Quick and Dirty

Ciao all. This post is going to be quick and dirty because I want to communicate, but I'm so short on time these days. The students have taken two midterms in the past two weeks and I'm up to my occhi in tests and presentation papers. Ah, the life of a TA.

I'm realizing that while I'm discovering things about this city that I never knew, I'm also reminded of many things that I had forgotten in the six years since I left. I have been jotting these things down in a little notebook as they have come to me. Here are a few:

1. There is a cannon that goes off at precisely noon each day. It is shot off the Janiculum hill right above my apartment. I'm not sure that there is a real cannon ball shooting out (doubtful), but the sound can be heard from most anywhere in the city. It's a nice reminder about the time as I am always without a watch. Who says the Italian aren't precise about timing?

2. The women who collect the garbage - they are so made up! They are wearing these bright orange jumpsuits that can get dirty. However you imagine that as soon as the work day is over, they rip off the jumpsuit and they have some slinky number on underneath, ready to hit the clubs. Their make-up and hair is always immaculate.

3. Groups of Italian school kids - they are usually teenagers and they are totally checked out. Their teachers are taking them to amazing sites: the Ara Pacis, the Vatican Museum, etc. And they could not be less interested. They gab, they flirt, they hold hands, the chew gum, they do anything but look at the art. They drive me nutso.

4. Dog poop - there are no scoop laws in Rome...so...one has to quite literally be on their toes whilst walking around the Eternal City. You might get some dog doo eternally stuck in your treads.

5. The intricacy of doors and locks and gates - it's always a challenge to figure out how all the different portals operate in this country. It might be a button, or a lever, or a pulley, or lock that looks completely foreign and non-sensical to us, but has a rhyme and a reason all its own. Some of them are positively medieval and quite intricate.

6. Nespole - little orange bruised-looking fruits that are a cross between an apricot and a cumquat. They are tart but sweet and have this wonderful skin that you can bite right into. They are coming into season now and I plan to eat many more before my stay is up.

I'm including a few recent pictures that do not have anything to do with this quick and dirty post, but I hope you enjoy them all the same. Off to Milano this weekend. Adventures abound.