. When we did come upon other tourists we would quickly ask if they could take our picture, because who knew when we would see someone else again.
After Villa Adriana we made our way to Villa d'Este. It is an fabulous villa right in Tivoli with 500 fountains. It was gorgeous! I was in heaven with the cool breeze coming off all the water and the huge trees providing shade. There we had a picnic lunch and took in the fountains and the sound which reminded me of waterfalls in North Carolina. We wandered around the much smaller villa, took pictures, and then decided to do what we saw so many others doing, find a spot in the shade on the lawn and take a nap. Two days of touring had worn out my body. It was time to recharge a bit and then head home to Rome.
After heading home we had to recharge some more because that same night after the day of our self-guided tour in Tivoli, was the World Cup final. Up to this point we had been watching the matches at the FIFA Fan Fest in Villa Borghese, at my friend's apartment with her family, or at restaurants in the center. This time my friend from Jordan (who lives close to my place) and I opted for watching it at a small restaurant close by. She had been on the Tivoli day trip with me, so we wanted to get maximum rest time in between then and the game.
The game proved to be fun despite the lack of scoring. The restaurant was cute, and the people around us were fun. However, soon sleep overtook us and we had to leave at the end of the 90 minutes, thus missing the final goal, but excited to hear from my apartment cheers and excitement that Spain won. After all the other teams we had decided to cheer for during the WC had all lost in their matches, it was nice to finally choose to cheer for what turned out to be the winning team. I guess we should have listened to Paul the Octopus the whole time, ha.
The weekend heat is counteracted by the cool indoors of the IFAD building. Of course I would rather be outside, but from 8:30 till 5 Monday through Friday my time is spent indoors...living out my dream internship. It's still going well, learning is my favorite part. So many of the country programme managers go on missions to Africa, thus every week different people are always missing and different people are coming back. I feel at home in the UN though and I know most people in my division. It makes the work day fun to say hi to everyone and get to talk with different people. Everyone is fabulous.
This past work week flew by. Due to the fact that my friend from Jordan is leaving next week we decided to pack everyday after work with fun. Some of the fun activities that took place: going to Gianicolo hill to picnic and see the sunset over Rome, Musei Capitolini and dinner at my favorite restaurant, and the Colosseo. This is all filled in with errand running, market hopping, random cooking, and visits with other friends. All a lot of fun. I don't know what I am going to do when she leaves.
Now it is time for the weekend. Time to clean the apartment before my roommate returns from Ireland, time to visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill before my ticket expires, and time to just get some rest. It has been a fun and tiring week! Oh, and it is also time to go to the beach where I can jump in the water and not be fined :) Ciao ciao e baciooooooooooooo.
On a recent trip outside of Rome to Orvieto with Gina, a fabulous friend from L.A., we ended up on a bus packed with people in the intense heat. I was excited to get a move on it considering the stagnate air and the unusual proximity to the people around us; however, the bus had other plans...it was not starting back up. Thus, Gina and I stared at each other with tired delirious faces while getting entertainment from the French couple sitting next to us. The couple, who even though they knew we were American, continued to engage us in their conversation in French. At one point, I was leaning over laughing and all the sudden got a spray of something in my face. First my reaction was of fear of what was being sprayed at me by this little French lady, then I realized it was something I had never seen before, a can similar to spray on sunscreen, that sprays cooling water. Gina and I started laughing even more as the lady continued to spray us down. Funny memories on a nice trip outside of Rome.
Delirious laughing from heat and tiredness is a common occurrence now. The day after the Orvieto trip, I went on a trip out to Tivoli with two friends from IFAD. There we visited Villa Adriana (Hadrian's villa) and Villa d'Este. Thankfully we had been told to go to Adriana first and then Este. Adriana is an amazing estate that was created by the Emperor Hadrian. Full of ruins and little ponds we spent our time roaming around, taking pictures, and staying out of the sun. It is a huge piece of land that made it so we didn't see anyone else while touring. When we did come upon other tourists we would quickly ask if they could take our picture, because who knew when we would see someone else again.
After Villa Adriana we made our way to Villa d'Este. It is an fabulous villa right in Tivoli with 500 fountains. It was gorgeous! I was in heaven with the cool breeze coming off all the water and the huge trees providing shade. There we had a picnic lunch and took in the fountains and the sound which reminded me of waterfalls in North Carolina. We wandered around the much smaller villa, took pictures, and then decided to do what we saw so many others doing, find a spot in the shade on the lawn and take a nap. Two days of touring had worn out my body. It was time to recharge a bit and then head home to Rome.
After heading home we had to recharge some more because that same night after the day of our self-guided tour in Tivoli, was the World Cup final. Up to this point we had been watching the matches at the FIFA Fan Fest in Villa Borghese, at my friend's apartment with her family, or at restaurants in the center. This time my friend from Jordan (who lives close to my place) and I opted for watching it at a small restaurant close by. She had been on the Tivoli day trip with me, so we wanted to get maximum rest time in between then and the game.
The game proved to be fun despite the lack of scoring. The restaurant was cute, and the people around us were fun. However, soon sleep overtook us and we had to leave at the end of the 90 minutes, thus missing the final goal, but excited to hear from my apartment cheers and excitement that Spain won. After all the other teams we had decided to cheer for during the WC had all lost in their matches, it was nice to finally choose to cheer for what turned out to be the winning team. I guess we should have listened to Paul the Octopus the whole time, ha.
The weekend heat is counteracted by the cool indoors of the IFAD building. Of course I would rather be outside, but from 8:30 till 5 Monday through Friday my time is spent indoors...living out my dream internship. It's still going well, learning is my favorite part. So many of the country programme managers go on missions to Africa, thus every week different people are always missing and different people are coming back. I feel at home in the UN though and I know most people in my division. It makes the work day fun to say hi to everyone and get to talk with different people. Everyone is fabulous.
This past work week flew by. Due to the fact that my friend from Jordan is leaving next week we decided to pack everyday after work with fun. Some of the fun activities that took place: going to Gianicolo hill to picnic and see the sunset over Rome, Musei Capitolini and dinner at my favorite restaurant, and the Colosseo. This is all filled in with errand running, market hopping, random cooking, and visits with other friends. All a lot of fun. I don't know what I am going to do when she leaves.
Now it is time for the weekend. Time to clean the apartment before my roommate returns from Ireland, time to visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill before my ticket expires, and time to just get some rest. It has been a fun and tiring week! Oh, and it is also time to go to the beach where I can jump in the water and not be fined :) Ciao ciao e baciooooooooooooo.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
A Taste of my Favorite Place
My favorite street performer in Piazza Navona is the finger puppet guy. I heard about him from friends and they said that for sure I would see him. I had no clue as to what they were talking about and how a person who has finger puppets could be so entertaining. Well...I have seen him there three times now and he is hilarious every time. He loves seeing us laugh, and always draws a crowd. He even likes it when we take pictures and video. He is more out there to share his unique talent than to get money from tourists. Everyone loves him. Here is a special bit that he was especially excited for.
Piazza Navona makes me happy.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
CatchUp
Life here has been busy; lately it has been difficult to keep up with myself. Thus, my body evidentially decided to give into sickness. It is the 7th day of full on sickness, and as much as it kills me to rest…that is what I have been forcing myself to do today. Tomorrow is the doctor; hopefully something good will come out of that.
An update since injured feet: My feet have been doing much better. Instead of walking to places and then walking around at my destination, I now try to take a bus or metro to my destination. My feet are much happier, and in the long run I get to spend more time at my destination.
One relaxing adventure was a trip to the beach. It was a fun experience; however, being used to gorgeous Florida beaches…I will probably not go back to the Roman beach. Black sand is not my thing. It was a fun time though to get away from the center of Rome, take public transportation all the way there, and enjoy the day with friends.
The evening of the beach day was the going away party for one of my lovely friends from work. It was a nice get together at her apartment where we had dinner on the roof/patio while eating pizza from a local pizza oven where we saw them make the pizza in a brick wood burning oven. The night was actually cold outside, which just goes to show how Rome has had ridic weather this summer. I couldn’t believe I was actually enjoying this amazing night with friends on a rooftop in Rome. It was perfect…although it wasn’t perfect. The fact that one of our close friends from work was leaving made it sad and so hard to say goodbye. Let’s just hope there will be a reunion in London one day.
The week before the weekend of beach fun was the first World Cup match of Italy. This now has different perspective writing from two weeks later. Rome is home of the 2006 World Cup Champs and home of crazy football fans, thus Rome is one of the few locations in the world that has an official FIFA Fan Fest. The Fan Fest has a huge screen showing the matches in Villa Borghese with tents set up with different activities going on. For the first Italy match we decided to meet up after work at the FIFA fan fest. We got there half an hour before the start of the match. There were hundreds of swarming Italians. It was quite the spectacle. We wove ourselves through the sea of Italians sitting on the turf in front of the screen and wedged ourselves Indian style in between all the people. Thank goodness the people stayed sitting for the match. Thus, we enjoyed the match watching with hundreds of other people and cheering on the azzuri (Italian team). When Italy scored in the second half, everyone FLEW up screaming, clapping, while fireworks started to go off. It was a confusion of happiness. The match ended up in a draw and we all went home tired yet happy. It was a fun way to spend the evening after work.
Since then as everyone knows, the azzuri did not advance to the next round, and the Italians have thus been furious with their less than superb team. The US on the other hand proved they have football skill by moving on to the next round. I watched their second round match with friends at the apartment of one of my close friends from work. That game was last night, and it was nice to relax and watch the game inside (especially feeling sick, it was nice to sit in a chair with hot tea rather than amongst a crowd).
Other than world cup news is party news. This past week was the week of two party events, my 21st birthday and the President’s annual garden party. The first one was on a work night; however, we had fun none the less. My birthday was fun at work with me choosing to have lunch outside of IFAD at a cute sandwich stand with outdoor seating. After sandwiches we all got gelato and slowly made our walk back to IFAD. Everyone at work who knew it was my birthday was really nice and overall it was a relaxing day at work. After coming home, I got ready for dinner with girls from work, a friend from back home who was studying in Rome, and another friend from the states who I met in Rome. I met up with a girl from work who lives close to me and we made our way together to the center to the restaurant for dinner. We ate at a restaurant, recommended by a friend who grew up in Rome, which has delicious pasta. I had amazing eggplant pasta and the other girls all got other different types of pasta or pizza. We ended up passing around plates and trying everyone’s dish. It was a fun time and made even more entertaining with the Italians next to us who were also celebrating a birthday. They were in love with the fact that it was my birthday as well. They wanted to meet up the next day for a world cup match, but we all had to explain that we work at the United Nations and don’t have our days free. The one who was celebrating his birthday then proceeded to tell a joke. They were a hilarious group and made the night even more fun.
After dinner some of us walked to the Spanish Steps and took some pictures, talked and then headed our separate ways to go home and get ready for the next work day.
Friday was the President’s garden party. All staff regardless of contract type were invited. My friends and I were all excited, RSVPed the previous week and had our tickets ready to go. After work on Friday we left in my friend’s car and went to the party. The party had started earlier and we had the option to leave work early; however, we decided we didn’t need three full hours of appetizers. The president lives outside of the center of Rome, thus he has space and a lovely garden. The night was tons of fun and consisted of fabulous appetizers, a gelato bar (we decided to forgo gelato for all the other things there), champagne/wine bar (this sick girl was able to just get orange juice), an array of delicious dishes for dinner, a great table of desserts which I am pretty sure we tried every one, and after all the food all the staff getting up and tearing up the dance floor. Luckily we had heard of the food that was to be served and we prepped by eating a small lunch. After the party we got back into my friends car, put the top down, and had an amazing drive back into the center of Rome. I still can’t believe that night really happened. One year ago I would have never believe these sorts of things would be happening to me right now. Who would have ever guessed I would spend my 21st birthday in Rome and later on party it up with coworkers from the UN?!
Well…it’s time to enjoy the abnormally cool weather here in Rome, and get ready for a new work week. Enjoy the pictures which explain my life in Rome better than I ever could.
An update since injured feet: My feet have been doing much better. Instead of walking to places and then walking around at my destination, I now try to take a bus or metro to my destination. My feet are much happier, and in the long run I get to spend more time at my destination.
One relaxing adventure was a trip to the beach. It was a fun experience; however, being used to gorgeous Florida beaches…I will probably not go back to the Roman beach. Black sand is not my thing. It was a fun time though to get away from the center of Rome, take public transportation all the way there, and enjoy the day with friends.
The evening of the beach day was the going away party for one of my lovely friends from work. It was a nice get together at her apartment where we had dinner on the roof/patio while eating pizza from a local pizza oven where we saw them make the pizza in a brick wood burning oven. The night was actually cold outside, which just goes to show how Rome has had ridic weather this summer. I couldn’t believe I was actually enjoying this amazing night with friends on a rooftop in Rome. It was perfect…although it wasn’t perfect. The fact that one of our close friends from work was leaving made it sad and so hard to say goodbye. Let’s just hope there will be a reunion in London one day.
The week before the weekend of beach fun was the first World Cup match of Italy. This now has different perspective writing from two weeks later. Rome is home of the 2006 World Cup Champs and home of crazy football fans, thus Rome is one of the few locations in the world that has an official FIFA Fan Fest. The Fan Fest has a huge screen showing the matches in Villa Borghese with tents set up with different activities going on. For the first Italy match we decided to meet up after work at the FIFA fan fest. We got there half an hour before the start of the match. There were hundreds of swarming Italians. It was quite the spectacle. We wove ourselves through the sea of Italians sitting on the turf in front of the screen and wedged ourselves Indian style in between all the people. Thank goodness the people stayed sitting for the match. Thus, we enjoyed the match watching with hundreds of other people and cheering on the azzuri (Italian team). When Italy scored in the second half, everyone FLEW up screaming, clapping, while fireworks started to go off. It was a confusion of happiness. The match ended up in a draw and we all went home tired yet happy. It was a fun way to spend the evening after work.
Since then as everyone knows, the azzuri did not advance to the next round, and the Italians have thus been furious with their less than superb team. The US on the other hand proved they have football skill by moving on to the next round. I watched their second round match with friends at the apartment of one of my close friends from work. That game was last night, and it was nice to relax and watch the game inside (especially feeling sick, it was nice to sit in a chair with hot tea rather than amongst a crowd).
Other than world cup news is party news. This past week was the week of two party events, my 21st birthday and the President’s annual garden party. The first one was on a work night; however, we had fun none the less. My birthday was fun at work with me choosing to have lunch outside of IFAD at a cute sandwich stand with outdoor seating. After sandwiches we all got gelato and slowly made our walk back to IFAD. Everyone at work who knew it was my birthday was really nice and overall it was a relaxing day at work. After coming home, I got ready for dinner with girls from work, a friend from back home who was studying in Rome, and another friend from the states who I met in Rome. I met up with a girl from work who lives close to me and we made our way together to the center to the restaurant for dinner. We ate at a restaurant, recommended by a friend who grew up in Rome, which has delicious pasta. I had amazing eggplant pasta and the other girls all got other different types of pasta or pizza. We ended up passing around plates and trying everyone’s dish. It was a fun time and made even more entertaining with the Italians next to us who were also celebrating a birthday. They were in love with the fact that it was my birthday as well. They wanted to meet up the next day for a world cup match, but we all had to explain that we work at the United Nations and don’t have our days free. The one who was celebrating his birthday then proceeded to tell a joke. They were a hilarious group and made the night even more fun.
After dinner some of us walked to the Spanish Steps and took some pictures, talked and then headed our separate ways to go home and get ready for the next work day.
Friday was the President’s garden party. All staff regardless of contract type were invited. My friends and I were all excited, RSVPed the previous week and had our tickets ready to go. After work on Friday we left in my friend’s car and went to the party. The party had started earlier and we had the option to leave work early; however, we decided we didn’t need three full hours of appetizers. The president lives outside of the center of Rome, thus he has space and a lovely garden. The night was tons of fun and consisted of fabulous appetizers, a gelato bar (we decided to forgo gelato for all the other things there), champagne/wine bar (this sick girl was able to just get orange juice), an array of delicious dishes for dinner, a great table of desserts which I am pretty sure we tried every one, and after all the food all the staff getting up and tearing up the dance floor. Luckily we had heard of the food that was to be served and we prepped by eating a small lunch. After the party we got back into my friends car, put the top down, and had an amazing drive back into the center of Rome. I still can’t believe that night really happened. One year ago I would have never believe these sorts of things would be happening to me right now. Who would have ever guessed I would spend my 21st birthday in Rome and later on party it up with coworkers from the UN?!
Well…it’s time to enjoy the abnormally cool weather here in Rome, and get ready for a new work week. Enjoy the pictures which explain my life in Rome better than I ever could.
First Italy match of the World Cup
FIFA fan fest
Birthday Dinner
Spanish Steps
at night for my birthday.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Injured Feet
My feet and ankles are in pain…they hurt while I sleep and when I wake up in the morning. I’ve obviously injured them and especially the left one…when anything touches the top of it, pain shoots through my foot. I’ve never realized how important feet are. Without them in top condition I’m stranded.
Thus, I dedicate this post to my feet which have taken me across four weeks of adventure. They are asking me for a break…and for now I will let them rest, even though all I want to do is go walk all over Rome.
Since my last post, my feet have taken me so many different places and on so many different adventures. Even though it may not be the best for my feet’s health, I just keep going. Here are some of the adventures that subsequently have brought them to this state:
My feet take me on the same path every morning to the metro at colosseo. I pass through the neighborhood loving every moment. Maybe I don’t want to be going to work at 7:30 in the morning, but walking through Roma on the way to work is a dream come true. I get to pass by the neighborhood Cornetteria (bakery, they never close, freshest pastries of my life), Fruttivendolo (fruit and vegetable vendor), local Bar (café), Meat and Wine shop, the Forno (fresh bread), and then of course the coliseum. I’ve now passed by these places for a month. This past week my dream came true…the locals finally noticed me. On Monday morning the locals outside of the shops who congregate outside the shops said Buongiorno. This made me smile; I didn’t think too much into it, I thought maybe they were just saying hi, not necessarily saying hi since they had noticed me walk by every morning, even though I had noticed them. Tuesday morning I was approaching the usual group along with the BIG dog that congregates in the same area. They all said buongiorno, making me smile beyond belief….THEN they started talking to me in Italian. I mean…who would guess that someone who walks by every morning in business clothes doesn’t speak Italian? I then smiled sheepishly, and they all realized I wasn’t fluent. Then we all spoke in slow Italian together, and they got the message that I speak English, yet we still all spoke in Italian. I smiled and said “Mi piace palare in italiano” (I like to speak in Italian). Then they responded by saying we will speak every morning in Italian. This made me so happy, and then as I walked through the group they all shouted “Ciao.” I felt like I was in a movie. A dream come true.
The next morning I was excited to walk to the metro looking forward to practicing some Italian with the locals, never did I expect what happened. As I approached the area, I saw the big dog sitting outside of the bar; I slowed my pace and glanced in. There was the group, they all smiled, and one shouted “Ciao Alessia.” Then they INSISTED on getting me a coffee. I was so surprised. I had only expected to say hi and say a few things as I walked by. Thus, to my surprise I was swept into the bar, presented a coffee and then we subsequently chatted it up at the bar. Combined with the fact that I was still waking up and being shocked by their kindness, I just stood and smiled…thus not too much Italian was said on my end of the conversation on Wednesday morning.
Therefore, for Thursday morning I was prepared. I knew to expect more talk and possibly another coffee. Thursday morning didn’t disappoint. As I walked by their faces lit up and they bought me a cappuccino. They sure do know how to make me smile, coffee and Italian…plus the cute HUGE dog. My mornings are now 1000 times better and getting out of bed in the morning got a lot easier.
Despite my tired feet, I always love to wander around the historic center of Rome. I take the metro all the way to Flamino and then slowly make my way back home. On one occasion I came across an English speaking church. Due to the fact of missing my church back home in the ville, I woke up on Sunday and made my way out to the church. The church was packed and it was fun to sing some familiar church songs. It may have not been exactly what I like, but it was a refreshing Sunday morning. That Sunday after church the congregation was having their annual picnic in Villa Borghese (the huge park in Rome). Picnics in parks can never go wrong, so I journeyed to the park with a group from the church. On the picnic pilgrimage I met a girl from New Zealand who is living in Rome as an au pair. We chatted it up on the way there and then enjoyed the beyond my imagination Italian potluck picnic. We then made plans to meet up later on in the week. It’s always amazing to make a new friend in Rome.
That Sunday afternoon I journeyed all the way back from Villa Borghese home (even though I had told my feet I wouldn’t do it again…now I have to promise my feet I will never do that again). My feet were in pain on the way home, so I walked up to my nearby park to relax. Upon entering the park I saw all the locals reclining on the sloping grass. Some were picnicking and others napping. Thus, I found a good napping spot, laid down, and 45 minutes later woke up with to a lovely breeze and the best view of the coliseum. I walked home smiling all the way, another lovely weekend.
The latest adventure which brought my feet to this ultimate state of injury was yesterday’s 8 hour adventure to the Vatican. No, I didn’t wait in line at all; I just spent THAT much time there. Some friends from work and I made an 8:30 reservation at the museum, thus we walked right in bypassing the long line which I remember vividly from standing in it when I came to Rome with the family 5 years ago. Armed with my Rick Steves’ Rome guide, Rick Steves’ downloaded podcast of the Sistine Chapel, and the museum audio guide, my two friends and I left Italy and entered the smallest country in the world. The Vatican proved to be overwhelming; thus we took each section at a time with no rush. Luckily it was a nice day, so the sun and a breeze came through the open windows. It was a relaxing and intense learning day all together. The whole time I just kept thinking how surreal it was to be back. Five years ago when I saw the Sistine Chapel, I never thought I would be fortunate enough to return. Here I was, once again roaming the massive hallways lined with art and then ultimately gazing up at the most magnificent piece of art by a single artist, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.
After making it back to my apartment after the 8 hour adventure, I perched myself on my bed and never left. My feet were about to commit feet suicide and disown my body.
Thank you feet for not falling off and for taking me on many adventures across my dream city, please feel better soon.
Thus, I dedicate this post to my feet which have taken me across four weeks of adventure. They are asking me for a break…and for now I will let them rest, even though all I want to do is go walk all over Rome.
Since my last post, my feet have taken me so many different places and on so many different adventures. Even though it may not be the best for my feet’s health, I just keep going. Here are some of the adventures that subsequently have brought them to this state:
My feet take me on the same path every morning to the metro at colosseo. I pass through the neighborhood loving every moment. Maybe I don’t want to be going to work at 7:30 in the morning, but walking through Roma on the way to work is a dream come true. I get to pass by the neighborhood Cornetteria (bakery, they never close, freshest pastries of my life), Fruttivendolo (fruit and vegetable vendor), local Bar (café), Meat and Wine shop, the Forno (fresh bread), and then of course the coliseum. I’ve now passed by these places for a month. This past week my dream came true…the locals finally noticed me. On Monday morning the locals outside of the shops who congregate outside the shops said Buongiorno. This made me smile; I didn’t think too much into it, I thought maybe they were just saying hi, not necessarily saying hi since they had noticed me walk by every morning, even though I had noticed them. Tuesday morning I was approaching the usual group along with the BIG dog that congregates in the same area. They all said buongiorno, making me smile beyond belief….THEN they started talking to me in Italian. I mean…who would guess that someone who walks by every morning in business clothes doesn’t speak Italian? I then smiled sheepishly, and they all realized I wasn’t fluent. Then we all spoke in slow Italian together, and they got the message that I speak English, yet we still all spoke in Italian. I smiled and said “Mi piace palare in italiano” (I like to speak in Italian). Then they responded by saying we will speak every morning in Italian. This made me so happy, and then as I walked through the group they all shouted “Ciao.” I felt like I was in a movie. A dream come true.
The next morning I was excited to walk to the metro looking forward to practicing some Italian with the locals, never did I expect what happened. As I approached the area, I saw the big dog sitting outside of the bar; I slowed my pace and glanced in. There was the group, they all smiled, and one shouted “Ciao Alessia.” Then they INSISTED on getting me a coffee. I was so surprised. I had only expected to say hi and say a few things as I walked by. Thus, to my surprise I was swept into the bar, presented a coffee and then we subsequently chatted it up at the bar. Combined with the fact that I was still waking up and being shocked by their kindness, I just stood and smiled…thus not too much Italian was said on my end of the conversation on Wednesday morning.
Therefore, for Thursday morning I was prepared. I knew to expect more talk and possibly another coffee. Thursday morning didn’t disappoint. As I walked by their faces lit up and they bought me a cappuccino. They sure do know how to make me smile, coffee and Italian…plus the cute HUGE dog. My mornings are now 1000 times better and getting out of bed in the morning got a lot easier.
Despite my tired feet, I always love to wander around the historic center of Rome. I take the metro all the way to Flamino and then slowly make my way back home. On one occasion I came across an English speaking church. Due to the fact of missing my church back home in the ville, I woke up on Sunday and made my way out to the church. The church was packed and it was fun to sing some familiar church songs. It may have not been exactly what I like, but it was a refreshing Sunday morning. That Sunday after church the congregation was having their annual picnic in Villa Borghese (the huge park in Rome). Picnics in parks can never go wrong, so I journeyed to the park with a group from the church. On the picnic pilgrimage I met a girl from New Zealand who is living in Rome as an au pair. We chatted it up on the way there and then enjoyed the beyond my imagination Italian potluck picnic. We then made plans to meet up later on in the week. It’s always amazing to make a new friend in Rome.
That Sunday afternoon I journeyed all the way back from Villa Borghese home (even though I had told my feet I wouldn’t do it again…now I have to promise my feet I will never do that again). My feet were in pain on the way home, so I walked up to my nearby park to relax. Upon entering the park I saw all the locals reclining on the sloping grass. Some were picnicking and others napping. Thus, I found a good napping spot, laid down, and 45 minutes later woke up with to a lovely breeze and the best view of the coliseum. I walked home smiling all the way, another lovely weekend.
The latest adventure which brought my feet to this ultimate state of injury was yesterday’s 8 hour adventure to the Vatican. No, I didn’t wait in line at all; I just spent THAT much time there. Some friends from work and I made an 8:30 reservation at the museum, thus we walked right in bypassing the long line which I remember vividly from standing in it when I came to Rome with the family 5 years ago. Armed with my Rick Steves’ Rome guide, Rick Steves’ downloaded podcast of the Sistine Chapel, and the museum audio guide, my two friends and I left Italy and entered the smallest country in the world. The Vatican proved to be overwhelming; thus we took each section at a time with no rush. Luckily it was a nice day, so the sun and a breeze came through the open windows. It was a relaxing and intense learning day all together. The whole time I just kept thinking how surreal it was to be back. Five years ago when I saw the Sistine Chapel, I never thought I would be fortunate enough to return. Here I was, once again roaming the massive hallways lined with art and then ultimately gazing up at the most magnificent piece of art by a single artist, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.
After making it back to my apartment after the 8 hour adventure, I perched myself on my bed and never left. My feet were about to commit feet suicide and disown my body.
Thank you feet for not falling off and for taking me on many adventures across my dream city, please feel better soon.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Why I love Roma
Cute bikes and flowers
Walks at night with all the other people admiring the city
FRESH food from the local market
Bread from my local Forno and fresh buffalo mozzarella
Ruins and sun spots
Churches everywhere
Ancient Roman fountains
Cooking in my tiny kitchen with a cute balcony
Walking through my local park, someone asks me in slow English if I could take their picture...they are then surprised when I pull out my camera and ask them in fluent English if they can take mine. Yes for blending in more and more everyday. (too bad I got this opportunity after my 2 mile walk and just deciding to put up my hair in case of a hair part burn).
I love Rome as my Home.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Conversations with Italian Dogs
And other short stories
So far I haven’t been able to speak tons of Italian. The routine Italian during the day is listening to people on the metro, ordering lunch, errand running, and talking with Rossella (thank goodness for her). Yesterday I finally found the free newspaper stand at my metro, so I should be getting some good reading in now. Other than that, people hear my American accent, then throw in their English. It makes sense really, if I spoke French and heard someone’s thick French accent speaking English, I would just make it easy and speak French.
Luckily there are the occasional conversations with Italian dogs. The other day while relaxing in Piazza Navona, the cutest terrier came by (with his owner in tow). Thus, we had a conversation in Italian. We discussed the day and how he would like to attack the pigeons. It was a lovely time and the owner loved it too. Perhaps I shall start up more of those conversations on my daily walks to the metro and my daily encounters with so many dogs. Romans love dogs.
Kitchen enCounters
Although it does not help my Italian language, my nightly encounter with the kitchen gets me into the Italian spirit. The kitchen is barely big enough for me to turn around in; however, it’s beautiful in its small size and the gas stove makes up for the space it lacks. At first I was afraid to burn down the building, but now I love cooking with the gas stove. How will I ever go back to an electric stove?! The gas stove heats up like no other and really gets things cooking fast. Do I spontaneously want to eat an egg for breakfast? No problem, ready in two minutes.
Mt. Vernon, I would like an upgrade to a gas stove please. Thanks.
Pronunciation Lesson #1
Although I may be speaking English quite a bit, I am learning more and more the pronunciation of Italian. When they speak, their pronunciation is unlike any other. Many of these pronunciation lessons are learned while speaking English. The main one comes from where I work.
It is because I work at EFAD. What?! That is right. EFAD. When I have even said IFAD among coworkers they scrunch up their face in confusion. Even the native English speakers have forgotten their pronunciation of the letter I and have joined the team of EFAD. Thus, there I am as well, pronouncing the letter I like an Italian, eee. Now if I hear anyone say IFAD, all I think is newbie, they don’t even know…
Holiday Mentality
This has been a busy work week and an especially hard work week to work through simply because of the holiday mentality. Monday was Memorial Day, what did I do: work. Wednesday, the Italian celebration of the republic, everyone and their mother is off from work/ school, what did I do: work. Today when I arrived back at the apartment, exhausted and starving, Rossella said hi and then gave me a strange look. Here she thought I had been out enjoying the day off, she didn’t expect to see me in work clothes. Neither did anyone else in this city except for the UN.
The New Baby
It’s funny that it has taken my third work week here for my age to leak out. The realization has caused the past youngest to pass me the torch and mainly for the shock factor to take place. They simply can’t believe how “young” I am. Yesterday one of my friends/coworkers was in shock; she just couldn’t believe I wasn’t 26. It also makes them surprised that I am even here. The previous baby pointed it out as a good thing; it’s impressive to be young and working here. I just hope their shock wears off soon.
Malawi and a Lunch Coma
Sitting in on the PSRs has been great fun to break up the work day. I get to be a simple observer, learn about all the different countries in Southern and Eastern Africa (had to google a few to even see where they exist, Mauritius?, never knew about that country before), and pass the time not sitting at my desk. Ok, simple observer…no work, no problem. Aha. Not. Change the situation to simple observer after lunch and you get one of the hardest things to get through, the Lunch Coma. The Lunch Coma sets in when you just sit there. I find myself nodding off and seeing my pen draw scribbles on my paper. The Lunch Coma is horrible and I just wish I had something to input into the conversation so I would be energized. When I get the opportunity to run and get a financial report it is the best. I get up and run around the office and wake up. Without any runs to go on, the lunch coma and I fight our battle till the end.
The most recent battle was during the Malawi PSR. Luckily I was energized just by the fact that it was Malawi and I knew Kristen would be excited to hear about it. Malawi on the IFAD front is doing well. They mentioned bore holes at one point and it made me smile after hearing about Kristen’s trek to get to one. They have two projects there with a third on the way. They look to improve access for the poor to appropriate technology and services for sustainable natural resource management (irrigation is one issue). Capacity building is a key element with focus being put into figuring out how to work with the different districts. They are working hard…and I beat the lunch coma. Thanks Kristen.
Today’s Caffé
Today I was invited to take a coffee with a lady in my division. On our way down to the bar we had a snowball effect and by the time we sat down with our caffé there were eight of us. I was sandwiched right in the center of the group and proceeded to flip flop between the two conversations. The two conversations managed to be in three languages: French, English, and Italian. I call that talent.
Weather Update
The weather has been enjoyable. The weekend was nice with shorts weather on Sunday. However, the reason I am giving a weather update is because it is COLD right now. It’s night here now, but still…cold. Who knows how this happens. I like it because then I can get under all the covers to sleep, but getting up in the morning is going to be a doozy.
The End
The short stories could go on for years; however, they have to end somewhere. It is 9:15 now and time to get moving about the apartment before its late and time for bed.
Buonanotte!
So far I haven’t been able to speak tons of Italian. The routine Italian during the day is listening to people on the metro, ordering lunch, errand running, and talking with Rossella (thank goodness for her). Yesterday I finally found the free newspaper stand at my metro, so I should be getting some good reading in now. Other than that, people hear my American accent, then throw in their English. It makes sense really, if I spoke French and heard someone’s thick French accent speaking English, I would just make it easy and speak French.
Luckily there are the occasional conversations with Italian dogs. The other day while relaxing in Piazza Navona, the cutest terrier came by (with his owner in tow). Thus, we had a conversation in Italian. We discussed the day and how he would like to attack the pigeons. It was a lovely time and the owner loved it too. Perhaps I shall start up more of those conversations on my daily walks to the metro and my daily encounters with so many dogs. Romans love dogs.
Kitchen enCounters
Although it does not help my Italian language, my nightly encounter with the kitchen gets me into the Italian spirit. The kitchen is barely big enough for me to turn around in; however, it’s beautiful in its small size and the gas stove makes up for the space it lacks. At first I was afraid to burn down the building, but now I love cooking with the gas stove. How will I ever go back to an electric stove?! The gas stove heats up like no other and really gets things cooking fast. Do I spontaneously want to eat an egg for breakfast? No problem, ready in two minutes.
Mt. Vernon, I would like an upgrade to a gas stove please. Thanks.
Pronunciation Lesson #1
Although I may be speaking English quite a bit, I am learning more and more the pronunciation of Italian. When they speak, their pronunciation is unlike any other. Many of these pronunciation lessons are learned while speaking English. The main one comes from where I work.
It is because I work at EFAD. What?! That is right. EFAD. When I have even said IFAD among coworkers they scrunch up their face in confusion. Even the native English speakers have forgotten their pronunciation of the letter I and have joined the team of EFAD. Thus, there I am as well, pronouncing the letter I like an Italian, eee. Now if I hear anyone say IFAD, all I think is newbie, they don’t even know…
Holiday Mentality
This has been a busy work week and an especially hard work week to work through simply because of the holiday mentality. Monday was Memorial Day, what did I do: work. Wednesday, the Italian celebration of the republic, everyone and their mother is off from work/ school, what did I do: work. Today when I arrived back at the apartment, exhausted and starving, Rossella said hi and then gave me a strange look. Here she thought I had been out enjoying the day off, she didn’t expect to see me in work clothes. Neither did anyone else in this city except for the UN.
The New Baby
It’s funny that it has taken my third work week here for my age to leak out. The realization has caused the past youngest to pass me the torch and mainly for the shock factor to take place. They simply can’t believe how “young” I am. Yesterday one of my friends/coworkers was in shock; she just couldn’t believe I wasn’t 26. It also makes them surprised that I am even here. The previous baby pointed it out as a good thing; it’s impressive to be young and working here. I just hope their shock wears off soon.
Malawi and a Lunch Coma
Sitting in on the PSRs has been great fun to break up the work day. I get to be a simple observer, learn about all the different countries in Southern and Eastern Africa (had to google a few to even see where they exist, Mauritius?, never knew about that country before), and pass the time not sitting at my desk. Ok, simple observer…no work, no problem. Aha. Not. Change the situation to simple observer after lunch and you get one of the hardest things to get through, the Lunch Coma. The Lunch Coma sets in when you just sit there. I find myself nodding off and seeing my pen draw scribbles on my paper. The Lunch Coma is horrible and I just wish I had something to input into the conversation so I would be energized. When I get the opportunity to run and get a financial report it is the best. I get up and run around the office and wake up. Without any runs to go on, the lunch coma and I fight our battle till the end.
The most recent battle was during the Malawi PSR. Luckily I was energized just by the fact that it was Malawi and I knew Kristen would be excited to hear about it. Malawi on the IFAD front is doing well. They mentioned bore holes at one point and it made me smile after hearing about Kristen’s trek to get to one. They have two projects there with a third on the way. They look to improve access for the poor to appropriate technology and services for sustainable natural resource management (irrigation is one issue). Capacity building is a key element with focus being put into figuring out how to work with the different districts. They are working hard…and I beat the lunch coma. Thanks Kristen.
Today’s Caffé
Today I was invited to take a coffee with a lady in my division. On our way down to the bar we had a snowball effect and by the time we sat down with our caffé there were eight of us. I was sandwiched right in the center of the group and proceeded to flip flop between the two conversations. The two conversations managed to be in three languages: French, English, and Italian. I call that talent.
Weather Update
The weather has been enjoyable. The weekend was nice with shorts weather on Sunday. However, the reason I am giving a weather update is because it is COLD right now. It’s night here now, but still…cold. Who knows how this happens. I like it because then I can get under all the covers to sleep, but getting up in the morning is going to be a doozy.
The End
The short stories could go on for years; however, they have to end somewhere. It is 9:15 now and time to get moving about the apartment before its late and time for bed.
Buonanotte!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
A Different Approach and a Big Hunk of Mozzarella
At the beginning of this week I had decided to take on the week a little differently… completely full speed ahead. After a week of settling in, it was time to venture out after work every day. Despite my tired self after work (waking up at 6:30 and getting home to cook dinner at 6), I know I have to force myself to go out and explore. I can always sleep and bum around back home in the states. When in Rome, get a move on it!
Thus, on Tuesday night I went out on a long walk. I took the metro to the center and decided to slowly make my way back; slowly meaning taking every tiny street and wandering in a different direction. Ultimate goal was to get to Piazza Navona and enjoy a gelato. I wandered and found the cutest restaurants filled with Italians (because by this time the tourists had all already eaten) and the cutest Forno (Italian Oven/ bakery). I tried to remember where I had wandered to get back to these locations, but really all you can do is wander another time and hope to possibly find it again.
After continued wandering I did walk straight into Piazza Navona. Thus, I got a gelato and sat down to people watch. It was perfect people watching conditions: great weather, a week night, still with lots of people, but not crowded. After Piazza Navona I strolled back to Piazza Venezia (in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument), took some pictures, and then walked past the Roman Forum and the Coliseum to get home.
Wednesday night proved to be a fun spontaneous adventure with going out to see Robin Hood (in English) with friends from work. Robin Hood was a great way to relax after a frustrating work day. After the movie we walked up tons of stairs to Villa Borghese to see the view of Rome at night from the hill. It was gorgeous and relaxing; too bad I didn’t have my camera seeing as we had just come from work. After the park, I walked all the way home. The longest walk ever…and won’t be happening again unless I am over ambitious again. Although, I must say the walk home at night is also a prime people watching time. ALL the people walking hand in hand to see the ruins lit up at night; almost a little too cute.
Thursday like Wednesday was a long work day, with a great lunch break surprise. As it turns out, there is a tiny market by our work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. THUS, we walked there, bought fresh local produce AND the biggest hunk of mozzarella ever. It was the buffalo mozzarella kind. Stretchy, light, and comes in a bag of water. Riding home on the metro I felt like I was bringing a fish home from the pet store, yet I knew I was about to eat some AMAZING cheese. Sure enough, the mozzarella was heaven.
Friday was a fun work day. Simply knowing it was Friday was a great feeling, then adding onto the fact that I got to sit into two PSR (Portfolio status report) meetings made it even better. Each meeting had two countries under review, so by the end I learned a lot more about Eritrea, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. After sitting at my desk for most of the past week, I loved the meetings more than ever!
Friday night was another long adventure walk, this time with a new intern from the states. So far we are the only two from the states, while the other interns come from all sorts of different places and (I think) mainly Italy. Luckily she was into wandering down all the cute streets as well. On our wandering adventure we came across the gelateria that I had gone to six years ago on the family’s trip to Europe. Who would have guessed I would have ever gone back?! Thus we bought gelato there, walked around the city some more, and eventually split paths to go home.
I would say it was Friday night that did me in, the straw that broke the camel’s back…but in my case my feet. On Saturday my feet said, no no, not again. Thus, Saturday’s long walking day had plenty of breaks in between; thank goodness my friend I spent Saturday with (from IFAD) was having a tired day as well.
Saturday was quite the wild goose chase. The first goose was Testaccio market. If it weren’t for a kind lady to point us in the right direction, we would have never found it. Testaccio market is the ROMAN market. There are some other good food markets, but this one as of now seems to be untouched by the tourists. My friend and I clearly figured that one out because even with a map and directions, we had the hardest time finding it. Once we found the market when it was about to close up. We still got to see a lot of the vendors, but it wasn’t as great of a picture opportunity. Now that I have a better understanding on how to find it, I will have to venture out there on another Saturday morning.
At the market were lots of fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, and everything else. When spotting a meat vendor we would just look away, because it is known for the odd things that Romans eat and I didn’t want to see too much of that. After the market and buying some bread from a local oven we went off to my apartment to split a chunk of watermelon we purchased and then head off on the rest of our day’s adventure.
We had our next wild goose chase with getting on the right bus. We accidentally got on the bus going the wrong direction. We were exhausted and didn’t mind sitting on the bus, so we stayed on and got a tour of some of Rome we had never seen. By the end of the bus ride we finally made our way to Campo di Fiori where we shopped around and eventually grabbed some food for dinner. We both were just so exhausted and out of it we couldn’t wait to go home. Once I made it home I cleaned up and went to sleep immediately and oh how amazing the sleep was.
Today was a nice Sunday by myself, after being around friends (SO thankful for friends) and being around people at work all the time, it was nice to take a day by myself. The weather wasn’t too bad, so I knew I had to go out and enjoy it while it lasts. Once again I went to the center for some good walking down the gorgeous Roman streets. This time I was able to wander in and out of the stores since they were open during the day. I brought a snack to eat when I got hungry, but next time I plan to have a picnic lunch in Villa Borghese. It’s most definitely the next thing on the list to do, Villa Borghese picnic.
The walk home had perfect weather, with the sun setting and a nice breeze coming in. On my way home I stopped at the Coliseum to rest on the ledge there (my feet were dying in pain) and took in the beautiful day.
Perfect Sunday and the perfect start to a new work week. Now I cut my blog off because it is late and I am tired. CIAO CIAO!
(Sorry if it was boring! So much to catch up on...hopefully next time will be more entertaining!!)
Thus, on Tuesday night I went out on a long walk. I took the metro to the center and decided to slowly make my way back; slowly meaning taking every tiny street and wandering in a different direction. Ultimate goal was to get to Piazza Navona and enjoy a gelato. I wandered and found the cutest restaurants filled with Italians (because by this time the tourists had all already eaten) and the cutest Forno (Italian Oven/ bakery). I tried to remember where I had wandered to get back to these locations, but really all you can do is wander another time and hope to possibly find it again.
After continued wandering I did walk straight into Piazza Navona. Thus, I got a gelato and sat down to people watch. It was perfect people watching conditions: great weather, a week night, still with lots of people, but not crowded. After Piazza Navona I strolled back to Piazza Venezia (in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument), took some pictures, and then walked past the Roman Forum and the Coliseum to get home.
Wednesday night proved to be a fun spontaneous adventure with going out to see Robin Hood (in English) with friends from work. Robin Hood was a great way to relax after a frustrating work day. After the movie we walked up tons of stairs to Villa Borghese to see the view of Rome at night from the hill. It was gorgeous and relaxing; too bad I didn’t have my camera seeing as we had just come from work. After the park, I walked all the way home. The longest walk ever…and won’t be happening again unless I am over ambitious again. Although, I must say the walk home at night is also a prime people watching time. ALL the people walking hand in hand to see the ruins lit up at night; almost a little too cute.
Thursday like Wednesday was a long work day, with a great lunch break surprise. As it turns out, there is a tiny market by our work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. THUS, we walked there, bought fresh local produce AND the biggest hunk of mozzarella ever. It was the buffalo mozzarella kind. Stretchy, light, and comes in a bag of water. Riding home on the metro I felt like I was bringing a fish home from the pet store, yet I knew I was about to eat some AMAZING cheese. Sure enough, the mozzarella was heaven.
Friday was a fun work day. Simply knowing it was Friday was a great feeling, then adding onto the fact that I got to sit into two PSR (Portfolio status report) meetings made it even better. Each meeting had two countries under review, so by the end I learned a lot more about Eritrea, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. After sitting at my desk for most of the past week, I loved the meetings more than ever!
Friday night was another long adventure walk, this time with a new intern from the states. So far we are the only two from the states, while the other interns come from all sorts of different places and (I think) mainly Italy. Luckily she was into wandering down all the cute streets as well. On our wandering adventure we came across the gelateria that I had gone to six years ago on the family’s trip to Europe. Who would have guessed I would have ever gone back?! Thus we bought gelato there, walked around the city some more, and eventually split paths to go home.
I would say it was Friday night that did me in, the straw that broke the camel’s back…but in my case my feet. On Saturday my feet said, no no, not again. Thus, Saturday’s long walking day had plenty of breaks in between; thank goodness my friend I spent Saturday with (from IFAD) was having a tired day as well.
Saturday was quite the wild goose chase. The first goose was Testaccio market. If it weren’t for a kind lady to point us in the right direction, we would have never found it. Testaccio market is the ROMAN market. There are some other good food markets, but this one as of now seems to be untouched by the tourists. My friend and I clearly figured that one out because even with a map and directions, we had the hardest time finding it. Once we found the market when it was about to close up. We still got to see a lot of the vendors, but it wasn’t as great of a picture opportunity. Now that I have a better understanding on how to find it, I will have to venture out there on another Saturday morning.
At the market were lots of fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, and everything else. When spotting a meat vendor we would just look away, because it is known for the odd things that Romans eat and I didn’t want to see too much of that. After the market and buying some bread from a local oven we went off to my apartment to split a chunk of watermelon we purchased and then head off on the rest of our day’s adventure.
We had our next wild goose chase with getting on the right bus. We accidentally got on the bus going the wrong direction. We were exhausted and didn’t mind sitting on the bus, so we stayed on and got a tour of some of Rome we had never seen. By the end of the bus ride we finally made our way to Campo di Fiori where we shopped around and eventually grabbed some food for dinner. We both were just so exhausted and out of it we couldn’t wait to go home. Once I made it home I cleaned up and went to sleep immediately and oh how amazing the sleep was.
Today was a nice Sunday by myself, after being around friends (SO thankful for friends) and being around people at work all the time, it was nice to take a day by myself. The weather wasn’t too bad, so I knew I had to go out and enjoy it while it lasts. Once again I went to the center for some good walking down the gorgeous Roman streets. This time I was able to wander in and out of the stores since they were open during the day. I brought a snack to eat when I got hungry, but next time I plan to have a picnic lunch in Villa Borghese. It’s most definitely the next thing on the list to do, Villa Borghese picnic.
The walk home had perfect weather, with the sun setting and a nice breeze coming in. On my way home I stopped at the Coliseum to rest on the ledge there (my feet were dying in pain) and took in the beautiful day.
Perfect Sunday and the perfect start to a new work week. Now I cut my blog off because it is late and I am tired. CIAO CIAO!
(Sorry if it was boring! So much to catch up on...hopefully next time will be more entertaining!!)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Boungiorno! Bonjour! Good Morning!
The title comes straight from my mornings at work. No lie…I mean, I know, it’s kinda ridic. This is how the story goes:
I am the only American in my open space at work, and of course the people who walk by know. So…first they say good day to the Italian girls, then hi to the French lady, then good morning to me. It’s funny to note that the people who say good morning could then carry on a completely fluent conversation in any of those languages. Here begins my lamenting of not taking French. I feel like I hear more French at work than English. Why didn’t I learn French?!
It’s a new week and a new beginning for more adventures. This past weekend was lovely fun. Saturday another intern (who has been here for 5 months) took me around the center of Rome (the SUPER historic district). It’s all relatively close to me, thus we met up by my place and walked. We walked and walked and walked. It was fun to finally have someone else to go on an adventure with. The girl who took me around is super sweet too and we had a fun day. It ended with thunder and lightning so we both ran off at the end to get back to our apartments as soon as possible.
Rome is like…Florida?! Not really, just the weather lately has been reminiscent of the times I walk to campus with it super sunny and gorgeous outside and then come out of class to a thunderstorm. It’s been like that here the past few days. Sometimes it only threatens to rain, and then other times it does. Today was one of the latter days. Luckily, despite the cold and clear weather I had this morning during my walk to the metro, I had packed my umbrella.
The cold mornings are an interesting topic which surprisingly I have forgotten to mention. With all the talk of sweltering Rome summers I had hear prior to leaving the states, I hardly packed any warm clothes. However, the mornings and nights have been cold! It’s funny, because really it’s not that bad. It’s cool on the walk in the morning and I look forward to getting on the metro; however, to the Italians it is super cold. They walk around in coats and scarves!! Oh my have I seen so many scarves. Some people at work mentioned how I was not bundled up, we all just laughed. It’s worth it though to be dressed for warm weather when it comes to the lovely weather at lunch time!
Lunch time is a time I look forward to everyday. The food isn’t that good, it’s the company. All of us interns and young workers meet up for lunch. Part of it is generally spent outside and oh has the weather been fabulous. The others are all so sweet and it’s always fun to talk with them. Hopefully we can all hang out some more soon. Since everything is still all so new for me I’m still trying to get into a routine of things and I haven’t had the time to try and organize something. Hopefully this week things will swing into action.
Although I am still trying to get into a groove, I already feel homey here and LOVE it here. I love night time walks. One time I went to walk around 10:30 thinking that would be late, but no! That is when I saw ALL the Italians. All the tourists were mostly gone and all the Italians were out. Here it was like a secret I have been missing the whole time. There were more people out during my 10:30 walk than my 8:30 walk!! I saw bunches of friends meeting up for dinner and super cute old couples; cute old people walking around Rome late at night! It’s the whole late night dinner thing that I need to get into. One of the higher up people at work today said he didn’t get to sleep till 1 last night. I was shocked (early work mornings). He said it was because he went out to dinner with friends. My boss had even said one day that she didn’t get home from dinner till midnight!
Thus that is something I need to get on!! Late night gatherings! Hopefully some of the interns will want to get together one night.
Speaking of people at work, work has been nice. I love the people there. Everyone is so great. Today I got to sit in on the Kenya portfolio review meeting. The meeting lasted 3 hours, but it was definitely my favorite part of the day. It was interesting to hear about Kenya, the projects going on there, and especially the finance and economics side of it all. None of these projects could happen without the finance and economic side of things. Too bad I think I like the project “planning planning” part of it better. It’s all still interesting.
Other than meetings, I still have been reading a lot to learn about everything. I also have been told about what I will be doing. I will be helping with the portfolio reviews with the equations, and surprise finance side of it (not a surprise at all, obviously my boss is the Financial Management Officer). I’ve started to work on it; however, it is a slow start because the meetings are still taking place and such.
Well, it’s “late” for me now since I am working and have to get to bed early for my long work day (wake up at 6:30, get home at 6). My roommate just got home and says “hi” to everyone. (The whole housing thing is still working out fabulously!)
Special note to all my Gainesvillians (is that what we are called?): MISS YOU ALL and hope you are all having fun! Thanks for all the support and love. Ciao e buonanotte!
I am the only American in my open space at work, and of course the people who walk by know. So…first they say good day to the Italian girls, then hi to the French lady, then good morning to me. It’s funny to note that the people who say good morning could then carry on a completely fluent conversation in any of those languages. Here begins my lamenting of not taking French. I feel like I hear more French at work than English. Why didn’t I learn French?!
It’s a new week and a new beginning for more adventures. This past weekend was lovely fun. Saturday another intern (who has been here for 5 months) took me around the center of Rome (the SUPER historic district). It’s all relatively close to me, thus we met up by my place and walked. We walked and walked and walked. It was fun to finally have someone else to go on an adventure with. The girl who took me around is super sweet too and we had a fun day. It ended with thunder and lightning so we both ran off at the end to get back to our apartments as soon as possible.
Rome is like…Florida?! Not really, just the weather lately has been reminiscent of the times I walk to campus with it super sunny and gorgeous outside and then come out of class to a thunderstorm. It’s been like that here the past few days. Sometimes it only threatens to rain, and then other times it does. Today was one of the latter days. Luckily, despite the cold and clear weather I had this morning during my walk to the metro, I had packed my umbrella.
The cold mornings are an interesting topic which surprisingly I have forgotten to mention. With all the talk of sweltering Rome summers I had hear prior to leaving the states, I hardly packed any warm clothes. However, the mornings and nights have been cold! It’s funny, because really it’s not that bad. It’s cool on the walk in the morning and I look forward to getting on the metro; however, to the Italians it is super cold. They walk around in coats and scarves!! Oh my have I seen so many scarves. Some people at work mentioned how I was not bundled up, we all just laughed. It’s worth it though to be dressed for warm weather when it comes to the lovely weather at lunch time!
Lunch time is a time I look forward to everyday. The food isn’t that good, it’s the company. All of us interns and young workers meet up for lunch. Part of it is generally spent outside and oh has the weather been fabulous. The others are all so sweet and it’s always fun to talk with them. Hopefully we can all hang out some more soon. Since everything is still all so new for me I’m still trying to get into a routine of things and I haven’t had the time to try and organize something. Hopefully this week things will swing into action.
Although I am still trying to get into a groove, I already feel homey here and LOVE it here. I love night time walks. One time I went to walk around 10:30 thinking that would be late, but no! That is when I saw ALL the Italians. All the tourists were mostly gone and all the Italians were out. Here it was like a secret I have been missing the whole time. There were more people out during my 10:30 walk than my 8:30 walk!! I saw bunches of friends meeting up for dinner and super cute old couples; cute old people walking around Rome late at night! It’s the whole late night dinner thing that I need to get into. One of the higher up people at work today said he didn’t get to sleep till 1 last night. I was shocked (early work mornings). He said it was because he went out to dinner with friends. My boss had even said one day that she didn’t get home from dinner till midnight!
Thus that is something I need to get on!! Late night gatherings! Hopefully some of the interns will want to get together one night.
Speaking of people at work, work has been nice. I love the people there. Everyone is so great. Today I got to sit in on the Kenya portfolio review meeting. The meeting lasted 3 hours, but it was definitely my favorite part of the day. It was interesting to hear about Kenya, the projects going on there, and especially the finance and economics side of it all. None of these projects could happen without the finance and economic side of things. Too bad I think I like the project “planning planning” part of it better. It’s all still interesting.
Other than meetings, I still have been reading a lot to learn about everything. I also have been told about what I will be doing. I will be helping with the portfolio reviews with the equations, and surprise finance side of it (not a surprise at all, obviously my boss is the Financial Management Officer). I’ve started to work on it; however, it is a slow start because the meetings are still taking place and such.
Well, it’s “late” for me now since I am working and have to get to bed early for my long work day (wake up at 6:30, get home at 6). My roommate just got home and says “hi” to everyone. (The whole housing thing is still working out fabulously!)
Special note to all my Gainesvillians (is that what we are called?): MISS YOU ALL and hope you are all having fun! Thanks for all the support and love. Ciao e buonanotte!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Sono Stanca
Today I woke up tired and the sleepiness never stopped. All the mini coffees of the day weren’t even going to be able to take care of it. Thus, I’m about to hit the hay and wake up for FRIDAY. It’s probably not good how much I am looking forward to tomorrow being Friday considering that I did not work on Monday. Anywho…a short summary of the day and then it’s time for the hay:
This morning I woke up to a cold sunny day; this was exciting after the rain that hit on my walk home from work. Despite the lovely sun, my body just wanted to stay in bed. I suppose I exhausted myself after a long day of work (wake up at 6:25 and get home at 6:10) and a night walk around the area (when I took the night time pictures of the coliseum). Oh well, it was time for work. Off to my morning 25 minute walk to the metro and then my ride to work.
Work was lots of learning again today, lots and lots of reading. I started to have a hard time staying awake to read so I headed downstairs to the bar with the portfolio review in tow. I was in desperate need for a cappuccino. Thus, no matter the fear that had been instilled in me at the bar the other day, I needed coffee so much that I managed to order by myself without too much confusion. All I know is that Italians are rapid at their coffee serving, and that makes me very happy.
After coffee and completing plenty of reading it had already progressed to lunch time. Today I hadn’t had plans in place for lunch (like I had the previous two days) so I was getting a bit nervous. Lunch by myself, not sure I can navigate that quite yet. Luckily after some prayer, a lady who works in my open area asked if I would care to join her. I was thoroughly delighted and off we went to my first lunch at the cafeteria.
Thank goodness I had someone to go with, because there was no explanation or reason behind the cafeteria. Not what I was expecting. After picking out cold pasta with vegetables and a bowl of fruit we sat down for lunch. My third lunch at IFAD and my third lunch with someone from a different country (yesterday I had lunch with three different people than the first day, all from three different countries). The lady I had lunch with today is from France. She actually doesn’t speak much English, so the fact that she still invited me to lunch was quite nice.
After lunch it was back to reading. I read up on Ethiopia and then went to the Ethiopia portfolio meeting (yesterday was the Madagascar meeting). Ethiopia was much different than my experience yesterday with Madagascar. It is all so interesting, all so different, and all so confusing. These people know their stuff.
After the meeting, more reading, and then HOME!! I was so happy to return, rest, cook dinner, and get ready for bed. Tomorrow is Friday, but it has the potential of being a crazy day…because I am supposed to have a talk with one of the people who in charge of me. I feel like some actual work might be coming my way. I look forward to this, but at the same time it is intimidating. They had me do something yesterday, and they say it so fast and expect me to get it all the first time. Hopefully I will prevail!
CIAO!
This morning I woke up to a cold sunny day; this was exciting after the rain that hit on my walk home from work. Despite the lovely sun, my body just wanted to stay in bed. I suppose I exhausted myself after a long day of work (wake up at 6:25 and get home at 6:10) and a night walk around the area (when I took the night time pictures of the coliseum). Oh well, it was time for work. Off to my morning 25 minute walk to the metro and then my ride to work.
Work was lots of learning again today, lots and lots of reading. I started to have a hard time staying awake to read so I headed downstairs to the bar with the portfolio review in tow. I was in desperate need for a cappuccino. Thus, no matter the fear that had been instilled in me at the bar the other day, I needed coffee so much that I managed to order by myself without too much confusion. All I know is that Italians are rapid at their coffee serving, and that makes me very happy.
After coffee and completing plenty of reading it had already progressed to lunch time. Today I hadn’t had plans in place for lunch (like I had the previous two days) so I was getting a bit nervous. Lunch by myself, not sure I can navigate that quite yet. Luckily after some prayer, a lady who works in my open area asked if I would care to join her. I was thoroughly delighted and off we went to my first lunch at the cafeteria.
Thank goodness I had someone to go with, because there was no explanation or reason behind the cafeteria. Not what I was expecting. After picking out cold pasta with vegetables and a bowl of fruit we sat down for lunch. My third lunch at IFAD and my third lunch with someone from a different country (yesterday I had lunch with three different people than the first day, all from three different countries). The lady I had lunch with today is from France. She actually doesn’t speak much English, so the fact that she still invited me to lunch was quite nice.
After lunch it was back to reading. I read up on Ethiopia and then went to the Ethiopia portfolio meeting (yesterday was the Madagascar meeting). Ethiopia was much different than my experience yesterday with Madagascar. It is all so interesting, all so different, and all so confusing. These people know their stuff.
After the meeting, more reading, and then HOME!! I was so happy to return, rest, cook dinner, and get ready for bed. Tomorrow is Friday, but it has the potential of being a crazy day…because I am supposed to have a talk with one of the people who in charge of me. I feel like some actual work might be coming my way. I look forward to this, but at the same time it is intimidating. They had me do something yesterday, and they say it so fast and expect me to get it all the first time. Hopefully I will prevail!
CIAO!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Let's take a Coffee!
My first day of work is DONE! I don’t know if I have ever been so intimidated by a day before. While taking my 20 minute walk to the metro this morning (and passing by the Coloseo In all of its glory) I was just thinking to myself how I just wanted the day to be over and how I knew I had no idea what was about to happen.
Well here is what happened:
When I arrived at the beautiful building of IFAD I was quickly whisked away by human resources to sign forms and then taken to my floor. While walking around with the human resources officer I quickly realized that my middle school dream had come true…to work in a big fancy building where a whole bunch of important work goes down (don’t care so much about it now, but it made me laugh…and I mean, it does make me feel important). After going up to my floor the HR officer passed me off to an English worker named Alex. He works in the same “open space” as me. He then introduced me to a couple of people, including Ruth (my boss and a lot of other people’s boss as well) and then passed me off to another lady. The next lady took me to my desk. Then Ruth walked by and said “let’s take a coffee.” Those words sounded lovely to my ears…even though I wasn’t even sure what that meant and why we were able to do such a thing when we just arrived at work. Back downstairs we went and off to my first encounter with THE bar.
It is an Italian way of life and the fact I have the chance to work at such a place for part of my life is a huge excitement. It is a coffee bar right in our building; a fully fledged fancy coffee bar. Who knows if I will ever be able to take it on by myself, and this is why: In the mad rush of everyone ordering Ruth ordered a short coffee regular for me (saying this all quickly in Italian with questions and answers going back and forth), then we went down to the bar and told them what we ordered and all this crazy Italian talk went down so fast with all these other orders going on at the same time, then somehow I ended up with this tablespoon sized coffee cup with coffee. Smallest coffee I had ever seen. The end.
We then sat down and talked. She talked about Africa and all the projects and project evaluations that are about to take place, all the audits and financial reports and soooo much information. She has a serious job. Somewhere along the lines I heard about Gianluca, my predecessor, the one they all love. Of course it is easier to love a young Italian with a lovely smile. I am going to have to work so hard to work as hard as him and then to make them love me like they love him. He now works full time for IFAD and he comes in on the adventure soon enough.
After coffee and learning so much about Africa I felt like we were in Africa, we went back up to our floor. There I met the amazingly sweet Rahel. Rahel and I had been in contact about the internship the whole past semester; thus, meeting her was like meeting a long lost aunt or something. We had been in contact, but just hadn’t met yet, and turns out…she is super sweet.
She then proceeded to take me around to everyone’s office in the eastern and southern Africa division. Yes, I still felt like I was in Africa and yes I kept thinking about all the Theta Alpha Africa lovers out there. After the 20 meetings and remembering no one’s name we returned to my desk in the open area and came in contact with Gianluca. Rahel then said, “Let’s take a coffee.” WHAT?! I was thinking. Another?! Yes it is true that they hadn’t had one yet, but still. People have time for this! (They then said I should cherish this time because soon I will be flooded with work. )
We then when on my second adventure to the bar! This time was even crazier with more people ordering and more odd things being ordered. Rahel said there are so many different kinds of coffee orders she gets confused. Well…what about me?! I don’t know anything and there isn’t even a menu. (This time around Gianluca bought me some juice since I said no to another coffee.)
After another coffee break and another learning by listening session it was off to the desk where I spent the rest of my day reading project management reports on the whole Southern and Eastern Africa division. Wow do I know more about Africa now, and it is only the tip of the iceberg.
For lunch Gianluca was kind enough to invite me out with some of his friends (2 other young lady workers, both from different countries). We had a lovely Italian lunch out of the building. It was interesting to have a meal while speaking in English while knowing everyone at the table was from a different country. Too bad I only speak English fluently.
After lunch it was time for more reading and getting confused with the 200 acronyms they use. (I was warned about the crazy acronyms). Seeing so many acronyms makes for slow reading. Once 5 o’clock came around it was time to pack up and head home.
I skyped with mom, got confused with my weird Italian internet, got upset with my internet (hope my internet still works all day tomorrow and doesn’t end on me), made dinner, talked with Rossella (in Italian and English) about my internet, we both were confused with my internet, talked about my day with Rossella in Italian (I said no English this time) and then typed this blog into word to post online.
It’s late and most definitely time for bed now. I just knew posting this would cap off the day and sort of relieve me from this pressure cooker of information. So much newness for one day is quite unbelievable. Tomorrow is sure to be exciting. (Madagascar meeting I get to sit in and the rain that is sure to come.)
Well here is what happened:
When I arrived at the beautiful building of IFAD I was quickly whisked away by human resources to sign forms and then taken to my floor. While walking around with the human resources officer I quickly realized that my middle school dream had come true…to work in a big fancy building where a whole bunch of important work goes down (don’t care so much about it now, but it made me laugh…and I mean, it does make me feel important). After going up to my floor the HR officer passed me off to an English worker named Alex. He works in the same “open space” as me. He then introduced me to a couple of people, including Ruth (my boss and a lot of other people’s boss as well) and then passed me off to another lady. The next lady took me to my desk. Then Ruth walked by and said “let’s take a coffee.” Those words sounded lovely to my ears…even though I wasn’t even sure what that meant and why we were able to do such a thing when we just arrived at work. Back downstairs we went and off to my first encounter with THE bar.
It is an Italian way of life and the fact I have the chance to work at such a place for part of my life is a huge excitement. It is a coffee bar right in our building; a fully fledged fancy coffee bar. Who knows if I will ever be able to take it on by myself, and this is why: In the mad rush of everyone ordering Ruth ordered a short coffee regular for me (saying this all quickly in Italian with questions and answers going back and forth), then we went down to the bar and told them what we ordered and all this crazy Italian talk went down so fast with all these other orders going on at the same time, then somehow I ended up with this tablespoon sized coffee cup with coffee. Smallest coffee I had ever seen. The end.
We then sat down and talked. She talked about Africa and all the projects and project evaluations that are about to take place, all the audits and financial reports and soooo much information. She has a serious job. Somewhere along the lines I heard about Gianluca, my predecessor, the one they all love. Of course it is easier to love a young Italian with a lovely smile. I am going to have to work so hard to work as hard as him and then to make them love me like they love him. He now works full time for IFAD and he comes in on the adventure soon enough.
After coffee and learning so much about Africa I felt like we were in Africa, we went back up to our floor. There I met the amazingly sweet Rahel. Rahel and I had been in contact about the internship the whole past semester; thus, meeting her was like meeting a long lost aunt or something. We had been in contact, but just hadn’t met yet, and turns out…she is super sweet.
She then proceeded to take me around to everyone’s office in the eastern and southern Africa division. Yes, I still felt like I was in Africa and yes I kept thinking about all the Theta Alpha Africa lovers out there. After the 20 meetings and remembering no one’s name we returned to my desk in the open area and came in contact with Gianluca. Rahel then said, “Let’s take a coffee.” WHAT?! I was thinking. Another?! Yes it is true that they hadn’t had one yet, but still. People have time for this! (They then said I should cherish this time because soon I will be flooded with work. )
We then when on my second adventure to the bar! This time was even crazier with more people ordering and more odd things being ordered. Rahel said there are so many different kinds of coffee orders she gets confused. Well…what about me?! I don’t know anything and there isn’t even a menu. (This time around Gianluca bought me some juice since I said no to another coffee.)
After another coffee break and another learning by listening session it was off to the desk where I spent the rest of my day reading project management reports on the whole Southern and Eastern Africa division. Wow do I know more about Africa now, and it is only the tip of the iceberg.
For lunch Gianluca was kind enough to invite me out with some of his friends (2 other young lady workers, both from different countries). We had a lovely Italian lunch out of the building. It was interesting to have a meal while speaking in English while knowing everyone at the table was from a different country. Too bad I only speak English fluently.
After lunch it was time for more reading and getting confused with the 200 acronyms they use. (I was warned about the crazy acronyms). Seeing so many acronyms makes for slow reading. Once 5 o’clock came around it was time to pack up and head home.
I skyped with mom, got confused with my weird Italian internet, got upset with my internet (hope my internet still works all day tomorrow and doesn’t end on me), made dinner, talked with Rossella (in Italian and English) about my internet, we both were confused with my internet, talked about my day with Rossella in Italian (I said no English this time) and then typed this blog into word to post online.
It’s late and most definitely time for bed now. I just knew posting this would cap off the day and sort of relieve me from this pressure cooker of information. So much newness for one day is quite unbelievable. Tomorrow is sure to be exciting. (Madagascar meeting I get to sit in and the rain that is sure to come.)
Monday, May 17, 2010
BELLA CITTA!
It is my third day here and no internet on my own computer yet, so I am resorting to typing my blog into word and I will put it on my blog when I get internet. I use Rossella’s internet for email and such, but it is difficult to type on so I rather not use up her internet time trying to update my blog.
Yesterday was adventure day. I woke up late, got ready, read my Rick Steves’ book, and then set out on my adventure to walk around Rome and get the feel for where everything is. Thus, I was able to do A LOT of sightseeing because I just wanted to see it all and then on another day go back and see each place more in depth. Therefore, yesterday I saw: the Coliseum, (walked by) the Roman Forum, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, walked through the Jewish Ghetto, crossed the river to Trastevere, explored the random streets in Trastevere, happened upon a pretty church garden, crossed the river again by the Boca della Verita (mouth of truth), had a panino at a small place packed with Italians watching the soccer match, walked by Circo Massimo and sat there for a bit, made my way back to the Coliseum and walked home.
It was so perfect to be able to walk everywhere. Although getting around the Roman Forum does take awhile. Once past the Forum it is easy to stroll everywhere. I can understand how Lauren told me that she was in super shape while living in Rome!
The day was nice because the sun did come out after raining in the morning so it turned out to be a PERFECT cooler day. I wore jeans and a light sweater for most of the day. I definitely didn’t ecpect this type of weather in Rome! It was so nice to finally see the sun and make everything seem happier. It was a bit depressing though to see all the families and couples at the sites; I just wanted to join their families! When I would hear English my ears would perk up, but no one ever talked to me. Oh well…I can’t wait to hopefully make friends at work!!
The day was nice to just walk around all the places and take pictures. Now I also have plenty of pictures of only my face from sticking my camera out in front of me, ha. One unexpected adventure of the day came after I returned to my apartment around 6. I came back, and then decided to go out and see if I could go to an internet point and tabacchi for a calling card. Thus, I didn’t take my camera. It is nice to just walk out of my apartment (which is REALLY quiet) and then be right in the “center” of Rome. Right outside my apartment is San Giovanni in Laterano (a really big church with a piazza in front of it). Both of the stores I had set out to go to were already closed, BUT I saw this huge event going on in front of the church. I made my way across the street and saw this huge Festa della Mundo (Festival of the World). There were tents set up representing different countries, many from South America and Africa, and then there was a stage with the different groups doing their traditional dances. There were hundreds of people at the event and they were not tourists!! I sat down on some steps and watched for about an hour. It was fabulous fun. It was also nice to try and figure out what the emcees where saying. Rome is a huge Italian class EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY!
I was then able to return to the apartment, have dinner, talk to Mom and Dad, and then use Rossella’s internet. It is so exciting to be able to talk to people after being stuck inside of my head ALL DAY LONG! It is ridiculous how weird it is to experience so many fun things and make random decisions on what to do by yourself. No one to discuss things with makes me go partially stir crazy in my head. Thus, it is so nice to talk to people online! THANK you so much to all of you who have helped support me by checking in on me!! After chatting online, I skyped for the FIRST TIME!! Kelly made my day I could see her perfectly (even though she couldn’t see me) and hear her perfectly; all for the simple price of internet! It was so much fun, oh how easily it makes me happy to talk to other people. Can’t wait for more skyping when I get internet on my computer!
Today I have been staying inside so far. It’s funny because I LOVE my apartment; so cute and Italian. I have a lot of things to get done inside so it is good to take the time for that. Plus, it stormed earlier in the day. Now the sun is out and it is 3:30. After the rain I opened my shutters on my window and leaned out. One of my neighbors was doing the same thing and it startled me a bit to see how close we were! Rossella is out of the apartment; she had gotten up early to go to the doctor and I she hasn’t come back yet. Yesterday night I had stayed up later and she came home around 11:30 after dinner with her Aunt. We talked a lot in Italian about our day. She was happy and said my Italian was much better and that I was looking better. I sure was a mess the previous day from no sleep and huge amount of jet lag.
Now I am just preparing for work tomorrow and waiting for when Rossella returns so we can hopefully go buy internet. Luckily she is so nice and helps me.
I am SO excited to start work tomorrow. I arrived in Rome the perfect number of days before work to get slightly accustomed and then get excited for work. I pray to meet friends. It is so boring to do things by myself, I want someone to go exploring with. I imagine there must be a couple of other interns there. They must be interesting, because in order to apply for such a crazy internship is a huge step. I still can’t believe the craziness I got myself into. How did I ever think I could do this?!
Yesterday was adventure day. I woke up late, got ready, read my Rick Steves’ book, and then set out on my adventure to walk around Rome and get the feel for where everything is. Thus, I was able to do A LOT of sightseeing because I just wanted to see it all and then on another day go back and see each place more in depth. Therefore, yesterday I saw: the Coliseum, (walked by) the Roman Forum, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, walked through the Jewish Ghetto, crossed the river to Trastevere, explored the random streets in Trastevere, happened upon a pretty church garden, crossed the river again by the Boca della Verita (mouth of truth), had a panino at a small place packed with Italians watching the soccer match, walked by Circo Massimo and sat there for a bit, made my way back to the Coliseum and walked home.
It was so perfect to be able to walk everywhere. Although getting around the Roman Forum does take awhile. Once past the Forum it is easy to stroll everywhere. I can understand how Lauren told me that she was in super shape while living in Rome!
The day was nice because the sun did come out after raining in the morning so it turned out to be a PERFECT cooler day. I wore jeans and a light sweater for most of the day. I definitely didn’t ecpect this type of weather in Rome! It was so nice to finally see the sun and make everything seem happier. It was a bit depressing though to see all the families and couples at the sites; I just wanted to join their families! When I would hear English my ears would perk up, but no one ever talked to me. Oh well…I can’t wait to hopefully make friends at work!!
The day was nice to just walk around all the places and take pictures. Now I also have plenty of pictures of only my face from sticking my camera out in front of me, ha. One unexpected adventure of the day came after I returned to my apartment around 6. I came back, and then decided to go out and see if I could go to an internet point and tabacchi for a calling card. Thus, I didn’t take my camera. It is nice to just walk out of my apartment (which is REALLY quiet) and then be right in the “center” of Rome. Right outside my apartment is San Giovanni in Laterano (a really big church with a piazza in front of it). Both of the stores I had set out to go to were already closed, BUT I saw this huge event going on in front of the church. I made my way across the street and saw this huge Festa della Mundo (Festival of the World). There were tents set up representing different countries, many from South America and Africa, and then there was a stage with the different groups doing their traditional dances. There were hundreds of people at the event and they were not tourists!! I sat down on some steps and watched for about an hour. It was fabulous fun. It was also nice to try and figure out what the emcees where saying. Rome is a huge Italian class EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY!
I was then able to return to the apartment, have dinner, talk to Mom and Dad, and then use Rossella’s internet. It is so exciting to be able to talk to people after being stuck inside of my head ALL DAY LONG! It is ridiculous how weird it is to experience so many fun things and make random decisions on what to do by yourself. No one to discuss things with makes me go partially stir crazy in my head. Thus, it is so nice to talk to people online! THANK you so much to all of you who have helped support me by checking in on me!! After chatting online, I skyped for the FIRST TIME!! Kelly made my day I could see her perfectly (even though she couldn’t see me) and hear her perfectly; all for the simple price of internet! It was so much fun, oh how easily it makes me happy to talk to other people. Can’t wait for more skyping when I get internet on my computer!
Today I have been staying inside so far. It’s funny because I LOVE my apartment; so cute and Italian. I have a lot of things to get done inside so it is good to take the time for that. Plus, it stormed earlier in the day. Now the sun is out and it is 3:30. After the rain I opened my shutters on my window and leaned out. One of my neighbors was doing the same thing and it startled me a bit to see how close we were! Rossella is out of the apartment; she had gotten up early to go to the doctor and I she hasn’t come back yet. Yesterday night I had stayed up later and she came home around 11:30 after dinner with her Aunt. We talked a lot in Italian about our day. She was happy and said my Italian was much better and that I was looking better. I sure was a mess the previous day from no sleep and huge amount of jet lag.
Now I am just preparing for work tomorrow and waiting for when Rossella returns so we can hopefully go buy internet. Luckily she is so nice and helps me.
I am SO excited to start work tomorrow. I arrived in Rome the perfect number of days before work to get slightly accustomed and then get excited for work. I pray to meet friends. It is so boring to do things by myself, I want someone to go exploring with. I imagine there must be a couple of other interns there. They must be interesting, because in order to apply for such a crazy internship is a huge step. I still can’t believe the craziness I got myself into. How did I ever think I could do this?!
CIAO ROMA!
I’m finally here! The past two days have been a blur. To fly for so long and then to arrive in a different country in the morning is quite tiring; however, I was able to brush it off for a few hours when getting off the plane…because it was time to enter into the Eternal City and my two first daunting tasks: taking a taxi by myself, and finally, after so much time of looking at pictures of it, arriving at il mio appartamento.
The drive into the city went fast. I just couldn’t believe it was all happening. The city seemed sleepy with the constant light rain making the Italian buildings look sad and sleepy. Not many people were out on the streets yet so I felt like I wasn’t really here. As we drove into the city I knew we were getting closer when we reached the ancient city wall. YES to be living inside of the historic center! THEN I saw it, the coliseum. EEEE! We just drove right past it. Not many tourists were there yet. It just seemed like another building at the moment, BUT it IS the coliseum and it IS my neighbor.
Then we drove right down my street, my street which I have stared at so many times on google street view. Then I saw my huge gorgeous door! How can I not feel fabulous opening that! I rang for Marco Villa (our renter) and I heard the huge door unlock. I lugged in my luggage and then my roommate Rossella came down. She had a huge smile and immediately gave me a hug. We had to then lug the bags up a couple flights of stairs and then were able to take a lift the rest of the way up.
Rossella is a very sweet Italian lady. She speaks English well and if I speak slowly in English she can understand. However, I told her it would be fine to speak in Italian. Thus, it has already been a learning experience. I don’t know everything she says, but we work it out and she is patient. Using your hands to speak helps a lot. It’s only the first day though!! Here comes the learning!
Once I got in the apartment I began setting up and unpacking. It’s crazy how much stuff I have here. I suppose I will be here for quite some time though and that is why I have all these everyday things. It’s not vacation!
After unpacking I rested because the time change is deathly and it was raining quite a bit. Rossella was also napping and told me that later we will go for a walk to see the supermarket and such that I will need in the area.
After waking up we talked a bit, I asked her lots of questions, and she showed me everything in the apartment. It is a TINY apartment, but very well kept. Everything is clean and in its place. She is so kind and generous. When I arrived she made me a café, so delicious and Italian. Then I had to learn to use her little coffee contraption that goes on the stove, gas stove that is. Oh the adventures to be had in the kitchen.
Hopefully I can get my own internet soon. She is kind to lend me hers, but I pray that my internet and phone situation can be figured out. In regards to wanting internet, I miss everyone already, but I’m doing well. I put up pictures and know that everyone is so supportive of me and I am thankful for that! I think of my crazy and supportive family, my lovely Roomie in the ville who always has a smile when I am sad, the fabulous four ladies who kept me company in Gainesville while I packed for both Panama and Rome, Lindsay who kept up with Rome details the whole spring semester, and of course the amazing duo of Vana and Shea who are so fabulous and I feel like you both should be here to share in food adventures.
Psalm 143:8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go for to you I lift up my soul.
The drive into the city went fast. I just couldn’t believe it was all happening. The city seemed sleepy with the constant light rain making the Italian buildings look sad and sleepy. Not many people were out on the streets yet so I felt like I wasn’t really here. As we drove into the city I knew we were getting closer when we reached the ancient city wall. YES to be living inside of the historic center! THEN I saw it, the coliseum. EEEE! We just drove right past it. Not many tourists were there yet. It just seemed like another building at the moment, BUT it IS the coliseum and it IS my neighbor.
Then we drove right down my street, my street which I have stared at so many times on google street view. Then I saw my huge gorgeous door! How can I not feel fabulous opening that! I rang for Marco Villa (our renter) and I heard the huge door unlock. I lugged in my luggage and then my roommate Rossella came down. She had a huge smile and immediately gave me a hug. We had to then lug the bags up a couple flights of stairs and then were able to take a lift the rest of the way up.
Rossella is a very sweet Italian lady. She speaks English well and if I speak slowly in English she can understand. However, I told her it would be fine to speak in Italian. Thus, it has already been a learning experience. I don’t know everything she says, but we work it out and she is patient. Using your hands to speak helps a lot. It’s only the first day though!! Here comes the learning!
Once I got in the apartment I began setting up and unpacking. It’s crazy how much stuff I have here. I suppose I will be here for quite some time though and that is why I have all these everyday things. It’s not vacation!
After unpacking I rested because the time change is deathly and it was raining quite a bit. Rossella was also napping and told me that later we will go for a walk to see the supermarket and such that I will need in the area.
After waking up we talked a bit, I asked her lots of questions, and she showed me everything in the apartment. It is a TINY apartment, but very well kept. Everything is clean and in its place. She is so kind and generous. When I arrived she made me a café, so delicious and Italian. Then I had to learn to use her little coffee contraption that goes on the stove, gas stove that is. Oh the adventures to be had in the kitchen.
Hopefully I can get my own internet soon. She is kind to lend me hers, but I pray that my internet and phone situation can be figured out. In regards to wanting internet, I miss everyone already, but I’m doing well. I put up pictures and know that everyone is so supportive of me and I am thankful for that! I think of my crazy and supportive family, my lovely Roomie in the ville who always has a smile when I am sad, the fabulous four ladies who kept me company in Gainesville while I packed for both Panama and Rome, Lindsay who kept up with Rome details the whole spring semester, and of course the amazing duo of Vana and Shea who are so fabulous and I feel like you both should be here to share in food adventures.
Psalm 143:8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go for to you I lift up my soul.
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