A Roman's Rome

Salve da Roma, i miei amici e mia famiglia!

Well, here we are (finally): a blog from Roma!  My first blog post in 2+ years.  And, what years those two years have been.  I was just thinking this morning that I had no idea I would be currently living in Europe as recently as eight months ago.  This all happened more quickly than I realized and, yet, I am happy to report that things have gone surprisingly smoothly.  I sit here writing this in my new apartment (while trying to fend off the mosquitoes...yep, still in October), with my new internet connection, a phone, a bank account, a few new possessions to make the place feel like home, and some fun new memories.

The Vatican (and my neighborhood) as viewed from Garibaldi during my first week in Rome.

And, though things have not been perfectly easy emotionally, I am happy with my decision.  Sure, I so badly want to hug my baby niece who will turn 1 next week (and, of course, the rest of my friends and family!!), and am desperately missing the mountains and water (to call the Tevere River "water" would be very generous), but I am glad to be in Rome.  I have met many lovely, kindred spirits, am daily entertained by my very gregarious students (I have about 20 Italian tutors...they've been very helpful!), and am loving living on my own for only the second time.  My 80 year old portiere is my best friend and I am starting to feel more comfortable with the day-to-day differences (taking out the trash, for example, is quite the ordeal), though I still can't really get used to the coffee and carb-heavy diet
here.  Good thing I brought a ton of tea with me!

I have now been in Rome for about 7 weeks, and have heard the words "why are you here?" about 40,000 times.  Or should I say 40.000 times.  The decimal and the comma are inverted here.  (Try teaching science to kids who have grown up in this system - not easy!)  I continue to process my answer to that question, and though my main goal in moving to Europe was a new "adventure," I am trying to decide whether I want that adventure to be learning Italian well and really get to know Rome, or if I want to live here, continue learning Italian for fun and focus on traveling an obscene amount.  I'm sure it will be some amalgamation of the two.  Today was a beautiful sunny morning and I went for a run to Villa Borghese and Piazza del Popolo (a huge park and very famous plaza) and, for the first time, felt like I really live here.  They say no one in Rome is originally from Rome, so maybe I fit in more than I think, but it was nice to just take a jog around my new city, knowing exactly where I was and how to get home.  Incidentally, home is really close to the Vatican, so it's not too hard to get lost!  

My second visitors (three of my favorite folks from my undergrad days) arrive in Rome tomorrow and then I'm off to Berlin Thursday-Sunday for an IB Chemistry conference.  Can't wait - I loved Berlin when I was there 5 years ago.  Of course, soon, I will have to show pictures of my palace of an apartment, explain the insane process of paperwork and appointments to become a Roman citizen, tell about my trips and constant Italian-language faux pas, share stories about my school, new friends and students, and much more.  But, for now, things are going well though very busy.  I always have time for a phone call (my US number still works - call or text whenever) or a Skype, though - don't be shy.  Just remember I'm nine hours ahead of the west coast :)

Love to all.

Baci (kisses) e buona serata (have a good evening),
Kt

All Delighted People Raise Their Hands!

~Sufjan Stevens (All delighted people)

This year has been, unsurprisingly, a whirlwind. So much so that it’s difficult for me to quickly pinpoint the highs and lows. Amidst worldwide turmoil and tragedy, it always feels a little narcissistic to look back and evaluate our years with a giant, broad-sweeping thumb-up or thumb-down as if a year can be reduced to that. Did we have success? What does that even mean? Did we love, laugh and have adventure? Did we learn new things? Did we take care of ourselves? Did we waste too much time on the computer? I always end up feeling I could have done better in every category, which is probably normal, and, though I eschew New Year’s Resolutions (because even the best laid plans for me are difficult to follow through with when the rubber meets the road), it is fun to think about general goals and dream about the year to come. As a teacher, it seems more natural to do this in August than December, but c’est la vie.

This year began with barista-me cursing every rich non-tipper in an outdoor stand at a mall (in the winter) and ended with me a full-time, salaried and benefitted high school teacher in one of the best first teaching jobs I could have asked for. Along the road there was a brutal, but valuable, four months of student teaching to finish my second master’s degree, a month-long jury duty service during my summer “break”, two outstanding and unique weddings of two dear cousins in opposite corners of the US (and five other awesome weddings), four trips to Portland (which restored my sanity) and lots and lots of grading and planning and teaching. There were definite joys and deep pains, as we all experience in our years, but, compared to the train-wreck that was 2009, this past year can be credited with Katie getting her groove back, which is probably the best gift of all.

As is customary, I bought a LOT of music this year. A lot. Sometimes it’s easier to reflect upon and remember my year through the music that was most dear to me, and this year is no exception. Every year, I hear about music through different avenues. In 2006, for example, a road trip to Ashland, Oregon with the illustrious Kellie and Kristin introduced me to The Flaming Lips and Sufjan Stevens, and 2008, the year I worked as camp grandmother with a bunch of youngins, I heard Bon Iver and Beirut for the first time. La Blogotheque and random whims at the library were my main sources for new tunes in 2009, and this year was the year of experimentation with $5 downloadable albums on Amazon (mostly successfully) and KEXP songs of the day.

Small, yet fun and significant, memories come flooding back to me when I remember patronizing the Hawthorne Fred Meyer in Portland this summer with the amazing Katie V to buy the new Arcade Fire album and then listening to it all the way back home and all the way to Kansas City to visit my friend Adam the next week. Or, the time Max played Local Natives for me while we worked behind the coffee bar at a live music show at QCafe. During a hot summer day’s lunch break from jury duty, I ran into Mt St Helens Vietnam Band (hailing from my college) across the street at city hall performing, and I even (sortof) met the lead singer of the National at my cousin’s wedding in Massachusetts this July and proceeded to fall in love with their new album (and the Bloodbuzz Ohio music video that was shot in part by cousin). Phantogram, Caribou and Gorillaz were some of my main choices for “pump-up” music on the dark, cold, dismal fall mornings as I drove to work at 6:30am wondering if I could muster any enthusiasm for the day. Perhaps the highlight of my music year was having my mind blown at the Sufjan Stevens concert in October with my high school buddy Kelly. Too much awesome to describe. Sufjan was a staple of the end of my undergrad years and it was a definite bucket list experience to see him live. So, I suppose, when viewed through the lens of my music purchases, this year sounds better than I remembered at first blush! Below is the list of this year’s purchases (with special * for the ones I highly recommend):
________________________________________

Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane over the Sea
Foals – Antidotes *, Total Life Forever
Beach House – Teen Dream *
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
National – High Violet *
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Self-titled
Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz, All Delighted People EP *
Belle & Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister
David Grey - Foundling
Mt St Helens Vietnam Band – Self-titled, Where Messengers Meet
Caribou – Swim *
Menomena – Mines
Phantogram – Eyelid Movies
Ray LaMontagne – Til the Sun Turns Black
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs *
Bon Iver – Blood Bank
The Smiths – The Sound of the Smiths
Camera Obscura – Underachievers Please Try Harder, Let’s Get Out of This Country
the dodos – Visiter *
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Broken Bells - Self-titled
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Yeasayer – Odd Blood
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest *
Vampire Weekend – Contra
500 Days of Summer Soundtrack
_________________________________________

Narcissism fin.

I wish you a happy, healthy, meaningful and adventurous year filled with learning, growing and standing up for what you believe in! Happy 2011.

turn your frown into a smile, come and listen for a while

~ Jim Noir

Mary Oliver's poems just may save my sanity: beautiful, serene and poignant.

Recently, in the overwhelming profession I now am a part of, I get down...really down. They say teaching gives you the highest highs and lowest lows, but the highs are worth it. So far, I agree, but my perfectionism coupled with living in the suburbs away from friends and any semblance of social life has a tendency to make things look a little bleak. But, it's okay. I will keep calm and carry on, as the famous WWII poster from the UK says.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

And we’re dancing, early hours drunken days finally ended, and the streets turn for pillowcase

~Animal Collective "In the flowers"

Today has been a day full of intense and varied emotion. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to write tonight when I have so many other important and heavy things to get out on "paper" that have been rattling around in my brain this last month, but, hey, it's my blog. Here it comes.

A beautiful, cold, winter day in Seattle began earlier than normal as fog and the rising sun greeted me on my way to work. Moments later, I was on my way to Seattle to care for the fantastic feline and feeling surprisingly contented. While trying to take care of some important homework (and more important emails), the cat attempted to outcompete my laptop for the prime position. He lingered there for a while, snuggling with me as if I was his best friend. I am terrible with animals, yet this little bugger sat on me and made me feel strangely special for a few moments. Then he went to lay in the sun while cleaning himself and farting all at the same time - a talented one! Excitement came quickly upon receiving a text message from a great friend whom I've lost touch with recently asking for my address for his impending nuptials! What a blessed time of life to be able to celebrate such joys with friends and family.

After a disappointing mini-lesson in class, I sought solace in the gym, where I saw several former students, some former classmates and chatted with a current peer. I love chance meetings and conversations in random places (picture me in an old gym with maybe one other girl and about 20 dudes, all trying to bulk up and one-up each other - this is why I take my glasses off) and memories that there are people in my life who I have impacted, can still impact and can learn much from. My male classmate and I sat on neighboring weight machines and discussed society's role in gender stereotyping and negative body image. I'm sure the beefcakes all around us thought it a strange venue for such a topic. As I exited the gym, I found a message from my sister telling me that the church she (and my brother) are in the throes of planting was given the green-light, even in the midst of an unfortunate stance recently taken by the denomination on sexual orientation. Leah said it best in her text: "God is good!!!" I am ecstatic to join a new church community where all are truly welcome and affirmed; where community and service are actions and life-trajectories, not merely theory.

Feeling some clarity and appreciating the effect of the endorphins, I returned to the feline and my temporary home to pour a glass of Riesling and relax. Imagine my surprise when I found pictures online of my good friend and her brand new baby born today - a week early! I was barely holding back tears as I saw an amazing photographic progression from the door of their home in Panama this morning to the hospital for the birth, the tears and the sheer joy. Birth, while something I feel no desire to experience, is inexplicably incredible even from the onlooker's point of view. The transformation of body, relationship and life is something I'll never quite understand. Powerful, indeed.

Beauty, celebration, humility, joy, excitement, peace and acceptance. What a day.

I need a hero!

~Bonnie Tyler (Holding out for a Hero)

I thought it was going to be a boring, cold evening at the "office" tonight. I was sorely mistaken.

Before I present the insane story that is about to follow, let me preface by saying I've been losing things (in addition to my mind) a lot lately. I always get so mad at myself and nostalgic when I lose something, but then am hit over the head every time with the reality that stuff doesn't matter as much as it seems to that minute you realize you lost your favorite antique earrings (that happened to me in DC this year). It's just stuff.

Try telling that to yourself when your purse gets stolen two days before Christmas.

My part-time job in between teaching at SPU and teaching at God-knows-where high school next year is the ever-revered position of the barista (aka helpless punching bag for picky folks) at a new, very swanky, mall in the area. Outdoors. In the winter. It's really an amazing experience selling coffee to people who just spent $1000+ on shoes but don't tip me. But I digress.

I finished my last break tonight in our storage room and headed back out to face the cold and lack of customers. I was getting settled and went to turn on my heater when I saw a lady casually strolling out of our storage room. At first I figured she might have thought it was a store-front (as many do), but the fact that she had been inside made me a little nervous, so I quickly went to check on my belongings.

Sure enough, my bag was gone. *Expletives streaming through my mind as I try to figure out what to do* Getting something stolen is an extremely helpless feeling, I learned tonight. I also found that adrenaline enables me to run about 250% of my normal sprinting speed.

For a short moment, I was contemplating finding this lady on my own and channeling Chuck Norris on her ass, but luckily as I ran through the thin crowds of high-class shoppers to ask the concierge to radio security, she wasn't anywhere to be seen. I truly have no idea what I would have done if I found her on my own.

The security guys and I happen to converge outside an employee corridor, and while I'm semi-coherently explaining what happened, a lady who matches the perp's description exits the employee door. Peculiar. And what does she do? Goes to my espresso cart to buy a coffee from me! I swear, you can't make this stuff up! I pointed to her and told the security guy that she might be the one, so he went to ask her a few questions. Meanwhile, the rest of security shows up and we start talking about what happened in front of this lady, and somehow in the mayhem, she again just slowly strolls away. The security supervisor follows her off the property, I call 911 for the first time in my life, and one of my security friends goes to try to see if the perp stashed my bag anywhere. He finds it quickly with everything in it! This totally does not compute (and still doesn't really). My wallet was open, and the cash had been taken out, but I found it in another part of the bag. Wait, really? Even I wouldn't be that crappy of a criminal. Thankfully she was!

The police officer that showed up was amazing. She was so nice and didn't make me feel like a total douche for calling 911 when nothing was *actually* stolen. Apparently, someone has been stealing from employees down the street at another mall (oh Bellevue, how you have been corrupted!), so they were happy to have the chance to get an ID on this lady. The perp ended up coming back into the mall and wandering around the parking garage (safe to say she wasn't "all there"), where she quickly admitted everything to the security guards and police when they started questioning her. Drunk and looking to steal money for rent from rich patrons of this mall. Not the best idea. Especially because the only cash I had was in Washingtons and Abes.

Such drama I would never have imagined for my evening, but at least that last hour of work was entertaining! I can laugh now because all is well, but if my bag and its contents were not with me tonight, my tune would be much different. I don't consider myself super materialistic, but as much as it sucks to have possessions stolen, it's worse that I know I would freak out so much over losing my ipod or some cash.

An interesting perspective especially as Christmas draws near at break-neck speed. Perhaps I should try to think less about those CDs I'm hoping I'll unwrap in a few hours and more about how my life is changed daily by the people I come in contact with, my union with the confusing yet loving and mystical God, and love that makes no rational sense yet exists everywhere if we just keep our eyes open.

Days are just drops in the river to be lost always (subtitle: Adults say the darndest things)

~Fleet Foxes ("Drops in the River")

I'm happy to report the Klug household has been virtually ant-free for two weeks since I put out my killer-concoction of cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves all over the house. Although, for the first time, I did see two ants while I was cleaning today...maybe it's time for a refresher...or something a little more lethal.

There's been all sorts of stuff to post about recently, but I've been in one of my I'm not busy enough so I become unmotivated in every area of life situations lately, so the blogs, along with everything else, have lagged behind. C'est la vie, I suppose.

I did realize that, since returning to the part-time catering barista realm, I have heard some funny/annoying/disturbing things from behind the cart that I may as well share on MY blog since Overheardeverywhere.com seems to not like my stuff enough to post (I'm 0/2 and that's shocking, given some of the ridiculous crap they allow through!). But I digress. For your pleasure, abhorrence, et cetera:

1) Lady #1: Do you hear from Becky at all any more?
Lady #2: OH no! We used to be friends, but then she tried to ram Jesus down my throat. (ouch, that must have hurt!)
Everyone standing around: uuuhh HUH!
Lady #1: Yeah, she was a nice girl...but...um...*very* christian.

2) Microsoft guy: So, did you finally find a nanny?
Microsoft gal: Yes, we found a *great* one - she even unloads the dishwasher! (wow, should I nominate her for a Nobel?)
Microsoft guy: I take it she doesn't have any piercings or tattoos?
Microsoft gal: Gawd no! That one girl we interviewed was SO weird! No, this nanny is great - she even has a great boyfriend who comes over sometimes. We really like him...well, except, he has these big plugs in his ears. But, I mean, other than *that* he's totally a normal, nice guy.

(WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?! Can I just interject my distaste for people like this?! So, there's no chance that the girl with the tats could have been an amazing nanny? What the &*$# is "normal" - is the new phrase for being boring, unoriginal and apparently trustworthy? I'm actually going to blog about my feelings in this area soon. I've HAD it, folks! HAD it!)

3) Me to the birthday girl: I love your outfit!
Birthday girl: Oh...thanks. I'm a little embarassed - I didn't get a chance to iron it!
Me: PSSSH! Who irons anymore? (I refrained from following that comment with "I hardly even take showers!")
Other lady: Um. I do.
Birthday girl: So, do I.
Me: Uh, well...um, that's cool. (???)
Other lady: I iron *everything*.
Birthday girl: Yeah, I iron my sheets - I *have* to have them smooth.
Me: What?! Whoa!
Other lady #2: My husband does the all the ironing, so I don't know what gets ironed and what doesn't (...safe to say not much?)

I was like WHOA! Who the heck irons their SHEETS?! People, do something productive with your time.

That is all.