What does Sarah do all day?

So, many of my friends have asked what I am doing with my time in Rome. I had lofty goals of taking cooking classes while learning Italian, finding a new career and painting the many historical sites here in Rome. Those of you who know me well will understand the struggle for me to relax and be okay with not having "something" to do. I've run through many crazy ideas and attempts, from starting an ugly souvenir stand in front of our house (we live by all of the catacombes, and many tourists pass, but there are no souvenir stands!) to reviving my desire to become an arbourist, to touring the sties (though....really, I've never really cared too much for ancient history), and have come to the conclusion that there is no one answer.

Right now I am loving the fact I can spend time running, and seeing what I could do in a marathon if I actually had the time to train properly. Since we live near the Appia Antica Regional Park, the runs are stunning and I get to be outside at least three to four mornings a week. Granted, running on the trails has its challenges....a sheep herd (with real shepards and shepard dogs), wild dogs, dogs with owners that don't seem to care where/what their dogs do, people who ignore the "no cars allowed" signs, and a lovely organic garden! Don't forget the myriad of "forgotten" historical treasures that only appear once the grass has either been cut away or dies....through, the more I get to understand the area, the more I think I am running over millions of dead Romans (there are three catacombes near us). Not sure how motivating that is...? Next week I am starting my interval training, and the only track I know of is the one next to the Roman Baths that was built for the 1960 Olympics....that should be lovely! Since I am running my next marathon in San Francisco, I need to practice hills, so will be starting to run the Aventine hill in two weeks....another lovely (but probably grueling) run! Richard has joined the running fun (some might say motivated me to start running) and true to form is training for a 100K run....

While I have started working with CHF again through the summer, I am keeping my weekly time to go out with one of my new friends....this week we shared our favorite shopping spots, from open air markets to large super-markets. I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of outdoor markets, helps with my Italian and is a more pleasant experience. Next week we are taking a walk around the Aventine Hill so I can find a nice running route. I also am continuing my new "learning initiative" (I think I worked for an international development NGO for too long!!!) into global religions. I read this fantastic book call "An introduction to Islam" which, while not written well, sparked my interest into why there is so much conflict between the three global religions....and so I am doing my own exploration into Islam and Christianity and Judaism. Not sure where it will go, but it is interesting....

I'm sure there are many, many adventures to come.....but, thought I would share my most recent passions!!!

The 500C

It has arrived and is in our possession!!! What a treat....a new, small car!!!!

The second playdate..

The day started with two excited kids running into the living room, asking "is today the day that Luca and Isabella are coming over?". We had been anticipating this day all week! Since there was no school, "the other Isabella's" mom (Heidi) and I decided to share the day at our house, as we live near three parks. Izzy decided that we needed to make the group (Heidi has three kids, two boys 8 and 5 and one girl, 3) banana bread, and she wanted to learn how. So we learned how to make banana bread, and we successfully made a little loaf! It was quite yummy.....

Then, shortly after the successful banana bread, the three kids and mom descended on our house! Poor Max scared the middle boy, Luca, and had to be sequestered in mommy's office. Max was so excited to see the kids that he ran around with them, and of course (doggie sense) he could tell that Luca was scared. So, to soothe Luca, Max ran over to give him a hug....scaring him more. So, poor Max ended up in the office.

After running around, dumping all of the toys out, finding the most annoying toy (thank you grandma for the loud, shooting alien weapon!), we had lunch. Imagine two moms trying to get 5 kids to eat something healthy....foccocia, procuitto, salami, cucumbers, strawberries, melon and juice...and what did the kids want to eat? Peanut butter on white bread....

Off to the park after lunch, we successfully made it across the Appia Antica without any kids falling prey to the speeding cars. We showed our new friends both playgrounds, played, and played, and then all but the oldest cried the whole way home. Izzy had an unfortunate run-in with an ant hill that ended in tears, but we dried the tears and killed the ants (sorry!). Upon arrival at our home, we shared our lovely Hello Kitty popsicles and Vampire popsicles with our friends.

For me, it was great. Heidi, aka the kids mom, is Peruvian married to a Swiss man who works for one of the large hotel chains. THey move every 3-4 years, so she is well versed in the expatriate mom life. It was great to get advise and share thoughts with someone who has done this before and will continue to move! They moved to Rome from Dubai in Jan, so have been here about as long as we have. From this fun playdate we now have ballet lessons for Izzy and swimming for both kids, and weekly playdates in the summer! Lovely....

Long live billboards!

Rome still uses the multitude of posters and billboards that scatter throughout the city to advertise. While for the average person, like myself, they might spark interest if they are advertising the Edward Hopper exhibit coming to the national museum, or the upcoming Jazz festival. However, if you are 4, these billboards bring a while new excitement to the daily drive from home to school, as they unexpectedly change every 2-3 weeks. Accompanied by the interesting, and sometimes artistic graffiti, the kids have quite a bit to observe, talk about, tell stories about and to discuss as they zoom through the city.

Two weeks ago the Sofficini Findus lizard (http://www.sofficini.it/home.html) had a large campaign with the lizard dressed as a vampire, as a cowboy, and as other fun characters. The kids had a great time naming them each, memorizing where they were on the drive….and were sad when the Carpisa ads replaced all of the Sofficini lizards. Luckily, the “dinosaur” graffiti and the Tucan painted on the window of a pub haven’t moved, and probably won’t move until someone repaints their homes. Long live the billboard campaigns!

Two WTF moments in Rome

1- Driving the kids to school this morning, we follow a new Jaguar (how appropriate) in our piece-of-crap 1997 Honda Civic. The Jaguar happens to have a sun roof, through which 3 kids (one in the twins class...so somewhere between 3-4 years old) are dancing wildly, obviously not only not wearing seat belts, but also standing on something. No we were not stationary, we were driving up the crazy, dangerous road that leads to the school.....

2 - I pull up to the gas station to get gas for the gas-guzzling piece-of-crap 1997 Honda Civic. As the full service guy is finishing filling the tank (yes, I use full service...I have no idea how to use the pumps here, nor do I understand what type of gas the gas-guzzler drinks) a guy pulls up on the other side. He steps out, with unlit cigarette in hand, with a lighter in the other. As he starts to pull out the gas pump thing, he lights his cigarette. I've never driven away from a gas station quicker than I did that time!!!