Settimana Tre!

Wow, 3 weeks! The time has definitely gone by quite quickly and each day/week has been a new "adventure" of sorts. Well, this week I started taking the metro (due to the unfortunate separation with my Fiat Bravo-see previous post). For those of you that know the train system in Rome, my story may be a little more clear, but for those who aren't too familiar, I will do my best to explain! Anyways, Monday morning I got up at 5:30 so I could take the train from Castelnuovo at 6:22am. After taking the train into the city, I arrived at Piazza del Popolo/Flaminio (North Rome) and had to transfer to the metro. I took the Metro for about 8 stops to Ponte Lungo, where I had to get out of the metro, and walk to the Tuscolana Train station (so it went train, metro, train...just to keep everyone on the same page). When I got to the ticket office, I said to the lady "via Muratella per favore". She said "No... San Giovanni (referring to a metro station about 5km away)... I replied with a "No" and walked away. I was a bit confused and actually shocked that the lady didn't acknowledge my request (it wasn't because of my poor Italian, by the way). So, being the "rebel" I am, I went to the gate and boarded the train (I looked it up beforehand, so that is what I was confused about-there was indeed a train to Muratella). When this whole train fiasco was completed, I arrived at Muratella station at 8:10am, boarded a WFP shuttle and got to the office at 8:15am (nearly 2 hours!). I continued to use public transport until Wednesday when I found a co-worker at WFP who lives close by to carpool with...Evidently, she is one of my Aunt's student's mother! She is a really interesting English lady, with a great deal of knowledge about UN, and has been assigned all over Africa. So, my transportation problem is solved! The reason why the public transport took so long is because I am living northeast of the city and WFP is conviently southwest of the city (just so you know)..but of course, I enjoy living with C+F, so I have no complaints! Work is going really well, I continue to learn more each day and meet some really interesting people (and it only my third week!). This weekend, Chris is having some of her graduating seniors/teachers over for a potluck, which should be nice....and well, I plan to relax! Oh, another funny story... "Only in Italy" (the title....of the mini-story). So today when Cordelia (the lady I carpool with) dropped me off at my car (at Sacrofano train station-about 10km away from C+F's house), I noticed that I was convenietly blocked in! A truck decided to park perpendicular to my car (and there is a grocery store next door-so I didn't know whether the owner is on a train or shopping). I really didn't know what to do and well, I didn't want to run into the grocery store and start yelling in broken Italian. I started honking my horn and an obviously-lost American family looked on. Luckily enough after about 10 minutes, when I was on the phone with my Aunt a group of painters came out and moved the car. Oh well! I'll write back soon. Take care!