Currently Reading The Book Thief (Readers Circle) By Markus Zusak see related

3 months in 3 minutes

Hmmm...so much for my plan to stay on top of my blogging.

Interesting things that have happened to me lately include:

• I've discovered that while American TV had TGIF, English TV had TFIF. I'll let you figure out what the Brits thank for the weekend while we're thanking God. It rather highlights a major difference between our cultures. 
• I've reached the age where I'm measuring my own maturity as a teacher by the lack of it in some of my colleagues. But that could just be a sign that I'm over 30...
• A couple of months ago I entered an essay competition for the Daughters of the American Revolution. The category I entered was women/careers; Turns out I won 1st in the state of Missouri, 1st in the regional division and 3rd in the US.
• A guy I work with does local musical theater. He coordinates something or other - maybe the whole thing? Anyway, he needs a rhythm guitarist for the production of Little Shop of Horrors they're doing at the Prince of Wales Centre in Cannock this November, and since his band has only lead guitarists and no rhythm guitarists, he's asked me to play in the pit!!
• I've asked Michelle to be my maid of honor - of course. She agreed.
• I've asked my beautiful niece and nephew - Abby and Austin - to be a bridesmaid and a page boy (respectively) in my wedding. Abby replied with "Yeah!...What's a bridesmaid?" Austin said, "I don't know....sounds kinda weird."  

Rome, part II:                           

Marsha began measuring our steps on our second day in Rome. (With a pedometer - she didn't count them individually! I did, for a while, though.) As we strolled to the Piazza di Spagna (shopping district!), up the Spanish Steps, around the Villa Borghese (the largest public park in Rome), down the Via Veneto (Hard Rock Cafe pit stop), to the Trevi Fountain (beautiful - we're tossing in our coins in the photo above - one of my favorite pics of us), to the Pantheon (wow!) and through the Piazza di Navona (open air cafes and artists' stalls), it isn't difficult to see how we racked up over 22,000 steps on our 2nd day alone. (That's around 8-10 miles!)

When we got to the Trevi fountain, it was so very crowded. We had to push our way to the front through the throngs of tourists and squeeze in together to take photos of us throwing our coins. Apparently, if you throw a coin in the Trevi, it means you'll come back to Rome again. I threw an American coin in for my mom, and then Ade and I threw in English coins together. The Pantheon (below) was impressive. It sneaks up on you, despite its size. Come around a corner and there it is. The shock and magnitude of it really took my breath away.

Here's the motley crew (Marsha, John, Eric, Misty, Ade) at the Villa Borghese museum. We didn't actually get to go in....tickets had to be booked in advance and they were sold out...but the grounds and park were lovely.

An interesting point in day 2 was visiting the world's nicest McDonald's (or so it claimed). It had marble everywhere, a dessert bar at the entrance that was filled with over 20 flavors of gelato, all laid out decoratively, a separate area selling chocolate and pastries and even niches filled with greenery and statues. I had to take a picture...

Speaking of gelato.....ahhhh...the one thing that saved Italian cuisine from being completely forgetable. Gelato is Italian ice cream, made from milk and sugar and, apparently, all the good stuff that they don't put in the rest of the food. I ate it every day I could for the rest of the trip. Double dips, chocolate, chocolate-orange, lemon...yum! Worth the plane fare to Rome alone.

I think I'll leave Rome there...I'm off to dream of the cool taste of the world's best ice cream....

Facebook has sucked me in! That and I've been a tad busy and a tad lazy, so I haven't blogged since October!

"Let me explain...No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

1. I passed my driving theory test with 49 out of 50 points possible (). I took my practical driving test two weeks ago and passed with only 4 errors (15 were allowed). So I am now an officially licensed UK driver!

2. I went to Rome with Ade, John, Eric and Marsha and it was very cool.

3. I went home for Christmas with my family - brilliant and relaxing.

4. I got engaged!

5. I've now experienced my first earthquake.

A bit more detail:

1. Driving in the UK is manic. It's like constantly being on an obstacle course. People can (and do) park almost anywhere on almost any streets (almost all of which are very narrow by our standards). I had a driving instructor, Tony, to help me get ready for the exam, because it's a really tough one. He taught Ade's mom, Ade and Jen. All of them had passed on the first attempt, so I was really relieved that I did as well. Many, many people don't! The exam requires 2 manuevers of a possible 4 or 5; 40 minutes of driving; verbal questions that can range from how to know your tires (tyres here) are prepared for a long journey to explaining how all the various fluids under the hood (bonnet) are to be checked and topped up; a possible emergency stop; a hill start; an angle start; driving at 30 mph; driving at 60mph; roundabout lane discipline; and more. I'm so glad the test is behind me now! And licenses here are good for life. (Although you do have to get a new pic every 10 years.)

2. Rome Sweet Home. That was actually the name of the apartment rental company we went through. The apartment we stayed in was gorgeous. Sadly it also had that unmistakable European sewer smell in the bathroom that Ade and I used, but...gorgeous. And what a view from our balcony:

Ade and I flew into Campiagno (pronounced Cham-pee-no) and took a bus to Termini station where we met everyone else. Rome can be a bit shady looking, but it can also be beautiful. I still love the Meditteranean colors - reds, oranges and yellows on buildings - and rooftop gardens.

Our first day consisted of walking through a nearby park and past the Forum ruins to visit the Vittoriano WWII Memorial, where we saw the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We moved on to the Capitoline Hill and Museum, where I had to have my picture taken with Romulus and Remus's adoptive mommy. This was a must, because when I was in high school I had my picture taken with the copy statue in Cinncinnatti. (Of course in that picture I'm actually under the she-wolf, trying for a drink. I was much more sedate and mature this time.)

AS one of my favorite things about traveling is all the eating that's involved, I have to say that I was disappointed in Roman cuisine. I don't like Italian food particularly anyway, and it seemed that all that was available in Rome was pizza, pasta and more pizza. I love pizza, just not - turns out - in Italy. But day one saw some lovely bruchetta with tomatoes and oil and my first time having gnocchi (potato dumplings in meat sauce). It was also my first (okay second or third) time being royally screwed at a tourist trap restaurant. For one 1/2 liter of wine, a small bottle of water, 2 appetizers and 2 desserts, Ade and I paid 90 euros. It did have a lovely view of the Colosseum, a very chipper waiter and "That's Amore," but still...

More on Rome later.

3. How can you beat Christmas at home? I loved it.

4. Ade asked me at Christmas if I wanted to go ring shopping when we got back (which of course I did!). We picked a beautiful white gold ring with 3 diamonds, handmade in the Jewelry Quarter in Birmingham. Ade kept it and 'surprised' me with it on a day out we had on the Settle to Carlisle railway. The route is across the moors and is one of the most scenic train journeys in England, with quaint train stations, bridges and walled fields.

5. I pretty much slept through the earthquake we had here last night. It was 5.2 on the Richter scale. I woke up, but I think only because Ade did. I think my sleepy brain thought it was a train. It sounded like a train and shook the wardrobe doors. The epi-center was in a town right down the road from where I lived in Louth. If I still lived there, I definitely would have woken up!

I've just been coerced into joining facebook. I don't get it - it's too clunky. There's stuff all over the place. I like xanga cause it's sleek and easy to follow - blogging for dummies!

I'm having a Halloween party the night we get back from Rome. It's a fancy dress party (which is how the English say costume party)!

Currently Reading The Lies of Locke Lamora By Scott Lynch see related

Random scatterings

 Apparently all Americans are mormons....at least according to the wisdom of some year 10's (freshmen) at my school.

 I have signed up to take the driving theory exam - the written part before the actual driving test - in early November. Lucky me - the government has just now reissued the guide with 29 new laws to memorise!

 I'm going to Rome in 1 week and 6 days!!

 I've started belly dance classes and it's hard! I thought it would be easy since I'd done so much of the Latin and Salsa, but the movements are mostly different and I can't quite figure out how to isolate my hips/pelvis right. But it's fun. I'm compiling authentic stuff (headdress, hip scarf, skirt...) so I can use it in class and also for a costume for Halloween. There are about 20 women in the class of all different shapes, ages and sizes. I think the teacher is disappointed in our progress though....She plans for us to perform for some community thing in about 6 weeks and she kept complaining at class last week about how she wanted to start the actual routine but couldn't because we hadn't even mastered our hip circles yet. We've only had 3 lessons!

 The white kitty cat who lived next door to us seems to have disappeared. We quite liked her....she spent more time in our garden and driveway than in her own. She was very friendly and came to be petted whenever we went out. Now we haven't seen her in about 6 weeks.

 On Friday, one of my year 11 students asked me if Lennie in Of Mice and Men was a douchebag. Then he said he had no idea what that word meant and had always wanted to know. I told him that it was an inappropriate insult - not to be said in polite company, and if he wanted to know more specifically where it originated (which he did) to ask a P.E. or science teacher, not me. Of course that made all the rest of the class more curious than they already were, so I ended up with a gaggle of year 11's following me to lunch shortly after begging me to explain the term. If you're looking for new levels of awkwardness, try walking through groups of other teachers with ten or twelve 15 year olds shouting out, "Miss, come on, please tell us...what's a douchebag?" and hazarding their own guesses at what it might be.

 While we were in America this summer, we rented a Dodge (Ade wanted an American car!) and with my parents drove part of old Route 66 for Ade's birthday. We went through Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma bits. It was a nice leisurely two day trip with a stop over in OK. We also went to the State Fair earlier in our vacation. We showed Ade a classic American activity: rodeo! I think he felt very English sourrounded by cowboy hats and plaid, but we had a good time.

Robert Jordan died this past weekend. He's been my favorite author for 13 years. I remember when I first discovered him while I was working at B. Dalton in Metro North Mall. The 7th book in his Wheel of Time series had just been released. I began the first one and thought, "This is pretty good," until about page 40 when the trollocs attacked. Then I knew it was bloody fantastic and I didn't put them down until I'd read the last word of the last page of book 7. It only took me 5 weeks. I was going to college full time and working full time, but I ate, slept and breathed Robert Jordan. I can still recall sneaking his books into my university lectures, sitting in the back row and hiding them under my table so I could keep at it.

Later, I met Jordan at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. He had two autograph sessions. I waited for hours to be first in line for the first session, and I was second in line at the second. I went to his Wheel of Time presentation at the same convention. I struggled when I learned I'd been pronouncing my favorite character's (Nynaeve) name wrong, but I was impressed with her creator's comfort with his fans. Unlike more particular authors, he didn't hide in private suites. He answered fans questions amiably, and he and his wife strolled through the dealer's room and exhibit hall with all the "regular" people.

I've waited anxiously for over a decade for the conclusion of the Wheel of Time. I've loved every book. I've reread every book. One year I even got serious and took detailed notes while I reread the first book or two. I've agonized over the possibility that Robert Jordan might not survive to finish the series...and been teased mercilessly about my gullibility when told on a yearly basis since 1994 that such had actually happened. To hear it in truth is so very sad. What a loss for his family... and also for legions of fans like me who have loved his world. To never know the fate of Rand, Nynaeve, Lan, Perrin, Thom,the band of the Red Hand.....anticlimactic can't even begin to describe this.

Yet still..."All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." (-Emerson)