"happy birthday in retard!"

thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes last week and over the weekend! and i am very much looking forward to receiving all of the belated cards that have been promised... :)

for my birthday, i celebrated last week with friends and neighbors and then spent the weekend in madrid.  on wednesday i was surrounded by many of my favorite people and felt so loved, then in madrid the weather was exceptional and i felt loved by mother nature -- and i had a great time hanging out with jenngel (a more thorough madrid update to come soon).

i arrived back in trieste late last night and was not at all looking forward to monday morning and the beginning of a full week of school.  however, at 8:40 when the students began flooding in, one girl, M, came over to me and said, "good morning miss liz! happy birthday in retard!!!"

"in ritardo" means "late" so i expect that she was attempting to say "happy late birthday" and it was just the cutest thing ever.  i died laughing and it was the best start to a chilly monday morning i could have asked for.

x!

corriandoli EVERYWHERE.

saturday march 4th, we went to venice to celebrate carnevale -- we drank, we snacked, we threw confetti.  to put things modestly, it was a good day.

we started off the day in a way that was incredibly reminiscent of a noon football game day on the lovely grounds of the university of virginia.  now, for all of you who have spent time with me on a game day, you know what this means.  coffee and snack production went on in the kitchen at full force and the train-ride bag was packed beyond sufficiently.   

on the 9:18 train ride, some put on the make-up, some napped, and the best of us began the celebrations. 

immediately upon arrival a venezia santa lucia, the rest of us got our faces painted. 

and we were off! there were 9 of us from school and i assumed that we would split up into smaller groups pretty soon after setting off in the crowd to piazza san marco.  however, somehow, we all managed to stay together. 

everywhere there were people. people in masks, full costumes, face paint, EVERYWHERE. and corriandoli (confetti), which i had forgotten was one of my favorite italian words.  naturally, as soon as we found a moment, we began throwing it everywhere

i mean, everywhere (when i was in venice just a week later, there was a great deal still remaining in the cracks of the cobblestone).

carnevele didn't stop there, however.  i had friends arrive monday afternoon (!!) and tuesday was martedi grasso -- trieste had to buck up and show my guests a good time.  i am glad to say that the city saved face and i was impressed with the festivities.  also here, there was an obscene amount of corriandoli (which remains in piazza unita' now, a week later), we ate, drank, and finally started hanging out with our neighbors.  

carnevale was good and the remaining corriandoli (in the city and in my apartment) is a happy reminder of the week that i reformed my social life a trieste.  (shout out to my ladybird, there).

merry christmas!

during the past few weeks - we did a good job of building up the christmas spirit in our apartment in trieste.  we've had a cute little tree set up since the beginning of the month and the number of ornaments slowly increased to a grand total of: 4. and then V made tons of sugar cookies for her students!  things were exciting.

now, i'm back in the states with my family and it's good to be here.  spending time with my family is great -- i arrived successfully into dc wednesday afternoon (the 23rd) and then i got to roanoke around 7 and it has been non-stop since then!

reunited with nancypants

a little pre-church christmas eve baking, in our matching aprons

our christmas tree!

and then, we woke up this morning to a white christmas!  i can't remember the last time we've had a white christmas here (have we had one in the past 23 years?) but it has been beautiful!  it has snowed all day and is supposed to keep snowing through the night. so fun! 

i've already been able to see some friends and am making plans to see so many more in the next few days and then maybe a trip to nyc? and then richmond! for an epic new years eve reunion before returning to bella italia on 5 gennaio.  it's going to go by so quickly, i can already tell. 

i hope you're having a very merry christmas wherever you may be! 

buon natale! xxx! 

ps: in the next few days as i'm relaxing, i'll be catching up on some backlogged blog posts from this past month -- lots to share, so stay tuned. 

an italian thanksgiving.

this year was my 2nd thanksgiving outside of the states, so i kind of forgot that it was quickly approaching.  as always, i had skipped to christmas and was already eagerly preparing for my favorite holiday of the year.  

since we had school on thanksgiving and the friday after, we postponed our staff thanksgiving gathering to friday night (for obvious reasons).  AND THEN it snowed on friday!!! the first snow of the year, it was totally unexpected and SO exciting!!! it started after we were all up in opicina at school so none of us were quite sure about the weather down in the city but we heard it was actually quite warm, which is funny.  here are some pics from the snowy day of school (we didn't get much work done, i was as even worse than the students at just staring out the windows).

me, L, and S

against-the-rules snowball fights broke out as students were dismissed

SNOW!

we actually had a half-day of school and the afternoon was a staff INSET day.  so after the students left, our meetings commenced, people trickled out as the weather got worse and again, we weren't incredibly productive as we all stared longingly out the windows. 

and finally, the time came when we could leave, head to A and M's house nearby and get to the preparations.  people arrived slowly, some bringing dishes that were already prepared and others making their way into the kitchen to find some counter space for the finishing touches.  all the chaos in getting the fixins' ready resulted in numerous power outages (these italian kitchens just aren't prepared to handle all of our american appetites on thanksgiving) which meant M had to hop the electronic gate to reach the fuse box which was conveniently placed outside the fence-lined yard.  this was just all too entertaining.  

those of us not cooking were keeping warm by the fire, watching slingbox-ed football games and the macy's day parade, and sipping on mulled wine and hot toddies. 

and right before dinner time, i got a ride down into the city to meet my ladybird and her man. YAY for visitors! 

ladybirds reunited

after dinner, it was time to play in the snow (obviously). A and i put on our snow clothes (i wore her husband's clothes, they fit perfectly, and put plastic bags over my feet as "boots") and we went out to make snow angels!!!

ready to go

it was the best idea ever

and then it was time for the basement dance party (again, obviously).

a non-traditional way to spend the thanksgiving holiday, yes, but that's ok.  although i was missing my family while they were at OIB having a grand time (and not hesitating to brag about it), i had a fabulous time. 

x!

tanti aguri!

the end of november and the beginning of december brought 2 wonderful birthday celebrations! 

M had a "super sweet twenty-sixteen" chocolate-themed party at our apartment prepared by her boyfriend, D.  we had chocolate EVERYTHING (chile con carne, veggie chili, pasta, martinis, soup, desserts) and a visit from some friendly neighbors...

me and the birthday lady!

thennnnnnn beautiful roommate birthday number 2 came with V turning 24 on december 2nd!  V's birthday theme was "teach me something" so we had a few friends over for dinner, but only if they were bringing supplies and instructions for making something.

K brought the fixins and la ricetta for penne al fumo

S brought the decorations

To the left you'll see my vin brule' contribution which was a little everyone-learn-as-we-go but turned out deliciously as well as the sugo al fumo a bit farther along (to the right)

far left, a baked brie

roomies and friends

and the best surprise ever! 

feliz feliz in tu dia..... lizzy and i taught ourselves the puerto rican bday song that Ver has been singing on everyone else's birthday! 

with our lovely birthday lady. 

we've stretched out V's birthday theme and have been learning all sorts of things this month.  later that weekend, V learned from lizzy how to make bread.  Then! we made almond butter (see below) and that was delicious. 

THEN! to top of the "teach me something" month, i went to a student's house last night and learned (from his mom) how to make pizza from scratch!! thorough recap to come. 

x! 

ps: only a week until i fly home for christmas, i cannot believe that it is approaching so quickly!!!! we have our winter show at school tomorrow, the craft fair is going on, we have secret santas and christmas parties to plan for and oh yeah, i have to pack sometime?! phew.

so maybe i met the italian police last night?

we've had some trouble with the neighbors.

one neighbor, specifically.

the woman that lives below us, seems (i say "seems" when really i mean "is") annoyed and VERY upset with us for "being up at 6am every morning walking around." i'm not totally sure what she wants us to do about this since we must walk around to get ready for work and we must be up at that time in order to leave for work and arrive on time. so.......

i'm also not sure what the protocal is for "being a good neighbor" in an apartment building full of real people (aka non-college students).  i am, however, thinking that maybe last night wasn't our best good-neighbor behavior.

it was M's birthday (happy 26!!!) and so we hosted a little chocolate-themed gathering (M's boyfriend cooked ALL day - so many chocolate-related dishes) with lots of friends from school. well a dance party may have begun around 930pm and there may have been a loud banging on the door at around 955pm and it may have been the italian policemen.

we assume that it was our lovely downstairs neighbor who called and it was fine -- they just took down our names, looked at our italian permessi di soggiorni and advised us to keep the noise level in mind in the future.

to sum up, we may need to find an alternate location for future birthday gatherings. and maybe dance parties at 930pm on a tuesday are unacceptable in grown-up apartment buildings?

xo

6 weeks until christmas!

happy sunday evening! this post actually has nothing to do with christmas -- except that the cafe around the block turned on their christmas lights this weekend! and that is only the beginning of why this weekend was wonderful.

this weekend has been so relaxing yet productive at the same time.  the weather has been gray (but no rain!) so it was perfect for just hanging out at home and checking things off of my to-do list (which had grown very long).

grades are due at school next tuesday so last week was hectic for 2 reasons. 1. coming back from break was rough, getting all the students back into the swing of things and getting myself back into a routine and 2. scrambling to make sure assignments have been completed and graded and recorded and all of that. phew!

so i spent friday night and saturday doing a little wandering in the city (see pictures of the chocolate festival below) but mostly catching up with my family, reading, planning (only a little bit), cleaning, etc.

[note: these pictures are only to make all of you jealous. since i don't like chocolate, i didn't particularly enjoy the chocolate festival.]

ALSO! i joined a gym! wooooo endorphins!  the gym in italy is a really funny place -- the one by near my apartment (about a 10 minute walk away) is one of the nicer ones i have seen/experienced in italy yet it is pretty tiny and ill-equipped compared to anything in the states (oh and it costs a fortune).  italians don't really seem to understand why anyone needs to exercise and not many of them do at all (they just eat tons of pasta and drink tons of wine and life is good?).  they were very surprised that i wanted to join without a personal instructor (they typically are included in the membership) and were highly skeptical that i knew what i was doing when i got on a treadmill. the guy came to ask me if i needed help like 3 times during my workout, hahaha. anyway, i joined and endorphins are incredible. 

then, today, after a delicious brunch at our favorite spot, we played tourist and went to visit il museo della risiera di san sabba here in trieste.  the risiera was italy's only extermination camp during wwII.  the history there was really interesting, especially following my visit to the anne frank house in amsterdam 2 weeks ago.  

the risiera was originally a rice-husking factory built in 1898.  in september 1943, it became a temporary detention camp and within a few months was converted into a transition camp for deportees bound for germany and poland and for the internment and execution of hostages, partisans, political prisoners, and jews.  during this time, venezia giulia (this region of italy) wasn't part of the italian state.  it became part of the region "litorale adriatico" and was the last territory in europe to be conquered by nazi imperialism. (thank you 1euro museum pamphlet)  

the detention cells

the outline of the building housing the oven in which the bodies were cremated (the area of the building is represented by a metal plate on the ground -- the actual oven was under ground and could only be accessed by a staircase within the building)

opposite the building with the oven is an underground passage leading to a symbolic sculpture representing the chimney stack with smoke spiraling out

letter found in the camp written by a slovene prisoner

learning about all this history (here and in amsterdam at the anne frank house) is so interesting -- especially since so much italian history is ANCIENT.  the transition to learning about history that took place so (comparatively) recently is crazy.  yes, the museum was a bit depressing (as was the anne frank house), but i was just dumbfounded the whole time thinking about how such horrible things happened right here! where i live! not long ago! i mean, my grandmother was my age when it was all happening! it just blows my mind.  

at the anne frank house, at the end of the museum, they had an exhibit set up that presented modern-day discrimination issues and asked questions to guests about their opinions on the topic.  the point of it was "yeah, all these terrible things happened just a little bit ago and it's horrible and all of that but there's nothing you can do about what has already happened. now let's not let it happen again!! look at these issues that could get so much worse if we're not careful."  i really liked how that was set up so that you went through learning about how horrible things really were for those who suffered during wwII and then at the end, right when everyone was most susceptible to soak in as much as possible, they present all these issues we're dealing with today -- i thought it was a really great way to raise awareness.  

anyway, history is interesting. i wish i had thought that when i was in high school -- i probably would remember more of it (or would have learned more in the first place..?).  and now i'm going to reread the diary of anne frank and watch la vita e bella.

xx

PS! i made applesauce and it is to-die-for-amazing (yes, applesauce is fairly easy to make but i am a novice in the kitchen, this is a big step -- be proud!)

happy birthday/tanti aguri/feliz cumpleanos/i could go on...

tonight was my friend's 25th birthday, WOO!

in the midst of the celebrations (including a large batch of pimento cheese for the wisconsin-ite) we sang "happy birthday" to her in 6 languages!

now that's multiculturalism.

some pictures:

the birthday girl with her spread of snacks

discussing the map of europe

the beginning of the birthday singing..

the lone ukranian singing

not loving her croatian brandy treat

hot dog from the kids menu!

the boy's end of the table

dessert #1

dessert #2 (with a flaming sugar cube!)

the birthday celebrations have been growing more involved and more exciting as we are all getting to know each other and become friends.  K's was only the 3rd birthday since our arrival and already we've incorporated evites for a wednesday evening apertivo. i can't even begin to fantasize about what's going to come about on saturday, march 19, 2011.

xx!