Mettere in relazione

How did four months pass by so quickly?
My relationship with Rome has been pretty all-consuming, of late.  That's my only good explanation for why I've been absent for this long.
The weather has been mostly cool, and even though it has also been more rainy than usual, we have spent a LOT of time exploring the city.

Under Rome's dead Christmas tree 

Visited the Protestant cemetery (more on that in a later post!)

A Guido Reni altarpiece

We watched this guy work on moving these heavy busts from behind the altar, precariously balancing on a chair at times.

A new salumeria has opened up - next to the McDonalds! - on my street.

This is a worm's eye view from the floor of the shop. What hangs above customers are whole proscuitto hams (at the tops of the image) and giant, webbed balls of provolone cheese (at the bottom of the image).  Those balls of provolone are approximately the size of a human head.

On the last day of last term's on-site class at the Borghese with American students, I saw some captivating bozzetti (miniature, preparatory sculpture sketches) for the Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini.

I've hung out on the bus with a troop of Italian boy scouts - who reappeared in my day at a completely separate time, outside of Rome, days later (in a later post, you'll see).  They get around.

We've performed some of our typical, night-time prowling activities.

In the piazza of the church of St. Barbara, a space which has zero right angles, and becomes the most narrow at the facade of the church...

And inside St. Barbara, the church's creche (almost every Roman church has one on display during the holidays), depicting the Holy Family in....the piazza of St. Barbara.  Charming.

We've met some interesting new people and enjoyed their generous hospitality.

We are at Mezzo, with one of the owners.  He is poised over a forkful of steaming, creamy fatto in casa (made in the house) fettucini with truffle sauce.  Good heavens, that stuff is good.  The Spouse is doing his best with Italian, trying to express that the dish is...inexpressibly amazing. So naturally, gestures have to be used to assist.

And I've had some great food.

We went to the meatball festival at Eataly.  This was a Korean dish.

Um...cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) dough balls, fried? SI!

And a tiny doughnut for which I was allowed to request crema or lampone filling.  I was torn. So the doughnut guy looked both ways before leaning forward and saying, don't tell anyone. And he solved my problem. 

THIS interesting item was offered by a Sicilian food stall at Testaccio Market. 

A suppli is a Roman street food staple:  carnaroli rice (the kind used in risotto), some sort of sauce as a binder, the occasional nugget of mozzarella buried in the center, breaded and fried. Typical flavors include tomato sauce/peas and mozzarella or cheese and pepper (cacio e pepe).  But this one?  Rice with squid ink.  I've had that as a pasta before, but never as a suppli.
Fantastic! If you ever have squid ink in a dish, check your teeth afterwards.

For reference, a typical, pyramidial shaped suppli on the bottom right.  That wacky, inky suppli on the left.

I'm working on my pizza making skills with Maria (my name for it), the lievito madre gifted to me by my former Italian teacher. This is fueled in part by our longstanding quest for the spiciest salamis we can find.  Piling peppery arugula on top of a hot, cheesy pizza here is typical.

To exploit the somewhat diminished flavor of what I'm sure are hothouse-grown tomatoes in this season, I am slow-roasting them.  Honestly, it's a taste revelation.

The lengths to which I will go for a challenge I've assumed for myself:  go to Paris.  Get lost in Paris.  Get UNlost in Paris.  Find the Les Halles district so I can shop for kitchen supplies.  Buy a brioche pan. Make room in luggage for it. Study up on how to make a brioche.  Weeks later, spend a day making my first brioche.  Take pictures like a proud parent of the firstborn.

Then, slice it open and take another picture before slathering with butter and jam.

Carnivale sweets were everywhere in February! Mmm.  Strawberry flavored fried dough with powdered sugar.  This fulfills my funnel cake hankering.

Teaching began again two months ago.  I'm revising a program and christening a new space.  We have officially spilled some paint on the floor, so I'd say that the relationship has truly begun!

And speaking of relationships, here is what I am learning, and attempting to commit to memory as I embark on new choices and routines on a daily basis:

I come from a mostly transactional place. What we do for and which each other is what often - but not always - forms our bonds.

I now live in a mostly relational place.  How I come to know someone and perhaps whether or not we are simpatico is what forms our bonds.  And possibly even more interesting is that the transactional might kick off what ultimately becomes relational. 

I still look like a tourist, and I'll never not look like one here.  But that's o.k., because how someone sees me - as well as how often, and what I do or say when I am with them - is what will dictate how I am greeted and dealt with. 

Upon appearing in my poultry man's shop, I am greeted like a rock star. I have shaken the hand (which is missing a few finger joints, but hey - occupational hazard) that feeds me. We have discussed his homeland of Sardinia.  I am instructed to visit it.

As a visitor to my fishmonger, I am the lady who likes salmon, and without asking, I am not given the actual price of something.  I am given another, lower price. 

As a work colleague or a teacher, I am greeted with a hug or a 'hi Prof!' (the shorthand way of saying Professoressa, which is abbreviated in print like this: Prof. ssa) And when class ends, regardless of the tough act I've had to perform with regard to grading or lesson-sharing, I am wished a good evening, several times over.

While I don't want to be vague about this, I pretty much have to be:  I am learning that courtesies are performed and extended here, but not for the same things or reasons as at home.  You can be wished a good day or morning or afternoon or evening or weekend or holiday. And you can be utterly ignored when something important that you really need to know or hear is eminent.

I am also learning that if you stay in one place long enough, you get to experience ALL of the customary ups and downs.  Disappointments still dig quite deeply. It is still tough to raise your head up after some of them. 

Bureaucratic decision-making eludes common sense, regardless of the continent you happen to be on.  

People have the capacity to surprise you, thwart you, and reward you. 

And alongside you, they will sometimes learn, and sometimes resist.

The sun is out, today, but it is unexpectedly chilly. While I was visiting Sicily last week for my birthday, the weather was crazy, with a brilliant sun shining while squalls of rain and wind blew through every few minutes.  People were struggling to hold onto umbrellas under blue skies.

Judging from the news of the world, a lot of us can relate.

(I'll be back here again, quite soon.)