Roma Part Due (two)

When I arrived in Rome this past Tuesday afternoon after a long haul flight and two four-plus hour layovers, I looked and felt like a zombie. However, I am grateful to the dog that kept me up for the duration of my eight-and-a-half hour flight because the lack of sleep has made my jet lag less obnoxious. 

My second visit to Rome has been lovely, relaxing, and delicious. My original plan was to go to Tivoli, Ostia Antica, and a few other places. However, I have been feeling the need to eat and drink to my heart's content...while hanging out and people watching...so I ditched the plans and tracked down a few different markets and the most amazing department store I have ever been to, Eataly (thanks to Danielle for that one!).

On Wednesday, my first full day in Rome, I took a cooking class with a local chef, ten Americans and one American ex-pat who lives in Belgium. Because I get bored keeping my thoughts to myself, I am not a fan of traveling solo, and the class was a great way to meet fellow travelers and immerse myself in the art of Italian cooking. I learned a lot and stuffed myself to the gills (as if that were not expected). 

Since then, I have been completely food-obsessed and am doing my best to try as many Lazio (Rome-area) specific dishes as I can. Check out Cacio e Pepe, Spaghetti alla Carbonara, and Fiori di Zucca dorati e ripieni con prosciutto/melanzane e mozzarella con Pesto alla Trapanese to see what I've been eating. 

I have come to realize that Italian food is so satisfying because they eat with the seasons...not against them...and the ingredients (at any restaurant Romans frequent) are locally sourced and as fresh as they can be. I can only imagine what Italians think when they walk into an American grocery store...  

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway!

I borrowed the title of this post from a self-help book by Susan Jeffers, Ph. D. As my trip gets closer, I have remembered that I do not enjoy flying over the ocean for long periods of time. In fact, I am usually convinced I will die...but, when I get on the plane, I am fine and I look forward to watching the in-flight movie. 

It's true that the thought of having zero control is fear-inducing. However, I've decided that the thought of me attempting to teach this coming school year without this escape from reality is much scarier...that's because traveling abroad has always helped me re-establish my priorities. 

One of the things I know to be true about myself is that I have a spiritual need to travel. There is no better experience than wandering around in a foreign place...alone or with others...and surviving (even if you can't read or understand a word around you). So many beautiful, memorable things happen along the way...a reminder of the fact that most humans are good, kind, and eager to share their cultures.

Over the next six weeks, I will have the good fortune to return to central Italy, explore Corfu (a Greek island), Croatia, Slovenia and Berlin. I am grateful for the experiences to come. Let the journey begin!  

Holy Preparations!

All the words to describe the school year I just finished are inappropriate for a teacher to publish on her blog. My students were great. The politics and the bureaucracy were not.
     The short version is: I was "mandated" to give my students test...after test...after test...and at the end of it all, I was labeled "Minimally Effective" because of...the mandated tests. The formula used to calculate the 'scores' has been discredited by the American Statistical Association (and a number of other research-based organizations). And yet, we persist in using it in New Mexico. To top it off, I am stuck at Level I ($32k a year) until my label improves to "Effective" or beyond. Fantastic.
     There are many things I love to do. I love to travel. I love to eat unprocessed, natural foods (especially when someone else makes them for me). I also love to teach. If I didn't LOVE my job, there is no way I would do it.
     Here's why. This minimally effective teacher and her mother spent the first two weeks of summer packing up a fifth grade classroom. Now, we are cleaning out a kindergarten classroom that is so out of date The Beatles probably had short hair when it was built.
When the 2015-2016 school year begins, I will be teaching my third new grade level in three years (fourth, fifth, kinder). Thankfully, before that happens, I will spend six weeks in Europe...