Ah, a break

I figure any time I take two days off in a row it should count as a weekend.

It's been a few days! After busking a long afternoon last Sunday I
decided to take Sunday evening off. So I did a little shopping, and while
I was at it I decided to get new glasses! My old ones died a horrible
death the other day when they had some sort of chemical reaction with
spilled soap. The lens coating bubbled up, and to make them transparent
at all I had to scrape off that coating, scratching the bejeezus out of
the lenses in the process. Since they were three years old I wasn't too
broken up about it, although I think I'm going to change my brand of soap
since that doesn't seem healthy. An eye exam in Italian was definitely a
unique experience, and while moderately fashionable frames were very
reasonable the lenses were exhorbitant. Oh well, I think I've earned them
:)

My sleep schedule has been totally off-kilter and I blame my afternoon
naps. Sunday I decided to try espresso instead. Needless to say, at nine
in the evening I was still totally wired so I decided to burn off some of
that excess energy by going ice skating. Despite weather in the high
fifties there was an artificial rink set up in the shadow of the Castel
Sant' Angelo. The fact that I've only been ice skating once - in 1992 -
didn't seem to hurt because apparently a Mediteranean climate doesn't
breed a huge talent for ice skating in native Romans. You don't really
need to know people to be able to laugh at each others' efforts.

So it's been a busy few days. I took yesterday off and did some
sightseeing and shopping (yes mom, shopping). I'm accessing the internet
using my Palm Pilot in the park - the access is free but because of
Italian anti-terrorism laws there's a huge amount of red tape involved in
getting online anywhere. I impressed myself, though, because I was able
to navigate through a rather intricate registration process (that involved
a cell phone call to confirm my identity). I'm starting to get a lot more
confident in my Italian; although I probably sound like an idiot I can
usually make myself understood. My comprehension is starting to really
take off - I went from being clueless to being able to differentiate when
people asked me where the dulcimer came from versus where I come from.
The biggest thing that drove it home is that, with an Argentine roommate
last year, I felt like a genius in Spanish compared to my Italian. This
year speaking Spanish makes me feel like a complete idiot, so I take that
as a good sign.

I've decided to change my itinerary. The weather has been lovely here,
and so I think I'm going to skip Sicily this trip. My main reasons for
going there were weather-related, and it's a $125, 14 hour long train ride
that I could probably do without. Lodging is also much more expensive in
the places I was considering, so by keeping things cheap I don't have to
worry so much about making money. I think I'll head to Florence next week
(and hopefully Perugia the week after), and save Sicily for another time.
It's really nice to have as my back-up plan spending a lot of time in Rome
if other places don't work out as I hope :)