moving away from my old plan-every-detail-too-far-in-advance ways

K said to me on monday morning, "you didn't call me all weekend, what did you do!?" and i actually couldn't remember calling anyone all weekend.  i spent the weekend as a follower.  V was making plans and i was just joining in at the last minute -- it was quite the role reversal, actually. 

and tomorrow marks the beginning of my spring break trip and i still don't know when i'm leaving.  i might leave in the afternoon, might take an overnight train, or i might wait until monday.  i only have beds to sleep in booked for half of the week.  i haven't checked the weather for any of my destinations so i absolutely haven't packed nor have i composed a packing list.  for the last 2 hours, instead of doing any of these things, i skyped with friends and painted my nails big apple red in preparation for the beaches of malta (even though i haven't checked that the weather will allow for beaching). 

and now, i'm going to watch the newest episode of glee and go to bed early. when will i pack? when will i plan? meh, i'll do it sometime. 

some people may see this as irresponsible, but i see it as moves in the right direction. as K and V said, "this is big for you!" 

we'll see how things play out....

xo!

finally loving trieste.

remember that goal i made a few weeks ago?

well. obviously, i've done a terrible job. but it's for wonderful reasons! since then, i've spontaneously been to croatia twice, had drinks with friends after work lots, gone on multiple long runs in the beautiful sunshine, entertained visitors, and many other things.

the end is quickly approaching, and i am all-too-conscious of it.  this coming week is spring break and i'm going with V to cinque terre and malta (with some stops in parma in the middle).  when we return, we will have 7 weeks of school left. ONLY 7 WEEKS!

so. instead of blogging everyday, i'm going to live life and enjoy trieste now that the bora has gone for the summer.

i'll talk to you when it rains.

xo!

ouch. my knees hurt.

if you haven't been keeping up with my goings on, i've been running a lot.  i ran a 10k at the end of march and am registered for the bavisela half-marathon in trieste on may 8th.

so i've been running a lot. at least a lot more than i'm used to.

my body has never been too keen on lots of running.  for as long as i can remember, in almost all sports i played, i remember complaining of knee pains.

and now, my knees feel like they're going to snap backwards.

when we were younger, my friend ehurt (now married and no longer can really be called ehurt, but i'm going to do it anyway) and i used to ponder the great questions of the world such as, "is that black sea much that smells like sewage really the cure for cancer?" or, more importantly, "what would chairs look like if our knees bent the other way all the time?"

as i entered the last third of my two-hour run yesterday, my knees started to feel as if they were going to bend the other way.  i couldn't stop imagining what it would look like if my knees did, in fact, bend all the way in the wrong direction and if they always bent that way, how would i be running?  and then, later, when i wanted to sit down, what would that look like?  nevermind the chair that i'd be sitting in, what would i look like?!

i also fleetingly thought, "it might not be good for my knees to be hurting like this."

so, runner friends, i need you. my knees hurt. i'm running a half-marathon in 3 weeks, what is my plan of action? help!

marymom and daddyjohn take on trieste and the trifecta.

playing tourguide is incredibly exhausting. my parents arrived in trieste last friday evening and left for venice this morning.  despite having a day off from work on tuesday, this week has crawled along slower than so many others.  it could be the fact that spring break is now only a week away and i am dying for its swift arrival, but it could also be that i have been entertaining 24/7 since last friday.  don't get me wrong, i loved having my parents here (i've said before how we love visitors) but man, i am tired.

my parents came to visit me in 2008 when i was living in siena and they still talk about what an amazing vacation they had, mostly in part to my impeccable planning for them.  before their arrival, i had concocted a detailed itinerary with times and locations for meeting as well as set them up with things to do on their own while i was in class.

this time around, however, i tried my hardest to have them plan their own itinerary.  weeks (months? maybe too soon?) in advance i began sending them emails including links of things to check out and suggestions of what they could do while they were in the area.  neither of them had been to this edge of western europe before so i knew it was necessary to include the "trifecta," as V has aptly named the combination of venice, slovenia, and croatia, into our plans for their time in trieste.

it can't stop with simply, "include the trifecta," though.  there are so many things in slovenia that i am only just discovering myself, venice can be done in a day or a week - what were their priorities? - and not even i had been to croatia yet! oh! and i have a full time job with AND am training for a half-marathon that will be run in a month... this visit would be slightly different from tuscany in 2008 when i was going to a class or two a day (i believe that i easily understand my exhaustion now).

so! as i mentioned, i did my best to shove them in the planning direction by providing suggestion upon suggestion for their visit.  however, two days before their arrival, i realized they had no plans and i caved by quickly concocting the following itinerary which we followed very closely during their stay.

friday: you arrive. i pick you up with no major problems (hopefully). we arrive back at your hotel/my apartment around 730/8. you all spend a brief amount of time getting settled and we go to my 2 favorite spots for drinks and dinner (delish burgers) 

saturday: spend the day lounging. the weather will be beautiful and warm -- we should go to barcola and through the city. wander for a bit, stop for drinks, repeat. 
- osmiza for dinner!

after getting on with our adventure a bit later than we had hoped, we made our way to the carso to find an osmiza.  i went to an osmiza during one of my first weekends here in the fall and immediately knew that my parents would love the experience.  

to find an osmiza, you must drive and drive into the carso until you see signs and the osmiza branches directing you where to go

we finally found one!

and ate loads. 

after osmiza #1, we resumed the hunt and went to a 2nd one with a totally different vibe.  at osmiza #2 we sat near a birthday party that involved guitar playing and boys pulling their pants down..... so, that was an experience. 

sunday: croatia. spend the day at some fabulous beachy/port city. drive up the coast. 
check, check, and check.  we headed straight to porec (got 3 passport stamps along the way), wandered around the town for a bit and then drove back north along the coast toward italy.

the coastal drive was incredible.  it reminded me of driving on the big island in hawaii -- the road was a bit away from the water but the way the surrounding land sloped, you could see down to the sparkling adriatic and it was just the most beautiful view. 

we stopped along the way at roadside stands and bought dried fruit and unidentifiable bean pods (that i later found out were carob and is used as a chocolate substitute?)

and then, i ate this incredible piatto di frutti di mare. the octopus hidden in the middle underneath all the shellfish was my favorite. 

monday: you all wander around trieste, walk along the water, visit the castle, etc. take the tram up or drive the car up to my school around lunchtime, come eat lunch with me at school and spend some time letting me show you off (as you desire) and then there are things you can do (beautiful overlooks, etc.) in opicina until school is out and then i usually have italian class at bar vatta (drinks near school) which could be fun for you all to come to! or we could just go down into town after school. 

-campanon for pizza dinner! 

after enduring an exciting morning on trieste trasporti in part due to my poor directions and in part due to the failure of the tram to be run regularly, my parents made it to opicina and school.  they hung out at lunch and recess, heard all about my students and met pretty much everyone i work with.  we rendezvoused a bar vatta per il mio lezione d'italiano.  

then! we drove down the hill and went to wander around the gardens at castello di miramare.  it was just before sunset and the weather was beautiful.  all the spring flowers had popped, making the gardens just breathtaking.  thus began the repeated phrase, "you live in such a beautiful city!"

it's true. i do live in a beautiful city. 

tuesday: my day off. SLOVENIA! we can do lake bled, possible lake bohinj, the predjama castle (google these things, if interested -- they're all awesome), and ljubljana. there are some delish thai/mexican/indian restaurants in ljubljana that we could patronize for dinner if you all were up for it. it stays light so late here now (730 at least) that we could wander until dark and then eat dinner and head back to trieste after dinner (ljubljana is about an hour away, so that's not even getting back that late)

i have done this slovenia day before so it was easily a success -- we made it to the predjama castle for a quick stop before heading past ljubljana to lake bled.

in bled, the sun was warm and the breeze was crisp, perfect for a stroll around the lake with the sneaky alps poking out underneath the light cloud cover.  

we had some lunch in bled and then went back south to ljubljana for the late afternoon and evening where we wandered the old town and marymom and i got some stranded tulips at the end of the farmer's market.

wednesday: you all wander, do whatever while i'm at work. pick me up at school? 

-pizza night at my apartment!

before pizza night could really get started, this happened. he took it like a champ (as you can see)

as you can see, we had so many of the bases covered (numerous bottles of wine, trieste-style deviled eggs, pimento cheese, and freshly rolled out pizza dough)

this bbq chicken pizza was incredible -- thanks for the bbq sauce, america!

being forced (hahaha yeah they had to twist my arm) to show my parents around the trifecta of my current home, gave me the opportunity to explore some myself -- sunday was my first time in croatia!  showing them where i live and what i do here really helped me to appreciate my life (the amazing weather didn't hurt, either).  

as much as i have complained about trieste and the bora and work and everything else i've complained about this year (when did i grow to be so negative?), i can fully recognize now that life is good, here. 

spring has sprung, the surrounding bella vistas are out of control and time is flying.  next week we enter the final quarter and have only 8 weeks of school to go.  spring break is around the corner and my departure date is very quickly approaching.  i'm just not ready to leave yet....


x!

a day in the life: trieste trasporti

as users of the public transportation system here in trieste (read: us non-car owners), we are subject to many things during our daily commutes.  along with our frequent exposure to "too many smells" we see amazing creations such as this: 

all time is not lost, however, while riding the bus to and from school.  we've almost perfected our timing so we rarely have standing time at the bus stop (unless we've missed it).  we use cleaned out jars as "to go" cups for our coffee and yogurt/cereal/granola combinations and eat entire apples to avoid holding a core during the ride up the mountain.  also, while i have been unable to obtain this skill, my beautiful roommates have extended their morning getting ready routine to fully include the use of sunlight in makeup application. 

additionally, we continue to get in our excellent tram naps from time to time. (see below: lizzy, early in the year, taking advantage of the tram ride to get a little shut-eye) 

on thursday, i'm taking my class on a field trip that will involve use of the trieste trasporti bus system.  though i've figured it out on my own, will i be able to navigate 20 fifth graders around a public transportation system that is full of old ladies?! 

vedremo, vedremo. i will keep you posted. 

x!

stramilano: my first 10k!

i just got back from a wonderful 8-mile run along the adriatic sea so it feels rather appropriate to post about the stramilano in milan on march 27th! 

me and my roommates are running in the bavisela half-marathon here in treiste on may 8th!  march 27th was around the halfway point in our training so V and i decided to sign up for and run the stramilano 10k in milan as well! 

now, you might be wondering, "uh liz...i thought you hated running?" yep. i did too. it's true what they say about the bora here in trieste, it makes you crazy. and during this past winter - it was not hard at all to convince me to register for both of these races (we signed up in late january).  feeling lethargic and just BLAH after a winter of being trapped indoors due to the bora and suffocating downpours, it was exciting to think about getting outside and running.  

however, the beginning of our training (really, the entire month of february) was sort of fake because the weather still ha fatto schifo.  but after returning from february break, when march was in full swing, we began running.  it was slow and hard - we ran before, during, and after school - and i definitely was slacking off during every single run.  there is no way i could have even pretended to successfully run these races without the pump-up spirit of V! 

so! we made it to milan on march 26th, had a lovely day of sightseeing and carb-loading and then ran the race sunday morning!  we ran together the whole time and it was hysterical.  thankfully, V had her camera with her during the run....  

me and V before the race in front of the duomo a milano

throughout the race there were signs counting down the kilometers - i got excited at every sign. eventually, we began making up songs to go with each countdown. 

among our fellow runners were: pink afro, rollerbladers, and multiple young children. [not pictured: men smoking during race and men entering cafe during race to get coffees]

finished! me insanely red faced, per usual. 

so now, here we are. 5 weeks until the half-marathon, training has become legit (thanks to the very welcome spring weather!), and i just ran 8 miles along the adriatic sea.  it's exciting to think that each of my long runs (each week going up a mile) will be the longest i've ever run!  today -- it was hard making it to barcola (the strip of boardwalk along the water) but once i did, i inhaled the most amazing sea air and was revitalized!  even though today was a bit gray, the beginning traces of sunset along the water were still magical.  as i turned around to begin the 2nd half of my run, staring back at the city where i live, i couldn't help but smile while thinking, "i live here!" 

x!

i hope you had the time of your life...

well, i've warned you before about my nostalgic tendencies.... i began this post months ago - on october 13th, to be exact.  and today, as i'm scrolling through deciding which unfinished posts to prioritize and complete next, i realize how relevant this one is.
__________________


one day, in october, as she was jamming in her room (just above mine) in preparation for music class, V brought me to tears.  and as i was emailing and chatting with friends back in the states, lamenting about being homesick and missing everyone i know and love, V started to play green day's good riddance.  you all know it, everyone's heard it and played it at one appropriate time or another...

another turning point, a fork stuck in the road

time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go

so make the best of this test, and don't ask why

it's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

it's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. 

i hope you had the time of your life. 

so take the photographs, and still frames in your mind

hang it on a shelf in good health and good time

tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial

for what it's worth, it was worth all the while

it's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.

i hope you had the time of your life.

due to the thickness (or lack of) of her floor/my ceiling, it felt like she was singing directly to me.  and so the waterworks began.  it was perfect timing; the homesickness ended and i realized that yep, i am having the time of my life.
_________________

as spring has sprung, i know all too well how the coming months will fly by.  even though it's not until june 17th, the end of school is literally just around the corner.  calendars are filling up, summer plans are being made, new jobs are being obtained (by those lucky few) and people are deciding how and where they will go next.  it's going to be so soon that we all (or most of us, at least) leave trieste and begin to conquer new places and pursue new ideas and goals.


even though i don't know where i'll be and what i'll be doing after this summer, i know that i won't be surrounded by all the amazing people that have come to be my family this year.  and although trieste wasn't our favorite place to be during the dreadful winter months, we made it our home.  it's sad to think about leaving the home and the family that i only just finished establishing here so it's nice to know that most everyone is also leaving and we are going our own ways.


and hey, that just means more people to visit!


x!

manu chao!: first stop on his april balkan tour

manu chao in ljubljana? hell yes, please. 

i believe we've discussed my minor obsession with slovenia, especially ljubljana, and also the fact that i'm starving for some culture in the form of live music in trieste.  these factors combined made this weekend somewhat ideal.  add: incredible springtime weather, good friends and the most amazing falafel in the entire world and i was pretty much in heaven.  

i was just introduced to the excellence that is manu chao last december during a somewhat lengthy car ride to the dolomiti with friends.  and why i had never heard his hot jams before makes me upset with everyone who had and didn't spread the love my way.  

when browsing the book "1001 songs you must hear before you die" from our school library last week, i discovered that his 2001 release, "clandestino" was chosen as one of these songs.  (by noting some of the other songs that had been selected, i would make this fact less interesting and exciting, so i won't.)  

in the book, for each of the songs chosen as all important, the authors tell a bit about the song, its release and the artist.  in manu chao's brief bio was the following: 

"chao escaped celebrity by returning to travel.  "i have what the spanish call 'a worried ass,' he explained.  "i literally cannot stay in one place too long."

welp, i guess i now know my malady, i have a "worried ass." 

posters advertising the concert all over LJ.

and yes, the concert was excellent. he played a 2.5 hour set, which included an hour's worth of encore songs and oh man, he was just cool.  he's off to other really cool places in the balkans for the rest of the month and YOU should go.

x!

what's shakin' in the world today?

in social studies this week i've been teaching my fledgling 5th graders about bibliographies and citing sources.  this is hard. i don't even know how to cite sources without checking with guidelines.  i'd like to say that they're exceeding my expectations and succeeding with flying colors, however, they're not. they don't get it. at all.  regardless of their grasp of the citation concept, to give them some practice, i gave them a current event assignment.  they had to find an article on a current event (i did allow them to include "sports" in "events"), summarize the article, and cite the source.

there is SO much going on in the world so between the global economic struggles, the war in libya (and subsequent refugees entering italy and other nearby countries), the japan earthquake and resulting tsunamis and nuclear threats (MAN i need to watch some news), among other things, i figured my students would be able to find good articles for their assignment.  they would get practice with summarizing and citing sources AND learn some things about the world around them.

needless to say, i was incredibly amused this morning while reviewing the assignments when i learned that students chose articles on topics such as the rising tiger population in india, bananas being thrown at brazilian soccer players, the launch of the ipad 2, and my personal favorite, "hole in usairways plane caused by bullet, sources say."

say what?!

did i mention that 6 girls are absent today with lice? this means i have a class that is 80% boys.  AND it's april fools day? yeah.......


x!