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y on going saga please read before you go any further in order to fully appreciate the arnold ness of this post now i realize that the only thing that qualifies this for my rome themed blog is the simple fact that i saw it in rome but that s ok by me just yesterday i saw a t shirt for sale that said my so and so went to hawaii and all i got was this lousy t shirt for 4 which goes to show things don t always have to make perfect sense so just for some random fun look where arnold turned up in action mode on lungotevere kung fu arnold and for all you excellent mystery solvers it s usually one of my readers who solves these great curiosities of mine what s up with that weird pink graffiti next to arnold it looks strangely like the other one what does it all mean folks well if you thought arnold was a rome only phenomenon you d be wrong i promise i don t spend my days wandering italian cities looking for him he just shows up for example when i was in milan with sara last weekend poof walking around after breakfast there he was this is a close up of a small stencil on the side of a wall there were also a couple others but seeing as how one of them was additionally painted over with something that portrays arnold in a rather compromising light well i ll leave that one to your imagination as always we try our best to be a pg rated blog around here ok ok i promise tomorrow i ll get back to the meat and potatoes of the blog or rather the espresso slushies and the pantheon both of which i have waiting in the wings for you posted by shelley at home in rome at 8 49 am 15 comments labels ask yourself why thursday june 07 2007 riding a bike in rome thought this was a fitting topic coming off of yesterday s post featuring the fat cyclist have you ever seen the movie bicycle thieves also translated as the bicycle thief a classic of neorealism from the late 1940s many of the key scenes were filmed in porta portese you may know porta portese for its famous sunday flea market but its true heart and soul are the back alley bicycle and scooter helmet accessory stalls that are there day in day out alessandro and i each have a bike but for over a year they ve been sitting idle in our entry hallway on their poor little gomme bucate tires with holes in them when i worked in an office here i used to ride my bike to work and frankly i was missing the convenience of tooling around the center and running errands on my bike so one saturday a couple weekends ago we decided to wheel our tired biciclette over to porta portese and see what could be done about the situation now porta portese on sunday is a crazy place and one of these days i ll get a post up about it but please don t underestimate porta portese on a regular old day you re coming up against the cream of the crop of romani di roma real romans the accent is thick and the salesmanship is man those guys are good you like to barter and bargain perfect you ll get a good workout here we wheeled our bikes up to box 3 bicycle repairs and told the man we needed our tires repaired he rattled off the figure of 60 to replace the inner tubes and tires on ale s bike and the inner tubes on mine tires still good ale tried for 50 but since i m an impatient wuss when it comes to bargaining down i made the mistake of opening my big mouth too soon and saying that 60 was fine i was completely unprepared for what we were coming up against maybe the actual value cost is around 40 but so be it the owner was beaming a neon sign on his forehead practically flashing in hot pink my lucky day a naive foreigner because once i had said it was ok well how do you recover from that sighing i explained to the man that i m no good at bargaining this confession being the first most obvious proof of such he said that an american woman had come by just the other day by herself and he spent mezza giornata half the day bargaining with her as she kept telling him her marito husband would only allow her to spend x and she wasn t leaving until that was the price he smiled wistfully you could see that he had truly enjoyed the battle bravissima but that s not me anyhoo our bikes were quickly repaired and ready for the road while we were waiting we saw these electric scooters at the stall next door we asked the guy how much they cost and he told us 200 and when we asked if he sold those too he said ma no siamo ciclisti noi quelli sono solo gioccattoli no way we re cyclists here those are just toys fatty would have surely appreciated the we re serious cyclists comment seeing as how this man had a belly to rival that of santa claus then we all agreed that something like that parked on a rome street wouldn t last long in the hands of the owner anyway so it wasn t worth it whatever the price now back on the road you can tell me what you think but sometimes i feel that riding a bike in rome is more dangerous than a scooter the problem is that with all the tourists staying on the sidewalks isn t usually an option and without mirrors or turn signals it s hard to keep an eye on the traffic around you or keep others aware of you then there s the fact that no matter how fast you pedal you re probably not going to keep up with even the saddest looking example of a moped even if it happens to be an old piaggio ciao from the 70s which itself has pedals strangely enough i guess in case you needed to help it along so that s why i m the girl with the red helmet yes yes i wear a helmet here i stick out like a sore thumb the first day i rode my bike around my neighborhood i felt like a proud 5 year old with all the trasteverini in front of their shops making funny comments like ehi bella mi piace il casco hey cutey love the helmet etc etc i just smiled and waved i am ok with looking like a dork here in rome i ve accepted by now the fact that i m never going to blend in completely so i figure the helmet only adds to my overall charm my foreign mystique if you will tourists can rent bikes to take a spin but that s more in the areas like the spanish steps in fact the other day walking down via del tritone i saw this contraption but porta portese custom designed for locals if you re not from around here be sure to bring your bargaining hat because you ll need it here s my bike at home sweet home my front door yes the people eating at the restaurant look at me funny too posted by shelley at home in rome at 10 14 am 12 comments labels do as the romans do wednesday june 06 2007 rallying the troops are you with me i was recently contacted by a bloggy buddy of mine who participated in world nutella day since she expressed herself so eloquently i d simply like to share her email with you here although she mentions italy expats this is open to anyone who wants to help in a creative way whether they live in italy or not i m also writing to you because of a more serious turn of events for some time now i ve been a devoted reader of the fat cyclist blog written by an avid mountain biker named elden nelson fatty as he is known to readers started his blog a couple of years ago in an attempt to force himself to lose 30 pounds in preparation for an annual century or 100 mile race through the rough wilderness terrain of leadville colorado almost daily fatty would detail what he was eating and how he was training regularly confessing to late night binges and embarrassing junk food blowouts and posting endearingly candid updates on his fluctuating weight he s a delightful writer and a wickedly gifted satirist so much so that the noted biking website cyclingnews com invited him to submit a series of humor pieces during tour de france season he was also selected as a 2007 bloggies finalist for the best kept secret blog last month there was a period where the fatcyclist blog went quiet for a while mid month fatty returned and told readers why his wife susan known to readers for her otherworldy tolerance of fatty s crazy biking exploits her custom jewelry making talents and her super parenting of four charming children had just been diagnosed with a recurrence of the breast cancer she had first fought back in early 2004 the cancer has spread to her lungs her bones and her spine she has already begun radiation therapy and after that s finished she will begin a course of chemotherapy over the years fatty has used his blog to raise thousands of dollars for charitable causes primarily in the realm of medical research when faced with susan s recent diagnosis he received an outpouring of support from hundreds of readers worldwide with many people asking what they could do to help twin six a cycling apparel company that sponsors the fatcyclist blog approached him with an offer to create a customized pink cycling jersey in susan s honor you can see the proposed design here in a post poignantly entitled pink lemonade in his typically selfless fashion fatty proposed that he would donate most of the proceeds from jersey sales to a worthy cancer research organization with a small fraction going to purchasing jewelry making supplies for susan several of his readers lobbied for him to consider a different approach and to dedicate more of the proceeds to something that would directly support his wife it turns out susan majored in classical civilizations in college and had always wanted to travel to italy but never had the chance she and fatty were hoping to make the trip a number of years ago but their travel plans were set aside as they discovered they were expecting and they welcomed a pair of twin girls to the family many fatcyclist readers have urged fatty to fulfill susan s long held wish to travel to italy using the jersey sales as a way for all of us to help sponsor her once in a lifetime dream trip as several people have pointed out it s important for susan to have something to look forward to after enduring the pains and rigors of undergoing chemo fatty s sister has already stepped forward to take care of the kids while they re gone and several other people are offering to make direct financial contributions in support of the trip besides fatty himself is very dedicated to two things very dear to italians cycling and food traveling to italy feels like destiny for susan and elden still i m concerned that the trip might fall through because of all the tiny details that as you know from having just planned a wedding really add a lot of overhead to making it through everyday life especially in susan s case when far too much of that life is now spent in hospitals so i m writing to you to ask whether you and some of the expat posse in italy might be able to give fatty some pointers with his trip planning i m sure a little assistance would go a long way towards making certain that the trip takes place and ensuring that susan finds her travels comfortable and enjoyable even when she s not in the full bloom of health if you and some of the other expats would be interested in sharing some of your expertise in all things italian please let me know i can put you in touch with elden who i suppose in italian might be known as something like il ciccio and you all can take it from there together i ve always loved how the blogosphere makes the world both a smaller place by bringing us together and a larger place by opening new doors all at the same time thanks for everything you ve already done to be a part of that and for whatever you might feel able to do in this special case now i ve lived through a close family member s battle with cancer so this is an issue very close to my heart once you look cancer in the face you ll never take your health and the freedom it brings for granted again since i received this email i ve been in touch with elden and i ve told him i d be honored to try to coordinate anyone willing to give him a hand with his italy vacation he and his wife were touched and grateful for this offer of support and friendship but my asking for your help is really just the first step from there it s up to you are you with me here s how you can help 1 spread the word about this through emails and links back to this post or to elden s posts 2 do you live in italy have you traveled to italy before even if not can you think of a creative way you could contribute to making their trip a reality expats and non expats alike are all welcome to pitch in if you would be willing to share your knowledge expertise or resources regarding italy and a trip to italy please let me know via email ahirswap at gmail dot com mentioning what specifically you would be able to contribute creativity is best for example if you re a tour guide in italy could you offer a free tour know a creative way to help them save money on their trip do you have anything useful you could donate to them that would be helpful during their trip a few leftover euros or bus tickets from a prior vacation maps guide books a care package of things you think they could use on their vacation etc etc etc have a list of things they should see with personal tips from your own experience personal restaurant recommendations let your imagination run wild 3 you can purchase one of elden and twin six s special edition pink lemonade jerseys available in men s and women s sizes the profits from the jerseys will actually go three ways as copied below from elden s blog treatment copays deductibles and possibly expenses for traveling for clinical trials it all adds up livestrong as i ve recently mentioned i m now a big fan of the lance armstrong foundation they ve helped us and now i want to give back when you buy a pink fat cyclist jersey a third of the net goes to the livestrong foundation a trip to italy when susan s ready to go i m taking her on a vacation to italy and if you buy a jersey in a sense you re taking her too which is not to say that you re invited to come along at this point the dates for susan and elden s trip are not firm but the plan is to squeeze it in during the 2 3 month breaks between susan s chemo treatments susan started chemo last week elden will keep us posted on when we need to mobilize our forces elden s own blog readers have already filled their home with support you can take a look in a post from his wife susan here you can see elden himself posing in the original jersey that just arrived here i hope you ll join me in this show of blogger support for an illness that far too many people have to battle posted by shelley at home in rome at 12 31 pm 7 comments older posts home subscribe to posts atom about me shelley at home in rome rome lazio italy in 2001 my one month roman holiday to take a break between jobs in the us and study italian in italy became a way of life after i fell in love with both this city and my husband who i met the first day i arrived it happens when you re not looking after stints teaching english as a second language and directing a us university study abroad center i moved back to the states for 3 years had three kids and eventually came back to rome looks like i m here to stay join me at my ...