long time no blog....

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this blog. Since I'm now working half days, you'd think it would be easier to keep up to date!

I returned from Canada on the 2nd of May, and since then have been stepping up my yoga practise to ready myself for July in Toronto. At the moment, everything on my body hurts as I'm not used to a 5 day a week practise. I do hope this gets easier!

Yesterday a friend and I went to a museum that juxtaposes statuary from ancient Rome with all the machinery from an old electrical turbine plant. It's very interesting, and I've attached a photo of me and one of the statues!

We then walked down to the non-catholic foreigner cemetery in Testaccio and wandered around. The tomb of Keats was there (a large crowd of people listening to someone recite his work in Italian gathered round -- quick impressive when you think he died in 1821!

From there we walked to the market in Testaccio to buy some fruit and veggies (Becky, we stopped off at the shop that sells Pomellato earring knock-offs and Michelle was almost tempted to buy some beautiful brown earrings!!). There is a stall in this market that sells only tomatoes (pic attached). Imagine - he has so many types of tomatoes, that's all he sells! You go to him - tell him what you're making and he selects the best type for you!

These Romans take their food very very seriously!

Hope you all have a great week!
diane

albrecht Durer

The above two pictures are -- St. Peter painted by Albrecht Durer and the fountain in Piazza Barberini as I walked to meet my friends at the Quirinale gallery to see the Durer exhibit yesterday evening.

The exhibit was lovely - we expected it to be jam-packed but there were few people, and we had the time to really see all the works of art there.

Afterwards we walked over to via dei serpenti and had a late dinner at a little hosteria that specializes in scamorza - fried cheese. For Becky's sake - there were roughly 15 types of scamorza including - with raddichio, with walnuts and gorgonzola, with honey and apples, the list goes on.

All in all, a lovely evening with Maria, Paolo and Mariagrazia!

Today I'm off to help celebrate Ronan's birthday with his wife and two kids, Sean and Fiona and their two kids, and another couple and their two kids! This is the time I need to borrow some nieces and nephews so I don't come 'empty-handed'!

Have a great sunday everyone!

D

chagall

saturday was a well spent - grocery shopping, cleaning and then the marc chagall exhibit with two friends.

i was very impressed with his work - the colors and the slightly childlike way he paints. For those of you in a couple, his work speaks about the power of love.

http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~mplog/Art/marc%20chagall%20woman_and_the_roses%201929.jpg

click above to see one of his pieces.

spring is coming to rome - the first picture is close to my home and is the ancient wall that surrounds the city. The second is of a fountain at city hall that is one of my favorites.

Must run.
d

Well, another week in Rome. Yesterday, I went to watch the Roman marathon as a colleague was running. Unfortunately, I didn't see him, but I did see a whole lot of people running. Young, old, disabled, blind. It was amazing. My hands are sore today from clapping!

In the afternoon, I met up with a friend at yoga, then out for a fresh squeezed spremuta (orange juice). The oranges now are the red ones from Sicilia. Lovely. She drove me home on her motorino and I LOVED it! I've decided if I come back for May/June, I will buy a motorino instead of a car. I'll take the metro/bus to work, then toodle around Rome on a bike!

an Inconvenient Truth

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last blog, I seem to have gotten lost in work and yoga!

I'm attaching a picture of a friends terrace taken last Sunday - she lives near the Trevi Fountain and has this lovely rooftop apartment with the most amazing view of the center.

The weather here has been very warm - last Sunday was a summer day. Tourists walking around in shorts and sleeveless t-shirts (I was wearing a jacket in true Roman fashion!). It makes the movie I saw last night - An Inconvenient Truth - even more relevant. Please, if you haven't seen this documentary on the environment, go out and rent if from Blockbuster. It gives facts on what we're doing to our environment - indisputable facts that we can't deny. Worth seeing.

My original contract has been extended for one month. I fly back to Regina on April 13th. I then return here at the end of April to work for two months pro bono. I've decided to work half days for two months so I can spend the other half practicing at the yoga shala here and painting. I've never not worked full time in Rome, so I'm very excited to have this opportunity. It will be expensive for me, but studying at the shala here is important as they are quite famous internationally.

I shall sign off, hope you're all doing well.
diane

mars and venus

and my last post before i head off to yoga is my attempt at showing how a man's mind works. above is a picture of one of our whiteboards in the office, with part of our design.

this should be self explanatory to all you ladies why there is such a large gap between how men think and how women think!

happy saturday everyone.

da boys on my side....

of the desk are shown above, hamming it up for the camera.

on the left is Nicolas, our illustrious leader. he keeps us all laughing, which is a good thing as the only other option given the amount of work facing us, is to cry. On the right is Mario -he tries to remind us all that there is life outside of the office...