Rome via Brooklyn

674 words, 4 minutes read time.

Today was a total blur. I woke up around one in the afternoon, had a twenty-minute sitting on my bed just to wake up moment. The night before I went into a deep slumber, I said to myself: “I’m gonna LOCK IN HARD tomorrow”. Catch up with the late work, just get things done. Welp… Things are always easier said than done. 

I mainly wanted the day to be a rest day, a day for me to recharge. I want to rest, but at the same time, I also feel guilty for resting. There is this voice in me that wants to push my limits, to do and experience as much as possible while I’m still in Rome. But I have no idea of what to do, where to visit, or how to. 

Truly in love with gelato😫. They are the panacea that cures this Roman heat. Especially the fruit flavors, I like how they are refreshing and do the job of quenching one’s thirst. At the same time, I’m also on a quest to learn how to identify a good gelato store, such as the basic elements the store should have to prove it’s legitimate, not just some tourist trap that scams people. 👀  

For real, another food I would marry after cinnamon rolls.

Did some laundry today. I was expecting it to be the way my grandma used to do it when I was a child, machine washing and hanging the clothes in the sun to dry, letting the clothes capture the scent of the sun. That was a cute, aesthetic and nostalgic glimpse into the unknown days in Rome. My only concern now is the musty/damp smell that would cling to your clothes when they are dried indoors, in a no sun environment.

Hopefully, the indoor humidity will increase the dry process, therefore eliminating the time for bacteria to grow(Oh, did I forget to mention the AC in our apartment doesn’t work well?). On the other hand, I don’t think hanging your clothes out the window would work. Personally, I don’t want my clothes to catch the smell of tobacco, and I also don’t want to risk the chances of my clothes falling off or being blown away. Oof, the anxiety in ordinary life matters.

A small detail I have noticed in the apartment is the light switches. It looks like the Italian household would have them in a format of a set of three switches. Something only one is put into use, or non are put into use. Maybe is a way the house owner does as a part of future house renovation planning? For more lights?

To wrap the day up, I decided to cook myself something simple for dinner. With rice of course (the Asian gene in my blood is rumbling, screaming for RICE🐺). It turns out the rice I bought a few days ago was sticky rice 💔, which is different from the type my family and I would normally eat on a daily basis 💔. Welp, it is what it is. It wasn’t bad, just a texture I’m not used to. Because normally we(Chinese) eat sticky rice during the Dragon Boat Festival, aka Duanwu Jie. And sticky rice is one of the main ingredients used in Zongzi.

Later that night, I decided to cook some pasta so I wouldn’t have to worry about my meals tomorrow. The shape of pasta I choose is called farfalle. The name Farfalle reminds me of a children’s book I read to children when I was still working in the Jumpstart program earlier this year: Farfallina and Marcel. It turns out, the term “farfalle” means butterfly in Italian🦋. In my opinion, the shape looks like small bow ties; I thought they were cute, so that is why I bought them in the first place😂.