2010: at the Quarter pole already!?

"Procrastinazione", "pigrizia", and "distratto" are all Italian words (procrastination, laziness, and distracted) that can explain why its been three months since my last post. Even though I've made promises to folks that I would continue to update, I weakly have been letting facebook provide my updates--a practice I promised myself I wouldn't do.

Because a number of things have happened since my last post, here is a quick timeline of highlights:

• early January- Natalia and I went to Siena for a couple of days. AWESOME town in Tuscany. We'll definitely be making a return trip this summer.

• mid-January- got offered a consultancy with a great UN organization based here. Quickly learned that I did not have the proper paperwork that would permit me to begin work. Slight depression ensues.
• late January- went snowboarding in the Dolomites with my brother, Justin. An unbelievably epic trip, with perfect snow, uncrowded runs, good food and amazing vistas.
• mid-February-returned to SF for three weeks to sort out my visa. After four visits to the Italian Embassy, I was finally granted an extended stay visa permitting me to return to Roma for six months. While home for three weeks, I had a great time eating all the foods that we can't get here including chinese food (i had dim sum 5 times in 3 weeks), Mexican, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipino, Joe's of Westlake, and my first experience of Dottie's Cafe in the Tenderloin. I easily put on 5 lbs during my trip home, but all well worth it. Other than food, I also caught up with pretty much everyone, which was great but often resulted in hungover mornings. Getting older does not help in this area one bit. I also participated in godfather duties as my newly minted godson, Jordan Rillera, was baptised while I was home. Bittersweet as I was proud to able to be there that day, but bummed that I won't see him for a few months. The same can be said for the other kids in my life including, Quincy, Tyler, Tobey, Thomas, Elizabeth, Colin, and Elijah among others. I had a chance to spend time with all of the kids, but it only bums me out to not see them again for a while. The great thing about kids from ages 0-7, they don't miss a beat and I was embraced and played with them as if I never left. Other highlights of the trip home: HDTV, curling, karaoke, poker, an old-school weekend of partying with Francis and Chris, and going to a Warrior game (they actually won!!).
• early March- returned to Rome and Natalia just in time for winter to begin to thaw and sunny days slowly returning. Great time of the year here.
  
• mid-March-secured the consultancy...any semblance of depression completely lifts. start date- March 29. After seven months, I'll be back in an office. Looking forward to it, though the days of morning strolls to the market, sleeping in, exploring the city aimlessly with Ipod on, and reading every page of the newspaper online each day will be greatly missed. Steady income and a chance to actually plan our wedding and life going forward is an easy trade-off for capuccino mornings, plus I still have the weekends.
  
• late March- after months without one, we bought a TV and are digging watching Italian game shows, BBC, MTV, and lots and lots of soccer (the last part only applies to me).

So thats a quick blast on what's been happening in my life. I have plans for another post soon, but that will have to wait for another day. I need to go out and take advantage of one of the few free days I have left. Ciao.

Page Turner

One never knows how things will turn out in this life. I never thought I’d be living in Rome. I never imagined having grey hair. I never planned on going to graduate school. And I never thought UCLA would only have one hoops title since the 1990’s. Such is the mystery of life.

So, I think by now its now widely known (thanks to facebook and email) that Natalia and I got engaged last weekend in Paris. Pretty crazy and exciting thus far, but I didn’t need all of life’s unknowns to play a part in the engagement process. I think I likely sprouted a few more of the aforementioned grey hairs as a result. Though I bought the rock last month when I was home in SF and knew that I wanted to make it all happen in Paris over Thanksgiving, it certainly did not go as smoothly as planned.

First a quick shout to all of the boys at home. When I say that this engagement lead up did not go as smooth as I would have liked, the actual ring purchase could not have been a better experience. Thanks again to Q and Kdo for helping me sort out an appointment at the jeweler and patiently walking me through the process. I could have bought a ring out here in Rome I suppose, but the language barrier ( I may have ended up with a plate of carbonara and a bottle of wine instead. My restaurant italian is good. Not so much in other daily interactions) and the potential to get bamboozled by a shady Italian jeweler (did you know they sometimes have dishonest business people in Italy? who knew?) made me think I was better off getting one at home. This meant I needed to “be fast, but not hurry” as Coach Wooden would say. With help from the trusty Do boys, I was able to have a great experience and felt really good about the whole thing. Capping off the night with more of the lads at House of Prime Rib and R Bar completed an exciting day.

Cut to Thanksgiving day.

We have our tickets for Paris and the wheels are in motion. The plan is to meet Natalia at Termini train station after work and take a shuttle out to the airport. No fuss, no muss, right? I guess it would have been if I had remembered to bring my passport with me. UGH. Unbelievable. For the past five years, I’ve needed my passport pretty much every 2-3 months and never once have I ever come close to forgetting it. Not only was I in disbelief, but now I had to wait for Natalia, take a cab back to our apartment, and continue in that cab to the airport. Apart from the cost difference, it became clear that we had a decent chance of missing our flight altogether. Let’s equate this to a first quarter red zone interception, an infield error in the first inning, or two quick fouls in the first half for you sports enthusiasts out there.

To make matters worse, the cab driver was perhaps the slowest driver in all of Italy. Past taxi rides in Rome have all felt like I was being driven by Marky Mark in the Italian Job, but this time not so much. SHE not only was slow, but took a wrong turn that even I knew was wrong and managed to take the busiest route to the airport that would make folks in LA blush. (I’m sorry. Did I accidentally capitalize “she”? Oh well, too late to go back now. Try not to read into that too much). By this point, I was in full panic mode. I remember trying to think of alternate plans, determine whether this was an omen, and wonder if I could recall the right Italian phrases apropos of the moment (Mamma mia seems about right). No doubt that Natalia could read my angst. I was never that good at poker.

Things started to turn once we finally got to the airport and saw that our flight was delayed an hour. Though this was obviously a relief, I was now bummed that I spent all this time worrying and panicking for nothing. Moral of this part of the story, get a Blackberry or Iphone. These devices seem to be able to deflect all of one’s travel worries quickly. My phone’s option of playing Tetris was of no help.

We booked a sweet little apartment in Saint Germain, a great neighborhood reminiscent of the West Village in NYC. Tons of shops, restaurants, cafes, and close enough to Notre Dame, the Right Bank, and the Metro. We spent most of what would become engagement day just strolling around Paris without really a plan. Most of it was spent shopping. Though coffee and food are more expensive here, clothes and shoes are definitely more affordable than in Rome for some reason. And they offer more than skin-tight shirts for men in Paris, which is a nice change of pace. (Sibebar: the price of coffee in Paris is insane. A 1 euro cappuccino in Rome would cost 5 euro in Paris. Insane. That’s like $8 for coffee with milk. I will say that the cafes in Paris are super nice and have character, which may justify a bit of a mark-up, but still. And I don’t even drink coffee that much. Though I did have two cups that day. Didn’t help settle the nerves that’s for sure.)

Later that afternoon, I told Natalia about a surprise champagne tasting cruise that I got for us. (probably the first tip-off, but so be it). We had just enough time to hustle home, bundle up, and head over to the dock at the Eiffel Tower. We had to take the metro over (no better public transit anywhere, btw) and for some reason there was a line about 5 people deep (all confused foreigners like us) to get tickets. So a five second transaction wound up taking closer to 15 minutes. Again, there was a decent chance that we’d miss the cruise now. The cruise tickets mentioned the boat leaves at 6pm, but to be there by 5:45. It was about 5:30 when we finally got on the train. As you can probably imagine, I was freaking out inside. At this point, I still wasn’t sure if I was going to propose before or after the cruise, but leaned towards after as I thought being plied with champagne would help get the right words out. Now I may not have had a choice at all as there may be no cruise to buffer. Jeez.

We arrive at the Eiffel Tower metro stop and ended up virtually running for 10 minutes along the Seine to make sure that we catch the boat. Sweating, avoiding puddles, people, and dogs, and frantically looking for the right dock…how romantic. We finally got to the right spot, and checked in only to learn that the boat was going to leave at 6:30. We now had about 30 minutes to spare. Whew. (If this were Germany, no chance there would have been a delay. Fortunately it wasn’t.). At that point I decided that before the cruise would be the time to do it, mostly for my own sanity. We were actually right next to the Eiffel Tower, which was lit up and looking epic as always. (Sidebar II: there are landmarks throughout the world that we see in pictures and tv our whole lives and its always a bit jarring once you actually see them live. Sometimes, its not all its cracked up to be—Statue of Liberty and the Leaning Tower of Pisa fit into this category for me for some reason. Eiffel Tower, GG Bridge, and Sistine Chapel though are even much more impressive to me in the flesh. Egyptian Pyramids, Macchu Picchu, and Angkor Wat still TBD). I mentioned that we should find a place to sit down to finally relax for a few minutes thinking this was the right time. As we started to look for a bench, we took about 5 steps and I couldn’t wait any longer, so I turn to her and sort of grandly say, "well, this is me, Klutz, asking you goddess of rock climbing, to marry me." Oh wait....that was from Jerry Maguire.

Actually, I just gave her a hug, tried to spill out how happy and lucky I feel to be here with her and stumbled through some semblance of a proposal. Honestly, I don’t remember much about the moment. Though if I did, I probably wouldn’t broadcast it here anyway.

The rest is history. We had a great time on the cruise, sipping various champagnes, laughing at what’s happened, and just feeling the moment. The sommelier was mentioning something about citrus, and berries, and bouquets and what not about the champagne, but we heard none of it. I was busy filling Natalia in on all of the recent disasters that almost led to a heart attack and the past month of events surrounding the proposal. Meanwhile, Natalia was busy telling everyone within earshot that we just got engaged. Too good.

So there you have it, a rock ‘em, sock ‘em weekend that ended with a return to Rome as fiancées or fiancés or the fianced or something. I’ll get the hang of this yet…I hope.

Ferragosto and Calcio

I recognize that the updates on this blog have been sparse lately. Fortunately though, it is not due to a lack of happenings on this end. Actually, we’ve been pretty busy doing a bunch of different things as well as welcoming our first of several visitors coming to town over the next month or so. Here are a couple of highlights:

August 15 in Italy is a national holiday called Ferragosto aka the Feast of the Asumption for all you Catholics out there. Though it fell on a Saturday this year, Natalia still had the prior Friday off of work so we took advantage and went to a hill town in Umbria called Orvieto for the weekend. Only about 90 minutes by train from Rome, Orvieto is an old Etruscan town known for its ceramics, Orvieto Classico (a delicious white wine), and small town charm. I definitely recommend it to all. I’ve posted a ton of pictures on facebook from this weekend, but here are a few for the non-social media folks reading this. We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast, which had the luxury of a television (sidenote- we’d been without tv for about a month in our new pad, though our landlord brought one over last night. We can now get dialed in to the world of Italian game shows, dramas, and commercials. Bravo!). During down time in Orvieto, we watched some Italian MTV(Euros do love that high energy music) and one night I stayed up late watching E.T. in Italian. I forgot what an epic movie that is. The highlight being E.T. exclaiming “telefono…casa”. Too good.

The price of wine in Orvieto was unbelievably cheap. Many enotecas (wine shops) were selling 3 bottles of good local wine for anywhere between 6-12 Euro. Converted that’s about $9-$18. Or $3 a bottle. Again, bravo! The one wine shop we stopped into gave us a free tasting of about 6 different wines allowing us to choose the wine that best serves our novice pallates. That’s one of the more stand-out things about Orvieto. Everyone was so nice. Maybe it’s the fact that wine flows like water or that they live in such a beatiful environment, but the folks we met were just great. Another memorable exchange occurred at a ceramic shop where we were looking to buy something as a memento of our visit. We settled on a cool little olive oil bottle. Anyway, the lady at the shop could not have been more helpful and pleasant. She told me several times how beautiful Natalia is. So much so, that I began to wonder if she was really saying how did you pull that, you moppy haired, unshaven Americano?

As we were leaving, I wanted to get a business card so we could remember this spot for others. Unfortunately, I don’t know the word for business card in Italian. Once we figured out a way to get our message across, they gave us a card and I asked “come se dice questo?” (how do you say this?). The lady was unsure and turned to her husband who thought a minute and responded “beez-ee-ness card”. We all laughed as did other foreigners in the tiny shop as I guess he thought we wanted to know how to say it in English. Once his wife told him we wanted to know in Italian, and we were in fact native English speakers, he shrugged and muttered something. We all had a good laugh.
*******

This past weekend, our friends, Stephani and Sean, came to visit from DC. They win the award as the first friends from home to toast our arrival in Italy. (The rest of you reading this are now on notice.) Such a blast to have good friends from home share the experience of living abroad. Not to mention, the fact that they brought us American magazines, Ziploc bags, Ipod tunes, and a reason to try a ton of new restaurants. We had a great time. Among the many highlights included catch a soccer game at the Stadio Olimpico. It was opening day actually for Serie A, Italy’s top soccer league, and I couldn’t have been more stoked. There are two local teams in this league, Roma and Lazio. To put this in American context, I would say that Roma is like the Lakers and Lazio is like the Clippers. Not to say that Lazio has had a prominent history of futility like the Clips, but I think the majority of folks around here support Roma, just as most Angelinos are Lakers fans. This could not be more evident by the attendance at the game. I’d say that the stadium was about 40% of capacity. Tons of empty seats. Shockingly so. There could be a number of reasons for this though. One, as mentioned in a previous post, most Italians skip town in August. Since its still August its conceivable that most Lazio fans are still seaside or in the South of France. Two, Lazio played Atalanta (no, not the Falcons). A bottom of the league type team and not really a lure to the Stadium as AC Milan, Inter Milan or Juventus would be.

All in all, we had a good time at the game. Steph and Natalia were initially worried that the stadium might be packed with rambunctious and rowdy Italian fans, which was clearly not the case…unless you consider these guys pictured here rowdy.

Lazio won 1-0, which let the fans go home happy, and is always nice. As most of you know, I’m a pretty big fan soccer fan and left the stadium unsure of how my fandom would play out while we are here. I’d always known this, but it was so evident during this game-- Italian soccer players are floppers. The dramatic pratfalls and writhing around on the field in “pain” whenever there is a bit of contact irks me to no end. (The most egregious and memorable example of this for most is when France’s Zinedine Zidane head-butt the Italian player during the last World Cup and the Italian player basically went into faux cardiac arrest in a play that could not have possibly taken him off his feet.) I’m not sure if I can really get fully invested in a league whose players are lying on the field as if they just got shot. Only time will tell I suppose.
More soon…

Agosto en la Citta (August in the City)

Its officially been one month since arriving to Rome and I’m feeling pretty comfortable about my ability to get through typical daily activities now. Markets, grocery stores, asking (and actually giving) directions, and restaurants are becoming pretty manageable at this point. Admittedly, I mostly know nouns and am still struggling to get comfortable with verbs and proper conjugation and such, but it’s a start.

There are still some other transactions that continue to be tricky though. For example, last week I had to purchase a wireless USB device in order to get internet at our new apartment. There is no way I could have made it through this process without a friend of mine that happened to be in town and speaks fluent Italian. Despite this help, I still screwed up and wound up spending 30 euro (~$45) for about an hour of internet the first night I hooked up the device. Apparently, I didn’t realize that I needed to sign up for a specific program before logging in, which zapped all of my credit pretty quickly. Live and learn.

I do have a helpful phrasebook that usually gets me through most daily interactions. Its broken down into helpful chapters like Eating, Shopping, Sleeping, etc. Upon reviewing the different chapters, I found the particular order of the following series of phrases pretty funny. Under the section, “Oh, Amore”, phrases listed in this exact order include:

What’s the best place to dance nearby? (C’e un bel locale da ballo qui vicino?)

Do you want to dance? (Vuole ballare?)

I have no diseases. (Non ho mallatie.)

I have many diseases. (Ho molto mallatie.)

A couple of lines later, the phrasebook continues with:

Let’s have a wild and crazy night! (Passiamo una notte di fuoco!)

Can I take you home? (Posso accompagnarti a casa?)

Why not? (Perche no?)

How can I change your mind? (Posso cambiare idea?)

From what I can gather, Rick Steves, famed author of this particular phrasebook, seems to think that upon dancing, one should immediately include disclose their health status, and one should also expect that their hopes of a wild and crazy night will be shut down immediately so here are some phrases that can help you sound desperate. This should help. ( I expect all visitors to try out these lines. I look forwa

rd to witnessing the results.)

Aside from my slowly improving Italian, I am still adjusting to the afternoon siestas that Italy continues to follow. From 1pm to 4pm, the city virtually shuts down. Sure, the tourist areas are still buzzing and some stores remain open, but for the most part, Rome is a ghost town. Its crazy. There’s no way possible that this could even happen at home. Its actually kind of nice, but working at home and hoping to take an afternoon break with a quick lunch or drink has proven to be a challenge. To magnify things even more is that August is basically a vacation for most Italians. In my neighborhood, Testaccio, about 30% of all stores are shut down for the month. I don’t know how they can afford to do this. The stores that are closed are usually the mom and pop restaurants, grocery stores, clothing stores, etc. Maybe they are backed by the infamous “waste management” money. Who knows.

Again, imagine this at home. The Mission in SF is closed for a month. The East Village only has 25% of its bars open. Hollywood swinging is limited to a handful of joints. Crazy. Yesterday, we had a lazy Saturday afternoon watching a marathon of Mad Men. As it was approaching evening, I went out to grab a bottle of wine for dinner. During my walk to the enoteca about three blocks away, I only saw four people, one scooter cruise by, and no cars. Again, this is in the middle of Rome, not a 

remote hill town in Tuscany or a suburb. So crazy.

I’m told that things start to get a bit busier and hectic around these parts come September, which will be interesting, though I sense things will still be pretty mellow. I just hope I can stay clear of the dance-related diseases.

Mangiano

Along with the renaissance, baroque art, world class soccer (calcio around these parts), and high fashion, Italy may be most known for its incredible cuisine. Italian food has to rank highest in appeal factor of any ethnic food in the world. Are there actually people out there that don’t like pizza? Pasta? Gelato? I’ve yet to meet a single one, and am not sure I’d want to.

With such great food literally at every turn, we have struggled with trying to keep a lid on the gluttony to both keep our wallets fat and our our bellies flat (or as flat is they were before we got to Rome). For this reason, we have been trying to be good and cook as much as possible. Natalia and I are not quite Martha Stewart and Mario Batali either, but the efforts have been quite fun. Most of the satisfaction is due to the plethora of fresh foods available here. We’ve been spoiled by the access to delicious tomatoes, onions, peaches, nectarines, and melons among others, which have helped spice up the meals. Rome also has a ton of mom and pop markets that we’ve enjoyed hitting up, but last weekend we hit the motherlode of all produce markets. Near Piazza Vittorio Emmanuel, there is a huge indoor market filled with booths selling fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, and herbs (no, not that kind). Quite the find.

(Market Esquilino at Vittorio Emmanuel)

Even more exciting was the fraction of the cost that shopping in this market was versus the supermarket costs. I remember expecting to pay about 3 euro for a few carrots, 3 peaches, and a zucchini and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the bill was 1.5 euro. Nice. So this has helped us quite a bit in keeping the food costs down as well as trying to immerse ourselves further into daily local culture. Dabbling in the culinary arts has definitely been one of the early highlights of living here in Rome.

(home cooking)

While on the topic of food, we estimate that of the total restaurants in town, 90% are probably Italian restaurants. We’re not sure if this is in line with how things are in other places like France, Spain, or even Russia, but coming from the US, particularly SF and NY, such limited variety has been a bit startling. The only non-Italian restaurants we’ve tried have been an Indian restaurant and two different Chinese restaurants. Both Chinese restaurants were decent but, as a self-proclaimed connosieur of good Chinese food, I would give the restaurants a 3 out of 10 when compared to SF Chinese food and a 5 out of 10 when compared to NY Chinese restaurants. I have noticed that most Chinese restaurants here are usually pretty busy. I guess everyone likes Chinese food, though describing chow mein as spaghetti in the menus probably eases the transition for the locals.

So we are continuing to steadily increase our home-cooked menus and have had a lot of fun doing it. That said, I of course can't help but to treat myself to the finer offerings that Rome has to offer.

Summertime in Roma

As Mister Senor Love Daddy (played by a young Samuel L. Jackson) says at the beginning of Do the Right Thing, “the forecast for the day is hot!” This pretty much sums up the weather for each of the ten days since I’ve been in Rome. Mind you , I’m not complaining. Each day has had perfectly blue skies, with temperatures reaching approximately 90 degrees, and I’ve been fortunate enough not to have any run-ins with any pizzeria owners after asking them why there aren’t any pictures of any Americans on the wall. So the similarities to Do the Right Thing stop here I guess.

(As I write this at about 4pm on Thursday from my apartment, there is the constant howling of a dog in the alley outside of my kitchen window. I wonder what its deal is. The guy is screaming bloody murder. I’ve looked out the window several times, but haven’t seen any kane (dog) sightings. Weird. PS- above is a view from the kitchen window.)

While I have been mostly working during the day, I have taken the time to take walks in the middle of the day to remind myself that I’m in Rome and not necessarily tied to a computer and desk as I’ve been most of my professional life. Although I often return to the apartment feeling like Patrick Ewing looks at tip-off of an NBA game, there are a number of things that make this among the most pleasant heats I’ve ever dealt with. First, out of nowhere, a cool gentle breeze will fill the air periodically providing an excellent natural coolant system when I’m about to overheat. Its almost a tropical or off-shore breeze, yet the shore is miles away. Odd, but I love it.

Second, is Rome’s world-famous gelato. There are dozens and dozens of flavors to choose from but my simple dessert taste buds have me leaning towards “mezzo fragola e vanile” ( ½ strawberry and ½ vanilla) flavor, and its so refreshing and delicious. I just need to be careful. I don’t want to return home looking like a post-retirement Patrick Ewing. (Why Ewing is getting in the cross-fire here is beyond me too, so don’t ask. For those not in the know, Ewing is fat now.)

(This dog will not stop. Maybe its missing its mid-afternoon vino.)

Lastly, and my favorite reason, are the water fountains located throughout the city. Unlike any water fountains in other major metropolises, the water here is clean, cold, and somehow tastes better than any water I’ve ever drank (or drunk…or drunken…whatever). And this is from someone that drinks tons of water. The guide books tout the water as such, yet I remained dubious for a while. In fact, I mentioned to Natalia how long it would be before I would drink this water— imagining it to be a long while. Well, since I asked that question, I think I filled an empty water bottle and sipped away the following day. I’m glad I did. To say I’m hooked would be an understatement. After playing hoops the other day, I took the long way home just so I could take a couple swigs of Rome’s finest tap water. Did I mention it comes out cold too? So good.

And that’s the double truth, Ruth.

Rosso della Casa

Well lookee here. The blog is back— live and direct from Rome, Italy. As most of you know, I’ll be here for the next seven months as Natalia secured a consultancy with a UN agency here. As for me, I am now a consultant for my former organization and looking forward to what life has to offer next. So there’s no better reason than to get back to the blogging. Its been a while. I look forward to bringing you all on the ride with me...
We got into Rome yesterday and are settling into our digs for the next month. Here is a photo of our front door and the view down the street. (That building you see at the end of the road may look familiar…lions once attacked Russell Crowe there.)

Most notable so far is how things have changed since I last traveled through the Eternal City in 1996. Upon graduating from UCLA, Eric, Rich, Jim, Clark, Luke and I traveled through Europe for a few weeks. (I believe Francis crashed on our hostel floor one of the nights too.)Back then, the Euro was non-existent, which has seemingly made things quite expensive compared to the US these days. Also, the Internet was nowhere near what it is today. I remember having to call home to ask my Dad to help sort me out a ticket from LAX-SFO upon my return. Today, I could do everything via the web. (Perhaps most interesting to some is that I am currently watching the Dodgers-Mets game live online as I type this. Gotta love the web!)

Despite the web making the transition much smoother than ever before, there continue to be some difficulties in the transition. Most notably, the language barrier. Natalia’s Italian is definitely passable and has gotten us through some situations already, but my language is sparse to say the least. Hopefully, Rosetta Stone and further interactions will get me up to speed. I am already familiar with ‘rosso della casa” (house red wine), which I believe will be useful in the coming months. Arrivederci.