the other day my friend francesco, who i met through ilaria, and i went to swim in the sea a bit but its kinda cold and im chicken so i waded. he found a sea urchin (he is kind of like the crocodile hunter but for things in the water) and its little sticky arms came out like snail eyeballs and stuck to my finger, tickling, red.
i want to go to the castle and i dont care how many euro it costs.
last night i ate octopus prepared in a nice restaurant, drank fancy red wine and all for free. my friend ramzi keeps inviting me to the events of the university here, and it is pretty sweet. tonight i am seeing him play for belly dancers. he is an odd character, like everyone here, but seems to have alot of connections and has hooked me up with the volunteer work as a refugee art teacher, a bicycle, and maybe an apartment, and maybe a job as the photographer for these events. i will tell you when i see the euro!
today i found my first money here. ten shiny euro gold and glinting perfect in the sun. i also found a little disk, a medal from a necklace with jesus and his little halo holding a baby.
today i walked to the sea. there was a fire made by local kids, supposedly, burning grass. nobody thought a thing of it but me. ramzi and i picked capri, capers the size of small limes.
liam and valentina have an orange tree that is producing! it looks just like my lemon tree but with fruit on it... russ how are those plants doing? send photos!
i decided when i have an apartment i will not have any cacti. they are nice to look at but very impractical as they are under the laundry on the terrazza and your towels are in danger of becoming full of prickles only to surprise you after a shower and also because my skirt flows into them and then i have cacti spurs on me.
i was painting some plant stands for liam. i made a watercolor-oil pastel drawing for valentina that was my trademark vangogh'esque swirly circles that were orange and blue but they looked like tits and valentina said so. i said one tit was hers and one was mine. she wanted me to paint their plant stands to look like the orangeboobs. i said yay i've been wanting to make art!
i am ready to start knitting and producing scarves but must wait until settled in an apartment. soon.
i wake up covered in sweat, it is so hot.
today i did yoga by the sea and valentina does things i didnt know a body could do. she is literally superwoman. liam looks like a little jumping bean doing exercises by the sea.
i saw a dead pigeon down by the rocks, freshly dead. looked like it had flown into the wall and fallen to its death. then i saw a gecko peering at me from the wall.
and little crablike creatures everywhere. i thought i saw a roach on the sidewalk crawling the other day but it was a crab. grancci they call it.
when i shower i have learned not to be a pussy about it. you just have to take the shower head (only works when detached, like a hose) and hold it above your head and flip the water on real fast and indulge yourself in the cold slightly salty water. these are the fastest showers of my life.
in liam's house we use stones found in the sea for soap dishes and stones from the ocean to work the calluses off our feet in the shower.
they clean the entire house every morning after the yoga. valentina does exercises with weights on her feet and she is RELENTLESS. today i learned that i am to be challenged to do a pushup. i cannot currently complete one. valentina does like a hundred every day, with her feet elevated.
when she comes back from work, selling oranges in the streets and orange juice, she is like a tornado, full of energy, cleaning like a fiend, not speaking, unstoppable. russians are so odd and so intriguing.
we are teaching one another. she is teaching me italian and i am teaching her english. she has me translate the tolvstoj book anna karinina (that is spelled incorrectly for sure). the first sentence, which is as far as we have gotten so far is, translated into english because i dont remember the italian version and dont have time to look it up
every happy family is similar, all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way.
she asks me to tell her what it means, why the author wrote it. i say there is a key to happiness and many ways to be unhappy? she says yes and the key is equilibrium. which is not present in the compost pile remove your pizza crust from it immediately!
her english phrases she uses for me are currently 'bad girl' pronounced 'bod gerrrl' with a trilled r and 'shutup' pronounced 'shitup'
she is a character.
i want to go to the gorge so badly. i miss the clouds in kentucky and last night i imagined i heard it raining. i miss the rain.
love you.
30.7.09
29.7.09
to market to market
oh the usual... cheap chinese made sandals for three euro, fabric, sunscreen, etc etc, people yelling dai dai dai dai! and other phrases in very annoying voices over and over... fresh amazing olives nuts of every kind dried fruit and cheese for purchase by the kilo ) i bought green olives that were NOT as good as the ones in rome but still sweet, and a kilo of almonds yum!) and when i went to buy a skirt, i handed the asshole five euro, he gave me my change and lifted his shirt to show his flaccid uncircumsized penis that he had pulled out of his pants and left sticking out of the top just for me.
my instinct was to punch him. i think i closed my eyes, and walked away, stumbling over something as i left as quickly as possible.
i also wanted to punch the kid who jabbed me in my side for who knows what reason when pushing through the crowd, but thought of being put in jail for assault, and also getting my ass kicked, and restrained myself.
valentina and i rode bicicles to market. uphill the whole way! on the way back there was traffic and i was a bit scared but she was fearless. i almost got hit once, and the second time the bike got all screwy and i had to hop off and fix it ' the fender was broken and stuck in the tire.
all in all i MADE IT and with a couple good buys as well.
ramzi and i are meeting in a moment to discuss my volunteer work teaching art to refugees, and also my work as a writer and photographer for the events (yes i know, events... but it is what it is!) and also the possibility of an apartment.
he may have found me one, which we looked at together yesterday, which was very nice for a one person apartment and spacious and right by the ocean, but last night i met kali jones and we drank white wine on the terrazza and talked into the night about amazing art works sheàs working on. she agreed to let me stay there. now i will have a DARKROOM and an ENGLISH SPEAKING AMAZING ARTIST AS A ROOMMATE.
and a TERRAZZA AND ROOFTOP THE SIZE OF CALCUTTA. SIX FLOORS ABOVE SICILIA. fuck yes.
the link to aldo's site, with link to kali's work is here
http://www.aldopalazzolo.it/kalijones/Index.htm
there are no shots of her current paintings which are hanging in the apartment and are VERY minimalistic, white with a bit of white texture, large canvas, a spot of rust on the corner. she said they were made in a period of emptiness ''' after losing her father and a lover in the same year. i love them.
love you.
look at the new photos i put up.
my instinct was to punch him. i think i closed my eyes, and walked away, stumbling over something as i left as quickly as possible.
i also wanted to punch the kid who jabbed me in my side for who knows what reason when pushing through the crowd, but thought of being put in jail for assault, and also getting my ass kicked, and restrained myself.
valentina and i rode bicicles to market. uphill the whole way! on the way back there was traffic and i was a bit scared but she was fearless. i almost got hit once, and the second time the bike got all screwy and i had to hop off and fix it ' the fender was broken and stuck in the tire.
all in all i MADE IT and with a couple good buys as well.
ramzi and i are meeting in a moment to discuss my volunteer work teaching art to refugees, and also my work as a writer and photographer for the events (yes i know, events... but it is what it is!) and also the possibility of an apartment.
he may have found me one, which we looked at together yesterday, which was very nice for a one person apartment and spacious and right by the ocean, but last night i met kali jones and we drank white wine on the terrazza and talked into the night about amazing art works sheàs working on. she agreed to let me stay there. now i will have a DARKROOM and an ENGLISH SPEAKING AMAZING ARTIST AS A ROOMMATE.
and a TERRAZZA AND ROOFTOP THE SIZE OF CALCUTTA. SIX FLOORS ABOVE SICILIA. fuck yes.
the link to aldo's site, with link to kali's work is here
http://www.aldopalazzolo.i
there are no shots of her current paintings which are hanging in the apartment and are VERY minimalistic, white with a bit of white texture, large canvas, a spot of rust on the corner. she said they were made in a period of emptiness ''' after losing her father and a lover in the same year. i love them.
love you.
look at the new photos i put up.
glass'bottom boat ride.
a little forced since i was told to write about it in exchange for euro which i have yet to see.
sun glints white off the sea outside and below the boats opens to reveal at surface level, white bubbles travelling steadily in strings backward, like foggy clouds under yarn
deeper lies the titanic of rocks, buried for centuries and surrounded by sand dunes, fields of sea plants, craters *or is that a sea urchin_( and white mushrooms all over.
the breeze comes in refreshing us all from terrain reminiscent of the surface of the moon. we find gollum's cave. the girls snap photos of one another and speak of boys, in ortigia and at home.
the sea is mostly calm and reminds me of the lake in kentucky, lake cumberland, back home, but clad instead of hunter green in brilliant blue.
bands of sea color i imagine expand from the boat in a circular motion.
sun glints white off the sea outside and below the boats opens to reveal at surface level, white bubbles travelling steadily in strings backward, like foggy clouds under yarn
deeper lies the titanic of rocks, buried for centuries and surrounded by sand dunes, fields of sea plants, craters *or is that a sea urchin_( and white mushrooms all over.
the breeze comes in refreshing us all from terrain reminiscent of the surface of the moon. we find gollum's cave. the girls snap photos of one another and speak of boys, in ortigia and at home.
the sea is mostly calm and reminds me of the lake in kentucky, lake cumberland, back home, but clad instead of hunter green in brilliant blue.
bands of sea color i imagine expand from the boat in a circular motion.
27.7.09
fiskars.
it started as a trim with teal fiskars ' an antidote for the hot day, in the sea on the beach.
i sat on a wall with the sea to my thighs and trimmed a bit carefully. i finished and put the scissors back in my bag, wiping and rinsing away countless annoying black hairs from my hands an dlegs. i started to think about liamàs words that morning, when i told him i badly wanted to cut it again 0 ' wait til monday we shall see if marilia minds or not' i thought about cutting it monday and having to clean up all that hair twice, about how hot it was with this thick black sweater on my head, about what people in italy would think, what my family one million miles away would think, what the people now staring at me on the beach would think and i said no. this is stupid.
i have wanted this for a long time and i have to do this for no one else.
i grabbed the sandy kindergarden scissors, turned my back to the voyeurs aka creepy old italian men, sat down in the sea and watched black flowers fall away and separate, swim to shore, drown in salt and float motionless save for an underlying rhythm.
i saw my shadow on a rock wall. it was spiky and made me smile. now i do catch myself ciritcizing my reflection and think back to my key and the silliness, the smallness of a worry about the level of beauty of the face on this body.
i sat on a wall with the sea to my thighs and trimmed a bit carefully. i finished and put the scissors back in my bag, wiping and rinsing away countless annoying black hairs from my hands an dlegs. i started to think about liamàs words that morning, when i told him i badly wanted to cut it again 0 ' wait til monday we shall see if marilia minds or not' i thought about cutting it monday and having to clean up all that hair twice, about how hot it was with this thick black sweater on my head, about what people in italy would think, what my family one million miles away would think, what the people now staring at me on the beach would think and i said no. this is stupid.
i have wanted this for a long time and i have to do this for no one else.
i grabbed the sandy kindergarden scissors, turned my back to the voyeurs aka creepy old italian men, sat down in the sea and watched black flowers fall away and separate, swim to shore, drown in salt and float motionless save for an underlying rhythm.
i saw my shadow on a rock wall. it was spiky and made me smile. now i do catch myself ciritcizing my reflection and think back to my key and the silliness, the smallness of a worry about the level of beauty of the face on this body.
seashells and alice
millions of the most beautiful perfect tiny shells you can imagine and in every pattern and color. i feel a bit like alice and the rushes when the most gbeautiful seemed just out of reach no matter how many she pulled into the boat they kept disappearing as she piled them in with wondering greedy child hands and fell in the water with a great splash trying to reach the most beautiful one.
white plastic bag. (american beauty?)
i lean over the edge of the bridge and watch time slow as a submerged white plastic bag is held in the space between underwater and almost to safety, almost to see the sky, take a breath, expand the lungs. underwater, everything is so slow, especially white plastic bags in the midst of decision.
every day nature teaches me something. there are always surprises.
every day nature teaches me something. there are always surprises.
26.7.09
mafia.
the photos of the mafia murders nearly made me throw up. even in black and white and maybe especially black and white the human mind knows that shiny dark is blood
it is blood and it is gruesome.
yes, elizabeth, the mafia is very real and their siracusan headquarters are two blocks from where iàm staying.
it is blood and it is gruesome.
yes, elizabeth, the mafia is very real and their siracusan headquarters are two blocks from where iàm staying.
yesterday's journal entry.
a little boy maybe five or six walking by with his mother and two siblings, i hear 'signora!' and he comes up to me and keeps chattering happily in italian and along come mother and siblings and i smile and dont say anything but then, c'e? what? because i dont like to give away my non italian speaking status unless i must and his mother sets down a pail with a little crab inside water sloshing over sides and onto my sandals.
he keeps chattering this whole time and in the confusino puts his hand into the pail, i say 'atenta!' watch out! one of my few but important words, and he walks away laughing and talking, he grabs a finger and i understand from spanish the word 'ded' as he laughs. i laugh too and the youngest peers back at me through the salty window of a parked car.
a chorus of flip flops echo off the walls of a roman building where i sit eating my tuna panini, late lunch under roman columns.
an emaciated black cat appears out of the street and finds my hiding place on the steps of a closed restaurant. sheàs been in many a fight in her day and her milkfilled breasts sway under a rail frame. there is a popolo, puppy that is very small and calm that i have made friends with. he hangs in liamàs neighborhood and lies on peopleàs doorsteps.
last night i made two feline friends near the home of lani who has five birds in five bird cages on the wall around her front door.
explored the island alone with a map in my bag but never in my hand for as soon as i think iàm far from somewhere i turn a corner that is now familiar and realize one can get stuck on an island but never lost.
sometimes italia is accidentally artistic. como la virgine con il mio gelato (like the virgin mary with my ice cream)
if you look closely in the photo you may see an ancient italian pigeon on the ancient italian ruins.
the love of fashion and nice cars seems here to sometimes come from a simple love of beauty and beautiful things ' something iàm sure is present in american cnosumers sometimes but which iàd never before noticed.
today i had salt'encrusted skin and hair and sand'covered feet.
we are all hypocrites
yo voglio un moto. i want a motorcycle.
my stomach and leg muscles are still sore from yesterdays 5 am workout.
in roma, with ilaria, it was customary for everyone to walk around in their underwear in the house. we usually wore a little tank top and our panties. it was a custom i gladly accepted because for one thing it was hot and for another who needs pants anyway?
i met two boys from kenya, one seeking asylum from his country. he had tribal tattoos on his chest that looked like claw marks from a cat. their names were Godsson (god's son) and Wisdom. they were very friendly and we found a starfish. i also found a sea urchin which in the excitement of photographing the starfish was thrown into my bag and voila! many small pieces of sea urchin.
we couldnt figure if the starfish was alive or not and they were going to throw it back but had never seen one before and i insisted they keep it because we thought it was probably dead and because starfish are very special and i'd never seen one in the water before like that ' when it started to move. in the commotion to photograph it a giant italian man came over and asked for it, Godsson handed it to him and he took it to the aquarium about 100 feet away. i was very upset. as i'm sure the starfish was as well.
the other night i had a walk with aldo palozzolo, a famous photographer with whom i may soon be working. he showed me photos of patti smith and robert mapplethorpe and i saw in his house where he'd exhibited work alongside andy warhol. when he kept saying ' you know cattismet?' i had no idea who the hell he was talking about but then he wrote it ' patti smith ' and i said of course!! he said i have photo of her and i said non credo! which is one of my few phrases and means i dont believe it! and he got puffed up and said in italian ' sarah! remember this! my name is aldo palozzolo and i do not tell lies!!' then he proceeded to show me amazing photos which are strangely largely similar and hardly distinguishable from the photos that jim hall made in lexington.
he is very funny, and kept making fun of me in english ' because because i like bunny! i like bugs bunny!!'
old photographers are always a riot.
we went and got gelato, ice cream that was very good and walked around the piazza duomo.
today i saw the littlest and dirtiest pet shop where i giant parrot kept saying 'ciao!' in a clear voice and i held tiny rabbits. i realize though i felt so guilty for leaving the bunnies and some people said why dont you take them with you? it would have been impossible and the death of them and probalby me also to get them here . 22 hours of travel! not for a bunny, no.
i miss them very much.
love you all, will upload more photos monday when i have better computer accesss, and free.e
he keeps chattering this whole time and in the confusino puts his hand into the pail, i say 'atenta!' watch out! one of my few but important words, and he walks away laughing and talking, he grabs a finger and i understand from spanish the word 'ded' as he laughs. i laugh too and the youngest peers back at me through the salty window of a parked car.
a chorus of flip flops echo off the walls of a roman building where i sit eating my tuna panini, late lunch under roman columns.
an emaciated black cat appears out of the street and finds my hiding place on the steps of a closed restaurant. sheàs been in many a fight in her day and her milkfilled breasts sway under a rail frame. there is a popolo, puppy that is very small and calm that i have made friends with. he hangs in liamàs neighborhood and lies on peopleàs doorsteps.
last night i made two feline friends near the home of lani who has five birds in five bird cages on the wall around her front door.
explored the island alone with a map in my bag but never in my hand for as soon as i think iàm far from somewhere i turn a corner that is now familiar and realize one can get stuck on an island but never lost.
sometimes italia is accidentally artistic. como la virgine con il mio gelato (like the virgin mary with my ice cream)
if you look closely in the photo you may see an ancient italian pigeon on the ancient italian ruins.
the love of fashion and nice cars seems here to sometimes come from a simple love of beauty and beautiful things ' something iàm sure is present in american cnosumers sometimes but which iàd never before noticed.
today i had salt'encrusted skin and hair and sand'covered feet.
we are all hypocrites
yo voglio un moto. i want a motorcycle.
my stomach and leg muscles are still sore from yesterdays 5 am workout.
in roma, with ilaria, it was customary for everyone to walk around in their underwear in the house. we usually wore a little tank top and our panties. it was a custom i gladly accepted because for one thing it was hot and for another who needs pants anyway?
i met two boys from kenya, one seeking asylum from his country. he had tribal tattoos on his chest that looked like claw marks from a cat. their names were Godsson (god's son) and Wisdom. they were very friendly and we found a starfish. i also found a sea urchin which in the excitement of photographing the starfish was thrown into my bag and voila! many small pieces of sea urchin.
we couldnt figure if the starfish was alive or not and they were going to throw it back but had never seen one before and i insisted they keep it because we thought it was probably dead and because starfish are very special and i'd never seen one in the water before like that ' when it started to move. in the commotion to photograph it a giant italian man came over and asked for it, Godsson handed it to him and he took it to the aquarium about 100 feet away. i was very upset. as i'm sure the starfish was as well.
the other night i had a walk with aldo palozzolo, a famous photographer with whom i may soon be working. he showed me photos of patti smith and robert mapplethorpe and i saw in his house where he'd exhibited work alongside andy warhol. when he kept saying ' you know cattismet?' i had no idea who the hell he was talking about but then he wrote it ' patti smith ' and i said of course!! he said i have photo of her and i said non credo! which is one of my few phrases and means i dont believe it! and he got puffed up and said in italian ' sarah! remember this! my name is aldo palozzolo and i do not tell lies!!' then he proceeded to show me amazing photos which are strangely largely similar and hardly distinguishable from the photos that jim hall made in lexington.
he is very funny, and kept making fun of me in english ' because because i like bunny! i like bugs bunny!!'
old photographers are always a riot.
we went and got gelato, ice cream that was very good and walked around the piazza duomo.
today i saw the littlest and dirtiest pet shop where i giant parrot kept saying 'ciao!' in a clear voice and i held tiny rabbits. i realize though i felt so guilty for leaving the bunnies and some people said why dont you take them with you? it would have been impossible and the death of them and probalby me also to get them here . 22 hours of travel! not for a bunny, no.
i miss them very much.
love you all, will upload more photos monday when i have better computer accesss, and free.e
colours.
meredith '
sipping hot tea in italy this morning near the open door where outside creeps in the smell of compost where geckos eat breakfast lunch and dinner i am reminded of you when i see things living small black swirls in the bottom of my teacup. and near my heart always is the escarabe you gave me and when worried i hold it close to me. it now opens! i can open and close it and inside is you and me and home and safety.
i listened to colours on the plane and in the sky and sang to the passengers and danced in my seat. it was the only song on my ipod that consistently filled me with happiness. reminded me of dancing with you that summer night around a coffee table. and on the train i listened and the world and the hillsides flashed by and i heard the entire hot chip album for, blieve it or not, the first time all the way through and thought of you!
what a gift, friendship.
sipping hot tea in italy this morning near the open door where outside creeps in the smell of compost where geckos eat breakfast lunch and dinner i am reminded of you when i see things living small black swirls in the bottom of my teacup. and near my heart always is the escarabe you gave me and when worried i hold it close to me. it now opens! i can open and close it and inside is you and me and home and safety.
i listened to colours on the plane and in the sky and sang to the passengers and danced in my seat. it was the only song on my ipod that consistently filled me with happiness. reminded me of dancing with you that summer night around a coffee table. and on the train i listened and the world and the hillsides flashed by and i heard the entire hot chip album for, blieve it or not, the first time all the way through and thought of you!
what a gift, friendship.
25.7.09
sea.
i am sitting within feet of ancient roman ruins and have torn out the sad pages of my journal thqt i wrote in america. i let the sea breeze carry them through dirty streets, under cars, down drain pipes wash away in the sea.
24.7.09
between high green mountains and deep blue sea.
past watermelon fields and butts of people working in their fields, past ancient ruins of roman walls akin to stonehenge. lots of stucco crumbling into the sea, clay colors in hot roman sun.
graffiti akin to new york. cacti, trees like a finger pointing green to the sky, palm trees thick and strong not those spindly sickly things in florida.
mountains with fountains underneath keeping the crop alive. houses scattered about in farmland.
between high green mountain and deep blue sea.
old stone ruins still used for houses, plants growing out of the holes for windows. houses farmed like clay out of the rock upon which they stand. building structures that are concrete shells. crumbled castles in the mountain side.
the sea turns from frothy waves on shore to sparkling white under the sun and then to black and becomes the clouds at the edge of the world. hills reaching up to disappear under clouds then rolling away to peek out under bright cartoon blue.
windmills white and huge twirling distant whirling dervish dance to the same drum but each one step ahead of the next
graffiti akin to new york. cacti, trees like a finger pointing green to the sky, palm trees thick and strong not those spindly sickly things in florida.
mountains with fountains underneath keeping the crop alive. houses scattered about in farmland.
between high green mountain and deep blue sea.
old stone ruins still used for houses, plants growing out of the holes for windows. houses farmed like clay out of the rock upon which they stand. building structures that are concrete shells. crumbled castles in the mountain side.
the sea turns from frothy waves on shore to sparkling white under the sun and then to black and becomes the clouds at the edge of the world. hills reaching up to disappear under clouds then rolling away to peek out under bright cartoon blue.
windmills white and huge twirling distant whirling dervish dance to the same drum but each one step ahead of the next
23.7.09
second, third day in roma.
dear friends,
once again please excuse my english as i am trying as hard as i can with the small amount of time i have and also once again, as my italian improves my english gets worse. tit for tat! also i am typing on a european keyboard with symbols in odd places so donàt worry about that. see what i mean....
yesterday fabrizio, ilarias roommate took me to necci, the ristorante just down the block and we had cake for breakfast with tea and capuccino. fabrizio is an actor and he is very funny. he is very nice but also worries so much. and hairy too.
he took me on his vespa where again we wore helmets <9everyone in roma does<0 and to meet with mario grasso, my extended family member, for sightseeing. things are a little difficult here because i have to use someone elseàs phone to call ilaria and also fabrizio if i need to get back in the house, and then have transportation to get there, and also make sure they are actually at home and their phone actually works!
so mario and i did some sightseeing and i took photos, which you can see at the link i sent before, which has new photos. i will put it here just in case
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2325882&id=12901818&l=49226ee2aa
last night ilaria and i went to a party of her friend andrea who is an actor and lives elsewhere in italy. she doesnt get to see him much. the house was on the fifth floor and we walked up all the marble stairs. at first i was very shy and said nothing much at all but took photos and didnt speak, because i was very unsure of my italian, what little i do know, but then i met a few who spoke some inglish and we talked at length, with me speaking in a mixture of english, italian and spanish. if i knew spanish perfectly and spoke that to them they would understand much of what i say.
the wine was white and made by andrea and his family in capri. he mashed it with his feet. it was very good. there was lots of food on the table, all made by people at the party. the white olives tasted like sweet butter and i couldnt stop eating them, though my new friend, francesco, a somewhat famous actor in rome, kept trying to make me stop because he said they cause indigestion.
everyone i talked to was either a photographer, filmm maker or actor. there was an american boy there who was a filmmaker and we spoke for a minute though my inglish was terrible compared to four days ago. it is good though and i dont mind it at all. i need to learn italian as quickly as possible!
everyone was very nice and told me my pronunciation was great and that i was learning italian very quickly. ilaria told them all that i know it better than she did. ha ha, and she is italian. she is very sweet.
i was telling francesco about my favorite bands and everyone here knows and loves bjork and radiohead of course but he said he had never heard sufjan stevens and wrote it down to download. ten minutes later two sufjan stevens songs come on and fra had heard them and loved them. they also played animal collective, from the shortbus soundtrack.
they let me put music on and i played hot chip, metric, tv on the radio, and daft punk for them. we all danced and even people sitting down were moving to the music. the boys all dance together and it is very funny. one named pepe was hilarious and kept doing a chicken dance.
my new friend piero is a phtoographer of fashion and is amazing. unfortunately his show is tomorrow night and i will be in siracusa.
everyone was so nice to me and said very beautiful wonderful things upon departure. iàm getting better at the double cheek kiss that happens on exit.
and refuse to use a bidet. that is weird.
i showed them my website and they loved the photos and we took photos all night, and some friends took photos with my camera. everyone was beautiful, and the dessert was too.
today ilaria wanted me to go into town by myself and see the pantheon, etc. i agreed and she left for work but then i was so scared to go because i dont know the language well enouh to speak with an italian who doesnt speak english, and all i had were four euros given to me by the lady in the airport who gave me the phone card, and my phone card only works to call american numbers.
i could just see myself getting deathly lost. i stayed inside as i didnt have a key to the apartment and felt a little sorry for myself.
then francesca came home, the other roommate of ilaria and she let me use her phone to call mario as he had been calling ilaria and fabrizio, so they said when i called them, and he put me together with enrico and sylvanna, other family members who came after my long nap to take me to the pantheon. while waiting on them i walked around a little with my camera in ilarias neighborhood, and successfully questioned a local shop owner about where to find a restaurant, and understood him for the most part.
i ate at necci again because i knew it and thought it wouldnt be too expensive. i tried to speak italian with the waitress but we could not understand the blank stares that passed between us but luckily another waitress did speak italian. here you are charged for table service and also for bread they bring to the table, though you can refuse it, and can also eat standing up.
people were looking at me so i thought. i try to pride myself on ilariaàs comment that i could pass for italian by looks but iàm sure my giant bag, canteen of water <9iàm too cheap to buy water<0 and the way i held my fork gave me away.
i fell asleep and dreamt of the pantheon. i was awoken by ilariaàs thick beautiful accent saying my name and responded in sleep with 'si?' and continued to speak italian with her as i continued to wake up, though she was speaking to me inglish. sylvanna was downstairs and in all the confusion of getting her upstairs i was still speaking italian, as best i knew.
she and enrico are older and neither spoke english well but better than mario and together we went to see the pantheon, colloseum and foro romano, the roman ruins. i did not get to go into the colloseum but it moved me more than anything else simply by driving by it. i became emotional. it is magnificent.
also the roman ruins took my breath away. i could hardly control myself! it reminded me of the time i saw saturn through a telescope. unbelievable and familiar and tear'jerking!
i crossed myself with holy water in the pantheon. and saw the grave of raphael.
also there are ruins in the city covered in graffiti. it is terrible! so sacred and ancient, like the pyramids covered in graffiti. there is a pyramid here, and also an obelisk from egypt that the romans brought here and placed on one of their monuments.
all of the fountain people and gods are vomiting water.
there are beautiful ancient looking fountains coming out of walls around the city that spill cold water into the ground and i fill my canteen of water up there, and if you put your finger over the faucet the water comes out of a little hole in the top and you drink like from a water fountain near a bathroom in america.
enrico told me that romans are 'fools for cats.' he mentioned this as we saw postcards with cats on the feet of giant statues, in the pantheon, and other notable places around rome. he was right. there are ruins there that are surrounded by glass fence and there are tons of cats sleeping and living there. and cats sleeping on benches around the city i bet they eat lots of fat pigeons.
we went into one of the oldest churches in rome where two nuns sat quietly praying the rosary.
i was unable to go to the vatican as the lines are hours and hours long but i did buy two rosaries for my mother and niece as requested. i will bless them myself.
we visited a coffee shop and got little cups of frozen coffee chocolate with chnks of raw sugar and whipped cream on top. inside was an antique machine where they roast their coffee. the profuma, smell around the city was amazing as coffee beans were roasting everywhere.
i am excited about one day instinctively walking up to someone shaking my hands in prayer, as the italians do when excited.
today i had a breakthrough ' sylvanna and enrico and i were talking about something and i said 'io penso che' i think so whereas before i could only use the verb to think in the form pensa which means he or she thinks. and i thought to myself OH HO did i just conjugate a verb correctly on instinct??
it was a long walk back to the car and when i got home we waited for francesca who had ben shopping with her other friend francesca. i came into the apartment and took my notebook that my roommate james gave me and worked in the courtyard on my book for elise, my niece, as the sun set. a man from the apartment came out back and coaxed a kitty out from under the building, picked it up and kissed it many times, and left.
then another black cat came. they hung out with me a bit and were a little curious but mostly ferile and i worked until i could no longer see well enough by the light of the building alone as the stars were out and i could not tell where my colors from my pencils were going.
now i am waiting on ilaria to come back from recording a rap song she is singing to advertise for her play on friday.
i miss and love you.
once again please excuse my english as i am trying as hard as i can with the small amount of time i have and also once again, as my italian improves my english gets worse. tit for tat! also i am typing on a european keyboard with symbols in odd places so donàt worry about that. see what i mean....
yesterday fabrizio, ilarias roommate took me to necci, the ristorante just down the block and we had cake for breakfast with tea and capuccino. fabrizio is an actor and he is very funny. he is very nice but also worries so much. and hairy too.
he took me on his vespa where again we wore helmets <9everyone in roma does<0 and to meet with mario grasso, my extended family member, for sightseeing. things are a little difficult here because i have to use someone elseàs phone to call ilaria and also fabrizio if i need to get back in the house, and then have transportation to get there, and also make sure they are actually at home and their phone actually works!
so mario and i did some sightseeing and i took photos, which you can see at the link i sent before, which has new photos. i will put it here just in case
http://www.facebook.com/al
last night ilaria and i went to a party of her friend andrea who is an actor and lives elsewhere in italy. she doesnt get to see him much. the house was on the fifth floor and we walked up all the marble stairs. at first i was very shy and said nothing much at all but took photos and didnt speak, because i was very unsure of my italian, what little i do know, but then i met a few who spoke some inglish and we talked at length, with me speaking in a mixture of english, italian and spanish. if i knew spanish perfectly and spoke that to them they would understand much of what i say.
the wine was white and made by andrea and his family in capri. he mashed it with his feet. it was very good. there was lots of food on the table, all made by people at the party. the white olives tasted like sweet butter and i couldnt stop eating them, though my new friend, francesco, a somewhat famous actor in rome, kept trying to make me stop because he said they cause indigestion.
everyone i talked to was either a photographer, filmm maker or actor. there was an american boy there who was a filmmaker and we spoke for a minute though my inglish was terrible compared to four days ago. it is good though and i dont mind it at all. i need to learn italian as quickly as possible!
everyone was very nice and told me my pronunciation was great and that i was learning italian very quickly. ilaria told them all that i know it better than she did. ha ha, and she is italian. she is very sweet.
i was telling francesco about my favorite bands and everyone here knows and loves bjork and radiohead of course but he said he had never heard sufjan stevens and wrote it down to download. ten minutes later two sufjan stevens songs come on and fra had heard them and loved them. they also played animal collective, from the shortbus soundtrack.
they let me put music on and i played hot chip, metric, tv on the radio, and daft punk for them. we all danced and even people sitting down were moving to the music. the boys all dance together and it is very funny. one named pepe was hilarious and kept doing a chicken dance.
my new friend piero is a phtoographer of fashion and is amazing. unfortunately his show is tomorrow night and i will be in siracusa.
everyone was so nice to me and said very beautiful wonderful things upon departure. iàm getting better at the double cheek kiss that happens on exit.
and refuse to use a bidet. that is weird.
i showed them my website and they loved the photos and we took photos all night, and some friends took photos with my camera. everyone was beautiful, and the dessert was too.
today ilaria wanted me to go into town by myself and see the pantheon, etc. i agreed and she left for work but then i was so scared to go because i dont know the language well enouh to speak with an italian who doesnt speak english, and all i had were four euros given to me by the lady in the airport who gave me the phone card, and my phone card only works to call american numbers.
i could just see myself getting deathly lost. i stayed inside as i didnt have a key to the apartment and felt a little sorry for myself.
then francesca came home, the other roommate of ilaria and she let me use her phone to call mario as he had been calling ilaria and fabrizio, so they said when i called them, and he put me together with enrico and sylvanna, other family members who came after my long nap to take me to the pantheon. while waiting on them i walked around a little with my camera in ilarias neighborhood, and successfully questioned a local shop owner about where to find a restaurant, and understood him for the most part.
i ate at necci again because i knew it and thought it wouldnt be too expensive. i tried to speak italian with the waitress but we could not understand the blank stares that passed between us but luckily another waitress did speak italian. here you are charged for table service and also for bread they bring to the table, though you can refuse it, and can also eat standing up.
people were looking at me so i thought. i try to pride myself on ilariaàs comment that i could pass for italian by looks but iàm sure my giant bag, canteen of water <9iàm too cheap to buy water<0 and the way i held my fork gave me away.
i fell asleep and dreamt of the pantheon. i was awoken by ilariaàs thick beautiful accent saying my name and responded in sleep with 'si?' and continued to speak italian with her as i continued to wake up, though she was speaking to me inglish. sylvanna was downstairs and in all the confusion of getting her upstairs i was still speaking italian, as best i knew.
she and enrico are older and neither spoke english well but better than mario and together we went to see the pantheon, colloseum and foro romano, the roman ruins. i did not get to go into the colloseum but it moved me more than anything else simply by driving by it. i became emotional. it is magnificent.
also the roman ruins took my breath away. i could hardly control myself! it reminded me of the time i saw saturn through a telescope. unbelievable and familiar and tear'jerking!
i crossed myself with holy water in the pantheon. and saw the grave of raphael.
also there are ruins in the city covered in graffiti. it is terrible! so sacred and ancient, like the pyramids covered in graffiti. there is a pyramid here, and also an obelisk from egypt that the romans brought here and placed on one of their monuments.
all of the fountain people and gods are vomiting water.
there are beautiful ancient looking fountains coming out of walls around the city that spill cold water into the ground and i fill my canteen of water up there, and if you put your finger over the faucet the water comes out of a little hole in the top and you drink like from a water fountain near a bathroom in america.
enrico told me that romans are 'fools for cats.' he mentioned this as we saw postcards with cats on the feet of giant statues, in the pantheon, and other notable places around rome. he was right. there are ruins there that are surrounded by glass fence and there are tons of cats sleeping and living there. and cats sleeping on benches around the city i bet they eat lots of fat pigeons.
we went into one of the oldest churches in rome where two nuns sat quietly praying the rosary.
i was unable to go to the vatican as the lines are hours and hours long but i did buy two rosaries for my mother and niece as requested. i will bless them myself.
we visited a coffee shop and got little cups of frozen coffee chocolate with chnks of raw sugar and whipped cream on top. inside was an antique machine where they roast their coffee. the profuma, smell around the city was amazing as coffee beans were roasting everywhere.
i am excited about one day instinctively walking up to someone shaking my hands in prayer, as the italians do when excited.
today i had a breakthrough ' sylvanna and enrico and i were talking about something and i said 'io penso che' i think so whereas before i could only use the verb to think in the form pensa which means he or she thinks. and i thought to myself OH HO did i just conjugate a verb correctly on instinct??
it was a long walk back to the car and when i got home we waited for francesca who had ben shopping with her other friend francesca. i came into the apartment and took my notebook that my roommate james gave me and worked in the courtyard on my book for elise, my niece, as the sun set. a man from the apartment came out back and coaxed a kitty out from under the building, picked it up and kissed it many times, and left.
then another black cat came. they hung out with me a bit and were a little curious but mostly ferile and i worked until i could no longer see well enough by the light of the building alone as the stars were out and i could not tell where my colors from my pencils were going.
now i am waiting on ilaria to come back from recording a rap song she is singing to advertise for her play on friday.
i miss and love you.
first day in roma. email to family and friends.
bathroom
through the peephole
view from bathroom window
view below bedroom including the woman who is always on her balcony
view from bedroom window
the key to her apartment is amazing
climbin the marble stairs
Hello friends and family! Ciao di Roma! Please excuse my English as it will be continually worsening as the weeks go by, as my italian gets better. Something I noticed from LIam's emails, and find endearing. I have, in the nearly 24 hours I've been here, already picked up the Italian accent even on my English words.
Update is as follows:
The flights were difficult but everything resolved itself. I was very emotional all day. I was feeling sick on the plane and couldn't sleep for the 8 hour flight, as I had a two by two foot space for sleeping and things were very uncomfortable, but I was able to find someone at each airport to let me borrow an Ipod charger (I packed mine in my suitcase instead of carry on accidentally) and listened to Italian tapes the whole way. I did drop my laptop at one point from a height and it is now functioning almost perfectly but is very slow sometimes and makes funny noises.
I arrived in Roma and got through customs and passport checks quickly as I am good at cutting line and was in the middle of questioning an airport exchange booth person for the second time about exchanging enough change only to use the phone to call Ilaria, as my flight was early, when a woman from Philly nudged me and said you can have this calling card if you'll help me use it to call my cousin! So we found her cousin and I kept the calling card. There are fifty minutes on it.
My guide, Ilaria, is a good friend of Liam's and is 29, an actress and singer in Rome. She is very funny and speaks English very well, even when I speak fast!
Ilaria showed up not long after and we hopped in her beautiful new orange car and took off, to the sound of the Cranberries from her cd player. In Europe the drivers are very skilled but follow no road rules as in America other than to flow together. You know when you are turning and you look to see if cars are coming and if one is coming you stop? Same with crossing the street? In Europe no one does that, they just flow together, using every inch of the road and weaving in and out together, within inches of one another. They don't drive fast at all in the city and buses, motos (motorcycles) pedestrians, and bicycles all flow together and nobody honks, it all just works out.
Ilaria took me to my hostel where it was too early to check in, and then we went to a bar for coffee and pastries. there was a film being shot just outside the bar and a woman singing opera in a church. the music flowed outside to where we were sitting in the cool morning air. The sky was clear bright blue all day and it was warm save for the breeze. I saw the colloseum from a distance as well as saint peter's. My phone did not get service as T Mobile said it would, but Ilaria let me use her phone and the calling card to call my parents and I talked to my sister and let her know I was safe.
From there we went to Ilaria's apartamento, and she helped me carry my 50 pound suitcase up three flights of marble stairs.
She said you must be tired and let me take a nap. I took one for apparently two minutes and told her I felt like I should be doing something, and was worried that we should go check in at the hostel now. She said you may stay here, and as I only put down a $7 deposit on the hostel, I of course agreed.
I took a shower and a nap on her bed with the cool breeze rolling in from the quiet street.
I met her two roommates and she made me espresso. WE sat in the kitchen stirring sugar into our cups with tiny silver spoons and listening to local radio which played Animal Collective as well as Fleet Foxes, which I woke up to from my nap.
In her apartment she has a tree just like the palm I had in my bedroom. One of her roommates greeted me with the European cheek brushing.
Also they use a bidet in the bathroom and hang their clothes out the window. Their washer is very small and cute.
From here we took Ilaria's moto (motorcycle. Don't worry Mom, we used thick helmets and go slow and Ilaria is a very skilled driver) to some of her favorite places in the city, where we saw the pantheon (but only from the outside as it was Sunday and they were having church service inside) and a church that held two Boticelli paintings, and picked up pizza from a local stand. Mine had tuna and cilantro on it and was amazing.
The whole time I am snapping shots of the beautiful city and my guide who is beautiful as well on my holga camera, with black and white 120 film.
Ilaria showed me the church where she (almost) got married and led me past soldiers with giant guns intheir jeep to a huge pair of metal doors and pointed to a hole next to the key. "Look" she said and I did.
It was like looking down a long hallway with walls fifty feet high covered in green vine, with an arching ceiling and at the end the light shone through and there was the dome of Saint Peter's far away, all bright and white. I attempted to take photos through the hole with my holga.
We stopped in a bar for a glass of white wine and buffet (aperitivo, they call it here) and while sitting outside chatting, we were approached by three Italian men looking for a light. Ilaria smokes hand-rolled cigarettes, and we all talked for an hour or so, during which time I learned much more italian and practiced it, while intermingling it with Spanish when I didnt know the Italian for a word, and the men were very funny, friendly, and polite. Ilaria told them she was from Kentucky also, and they almost bought it, as many people sometimes don't realize she is from Italia as her hair is so light.
On the way back we stopped at a kind of carnival and listened to a little concert. Ilaria knew all the words to the songs.
Tomorrow Moby plays for free in centro, and Ilaria's roommate has also invited me to come to his play and take photos for the bill of an actress of whom they do not have photos yet. We looked at my website together and he liked my work.
Fabrizzo, one of Ilaria's roommates, sat in the hallway ironing his clothes for tomorrow while I ate the most amazing vanilla yogurt ever and Ilaria showed me ridiculously funny videos of a lemur on youtube. We laughed so hard we cried.
Mario Grasso, an extended family member, has contacted me and we will meet tomorrow while Ilaria is working for an extra guide of Roma.
Ilaria and I are now going to bed.
I will keep you updated!
Love always,
Sarah
21.7.09
first day in roma.
i am now on my computer - it appears it is slower when plugged into the outlets here, so we're runnin on batt now.
below are excerpts from today's frantic jotting in my little notebook -
starting from the plane::
endless calm seas run into a mountain range fault line cauliflower clouds with flat tops through the breaks in the water see a road?
below and mountains below the real ones.
i do believe if i were to fall from this plane down through the sky into that white i would not end. my spirit could not vanish from a place like that. i would join the white and go on forever and ever.
(on driving, at which all italians are very skilled and by that i dont mean 'good' drivers in the sense an american would think so. americans could never drive in italia!)
they exist together very well. cars bus moto bike on foot all flow together like in ocean. no rules, no lanes, no honking.
the italians are very straight forward, but polite.
a smell like weisenberger mill at the river tivere (tiber)
everyone dressed so well and modern and cute.
a sense of ebb and flow, smell of pot in open air. ilaria and i took 'aparitivo' (which i interpreted as 'imperitivo' which obviously has a completely different meaning!) at a bar, with a little buffet and sat on a wall with our wine and food.
the gas smells different - it doesn't choke. i don't mind the smell.
things are simply working themselves out.
ilaria doesn't shave your armpits but does her legs - the opposite di io!
italia makes very cute boys.
opera singing and a film being shot at the bar where we took breakfast.
(for russ)
ilaria always french- inhales her hand-rolled cigarretes.
she said of the cars 'yes but sometimes they roll you like cigarettes in the street'
the following is my list of italian words and phrases i picked up and also asked for when ilaria and i were joined by three italian men who were very funny and polite.
si, pause, ma sti cazzi?
escusi - formal, escusa - di u.s.
come si dice _____ en spagnolo
inglese.
siamo en una bote de fero
non credo - i don't believe it
furbo - smart
ascoltare - listen io ascolto
cantante - pino daniels terra mia
io voglio tu voi lei vuole loro voglono
tu par la piano
buffo - divertente
tu hai - you have io ho
antonello pellegrino
sarah marie miller
cuanto anni hai =- how old
io ho 31 anni
trentuno
oggi yeri domani
a bi ci di e efe gi acai
figlia figlio
vecchio
se la meme
e le stesse cosa its the same thing
non importa! nevermind
io bisogno di
non piu - no mas
preocupato - worried
sempre
(and now ilaria and i are on our computers and she is alternately listening to opera and the doors)
below are excerpts from today's frantic jotting in my little notebook -
starting from the plane::
endless calm seas run into a mountain range fault line cauliflower clouds with flat tops through the breaks in the water see a road?
below and mountains below the real ones.
i do believe if i were to fall from this plane down through the sky into that white i would not end. my spirit could not vanish from a place like that. i would join the white and go on forever and ever.
(on driving, at which all italians are very skilled and by that i dont mean 'good' drivers in the sense an american would think so. americans could never drive in italia!)
they exist together very well. cars bus moto bike on foot all flow together like in ocean. no rules, no lanes, no honking.
the italians are very straight forward, but polite.
a smell like weisenberger mill at the river tivere (tiber)
everyone dressed so well and modern and cute.
a sense of ebb and flow, smell of pot in open air. ilaria and i took 'aparitivo' (which i interpreted as 'imperitivo' which obviously has a completely different meaning!) at a bar, with a little buffet and sat on a wall with our wine and food.
the gas smells different - it doesn't choke. i don't mind the smell.
things are simply working themselves out.
ilaria doesn't shave your armpits but does her legs - the opposite di io!
italia makes very cute boys.
opera singing and a film being shot at the bar where we took breakfast.
(for russ)
ilaria always french- inhales her hand-rolled cigarretes.
she said of the cars 'yes but sometimes they roll you like cigarettes in the street'
the following is my list of italian words and phrases i picked up and also asked for when ilaria and i were joined by three italian men who were very funny and polite.
si, pause, ma sti cazzi?
escusi - formal, escusa - di u.s.
come si dice _____ en spagnolo
inglese.
siamo en una bote de fero
non credo - i don't believe it
furbo - smart
ascoltare - listen io ascolto
cantante - pino daniels terra mia
io voglio tu voi lei vuole loro voglono
tu par la piano
buffo - divertente
tu hai - you have io ho
antonello pellegrino
sarah marie miller
cuanto anni hai =- how old
io ho 31 anni
trentuno
oggi yeri domani
a bi ci di e efe gi acai
figlia figlio
vecchio
se la meme
e le stesse cosa its the same thing
non importa! nevermind
io bisogno di
non piu - no mas
preocupato - worried
sempre
(and now ilaria and i are on our computers and she is alternately listening to opera and the doors)
20.7.09
roma
plane ride ' equals two by two feet for sleeping equals me not sleeping and watching movies in italian to try to up my vocab which is now consisting of about thirty words! by luck and luck alone made it through the airport <8ok a bit of cleverness and line'jumping on my part<<9 and found ilaria, drove through rome, had coffee in a bar. i broke my laptop officially ' it is running but running very slow since i dropped it while it was on from a height of about four feet. i am currently on ilariaàs macbook with europe symbols and keyboard with which i am unfamiliar. wish me luck for the hostel tonight ' ps internet is not as easy to access as i thought and as my computer is broken, i will liekly not be responding as much as i thought i would. also i do not have cell phone service. though tmobile said i would.ù
very crazy! my hed feels wild like what have i done? i couldnt have prepared myself for this at all though i also know that i didnt even attempt to! a wild way, and here i go. i am already homesick but this is what i must do.
love you all very much.
very crazy! my hed feels wild like what have i done? i couldnt have prepared myself for this at all though i also know that i didnt even attempt to! a wild way, and here i go. i am already homesick but this is what i must do.
love you all very much.
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