Leaving Rome ... sniff

Written on: Tuesday, September 09, 2008

I’m writing this at the airport, as we wait for our flight leaving Rome to DC, and then to Houston tomorrow. Wow – time flies! I can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks – it’s been an amazing and once-in-a-lifetime experience. So much has happened and I’m still amazed every time I think of all that happened and all that the Lord did. I should have blogged more, ha! – But at the same time, probably not, to save myself the flack, heh…

We were able to take the last 5 days for vacation (since our Home was taking vacation days at the same time) and it’s been amazing! We will definitely blog the photos and events, but most importantly, the Lord was there each step of the way and set everything up perfectly.

And to sum it up – Italy is all that they say it is and more. I heard SO many stories and opinions before coming here, but all of the good things they say about the people, food, wine, drinks, coffee, beaches, sights and sounds, it’s all true. Heh! [Most] men ARE beautiful, the food IS amazing, the coffee IS addicting and the sights ARE breathtaking. It’s been a memorable trip and I do hope to return again, some day.

Oh, so about the guys – this is what I experienced. (Note: This is from the perspective of a first-time tourista Americana, so bear with me all of you Italian-savvy people). See, in Mexico, when you feel a guy staring you down, if you turn and look at them straight in the eyes, kind of like “yes?”, then they look away guilty, like they were caught with their hands in a cookie jar. (This applies only for the middle/upper-class Mexican men – I am not talking about market guys and their whistles/growls/barks, etc. That is a whole different story.) But here, I feel some guy staring at me so I turn to look at them and give them my “yes?” look, but OH – they just keep on staring and if anything, it is more intense, and they are thinking “YES, there’s hope! She’s looking at me!” So I learnt that VERY quickly – don’t stare back at them, heh. Although they do have beautiful eyes … *sigh*
For this particular case, I had the benefit of not speaking Italian, so these guys would come up and start blabbing in Italian – “Que bella … etc etc … bellisima … etc etc”, to which I would be able to say, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Italian” and at least that would cut them off – unlike poor Celeste who had to deal with all of them, haha!

Oh here’s a funny story – on the first weekend ballooning at the mall, when we're jet-lagging like crazy and looked like death warmed over (infatti!), it was during the Italian siesta time when everything slows down. So we were sitting there struggling to stay awake, when these two young guys come up and start talking to us – I was able to bow out with the “Sorry, I don’t speak Italian” after they tried talking to me, but then they turned to Celeste. This guy was love struck instantly! They bought two hearts and then he stood there to confess his undying love to Celeste – saying, “I’m in love! I’m in love! Maybe it’s the fact that I didn’t sleep at all last night, but looking at you, I’m in love.” Mamma mia! His friend was so embarrassed it was hilarious. Anyway, I thought that was pretty funny – heh. – Not to mention the fact that we are dressed like clowns, but that really doesn’t stop any Italian man!
I tried taking some photos of Italian men, for my chicas at Home who asked me too – but the ones I wanted to take photos of, usually had hot girlfriends by their side, hence the reason most of the photos are off-center. We were being VERY sneaky, heh!
So here are some photos of Italian men -- BTW, these are just photos OF Italian men, not photos of "Italian men that Jamie and Celeste think are hot" Italian men. heh.

You can't see much of this one, but you have to trust me ...

This is Daniele -- he was one of the guards who worked at the mall we ballooned at. They're not allowed to take photos in their uniforms, which is rather unfortunate as their shirts were pink -- not sure which one I liked better, them or their shirts! :P

This photo was from a night out -- these are two cute bartenders who don't look cute in this photo. Darn!
To explain: #1 -- Bouncer Jamie thought was cute but who definitely doesn't look so in this photo. #2 -- Bartender Celeste thought was hot. #3 -- Apparently some famous Italian TV dude ...?
This was from the night out with some friends -- photos 1 & 2. Check out the faces on the guys standing next to Celeste, tee hee.

John also asked for photos of Italian girls (although we have two resident ones – beautiful Cristina and Celeste! Bellisima!), but we found out that they were way more shy and timid when we asked to take a photo. The guys were like, “Sure, no problemo, let me just put on my cheesy grin here”, whereas the girls would never let us – unless I offered to stand with them or something.
But here is one photo we took in Sardegna, with a Sardinian girl. We had lunch at this restaurant with Cel’s dad and a friend, and when we were leaving the restaurant there was this beautiful girl with her father there – and she was talking to him about how he just needs to get hooked up with someone. So he noticed Cel and thought he could ask the father for permission to date his daughter – so the two fathers struck up a conversation instantly, and started talking about how they could swap daughters. Har har! Not so funny for the daughers, heh! But hey, we got some photos.