Only freaks ride the night bus

Sorry it's been a while since I've had a chance to catch you up. Things have been insanely busy over here. Here's what I've got in the update department:

This family is awful. They were not truthful about so so much. The first week with them was horrendous. I won't go into all of it, mainly because I don't want to think about it and it's not really fair for me to. I am currently looking for another family. There are a few prospects in the works. I am so so disappointed in the situation because I thought it was going to be great. The mother represented herself and her family as something they are very much not.

I needed to get out of the house this weekend so I stayed in a wonderful little hotel. It was perfect. So posh. Very different than the American concept of a hotel. I spent the day exploring around- well for the most part. I've found that my new favorite accidental hobby is to ride the wrong bus the wrong way until I have no idea where I am. Maps here do not provide the help that they do at home. The author of Eat Pray Love referred to Rome's streets as rives that meander around, which I believe is pretty dead on. It's lovely but makes finding my way impossible. I was directionally challenged at home...in a car...with a GPS. Here I mostly just enjoy what I'm seeing at that moment and hope that I make it back somewhere alive before midnight.

Anyways, back to the weekend. I ate at a lovely Italian restaurant all by myself- al fresco on a clear night. The pasta was amazing. Music in the background. Italian chatter. Perfect. It filled my soul (and my tummy!) The hotel had one English channel. It was CNN. I flipped shit to say the least. Saturday night after a wonderful day of exploring in Rome, a perfect Italian meal, and a late night of writing on the terrace overlooking part of the city, I fell asleep with CNN playing in the background. There are no words.

I'll leave you with a little list of random observances I've had so far:

-On the bus, the men do not give up their seats to little old ladies. In fact, they race them.

-If you tell someone you do not speak Italian they do not care. They will continue to speak to you in Italian like what you just said was nonsense.

-The police men are ugly. The army guys are hot!

-People play music on their cell phones out loud, with no head phones, on the bus like everyone else wants to hear.

-The amount of McDonalds here is out of control.