Sperlonga Beach

After living in Rome for 6 weeks, Ryan and I decided enough was enough - it was time to get out of the house. We've been so busy every weekend getting things for the house, and getting our life set up here, that we felt like we didn't have the time to go exploring. Let alone have the energy to figure out where to go and how to get there. The other American families have lived here longer than us, and therefore have done more exploring - so we turned to them for help as to what to do and where to go. We talked about doing a few different things, but decided on going to the beach. One, it's starting to warm up, and two, now is a good time to go because once it's summer time the beaches are jam packed full of people. Ryan hates going to the beach, but since he loves me so much, he agreed to it. Now, Rome is on the coast, so there are beaches very close by - but not all beaches are created equally, and we chose one a little far away. Plus, this is Europe and nude beaches are a real thing. We wanted to go to a nice beach that we could stay at all day, the kids could play, and was family friendly. The Wood's family found out about Sperlonga Beach from some Italians that work on the temple, and recommended it to us. I made sure to purchase beach towels and toys, water bottles and snacks,so Saturday morning all we had to to was eat breakfast and were out the door. The kids were so excited, but 20 minutes into our 2 hour drive were already asking if we were at the beach yet! Thank goodness for Google Maps, or we may have never made it to where we wanted to go. I guess Sperlonga has a few beaches, but we wanted the one the locals go to - not the touristy beach. The great thing in Italy is you can rent a cabana for the day.

It has a shade, 2 beach loungers, a chair and provides showers and bathrooms, all for 20 euros a day. We loved it because it meant we didn't have to buy or carry all that stuff with us. Worth every penny. All along the beach there are sections of rows of cabanas- each owned individually. There are spaces in between each section of cabanas - that's considered the public beach. The nice thing is, each little section of cabanas is considered a private beach for those who rent the cabanas - and only those who are using the cabanas can use the beach in front of it. Like I said, we wanted to go before the summer, when EVERYONE goes to the beach - so yesterday it was not crowded at all. The kids played in the water (it was a bit cold for me) dug in the sand, collected sea shells, tried to ride the waves and built sand castles. They had not been to a beach in 2 years, and have asked about it every summer. Needless to say - they did not waste one minute of the time there. Ryan spent most of the day under the shade of the cabana reading his book and I enjoyed watching the kids play. It was a perfect day.

Feeling Strong

Last Friday was a hard mental day. For those of you who don't know, I have struggled with anxiety and depression for over 11 years, but I've learned how to keep it at bay most of the time. In times of stress, lack of sleep and unhealthy eating (aka - moving to Italy) I have a much harder time trying to combat the anxiety. I didn't realize until a week ago how much I rely on exercise to help me combat the anxiety. I've always known that, but I guess I've never gone too long without a hard workout, so I didn't realize how much I needed it. Since we moved, I have not had a hard workout. Yes, I've been doing those 9 minute missions, but it was only a 15 minute workout, and I was loosing motivation to push myself while doing them. It just wasn't enough. I told Ryan I was having a hard mental day and when he asked what he could do to help (best husband ever) I told him I really just wanted an exercise bike and weights. I knew I needed a way I could exercise at home. Saturday morning he drove over the the mall to run some errands and came home with an exercise bike, a kettle bell and some hand weights. I was thrilled. Since it was my birthday last week, Ryan got to give it to me as a birthday present, and got major points for giving me such an awesome birthday present. (it will also qualify as my Mother's Day present and my Anniversary gift:) When Ryan got it all put together, I had to try it out. I rode for 30 minutes, and it's a good thing I had to get off to go make dinner, because I barely made it through those 30 minutes. It kicked my butt. It had been too long since I'd done any cardio training. By Monday morning I was ready to start over, to get up and exercise to help me feel strong - in hopes that feeling strong would enable me to win against my anxiety. I knew that in order to have time to get a workout in - I'd have to wake up early - like 5am early. I've always been a morning person so waking up at 5am doesn't scare me - but when I am really struggling with anxiety, I need a lot of sleep too. It can be a delicate balance. I decided I'd need to get up by 5:15am to have enough time to spiritually strengthen (prayer and scripture study) and physically strengthen myself before the kids woke up. (Because you know once the kids wake up, there is no such thing as doing anything for yourself. Plus, with no gym membership- I couldn't sleep in and then take the kids to the childcare at the gym later) When my alarm went off - I was ready. Ready to try again. Ready to feel strong in some way, because I had not felt strong in anyway for along time. I got up, got dressed, did my spiritual exercise, then put my earbuds in, turned on my music, got on that bike and petaled my little heart out. I pushed my body to the limit. I'm not sure why, but the music blasting in my ears motivated me want to work harder- it was invigorating. Now, about music - I hadn't listened to much music since we moved and I didn't realize how much i missed it. Especially my hip hop/dance/techno music that I listen to when i workout. With no pandora radio in Italy, and no radio except in the car (which i was never in, and it's mostly Italian music and old 80's and 90's american songs), I was never listening to music. Sure, I have a plethora of music on iTunes, but i needed new playlists and didn't even think about sitting down at the computer to organize music, let alone have the time to. In the U.S., I always listened to Pandora - it was just easier for me. Needless to say, it felt good to listen to music again. After I rode the bike for about 40 minutes, I lifted weights for another 20. For me, there is just something about mentally pushing my body to do something hard, that makes me feel strong. I feel like if I can get myself to push those petals hard, or lift that heavy weight , maybe I can do whatever else is hard that day. I think it's my spirit body having control over my physical body, or in other words; mind over matter. For me, if I am working on being physically strong - it pushes me to try to be more mentally strong - which I desperately need. Now, I have to say that I don't believe that physical strength or physique has anything to do with mental strength. I know women who are physically strong but spiritually weak, and those who are physically weak but have great emotional and mental strength. I do believe that we all have to do hard things to become strong. We feel strong when we have accomplished something that was hard for us. And that could be a hundred different things. For me, one way to feel strong is to workout hard. Sweat dripping, heart pumping, muscles aching hard. I also feel that same strength and invigoration after I've taught a lesson guided by the Spirit. When I have studied and prayed and then while giving the lesson, I know that what I'm saying is what The Lord wants me to say, and may help someone in someway. I also feel that strength when I finally get around to organizing that thing that's bothering me, create something, when I've taken the time to learn something new, baking food for someone else, or good conversations with good friends. I also feel strong when i've endured a hard ship - a trial - and I know we all have plenty of those. Now that I write out those things that make me feel strong, I realize that I haven't had much opportunity to do any of those things here in Italy,(except for the trial part, but that's not over) and maybe that's why a good hard workout felt so amazing. It's something I can do a couple times a week to have a few minutes of feeling strong. We all need to do something to push ourselves a little bit. Our spirit suffers when we shy away from challenges or growth. Our physical, mental and spiritual muscles need to be worked and even get sore a little bit. I love feeling strong, and its a feeling that comes and goes for me. I wish I felt it more often, and for that reason - I think I may crave it a little bit. As much as I hate getting out of bed so early in the morning to exercise, and no matter how much I want to just stay in bed and sleep - I will get up. Even though I don't want to get on that bike, I do. Of course there are days that I tell myself that I'll just take it easy and not push myself very hard, but for some reason, I'll end up going hard or longer that I originally told myself I would. Why ? Because deep down, my soul knows I need it. Now there are those days that I cant get out of bed, or I know that the best thing mentally I can do for myself is sleep a little bit longer - and I do just that. There are days that even though I felt strong for those 30 minutes on the bike, I get off and within 10 minutes feel the depression and anxiety weasel its way back in. Even as I write this, I don't feel strong, but I know I did, and can again. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I am grateful for the opportunities I have to feel strong - and recently it has been in a physical sense. Regardless of whatever the hard thing we do to feel strong is, we just have to do it. I also must mention my Savior Jesus Christ, without Him, and His strength - I'd be nothing. I echo Ammon in the Book of Mormon, " I know that I am nothing, as to my strength I am weak, for I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do ALL things"

A Day In The Life

I have been compiling thoughts for this post over the last month. What I'm sure most people want to know is; what is everyday life like, what does it look like, and what is different or the same as life in America? So this is my attempt to explain everything, well , everything that I've experienced thus far, in a somewhat coherent manner. Grocery shopping. I know I've said this before, but trying to figure out what you're buying without being able to read the labels can be a bit of a chore. Most things I can figure out by pictures or the limited vocabulary I know. I am getting better. I'm starting to recognize things and find my way around the stores better. Somethings are just different. There is a butcher in every market where you can ask specifically for the cut of meat you want. They do have the prepackaged meats - and that's what I buy, as I can't talk to a butcher yet. Meat is very expensive, and comes in small packages. No such thing as a 10lb bag of frozen chicken breasts from Costco. I've had to buy chicken breasts one at a time, for 3-5 euros a piece. If you want to buy a package of chicken breasts - its more like one or two chicken breasts filleted into 6 pieces. And no frozen meat. It is all fresh. You also see all kinds of cuts of meats- stuff I'd never seen before, like a WHOLE chicken. Skin, head, feet - everything but the feathers. I've bought hamburger and chunked stew meat, but I haven't ventured into buying beef very much. It is very expensive and I don't want to buy it unless I know how I'm going to cook it. I did try to a beef stew - total dinner fail. Apparently if you cook anything on low in my crockpot, it needs to cook for 24 hours. After cooking on low for 8 hours (normal time for beef stew) the vegetables were crispy and the meat was tough and chewy. So I guess I need to find some better recipes for beef. There are markets of all sizes, and not all of them carry everything, or the same things.

So I end up going to one store for this and another for that. I usually go to Carrefore - it is a 'bigger' one and it has just about everything I'd need. It is just passed the school, so it is a good place to stop after I walk the kids to school. There are two other smaller markets I go to, one on our walk to school and the other, almost directly across the street from the private drive our apartment is on. That one is called 'emme piu`' and I have gone there most often because it is so close.

However, since it is a smaller market, they just don't have some things. For example, I went there one day to get a few things to make chicken potato soup for dinner and no celery or carrots. Then there is the biggest 'walmart' type - Auchans. It is a 2 story store at the mall. It has just about everything and more variety. They also have a big 'senza glutine' (gluten free) section, which is a huge plus for me. ( I've found all kinds of 'biscotti', cookies, that I can have - so it may end up being a very bad thing for me) I can find things like soy sauce, buttermilk, and chicken stock at Auchans, so I like to go there most, since I can't get those things anywhere else. Here's some other observations I've made about the grocery stores. 1. If you have two of the same product and one brand is cheaper , it's just watered down. Like dish soap. In the US, if you buy Fry's brand 'dawn' its basically the same, just with a different label. Not here. If it's cheaper - it really is lower quality. Ugh. I still struggle with this. I am so used to buying the cheaper one, just because there is no point in paying an extra 50cents for a label, but I am learning I can't do that here. 2. Fruit juice is real fruit juice and apple juice is hard to find. We have started drinking the peach juice instead. 3. Italians don't eat cereal like americans do. Instead of having a whole isle of cereal, they have 2-3 isles of 'biscotti' - or, cookies. They eat a biscotti and milk (or coffee) for breakfast. We have found a few cereals, like cheerios, corn flakes, and cookie crisp. 4. The produce is all very fresh and tastes fantastic. When you buy produce, you put it in the little plastic bag and then have to take it to a scale to weigh it. The scale then prints you out a label with the weight and cost of that particular item. I learned the hard way. The first time, I just put put the apples in a bag, and when I got to the checkout, couldn't buy them because I didn't have the label. 5. Plastic bags to put your groceries in are not free. You can buy the reusable bags for less than a euro, but if you forget, or don't have any - it's about 20 cents per bag. It's not a big deal if you're just shopping a little market and only need a bag or two, but we've forgotten them at Auchan's when we've bought a cart full of food. So now we have 15 reusable bags. Oh well! 6. If you want to use a shopping cart ( the little markets don't have carts - just little baskets) you have to put a 1 euro coin into the cart to get it unhooked from the other carts. When you return the cart you get your euro back. I never seem to have a euro coin on me, and have managed to find a lone cart stranded somewhere to use. Apartment living. Using a small kitchen was a concern for me, and hard a first. I'd run out of counter space very quickly. We ordered another 'counter/buffet' from IKEA and I'm happy to say it is finally all put together and I LOVE it.

I love my tiny little kitchen, and it is working great for us. It does make me realize that I can survive on much less than I did before. Our apartment is also much smaller than our house in Gilbert, but I don't feel like we are crowded or that we live in a small space. The layout is great, and I really feel blessed that we got this apartment.

Plus it has a great view of a natural preserve.

Some fun things about apartment living in Rome. 1. My washer/ dryer combo is in a closet on the balcony outside my kitchen. So yes, not in the house. No doing laundry in my underwear.

A few words about doing laundry. I am starting to figure out my washer/dryer can fit about 1/3 of a regular load. It's so small, I can't even wash a queen sheet set all together. Lame. It also takes about 3 1/2 hours to do the washer and dryer cycle, so if I stay on top of it, I can get in 3 loads a day, or about one regular load. Needless to say - I HAVE to do laundry every day. If I don't, I get too far behind. Also the detergents here just do not smell good. They put so much perfumes in them too - you cant help but smell it. I have learned to stand in the laundry detergent isle and smell everything. I think I've found a pretty mild one. For those 2 reasons alone, I understand why Italians don't wash their clothes as often. What I would give for some Tide and OxyClean. Never thought I'd miss that. 2. We have to take our trash out to the dumpsters on the street.

Meaning, we have to walk it down our private drive out to the main road, everyday. I've been doing it when I walk the kids to school in the morning. Taking out the trash has taken on a whole new meaning. And I used to think it was such a bother to walk it out to my black dumpster on the side of my house. 3. Other random things: Italians don't believe in shower curtains on a bath tub. In all the apartments we've seen, there is one bathroom with a walk in shower and one bathroom with a tub. If you shower in the tub, it just sprays all over the floor. Our tub didn't come with a way to hook the shower attachment to the wall, so Ryan installed one. We lucked out in that our tub was 'walled in' so we could put up a shower curtain. Some bathrooms we've seen just have the tub in the middle of the bathroom with absolutely no way to hang a curtain. Also, the walk in showers are extremely small. In the temporary apartment we lived in for a few days, the shower was so small, when Ryan stood in it, both of his arms touched the sides. Again, we are lucky enough to have a decent sized shower that Ryan can comfortably fit in!

Driving, cars and the Roads. We live off of one of the 7 main roads in Rome - Via Cassia.

These 7 roads have been there since the ancient Roman days. These 7 roads are the only "straight" roads in Rome; meaning, you can get all the way into downtown Rome on them. All other roads are totally twisted, short, and usually dead end into something. There is no such thing as a grid system, zoning, or any kind of planning. That being said, Cassia ALWAYS has traffic. Remember how these roads were built in ancient Rome? They are only one lane each direction- the only thing that has more than one lane is the freeway - Grande Raccordo Anulare , aka, the GRA. The only real way to describe the roads here is - crazy. As far as cars go - they are all small, and here's why. 1) the roads are narrow. 2) Most roads are lined with parked cars. 3) Parking spots are few and far between, so the smaller the car, the better chance you have of fitting it in a parking spot. They even park in the median. 4) Cars are not a status symbol as bad as they are in the U.S. Cars are for functionality, not for fun or show, unless you drive an Audi - that is a status symbol. I could not imagine trying to drive my Yukon XL here. I wouldn't be able to turn a corner without doing a 5 point turn. Driving. Let's just say that rules of the road are more like guidelines, and lane markers on the freeway are suggestions. It is totally normal to pull out into traffic and weasel your way in. Its totally cool to stop at a fork in the road while you decide which way you're going. The reason being, once you choose which way you're going, thats it. There is no - just get off the next exit and turn around. It could take you 30 minutes to get back to the right direction if you're wrong. Also, it's not uncommon to see 3 cars across trying to fit into one lane. The nice thing is, nobody cares if you do it. No road rage. We only have one car right now, and with Ryan taking the car to work I didn't drive until 2 weeks ago. Plus the majority of cars here are stick shift, and I was a bit hesitant about driving stick shift in a city I am not familiar with. I haven't driven stick shift since I was 17, so I was a little nervous about it. My first time driving, I drove home from church. Since then I have become more comfortable, and driving is not a big deal. Our car is a Fiat Freemont. It is basically a small crossover. It has a 3rd row seat, so it does seat 7. When the 3rd row seat is up, there is about 4 inches of trunk space. In order to get our stroller in, we have to fold one of the 3 row seats down. When we go to the mall to go shopping, I'm sure we look like a circus trying to cram our stroller and groceries in the back of that little car. There have been a few times we've had to have all the kids cram in the middle row so we can put our stuff in the back. We are hoping to get a second car, so Ryan can drive that to work and I can have a car during the day. In the mean time, I have to walk everywhere and put groceries in the bottom of my stroller, which is not always fun. I am going to take a minute to vent my frustrations about the frequency I have to go shopping. I go shopping 3-4 times a week. Yes, it is very common for Italians to go grocery shopping everyday, but as a mother of 4, going shopping every other day takes a TON of time. Everything here is in small quantities, and with six people, we are anything but small quantities. And its not even food items, its toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, water bottles ect. Paper towels come in 2-3 rolls a package. We go through that in a week. No Costco package of toilet paper and trash bags. So instead of buying those things in bulk every 2-3 months, I'm buying them bi-weekly. Not to mention the fact that I have to try to fit that and all my food in the bottom of a stroller. No back of the suburban to pack full. I have been lucky enough to tag along with Ariane Woods in her mini-van a few times, so I can get a normal quantity of food and household items. For this reason, I would really love to get a second car. It would be great to not have to depend on someone else to give me a ride to the grocery store, and we wouldn't have to spend our Saturday's doing the big grocery shopping because that's the only day I have a car. In addition to that, our fridge is so small, I can only stuff so much stuff in it. It's packed to the brim one day and then completely empty the next. I know I'm sounding a bit spoiled, and perhaps I have been, but feeding six people requires a lot of work and energy! I understand the small fridge and small quantities with a family of 3, but 6 is a whole different ball game. Ok. I'll stop complaining. As you can see, day to day life has been an adjustment for me - and I am happy to be here and do it. Every day I get better, and every week I learn something new that helps me navigate more efficiently. I am hoping that I can get the routine of life down, so that we can start venturing out to see Rome. We haven't done anything as a family yet. We still haven't gone to the Colosseum. I still feel like it takes so much energy to do the normal day to day things, that figuring out how to get to and navigate around tourist attractions is slightly overwhelming. I'm not going to lie, there is some anxiety about doing everything and seeing everything while we're here - that it creates this pressure that I need to get started on it TODAY or we'll never get to it all. I know that's completely false, and we have lots of time here, but time goes by quickly and I don't want it to pass us by. The solution? YOU need to come visit us and make us get out there and see those things. Hotel Johnson is officially open for business.