Never Ending November
Now that the Holidays are over and the New Year is among us, I found it time to share a few of my favorite Holiday stories and of course, life learned lessons, and blessings from above….
After a some what weird and disappointing Halloween, I spent two weeks at the house, hardly going out. Halloween is far more entertaining in America, and will always be. Halloween is the time to pull out your inter-child and let loose, which I am hoping to see a bit more action during Carnaval, because Halloween was such a bore. At this point it has been exactly two months since my arrival in Rome. These two weeks were by far the hardest for me. Feeling the excitement slip through my fingers and the realization of my allotted time in my current environment, frankly started to scare the crap out of me. OMG, I live in Rome, I live with a family, I don’t have a car, I don’t have Coffee that comes in a glass bigger than 2 inches, I don’t know where Trader Joe’s is, and I defiantly hate hate hate public transportation including, the bus, the metro, and any form of a train… and I spent 70 Euros on Taxis in one week…What did I do to my self for one year? AND my skin keeps getting whiter, my pants are getting tighter, and my bra’s don’t fit….After my self-sulking, I slapped my self around a bit and took a little vacation to Brussels (Bruxelle) Belgium….Land of Chocolate…
Why do women love chocolate so much? Understanding such a question is beyond the normal thinking process. Is it the smooth, soft, cold touch that reminds us of a prince charming kiss, or the pleasure it brings when the taste slides down our tongue? Perhaps we have learned to replace men with such pleasure. Besides, all women need is love and pleasure. Anyways, Brussels came at the perfect time, I was ready to get out of Rome for the weekend and find a little chocolate pleasure. Brussels was by far the most outrageously amazing adventure God has ever blessed me with. My flight left at 8:20 Friday evening, my darling friend had arrived 7 hours before me and was expecting me to land by 11pm. I, not always being punctual, was extremely late, still having to take a bus to the metro, the metro to the main train station and from there take a shuttle to Ciampino Airport, (which is 45 minutes away) and I left my house at 6:45. I was running through the streets, with my big colored stripped bag on my shoulder, and tall knee high boots and long coat, determined to make my flight.
By the time I arrived at the main train station Termini, the shuttle would have taken too long, so I decided to barter with a group of cab drivers. Speaking only in Italian, I found a nice 64 year-old cab driver named Giovanni (of course) who took me to the airport for 25 euro. I was so excited, I made it on time! After a 15 minute line in security, I ran through the airport in socks not even stopping to re-put on my boots, I was not going to miss this flight! I arrived in Belgium a little past 11, I was ready to meet up with Jackie, all I had to do is take the last shuttle 30 minutes into the city and give her a call. It was cold outside, as I waited in line at the ticket window in front of the airport, then with 10 people in front of me, the 6’0 foot, French speaking shuttle drive said something in the terms of, épuisé or ‘sold out’…Merda (Italian for number 2)! What am I going to do, I reach for my phone to tell Jackie what happened, except, ‘Merda!’ I forgot to buy the re-credit for my phone, what am I going to do?!? I prayed… I always pray when I’m in trouble, which is quite often, but God never lets me down. I walked up to the French bus driver, not knowing a word of French, I told him in Italian, ‘I’m alone and I don’t know how to get to Brussels any other way.’ He was a tall, good looking, but hairy French man, he gave me a pitiful sigh and said, something and motioned with his hand to follow him. And there I sat in the little handicap chair next to the Hair Bus Driver, all the way to Brussels.
My darling friend must have known I would take the same shuttle as her, because there she was waiting for me, and off we went to a bar of 2000 beers on tap, a private castle, and homemade roast beef dinner and American breakfast… and not to mention Chocolate of all kinds… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4tLu5G0Uno click this to see where we got to stay.
A lot to be thankful for…
The following week after my mini vay-kay was Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, my host family had never celebrated this holiday before. I took a leap of faith in my cooking skills and with a little help from Marth Stawart, I cooked my very first full 7 course Thanksgiving dinner. We had mashed potatoes, pumpkin cinnamon puree, green bean and mushroom casserole, corn on the cob, stuffing, pumpkin cheesecake, and turkey. It was adorable to see the boys enjoy their first Thanksgiving Dinner! I am incredible thankful this year to have the opportunity to experience something as great as Rome, and I am abundantly blessed with family and friends all over the world!
