My last night in Torino

Today I made myself be productive and I got up and out of the house by 10:30. I went to the large open air market and looked around and then headed down many cobble stone streets looking at the old buildings. Apparently Mondays are very dead and being as it is two days before August vacation, the city is really dead. Most shops were not open so I gave up my fight and went back to the apartment. I was suppose to meet with my American friends at 5:15 but as I was leaving I got a terrible nose bleed and couldn't meet with them until 6:15. But once we met up we did a little shopping and then went to a terrific restaurant for a last pasta dinner. The food was good and after eating we walked around some more and of course finished the evening with gelato. They walked me home and we said our goodbyes and now it is time for my last night's sleep in Torino. (till Sept anyway)

One side note: While I was walking today in the city I saw the funniest thing.....a tour but with horns. The city's mascot is the torro or bull so the bus was suppose to be a gaint bull!! It made me smile

Hey Mr. DJ put a record on

On Friday I continued my lazy streak by staying inside out of the heat and reading my book. But at 5 pm I left the house for the evening. I was going to meet my American friends for game night and dinner. On my way I was window shopping and saw a dress I though might be good for the wedding in America. So I went inside and asked to see it. Turns out it was the only one in the store and happened to be in my size!! Fate...I tried it on and the next thing I knew I was walking out of the store with a new dress!! One mission completed. Then I went to the super market and bought some coke for my hosts, but while I was walking to their apartment two boys came running down the street and one rammed right into me. The coke went flying and I tumbled a little, I have a sore arm to prove this encounter. I was really mad but the other boy that didnt hit me apologized and they ran off. When I finally got to their apartment we ate ghnocci and had dessert and played clue. I had a really nice time with them (as usual) and then came home early so that I could get up early the next morning for the sea.

Saturday started at 8 for us and we got ready and waited for our ride to show up. Christiana worned me that our driver might be late(he was suppose to arrived at 9) and at 10:15 we headed for the sea. We rode with three guys who were very nice and funny. One guy asked me if dork was a bad word cause he heard it in an American movie one time and always thought it was bad. After I explained that it wasn't bad and what it meant, we used it the whole weekend as an inside joke. The trip was suppose to take 3 hours but there was a motorcycle accident and we had to wait for over an hour. Unfortunately the driver of the motorcycle died in the crash. At 4:30ish we arrived at their friend's apartment....WOW. It was the largest apartment I have ever seen. It had two kitchens, two floors, 9 bedrooms, and a terrace on the top floor overlooking the ocean. Around 8 we started eating and mingling. But at 9:30 is when the party really started. There were two guys who did the djing and they were fantastic. The music was mostly late 70's and 80's music. They dedicated Surfing USA, by the Beach Boys, to me and played Cotten Eye Joe so I had to teach them the line dance. I met almost all of her friends and they were all great, plus their English was great. We danced into the wee small hours of the morning and finally at 4:30 I called it a night.

On Sunday it was a very relaxing day. Everyone slept in and either hung out on the terrace or went swimming in the ocean. I read my book for awhile and went with a bunch of girls to walk the little city center we were in. At 5 I fell asleep reading and didnt wake up until 7:30. By this time everyone was getting ready to leave so I said my goodbyes and was promised by most of them we would see each other in Sept and hang out again. On our way home we stopped at a ski resort and had pizza at this little pizzaria. Wonderful time, wonderful weekend. I can't wait to get to know some of them better and hang out again. This was by far one of the funnest things I've done in Italy.

Lazy Dayz of Summer

Last night I went with Christiana to meet one of her friends and his friends for dinner. I have to say this was the strangest yet most interesting dinners I have had in Italy. We met a Mexican food restaurant close to my favorite Piazza. When we went inside I was shocked for two reasons....First by the huge poster of John Wayne greeting us as we entered (not the first person I think of when I think mexican food but oh well) and Second the place was airconditioned and looked like we were in Aubelos or some place in America. It was fabulous!! The dinner party was an eclectic mix...one American (me), one from London, one Australian, one Iranian, and three Italians. We shared many stories and enjoyed each others company. I had a great conversation with the Iranian, but was a little disappointed that he brought up American politics before dessert. I mean I kind of figured Bush would be discussed (usually happens when they find out I'm from Texas) but it happened a little too soon in the dinner. But we quickly changed topics and finished the meal. The food was excellent!! They were all saying how big the portions were but a supressed a smile, knowing that they were little compared to restaurants in America. I think this is my favorite restaurant in Turin. The dinner took 3 hours so when we got home we went straight to bed.

Today I was completely lazy. I slept in until 10:30 but when I got up I didn't feel very well so I stayed home for awhile but decided fresh air would do me good. So I went to the open air market to look around and ordered a gyro for lunch and took it back to the apartment to eat. After lunch I felt worse so I stayed inside until 5:30 and did a little walking since it was cooling off a bit. When I got home I laid down for awhile and read until Chistiana came home. We fixed pasta at home and had a small dinner just the two of us. Tomorrow I may go to Milan but it jsut depends on how I feel. I may continue to be lazy....

SIX DAYS AND COUNTING

Figaro Figaro FI-GA-RO

As of Tuesday at 7:00 I was officially on summer break and free from babysitting for a month. To celebrate I met up with a friend, Christiana, the girl I'm staying with until I come back to America. I met her and three friends at the Royal Palace and we watched The Barber of Seville in the Royal Gardens under the stars. It was a fantastic Opera ("I liked it so much I almost peed my pants" All you pretty woman fans). I can now say that I have gotten my fair share of Opera this season. But the show was really funny and I never knew that the famous music, like Figaro was part of this Opera. After the show we came home and went to bed because it lasted over 3 hours.

This morning I slept in and then relaxed in the tub. I met my American friends for lunch and then we went to the largest open air market in Italy. It was about to close so I wasn't too impressed. We walked over to an air conditioned book store and I bought the 7th Harry Potter!!! I was going to wait until I got to London but turns out that none of the books have been translated into Italian yet so it is the same version they sell in London....why wait then. So this afternoon I plan to start it. This evening we are planning on going to eat with some of Christiana's friends. Tomorrow I haven't decided but I may go to Milan for the day since it only takes two hours by train. This weekend I am going with Christiana and friends to the seaside. So my last couple of days in Italy should be quite exciting. Nothing like going out with a BANG.

It's Official

Well like the title implies my plans for the rest of 2007 are official. I have accepted my family's offer to come back to Italy in September and stay through December. This evening I bought my plane ticket and will be leaving Houston on the 29th of August and will come back home on December 16th. I have also taken a job as an assistant to the designer (all you "Office" fans out there) for MAG Designs here in Torino. The firm specializes in residential design and most clients are from London. So there may be a small chance I will go to London for business meetings. During the mornings I will work as a designer and at night as an au pair. I look at it like a super hero job....Have a "real" job in the day and fight crime at night :-) I am really excited about getting the opportunity to do design in Italy and come back to this amazing family. I will admit that I know it will be challenging but I feel this is where God wants me to be. Throughout this trip and the months to come I often recite my favorite memory verse "I am holding you by your right hand-I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, "Do not be afraid. I am here to help you..." Isaiah 41:13.

For the next couple of days I will be staying with my friend Christiana, who lives above us, and may not have internet access. But I will try and post if I am around the internet. I love and miss you all and can't wait to see you in August!!

Food Fight

One day in counting till the family goes to USA and I am on vacation. I am getting really excited for them and that's what everyone is talking about. "In New York City do they have large elevators?" "Will we see that in America?" But my favorite is when Ruggie told me that they couldn't eat the icecream in America because it has so much sugar it will rot your teeth out. I tried to tell him that I love icecream and I have good teeth but we got lost in translation.

Filippo went to his grandmother's today and I kept Ruggero. It was a peaceful day for the most part except for the food fight. The struggle started after breakfast when I noticed there was a banana going bad so I decided to make banana bread. I got everything mixed and then went to the fridge to get the milk and discovered there wasn't any. I made a special trip to the market to buy a tiny carton and then proceeded. For lunch I was in charge of cooking hamburgers and pasta (a know a weird combo) for Ruggie and myself. I haven't ever pan cooked a hamburger patty so I was struggling a bit. The oil got everywhere and the burgers turned out with no flavor---thank goodness for ketchup. After lunch I put the banana mixture into the oven and waited for it to get done. Well apparently I waited too long because I totally burned the bread to a crisp. After cleaning that mess up I took a nap with Ruggero. For dinner Pat brought home Lasanga--I know it's hard to believe that I've been in Italy for 9 weeks and this is my first Lasanga, but well worth the wait. For me at least. The boys wouldn't eat theirs so I fixed them grilled cheeses...well kinda. They didn't have sliced bread so I used tiny dinner rolls and put them in a pan to melt the cheese inside. They didn't look very good to me but the boys ate 'em up (pardon the pun).. Finally the "food fight" was over and now I am headed to bed...Buona Notte and sweet dreams

Romeo Romeo, where thou art Romeo

This weekend was amazing. I took at train to Verona at 2 in the afternoon on Saturday. The ride took a little over three hours. I listened to a little "Blue Eyes" while we whipped through the beautiful countryside. When I arrived I headed for what I thought was the ticket booth for the Opera, but got lost so I asked a girl on the street and she pointed me into the right direction. Once I found the Arena, I picked up me Opera ticket and went looking for my hostel. The hostel was supper nice but very hot. The lady took me to my room and I felt like I was going through a maze. The room was on the top floor at the very back of the building. She showed me my bed (I was staying in a dorm with other girls) it was on the top floor of a loft in the corner. I met the girl staying next to me. Her name is Helen and she is from Kent even though she now lives in London. She is 24 and just traveling around Europe for 4 weeks. Last year she traveled Asia for eight months! So I guess you could say she's an experienced backpacker. After I changed clothes (and tried to get cool) I went to the main piazza where the arena was to try and find dinner. I settled on a pizza place and ordered a slice to go. I went across the street and had a picnic in the park next to a fountain. The pizza was very strange for Italy because it tasted like Pizza Hut (not as good though)-which means there was a lot of bread and it was thick. Normal Italian pizza is very thin and almost runny in the middle. I headed inside the arena just before 8:30 to find a good seat. The ampitheater had hard stone seating so I brought my towel to sit on. I found a perfect seat just off stage right and tried to get comfortable. The Opera was La Bohiem by Puccini and was amazing. I read the summary before I came so that I would have an idea of what was going on. This was helpful and I managed to keep up with the performers. It lasted just a little over 3 hours but was worth the train ride and the non air conditioned hostel. The next day (Sunday) I had to check out by nine, so I went for breakfast in Piazza Erbe. I took my time drinking my cappuccino and did a little people watching. After breakfast a spent the rest of the morning looking at local vendors products in the piazza, trying on clothes in nice air conditioned stores. At 11:30 I went to the castle in the middle of the city, which was built for the Lord of Verona during the Medival Times. It is now a wonderful art museum that has many works from the 13th-14th centuries. After my art tour I went back to Piazza Bra to meet my new friend, Helen for lunch. We had a great conversation about traveling and family and then walked around Verona for awhile. We went to Juilet's(from Romeo and Juliet) famous balcony and saw the outside of her house. (this is the house of the family that inspired the famous tale which Shakespear made into the classic story we know today). I had a few hours to spare after lunch so I went to Piazza Erbe and walked around and had some interesting conversations with some vendors. There was an older brother and sister that I talked to for awhile (both in Italian and English) and eventually bought some things from. At 3:30 I walked to the train station and rode the train back to beautiful Torino. I arrived around 9 and made it home in time to eat dinner with the family. We are gearing up for the last two days before they leave so you can feel excitement (and tension) in the air. I loved visiting Verona and even though I didn't find my Romeo, I found a wonderful city full of memories.

PS All the Verona pictures are posted