9 July 2007

11:06 pm Rome/ 4:06 pm Houston






First I want to say thanks to those of you who have commented or emailed me saying you enjoy reading my blogs - glad to hear people are actually reading them...and that some are even enjoying them! :-) As long as I have things to write about, I'll keep writing...and at the rate I'm going I think I'll have plenty to blog about!






So last I left I was going to have to continue the apartment search. This past Friday the relocation agency set up 2 more appointments more apartments to see. I don't know if they are getting tired of making appointment for me & me not liking anything or what - because this time they didn't give me any information about the places. All they did was phoned me and gave me an address and told me to be there at 5:20pm on Friday. So I go to the address and met up with the girl who has been taking me around to these appointments the last couple weeks. It was funny because when I saw her she said 'Well you just can't seem to get rid of me, can you?!?' I was thinking she was probably thinking the same thing about me! And she keeps telling me she feels bad because she doesn't speak English well, but I think it's fine. She's been so helpful to me too! Anyway, so the address they gave was a real estate office where we met a lady that took us to the apartments. The first apartment (which was several blocks from where we met) was in a very nice neighborhood and building, but I just didn't care for the apartment at all. I couldn't even tell if the bedroom was suppose to be the bedroom or a living room. After we looked at that one, the lady informs us that the other apartment is a bit away and the lady showing us can't meet us until another hour. So the girl showing me around & I have an hour to waste. Time past pretty quickly and it did take us a little bit to get there even though we took a bus for part of it. I kept thinking to myself, 'This apartment better be good after waiting this long!' When we finally saw the apartment, it was a bit different compared to the others I've seen. I has very high ceilings, is on the 2nd floor (which really is the 3rd floor of the building), and has a balcony facing the street that is the whole length of the apartment. And from the balcony you can see some of Castle Sant'Angelo (any of you have ready Angels & Demons by Dan Brown - it's the Castle he talks about in that book). Of course the apartment, like most apartments here, is well...not Texas size - that's for sure! But to be honest, I'm already starting to get use to things just being smaller. (At least there is less to clean that way!) The apartment is right next to a very noisy street & I was worried about that, but the windows are all have double panes & when you close them it cuts out the noise - pretty amazing. So I liked the apartment, but when we started talking price it was one of the most expensive ones I've looked at so far. So as I left there, I had no idea what I wanted to do.



During the day on Friday, I had been looking on a discussion board that another American in the PwC office recommended that is for English speaking people in Rome. They post all kinds of things related to Rome including events, apartments for rent, rooms for rent for short periods of time, questions on where you can buy stuff like evaporated milk...they ask/post tons of things. When I was looking on there I saw an advertisement for an apartment that sounded perfect and was less expensive than most I had been looking at, even though it was much larger. I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if it was still available and look at it. So I sent an email to girl who posted it and received a call on Sat. morning saying I could come by and see it later that evening if I was interested. I was with Jody & Lil Sat. evening, so they went with me to see it. That goodness for Google maps, because without it I wouldn't have even found the place because it wasn't even on the map I have. It ended up not being too hard to find and was in a quiet area not far from a metro stop. So the girl met us outside & showed up the apartment. The inside was so spacious and well decorated compared to most that I have seen. And it also had this cute garden patio with a table where you could sit & have breakfast or read or whatever. It seemed perfect! So we start talking price and she tell me the price that was posted, but says that they are not going to register it because if they do that they have to pay taxes and it will cost a lot more. I have had some people tell me about this whole registering or not business and after talking to several people I found out that many Italians are in apartments that aren't registered, even though it is illegal. The owner and the person renting just have an agreement between the 2 of them about the terms, but the owner doesn't have to pay the taxes on the income received. Many times the owners want to be paid in cash as well. Seeing that I'm not Italian, this just seemed a bit too risky for me. Although all weekend I thought about it. But what also helped is when I looked up the way I would have to go to the office & to one of my clients, it is about 15 to 20 metro stops away - so it would take forever to get to and from that apartment.


It was so great having Jody & Lil with me - helping me ask questions and being able to give their input. I wish they could have come to more with me - maybe it wouldn't be so stressful! Oh well, part of growing up is having to make decisions on your own, right?!? The funny part is that I kept telling them how small the apartments were & then the only one they see is the biggest one I've been in! Good thing they know I'm not a liar! ;-) (or at least I hope they don't!)



So after thinking through my choices and going back through and trying to do a budget of what I'm suppose to be paid, I decided I would see if the agency can reduce the rent at least some then I'll go for the one with the balcony that I saw on Friday. The lady at the agency called and said the apartment agency really liked me, so she thinks they will be willing to cut it some (when I mean some, we are just talking 600 euros per year). So they had to prepare a proposal for the reduced rent and I had to sign it. Then my agency will send it to see if they accept it or not. Hopefully they do so I will finally know where I will live! I should know by the end of this week (or at least I hope!). I was thinking that maybe I should just keep looking - but I might look for months and never find something that I like perfectly and this apartment will probably gone in a week. So I'll just have to wait patiently and see what happens...and go with the philosophy that whatever is suppose to happen will happen.



As far as work, nothing exciting has happened there. I still don't have any client work so still keeping busy reading - and days like today I dealt with apartment stuff most of the time. I have met a couple more people in the office. Today I met a senior manager who grew up in New Zealand that is on tour here. He has been in the Rome office for about a year & a half and is still not fluent in Italian. He said he does only US or UK accounting reports and always speaks to the client in English - so that gave me a little hope that I can make it even if I don't know Italian right now! I do want to learn it in less time than a year & a half though! He told me I better not learn more than him soon or I will make him look very bad! LOL!



Speaking of Italian, I don't feel like I've learned any more in the last 2 weeks even though I'm surrounded by it. When I'm by myself at a restaurant or somewhere, I think I actually try to use it more than when I'm in a group -- because I think then I rely more on those with me to help me...I'm not sure. And then when I was in a restaurant with Jody & Lil the waiters/waitresses would hear us talking in English, most times they would talk to us in English. I will learn though - I'm determined to learn it! It just might take me a bit more time...not the 6 weeks I originally said I hoped I would know it in!



This weekend was Jody & Lil's last weekend in Italy & we had a great time (as always). They didn't get into Rome until Sat. afternoon and we just planned for me to meet them at their hotel. I looked up the directions online before I left & it seemed easy enough to get there from the metro stop. So I'm doing good & am ahead of schedule until I get to the Forum and thought I couldn't go through it, so I had to take a different route (I learned last night that I could have gone through it). I'm still pretty much on track & ahead of time until I stop to make sure I'm going in the right direction & realize the map I have doesn't have the street with there hotel on it at all & I can't remember what streets it was between. So I go the way I think I should go (I should know better because I've never been good at directions!) & end up spending the next 45 minutes or so walking around this neighborhood trying to find their hotel. By this time Jody was already at her hotel so her & I are emailing back & forth on our blackberries and she's trying to get directions for me on how to get there from my current location. At the same time I'm walking next to this couple that are speaking English & I finally just ask them if they happen to know where this hotel is & by some miracle it was the hotel they were staying at & said I could walk with them the rest of the way (which was probably a 5-10 minutes walk). So I ended up at their hotel, just an hour late. THEN later that day I realized that the hotel was only about a 5 minute walk from the place I stopped to look at the map - so instead of my 45 minutes walking around if I would have chosen the other street it would have only been about 5 minutes! Live & learn, live & learn!


On Sat. Lil & I also climbed the dome of St. Peter's - which to me is the best view of Rome! It's a bit of a trek to get there (over 300 stairs I believe) in a very narrow stairwell, but to me it's worth it. And it was so exciting for me to be able to take her up there because I love to see people's expressions and them in awe when they see that for the 1st time. The 1st time I went up there it was for me, but any other time I go up it's for the other people...just to see them experience it! (Of course I still enjoy it too!) The weather was perfect too - nice and clear and not too hot! We could see forever from there it seemed!


Sat. night we went to a restaurant called Ristorante Piccolo Abruzzo - a more traditional Roman restaurant. They have no menus & the same meal is severed to everyone that comes in. But it's TONS of food. We had several plates of antipasti, 2 different pastas, veal and potatoes, fruit salad, wine, a glass of grappa and of course water. And then a group at the other table had some type of cake desert so we asked for that too! I think we were there for several hours...but the time just goes by so fast! I was so stuffed when we left there!



Sunday was yet another adventure trying to get to Jody & Lil's hotel. I was going to bring them some of their bags they left with me when they went to northern Italy and figured I'd just call a taxi to pick me up & it would be no problem at all. Well that is me being very naive on how simple the taxi business around here is! I had several numbers for taxi companies. I tried several and it just ringing & ringing and messages would come on but no one would answer. I finally get a hold of someone and gave them all my information and they come back on and say sorry we don't have any taxis in that area right now, so you will have to call back later to check. There are no taxi stands around the residence I'm staying in and unlike places like NY, you don't waive down taxis here. So I decide I don't want to wait around, so I will just take the bus. And I knew it would be a load to take on the bus, but figured I could do it. So I take the suitcase (which was about 50 lbs...not saying you are a heavy packer Jody...just trying to paint people a picture of this...and we did actually weight it and it was almost 50, right?! ;-) ), a gym bag of stuff, and my computer bag with my computer in it, and my purse. So I take all this stuff and head to the bus stop, which is about a block away. I get to the bus stop & wait...and wait...and Jody & I are emailing back & forth but being the stubborn person I can be sometimes, I tell her I'm fine & can handle it all and will just take the bus. So about half an hour passes and I see all the buses go by...sometimes 2 of the same bus...all except the one I want. So finally I give in and ask Jody if she can get her hotel to get me a taxi and I carry everything back to my residence. And I wait there as Jody's hotel tries to get me a taxi. They end up having the same problems I had. So the only way I could get a taxi is if one of them took a taxi from their hotel to come pick me up & then go back -- so that's what we did. Thank goodness it was about a 10 minute drive away! But just like Sat., it ends up taking an extra hour just to get to their hotel! Good thing we didn't have any reservations anywhere!


So once we finally got going on Sunday, we went to the Treasury in St. Peter's and then to the outside of the Colosseum. The Treasury has all kinds of relics and gifts to the popes, and gold & gems...just unbelievable. The one thing Jody & I were talking about that I still don't understand is how do they know what they have in the things that they are saying are pieces of the cross of Jesus or some bones of this Saint or hair from this Saint is really that? Did people really go and grab stuff like that? How do they know that's really where it came from? There were about 3 or 4 things that said it had pieces from Jesus' cross -- did people just go & grab pieces of the cross and then hang on to it for years!?! Most things in museums and stuff I take it as is, but that part I'm just a bit skeptical about because I don't understand how and why they have it. Not saying it can't be true, just makes me wonder.


Last night we had our last meal together in Rome at the restaurant on the roof of their hotel. So we ate outside in the fantastic weather looking out over Rome. It was very relaxed and as always...great...great weather, great food, great wine, great company...just great.


It was very bitter sweet to have to leave them last night. I know they can't stay here on vacation forever, but it was just so great to be able to have them here to spend time with them! They weren't here the whole part of there trip, but at least part of every weekend. So during the week I was busy with work and other stuff anyway & would look forward to when they would be back in Rome so we could go do more things together.


So today I think might have actually been one of my toughest days in Rome so far because as they were flying back home, reality really did set in that now I am really here alone and I'm not on vacation but here for a long time. I will be okay and still don't regret my decision, but it's just one of those stages you have to go through when you move away I suppose. And again I just count my blessing that I had people around here that I could hang out with when I first got here for the first couple weeks - for that I am so thankful!


Oh and the one thing I am REALLY looking forward to this weekend is that the sales in the clothing stores starts this weekend & goes on for several weeks! It's very exciting because in Italy there are only 2 main sales times a year - in July & then in Jan or Feb. The rest of the year you will rarely see any sales. So during this time (and different cities have different days they start), all the stores from Gucci to your little boutiques will have sales...I've been told sometimes like 50 -60% off. So I've been waiting to buy hoping I can get some good deals during the sales period. Everywhere I'm sure will be packed, but it will be worth it I hope!



Okay - well it's taken me forever to write this because I've been doing several things in between, so I better close. I'll leave with a some of my random thoughts:



1) I've finally figured out the equation for distance here when an Italian tells you how long it will take to get somewhere walking:


Amount of time the Italian tells you it will take
x 2
+ at least 5 minutes to look at the map to make sure you are on track
=
Amount of time it will actually take you to get there




2) Even though Rome is a big city, it really ends up being a small world -- just in Sat. afternoon alone I ran into a girl I meet from the PwC office & then a couple that I sat next to at a restaurant the night before and talked to for a bit. And then right after ran into the couple that showed me to the Jody & Lil's hotel.



3) I forgot what taking public transit is like. I will have to remember to breath out a lot so I don't have to smell some of the nasty smells & find some good hand sanitizer! And remember that when people start telling you there sob story, although a bit rude most of the time it's best to act like you don't even hear them. This weekend I was on the bus & this lady starts telling me something in Italian, so I figured I would be able to get her to stop by telling her I don't speak Italian (in Italian). So I told her that & then she starts going on in English & telling me how she quit drinking & she hasn't used the restroom in 3 days and she could die in 4 days...I finally just stopped listening but was asking myself why is anyone telling me how long it's been since they urinated!! I don't want to know!




4) Most Romans are never in Rome on the weekends during the summer. I've come to realize that most people who live in Rome will go to the beach or somewhere in the South almost every weekend during June - August. I guess I will have to make it to the beach soon if I want to really live like a Roman! :-)

For more pictures you can go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34800&l=422ea&id=800405227

Ciao!







1:30am Rome/ 6:30 pm Houston