When in Rome do as the Romans do

The phrase "when in Rome do as the Romans do" has been popping into my head recently. Even thought I am aware of how American I am, I sometime feel as if the Roman lifestyle is starting to rub of on us. Here are some examples to articulate my point:

1) When we came here, I marveled at how late the children in Italy went to bed. Little George would go to bed at 7 pm and they were going to bed at 10 pm or 11 pm. Well for the past two weeks our little George is truly turning into Giorgio. He goes to bed around 10 pm and wake up around 10 pm. Just like the Italian babies!

2) Beggars, gypses and street sellers are everywhere and sometimes they start to harass people. The Romans try to ignore them and if that does not work they yell "Via" meaning "go" to them. I took little George up to the Janiculum so he could have some green space to run around in. I was alone at the time as I was meeting Mercedes at the park later. A man selling flowers came up to me and would not leave me alone no matter how many times I said no to him. This really frightened me as I was a mother alone with her child and he would not leave. So I did the Roman thing and started to yell "via" at him.

3) Lines? What are those the Italians ask. Well after patiently waiting on many things here in Rome I am done or at least I am going to try to be done with lines here. I have begun just pushing my way in just like everyone else. If I stick to the line idea I am never going to get anything! (First time I cut a line was to get cannoli.)

4) I ordered steak from a butcher in Italian (this is a big deal to me for some reason!)

5) The government here just passed a law that a person can not eat while walking or while standing in a piazza or street. I like all of the Romans think this is the stupidest law. There was a demonstration today at the Pantheon and everyone is ticked so maybe it will be overturned.

6) I went shopping on Tuesday and bought pants. When I tried them on George said "Oh your trying to be like a Roman now". They are red skinny pants.

(Maria Maggiore is in the background, we went to Brandon Macadaeg's first mass as deacon today! Will tell more about it in another post.)

Last time we went to the park near by I took these videos of Georgie. What a cutie pie! One of the things I really miss about home is that George can run around in the grass and just have a ball there.

The other wives and I went to a cafe in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. The purpose was to swap recipes, which we did, but we also enjoyed lots of chatting and hot chocolate. Oh boy do the Italians know how to make hot chocolate!! I am getting the recipe for it and making it back at home. No more watered down hot chocolate for me!

I have started a recipe journal. I am writing down all of our favorite recipes and adding to the recipes that I try here and like. So far its been great. I can hand it to friends to give them ideas and I can use it to remind myself of all the wonderful recipes I know of. (I seem to always forget when I am menu planning or trying to figure out what to make when hungry.)

Speaking of food... we went to this amazing Farmers Market in the Circus Maximus on Saturday. George had to watercolor the Palatine Hill from the Circus Maximus as an assignment.

So on Saturday, Giorgio and I went to meet him there intending on just playing in the Circus while he worked. (I am not lost on how amazing it is that one of little George's playgrounds has served as a place of Roman entertainment since 326 AD.) Anyway, when we arrived the whole Circus was covered in tents with different food vendors from all over Italy selling and letting people taste their wares. I was in heaven. When George joined us, we tried wine, liqueurs, sweet treats, olive oils and real balsamic (stuff in the States is horrible in comparison, bringing some back!).

It is amazing the historically important things you see here even when you are not out looking for them.

On my way to get food and meet up with George (very ordinary things to do) I passed the Forum Boarium.

Also food related (yes I know mom, I am obsessed!), I saw two Canadian chefs in Trastevere market with camera men all around them. I was just getting my groceries at the local market and saw them there. We also passed them on my street going home the next day. So if you see a food show about cooking in Italy and they go to the Trastevere market, let me know!

We have been doing some exploring. Last week, we went to St. Peter's intending on climbing up the cupola but it started to rain so we changed our minds. But instead little George had a ball walking around Piazza San Pietro giving us a tour of the place.

When the girls, Giorgio and I went shopping this week, we walked up Via del Corso (one of the main shopping streets) which ends in Piazza del Popolo. The piazza is very beautiful and little George was mesmerized by the fountain there.

The wives and I have been doing lots of travel planning. We were going to tag along on the field trips that the students have coming up. (Tagging along meaning stay at the same hotel, eat breakfast, dinner together and for the rest of the time do our own thing while the guys work.) Well we were told by the school yesterday that under no circumstance are the wives allowed to come on any field trips. ND warned the students that if we come, then there would be serious consequences for them. All of us are angered that we have been forbidden to be with our husbands/ go to certain places at certain times. It is so crazy that a Catholic school is so incredibly unwelcoming to families. Why are they like this?

Anyway on a happier note, the wives are trying to plan little trips so we can also see parts of Italy that we were going to see on these field trips and we are going to try to use our plane ticket to Greece (we had bought one to Athens since the students are going on a field trip there soon). We might be exchanging it for a different destination or time (I'll take going to a Greek island over Athens anyway!).