Part of the Family

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Well, we are learning very quickly what it's like to be Italian. I have to say that we have met some of the most wonderful people here. The Romans, at times, can be very rough and abrasive. Oddly, they're often in a hurry and don't think twice to just walk right into you if you happen to be in the spot they intend to go. It usually only happens while getting on or off a bus or metro, but I've found that they don't believe in walking on the right side of the sidewalk. They actually zig-zag quite a bit.

But once you get to know the people, you instantly feel like part of the family. Thurday night Manuela and Fabrizio bought us drinks after looking at the apartment. They told us to call if we ever needed anything. Then Saturday night Davide came over and made us dinner, and then he introduced us to his friends. We're invited to his birthday party on Saturday. Remember what I said about birthday's here? You're expected to buy your friends drinks and do nice things for them. What did Davide decide? He's having a full 4 course dinner and good wine for 60 of his closest friends (including us). It's far away from where we live, so he arranged for his friend to pick us up on the way.

Last night we went to sign the papers for the apartment and to give our deposit to Maurizio. We also got to meet his wife, Claudia. They invited Fabrizio and Manuela over as well so we could all go out to dinner together. Well, we didn't really know this was going to happen. So, we ate dinner (like normal people) at 5:30pm. In Rome, they don't usually eat before 8:30pm. So, after we took care of all the apartment business, we all went to dinner around 8:30pm. Two hours later, we finally left dinner. What kind of dinner (besides Thanksgiving) lasts for two hours? An Italian dinner. We were already stuffed from our own spaghetti with pancetta and beschamel sauce dinner, but we needed to be poilte. So, we sit down to dinner and suddenly 6 plates of food come out to the table. There were all these antipasti dishes - fagiole (Maurizio said every cowboy needs his beans), corn with crab meat and shrimp, bread, anchovies, mussles and clams, fried meat balls, and salmon. Next up...the main course. There is supposed to be a pasta course but us American girls couldn't handle it. So, the Italians skipped the pasta and just got risotto, broccoli rabe and spinach, grilled fish, and we had pizza and crostini. After this was the dolci and the liquor. They tried to get me to drink some Amaro from Calabria since I told them half my family is Calabrese. I poilitely declined, eventhough I was made fun of. Again, they wouldn't let us pay for anything. They told us it was a "welcome" dinner since we are all now forming this nice relationship.

Oh, Maurizio also gave us some lemons, just like Mr. Cristofalo did in Sicily. Everyone we meet is so nice to us, and they are all so welcoming. This is something I could definitely get used to.

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Photos

Dinner with Friends
Here is a picture of Maurizio, Fabrizio and Claudia at dinner.

Dinner with Friends
Here is Manuela with Lauren, me and Heather at dinner.