Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
It snowed in Rome this past weekend like it has never snowed before. Rome is not a city where it snows. London, New York are cities where it snows. Rome is too temperate, too near the sea, for it to snow like it does, as a yearly event in London or New York. I used to be jealous of London and New York for this. But this year, this weekend, it snowed in Rome - like it's only done twice (as far as I can recall) here in my lifetime -- last year in March and one day during the winter of 1985, when I was a little girl.
I saw my first snowflakes on the morning of Friday, February 3, 2012. I was teaching at the language school. Already, all morning it had been pouring cats and dogs and it was freezing. Many of my students had bailed out on their lessons and I had a lot of no shows due to the weather conditions. I was on my lunch break (which, for once, I managed to make into a long one) when it started to snow. I was at my favorite bar/tavola calda, seated at a table, facing towards the glass - I had chosen that position, I had chosen to sit looking outwards towards the street because I was scared someone (without an umbrella and in need of one) was going to try to steal *my* umbrella (I was particularly concerned because the day before, I had forgotten my umbrella at another bar and when I returned to look for it, it was gone, someone had seen their chance and taken it). I remember what I was eating: smoked salmon with lemon, with boiled fennel, potatoes and pumpkin. If anyone finds themselves in the Cipro area and is looking for a place to eat a good, simple meal, come to me and I'll tell you all about this place -- the lady who prepares the food cooks really well. She has nice, light touch -- the food is never overcooked nor undercooked, always just right, and never too oily or salty, but just perfect. It's high quality for tavola calda. Anyways, back to the snow. I was enjoying my meal, when it started to snow. It's a funny process when the rain turns to snow. What happens is you begin to notice it looks as if the rain starts to fall a little more slowly and all of a sudden turns white. The first flakes that fall melt immediately as soon as they touch the ground. Then the small, white flakes start to turn into bigger ones, until everything around you starts turning white, and the white actually begins to stick. The other thing that I find funny is the contradiction in what it looks like and how it actually FEELS. It looks so light, like cotton. But when you're out there, and it's falling on you and begins to accumulate on your umbrella, it's actually quite hard and heavy and really difficult to walk in. Infact, it took me twice as long to walk back to school, as I had to do a lot of slow "skating/sliding" rather than walking, as the snow was so slippery.
Snow makes people happy. True, people complain about the snow, when talking about it in the context of work. But my boyfriend, who actually went to work on Saturday morning (he had to close shop afterwards because no one was around and he was the only one who had opened up shop), said that on his way home, he saw that there were a lot of people who had stopped to play in the snow in front of the Colosseum. Everyone looked happy -- it was such a treat especially for the children, who weren't used to such a thing. People were sliding, throwing snowballs at each other, building snowmen. Having a great time -- everyone was acting like children (I mean it in a good way), even people who weren't children.
Another thing the snow gave me that I am thankful for: a WEEKEND, finally! I haven't had a real weekend in ages. I normally work a crazy work schedule - Mondays through Sundays, no break during the week. Thanks to the snow, I didn't have to go to work on Saturday and Sunday -- and I was finally able to spend some quality time, just cuddling and lazing around with my boyfriend! And I'd forgotten how good it feels to spend a weekend just lazing around, with no deadlines or work to worry about!
So, yay for snow! Thank you for the mini-vacation you've given me!
I saw my first snowflakes on the morning of Friday, February 3, 2012. I was teaching at the language school. Already, all morning it had been pouring cats and dogs and it was freezing. Many of my students had bailed out on their lessons and I had a lot of no shows due to the weather conditions. I was on my lunch break (which, for once, I managed to make into a long one) when it started to snow. I was at my favorite bar/tavola calda, seated at a table, facing towards the glass - I had chosen that position, I had chosen to sit looking outwards towards the street because I was scared someone (without an umbrella and in need of one) was going to try to steal *my* umbrella (I was particularly concerned because the day before, I had forgotten my umbrella at another bar and when I returned to look for it, it was gone, someone had seen their chance and taken it). I remember what I was eating: smoked salmon with lemon, with boiled fennel, potatoes and pumpkin. If anyone finds themselves in the Cipro area and is looking for a place to eat a good, simple meal, come to me and I'll tell you all about this place -- the lady who prepares the food cooks really well. She has nice, light touch -- the food is never overcooked nor undercooked, always just right, and never too oily or salty, but just perfect. It's high quality for tavola calda. Anyways, back to the snow. I was enjoying my meal, when it started to snow. It's a funny process when the rain turns to snow. What happens is you begin to notice it looks as if the rain starts to fall a little more slowly and all of a sudden turns white. The first flakes that fall melt immediately as soon as they touch the ground. Then the small, white flakes start to turn into bigger ones, until everything around you starts turning white, and the white actually begins to stick. The other thing that I find funny is the contradiction in what it looks like and how it actually FEELS. It looks so light, like cotton. But when you're out there, and it's falling on you and begins to accumulate on your umbrella, it's actually quite hard and heavy and really difficult to walk in. Infact, it took me twice as long to walk back to school, as I had to do a lot of slow "skating/sliding" rather than walking, as the snow was so slippery.
Snow makes people happy. True, people complain about the snow, when talking about it in the context of work. But my boyfriend, who actually went to work on Saturday morning (he had to close shop afterwards because no one was around and he was the only one who had opened up shop), said that on his way home, he saw that there were a lot of people who had stopped to play in the snow in front of the Colosseum. Everyone looked happy -- it was such a treat especially for the children, who weren't used to such a thing. People were sliding, throwing snowballs at each other, building snowmen. Having a great time -- everyone was acting like children (I mean it in a good way), even people who weren't children.
Another thing the snow gave me that I am thankful for: a WEEKEND, finally! I haven't had a real weekend in ages. I normally work a crazy work schedule - Mondays through Sundays, no break during the week. Thanks to the snow, I didn't have to go to work on Saturday and Sunday -- and I was finally able to spend some quality time, just cuddling and lazing around with my boyfriend! And I'd forgotten how good it feels to spend a weekend just lazing around, with no deadlines or work to worry about!
So, yay for snow! Thank you for the mini-vacation you've given me!