This week was… filled with paperwork. The theme of the week was “if this gets done, then maybe this will get done.” It was a major domino effect. I had classes, of course, but they seem far overshadowed by all the other things going on in our lives here, and all of those things had lines, just like home, haha.
We woke up at 5am again (a theme of this trip, I have found) to take a train into Roma, and went to the Tribunale to get something legalized. We also went to several offices in Viterbo during the week. Here’s a simple question: why can the U.S. Embassy not send a fax with the signature that the Viterbese Prefurtura requested? Answer: they did not give the Prefurtura a reason, just told them no. Now, I am thinking that since this has not been a problem in the past with every other embassy that our city has requested, this is just Americans being Americans. It seems that we cannot go out of our way to do anything, no matter how small, unless it is beneficial to us. In this way, when the director of my program says “why do these people have these jobs if they don’t want to do them,” I can say “it is the same way in America: we’re used to it, don’t worry.” I hate that I can say that, but I think that it is a part of human nature that Americans have chosen to embrace. Anyway, I can thank my American representatives in this country (in my region, even) for representing me so completely. *cough cough*
Now that I got that bitterness out of the way, tally another one for the “number of trips without a working restroom” on this study abroad. I think that is number four or five. Yeah, coming home on the train, the bathroom door was jammed shut. Haha, that was pure irony: I drank a whole bottle of Coke before getting on the train, because I knew I could use the restrooms on the train if I needed to.
Speaking of uncomfortable situations, I went shopping this Thursday evening with my assistant director. Don't get me wrong, I love her to little tiny pieces. The problem is that she knows EVERYONE (connections, connections), and introduced me to half the town. In Italy, it is very odd to get married before you are in your late twenties, so I felt a little like a sideshow, but I know she had good intentions. Anyway, I went with Francesca because I was looking for a particular outfit. I did not feel comfortable going into the stores alone and using my elementary level Italian language skills to try and explain what I wanted and ask for time to think. Stores here are mostly about who you know, honestly. Just like everything here. As Kevin says “it’s like trying to get into graduate school: it’s all about who you know.” We have a professor who knows a lady in the mayor’s office who is pushing Kevin’s residency through so we can try to get married here. We know a guy who knows a guy who owns the fanciest restaurant in town and who is trying to get us a discount if we have our wedding lunch there. My language professor told me to go to a certain store to look for something, and tell them she sent me to get a discount. It is all about who you know. So walking into the stores here, I knew that everything was about who you know and who you are with. Here, the stores are like boutiques… they are everywhere; they are small, and they are classy. You walk in and have an assistant help you look around the store. We told one assistant that we were looking for something in cream and she literally picked out all the cream things from the store that she thought would look good on me. Believe me, this was no small feat, as this is about the biggest ladies’ clothing store in town.
On a random tangent, I am getting possessive. Territorial. I have my certain places for certain things, and I like them, and I almost refuse to go other places to try them out. In our Italian language class on Wednesday, one of the exercises focused on the fact that most Italians like routines; they might go to the same bar every morning for coffee and have the same thing to drink, or go to the same restaurant every time they go out to eat. We try new restaurants for meals, but we have one “porta la via” (to go) pizza place that we will go to if we are in a rush. We always go to what we call “Giulio’s” (Ciccarelli Café) for caffe, and we always to go Schenardi for gelato. Guilio’s is a really great bar. Kevin goes to get a cappuccino most Mondays in his class break, and one of the bartenders, (we think his name is Carlo) asks him if he wants his regular. It is wonderful to be a regular. It’s like Cheers, except, I don’t think they know our names, haha. There is one guy I don’t like who works there, and he is just scary and mean. That sounded so juevenille, but it is true. He is acrid and neglectful. He seems like he has a great back-story that we just are unaware of. If I spoke enough Italian, I would ask him why he always frowns, even when I smile at him. Maybe he is upset because he is the least good looking of the four regular barkeeps. I think that would bum me out too, haha. For real though, besides Grumpy, there is Carlo, and “Keaunu Reeves” and “ Orlando Bloom.“
We stopped into Giulio’s to get a drink on Friday night, because we planned it the whole week, and we had not been out at night for a month. We asked people to come with us, but I guess everyone forgot or something, because it ended up being just the two of us. My culinary professor was there, and I waved at her from the upstairs and she came up to talk to us and meet Kevin. She told me about her Tailor and offered to take me around shopping if I needed to go. She said her tailor would do anything at a discount if she asked him to do something for her, so… another connection, and she is from England! Orlando Bloom told us that he makes Bellini’s with fresh fruit in the summer, but only juice in the winter. It was a good drink, so we are going to have to try one in May and see if Mr. Bloom will make us one with real peaches. Kevin had a martini, and I ate all the olives, most of the potato chips, and some of those fun peanuts in a spicy cracker-like shell. They were tasty, and I was not hungry for dinner that night.
All weekend, we were basically bumming around. We stayed in and watched films all day, and basically only ate and walked around town, and got online at the dormitory up the road from us. We did go grocery shopping, and we went to the Ipercoop on Saturday to buy the kids a blanket for when they come to Italy… I get to see my parents, brother, and grandmother in a week!!! Sooo excited.
Oh, big news, and I get to tell it, because I don’t think he is going to: my brother got engaged this last week! Yay! I am going to have Kristin as a sister in law through Kevin, and now I will have another sister in law because Doug is getting married too! Chandra was already a part of our family, and in June she will be an official Jones... that’s good: the Joneses are losing one girl to the Rineharts/Davidsons, and so they will gain a girl to replace me, haha, just kidding.
This afternoon we find out if we can get married here. I am a little nervous, but we think it has all been worked out. The people in the mayor's office are very excited to have American kids trying to get married in their town, and they have been very helpful. Today we should see if there is a time slot available, and post in the paper that we plan to get married... it is a form of "speak now or forever hold your peace", only in the newspapers for two weeks-ish. I found a vintage informal gown online that resembles my Nanna's wedding dress, and we have purchased it. It will arrive in Ohio soon. We are going on a suit hunt for Kevin this week, as well, and even though he does not want to know what the dress looks like, I have told him that since it is vintage, he should look for pin stripes, haha.
Well, I am getting wordy. Mom, don’t forget to water my plants!
Ciao for Now!
Doreen