Hey, you want to go to Paris?

Tuesday September 20th.  Lunch.  I ask "work spouse" DD about a weekend trip to Paris.  I knew the answer would be YES.  And we were off.....

Hello, Paris!

The genesis of the trip came from a Facebook exchange I had with Vern (left) who mentioned that he was going to be in Paris for his birthday with his boyfriend Anch.  Paris and birthday....of course I'm there.

The four of us spent the afternoon walking along the Promenade Plantee Park, which is an old elevated railway turned into a pedestrian walkway....think NYC's High Line.

One of the things I love about Paris is not only the people watching, the the "building watching."  This building with naked men along it has a police station on the ground floor.

I'll take the apartment with that top terrace!

DD and I committed to a "carbs and proteins ONLY" diet this Paris weekend.  We did pretty well!  The reason there are so many more pictures of me than normal is because DD is willing to play photographer.

After our walk, Anch and Vern had to take care of some errands so DD and I went to Montmartre.

Sitting at the highest point in Paris, Sacre Coeur is the "star" of Montmartre.  It was actually only finished in 1870 and there has been someone praying continuously since that time.

 

It's something to do to rub the foot of St. Peter's.  In both Sacre Coeur and St. Pierre-de-Montmartre.

Looking down the backside (North) of Montmartre.

Here we have St. Denis, the patron saint of Paris.  Legend has it that in 250AD, when the Christians were being persecuted, Denis had his head chopped off, then promptly picked it up and walked another 10km, preaching the entire way.

Three times I've been to Paris in the past six months.  Perfect weather each time.  Sunset light in Montmartre......

Who's Dalida?  I certainly didn't know, but in asking my European colleagues back in Rome, they all swooned.  Turns out she was an Egyptian born of Italian descent who was a naturalized French citizen who was a HUGE singer in the 50's, 60's and 70's.  She brought DISCO to France.  Sadly, she committed suicide in 1987 and this bust commemorates her in a plaza near her home in Montmartre.

We'll have to thank DD for taking one for the team here.  Art gallery and I was hungry.  I spied munchies and barreled my way in right to the spread.  DD tactfully spent a few minutes talking to the artist about the "inspiration" of the work.  Really, we both just saw sponges dipped in water colors thrown onto canvas.

At the base of Montmartre, the famed Moulin Rouge.

Vern's birthday dinner took place under the beautiful cupola and lavender tree of Brasserie Bofinger (Yes EC, it was a repeat!) in the Marais, near Bastille.

Protein......steak tartar, which I LOVE!

Sunday morning, perfect weather and time to rent bikes and ride through Paris.

I WISH I had a yellow shirt/jersey on as I am doing my best Lance Armstrong impression riding my bike up the Champs- Elysees.

We'll depart from Paris with this beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero.

Americans Meet Italians, Italians Meet Americans

Moving to a new city, the key to feeling connected is meeting that crucial person who opens up a who new social side of things.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been lucky to meet a colleague DD, who has introduced me to her friends and that has made all the difference in this first month here in Rome.  I'm over the first hump, and on my way to a grand life here.

So last week, SS IMPLORED me to set up a get together at local outdoor summer club (called All'Ombra dell Colosseo, which is as you probably translated, right in the shadow of the Colosseum) so my American colleagues at school might could meet his Italian friends.  Plus, most of the American's I brought were.....female.  SS was in heaven.  I kind of felt like a pimp, but hell, it was fun.

Myself and "work spouse" DD

DD and SS

SS and SOME of the colleagues I invited

Italians and Americans mixing it up

Yes, I'm dancing.  Over on Facebook, it was called "the salmon", but I renamed it "the blender"

 

JF, new Chemistry teacher AND from Seattle and myself

Left is Mishu (nickname) and SS

SS, Pino and myself

Copertino, Italy

Myself, SS and IM eating Carbonara with "bastoncini"

As I revealed in my last post, I've made some Italian friends here in Rome....somehow I've fallen into a crowd of phramacists.  Two of my friends are SS and IM pictured above.  IM is from a small town in Puglia called Copertino (seriously, Google map this to see where we were!), and this past Saturday, September 18th, was the day of San Giuseppe born in Copertino and the patron saint of air travelers, aviators, astronauts, people with mental handicaps, test takers and weak students.  Just like Viterbo has its Santa Rosa, Copertino celebrates San Giuseppe.

IM invited myself and my colleague, and proclaimed work spouse, DD, down for the weekend.  This was Wednesday of last week, DD and I sitting out for our usual leisurely lunch start talking about actually going to Copertino for the weekend.  Oh, the dangers of a laptop, wireless Internet, and Facebook.  We sign on to Facebook, and IM is online.  We confirm we have a place to stay at his family home, we research all variations of transportation options and with few credit card numbers and 40 minutes later.......we've booked ourselves a flight from Rome to Brindisi, have a car rented and plan on returning to Rome by driving through the night Sunday to arrive at work in time to teach on Monday morning.  CRAZY.....but this is what live is about.  Carpe Diem!

Pranzo!  Amazing food cooked by IM's Dad dishing out the food.  That's DD on the left, IM's brother center and IM sitting right.

After starting with mussels, an a primo of spaghetti with "vongole", next was a fish stew....

...followed by an herb stuffed fish called "triglie." No dinner was needed after this AMAZING meal.

Late afternoon was spent swimming in the beautifully clear waters of the Ionian Sea, near Porto Cesareo.

The night before San Giuseppe's day, the town is LIT up in these massive light displays.  It's like Las Vegas has been transported to this town of 30,000 in the heel of Italy!

The entire town was out, music, vendors and of course....food.  We were out until 2AM, as IM, having grown up here, knew everyone and since he lives in Rome, everyone wanted to hang out!

Sunday......I slept in, while DD and IM went to watch the parade in town.  Then, of course, another amazing Pranzo.  Mortadella wrapped around peppers, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto crudo around figs were just the starters.  Fresh pasta for primo, then stewed baby goat and roasted goat for the main course!

IM, myself and DD at the beach Sunday afternoon.

The festival ended with a fireworks show, "fuoco artificiale".  I post this picture to remember how amazing it was to be standing in a field in southern Italy with friends watching fireworks.

So it is a weekend like this that encapsulates my living here in Italy.  Great food with friends and getting to meet locals completely off the tourist track.  The fact that DD and I then drove back to Rome (6 hours) and arrived at school at 5AM, took a two hour nap in the car and then taught all day is just part of the great adventure!  Here's to more experiences like the festival of San Giuseppe and places like Copertino.

First Full Weekend In Rome

I arrived in Rome on the 23rd of August knowing no one in this city.  Yeah, yeah, I lived up in Viterbo which is an hour and a half away, but here in the big city?  I moved here with no community.  It was my largest fear that I would get lost here and feel lost here without direction.  I've had three weekends here since I've been back.  The first weekend, I headed up to Viterbo on Saturday to see Anna.  The second weekend, I also headed up to Viterbo for Santa Rosa.  On Sunday the 4th, my friend Mary Bentley arrived in town as my first official visitor to my Rome life.  For all you out there who are reading this......if you travel as one or a couple, I have an extra bed right here in the center of everything here in Rome...you can map the address, which is Piazza della Rovere 109.

But this first full weekend gave me great hope for my year (or maybe more......) here.  If things come together as well and as nicely as they did this past weekend, who knows.  It all started Wednesday afternoon at school.  It turns out that there is a group of about five teachers (of which I am one) that by luck has it we never teach the period after lunch.  So, as most teacher get up to go to class, the group of us sits there and spends an extra half an hour in the sun, lounging and eating slowly.  One of the group, an English teacher named DD (keeping names undercover these days) invites me to a get together on Thursday night.  I accept, thinking that it was going to be a bunch of fellow teachers, but it wasn't.  It turned out to be a going away party for one of the members of a group of friends of her new boyfriend.  It was at one of the classic Roman summer outdoor bar/dance clubs near the Colosseum and it was 98% Italians.  This is where my ability to speak some basic Italian comes to bear fruit because I could pretty much hold up my end of the conversation.  I know my Italian isn't nearly as good as the English spoken by my friends in Germany/Holland, but the Italians tell me I'm pretty good, so I'll take the compliment.  We're all hanging out, toasting and just enjoying in the evening, when DD and I start talking about all the new teachers at school this year.  DD mentions that a number of them are young and pretty and SS's ears perk up.  I mention that the next day, a couple of them are throwing an aperitivi at their apartment and SS (I have to give the guy credit for having balls) asks me point blank if he can come.  I say sure, let me check with the hosts and I would text him the next day.

Now it's Friday, I put in a long day, stay late and prep all my classes for Monday, which is my habit.  No work on the weekends!  There were a number of expat happy hours scheduled for that night (along with the aperitivi, it was to be a full night), one of which was the American International Club of Rome happy hour.  I had heard that this was a good group to get to know, so I invited another friend of mine EE (it's weird all my friends have first and last initials that are the same) to join me.  We arrive and it was WAY dressy and looked it was Greenwich, CT transported to Italy.  We left within five minutes.  EE and I wandered around the city for an hour before meeting up with SS to head to the aperitivi.  SS is THE MAN.  He actually followed through!  We had a great time at the get together and SS is asking me to give his number to one of my colleagues!  In bed at 2AM.

Saturday morning, I got up to go to the Italian Health Office to change my doctor from the one I was assigned in Viterbo to one here in Rome.  I had gone to the office once before a few weeks ago, but they didn't realize I was NOT Italian (is my Italian that good, no can't be) and so I don't require the city residence card, which others in the EU are required to have. I went back to that office and all was good and I was about to be assigned a doctor when they asked for my address. It turns out that even though this office I was at is closest to where I live, I am in another district, which is on the other side of town.  To give a Seattle equivalent, I live around Northgate and should go to NW hospital, but I am actually assigned to The UW hospital.  Whatever, I head over to the other office, and successfully register as a temporary resident of Rome (it was way easier just to keep Viterbo as my permanent Italian residency and be a one year resident of Rome....so if I stay, I have to do this every year) and now Dr. Pietro Corttegiani, you are my doctor.  Nice to meet you...someday I hope soon.  After the office, I was just wandering back to the tram when I saw a sign for the Museum of the Liberation of Rome.  It was a former prison run by the German's when they occupied Rome during from September 1943 to June 1944.  Further wandering led me to San Giovanni in Laterano, the great cathedral which is the official seat of the Bishop of Rome.  I wander in.....sit down......and take a nap.  It was cool inside, and no one was going to bother me.  It was a nice hour.

That evening, I had planned on hanging out with another colleague BS.  While he was in transit from his place, DD texted me to a dinner at her place.  So BS and I spent the evening hanging out with a bunch of Italians, again.  I'm LOVING meeting Italians and being with them.  One of the highlights of the evening was one of the girls refusing to eat some pasta made by SS and his friend (and DD's guy) IM.  The gave it to her, and she just picked at it and called them idiots.  You had to be there.  Later in the evening, another colleague BB (another double initial) came to hang out and mentioned that he was going to go paintball on Sunday with friends and I was welcome to come along.  Being as it's a good policy to say yes to everything, I agreed to do so.  The evening wound down, and my walk home was literally in front of St. Peter's Cathedral and the Square.

Sunday morning and it's off to paintball!!!  BB tosses me a helmet and I get on the back of his motorino.  And we're weaving our way through the traffic in Rome, and I'm feeling completely Italian.  The paintball session turns out to be the birthday celebration of a friend of BB's.  There were only six of us, so we played 3 on 3.  For 20 Euro, we played for three hours.  I have to admit, I suck at it.  I have no aim, I can't really run fast, and I'm a chicken. My first instinct is to hide behind the barriers, whereas BB is standing tall, taking aim, attacking and hitting me and thereby eliminating me.  But it was fun.  Two more Italians were there, first was G?, who's birthday we were celebrating and AC, who turns out to be BB's neighbor and also the chef who runs the #1 cooking school in Rome as rated by Trip Advisor.  Yeah, here I was spending my Sunday afternoon playing on the same paintball team as the famous cooking school owner.  So amazingly....Roman!

So I have to admit, after having a weekend such as this one, I'm feeling much better about life here.  I know that it can't ALWAYS be like this, but having a good one here right at the beginning makes me feel a whole lot better.  I've still got some things to work out, but I'm close to getting my medical certificat (hello Doctor Corttegiani) so I can go to the pool and start working out.  I'm thinking about taking an Art History class (I've seen an Italian one advertised, but maybe one at the local American University) and hope to find a regular crew to play cards with!  Oh and of course there are the sports bars so I can watch....football

The American Overseas School of Rome

Here you go........day before school starts campus tour.

The address of the school is Via Cassia 811 and is located at the northwestern corner of the city, very leafy and almost suburban feeling.  The school is across the street from this bus stop, which is where I get off when I don't ride the school bus.

The main entrance to the school with the guardhouse.

The first thing you see on campus, not a great first impression, is the school parking lot.  Watch for a coming post when I blog about the school bus system.  This parking lot will be featured PROMINENTLY.

Up the stairs out of the parking lot and you come to the corner of the quad.  Here at the NE corner, the two wings of the elementary school intersect.

This is the wing (the eastern side of the quad) that has the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade classrooms.

On the western side of the quad, is the oldest building on campus (it used to be someone's residence) called the Villa.  The Villa houses the Middle school (grades 6-8) and administration.  Behind the villa is the athletic field.

The two story high school building is on the southern edge of the quad.

This breezeway (the SE corner of the quad) connects the Villa with the main entrance of the High School.  The gym is on the other side of the wall of art.

The classroom I've been assigned is the first one you come to one the first floor of the HS building.  My name plate was attached to the door today.  It's the first time I've ever had my name on a classroom door in 16 years of teaching!  I do, however share my classroom.

My classroom is assigned the name "HS0", yeah I teach in Room 0.  The history behind that is that the room has 2 doors. The room across the hall is Room 1, and in the old days, the other door to the room was used as the entrance, so the room was Room 2.  But the former teacher, wanted the entrance door changed, so it became Room 0 and there now is no Room 2.

The southern edge of the campus sits on the edge of a greenbelt, which is what my classroom looks out on.  Along the steep slope, the school has built an outdoor amphitheater, which is right outside HS0's windows.

On the ground floor, right below the room in which I teach, is the school cafeteria.  Teacher's lunches are subsidized by the school so we only pay 30 Euro cents to each lunch!

Vancouver 2011

Generally the Chen family goes to Vancouver, BC for one reason......Chinese Food.  It's not like we can't find Chinese food in Seattle, but, well, it's just BETTER in Canada.

King Crab (Boy am I looking more and more like Chester)

Marlene, two EC's and the crab

Coming it at $46 Canadian a pound, this six pound crab was eventually turned into three separate dishes.  The first, was the legs cooked with LOTS of garlic!

The top dish, was the goop inside the shell made into a sauce with rice and the bottom dish was the body of the crab (cut into amazingly easy to eat pieces) cooked with more garlic

The real reason for the trip to Vancouver (and thereby my going through the pains of getting my passport card) was to see Carlos' movie, which I financially backed and was filmed at both Chen households in Seattle

Director J.T. on the left and Producer Carlos on the right

The two guys on the right are Brent Corrigan (Sean Paul Lockhart) and Charlie David

Richard Harmon (going to be majorly famous mark my words) was the younger Danny Reyes in the movie.  Turns out, I hung out at his house having drinks the night before the showing of the movie.

Myself and the actor who played the good guy, Sean in the movie.

Check Judas Kiss for more information and where it's going to play near you!

Everything Goes My Way

Mom Summer 2011

Everything goes my way, that's what my Mom said during my month long visit to Seattle.  It is pretty much 100% true.  Here's a rundown of the chores I had to take care of while home and the result (there's a pretty good example of "getting what I want" near the end, so read through if you want to be amazed.

First off, the second day I was home, my Dad had scheduled a meeting with his financial adviser at Fidelity.  Since I use the same guy, I tagged along and reviewed my financial plan.  It appears everything is in working order and I am one of those who has been little affected (in terms of day to day living) by the financial downturn. 

Second task.  Refinancing my home in San Francisco.  Turns out that Chase owns my mortgage, which means that I could go to the same refinance guy my sister used and things went smoothly.  One hitch was that the underwriters wanted to see a copy of my condo agreement.  Not a problem EXCEPT it is locked in my fireproof safe, which at the time was under the stairs at my sister's house, BUT there was no key.  With a little sleuthing on the internet and a phone call, it turns out that the safe I own does NOT require a notarized letter of ownership to get a replacement key, I simply needed to give them the code on the lock itself and pay for the shipping and I had the key!  BONUS.  After answering a few questions about my employment in Italy (it was confusing that I am changing jobs within the country) I have been approved for a new 20 year fixed mortgage, that increases my monthly payment by $88, but takes off six years of payments.  Once it is all approved stateside, I will sign documents here in Italy.

Third task.  Payment of my taxes.  Or.......non payment.  Turns out, I will pay no taxes EITHER to the United States NOR to California.  The main reason is that of my investment in Judas Kiss, my friend Carlos' movie.  The trip to Vancouver to see the movie will be in the next post.  Turns out, because I get to deduct that amount of my investment (my tax adviser point blank stated, "if you can do this again, DO IT") and so my total tax burden is $0.  OK, there is ONE thing that turns to not be in my favor.  Because I essentially have no taxable income (foreign earned income is not taxable) I am not allowed to contribute to my Roth IRA.  Therefore, I had to ask Fidelity to withdraw my 2010 and 2011 contributions.

Fourth Task.  Obtaining my Italian Visa.  This was predicted to be a huge task.  On the 28th of July, my "Nulla Osta", or permission to work in the country of Italy, arrived in the mail.  On the 2nd of August, I had an appointment with the Vice-Consulate of Italy posted in Seattle.  Because I have gone through this process before, I knew that Italian's LOVE paperwork.  They ask for a copy of something, I knew to bring 5 copies.  The vice-consulate stamped my paperwork, application, my "nulla osta" and swore that I had presented myself in person to him.  Then I sent all the the documents to the San Francisco Consulate of Italy.  The great thing here is that I did it ALL BY MAIL.  I did not have to fly to San Francisco.  The fact I did this by mail, turns out to be critical to a later task.

Fifth Task.  So, when I was looking over my personal items, I realized that my California Drivers' License expires on my birthday in January, 2012.  It would have been easy to renew my license by mail, but all the mail going to my San Francisco address gets returned because I no longer live there.  I could have tried to use a friend's address to do it but that meant changing all my mail to go to a new address.  So, it came to me, why not just use my parent's address (I have a built in forwarding service) and in the process become a Washington State resident.    I go to the Office of Licensing, wait only 45 minutes, and because I had a Washington State license when I was younger, I was still in the system and I got my old license ID number, registered to vote and became a resident all within an hour and a half.  On a final note, the clerk at the office was giving me lip for moving back in with my parents at 41.  I informed her it was because I lived in Italy......then she shut up.

Sixth Task.  It's a small one, but indicative of my luck.  I have a pair of beloved sandals that were falling apart, both the straps were ripped and the soles were completely worn down.  Got them fixed!  And a pair of my favorite shorts had a broken zipper.  Mom found a place to get it replaced. 

Seventh Task. (more like.......well, it was a gift).  For some reason, Mom thought my white MacBook was REALLY old.  Not sure the number of years she was assigning to it, but, she was under the impression that it was rickety and almost non-functioning.  Truth be told, it was a mere three (maybe four years old).  But it was working just fine.  Maybe needed a tune-up.  To my sister's chagrin, I got promised a new computer.....and I am now the owner of a new MacBook Pro.  THANKS, Mom.

Eighth Task.  Medical Appointments.  It's been 9 years since my accident and my Dad made an appointment for me to see Dr. B, the one who reconstructed my feet.  I took x-rays, he looked at them for 20 seconds and declared everything just fine.  No problems, except for random bone spur on the top of my right foot, which is caused by two of my bones fusing and causing another to push up.  It doesn't affect my walking, but it does explain why when I tie my shoes too tight, by the end of the day, the top of my foot hurts.  Saw the eye-doctor, who now has, on-file, an up to date prescription for me.  So, if I need new contacts, I can just order them and have them sent over.  (FYI, I'm one of only 5% of contact wearers who wears hard contact lenses, who knew!)  And I saw the dentist, who says I definitely need to floss better and to get a periodontal cleaning.

Ninth Task.  Getting to Vancouver on August 13th to see Judas Kiss.  This is the "I get what I want story."  Two things were working against me.  I need a passport to get into Canada, BUT my passport was in San Francisco for my Italian visa.  There are enhanced driver's licenses available, but they take two weeks to obtain and I had three days.  I went to the Canadian consulate and asked whether or not I could enter Canada with a photocopy of my passport.  They said they would, EXCEPT that the US wouldn't allow me back in with only a photocopy, therefore, their regulations say that if the home country won't let you back in, they won't let a person in.  Things were looking BLEAK.  But then, I was thrown a lifeline.  As I was leaving the Canadian consulate, one of the women, stated I should look into a passport card.  What is a passport card?  It is a card that allows for land and sea travel in North America.  BINGO.  I went to the passport office in Seattle, and got the information on what I needed to obtain.  Application, check.  Photos, check.  $115, check.  Copy of Drivers License, check.  And a copy of my birth certificate, CHECK.  Lucky that my Dad is so organized that he had it in the family safety deposit box.  I obtained the passport card on Friday the 12th for travel to Vancouver, BC on the 13th. 

Lastly, I got to spend some time on Cape Cod before heading back to Rome.  I flew from Seattle on the morning of the 19th and landed in Boston and spent time with my friends Keith and Paul at their Cape vacation rental!

Everything turned out just how I wanted it......and somehow I always get what I want.

The International Baccalaureate

United World College in Montezuma, NM

The summer trip back to the United States began with a weekend in NYC and then a week long conference in Montezuma, NM.  I was there for an International Baccalaureate (IB) training seminar.  The new school I'm teaching at, The American Overseas School of Rome, is an IB school.  Never heard of IB?  Neither had I. For most American high school students who desire to go to a institution of higher learning in the United States, a diploma from a accredited American high school is sufficient to enroll. However, for students who go to high school abroad (and in many cases sons and daughters of American citizens living abroad) having and IB diploma is what they need show that they have achieved a certain level of proficiency.  Well, it turns out, an IB diploma blows an American high school education out of the water.

How does it work?  After what is the 10th grade year, any student at an IB accredited school can elect to enter the diploma program.  For the next two years, they take six two year classes.  1) English 2) Foreign Language 3) Humanities/Social Science 4) Experimental Science 5) Mathematics (there are three levels, but a student must take a Math course) and 6) Elective.  Along with this, there is a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class required as well.  To earn a diploma, a student must write a TOK paper, a extended essay (research paper) and pass all six exams (two or three parts each) to be taken in May of their senior year.

Even though it was not in my contract to teach IB, I asked the school to take on the challenge. I have been assigned to teach the 2nd year of the highest level of Mathematics.  It is essentially BC Calculus, but there I must also prepare the students for the exam and review all the material they learned in their first year.  One challenge is that in their first year, there were topics taught (mainly Vectors and Advanced Matrices) that I have never taught.

The Montezuma Castle originally was a resort built in this area because of the natural hot springs.  Purchased by the World College, it was converted into the main school building of the school in the early 1980's.

The conference itself was a bit underwhelming.  Many of the 9 sessions were things I could have learned in a handout.  I wish we could have spent more time working on teaching techniques and practice problems.  And where is Montezuma, NM?  It's an hour outside of Santa Fe.  The conference was held at the Armand Hammer World College of the Americas.  What was strange was that usually at the these conferences I find my "crew" to hang out with, but for some reason it didn't happen this time.  It's so high school, but it's always nice to know there is someone to each lunch/dinner with, but I usually just spent time with my Math group by default.

After the conference, I took a trip to Taos, just because I've heard so much about it.

The Taos Pueblo

The Taos Canyon

The Taos Canyon Bridge, which is the 5th highest bridge in the United States

After Taos, I spent a great weekend with my friend Jay H., who was kind enough to host me for the weekend.  We ate good New Mexican fare, saw a play, a movie and before taking off for the airport, he and I took a tour of many of the sites where they film the show Breaking Bad.

(FYI, this is the first post I am making without using HTML code, but actually posting pictures using the Insert button.  Thanks, Marl!)