Terme di Caracalla Opera

Last night, the food safety crew from the WHO Rome office went to an Italian opera called AIDA. The theater was in the open air in the center of Rome just in front of the Terme di Caracalla - ancient ruins of a Roman bathhouse. Back in the day, this large building was used by the up to 1600 bathers at a time. It also housed wrestling and boxing rooms, a sauna, and both Greek and Latin libraries. The opera story takes place in Egypt thus the hieroglyphics and columns were complemented nicely by the bath ruins behind them. The synopsis of the opera is Aida, an Ethiopian princess, is captured and brought into slavery in Egypt. A military commander, Radames, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, Radames is loved by the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris, although he does not return the feeling. This love triangle raises suspicion about Radames loyalty to Egypt. Like Romeo and Juliet, the story concludes not so well for the forbidden lovers.

It was a wonderful experience. My boss and I walked to the opera together crossing most of central Rome. We joined another colleague for dinner (for me artichoke pizza) in the Testaccio neighborhood. The operas use of color and motion was breath taking and the acoustics incredible for being an outside theater. Surrounded by Italians wearing their best clothes, watching beautiful costumed actors dance and sing, in the heart of ancient ruins in Rome is something I will never forget.

Civitavecchia

This weekend I spent a lot of time with my German colleagues. We did dinner and the movie WANTED one evening, and the beach followed by a house party another day. There are a few theaters that show movies in their original language here so I was able to see Wanted with Morgan Freeman and Angelia Jolie in English. The movie is high action, great cinematography, but really bloody. I have a hard time with that so was closing my eyes about every 7 minutes. Its has a interesting twisting plot as well so I must say in spite of the gore, i enjoyed it. I especially liked the car chasing scenes (they used an old mustang!) = )
The beach we went to is near the town of Civitavecchia and is located about an hour north west of Rome. I had to take a train there and had a bit of confusion purchasing my ticket. I had to take one headed for PISA actually and just get off sooner. I did find the right one in the end and one of my friends joined me on the train a few stops away. We descended at Marina di Certerveri where our colleague lives and was waiting to pick us up. The sea was beautiful there! It was bit more wild, fewer people, and a great breeze to keep up cool. We spent a few hours swimming and sunbathing and then went to a Winery or 'cantina' to purchase wine for the party. The wine here was so inexpensive! The highlight was the 'petrol' station wine fill up. People bring their own jug, fill it up from a spout like a gas station and then pay for it. It is brilliant and good for the environment= ) For dinner, we prepared tomato and fresh mozarella salads followed by proscuitto and melon. This is a very common meal for italians in the summer time and so refreshing! Our beverage was the most common sort of italian champagne called Prosecco - we could start drinking early because we took public transport to the party.
One of my German colleagues friends was throwing a party to say goodbye to his current flat. He works for a international development firm in Rome. Thus the party was full of international development folks, was a mix of many nationalities, and backgrounds. I met an Australian, French, African, Italians, etc. The party was on the rooftop terrace of this building in San Saba, one of the wealthier neighborhoods in Rome. It was a beautiful night. There was a lot of great Italian food and wine and the conversation was very interesting due to the diverse people there. I thought i definitely could get used to mingling in this crowd. So expats are one thing (like the Irish and American club) but expats who work in your field are quite another!

Parks, Irish Pubs, and 'Hidden' Rome

When i was in Paris years ago, i was feeling a bit lonely so I went to the Disney Store on Les Champs d'Elysee and bought a hefalump to be my sleeping buddy. In Rome there is a Disney Store as well on via del Corso so i went to find what other character I could add to my collection. I fell for Roo the Kangaroo also from Winnie the Pooh (wow poetic huh?). Sadly though, it was 19 € , and i could not bring myself to spend over $25 on a little stuff toy. Ill just have to find real friends.
This week was a bit more busy and fun. I decided to go to a new part of Rome everyday after work. The most notable discovery this week was the 'central park' of the city called Villa Borghese. In this large heart shaped park, you can find museums, music auditoriums, and above all some peace and quiet away from the bussle of the city. It was very nice to wander near the lake and see the calmer side of the city for a few hours. Another evening, along with some coworkers, we took slices of pizza and ate on the Spanish steps to people watch. The European cup is coming to a close and Germany played Portugal. Several of my colleagues went to an Irish pub to watch the action and have a few pints! The bar was packed with German fans and due to the warm weather, the beer went down easily. Needless to say, I missed my last train and crashed at my friends for the night, dragging into work the next day wearing the same clothes and red eyes. Oh to be young. A different day, I scoped out the Auditorium here in Rome where most of the musical events happen. Next week for example Alanis Morrisette is going to playing there.
When the weekend hit so did the real heat. Saturday night my roommate arranged to meet some of her friends from college out for pizza. Our reservation got pushed back to 1030p to eat in the Parco Torlonya where Mussolini has a home. Our group of six, five Italians and me, ate our thin crust pizza in open air followed by limoncello (a strong lemon flavored liquor) bitters, and coffees. I think i finally made it back near 4am after a lovely glass of red wine (Morenilli) from Tuscany, champagne to celebrate a birthday, and a croissant with nutella. (mmm) Italians eat quite late compared to us Americans. I was famished by 8pm!
The 'Hidden Rome Tour' took up most of Sunday. A fellow intern and I, were guided by a local Roman - Francesco- who also works with the WHO. He drove us all over the city to the parts were tourists rarely see yet are very special indeed. Rome is known as the city of seven hills and was born between three of them. We visited four of them during this tour - all with impeccable views of the city below. A few of the hills show monuments for the founding fathers of the Rome Republic - Garibadi, Cavour, and Mazzini. Aventina boasts a huge monument of Garibaldi who was known as the arm of the city, Cavour the brain - never used force to implement his policies unlike Garibaldi, and Mazzini the heart. Also on the hills are the rich neighborhoods of Rome where you can find embassies, mansions, and beautiful churches and monasteries. We stopped at a monastery and peered through the keyhole to a beautiful garden of the Malta embassy. On Hill Gianicolo is where its thought that Peter was killed on an upside down cross.

We also toured a few secluded neighborhoods that date back hundreds of years including San Saba. You can immediately tell when you are in a modern or ancient area of the city. The architecture changes the materials and colors used. One of the neighborhoods were built like american cooperatives. I took several pictures to use for the design of my house one day = ). Near Piazza Vittorio we stopped for lunch. This area is one of most ethincally diverse neighborhoods of Rome where Indian, Chinese, and African immigrants come to hang their hats. We ate at an incredible Indian food restaurant that reminded me of being back home. Later in the day, Francesco has one more big surprise for us. He drove to the SE corner of the city to the Parco Dellappia Antica where you can find an original foot path to the city that goes on for miles. The great part of this park is the ancient aqueducts ! I got some amazing shots and heard interesting stories about illegals using the aqueducts as one wall of their huts to survive. Prostitution was also rampant in that part of time back in the day. Francesco grew up nearby so showed us little nooks and crannies I bet few people know about. After five hours in 84 degree heat, we parted ways. What an incredible experience- I am so lucky to have a local roman show me around!

My weekend in France w the boys

Last thursday i arrived in Europe to start my summer internship with the WHO. The first thing I want to comment on is how fun it is to travel internationally! You never know who you will meet and it all starts with your plane buddy. This trip from chicago to amsterdam and then to geneva, I met a Nigerian professor of philosphy who has his own ngo (and asked my advice about training african doctors) and then a woman who has a son that works for CARE. A well known international ngo that aims to take care of poor children. So right off the bat, I have 2 interesting contacts that could help me down the road one way or another = )
When i reached Geneva, I knew i was in Europe because all the trains were on strike! Protests, strikes, and demonstrations are not uncommon here. In fact, a few days later i ran into a group of protestors on the street who were all dresssed in black. It was a bit frightening but they were just there to raise awareness about the small salaries of teachers. Anyhow, I took the bus instead of the train into Annecy, France that evening after spending the afternoon in Switzerland and was well received by a former student of mine, Nicolas. Annecy, is known as the venice of France. It has canals running through it due to the snow melting from the alps- its so beautiful. Nicolas had dinner prepared for us and took me shopping the next day for a few things i had forgotten. The whole weekend was filled with visiting with 4 former students of mine. We went to a Orange themed party, to a discotheaque to dance both nights, and the beach. It was quite interesting to see young french people interact - especially drunk young french people. One guy offered me oral sex and asked me to follow him into the bathroom! A cutltural experience i guess. With all this partying and sleeping until noon everyday, im never going to adjust to the time change!