Our Mission at the One Year Mark

I remember posting a photo of the Colosseum when we first received our mission call.  Then one year later we found a bench on a hill overlooking the Colosseum and we had a nice 'assessment' chat with each other.  What have we accomplished this past year?  What have we learned?  Should we have done anything differently?  What were the highlights and what have been the challenges?  It was a great conversation and most of it can't really be shared, but in a nutshell:  a mission is hard, even for Senior Couples, but there are rewards.  The adjustments are different for each couple but I think everyone would say it's hard if they are honest.  How is it hard?  Well, maybe you'll have to go on a mission as a couple and find out for yourselves.  Dad says that compared to the young missionaries we have it easier, but there are still challenges. Missions are about sacrifice.  All I can say is that we got 'lucky' in many respects but that doesn't mean 'easy street' either.  

 Feb 20, 2018.  One year ago on Feb 20, 2017 we entered the MTC.  This day is also Hanim's 75th birthday (the lady in the red sweater).  We took her to lunch and invited Louiza and Pamela to join us.  We went to a small cafe in the Pamphylli park.

We just found this setting so typical.  Everybody glued to their cell phones.  So here we are on the Spanish steps. "Even when we are with our friends, we seldom give them our undivided attention because we are constantly checking our smartphone, convinced that something far more interesting is probably happening elsewhere.  Modern humanity is sick with FOMO:  fear of missing out.  We have lost the ability to pay attention."  (Yuval Noah Harari in his book Homo Deus)  

MEDU is one of our main partners here in Italy.  They took us to lunch to thank us for LDS Charity support.  They really do a lot of good and we are honored to be associated with them.  

A New Life

Here is our apartment building at 24 Archimede, 00197 Roma.  We are on the 5th floor, top floor.  The large open terrace on the R side of the building is our landlord.  Our terrace is on the front of the bldg. with the overhead ceiling.  Civilization!  We are thrilled to be here.

This is the front gate.  During the day it is open but only when the concierge (portiere) is on duty.

Here are the front steps into the lobby.  The concierge is in the small room on the Left side...so he can watch to be sure he knows who is entering the building.

Here is our concierge:  Fernando.  I think he is from Bangladesh.

Hallway to the elevators.  

Two very small elevators.  However only one of them works.  The second one broke and the homeowners of the building can't decide if they want to fix the elevator or pay the money to make one big elevator.  This was two years ago.  Tom asked our landlord (Francesco and Paula) why they don't just take a vote:  The Francesco looked at Tom like he was crazy.

Our door is the one on the right.  16A.  

Our foyer.  The IKEA rug doesn't really go with the decor!

The next foyer.  The living room is to the left with the Christmas tree, and the room on the right is our bedroom.  Behind the wall to the left is the kitchen.

Any guests that come, this will be your bedroom.  But for now this is our office, and the terrace opens off of this room and the bedroom.

Our bedroom.  Only this one small armoir to hold the clothes.  We bought a small rack to go next to it.  And as I said, my clothes are in the foyer.  We taped up the family pictures to the armoir.  We can access the terrace from this room as well.

The very small, tiny kitchen.  BUT it has a dishwasher!  The stove is just 2 burners, no oven.  Small microwave.  Small sink.  it does the job.  We usually eat on the terrace or in the living room.

The terrace which gets all the morning sunlight

No view but at least it's above the street noise.    It's a nice, bright apartment.

Here is the gate to the park where we walk every morning. It's right around the corner from the apartment.   Okay, it's not the Cinquantinare, but at least there is a park we can walk to.  So nice!  I really hated where we had to walk in Montespacatto...well, there was nowhere to walk there!

Trees, greenery.  I need it!  Love the umbrella pines in Rome.  The park isn't very big but it's plenty for a morning walk full of these beautiful trees.

Gotta get outside everyday.  If I don't I turn grumpy in a hurry...just ask Tom.

Also a small grove of olive trees in the park.  Not every park in the world has these kind of trees.

The building on the left is the entrance to the metro....well at least the train to the A line metro.  Our stop is Euclide.  This is piazza Euclide.  Shops, sidewalks, hotels, restaurants, metro.  The area is called Parioli.  Nice area.  Supposedly a chic area.

 This is the other side of the piazza and the park is on the back side of the church.  Our apartment is literally steps away from this piazza.  Welcome to our new neighborhood.  It feels like a new life.  Both of us are much happier here.  Smart move we should have done much earlier, but at least we did it!  This post will be fun for us to remember where we lived.

Caprarola and local Coppede District

Spiral staircase.  This villa is cool on the inside and the gardens are well known for their fountains.  We visited in Jan however so the fountains weren't in service.

Map Room

In the garden, on Jan 11th one beautiful rose growing

Frescoes

Not so beautiful from the front....and it doesn't show how big it is.  This place doesn't make the tour books, but it should.  Only one hour north of Rome.

Church with beautiful mosiacs....an area of Rome not far from our new apartment called the Coppede District

Here is the Piazza Mincio with a 'frog' fountain in the center.  A Dad and his son had bought a remote speedboat and had it in the fountain.  The kid was in heaven.

These were apartment buildings, but at one time they were single villas

Hard to capture this small area of the city.  But yeah, a chandelier over the arch....cars of course drive through.

The Sella Ronda.  Fantastic snow conditions.

Basically the view from our apartment, however it wasn't a place to go in the winter....the ski bus connections were not good.

 Santa Christina one more time.  It's a really gorgeous area of the world.  We had 4 lovely days of sunshine and warmth and great skiing conditions.  I doubt we get back there to ski again.  I tried to soak it in as best as I could.  We had planned a full week here, but of course Gilles called his whirlwind tour of the Rome projects so we had to train to Rome and back mid-week.  Then when we arrived on Thursday, it was snowing very heavily and we left on Friday to try to get to Trieste for more meetings.  Such is life, but I'm glad we made it back even for a short time.