What an eventful week

Ah Memories

Well since it has been awhile since my last journal as a little heads up this entry will be quiet long. The internet here isn't the greatest and has been acting funny the last few days. I guess I should consider this a relief. It allows me to focus solely on my studies and not keeping up with my favorite shows.

Anyway, on Tuesday, Matt, Cecilia, and I headed into Roma. We drove to the outskirts of Roma to park and then catch either a bus or the metro. The reason I mention this is because Cecilia is somewhat of a crazy driver. She speeds all the time and suffers from road rage. I think its rather funny the way italians drive here. The roads are narrow and have many turns in them, but they still don't slow down and crowd the road. She also doesn't like for me to wear a seat belt in the back seat. She says that I am in the back so I am safe. That will take some time getting used to as well because it is a good habit of mine to always wear one. I would think that there would be many accidents, but so far there hasn't been any that I have been in. One of the monks, however, did get into a accident before I got to Subiaco and they haven't given him a break yet. They all make fun of him because he sometimes acts like a child. I did feel bad for him at one point, but when I got to know him better, I understood. But, on with my trip to Roma.

We eventually found a parking spot and began our walk to the metro. While exploring the streets before getting onto the metro, Cecilia wanted us to have some lunch. See Matt and I had to skip breakfast, or better yet we just didn't go, since we had the day off, so we were super hungry. We stopped at this small little shop where she ordered our food for us. The great thing about the monastery here is that they want to pay for everything we decide to day, so Cecilia paid for the lunch. We had some interesting dishes. The first was this fried cone-shaped thing stuffed with vegetables, cheese, meat, and rice. It looked weird, but once again turned out to be delicious. The next was this croissant-looking bun stuffed with tuna and cheese. As a little side note I realized that the italians here love stuffed things which usually turn out to be awesome. After we finished those two dishes, she brought out some sweets. Once again it look interesting. It was some fried dough with pistachios and some kind of cream filling. It tasted great until I realized that there was chocolate inside. Cecilia knew that I didn't eat chocolate, so I think she was trying to sneak it in. The rest of the day whenever she tried to buy us food I would say no and remind her about the chocolate. 

Once we finally got into Roma, the first place we went was the Spanish steps. I did take a picture, but there are people all over it so the steps are covered. Maybe next time when I go to Roma there will be less people. 

We then decided to do a little window shopping. We walked all up and down the streets of Roma where the very expensive stores were located. Let me tell you it was very depressing. Knowing that I wanted this and that, but not being able to afford it. Every time I picked up an item and looked at the price, I would drop it like it was burning my hand. I took pictures of some of the items that are on my list to get before I leave. Lets see if I can save up enough money to do so.

Once we were done with the shopping, Cecilia took us sight seeing. Since I was in Roma for six weeks, I did manage to see all of the places Cecilia took us to. The only thing was I didn't remember any of the places I have seen before. I kept telling her that two years is a long time to try and remember every single site you visited. I could only remember the popular ones and those sites that were very meaningful to me. I was just taking a trip down memory lane, remembering that we had a class there, or it was some homework assignment. I never did think I would be back in Roma so it was nice to relax and enjoy the view rather than trying to write down as much as possible. 

At one of the stores, I spotted this pair of shoes that would go great with my dress shirts. It was a pair of purple nikes. For those of you who don't know, purple is my favorite color. If I could I would wear it all the time. The bad thing is that apparently here in Italy, people wear purple at funerals instead of black. I guess people will assume that I am constantly in mourning, but I guess that's a price I am willingly to pay, but back to the shoes. Matt pointed them out to me and I instantly fell in love. The only problem was that they were for women. If the had any larger sizes, I would have walked out with them without a second thought. I mean who would know beside me and maybe some girl I run into that happens to be wearing the same pair. Then that would be awkward, but I would have an interesting story to share. I also did spot this jacket that was calling my name. It was beautiful white and green snowboarding jacket. The only problem besides the fact that I had already bought a jacket last season was that it cost 265 euros. That's right I said euros. Just do the math and you will see why I had to put it back. I did fit me really well though. I guess I can chalk that one on the list of maybes before I leave. After being shot down store after store looking for my purple shoes, Matt spotted a cheaper story with lower prices that he wanted to check out. Here he found a shirt and vest that he just had to have. In the end Matt was the only one who actually bought something from a clothing store. 

On our way back to Subiaco, Cecilia wanted to take us to this excellent restaurant called FLB. It took us awhile to find a parking spot, like thirty minutes of driving. Roma is terrible with finding a parking spot. We drove all around only to finally park in front of the store, but there was a little problem. It was avery tight fit because someone parked their scooter in a weird position. Matt had to get out to direct her into the spot. We wound up parking at some weird angle, which I guess was fine. Once inside we got our menus and placed our orders. I wanted to try something different so I asked Cecilia what she recommended. I had some buffalo sausage thing of course with red wine. It was excellent, but the only problem was that Matt and I had to finish a half liter of wine. I wound up drinking four or five glasses of wine that night. It was good wine, but it did make me seriously tired on the way back. Matt said when he looked back I was up and then five minutes later I was down. I just knocked out in the back seat until we got back to the monastery. We got back around 12 am so it was an all day adventure, but I would definitely do it all over again.

Throughout the day Matt and I would joke with Cecilia about taking us to McDonalds. For some odd reason she has this hatred towards McDonalds and refused every time to take us. Matt and I discussed how nice it would be to have a burger right now. Since McDonalds is everywhere, we keep pointing out signs to her telling her that this meant we had to go. It was a very fun-filled day with lots of placed and memories. It was just what I needed to clear my head and relax. The next mooring was a little more rough though. Waking up early and going to prayer, trying not to think about my headache.

Wednesday was another pretty slow day filled with more worksheets for Matt and I to do. I think of Clara as our teacher who assigns all the homework that we don't want to do. She is always quizzing me on words and helping me with phrases. Sometimes the phrases I get from the dictionary are way off base and she threatens to throw it away, but I tell here it is right some of the time. I should write a letter to them telling them they need to fix somethings or people will look like idiots speaking some of these phrases. 

The other thing I want to talk about are the ladies who cook and clean for us. Italia and Pinnucia are tow older ladies who help out around the monastery. Pinnucia is on vacation so Italia is the only one here this week. They are both amazing. Besides just cooking and cleaning, they also do laundry. The speacial thing that they do with all of your clothes is iron them, fold them, and place them into a basket so you can pick it up the next day. When I say they iron I mean they iron everything, including the socks. I was shocked when I got my clothes and say them all pressed and neatly folded. I will definitely miss that. I just don't have that type of dedication to do all that.

Thursday was another relatively slow day. I had asked Cecilia to take me to the store so I could buy somethings that I needed the other day. After she gave a tour of the monastery to a group of italians, she drove me down to Subiaco. We first went to a grocery store to find baby oil, lotion, and some hair spray. The baby oil and lotion were easy to find, but the hair spray was more difficult. We had to go to another store to find it. It cost me 15 euros to buy a small bottle. I just have to use it in moderation. After we were done with my shopping, Cecilia wanted to run some errands and show me some of the sights. Just hours before I was thinking of bringing my camera, but decided that it would best if I left it behind. I wish I brought it with me because she took me to this small waterfall that would have been a perfect picture. She also told me something interesting as well. Apparently you can go rafting on that small river. Thats what those polls sticky out from the ground were. I guess I now have something else I have to do before I leave Subiaco.

Matt and I have been thinking of places we would like to see before our year is up. So far we know we want to go to Egypt. The only problem is since the internet isn't working right now, we can't look up prices on flights. We also have to plan in advance because we are only given one day off a week. We can save them up and use them together, so we need to figure out when we would want to go. There are just too many places to see with only a year to do it all in. You would think it would be enough time, but we could only spend a few three or four day trips every few months. If anybody has any ideas of must see places, I am all ears.

Friday was another uneventful day. Just another slow day in the shop practicing Italian. The only thing that changed Friday was that Matt and I had to do some cleaning. We have a pretty busy schedule head of us this weekend. There is a wedding tomorrow and on Sunday it seems that everyone will be coming at once. Sundays are usually our busiest time of the week, but I have never seen it this chaotic. Matt and I first had to clean the lower church. We took down some photos that were being presented during the photo contest that they had here my first day. I which I knew about it because I would have definitely entered some of my photos about St. Benedict. Andy, the previous volunteer, also had some photos he entered. We kept them just in case he decides he would like to have them. 

After we were done cleaning the lower church, we had to clean the hallway between the Sacrestia and where we reside. This is a long hallway with cement floors. We were using a vacuum that was design specifically for collecting dirt and gravel, but Don Carlo saw us and said that we couldn't use it anymore. Apparently we did not have the proper head and he wagged his finger at us. The funny thing is that we had already used it downstairs because one of the monks told us we could. Matt And I had almost finished the floor anyway so we just waited for him to go to his office and continued vacuuming. The one thing you need to know about Don Carlo is that he is an 84 year old monk who refuses to accept change. These are not my words; they are the words of others. Just to provide an example, his office and room are still in the old part of the building where the walls and floors are concrete because they ran out of money to redo the frescos. 

Even though today wasn't filled with the usual excitement of my previous days, it was still fun. Matt and I did some exploring of the monastery during our cleaning duties. We managed to find a couple of staircases that have been blocked off by concrete and a excellent view on top of the building. I will definitely post pictures once the internet starts working again. We also do have another monk living with us for some time. I guess you could say that he is filling in for Don Luigi who will be back on the 11th of this month. I want to show him how much I progressed with my italian lessons. Cecilia was very impressed today when she was quizzing me. I think I might be getting the hang of it, because I have to refer less and less to my dictionary. I just now have tackle verbs.

Saturday was another pretty dull day for us here in Subiaco. We mostly worked in the shop, studied some vocabulary, and I worked learning the tour in english. I am planning on giving my first tour on tuesday, so we will see how much I can remember by then. So far I have went on a few torus with Matt so I can get used to what to day. It kind of reminds me of when I first had  tour at SJU. I remember getting the tour as a first time tour guide, and then anxiously waiting around for my first tour. Every time a person came in I thought it was my tour. I just wanted to get it over with really, but in that first week it seemed that every tour I was scheduled for canceled. I think I am ready though, because I have been studying the book and have most of the frescos memorized, but we will see how it goes.

Since it was a pretty slow day in the shop and the only thing that was going on that day was a wedding, Cecilia had us do some cleaning outside. We had to clean this terrance by the Sacrestia where all of the birds like to congregate, so you can imagine how messy it was. Luckily there was a hose we could use, so while Matt hosed down one part I swept as best I could the other. It only took the birds five minutes to mess up the terrance again. Right after we finished a bird flew by me and dropped a little present about a foot in front of me. I guess I should be happy that it didn't land on me, but still we just finished cleaning. After we were done with that we had to rake some of the gravel in front of the store to even it out. The Abbot happened to drive up the other day and noticed that the ground was uneven. He wanted us to rake some of the rocks to even it out. Once again when we were finished more people came along and shuffled the rocks back towards the middle. It was as if we hadn't done anything. Well at least it looks a little better than it did the day before. 

Today was a very hectic day. Matt and I were on our way to mass and decided to stop by the shop first to see if it were opened. Cecilia and Clara were both waiting there for us. Cecilia took Matt and they went to prepare some of the other churches for mass later that day while Clara gave a tour in Italian. As for me I was left in the shop alone. Just my luck that a crowd of Italians came rushing in to buy things. It seems every time I am alone in the shop a huge group comes in. The thing that you have to be aware of here in Italy is that there is no concept of a line. I had people asking for help while I am trying to ring up a customer and then get frustrated when I can't come right away and help them. I can't forget to mention the people who just rabbi one thing and then throw money at you expecting you to run to them. I think I wouldn't have such a problem with it if everything in the store had a price tag on it. See here in the shop all the price tags are located where the items are. So I have to run to see the price of each item and then give them the total. It gets even harder with so many people blocking the way and then trying to ask you questions. Sometimes I just want to scream BASTA!! which means enough, but you have to have patience. I know I will sleep really well tonight.