call it a day

we did it. wait.. where did we leave you all....
we managed to wake up and get to the russian tea room on thursday, a little place (they weren't kidding about the "room" thing) stuffed to the brim (ha... get it?) with pots covered in russian designs, tea tins, russian fabrics, little paintings, other tea parifenalia, and a nice little selection of russian sweets.
meredith, ruth and sarah cuddled into a corner, picked three teas, and recieved three pots, which we steadily worked our way through. each pot that arrived was delicatly laced in russian patterns of blue and gold on white. much like ones you can find at the house of tea in philly, for a reasonable price! (was that subtle?) anyway. it was a very relaxing atmosphere covered in russian classical music, and spewing aromas of tea and russian desserts. after downing about the tea, the sweets became too alluring, and we ordered "blinis"s.... (pancakes?) one with honesy, and one with chocolate, some chocolate ball thing ("heavenly chochloate ball thing..." ruth) and some sweet cake that melted right into you tounge. all in all, it was a good breakfast.

after tea, meredith split, and we wandered our way to the synagogue (which they actually call a temple, because the "synagogue" in jerusalem was called a temple, and the jews here are ancient, 22 centuries old... we learned stuff.) after figuring out how to get in, we found ourselves in the museum, amungst around 800 embroidered torah covers. beautiful. we talked to the nice women at the desk and got on board for a tour in 15 min.s we wandered through the little museum on our own, and found an unexpected comfort non-jesus images. after looking at various hand written torah's, talmuds, and other things we joined our small english tour group, which consisteed of: two jews from Bordeaux, one from miami, and us... and our awesome italian jew tour guide. along with soem history, she showed us a small spanish temple with pieces from three different spanish temples that were all destroyed. after a small walk through the museum, we were taken into the big temple. now. you should know that due to a terrorist attack in 1982 (and it hasn't gotten better since then) no one is allowed in the temple without a tourguide. and the actualy roman congregation can only enter to pray three times a day. one hour in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one more hour at night. if we wanted to enter for a service, we would have to bring our passports. aparently it is like this all over europe. says our tour guide.
anyway. the temple was beautiful. the ceiling was painted with rainbows, starry skys and trees.... it was more beautiful than any chruch in rome. go team jew.
ANYWAY. then we were hungry. and in the perfect place. the ghetto. after asking at the desk, we were given a map, and directions to a place to get us some JEWISH ARTICHOKES! now... if you have never eaten said artichoke... you need to get your hindparts up on over to roma. and get on it. cause damn.

moving on. we had a nice evening after that. wandered some streets. made it to the pantheon. were given a turtle and an elephant by some jamacian dude. (turtle must stay in my purse, because he always goes along, slowly, but always goes forward. elephant my stay above my door, for peace and love.) that night ruth carlos and sarah went to see a movie. and guess what goes down. about half way through the film ir stops. screen goes black for a second and then says some big word in white. "intermesso" or something like that. "are you kidding me?!" yeah... so aparently, in rome at least, there is always an intermission at the movies... there are toilets in the theater, so you don't have to go far. and a little dude walks around witha tray of candy... this would not go down well in philly...

anyway.
yesterday, we went to see these old catacombs under this old church.... very creepy. old old old. bones bones bones. it was completely made of bones. all the typical things your would see in a chapel, columns, laterns, ornate designs, were all there. made of bones. supposedly the bones were from poor romans (where they down?) and others from friars. wierd stuff.
and in the last chapel there was a grave stone that read "what you are now, we used to be. what we are now, you will be." so yeah.



today:
awake and caffinated. we are going to go hop on a tour bus.. cause there is actually stuff to see in rome... unlike some places (coughphillycough)
also, carlos's mom bought ruth and i tickets to some circus outside of rome. so we're going to do that tonight. and then! FUNK IN THE GHETTO. http://myspace.com/24caratnight
so that could be cool.

so.... with that... we're off
peace peace peace yall

Kickin Out Plugs

Uhh. We been slackin. Pologizes.

Christmas eve:
At Gerardo's in our fancy dresses (oh lord), with the Carlos fam and some others. Deliciousness foodwise, we're talkin shrimpies, fishies, clammies, noodle-ies? Buncha fast-talkin Italians bein hype (ruth: "buh?"). Funny thing is, nobody in this Christmas eve dinner in Rome was Roman. Some gringas from the states (that's us), Carlos and mom from Ecuador, Sister from Denmark and Ecuador, some Ukranian lady ("mother Russia" as she said), and two chubs from Naples. An international table. We were awarded for being tourists with travel gear for Christmas. Ruth (me) got a passport hangy neck thing - which honestly, won't kill me. Sarah (me) got a - ready? - if a messenger bag and a fanny pack had a baby... bag. Yes.

Christmas day:
Drove around Rome with the whole Carlos fam. Went to an orange garden that's connected to a church - bellisimo. Citrus scents and a beautiful view of Rome (pics on Carlos' camera, ours needed some more juice). As tempting as it was, no oranges were stolen. Walked around. Heard old ladies singing. Looked through a keyhole that had a path through arched trees that lead to a view of the Vatican. But nobody goes in there, only looks through the keyhole. Probably only the pope is allowed. Drove down to Circo Massimo (Giant Circus?), huge ruins and a big green .. space. Park. Thing. Walked over to an old temple, very pretty, no idea what its deal was. Saw this tourist thing. That tourist thing. Very nice time. THEN (DRUMSSS) went to a Peruvian restaurant (the only place open on Christmas), "where all the immigrants go" says Carlos' mom. Goooood fooood. FULL. After naps, met up with Monica, Tim, Chris, went for a LONGASS walk, then watched way too many episodes from season 3 of Weeds, passed out at about 4 in the morning.

Today:
Uh.. Got breakfast around noon. Went to the Forum, beautiful sunlight and mind-blowing scapes. (Picked up some pebbles por la mama). Looked at the arch of our people being conquered. Way to rep, jews. Went to the Colosseo and walked in big circles for a while. Left. Ate some good stuff. Walked to the Pantheon to find it closed. More things seemed to be closed today than on actual Christmas day. BUT. What WAS open was a GELATO place that was HEAVENLY. A million flavors. We ripped that up. (Well, Ruth (I) did her (my) part). Wandered little streets for a bit. Art store was closed - we'll try that tomorrow. Had dinner at Carlos'. Yum. Chilled. Now we're home.

Plans for tomorrow (let's see if they happen):
Russian Tea room in the Jewish Ghetto. Synagogue - to check it out. Nikeroma!! Art store. Cinema.

All in all, the weather is nicer than expected - not too cold, none of that snow stuff we're hearing about on the news in that united states place. Snow in Philly? Doubt it. Any more suggestions before my (Ruth) time is up?

PEACELOVE
roosaa.


p.s. They hooked up a crazy ass nativity scene at the Vatican. If the pope was interested in going into show business, or funding theater in Rome, he'd know who to call. (Ghostbusters?)

Ok we're tired again.

Never Baked Cookies Like This Before

it began with cuddles and sniffles. we woke at some time that felt like morning, and went across the street to one of those cafe/pastry shops, where all the old men go, who aren't used to the young ones - "ragazze". Drank cappucinos, thought of papa as one of those old men (no offense, daddy), hat brim, he would have fit right in. With a list of things to do, with a list of food to buy, we went to the long long outdoor market. Kinda Ghana, kinda Reading Terminal, all old ladies with their wrinkly angers. Between the hanging sausages, the dangling roosters, and the sliced half of a swordfish, strung from its beak, we wandered and at a few free pastries! slinging our own groceries. Went on a wild goose chase for brown sugar - no, not cane sugar - BROWN sugar. No luck. Back to the house to make chocolate chip cookies in the fashion of sarah and ruth.

How do we go about describing the whole measurement issue? A few gringas searching the net for a cup to metric system conversion (which happens to change depending on what your measuring, and isn't actually correct math within itself). BUT. We digress. We mixed up everything we had, as best we could, grumbling over the lack of brown sugar, singing the temptations. No NPR. So we have a bowl of white sugar chocolate chip cookie dough (Very grainy). At this point, deciding it was the best that we could do, we attemt to light the gas stove. After a couple attempts, and gas in the air (opened the windows, turned on fans), and ashamed google searches, we decided that this couldn't happen here. With tails between our legs, we moved the party to Carlos' house.

When we arrive, bowl of cookie dough and extra cooking supplies in hand (in arms), we encounter a collection of construction workers. Buh? Something is said in Italian about getting into Carlos' house - we decide to wait for Mama, who arrives shortly. Unbeknowest to us, they were there to turn off the gas for the day, as they worked on the building's system. Wonderful day to choose. But! In the meantime, Carlos found us brown sugar at some packed store (ceiling to floor). When we return, Mama Carlos has an idea. We'll bake the cookies in a friend's oven. OK. We think this is odd, but if she feels its ok, alright! We dollap the cookies into two small baking pans (barely a dent in our mound o' dough), and decide to take care of the rest later. Following Carlos out the door with two pans of unbaked cookies, we are led to a friend's oven, yes, a friends house? Not exactly. We find ourselves in the back of an Italian pizzeria where our cookies are going to be baked by Antonio - the expert pizza maker - alongside a slice to go. We tell him ten minutes, the cookies are fried in about three. But not bad or unedible, they are gulfed down eventually. We chat up about Philadelphia, "grazie" profusely, and wander out c"ontent. We are back minutes later (to our suprise) with the rest of the bowl and a much bigger pan- provided by, ours truly, Antonio. We stayed there for another 20 minutes or so, dalloping cookies ("Dolci Americani") and chatting with various employees between mouthfuls pizza. Walking down the street afterwards, with a pan of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, handing them out to strangers (who asked cautiously, "we can eat these?").

Moving on. Chilled at Carlos' for a bit. Went to watch Trine swim. And then wandered off into the darkening Roma. Piazza after piazza, statues, winding little cobblestone streets that lose people. Glimmering candles from warm windows. Actual stars in an actually dark sky. Roma is beautiful at night. We meet up with Monica, Tim, and Chris, and hang out for a while. Then take a nice stroll home, across the river and through the tunnel, to the apartment we go!

NIGHTSLEEEEEEEP.
much love, e pace,
sarahruth

sleepy sisters

we made it. now we sleepy.
ruth and i are in rome, after a 10 hour flight, and several panini, and so on....
anyway. it was a beautful day to arrive on, and now we are going to hit our respective sacks. hard.
the real adventures will begin tomorrow, and until then these for your viewing pleasure.

(us being tired)

(i made this... cause i'm a crazy white chick.....?)


peace out
lovein
from roof and say-what?

chocolate chips and maple syrup

so after a busy and happy week (6 days?) at home i am all packed up and returning to the world of Roma. i think of most people in philadelphia, i was the most appreciative of the freezing rain and winds this past week. it opens up those crazy conversations with strangers that are impossible to recount later because they are just too strange. but anyway. the point of the story, is that now that i have gotten to take in those chemicals that are particluar to philly, and just floating in the air here back into my blood stream. i feel refreshed, relaxed and ready to take in some more rome.
as most of you know, i am taking ruth with me, and i am going to hold on to her for about 12 days or so. we are gonna super hero sister team it up... as it were... and roam the roman streets (... get it?) for about two weeks - anyway, we'll post stuff, and so on. but it was good to see everyone... or.. almost everyone. and yall best stay well! anyway, i don't leave for the airport for a nice bunch of hours, but i figured i'd write something now.
p.s.
guess what is opening at the art museum from feb. 20th until may 18th!!!
Frida Kahlo!!!
(http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/278.html)

(this is the image that came in the mail)
anyway.
peace yall
see ya in the spring
love

sup homie

i am home. i love home. there is something so refreshingly cozy and revitalizing about returning to the nest. even if there is freezing pouring rain outside, and i got completely drenched, i loved it because it was home.
it is strange to be able to understand everything. language wise... that is.
i mean, think about it. it has been 4 months since i have understood basically every word uttered around me.

but i miss carlos

i wish he was here to see my home. him and his mother and sister have been so welcoming to me, and so open. they are my family in rome. i wish he was here to meet my family, and see my home and where i am from. (not that he is from rome.) but he will get to meet ruth who is coming back to rome with me. i missed my baby.
anyway.
i am dead tired, and so confused about time right now. it is either 4:26 am or it is 11:26 pm.... confusion.
i am going to my dreams now.

happy birthday gee-wee.

home?

this is gonna be a busy busy month... this december we got ourselves here....