Day 107

I've been having several phone/internet issues this week, which is always enjoyable I'm sure everyone will agree! And what makes this even better is that I decided to try and fix it by totally resetting my phone; so now I'm attempting to re download apps etc using the swimming pool wifi. It's probably not the best option, but it's better than wasting what I have at the apartment! 
I spent last weekend in Moena with the family in an apartment their friend rents out. Moena is probably one of the most picturesque villages/towns I've ever been to; very alpine, very beautiful, and rather surreal in the sense that it feels like you're living in a Christmas card! It was an approximate 7 hour car journey there on Friday after school and back on Monday mid morning, and I'm very glad I'd had plenty of previous long car journey experience and other travelling with children experience prior to this weekend - really not sure how I'd have handled it otherwise (I barely coped as it was! Shout out to any parents who have driven families to France or the like- you're all crazy!). The actual being there was wonderful though. The air and environment was so much cleaner and fresher than Rome, and all of B and G's friends there are hilarious and welcoming and frankly full of banter! 
*side note: I don't think any of these apps are downloading, it's very frustrating*
We had three meals out with them, and honestly I felt so at home. At one point either B or G asked me if I was okay sitting at such a busy table with everyone talking loudly and being boisterous, and I said of course, because going out anywhere with the Johnson Clan is double or triple what it was, so I was having the best time!
*side note #2: I have a real hankering for onion rings and fried chicken..maybe I shouldn't have just eaten a carrot for lunch..* 
We went further up the mountain on Sunday morning to where the snow was, and the kids skied (is that the correct spelling? It looks like I'm saying they flew; they didn't, they did skiing!) and I froze, but it definitely brought out my Christmassy feelings and at least I know now what clothes I need to take with me next March when we go there for a month (I also now know that I need to get some form of mobile wifi for while I'm there!).
Ciao!!

Pictures in Perugia

Day 92

Clare and I (obviously, who else would I have been with..?!) went to Perugia on Saturday! Waking up pre-5am to leave the house at 6 for a 7am bus was a bit of a killer though. I'd say I'm usually the one out of the two of us who is good in the morning, but I was just not functional! And it's amazing that we both were ready and out of the door on time - our tendency towards being late for plans with each other is astonishing, and not in the good way. I think we've both adopted the Italian idea of time management! 
It was a 2 and a half hour journey there (100km north of Rome), and we both used our time wisely and slept. Perugia is so incredibly beautiful. When you arrive at the bus station you go up a flight of stairs and then up a couple of underground escalators that go into an underground fortress thing (I need to do more research on this, but it's incredible! Clare's host dad was telling us last night that the first Pope built a castle on top of it (?) to keep the Perugians in and stop them from fighting!) and then you go up another escalator and arrive in the centre of the town. I'm not sure whether it counts as a town or a city; the surrounding area makes me think it's a city, but the historic centre feels very town like. Our day was spent exploring the side streets and chocolate shops (especially good!) and the market place. We also visited an underground well that dates back to Etruscan times and went on a Ferris wheel! Oh, and I ate 400g of chips (proper chips) in one sitting - call it making up for lost time, as I hadn't had them since the end of August probably! Plus, it was much colder there than Rome, and there's nothing quite like chips on a cold day. 
Before getting back on the bus back to Rome we had a further explore of the underground and looked around an art display that was through a few of the rooms, and then sat and chatted and started making up random stories which continued until we parted ways at her house so that I could get back to babysit. 
Clare's taken to talking to me in French for extended periods of time, so while being in Italy, I'm not only picking up Italian, but also improving my French understanding - who'd have thought it eh?!
Ciao!!
(Pictures will follow soon!)

Day 85

Sat by the poolside listening to The Waterboys (I've just realised how funny that is!); thank you daddy for fixating it in my head the other day, I couldn't not buy it on iTunes once you put it into my head, although I know it doesn't sound as good as when you play it for me, it makes me smile just the same! 
Rome has been getting colder and more autumnal over the last week. There are still leaves on trees, but there are more on the ground than there have been, so I haven't entirely missed out on autumn, even if it isn't nearly as beautiful as it will have been at home. The shops are just beginning to put up decorations - the classic being faux pine branches and cones with lights around the arch doorways, and lights strung along between buildings in the streets. It all feels very Italian but homely all at once! I know I'm going to miss going into the shops and hearing Christmas songs though. Not the classics, but all the chart toppers over the years! It's strange, I'd never considered that the rest of the world wouldn't take Christmas number ones seriously, or that they wouldn't be the same everywhere, but when discussing it with Clare the other evening it dawned on me that so many ones I love are by British artists or have only topped the Christmas charts in the UK..I think I may need to give her an evening of going through them; I can't cope with her only having heard Band Aid 30, and even then just because of One Direction!! I am looking forward to December in Rome though, it's nice wrapping up warm and I've heard that there'll be a big market in Piazza Navona, where I'm sure far too much money will be spent..! 
(I've now listened to The Whole of the Moon four times in a row. I will know all of the lyrics by the time M gets out of the water!) 
I really am falling in love with Rome. You can wander for hours and just grab pizza or coffee and carry on, and nobody knows you here, so on any given day you can behave like a tourist or a local depending on how you feel. The people who recognise you are the ones that see you on a daily basis, and they're always so friendly and happy to see you; the coffee shop I've been going to since the start has now started giving me large cappuccinos for the same price as a normal. I probably don't need the extra caffeine and will more than likely end up being addicted to it by the end of my time here. Add to that my newfound love of Coke Zero (I've got it bad for Coke Zero!) and it's just a crazy mix! I do try not to have it all every day though, so I might avoid it!
(This is the sixth time I've put it on now..."I pictured a rainbow.."!)
The family and I are getting on like a house on fire, we feel comfortable teasing each other and being sarcastic and talking about anything and everything, and I feel as though I understand the way the kids' brains work, so that's made things a little easier too! 
Ciao!

Massive Picture Update!

Santa Marinella 

The boating lake in the park

Walked down to the street

I've never seen so many! They do it every evening over the river

There's a zoo! I saw my first bear! No, this isn't a bear, sorry. 

My phone was on the table. This Happened.

One thing I love about Italy is the abundance of seafood!

A beautiful double rainbow with the last remains of smoke from the Frecce Tricolori

This is just to show the scale of the birthday party!

The apple cake (with expertly made crumble topping, might I add)

Day 73 (wow, when did that happen?!)

I guess I should get around to actually writing a blog post shouldn't I? Well, I have 20 minutes free now, so I'll see what I can do! Remember I mentioned a while ago that I had a cold? It only really went away last week, and then this weekend I came down with something else (who knows what) and now I have something of a cold, something of an upset stomach, but I've decided to ignore it today because I'm not spending another day eating plain porridge and rice. Nope, not happening! 
It was F's 6th birthday last week, and schools were closed all over Rome because of "extreme weather conditions" (ie, heavy rain all day; seriously, it's like the UK when faced with a dusting of snow!) so Susanna (the previous au pair) came over and me and her baked a cake while F had a play date. It was a very yummy German cinnamon apple cake, that tasted just as nice in the process of being made as it did when finished! His party was on Saturday, and that was a very busy affair, the scale of which I have never seen before - there were at least 100 people at the holiday house, and we were very glad to have such a beautiful day so everyone could mill around in the garden. And as if one Italian birthday party on Saturday wasn't enough, when I got back to the apartment in Rome (at around 5/6ish; the party had started at 10:30) I walked up to Clare's for her twins' 6th birthday party! I must have been mad, and it definitely showed, because at one point I was singing along to Frozen with their 3 year old sister, and her host mum asked me (jokingly of course) what I'd taken to have so much energy!! When everyone had gone home from that party, Clare and I went on a gelato run. Whenever we go to her gelato place (it's called Latte and it's by far the best) I choose two flavours and then get the person serving to choose the third, mostly because I can never decide, but also because they suggest things I wouldn't normally consider. So with my usual combination of marscapone e gentilini and something chocolatey, I had pineapple and basil sorbet which was very surprising, and very delicious! (Also, for all those who live in Neath, the Latte gelato from there is very nearly the same as Cresci's ice cream, but not quite). 
It's Maddie's last week here in Rome this week, so the three of us are going out for dinner tomorrow evening, and I'm really looking forward to it; mostly because it's an excuse to dress up nice, but also because we haven't all been out together in so long! 
I'd like to thank everyone who's sent me a card or letter in the past weeks, it means so much to me that people take the time out to write to me, and it's always exciting receiving something unexpectedly! Also, to all those asking after me because I haven't been blogging - thank you for caring too, it's just sometimes life gets in the way or feels to boring, or I simply cannot be bothered doing it..but now that I have today, I've been reminded how much I actually enjoy writing, so maybe that'll be enough to keep me updating more regularly!
Ciao!!

Day 48

I'm not entirely sure what day it is on my day counter, but I've counted up and I'm assuming it's day 48 right now. Time has really begun to fly now that I have a good routine and know what I'm doing (most of the time; the rest has been me working on my ability to "wing it" and have no one realise!). And because (I'm sorry to all my past teachers...I know I just started a sentence with "and" and followed it with "because"!) a lot of my days have been very busy I hadn't realised that it was so long since I last wrote!
Clare and I went to the beach on Saturday. We weren't intending on doing anything interesting with our day, and when I turned up there at 11am she needed to do homework so I made full use of the unlimited wifi, chocolate and cats. By half 2 we had decided that neither of us wanted to be in Rome but didn't know where to go. Google was very helpful and told me that we can get the train direct from Termini station to Santa Marinella beach, and after grabbing a McDonald's for the journey that's exactly what we did. The trains here are quite fancy, and a lot bigger than at home - I never knew that double decker trains existed! We arrived at the beach at around 4:30pm and walked it's length a couple of times, taking far too many pictures (over 300 on my phone alone!) and battling with writing in the sand and it being washed away - I very nearly fell in the sea laughing trying to take pictures of it!
Then, despite both of our better judgement, we had an impromptu swim in the sea as the sun was setting. To warm up afterwards we wandered through the town, bought little bottle fridge magnets and a lot of potato pizza! (Yep, potato pizza is a thing; a beautiful, delicious, cheap thing!) We ate our pizza by the sea and saw a full sky of stars for the first time in a month or so.
So that's just a small update for now,
Ciao!

Photos 26/09/14 - 11/10/14

Paulo the Pigeon and Piazza del Popolo

Could not believe it when I found this near the Vatican!

The view from Maddie's roof

A ridiculously famous concrete ceiling

The Pope: Live in Concert. Or at least that's what I assume all the chairs are for

Sunset over rainy Rome

A big fancy building I met B outside of

Looking out from my seat in front of the big fancy building (Piazza Cavour)

Emmanuel II (I have to google how to spell that every time!)

Do these next few even need a caption?

Days 34-36

I've just spent the last 25 minutes working on accessing the wifi at the pool..it's not exactly fast or reliable wifi, but it's better than nothing (I think)! I'm pretty certain it's the same wifi that you can access at other spots around Rome, so hopefully when I'm in some places outside of the apartment and the cafe I'll be accessible not only by my brick. 
Similar to Monday, the last few days I've had very lazy mornings, which has meant that I haven't been tempted to spend on breakfast or coffee, and actually, I've been eating lunch before meeting Clare for an hour or two, so I've saved there as well! I mean, I did buy a jar of sweets to keep in my room, and we did buy gelato last night to have at SS Meetup, but I haven't gone over budget which is the main thing! 
(Continued at the apartment)
Me and M had a really lovely play date with some of her old classmates yesterday afternoon; we went to a beautiful park, and the sun was shining, and there were no tears and I think everyone enjoyed! Plus, I got taken back to meet G in M's best friend's car, and her mum speaks perfect English (her mother being English) so we had a good chat on the journey. 
My cold has become worse again, after thinking it was clearing up yesterday afternoon, my cough developed in the evening and tonight I sound like a man, so I'm definitely staying home tonight! On the upside, I had frozen mousse stuff (if I'd only watched MasterChef I'd know the name of it!) that tasted like a Snowball after tea today, so that was yummy. I haven't figured out whether cold stuff is actually helping or hindering my throat yet, but when in Rome eh?!
Ciao!

Day 30-33

I spent this morning lazing around in bed and watching TV - I have three go-to channels; one for music, one for American shows and films that I can change the audio on, and one for Nickelodeon programmes in Italian. None of which are fab, but they're better than nothing and are good for background sound when I'm on my own with a cold!
Speaking of being on my own *holding back from singing Les Mis*, this weekend was my first one home alone. It was very nice knowing that I didn't have to be back for anything - Clare and I were joking that my "Italian phone" is a bit like a doctor's pager, in that when it rings I know I have to be somewhere soon! You can probably guess who I've spent my weekend with can't you? I mean, in fairness, her family were away too, and Danielle and Maddie had swanned off to Paris so we had to do something together! It's not like we spent most of Friday together or anything...we did have the best 11am gelato on Friday though. I had hazelnut, pistachio, and marscapone with biscuit topped with coffee cream and a chocolate wafer in a sugar waffle cone filled with dark chocolate. Yes, it was as incredible as it sounds! We did a small grocery shop (I say small, it filled two bags and my arms nearly dropped off during the 20min walk back!) and went back to hers to see Fluffy and Tiger and watch part of Divergent and eat white pizza. Dropped M off at the train station in the evening with a previous au pair for company and then walked back to the apartment in a state of total happiness- the sun was setting but it was raining really heavily and I was walking through some very beautiful back streets. It was rather perfect! I then finished my night with a Skype sesh with my SERFY family and popcorn and coke.
On Saturday Clare and I explored the back streets by the Colosseum and waited around an hour outside a vintage shop for it to open, spending our time looking at the pictures on each other's phones and taking selfies. The wait was worth it though, I bought a great oversized jumper from there! We had smiley faces, red pepper, salad and custard for tea and then went out and sat at SS Meetup for a while people watching and rejecting drinks and tat from far too many blokes. Honestly, I'm going to come home being so mean to male strangers!
Clare came with me to church yesterday which was lovely, and the German au pair was there again so we all sat next to each other. The sermon was taken from Hebrews 9:1-10 and was to do with Yom Kippur/Atonement. We sung To God be the Glory, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Take my Life and Let it Be, and The Wonderful Cross (When I Survey but with an added bit) so a pretty good week hymn-wise! We had pizza twice yesterday...there's a really good cheap pizza place by the Pantheon that we're now recognised at, and we got lost last night and found another place that sells it according to weight and size rather than per slice, and that made a great addition to us finding our way back (I actually used a compass to figure out which way to go!). I also discovered that supermarkets close at 9; B and G had asked if I could get milk, and I left it until we were nearly home and only had mintues to spare - lesson learnt!
Ciao!

Day 28 (mainly 29!)

Back at the poolside! M and F go twice a week, so while it's extra stress when they're getting out, it's rather nice being there for them without them being entirely my responsibility for an hour on Mondays and Thursdays! The only downside is that I definitely have a cold; not the nose variety, but the sore throat and feeling tired constantly variety. So instead of getting up early and seizing the day I made myself a cup of Nescafé coffee mixed with Nesquik and took that and a box of Cheerios back to bed and finished reading The Fault in Our Stars. Yep, after refusing for months to read it I downloaded and read it over the course of yesterday and this morning. And yes, I cried, but not as much as at the end of Insurgent! However, this is not a book review, so that's all I'll say on the matter. 
(The only trouble with trying to write at the pool is that there's the constant distraction of athletic Italian men..but I didn't say that! It is quite nice for once to be distracted rather than the distraction - beginning to get fed up of male attention.)
I spent money I didn't really have with Clare this afternoon. By that I mean that I dipped into my savings because B hasn't got around to getting money from the bank for me yet, and all I wanted to do today was shop and eat fatty food - a side effect of being ill! So I bought the comfiest pair of trackie bottoms I've ever put on ever from Brandy Melville (the shop that had the late night sale) for 30€. More money than I'd usually spend on an item of clothing, but as I said, they're incredibly soft and comfy and I can see myself wearing them all the time (I'm wearing them now...I've become a person that wears trackies for non-sporting activities, and I'm not even ashamed!). Clare and I also found the best pizza place; fabulous, greasy, homemade pizza for 2,50€ per large slice, and we ate in view of the Pantheon which made it even more perfect and surreal. Plus, it's totally within budget, so we've decided to go grab fruit and water/buy multipack cans of pop from home and then just get that for lunch when we're out for lunch together. While it's not entirely healthy, we have the excuse of living in Italy, the home of pizza! 
Yesterday me, Maddie and Clare wandered around the park and found the zoo - we'll definitely be going soon, I think I can justify 20€ to go just about!
Ciao!

Day 27

I have learnt one big thing today - Italian birthday parties for kids are not a small affair. They are crazy, busy, noisy things! I mean, they're enjoyable, but not on a Tuesday evening. M and F were really good though, even if they were tired and unwilling to join in with the entertainer to start with. On the plus side, I got party food, tiramasu and leftover bracelets, so the headache was slightly more worth it!
I had a lovely lazy morning today, cleaning and doing washing - I was actually looking forward to it..imagine that; being excited to clean a bathroom and do two loads of washing. Because of the dust everything gets dirty quickly, and having a white tile wet room style bathroom doesn't help matters, but it's so nice when it's clean! And this weather makes clothes/bedding/towel washing a doddle, it's usually dry after an hour or two in the sun, so plenty gets done. I don't know how easy winter washing will be though, as there's no tumble dryer so I'll have to air dry - let's hope it's not like at home where it all takes ages on radiators; I only have a tiny one!
(Just realised I wrote a paragraph about cleaning. What have I become?!)
There seems to be a nasty cough going around at the minute, and I have the first signs of a cold, so let's hope it doesn't come full force at me!
Ciao!

Days 21-26 (sort of)

I've been feeling a little bit topsy turvy the last few days, rather unsure of myself and how things are going, and so any free time I've had I haven't really felt like writing. But today's a better day (not that my days have been bad, they've been great!) and asides from being incredibly tired and slightly irritable I think I'm almost back to normal! 
Because I'm writing this at the poolside I'm not sure as to what my last update was, so for now I'll do today and the weekend, and if I discover when I have internet that I've missed something big out then I'll throw it on at the end! (Mum: what did you used to do while I was in a swimming lesson? It's so boring!)
Saturday 27th: I met up with my parents from Scotland mid morning by the Spanish Steps (which hereafter will be referred to as the SS Meetup, because it's so much cooler  *not* and that's what we use them for!) and made our way down to Piazza del Popolo before climbing a lot of stairs to Villa Borghese (the park). Once there, I was treated to coffee and a much needed sit down and catch up - super lovely! We went to a part of the park afterwards that I hadn't been to yet, and that was beautiful, but we were getting hungry, so went and had pizza in a small place near Piazza del Popolo. (Thank you again for that!!) Me, Clare and Danielle all went to Maddie's for the evening, intending on watching a film, but in reality spending a heap of time on her roof dancing and taking photos and stargazing (on my part anyway!). We did sort of watch The Prince and Me, but I took advantage of the unlimited and skyped mum and dad, and then we chatted and ate pizza bianca and just ended up watching the end!
Sunday 28th: Church was very good; the sermon on obedience (from 1 Samuel 15 and Psalm 51) was clear and unwatered, (unless you count the dirty/clean water illustration that was used) and we sung a Welsh hymn and tune! Met a german au pair at church too, and we invited her along to spend the day with the group and another new au pair. Rome on a Sunday afternoon is a crazy place to be though, people everywhere, and more so than on a Saturday! I did buy some sugar roasted nuts though, so it was worth it!
Today: Me and Clare met Maddie by St Peter's (apostrophe?) and on our way there discovered a couple of vintage shops (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and the fact that the Pantheon pre-10am is the best time to visit, however quickly! We all made our way to an international food shop where I spent 13€ on custard powder and Whittard instant cranberry and raspberry tea; definitely worth it seeing as how the girls have never had custard! Clare and I had burgers for lunch; actual restaurant burgers, not BK ones, and then the rest of the day has been as normal; swimming, tantrums, dinner, bed!
Photos will follow soon, and I'll try and get back into daily posting, no matter how boring my day's been!
Ciao!!

Day 20

I'm sitting here thinking "what in the world did I do yesterday?", which is either a sign that I'm far too sleepy or that it was a pretty uneventful day. I'm going with a bit of both! Right, just turned to the phone to see if there were any pictures (there are, but definitely none of particular interest!) and I now remember spending the day in the apartment being a domestic pro and doing washing and cleaning..so yes, a very exciting day. None of it was that straight forward though; all the cleaning products are in Italian, so I was guessing what they were for and how to use them from the pictures and past experience - very glad I didn't always rely on mum to do everything at home! I also did a spot of organising, and it turns out that paper shopping bags and permanent markers make for great dirty laundry holders, and washed plastic salad bowls are perfect as a bathroom caddies. (That's what the pictures were of, I was so pleased I had to show the girls!)
B hosted a dinner party last night which I was welcome to, but I was glad that it wasn't a sit down meal, because I was able to eat and not stick around - the food was incredible and the people were lovely, but I felt so out of place with everyone speaking Italian and having known each other for ages! One lady did speak to me for a bit, but I was glad when it was time for me to sort the kids out! On the plus side, I've now had calamari, something I've wanted to try for a while, and I liked it.
M will be waking up soon and then it's off to Clare's for a play date with her wards (is that the right word? Im sure that Adèle is described as being Mr Rochester's ward in Jane Eyre, but that doesn't really help!).
Ciao!

Weekend around Ponza pictures