Four Months in Rome, Part Thirteen

Tuesday, October 12, 2010:

Teaching in Rome means you are part teacher, part parent, part tour guide, part travel agent, and part camp counselor! We’ve had sick students for the last two weeks, one fairly serious, but she is on the mend. Last night I was working on this blog and all of the sudden I heard a noise. I knew someone was trying to “chat” with me, but I had so many windows open, it took a minute to find out whom! It was one of the students who live across the river from me. They had an alarm going off in their apartment and couldn’t get it to stop. They didn’t think it was the smoke detector, but weren’t sure what it was and weren’t sure what to do. They had already called the housing guy (no answer) and had looked for the doorman (not to be found) and had tried to open the alarm to get it to stop. I tried calling the after hours number for their housing complex (no answer), then called Pia (the director of the Rome program). I asked the girls if their windows were open, they already were; there was NO smoke; but could it be CO2? I told them to go to one of the other apartments in the complex until we got someone over there to look into the matter. The girls thought they could get the alarm open to take out the batteries if they had a screwdriver. I had my shoes on, ready to walk over with a couple of screwdrivers and a hammer (if need be!) when I got a message from Pia to say she’d gotten a hold of the housing guy and he was sending someone to the apartment. I let the girls know someone was on their way over to fix it. They got the alarm off, but never told the girls why the alarm went off in the first place. They just told the girls, “you’re ok now.” The girls said they were fine and would see me the next day. It was around 11:30 pm. when everything got settled.

I went to Campo de’ Fiori Market this morning for the first time in two weeks! Cheri had the same idea, and we ran into each other at the fruit stand. We were walking around and I had to check out the t-shirt stand to see if they had the “ROMA” jacket I wanted that is in Iowa State colors. It looks like the old letter jackets from ISU. The vendor was anxious to make a sale, but I didn’t think he had what I wanted. He had a jacket made of a slick material, but I pointed to the sweatshirts and told him it was that kind of material, but NO hood. Sure enough, he had one and he even had my size. I tried it on, then looked around for Cheri to see if she thought it fit right. The guy wanted €25 for it, but I told him I could buy it at Porta Portese for €15. He came down to €20 saying it was better quality than the one at Porta Portese. I told him it was the same exact jacket and I could just wait and buy it this weekend at Porta Portese if they had my size. He looked at his boss, who said he’d sale it for €18. The vendor told me that was a very good price, it was very good quality and (with a smile) that his boss was part of the Italian mafia. I told him I could buy the same jacket at Porta Portese for €15 and I wasn’t going to pay more than that. He dropped his head in defeat, backed up to get a shopping bag to put the jacket in, and sold it to me for €15. I think my “clothes shopping for myself” is now complete; except the faculty is going to the opera soon and I didn’t really bring anything that dressy. Brenda, Cheri and I are going to the mall on Friday afternoon. Maybe I’ll find something out there.

Stopped at the grocery store too. I’m out of peanut butter. I brought two 18-ounce jars with me as suggested by a friend (Troy). I can’t believe I’ve eaten two 18-ounce jars of peanut butter! Anyway, I grabbed the largest jar of peanut butter on the shelf, which is about 12 ounces. It cost €6! I debated… do I really need to eat peanut butter… can’t I find something else to eat instead??? The exchange rate right now is $1.37 = €1. I don’t want to even figure it out, but I spent €6 on a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter! Italians, Europeans in general, are not big on peanut butter – it is an American staple and it is sold in Rome because Americans buy it. I’ve been told that I might get a slightly larger jar for the same price at the International grocery store in Trestevere. The really insane part of all of this, is that the peanut butter, called “Barney’s Best Crema Di Arachidi” comes from Albany, Georgia; USA! The label is in Italian, except where it says, “product of the USA”. It tastes ok, but it is NOT Skippy! After this I think I can hold out until my cousin comes to visit. She’s bringing me a jar or two from home!