Battlegirl's European Adventures

Happy New Year - Buon Anno - Feliz Año Nuevo - 明けましておめでとうございます｡

2009-01-12T23:25:00.002+01:00

Quite a belated post, but wanted to at least send some good wishes to anyone still tuned in.

As a quick update, I haven't traveled anywhere, but life has gotten a lot more interesting. This summer I began a transformation that I developed throughout the fall. I am now in much better health, physical and mental, and my life revolves around work, still teaching English, which I am enjoying tremendously, the gym, which has also expanded my social life, and studying Japanese, which is becoming challenging but I am keeping up with it. I've made quite a few more acquaintances that also fill my day with happy moments, and overall I think I am finally enjoying myself!

Do keep in touch and let me know about yourselves... Now that I am a bit busier with life I am not quite as hooked to the net as I used to, so please excuse any belated reply... but do know that if you send anything along I will read it and be very happy :)

So, 'hope everyone's 2009 has started off well, or at least in an interesting way! And wishing you all a positive attitude to take on the rest of the year. Big hug!

Lightning over the skies of Milan

2008-07-23T22:23:00.004+02:00

The air suddenly gets cooler, and I sense that the flashes that fill the edge of my vision aren't the usual TV rays seeping through the windows of my neighbors in front, or the lights from the one "skyscraper" of Milan that can be seen from our front windows. It's a natural phenomenon, more majestic than simple artificial lights. Two air masses are colliding over the skies of Milan.

Lightning storms always make me mad happy. I am fascinated and excited by them. So I run to the balcony and start to observe, oooh-ing and aaah-ing at each flash. One mass is straight in front of me. I realize that the other one is coming from behind my building, so it's still out of sight. All I see are flashes reflected around and on the windows of the tall building.

Lightning arches behind the clouds and creates stark outlines of the plump cotton-like fluffs, heavy with rain, and quickly pushed around by the wind. Once in a while, the angry tail slash of a lightning outreaches beyond the outline and peeks at me, creating images of angry battles between giant electric iguanas.

I sense a rhythm. Flashes on one side. Answering flash from the other. Two flashes. One. One. Two. One. One two three! One. Half. Hi. Hey. You're in my way. No, *you* are in *my* way. Oh yeah? Wanna fight? Look at this! Ha! Take that! What do you have to say to that?!

And then I start humming the tune from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". It actually fits nicely. I wondered if Steven Spielberg had taken a hint from nature for his inspiration.

So after I take a few pictures and decide to write about this, I check IMDB. It turns out I wasn't so off the mark. According to their trivia on the movie, he was "[...] partly inspired by an experience from [his] childhood where without warning his parents rushed the family into their car, drove to an area where many others were gathered, and watched a spectacular meteor shower."

Nature is cool :) And the little lightning animation I posted here doesn't do it justice. But I wanted to share ^_^

what street people want

2008-07-20T12:29:00.002+02:00

I often start to write a blog entry offline, take off with it, then kill it abruptly feeling unhappy with it and thinking I just started ranting, so I shouldn't post it. Or it's way too long and I know most people have ADD and won't read through the whole thing.

I then read them again at a later date and find they weren't so terrible after all, and there was at least one good core idea in it. This bit is from one such un-posted entries.

In the city jungle, it becomes second-nature and a survival skill to develop a sense of what the person approaching you wants. I am against stereotypes in theory, but I find I apply them in practice a lot. I know that not all black people in Italy are those french-speaking africans that gather at the corner of my neighborhood every weekend to be loud, obnoxious, drunk, drug smugglers, and in general up to no good... but in such a segregated society (Italy is quite different from NY!) the first thought and reaction if I see a black guy on my street will be based on that. Having grown up overseas, I reason against it, but instinct is an indomitable bitch.

So far I've developed this database of Milan fauna: if the person approaching you smells of alcohol and is dirty, he's a hobo and will ask for money. If you are smoking, someone will ask for a cigarette. If you just bought your ticket, they'll ask for the extra change. Many stick around the ticket vending areas all day just to do that. Some offer help first--the automated machines can be difficult to navigate the first times--but in the end you know what they are after, so you don't even want to accept the help. If he looks decent enough but latino, he'll whisper obscenities or try to grope you (ok, this one maybe ain't that common in Milan, it happened only once or twice, but it's a small trauma of mine from the Central American countries, let me be). If he's a dirty child, he'll try to pick your pocket. If he carries an instrument on the subway, he's walking each subway wagon playing the same tune over and over, often without much soul, and will ask for money at the end. If she has long skirt, tanned skin, and sandals, she's a gypsy who will mostly try to steal something/beg. If they try to push a book or a bracelet in your hand pretending they're giving you a gift, they will then ask your name, try to get you to stop, to talk, engage in conversation. I haven't actually stopped long enough to hear the full pitch, but I imagine it ends in a "I'm poor I need money" line.

The pronouns I'm using are based on observation. There are certain demographics for each group [insert some deep conclusion here]. Of course, not all are potentially dangerous. You also have the tourist, italian or foreign, who might ask you for directions; the asian sellers of seasonal wares (do they all have a central warehouse with a person who decides "today you peddle this!"?? they all have the same things around the city!), just sitting in strategic places hoping to make a sale, and running away quickly as soon as they see a cop. Or the black sellers of counterfeit bags.

Once in a blue moon there are promoters, who actually give you free stuff. Although by now people are so wary, they often refuse even the really free stuff, afraid of a gimmick. Although the advertisement surrounding them helps their image. If you're dressed up in a huge chicken costume giving away samples of cereal, it's a pretty safe bet it's free.

Tired and wary most of the time, I have developed the "no thanks" flat answer to just about anything and anyone approaching. I figure there's only about 1% chance of getting it wrong. To those who do not look like any of the above, I actually give a chance and listen. Unfortunately many have discovered my database as well, and have learned to get around it by not looking like their stereotype, approaching you as if they were just happening to ask the time, but they end up asking for money as well.

A while ago a dude on a busy road caught me as I was trying to cross the street, just off the tram and on my way to the supermarket. He was Italian, clean, looked like an average middle-aged blue collar. He started by asking if I was Italian. "What is it, it's all foreigners that live in this neighborhood now? Do you live here? I need some help, my car broke down, I can't even call my coworkers, they all went home already, no one is answering and I have to get back home... I left my atm card in the car. I got locked out. I can't buy gas... Don't you have some money I could borrow for a train? I can leave you with my address, I promise I'll pay you back..." I quickly remembered an evening 10 years ago, different country, different culture, same story... the guy I was with was easily convinced and had given him a big bill. Even if I protested. The story had later ended up in the papers, a guy was going around presenting a difficult but credible situation in which he was lost and needed help... and had scammed so many people out of more money than your average beggar. If this dude I had in front of me had needed real help he'd have asked for a police station, or would have gone to a store, to a guy, not to a young-ish looking girl all alone in the middle of the street, don't you think?

I have lived on the kindness of strangers most of my life. People have taken me into their homes, offered help, sometimes without even knowing me. I have always been amazed by that. Also, why am I willing to help a clean-looking person who asks for money or help, but not a dirty-looking person who asks for the same thing? Doesn't the latter need the help most?

I wonder what stereotype I fit into. It probably changes in each country, in each culture, just like the stereotype of the black person is different between Italy and NY. You can be a king in your own country, and a beggar in another. You are the same person, but people see you differently, and it's hard to change people's minds.

Sometimes I think that loosing your naivete does make you smarter and a better survivor... but it also makes for a pretty depressing life. When you expect everyone approaching you to be out of wanting to scam you, it hardens your heart not only to the scammers, but to those who appreciate you for who you actually are.

Two months later...

2008-06-21T20:45:00.002+02:00

So it's been a while since my last post. I guess I feel that if I'm not traveling, I'm not really doing much. Nor do I take pictures. Plus before I had no job, so I could dedicate lots of time to the blog. Now, on the other hand, even though I still don't have a regular 9-to-5 gig, I'm involved in enough jobs to make up for the continuity, and the time I have off I just want to slack. Or study Japanese.

Actually, most of my free time does revolve around studying Japanese. I've been lucky and found a coworker who's just as interested in it as I am, and we found a Japanese lady who's amused enough to listen to our stupid questions on how to say or write basic sentences... so every Sunday for the past few months has been dedicated to that. Every time I commute anywhere, I have books and mp3 player with me and I listen, repeat, and write... I'm amazed myself on how much dedication I've put into this. Still can't say or understand much, but I keep at it ^_^

One interesting thing that has happened is that I found out that Milan has a huge Buddhist society. Every other person I meet lately seems to be involved in it... and when I mention it, people I already knew say "oh yeah, I do that, too..." Quite odd. So I've decided to check it out. Make it part of my "let's explore Japanese culture" effort.

I am mesmerized by the chanting. I know only a little of its philosophy, but I understand and like the idea that it's quite self-centered. Or, at least, that all things start within yourself, and that's the way to make the world a better place. Plus any peaceful philosophy is cool with me. I'm not keen on the religious aspect of it, and perhaps I've met very young believers who give it a bit too much of a fanatic spin... but I am still curious. I keep it as a conversational topic on my "nothing better to do" moments.

The only other good news I can think of sharing is that I finally have a savings account again! The month of May was crazy with work. I often traveled to 3 or 4 different locations for lessons, with days starting at 8am and ending at 9 pm, only to come home and work on the computer. On top of the hours I work for the school (which aren't all that many actually) I've managed to round up a few private students, do random translations, and update a couple of websites from home. It amazingly doesn't add up to much, especially if I have to factor in the fact that I'm supposed to give 25% to the government next year (on top of the 20% they already take off before giving me my paycheck...) but I've decided to just enter denial on that and ignore it 'til they come after me. I'm happy to finally have a few euros to my name again. Will let ya know how that works out...

Ok, I think that works for a quick update. I apologize to those of ya who have written wondering what the hell had happened to me, and to whom I haven't replied. Will try to post a bit more, even if it's just to say "Hi, I'm alive".

Now off to some slacking and them more website updates... tomorrow it's Japanese day!!

Trip to Venice

2008-04-14T22:10:00.001+02:00

The first week of April I had my second NY visitor! Char decided to spend her hard-earned tax refund on a trip to the yet-unseen Italy... and invited me along to a trip to Venice. Having never been there, but knowing it was one of those places that *have* to be visited, I immediately took two days off from work and off we went!

Venice is an island. From above, it looks like someone took a messy, shallow bite off of Italy, leaving only a few remnants behind. On the biggest one, they built the city. The train takes you there, passing over a 3Km bridge, and then just heads back. There is a car park at the very beginning, but the only transportation once there is either on foot, through the most confusing and extensive alley network I've seen so far, or by boat. Boat buses, boat police, boat ambulances, boat postal service... it was a little surreal.

Overall, it was awesome. We skirted all of the major tourist places, choosing instead to loose ourselves into every dead-end alley we could find. After watching several people disappear in what looked like the corner of a plaza, we became expert alley-sighters. "There's a shadow! Those buildings aren't touching! There's a street there!" Sometimes it'd literally be a 3-feet gap but it seemed a common route for locals.

We did pass by the major sights, the Rialto Bridge, the Piazza San Marco, and even Murano, but those were the lowest points. I can't imagine how crowded they are during peak season... we took naps in the gardens, breathed fresh air, and just relaxed. The hotel Char found was really cheap but clean, on the opposing island of Lido, just a short boat ride from Piazza San Marco.

We stayed two days and one night. We almost remained an extra night, just because we didn't know that the last train to leave was at 7:50pm! Right before finding a restaurant to eat, we figured we'd get the tickets for our return trip, and realized we only had 20 minutes before it left! The ride home was long but uneventful and we continued our touristing in Milan.

And that is a story for another time. For now, enjoy some new pictures. Finally! ;)

election day

2008-04-13T20:11:00.003+02:00

Today was the first time in my life that I got to vote. Living overseas for all of my adult life, I never had voting rights in the countries I lived in. While Italy has an overseas voting system, I never followed any Italian politics so I never knew who to vote for, nor did I care.

I have now lived in Italy for a year, and while here I finally learned a bit about what has been going on. When the government "fell" a couple of months ago, and they called for new elections, I knew it was going to be my first chance to be part of the democratic system.

It was pretty anti-climactic. Urns today were open from 8am 'til 10pm. Someone just yesterday night suggested that dinner time was going to be the best time to go, so I waited until then. My district was holding the voting 2 blocks away, so I left my cell phone home, walked up, went straight to the wrong room, was told to go two rooms down, handed my fancy voting registration card (a piece of paper) and my ID, and off I went behind the curtain to carefully put my X in the box. No wait, no questions, nothing. An inch worth of graphite marks on a paper was all that it took for this momentous moment...

I barely watch tv, so I wasn't too familiar with the candidates and the parties. While the election form had 17 parties, giving an illusion of choice, the truth lies in a bi-polar party system. From far-right parties that promote the expulsion of all immigrants and the division of northern Italy from the southern part, to the far-left, communists and socialists, and everything in between.

2 minor parties are "allied" with the major ones. So voting for one of those gives the final vote to the leader of the bigger party. The only difference lies in the senate and parliament, where the people of the minor party can bring their own people if they won.

The little knowledge I have was gathered purely through conversations among friends and acquaintances. My roommate explained to me why he'd vote for a certain guy, and it sounded good. Many other people I respect and trust on an intellectual level were also going to vote for him. So my choice was based on that. I couldn't follow any of the political talks on tv or the confusing snippets of news on the internet.

Does that count as democracy? The right to vote while being ignorant of its participants and its system? I still do not understand how politics work here. All I gathered is that even after being voted for, politicians can change parties, corruption is paramount, and the economy sucks.

This felt just like Bush vs Kerry. Most people simply voted against the worst evil, even though the opposing party sucks.

I'm curious to see how things will turn out now...

And I'm still pretty sure that Italy will not be my home for much longer.

you know you're in italy when...

2008-03-06T23:59:00.002+01:00

It's just about midnight. I've spent the past hour listening to English phonetics for my job, practicing Japanese hiragana (I've finally decided to pick that up again!) and one of my roommates has a friend staying overnight. While I'm in my room surfing the net, they are in the living room. Suddenly, mid-sentence on a blog update read, I hear some porn-like moans. Since we dont have any special TV channels, no cable or satellite service, it's local TV.

Amid English phonetics and Japanese alphabet... that's when you know you're in Italy ;)

The archaic side of Italian business, and general lack of shame.

2008-02-18T23:07:00.004+01:00

Monday in Milan. With one half hour lesson of English at 10 am, and then nothing until 4:20pm, when I had to take a train to Bergamo to substitute a teacher, I was looking at a free stretch of time to catch up on things.

Upon exiting the building from the center of Milan, I figured I'd walk the mile home, since I knew I'd be passing through one of the most commercial streets in Milan, which would have the hardware store I needed to purchase odds and ends for my room upgrade.

I had forgotten just one tiny detail: Monday mornings do not exists for Italian business owners. Everything is closed until 3pm. I passed in front of at least 5 hardware stores. Nothing. Most shops were closed, with only the main chain stores or some small food suppliers open, although they were pretty deserted inside.

Mildly annoyed, I headed home, and I knew I wouldn't have time to head out again before my train. I spent the rest of the day eating and watching Bones (just "discovered" this series, it was pointed out to me years ago but I never watched it. It's pretty amusing!) until I had to head to the train station.

Then I went to Bergamo. The first time I had ever been there. Getting to the branch was easy enough, within walking distance from the train station. They were doing some remodeling themselves, so it was pretty chaotic. I managed to teach two phonetics lessons and carry conversations over the sound of drills and the random shouts of the work crew. I was amazed that not one student complained.

At 8:30pm I headed towards the train station again. The next train was going to be at 9:30pm. Whoop-dee-doo. I bought my ticket with my debit card, I had only some coins on me and figured I should keep them to buy something to drink. 45 minutes wait. Inside the station, a cafeteria was still open. I purchased a can of coke for the absurd amount of €2.00. I should have checked the vending machines by the tracks, a whole bottle was "only" €1.50. Never leave your home without something to drink if you visit the center of a city. They will charge only €3.00 for a sandwich, but the price of coke and water invariably spikes anywhere near a traveling hub, or near touristy areas.

The past few days have been cold in Milan, but I hadn't seen any waiting room, the cafeteria had no chairs, so I figured I'd tough it out on the tracks and hang out, smoking a cigarette and playing with my DS, with gloved hands and ear-muffs.

The train was on the track 25 minutes before it had to leave. Thanking the god I do not believe in for small favors, I got on, after checking about 3 times that the electronic board did indeed say it was the train for Milan and not some other train I shouldn't get on. I settled down in a deserted area at the head of a car, and kept playing my game (anyone into Picross? It's like sudoku for pixel artists...). At 9:35, as scheduled, the train left the station. I was enthralled by the videogame and figured the hour would go by quickly.

Then the controller came by. I paused my game, grabbed the ticket from my bag, handed it over, smiled politely, and waited for him to hand it back. He looked at it, turned it over, read it again. Then he said:"You didn't validate it." I had a moment of hesitation. Crap. That's right, in Italy you have to punch every ticket you purchase, even if it was just stamped by the machine at the station, at another machine which puts the date and station on the edge of it. I was too concerned with finding sustenance and shelter to remember that stupid detail. It had been a while since I had last forgotten about it, too. Although nothing much had ever happened from me not punching the ticket.

He coldly continued:"That'll be €5.00." I paused. I knew I had no bills in my wallet. I had some coins in my bag, but I guessed they didn't amount to much. I proceeded to explain that to him, while I fished around for anything I had. I showed him my empty wallet, and pulled out a handful of coins littered with an eraser, a paper clip, and the measurements for my screws. I counted. €4.54. I showed him that's all I had. I also kept mumbling about not having been paid at work yet and how I had gotten the ticket with my debit card, and I could pay with that, if it worked. Of course he wasn't equipped for it.

He paused, perhaps considering the option to let it go. But he didn't. He suggested I go around the train asking people to lend me the 50 cents I was missing. I looked at him baffled. I wasn't going to go around asking for money! I told him that, but he just said he'd be back later and to find the money.

I didn't manage to get too concerned. I figured he'd actually meant he would close an eye and not come back. I put the ticket back, put all the coins in my pocket, and continued playing.

20 minutes later he was back, asking for tickets to the newcomers. He looked at me, then turned to the guy on the opposite seat. I figured if I played dumb, we'd play the game together and he would move along. And that's when he turned to me. I told him I hadn't found the extra coins. I also thought if I kept the conversation generic enough, he might move along, without losing face. I offered again the €4.54 I had. He said I had to find the rest. I asked him why didn't *he* lend that to me. He didn't even acknowledge my sentence. Instead, he turned to the guy opposite, and said "Don't you have 50 cents to lend to this lady?"

...

Besides the absolute rudeness, and the fact that I was feeling (or was supposed to feel) like absolute crap for that, he had just spoken to a middle-aged guy, who seemed of quite modest means, and definitely wouldn't say no. He mumbled a humble "yeah, sure", fished around his pocket and pulled out the money, handing it over to the controller, who put it into my hand. I had just been forced to panhandle...

I do have to say, somehow I felt quite detached from it all. I didn't blush nor was I feeling any true shame which I rationalized would be the appropriate response... I started to dig into my bag and pulled out a crappy pen from my work, and handed it over to the guy, who didn't want it, but I made him take it anyways, feeling at least it was *some* kind of exchange rather than a forced act of charity. The controller, without batting an eyelash, wrote up the ticket, took the coins, and moved along.

I then felt like I had to enter into some small talk with the guy, apologize again, explain what happened, and thank him one more time. Although I did kinda do what I though was rational rather than what I felt... He agreed the guy had been an ass and after a few sentences we returned to our own worlds.

He got off a couple of stops before me and I didn't even look up.

At the train station, I debated stopping at the grocery shop which is extraordinarily opened until 11pm with only a 60% price spike on products, to get beer and forget the night away. I then remembered I only had 4 cents in my pocket, and the nearest ATM was too far away to be worth it. I could have paid with the debit card there, but somehow I felt it'd be wrong. I had some left-over wine from the un-valentine's dinner. That would work.

So here I am, a couple of hours later, none the worse for the experience, but it certainly made me think. When I filed for a refund a year and a half ago for a delayed train, I never heard from them. And yet I was readily fined for forgetting to put a double time stamp on the ticket I had just printed from their machines...

What a stupid ass backwards country this is.

happy un-valentine's day!

2008-02-15T00:28:00.002+01:00

From plans for a night out with a couple of girls, it quickly became a dinner party with 8 friends at my place. Tonight the roommates chipped in and we had a nice time hanging out, eating good food (home-made lasagna from one of the roommies, and home-made fruit tarts by yours truly, with a heart-shaped strawberry in the middle... aawww) and just laughing about random Italian and American movies and culture things... from football to rugby, which I've recently taken a shine to with the 6-nations cup being shown on local TV. That is one amazing sport to look at!! I love Oscar Wilde's quote: "Soccer is a gentleman's game played by beasts. Rugby is a beasts' game played by gentleman". Right on the target with that observation!

Previous to this dinner night, last weekend it was Carnevale in Italy, and I went to a random party hosted by a friend of a friend of a friend... A loft crammed with way too many people having tons of fun. Extremely cheap beer and random fun contributed to a very lousy Sunday afternoon spent at work in the bookstore, 5 hours in which I kept wondering when I'd puke my brains out... which finally happened a half hour before I had to get out of there... a mad dash to the bathroom with the cash register's keys in my pocket and hoping no one would grab any books while I was gone a whole of five minutes...

Besides that, I've been working my usual random shifts teaching English, with a few interesting encounters along the way, which I might blog about later on. Right now I'm ready for bed, having managed to clean up the worst of the party, and being lucky that my shift for tomorrow starts at 4pm.

Happy un-valentine's day to everyone!

The Italian Government Has Fallen.

2008-01-24T21:06:00.000+01:00

This afternoon my usual oblivion of the world and its politics was shattered, as I happened to have to work at the bookstore for the afternoon, in the day when Italy's Prime Minister was up against a voting session that would decide whether he'd continue at his post or not.

I had heard that some big wig had resigned a couple of days back, but hadn't paid attention to what was actually going on, nor did I know what it meant. I was just given a crash-course in the matter, and can now explain it like this:

Italy is a republic, with a president who's just a figurehead, much like the Queen in Britain, and a Prime Minister, who actually does all the work and manages things. When a Minister resigns, the Prime Minister's leadership is up for questioning. The Senate has to decide whether they support him on not, by doing a "confidence vote". As the power is pretty evenly divided between the prime minister's party and the opposition, it's usually up to a few neutrals to decide matters. Kinda stupid if you ask me. Give 6 people the power to decide whether the guy stays in or not. Knowing the corruptibility of Italian politicians, it feels much like a scam to me.

Anyways, if they vote against, which just happened, 156 votes for vs. 161 against him, the Government "falls"... so a temporary administrative government comes into play to hold things together until they can organize new elections. Not sure how long that takes. Nor do I know yet who'd be up for running, but it sounds like Berlusconi, a rich guy who owns most of the media in the country and who has already been Prime Minister before, thinks he'll get the post again.

I checked the website of one of the main Italian newspapers, to get more info. I expected to read about impending doom, crisis, madness, hysteria... Instead, I found a video clip of the announcement of the vote. The caption read "Mastella announces the vote quoting Neruda". I click on the link. A movie trailer comes up. After a momentary "wtf?" I realized it was the ads before the clip. Not quite appropriate, you'd think. I didn't manage to get through the whole thing. I managed to make out something about people who don't travel or read... and figured it wasn't worth it.

Click on the next link. A picture of Berlusconi, with a bottle of champagne opened and spewing foam all over. He only lacks the racing suit, he looks like a driver on the podium after the award ceremony...

Quite embarrassing, in my opinion.

Italy has got some serious management problems. Feels like I never left the USA after all...

If only an entrepeneur would be allowed to buy the whole thing off, kick out all the stupid mafia guys and politicians, and run this place like the idyllic art paradise it should be...

It might be the champagne, but...

2008-01-24T00:53:00.000+01:00

For any geek who's also into art, like me, this is an *awesome* Flikr set: Understanding Art for Geeks.

I laughed out loud at most of the pictures... which says a lot!

:D

midnight rants

2008-01-24T00:47:00.000+01:00

It's 12:40am.

I'm wondering what the alcohol percentage of the (cheap?) champagne I got for Xmas is. I finally opened it on an anxious night, while my roommates are watching some random tv show, and I'm in my room, after finishing 3 hours of work updating a website's database...

It's one of those moments where there is no meaning. Everything is up in the air, ready to be grabbed and given a thought.

Until that happens, it just is. It exists, with no judgement or moral attached to it. No consequences. No past, no future.

It's only when we start to think about it and give it a meaning that it occupies our minds and becomes a presence.

A faucet pours water into a pot. The stove is clicked clicked clicked until it turns on. I'm guessing tea. And I'm guessing it's the "hippy-est" of my roommates preparing it.

Funny how you can read so much from one sound. While, sometimes, you can't figure out what's in front of you even though you are given multiple clues.

Battle Royale - randomness galore

2008-01-13T23:19:00.000+01:00

The bookstore I part-time at sells magazines. Unlike books, which are returned to the publisher if they're not sold, old issues of magazines get thrown away as soon as the new issues come in. All they have to do is tear away the cover and send that in as proof that it wasn't sold.

So about once a month they have a pile of magazines that are put into the garbage, to be pilfered by any of the employees who cares to take them home.

At the beginning of January I was there for the new stock, so I had a first pick of the throw-aways. I've always been a fan of Japanese culture, so I picked up, among others, a UK magazines about Japanese culture.

One of the articles reviewed the Japanese film business. There have been several movies that have come out of Japan that have made an international impact. The article had a top-20 list, and, being a fan of anime and Japan, I looked into them.

The top movie listed was "Battle Royale". A brutal movie based on a book by Koushun Takami, it tells of a futuristic Japan where the socio-economical structure collapses, and a new law comes into effect: every year, at random, a class of students is selected to be exterminated. It's too costly to raise children, so those deemed trouble are put on an island, given 3 days, and told they have to kill each other, or they will all be blown up. The last one to survive within the 3 days wins, and gets to get out. That alone, made in the year 2000, was a very strong topic. What with so many high-schoolers around the USA killing their classmates.

I also looked up the sequel. Knowing that sequels are often weaker than the originals, I didn't expect much. But this one took a different turn. It focused on terrorism, and the fight for freedom. Children vs. adults... mirrored in the USA vs the world scenario that has been playing throughout the last decade.

Witty and deep, both movies are worth watching. Not for the squeamish, but for the deep thinkers and open-minded.

ps) The main character, the boy who later becomes leader of the revolution, is the same actor (Tatsuya Fujiwara) that played the lead role in the action movie "Death Note", based on an awesome anime. I have to admit I don't care much for him, he has a weird retarded look that didn't do the anime's character justice, but I guess he's famous in Japan, since he starred in both movies. The point being, Death Note is another cool story to look into. :)

more teacher fun

2008-01-11T21:33:00.000+01:00

While the average age of those attending is between 20 and 40, either students that have to pass the English exam at university, or company employees that require a minimum of proficiency to deal with their international colleagues, there are a few over-the-hill people... and some children.

I had 5 hours of teaching ahead of me today. The first one up was a teenage girl. I had already had an experience with not one, but two girls, and it had been a small nightmare that had lasted an hour. One kept doodling and interrupting, and decided she had to tell us the latest jokes she had learned. I had made the mistake of interrupting their Italian conversations, showing I understood, so she quickly stopped trying to say things in English. The other, only a year older and only slightly more serious, was easily dragged by the younger tsunami.

Today it was a different teenager, a little older, and alone, which was a plus. But she was the typical apathetic youngster, and I don't know how she had gotten all the way to level 20. She ended up not even doing her regular lesson, and I just tried to coach her through some basic grammar.

By the end of the 30 minutes I smiled and got ready for my next student. When I first get to the office, I just find a list of times and last names, preceded by either Mr or Ms. I'm also given cards that track each student's progress, to know what level they are at and what the lesson I'm supposed to cover. Today I hadn't had time to look at them closely. When I called out the name of my next student, "Mr. Rossi", looking towards the only middle-aged man in the room, I heard a small "here" from behind me. I turned around. He couldn't have been much older than 12. Drats.

He was just as happy as I was to go over his lesson, but at least he was smart and we got over it quickly enough, with even a few laughters while correcting some pronunciation mistakes. I have figured out a few tricks to teach key sounds, like comparing the voices of some British-Italian comedians to a phonetic symbol, or drawing a sheep over another symbol so they would remember that the "a" in "cat" is an "open" sound, like the bleating of a sheep...

Two out of two. That was my children quota of the day! I had a few random people after that, easy lessons, nothing much out of the ordinary. Some discussions over newspaper articles with women my own age, with whom I had many memories in common, of shows or music we used to listen to when we were children...

And then I saw her. The nightmare doodle/joke girl. Alone, even though it was the same one-hour schedule as last time. I swore silently, joked with the receptionist about it, and then called her in. If she was alone, I could handle her better. But a whole hour... ugh.

Unfortunately the other girl showed up, only 10 minutes late. I managed to keep a serious lesson going while we went over the tests, and the beginning of the oral exercises. I think it was a record 40 minutes. Then doodle girl just started telling jokes again. Last time I had managed to exchange some funny doodles. This time I wanted to play more serious... but I still let her tell me a joke. And I couldn't help it. I truly laughed at one of them. I can only say that at least I tried to have them tell the jokes in English. So, today, *I* learned some new one-liners.

"What animal is blue with 2 red stripes down his chest?"
A chicken whose suspenders are too tight.

wah wah wah waaaaaah

And this other one merits a mention:"What animal is yellow, fast, and very dangerous?"
A chicken running around with a gun.

The universe rewarded my patience with 2 no-shows right after that, giving me a whole hour of respite. And the last student was a very nervous geek who shouted and twitched throughout his whole lesson. At the end, when he went to the receptionist to schedule his next lesson, he wasn't shouting anymore. I had to chuckle at that.

teaching fun

2008-01-09T23:13:00.000+01:00

Teaching English to Italians can be fun. There are a lot of words that are labeled "false-friends". Words that sound the same in the two languages, but have very different meanings. For example, in Italian a "company" is called a "societa`", so students often mis-translate it as "society". Or, even funnier, is a "preservative" translated as "preservativo"... which in Italian means "condom" :)

Today I had three in a row! I think it was a first, actually. Usually they just blank out and don't know what to say, so I have to prompt them. But today I had some spontaneous, self-confident mis-translations that made me laugh.

Grammar exercise for phrasal verbs:
Teacher: If a cop tells you to pull over, what does he mean?
Student: He wants me to take off my sweater!
(pullover = sweater in Italian...)

Written translation test
Teacher: Are you thirsty?
Student: Yes, can I please have a bear?
(misspelling of "beer")

I am blanking out on the third one... which reminds me of what they say about Einstein... he always kept a notepad in his pocket to jot down ideas as they came to him. I do keep a notebook on me all the time, the famous "Moleskin" notebooks, btw, but I didn't manage to find the time between one student and the next to write down their funnies...

And another teacher smiley for the day: one of my students today was a famous Italian writer. I didn't know of him, but he mentioned that he wrote for a living, and when I stopped by the bookstore I part-time at, I looked up his name, and he wrote dozens of books!! I'm continuing the "rubbing elbows with famous people while being a poor fuck" streak... but I managed to take it lightly today :)

The rest of the day was also fairly up-beat. It's funny how some days people just respond to you very nicely, while others they just ignore ya completely. I walked into the bookstore today, and an older man who works there actually stopped to talk to me for a whole 10 minutes about his life and personal goals... while he usually barely notices I'm there.

Then on my way to the train station I randomly met on the street a receptionist for the school I teach English at, and he also seemed happy to see me (no... not in *that* sense.. you perverts!). I worked in two locations teaching English today, and several people were very friendly and helpful...

I'm not sure what makes the difference between one day and another, how some days you just manage to have everything work for ya, while others it's a fight for every little thing... but I have to say, I enjoyed today! And I will try to keep that memory and cherish it over the worse ones!

Here's to all of ya managing a brighter attitude in everything you do every day!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-05T00:00:00.001+01:00

A little late in coming, but I did send out all of my email wishes already...

Here's my desktop background for the new year, for anyone who cares to download it

I spent the ringing of the new year at yet another family's reunion... I thought I had gotten away from it at Xmas, but it seems I'm doomed to spend time with families. I was in Genova and had a nice, mellow time with a group of people of all ages, mostly playing cards with an 11-years-old girl, and seeing grown-ups setting fire to some home-sized fireworks. It felt like the 4th of July in New York. Only legal ;)

The 31st was an amazingly gorgeous day. Nice enough to go walking without a jacket! Clear skies and warm weather! The last effort of a crappy year to show it had some good inside after all. Then the 1st came back with a vengeance, pretty gloomy and cold. And yesterday we even had some snow. Today it turned to slush, with rain watering it all down... and it's supposed to last through the weekend.

I started the first week of January working at the bookstore. Will get back to English teaching the 2nd week of January. Had a couple of job offers with a contract that I really do not care about, but it makes me feel good to have options. Apparently I still manage to give a good working impression when people give me a chance. It's funny, though; looking back, it seems my first impression to people is still a "wrong" one... I just turn out to be a good apple if only given a chance. I like giving life-lessons to old people. Make them re-evaluate their thoughts on people and their appearances. I've yet to give up on coloring my hair, showing off my piercings, and henna-tattooing my body!

I still have more of an optimistic outlook on things, even though I have yet to find my thing. I decided to make small improvements on my life... Now that I think of it, most of them are geared towards impressions, unfortunately... I bought a hair flattening device that seems to manage to get my hair under control... and everyone has been complimenting me on it. And I'm working on my wardrobe. And my voice. But they are making a difference. ...Food for thought.

More to come, soon. :) Happy New Year to all, and:

"Rays of sun to shine on you this upcoming year.
May they warm your soul, your heart, your body."

(That's from the desktop pic.)

I'll get back to all the emails soon. Been working on a side-project for my very own agenda/diary and it's been sucking up my free time. But I'm happy with the results :) I'll post it online when I'm completely elated with it.

Toodles!

Something about Anna.

2007-12-28T00:28:00.000+01:00

I was going to leave this blog entry for the 31st, but it seems more than one person I know has had a shitty end-of-the-year, so I hope this will inspire someone...

I got my December paycheck from the bookstore's accountant today. She's a tiny lady, curly hair, what I always thought of as a Peppermint Patty type. Very talkative if you just bothered to listen. I never exchanged more than a few words with her. She had talked to me a bunch at random times when we crossed paths. About her daughter, mostly. She only works part-time so you don't see her much.

Today, she was in the bookstore to deal with all of the end-of-the-year accounting while the bookstore was closed. She had told me I could stop by and get paid. So I showed up at around 11:30 am. An hour later, in between numbers and cash, she had told me half of her life story. And I saw a little bit of the sad me projected into the future.

She was a chain link of bad adventures. Her story began when her mother passed away, 6 years ago. It was a big blow for her. Then her husband left her a year and change after that, after 20-odd years of marriage. No good reason according to her story. He got lucky and the judge ruled against any alimony. He refused to speak to either her or his daughter ever again.

Her daughter, 17 at the time, went into some sort of nervous breakdown. Then the rest of her recent past was a string of unlucky events. The mortgage, on a variable percentage rate, skyrocketed to almost double its value. Her phone line had been jacked and charged her tons of money she hadn't spent but had to fight against for over a year. Her daughter's car co-sign had a check that bounced just 'cause her employee was 3 days late paying her daughter. So now she's in a credit bind that doesn't allow her to refinance or do anything with Italian banks. She keeps getting hit financially.

Then there's her social life. Just about nil. She lost her married couples friends after her separation. Her Xmas and new year's story was sadder than mine. Her daughter has friends, goes out often. While she sits home alone. She's incapable of latching with her coworkers. She told me how she sees the other coworkers hang out after work, and they never call on her... And she is *convinced* it's 'cause of her "bad mood". She's so shy, she has a hard time going food shopping alone. She cries often. You wouldn't see that from just seeing her buzz about the bookstore. She looks determined and strong. But she has no family to call upon. Her one sister doesn't talk to her. Her dad isn't close to her. She hits a brick wall when she's in need.

She reminded of my dad a lot. Growing up a daughter alone, with an anger towards people and the world and an inability to latch onto any significant relationship... I can see how she is trying to do all she can for her daughter, but her being miserable is just making her daughter miserable by default.

...and then I think of the similar complaints I go through. I say many similar things to what she says. But even though I might be alone most of the time, I have people that support every emotional and financial need I have. I am *incredibly* lucky. I can bitch and moan, but I *will* have someone to listen. I will need money for rent, and I *will* have someone to cover it. I really should learn to relax more. I don't have it so hard.

I gave her some "no-nonsense advice". I told her that her miserable life is definitely affecting her daughter. She should try to make friends. She stared blankly at me and said that was impossible. If it was up to her, if she was told she had to die tomorrow, she'd be relieved. Her life was only a survival instinct. I told her she could look into things she likes to do. Join a book-reading group at her local bookstore. She said it was only teenagers that went there. I suggested some other activity. She had another negative reply. And she reminded of myself. And many other people I know. A friend of mine said I did the same thing. I kept having a negative answer to anything she suggested.

It's hard to be hit in the face with your own truth. And see it from another point of view. I'm glad I can see it while I'm still young enough to make a difference, and it's not hitting me when I'm over 50...

So that is my new year's resolution. Stop bitching and start thanking. And start doing. I've always wanted to get voice training. I'm going to look into that. And more art training. And more fun things to do... Money is *not* going to be an obstacle anymore. I spend enough on rent and food. I can spend a little more on things that will make me feel better.

So, thanks to all those of ya that feel they can believe in me and spur me to go on. You make an incredible difference in this person's life. And more people should be so lucky.

Here's to a healthier 2008! I wish you all a wonderful new year, and I hope it will bring us all a more peaceful life. Or, rather than ask for the impossible, a more peaceful outlook towards it :) Big hugs!!!

more life ponderings

2007-12-22T04:01:00.000+01:00

On a tram, on my way to work, one cloudy, cold morning in Milan. A conversation between two persons sitting next to me made me stop, put my videogame down, and listen.

An elderly gentleman, very nicely dressed, a bit ailing from the looks of him, was chatting to a not-much-younger-but-better-off lady next to him. From a quick glance and after a few sentences, I gathered that they didn't know each other. She had just helped him on the tram or something. He was the kind of person that just exudes confidence, wiseness, wealth, and an overall refined style. What you could think of as a well-bred person.

Their exchange made me take my notebook out and write down their words. I have to point out that I have this terrible memory that stops me from remembering details the moment they pass from the present, so I didn't manage to to them justice, but the gist of it was this:

Elderly man: "When I need help, I just ask someone next to me. And I found out that in this world there are many good people. I've never had any difficulty. Like with you."

Lady: "But the people that make more of an impact are the mean ones."

Elderly man: "Yeah, they are the minority, but they make more noise."

The way it was conveyed was very important, as well. They spoke candidly. With wisdom. Their words had the weight of experience.

I got off that tram with such an uplifted spirit, I thought it'd last forever. I was ready to see the world under this shining light. It could be done. My life had so many strong points and amazing feats, I was a good person, too.

I walked into the bookstore. Bitching and moaning about co-workers, lack of money, bad economical period. A new kid who barged in on what I thought of as my job is actually better at it than me. I resent him and just move out of the way, brooding, upset and feeling unrespected. No one tells him to make me space, since I was there first. He's got one of those hyper personalities, talks and jokes and gets along. And the only way I can think of reacting is to yell at him and tell him to get out of the way, but I know that's wrong so I just shut up and move off and find something else to do, completely miserable and rethinking about my horrible life. I know I could find a clever way of dealing with it. They always do that in books. But it just doesn't come out.

Xmas talk. Everyone talks about the time they'll spend with the family. Rich people come in and spend as much money in one shot as it'd take me to earn in a week. Their holidays will be spent in their mountain home, organizing dinners for the friends and family. After a few hours of this, I say my goodbyes and go to my other job.

Evening working teaching English. While waiting for the next students to show up, I strike up a conversation with a coworker, a lady in her 40s or 50s. The topic, of course, is the holidays. So, where are you going to go? She was the first person to have my same plan: taking xmas as a day off. She's going to be home, doing nothing. I didn't ask, but I'm guessing she has no family or anyone either. She asked me if I had anything special in mind to do with myself. All I could think of was waste time, feeling depressed, alone, the usual crap. Kill the brain with some videogames and other escapisms. Since I wasn't going to actually say any of that, I just came out with a "Oh, nothing much. Just rest. What about you?" Then her face lit up and she started saying that she planned to put some nice music on, do some writing she had in mind... That's when the students showed up and we had to get back "on stage". But the thought started in my head: why didn't I think of seeing it as a chance to do something cool? Why did I have to concentrate on the negative aspects?

Xmas party. Alcohol flowing. A first hesitation turns into a lot of chatting with random staff, colleagues, students. A colleague who's been patiently trying to get on a date with me, being very nice and talking about being there for me, meets me there and thinks we're hanging out after. I end up the night getting drunk, kissing another random colleague I never talked to before, and just making such a mess that not only did I make a fool of myself, but I also carelessy walked all over the first guy, treating him in a very insensitive way. The kind of thing I'd bitch about other people doing to me. Now of course I've lost the respect of two people, plus that of anyone watching. For some strange reason I can't manage to feel too sorry for myself. I deserved that one. I can't quite wish I hadn't done it. But I do wish that I could think of it as "omfg that was crazy!" and laugh about it.

After wondering how the hell all of this can co-exist in the same world, and in such a short span of time, I try to move on and process it all.

It's now 3:30am, I have to get up and be at work at 8:30am, for a full 11 hours of work between the two jobs. My brain knows I should just sleep and be rested. I've been trying to shut my eyes since 12am. But I finished watching a movie about some famous model in the 80s who was such a fuckhead and a druggie, but got her life to be on film, and tons of people to talk about her... and I'm thinking "maybe if I was a bit more fucked up I could be famous, too."

Someone is yelling the italian version of "fuck!" outside. Every person is a world in itself.

My head is filled with too many things. And as a part of me is fully aware that I just have to accept it, as that is just life, another part is childishly wanting to be whisked away and be able to do all that I want without consequences.

In theory, the key to it all is just to be able to seize every moment you go through, make it yours, and enjoy it. In practice, the people that get somewhere in life do that. Usually unconsciously. They're just wired that way. Most of the others just move on from one moment to the next, wondering how to seize it, and never end up doing much. The older I get, and the more past I have to look back upon and ponder what I've done, the more I think I am not one of those people that manages to seize the moments. When I try to and think I'm finally doing it, I quickly rationalize it as me just being stupid, or it's already been done, or I didn't actually do anything much.

So here is to 3 hours of sleep and let's see what tomorrow brings...

life update

2007-12-08T23:07:00.000+01:00

I thought I had a blog entry after the august one... but I can't find it anymore. Odd. But here goes an update of everything i've been up to this fall...

I'm currently working as an English teacher, earning twice as much per hour as the average Italian, and for Nov and Dec I also work at a bookstore, which pays minimum wage. Both places are particular, they cater to the rich of Milan... So technically I'm being paid minimum wage to rub elbows with the millionaires of this city, while being a broke ass myself.

I should change my nick to "condradictionsgirl"...

Unfortunately the current job situation is unstable, the hours are random and never guaranteed. The schedule is prepared every day for 3 days after, depending on who booked lessons, so I have to check hours every day and I can't plan my week. And it's usually 3-4 hours a day tops. But on average it should pay the bills. I borrowed so much money this year for living expenses that I feel I'll never be out of debt, but I should be able to finally pay rent on my own next month, so I take that as a positive point.

I'm also working 7 days week cuz of the holiday season. The bookstore is open every single day through Xmas. I gave full availability cuz I need the money, so I've got a handful. Still 2 weeks to go and I'm exhausted already!

Grandma's will is still up in the air, and it's emotionally stressful. I feel powerless, clueless, and like I'm being used and not getting any real help. But I'm trying not to let go.

On a personal and social level, life sucks big time. I'm at a pretty big low right now. But I'm keeping at it and see if things will change. I curse fairy tales and the general "good things come to good people" thought that fiction is so full of nowadays. In real life, people will bite and scratch in both self-defense and for the pure natural aggressive behavior that is natural for any survival. Shy people get stomped on unless they have family or a mentor to shelter them.. and you have to learn that, and live with it.

I vote for the original Andersen tales to be read to children!! Fuck Disney!

I look around every day and all I feel is that I see people that figured out how to live their lives. Or, at least, they are filling in a role that plays within human society. Me, I feel like I'm an alien that never quite understood the rules of the game and keeps sucking at playing. Once in a blue moon I actually get it right, but it feels like it was a fluke and it's not like I learnt anything. Interfacing with fellow humans is a game of luck and so many different emotional mixes, that fiction never teaches you.

Then a couple of weeks ago I got sick. One of the joys of being a teacher is being in a closed room with all sorts of germs people might be carrying. I already got sick twice with colds. The second one was a severe cold for a week, totally clogged nose, but I still managed to work. Friday night, 5 days into the cold, I taught phonetics and ruined my voice box. I woke up Saturday morning unable to speak. I was in pain, and had no clue what to do. The doctor I go to for regular stuff isn't available on weekends. My roommates were asleep after a night out and I felt like they couldn't care less. So I ended up going to the emergency room on my own on Sunday at 5am, cuz I woke up and couldn't sleep anymore and didn't know what else to do.

I wrote on some pieces of paper what I felt, and directions for a cab to take me to the nearest emergency room. When I got there, they just looked at me funny, took their sweet time, finally asked me what the hell was I doing there taking up space from real emergencies, and had me wait 4 hours for the throat guy on call to come in. 1 minute examination and he sent me home telling me I just had a severe laryngitis and I could just do some warm inhalations for 10 days. I had to pay more money than I had saved and didn't even get any sympathy. I was crying on and off, with frustration and with pain, and no one bothered to ask me anything.

The girls at the pharmacy where I bought the mad expensive medicines were the only ones that, seeing me crying, showed some sympathy and asked what was wrong. Since I couldn't speak, and also cuz of my usual emotional walls, I couldn't explain that I was alone and scared and moneyless and I was spending in one shot money that took me days to earn and I had just been treated like shit and I wished I had someone next to me to tell me everything would be alright... so I just shook my head and they took it as me being sick of being sick... I just nodded and put on my sunglasses and walked back home so I wouldn't have to pay a cab again...

I couldn't work for a week, and since it's not a full-time job I didn't get any sick days or anything...

It's funny how you can cry, sobbing, a few feet away from someone, divided by just a wall, and know that all they think of you is that you're a stuck-up bitch that keeps to herself and isn't easy-going or any fun, and yet she expects some basic help like going grocery shopping together... while all you lack is social skills, courage to be yourself, and self-confidence, and you think no one cares.

Oh, and at the bookstore every time I'm alone with someone I have to hear them talking shit about everyone else at the store... So much anger around, and only cuz of personal frustrations... There are some that talk shit about the older lady that used to run the place and criticize her managing skills while they don't think that she's having a tough time dealing with the fact that after her husband passed away she had to deal with having her ownership being taken away from her and still work there... Or I have to hear one girl talk shit about the other just cuz they don't get along and they just lash out and tell me the worst traits of the other... Today I was told by one how the other has no friends and is a social fluke and she sucks... All I could think of is why can't she see that she could use a friend. And figured she's insecure and a drama queen herself so that's her only way to retaliate... But there is so much anger around. And I'm too sensitive to it all.

All I manage to do is get severe headaches from all the muscle tension I build up on my shoulders and neck. Cuz I don't let anything out and absorb it all. And I just wish for a massage, which ain't coming. No money to pay a professional on a regular basis, and no friends that are touchy-feely with me in the non-interested way.

Learning to expressing yourself in a way that people will get your true self is a skill that no one teaches you, not in school, not in life, not anywhere. So either you get it, or are born charismatic, or you're stuck with yourself.

So, while I still wait for the prince on a white stallion to read my mind and come rescue me, I dream of being a tough character like AEon Flux so I won't depend on anyone but myself and be ok with it, I face reality every day with neither options available. Alcohol and cigarettes and videogames and TV fill the void and numb the brain so I can get to sleep and get to the next day.

What the hell is the point of intelligent life anyways?

2007 is going down as the lowest year in my life so far.

Article about Genova

2007-08-27T14:00:00.000+02:00

Genova remains one of my hometowns. One of the places I feel fondness for and I identify with.

I ran across an article that covers a lot of its beauty, better than how I can explain it. Even explores Nervi, which is actually where I spent all my time.

Figured I'd share it, and recommend it for a visit to anyone who can stop by there:

Genoa: Columbus' Italian birthplace still dazzles (USA Today article)

As far as my journeys, they're a bit stuck for now. I start a part-time job tomorrow, at the same bookstore I worked when I first got here, and mid-September I start the English classes. Still doing a bit of translation work... but so far I'm marking the year 2007 as one of my toughest.

Good thing life has ups alongside downs. No light without darkness...

July 2007: European Tour de Force!

2007-07-25T20:51:00.000+02:00

The most intense trip I've ever been in: 13 cities in 21 days! I joined my "adoptive family", 7 people total, to undertake this amazing itinerary. Punctuated by cool temperatures and unpredictable weather (jacket and scarf in most cities! in July!!), we travelled by air, land, and sea.

I've put together a photo journal, with a page for each city we stopped at.

Just to give a quick overview:

I set off June 30th, with a flight from Milan to London. A little nervous due to the recent news--car bomb attempts, and major floods--but apart from the most chaotic airport I've seen up to date (Heathrow), and a looong Tube ride into the city, it was actually uneventful. They're as resilient as New Yorkers...!

From July 1st through the 21st it was a constant moving. We didn't stay more than 3 days in any place. We passed from London to Paris with the train that goes in the chunnel. I never knew what vertigo was before this! My ears popped so strongly, it affected my balance for two days! A couple of the others with me felt the same.

In Paris the rest of the group stayed in the hotel, while I was lucky to be hosted by the same friends as last year. Gave me a chance to say a quick hello, even though the trek from one side of Paris to the other of an hour each way was a bit much. I got a bad cold that stuck with me for a week. Too much crazy weather! Rainy and cold one hour, sunny the next... silly nature. While Milan and Southern Europe in general has been suffering the heat and lack of water, north of the Alps it's been a wet and cold season, with some extreme weather all over.

From Paris we moved onwards by plane to Vienna, a too-sterile city, if you ask me. Then we moved about by train. A day-trip to Salzburg, then off to Prague. I loved that city. Definitely want to go back. Another flight then took us to Copenhagen, where we embarked on my very first cruise. It was an interesting experience, and we got lucky with calm sea. I bought tons of motion-sickness pills just in case... but ended up not needing any!

The whirlwind of cities that followed after kinda mushed together... but the pics helped remember it all, and I tried to give bits of info for each in the photo journal.

The flight back from Copenhagen to Milan was scary... I guess it was the passage from cool air to hot... but I don't remember the last time I felt that much turbulence. The young couple next to me was very nice, as soon as they heard my whimpering and saw my white face they held my hand 'til landing... while a group of kids from soccer camp where whooping as if they were at Six Flags! Ah well.

Each city and all the stuff that happened in them deserves a separate whole blog entry... but if I write too much then no one would bother reading it all. So I'm leaving you with the pics, and ask anything if you are curious.

And now, back to the Milan doldrums... *sigh*

A Milan summery summary

2007-06-29T19:10:00.000+02:00

I have been in Italy, back for a permanent new life, for three and a half months now. It's been quite an adventure, very different from what I had imagined.

I live in an... interesting neighborhood. A nice, quiet street, but frequently used by foreigners with very different cultural habits (pissing next to their own cars before getting on..?!) and shady people that do drugs or get rid of stolen goods.

Work-wise, having tapped into just about all of my savings, I am struggling with random, short-lived gigs at very different jobs, with random income and no direct link to the arts yet.

I was a waitress for a day at a fancy fashion event. A girl I met last time I was in Milan, girlfriend of a friend, knew I needed the money and called me up 'cause she needed an extra hand. I earned more that one day than I have doing anything else. No new contacts, though.

Another contact through a friend, from NY, landed me 10 days of work for a bookstore, managed by her aunt. After a very depressing interview with one of the guys in charge (things are bad, we have no work, Milan sucks), they called me up a couple of days after that to help organize and handle their stand at the "Salone del Mobile" fair, a major design event. Go figure.

I then was finally contacted by one of the many "agenzie interinali" (temp work agencies) and I spent four weeks as a secretary at an association that networks CEOs and Financial Directors of companies around Italy. It was a classic "Miss, will you please type this letter for me? Can you please call so and so? Can you make these copies?" kinda job. Worked with just two older people, and was on my own often. They were very nice, though.

I also successfully tested and interviewed at a language institute to teach English in the fall. It's going to be a casual gig, as they do not have fixed classes, but rather one-on-one meetings with students. Doesn't sound like it'll be enough to make a living out of it, but I hope it'll give me the experience and training to do that as a private gig.

And finally I worked on some translations from Italian to English for a magazine that talks about the heavy industry, robotics and such. My roommate's cousin has a communications agency and does the magazine twice a year. Met her one night when she stayed over, right before going to bed, and my roommate had talked to her about me. After a quick test and the promise of a very low fee to justify taking on a rookie translator over professional agencies, I got the gig.

I learned of processes and words I never heard of before, like epitaxial reactors (the cool machines that coat wafers with, for example, silicon, and create the raw material to be used in circuit boards and other equipment...), rheophores (the pieces of wire that stick out of a transistor and are soldered into a board, carrying electricity, and which no spell-check recognizes!) and I learned that "veline" is one of those cultural things that just does not translate to English (girls like the juggies in the Man's Show, but which are in *every* show in Italy, part of the scenery, next to the hosts, whose only job is to be half-naked, dance, giggle, and look pretty...).

On a personal level, my social life is just about nil, having no money to go anywhere and no friends nearby to invite me there. One of my roommates just opened a pub, but after the first night of free beer, now I gotta shell out the regular fare. Which is no fun. And you have to drive there anyways, so unless my other roommate goes, there's no way. My other roommate has been nice but he knows he can't invite me out to go spend money. Plus inviting a still stranger girl out when he's trying to pick up girls can't be good for him... lol.

I did get to help with and attend the marriage of one of my best friends at the beginning of this month, in Genova. So I traveled there two weekends in a row, and I played photographer and "bomboniere"-maker (another one of those cultural things that just doesn't translate).

And to conclude this long-overdue mega update, tomorrow I'm going off to London, to meet a family, close friends, that is coming together to Europe for the first time, and they invited me to go along a long time ago, before I knew I was going to be broke and jobless in Milan... But everything was organized even before I got here, so I'm just going to enjoy it, play guide where I can, take tons of pictures, and forget about troubles for 3 weeks!

I'll be visiting some amazing places. Only Paris is a repeat for me. But the itinerary includes London, Vienna, Prague, Copenhagen, and a nice cruise around the Baltic Sea, going all the way to St Petersburg and back. If all goes well, I'll be back by the 21st, to update you all with info.

Nevermind that London just had a car bomb threat half a mile from where we'll be staying. Nevermind about the floods and bad weather forecast. And nevermind that I'll be back and worrying how the hell will I pay rent next, alone in a country that feels stranger than it should, boggled by it all, and probably in a hot hell that only a large cement island in a humid valley can create. I'm lucky I'm escaping it for most of July.

Like a friend says, I always seem to find solutions out of nowhere, Lady Luck on my side, finding myself into odd, even dangerous situations in hindsight, but so far I have managed to come out of it all with only "minor" emotional scarring...

So what else can there be to say but... let the adventure continue!

best forum thread

2007-06-21T22:49:00.000+02:00

this got a chuckle out of me in this sticky, hot summer night in milan...

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/21928

too bad it's only thursday.

more updates coming up soon, i promise. a new trip is in the near future, so wait for the pics!!! ^_^

Procrastination Aids and other news

2007-05-18T23:36:00.000+02:00

Let's start with the other news. I finally got a "real" job. Well. "real" in the sense that it's an office job. I get paid average money. I will work a full month in a 9-to-6 kinda deal, starting this Monday. As a run-of-the-mill secretary. I am consoling myself thinking I always wanted to do random jobs like these. The fact that I'm doing this at 30 instead of at 20, when most people do this kinda stuff, is a minor detail...

I've also looked into teaching English. I had an interview in a language school I contacted at random (there's tons in Milan!) and apparently my accent isn't so bad. After about 20 mins of chatting I was told I could come in any time for an aptitude test, and after passing that I can go through their training program and then start teaching! The aptitude test sounded a lot like an SAT kinda deal... if I passed it at 18 with a higher-than-your-average-American grades, I think I should be ok now ;)

The procrastination comes in from a new site I discovered: veoh.com

Unlike youtube, people upload tons of commercial stuff here. Perhaps being less known and fairly new it is still not as censored. I was able to finish watching Death Note without having to go through the trouble of finding torrents and downloading files. I have also seen a bunch of new anime series, and while I'm typing this I have a great collection of classic cartoons to inspire me and make me think of good old talent...

I have to say, being older gives you a much wider range of things to appreciate! The down-side is that there is such an overload of info, I get so easily lost in it, rather than concentrate in creating new one...

And that is the latest and greatest from this side of the world... ^_^

Template update

2007-05-09T14:22:00.000+02:00

I am going to upgrade to Blogger's new layout scheme, and try to clean up the blog in general, so bear with me if the site gets messy for a bit.

Let me know of any problems, or if you have a request. One thing I did was change the RSS feed to grab the full post instead of only the first paragraph, per request.

I am also going to try and figure out a better way to post the pics... So they're easier to get to. This might take longer but Im working on it!! ^.^

my little slice of heaven in Milan

2007-04-25T19:01:00.000+02:00

It's about time I made a little piece about where I live.

I've spent years living in Costa Rica, where every house has bars on the windows, high iron fences and gates with barbed wire on top. Petty crime is common in the streets.

Then twice as many years living in New York, famed for its crime, street shootings and hookers on the street--although, truth be told, Giuliani did clean a lot of that up.

In both countries I knew where I could go and where not, and felt relatively safe walking about at any time of the night on my own.

In Milan, I feel a different kind of unsafe. Perhaps it's me still adjusting, and more scared about the situation out of general insecurity in my personal life than I should be. Ignorance generates fear.

The more common bad elements here are the eastern Europeans and the Africans. I was used to the latinos, their sexual harassment, the desperation of an immigrant culture... but now I am dealing with new cultures I know nothing about. And are unable to measure.

It doesn't help that I decided to move to an area where they congregate. I thought living next to a major train station would be all sorts of useful for traveling (not quite used to being settled down yet... lol) and the street looked nice, and the apartment was huge, and the guys living in it had been here for years, and they were all artistic...

I didn't calculate all the details, though.

You can check out a little photoshoot of my street to see what I mean.

working at the fair

2007-04-18T22:46:00.000+02:00

Today I started working at the Salone del Mobile, an international furniture/design fair where the whole world congregates for 5 days of events, shows, and sales... over 2K booths, 1/4 of which are from overseas... I helped set up our booth (an international bookstore in Milan) on Tue and today I worked my first day as a "sales person"...

If you're in the area, stop by the entrance of pavilion 9-11 at the "Milano Libri" booth and say hi!!

^.^

Open house in Milan!

2007-04-09T23:43:00.000+02:00

Aaight, the Battlegirl's House in Milan is open for guests. Dont' expect much, but drop in whener. One big ass bed, a comfy couch, and an extra mattress are all up for grabs. At least in the next 3 months, which are all paid up for :) I'm extremely easy to get to from the Central Station, the international train station of Milan. So just send me an email and drop on by!!

Things in Milan seem tough to get a handle on. When people complained about having to network and know people in New York... they had never tried to make it in Milan before. This place runs *only* on being friends with someone rich... Most grads go overseas to get a job, and anyone who is looking for a job gets a really tough time... But I'm here for more than just make it as an employee. I'm going to find a way!

'Hope to see some of ya god friends around here soon!

Easter Eggs!

2007-04-08T11:47:00.000+02:00

In the USA Easter eggs are virtual surprises, usually hidden in some computer application, snippets of code that reveal themselves only with a special combination of actions.

In Italy they are an object of real-life. It's a tradition for Easter to gift an overly-packaged hollow chocolate egg, with a surprise inside. It seems that the tradition to gift eggs goes as far back as the Middle Ages. Not sure when this chocolate version came about, I know in the USA they do paint real eggs and hide them around the garden for children to find... It's always the element of surprise, nevertheless.

I was warned that "you can't find an egg the day before Easter! You better get one now!" In a rush, I went to the first supermarket I could, a small one near the place I just moved to (actually, it was right as I was moving, we stopped by the first place we saw). So I bought myself an egg a week ago. A regular-sized egg, about 8" tall, made of thin chocolate, goes for about 8EUR. Fancier ones, with thicker, fancier chocolate shells or nicer surprises can be over 25EUR.

I was thorn between a Kinder egg (a major chocolate producer in Europe, famous for its toys) and a Simpsons one. In honor of the American culture, I went with the latter. :)

This is what it looked like. It's more packaging than chocolate. The price probably goes to cover the fancy metallic paper and copyrights more than the egg itself. Careful not to ruin the paper, I unwrapped it. The egg inside is almost a let-down. Well, perhaps a chocolate lover would start drooling at the brown yummyness... Seeing as I don't fancy regular chocolate, in the back of my mind I already started thinking how I could dispose of it... Good thing I live with two guys. :)

I started knocking the shell. It was tougher than I expected. A small punch barely made a dent in it! Challenged, I gave it a couple of solid knuckle punches. Breakthrough! I was finally able to peek into it. Saw a Bart peeking back. I widened the hole and retrieved the prize.

I am now the happy owner of a Bart yo-yo.

Yey.

Wishing ya all better surprises for your eggs. Happy Easter!

More Italian Job Nightmares

2007-04-03T14:56:00.000+02:00

Well, I managed to make one small dream come true. I was a waitress for one day! :) And got paid 4 times as much as a regular job! It was a special event, a presentation of the new line for next winter by a fashion designer. There was some catering, and a friend I met a couple of months ago knows the organizers and has been working with them for a while, and recommended me as an extra hand.

Excited about the prospect, and wanting to be presentable, I pre-spent a third of what they paid me just to get clothes that would fit the job: black dress pants and a white shirt. I figured I could consider it an investment :)

The day was quite uneventful, far less people than they expected showed up, so it was basically helping 2 sisters set up the food on trays, and then this friend of mine and myself would carry them outside in this big warehouse to the arriving guests. Which weren't more than 2 at a time, spaced evenly throughout the day...

I was on my feet for the first 5 hours straight. Didn't feel any tiredness. Tried to help as much as I could, considering I was clueless and had never done this before... I guess the adrenaline helped. Every time someone would come through, we'd jump out, and offer the drinks (juice and water in the morning, wine for lunch, back to juice after that) and the tiny snacks (sweet first, then salty, then some warm food for lunch, and back to small salty snacks...). After 2pm, though, I started to feel the fatigue. With no real break all day, 9 and a half hours of work, I got home on automatic pilot, grateful I had taken the trains so many times already I knew where to go without thinking about it. But damn happy about it all!

Besides this random one-time deal, though, I am still jobless. I haven't been contacted by anyone yet. I keep trying to make new contacts, friends of friends, but I keep falling short of expectations on one side and being too much for the other. The photographer I had randomly met last year, that keeps promising to help me out, keeps bailing on me, so that is a route I haven't been able to explore yet.

I also just moved to an apt "of my own". As in, I have my own room in a 3-bedroom apt, the other rooms being taken up by two guys. I don't feel like I can quite make an official "open house!" announcement yet, as it's already the 3rd of the month and I haven't even paid rent yet... Apparently it takes a lot longer for money to cross the ocean than to stick to the same continent. 3 whole business days and no money yet... It's starting to feel uncomfortable...

But, as soon as that is cleared up, I will finally be able to start returning some guest-ing favors and welcome any of ya that want to come visit the fashion capital of Europe! :) So start looking for some ticket deals. I recommend those search-all-the-airlines-for-the-cheapest-deal websites like kayak.com or, within Europe, skyscanner.net ! ^.^

Job searching in Italy part I: Nightmare on Porta Romana Street

2007-03-24T01:58:00.000+01:00

I have entered culture shock. Things I had grown accostumed to have been thrown upside down. Apparently discrimination in the work place in Italy is perfectly legal. When companies post jobs they do a big show of noting "this position is open to anyone regardless of gender." ...and then they stop there. It is perfectly legal to discriminate against age, family status, and provenance...

After solving my homelessness temporarily (I am renting a room outside of Milan, at some friend's family's house. They were so nice to take me in just like that!) I hooked myself up to the computer and started updating my resume. It wasn't easy to translate my experience and past into terms used in Italy, especially since I don't know them. After two days I thought I had something decent to show, so I set out to spread the word that I was looking for a job.

Italy is an odd place. They will demand rent contracts of 4 years with a minimum 3 months notice, you have to pay every 3 months, and yet most jobs are offered on a temporary basis, 3 months to a year. You can be 40 years old and still wonder if you'll keep your job next year... In this environment, temp job agencies have sprouted like bad seeds, multipling like rabbits and sucking the money that should go to the worker from the companies...

Monday morning I set off for the Duomo, at the heart of Milan, and went off to find a job agency. Once you find one, there will be at least 5 others in a 300 feet radius. If you don't believe me, just head on over to the italian maps portal tuttocitta.it, type in Milan, and then type in "interinali" (italian for "temp work (agencies)"). Move the map around at a close zoom level, and you'll see clusters of baloons pop up all over. They can't show more than 10 at a time I think. The rendering alone would require a computer more powerful than the average home machine!

The first job agency I went into called me back right away, to offer me a graphic design job. I was elated, I knew it would have been easy to find a job, I'm a smart cookie after all, no? I had wanted to move away from graphic design and do more of the pure art stuff, but I needed something, anything, I was willing to get started with design again. When I went in for the interview, they gave me the details. It was to actually take the reins of the art department of a small PR company, who did ad campaigns and promotions for some major Italian companies. They had been outsourcing but wanted to bring it all in-house. The first question: "Are you married?" "...ergh... no?" "Family? Children? Boyfriend? Do you live alone? The company really asked for a guy, but I wanted to give you a chance..." The job required long hours, high stress, strict deadlines...

By all rights, it would have been a dream come true to someone who would have wanted to rise up in the graphic design industry, with an ambitious career, an opportunity like no other, become art director within the year... Me, I had been dreaming with finally being able to take on odd jobs, work as a waitress, a bartender, do random things and have some fun, while giving myself time to write and continue my family research. I thanked her but said no. I think she was astonished I had refused.

After this experience I set out to the other agencies around. Presenting my nicely-designed one-pager resume, with a letter of presentation and page of references, no-personal-info other than contact email and phone number... I was promptly scolded by several job agencies. Where was my date of birth? Where did I live? Where was I born? Was I married or not? Did I have children? Where was my picture? I had to register and re-input all the data in their computers. And wait for their call.

I was appalled for a whole of 2 days. I finally realized it wasn't an illegal thing they were doing. It's the way things are done here. If I want a proper job I have to be willing to let them know what shoe size I wear and how often I poop. As a personal contact explained, candidly: if you have children your employer has to pay taxes for them. No wonder natality in Italy has reached an all-time low! Soon there will be no more Italians! My motherland will be overrun by immigrants who have no cares about those laws 'cause they're discriminated against anyways, they might as well have as many children as they can and have a better chance to ask for welfare...

So tonight I have given birth to a monster. A resume (Or Curriculum Vitae, as they call it here) that condensed my extensive and varied work experience into a couple of pre-defined job types, and listing my personal info.

I am still shuddering.

the 100th post!

2007-03-15T22:56:00.000+01:00

I know I've been slacking... I have many stories to tell, just no time to sit and write quite yet... After 3 weeks in New York, today I returned to Milan, ready to start a new life. Too bad Milan didn't know that...

I showed up at the door of the people that hosted me last... and utterly surprised them, apparently. They whipped up a mattress in an office but it's obviously not anything I can use for more than a couple of nights...

And I just realized I have no clue how to get a job.

All my things are headed this way from NY. They'll be stored somewhere, that shouldn't be a big deal... but I need to figure out what to do with myself. My savings account is starting to shiver from the cold of expansive emptiness around it.

So, jobless and almost homeless. Tomorrow I'm forcing myself to get over the jet lag and start looking for something...

wish me luck :)

world travel galore

2007-02-26T05:42:00.000+01:00

I'm a travel junkie.

This week I've been in 3 countries. Sunday in Milan, Monday in New York, Friday in Montreal. Sometimes, if I get distracted and start to think about my own things, I have to stop, look around, and figure out which country I'm in, which language I'm supposed to speak, and what are the local customs. Or who am I supposed to meet up and live a couple of hours with.

It's an unsettling, wonderful sensation. I've even gotten over the fear of flying.

My next step is going to find a way to do this for a living. Earn money from it. I think it'll do for a couple of years.

settling down in milan

2007-02-09T19:34:00.000+01:00

Grandma now rests in ashes in one of the main cemeteries of Milan. A little hole amid many, many others... The stone with the inscription and the picture are still being worked on, so all you see is a cemented square. Another week or two, they told me...! I think someone forgot about it.

The reality of it was quite crude. On a Friday I went with a rep from the funeral home to pick up the ashes, and brought them to the cemetery where they would lie. They couldn't bury them that same day. The family of my father's cousin, nice people that they are, met me there for the occasion, thinking it would be the burial. It warmed my heart but they made the trip for nothing. The actual cementing of the box inside the hole would be done the day after, on Saturday. So we went to their home and had a nice lunch. Unfortunately they couldn't make the time to come out on Sat., so I was alone for that process. Not fun.

The weeks after that event have brought new people into my sphere. I met old family friends, randomly tracked down through names jotted down in my father's agenda and some internet research. They all remember me from when I was a tiny pup, and had lost all hope of ever knowing what had happened to me. They took me into their homes and are treating me like another daughter. I seem to keep being adopted by people...

This weekend I'm meeting yet another figure from a past I have no memory of... the daughter of another of my father's acquaintances. Also found through a random phone call from the white pages. So I'll be in Florence for the weekend. She remembers me from when I was just born... Odd, odd feeling.

This time around I managed to actually do a tiny bit of tourism. The pics I posted last time showed some of it. I tagged along some friends to visit the lakes up north on two occasions. A beautiful funicular to see the sunset over the lake from above. A night ride over the lake by ferry. And later a night spent in a turn-of-the-century home, in a tiny town a bit inland, remodeled but with no heat, and thick walls that kept the inside air colder than the outside...! The fireplace did nothing to help, and the covers where damn cold at zero degrees centigrade... but it was a nice time. It belonged to the family of one of my patient, patient hosts (they kept me in their apt for 3 weeks without complaining!).

Today I did the first official tourist thing in Milan. A guy I had met in the most random way last year, while tracking down grandma, took me to the Duomo, the Castello Sforzesco, and for a walk through Brera, a gorgeous section of Milan with pedestrians-only alleys and one of the most famous Italian art academies.

I have made a couple of new friends, almost all nice people up to now, thank goodness. I think I'll be ok moving here. It has a chance.

That said, I am really looking forward for a last trip back to the USA. All my stuff is still there!! Should be around February 20th, through March 14th. Will confirm once I settle on plane tickets.

My stay in Milan so far

2007-01-17T16:04:00.000+01:00

The funeral was held last Thursday. Very few people were still in touch with grandma, it was a small ceremony. My first catholic funeral, I think. And seeing grandma dead made it the first time I saw the lifeless shell of someone I had known in life.

The biggest treasury she left behind was a collection of old correspondence, photo albums, and all her writings, published and non. I even found letters from my own father, 10 yrs old, when he first went away to boarding school...!! It all went to fill in the holes of a past that I knew little of. Amazing experience.

Anything of value, like her ring and watch, disappeared. Also a bunch of copies of her books, which she had kept and I had seen in her wardrobe. The president of the institute shrugged and said "You know how it is..." Almost worth kicking his ass, if it wasn't that it was all stuff I had no relation to. I have at least one copy of all her writings, and the things she wore don't tell me much, so I can leave them behind... Sucks to feel helpless in the matter, though.

As she is being cremated, she wont reach the cemetery until this Friday. Then she will rest, in peace, while us living ones continue to walk this earth and deal with mundane things. Like her material possessions. While I'm the only heir, out popped someone with a will where all the money goes to them and some friars... It's from over 10 years ago, and we can't track down any other will, so it's going to become an issue. *sigh*

Funny how these people are being all proper about the will, and they didn't even show up at the funeral. Nor did they arrange any of the paperwork I had to take care of, like her pension, or mentioned that I had to return any of her personal belongings...

Bah humbug.

While I wait for all this crap, I keep busy shooting pics and meeting random new friends. Here is some beauty for the soul, to cancel out some of the crap above.

life is random. in bad ways, as well.

2007-01-08T15:43:00.000+01:00

Grandma passed away.

Suddenly, improbably, unfairly.

I'm looking for the first flight out to Milan. No clue what will happen after. I have to retrace a couple of months worth of decisions and thinking.

Randomness must go all ways, doesn't it?

Happy new year! and last travel plans

2007-01-04T22:13:00.000+01:00

Happy new year to all. 'Hope it brings everyone good stuff.

Me, I can't wish for a better year than 2006, but since I'm on a roll, why not. 2007 sure started well enough. I'm still in Costa Rica, lending a hand in organizing things in my hosts' home, with no worries other than to organize my future, and I've just finalized the purchase of my plane tickets.

I'll be leaving Costa Rica to go to Key West, in Florida, on January 16th. There I'm going to give it a shot at writing this book, since I'm visiting one of my old college roommates who has become a writer herself.

On February 1st I'll be reaching North Carolina, to visit an old coworker and his wife, who just bought their house there. It'll be a quick visit, so I can make it back to New York for superbowl sunday.

I'll be making base in New York through March 14th, planning on how to move my life over to Italian soil. During that time I'll also be visiting friends in Montreal and anywhere else I can reach.

All this while grandma is asking when I get back. Through her care-taker, as she can't hear me when I speak over the phone. But she says this between random obsessive requests, so I'm trying to convince myself that she can't really make the difference...

I originally planned a much earlier trip. Be there before march. Then I figured who knows when I'll be back on this side of the pond... i don't want to regret not doing this trip my way. Have enough time to do everything I am planning on doing. No regrets is better than sacrifices. A selfish view, perhaps. But arriving to a cold city, with no home and a whole life to start over again, and a senile grandma to look over, with whom I can barely communicate... I do have new friends and opportunities waiting for me, but I can't help and be anxious.

And leaving March 14th will make it exactly one year of travel. I left March 14th 2006 from NY. I figured it was worth the extra time to make a clean close on it.

So, there's that.

Happy new year.

Trip to La Paz Waterfall Gardens

2006-12-24T19:09:00.000+01:00

Saturday morning. Gorgeous day to go out for a field trip. A friend of mine had been to this park half a year ago, with his wife and kids, and they thought it'd be really nice for me to visit.

They have a butterfly farm, frog rooms, snake rooms, a hummingbird area, a trout pool, and plenty of hiking through the tropical rain forest to some waterfalls... Pretty place. Steep entrance price, definitely geared towards foreign visitors, but the $25 were kinda worth it.

We took tons of pictures, here's a small sample of Costa Rican fauna and flora!

New scars, and my doggie charge.

2006-12-22T05:35:00.000+01:00

So there I was, ready to start another day of tanning and relaxing. I figured I'd hydrate before playing at being a lizard. I had a bottle half-full of water. I needed a big glass to pour the water in it. I looked in one of the kitchen's many cabinets, and find a nice, big, 2004-olympics-edition coca-cola glass. Neat!

I took it out, and saw a nice crack in it. Ah well, if they still had it in there among the glasses that were being used, it'd probably still hold. I did remember that I had to wash it before using it, though, 'cause this wonderfully warm country is the perfect breeding ground for cockroaches, and they get their filthy paws everywhere, so it's a good tip to rinse anything that was kept away before using it.

I was all energetic, looking forward to the sun, so I just quickly put water in the glass and started rubbing the edge in a circular motion, trying to rub off all the little pawprints...

Crack!

All I felt was a stab on my thumb's knuckle. My first reaction was to start cursing, upset that I had been so dumb as to use a cracked glass. I looked at my hand. A small semi-circle was drawn in dark red on it. Now I had to worry about bleeding all over the place... I just stood there, frozen for a couple of seconds, seeing the cut and wondering what I could grab that wouldn't remain stained. I finally ran for some toilet paper in the bathroom.

The cut was small, but seemed deep. Nice big drops of blood kept forming on the surface. After the anger, I started to worry. I was alone in the house. Just last week I went to get a vaccine and I had fainted. Visions of me splayed on the floor, bleeding, with no one to find me for another couple of days, got me up and running.

The phone. I had to call someone. One of the nephews of the family whose house I was staying at lived nearby, and he had been helping me over the week to run errands and answer any question I had. He was also the same guy that had gotten more scared than I had when I fainted at the pharmacy... So I wasn't sure how useful he'd be for an emergency, but he was the only person I could call right away.

The first thing he asked me was if I felt faint. ;) I said no, but last time I had also felt fine up to the moment we were leaving... I seem to have a delayed-reaction fainting system... :P He said he'd call some doctor and come pick me up. I started to get ready, trying to get dressed while holding the bandaging in place... left food for the dog, closed all the doors.. At some point I did start getting woozy. I couldn't let myself go! I started jumping up and down, kept saying "no!" and looked for any sugary stuff in the kitchen. I poured honey into my mouth straight from the bottle, and ate cookies. Then I went outside to wait.

He showed up half an hour later.

In a scooter.

I looked at him, worried. Yeah, he means well, but definitely not the right person for emergencies...

It didn't help that on the way over we almost ran over a child.

His girlfriend's brother was the doctor we went to see. He was home for lunch and he could check the wound, see if it needed anything serious.

Final verdict: had he been in the office, he might have considered putting some stitches in. As it was, he disinfected it and put a band-aid on it. Said it should be fine if I didn't bend the thumb too much.

We were on our way back after about 15 minutes, where I took the time to calm down and be sure I could get back on the scooter.

I didn't think to take pics right away, unfortunately, but I did take some the day after. You can check the wound out, and see also pics of the doggie I'm taking care of (in this trip I've taken care of more pets than I've had in my whole life...!) and another cool nature shot.

'Til the next adventure! :)

Costa Rica xmas

2006-12-10T01:10:00.000+01:00

I just realized I haven't posted any pics since october...! Sorry about that. But I kinda finished the touristy trip. Since then, if you recall, I've gone through Italy to search for my roots, with a quick side trip through Europe for work-related stuff. Starting from Genova two months ago, I've been through the Island of Elba, Pisa, Florence, Valencia, Madrid, Amsterdam/Utrecht, Milan, Turin, Elba again, and then a quick Rome-Dusseldorf-New York-Costa Rica week. Hmmm. Maybe I've been traveling a bit much... ^.^

Since I was running around with a purpose other than tourism, the pictures are scarce, but I do have some. Here is some picked at random.

After the quick run-through NY, where I managed to see only a fraction of all the people I wanted to say hi to, it was time to fly down to Costa Rica for the usual xmas holiday among "family".

I'm going to be here through the New Year, dealing with the plants business and chilling and getting ready for Milan. And writing. Gonna give it a shot at a book :) I foresee random updates, and lotsa email/chat contact when I connect the wonderful 128bps phone modem... :P

concluding a cycle: 8.5 months later...

2006-12-01T04:33:00.000+01:00

December first. I'm back in the United States, back in the home where the trip started. It's been eight and a half months of travel through Europe. I've seen 7 countries, met tons of people, even my own grandma. And because of her I've decided to settle in Milan for now. I have left her for a little, to get my stuff in the Americas, to give myself a little breather, to get used to the idea... but it's a given that I'm going to be next to her from now on.

Eight and a half months of living out of a suitcase. When I returned to my things, kept in a neat pile in my friends' basement, I felt elated to see that I had more than just 3 pairs of pants and the same 7 shirts... Although the happiness quickly turned into worried thoughts on where to put all the stuff, and how to get it there... and, where? I still don't have an apt or anything set up in Italy! I'm going to miss the freedom of having no material responsibilities... :P

I was worried that this trip wouldn't change me. I had gone a couple of months and felt the same as always. Then I started to dig up all the family past. And met new people. Put myself out there a bit more. My eyes opened a bit. I realized that I had never really grasped much of the words of wisdom I could emptily repeat. Like "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". I have known that phrase since I was little. But only now I've understood the difference between those people that accomplish and those that don't. There's a dedication involved. Kinda like what drove me to find out about the family. It was an imperative to accomplish. Any obstacle was to be surmounted, not left to be out of procrastination, laziness, shyness, or anything. It's like a different state of mind. I willed myself to it, really dedicated myself, and I accomplished.

Anyhoo, for the more practical details: I arrived this afternoon in NY, after 2 days of travel. From Elba I stopped in Rome one night, met a new friend. Then stopped in Dusseldorf one night, met an old friend. Another phrase I've assimilated is the one that says "It's not the destination, but the traveling that matters." Even though it took me almost 3 days to get to NY, what I experienced and found along the way was so much more important!

I'm here in NY 'til Tue, then I'm off to Costa Rica for the holidays, a last tropical escape until I have to reach the grayness of Milan. I don't have a USA phone number yet, but I'm going to look into the prepaid cards.

A slow learned, alright, but at least still learning, and finally enjoying the trip! :)

America here I come [back]!

2006-11-20T01:34:00.000+01:00

I've been in Milan for almost 2 weeks. My hosts, found through a friend of a friend with just a few phone calls, have been amazingly patient and kind and didn't kick me out after my stay of a couple of days turned in a couple of weeks... ^.^

I have to say that I never believed in the networking thing. I thought hard work and skills had to make up for knowing the right people. I've changed my mind a bit on that. While I still think that one has to prove to be hard working, much of what I have accomplished has been thanks to knowing people that could put me in touch with other people... the help I've gotten from that supersedes the shyness I feel in asking so many people for so many things...

As of now I'm convinced that grandma is well taken care of, while I need to take care of things and get my stuff in the USA. So I'm going ahead with the trip back to the Americas as originally planned. So confirmed Croxleys for December 1st :) And I'll be on campus that whole day, visiting as many people as I manage to. I'll have only 'til Tue to visit everyone in New York, then I'm moving on to Costa Rica mad early dec 6.

Unfortunately I can't comment on anything about Milan as far as sight-seeing goes... I did pass underneath the Duomo, but only running to catch the metro to reach one place or another. I barely had a chance to be amazed at its architecture. Doesn't help that it's surrounded by construction stuff for some remodeling. I have no pics to share on the city yet. It'll have to wait for when I come to settle here. I can say that I found the weather very cooperative. It was real nice the first week. Then the grayness that Milanese complain about showed up, and hasn't really left. It's a city of mist.

That's all for now. I have 10 more days to run around before leaving Italy, all family-related. Looking forward to seeing everyone in a couple of weeks!

life is random. here is proof.

2006-11-14T17:59:00.000+01:00

I have only to convince myself of something, and make a statement, for Lady Luck to change things around. Sometimes I think it's a personal game she plays with me...

If I dubbed Genova a city of possibilities, Milan has been a city of unearthing long forgotten past. Thanks to a bit of hard work, and a string of coincidences and luck (of course... always luck...) I started off Tuesday morning with no family, and in only 12 hours I had a grandmother, alive, in an elderly care facility.

I've had a week to digest the information, think on what to do, and make a new plan. She needs someone, that's for sure. All things point for a settling down in Milan, at least for a while. I'm still going to try and work out the trip to America, but details are hazy.

If anyone knows anyone in this city, that can offer a bit of hospitality, let me know. It doesn't make sense for me to rent a whole apartment with a long-term contract until I figure out the trip, the legalities, and the job options, but I also feel the need to be here for Christmas.

...

Yeah. I've learned to take life as it comes.

catching up on procrastination... ;)

2006-11-06T13:55:00.000+01:00

I've spent 2 weeks in Holland, hooked to broadband... and here I am, 20 mins before leaving to the airport, updating the blog. ;)

Besides playing with my friends' baby, who has upgraded her backwards crawl to a full running around the house causing mayhem since I last saw her, I met up with friends from Costa Rica, took them around Amsterdam one day, attended the Horti Fair, and saw a bit of the new environment my friends moved to. Pretty place!

This afternoon I'm flying over to Milan, staying there a couple of days and see what I can find out about my family. I've made some headway in my research these past weeks! I foresee lots of running around in the near future... Good thing I bummed around for two weeks to recharge :P

I am bit less organized this time around, I have no clue where I'll be staying past this week, but I already bought a plane ticket to head back to the Americas Nov 30th! I'll be in NY dec 1st through the 5th, then I'm flying down to Costa Rica for my annual xmas time there. It's hard to break the habit... ;)

If you are in New York, you can make it, I'll be at Croxley's happy hour on Fri Dec 1! That's in Long Island, New Hyde Park.

And Italy... broadband connection is much scarcer, so hang on 'til the next update!!

Hotel Westin Valencia

2006-10-22T12:25:00.000+02:00

I didn't get to see anyone, but we were told by the consierge that one of the nights we were there, some famous people were around, for different events. Claudia Schiffer, Elle McPerson, Ana Obregon, the daughter of some Contessa... Other than the first name, of the supermodel, I didn´t know anyone. But I guess it was cool to be there :)

The down side to this hotel is that it's still under construction! The stay there wasn't exactly as great as I thought it should be, there were tons of things not quite working... and there were more TV channels in the sucky hotels in Serbia than they had here!! I wasn't very impressed.

Ah, and the food. Served in a moderately fancy restaurant, but definitely needs improvement! We had a paella valenciana with some very tough meat, a sushi appetizer that was all cheap vegetables, and a crepes dessert that was pretty sad, just the dough with trays of sauce. I had better crepes in Eastern Europe, for a tenth of the price! We ended up buying stuff at the supermarket and getting together in the terrace to munch. It was quite funny, actually. Here we were, fanciest place we've been in a while, and we're eating crackers and tuna from the cans... lol

Still, I get to say I was in a 5 stars hotel. :D And this one is aiming to be the biggest and better in Valencia. ...Maybe next year, when they are done fixing it...

Now I'm in Madrid, attached to my friend's colander... lol. Yeah, it's the right word. She rigged an antenna out of a Belkin device and an aluminum colander, put outside the roof window... Ghetto, but it works, so I'm not complaining ;) I can't get *my* computer conected, but her works just fine for email and basics. From fancy to ghetto in one day. Can't say I don't have variety in my life ;)

Partying has been cancelled for this visit, so I won't have much to tell on that front. My friend twisted her ankle pretty badly a couple of days ago, falling from her bike, so she's home, and goes out and about on crutches. Not quite useful for going out dancing :P

Oops, it's raining, I have to close the roof window... lol

'Til the next one!

Valencia!

2006-10-19T19:21:00.000+02:00

Pisa was an interesting stop. I also did a side-trip to Firenze for half a day, on Monday. Didn't get to see a thing other than the train station and the Piazza della Repubblica. But I met some interesting people. More material for this book of mine... ;) I'll have to come back for a more touristy trip.

On Tue I flew to Valencia. One of them Ryan Air flights. It was the first time I used them. I was surprised by not having assigned seats, no option to lower the back of the seat, no complimentary magazine, not even the net you usually put those in, in the back of the seat. All refreshments were to be paid. But, it only cost 22EUR, all included. No turbulence, flight was noisy but safe. Can't complain ;)

Valencia is technically a business trip. So I get to enjoy a 5 stars hotel, attend a business environment, and "work" for 3 days. *grin* Then I'm off on Sat to Madrid for a couple of days. My friend says she has found an internet connection in her home, so I might be able to keep up with the update! I still think of that place as the party town... No other place has been as much fun and has so many clubs and bars!

Funny how I start to work in circles. I am retracing almost all of my steps. It seems that once I find something good, I stick to it ;)

Still gotta work on some pics, will come soon :D

randomness and other unexpected journeys

2006-10-16T00:14:00.000+02:00

This is so random, it's funny, and I have to share it. Turns out I own two pieces of land in Italy. One is a piece of "macchia mediterranea", a dry, small, dense wooded area in Tuscany. Even if it was flat and clean, it could barely fit a small house. It's in the middle of nowhere, far from any other construction, between a road and a ditch, unpracticable and unbuildable. The other piece is a bush. Literally. Next to a road, 10 square meters between the entrance to a home and the road. It *might* fit a tent. It's all pretty much worthless, but it's mine. How about that? ;)

Besides this, I have discovered puzzle pieces of my past that have started to fill in many holes. There is more to this battlegirl than just a woman from nowhere and everywhere. I should have done this much earlier... I have spent 4 days that have covered almost a century's worth of history!

But as far as traveling, an hour on a Ferry from Piombino takes you to the Island of Elba. This is a tourist haven, used mostly by Germans and Swiss, besides other Italians from the north. It is filled to the brim in the summer, and becomes a desert in the winter. The weather was unseasonably warm during these couple of days I've spent here. Mid october, and there were people on the beach. Sun shining all day, a small sweater at night but nothing more. Very pretty.

The water is gorgeous, clean and clear. The small towns are picturesque, build either on the sea, or up on the hills. All the roads between the major cities are twisting curves around the mountains.

I took few pictures in these days, but I'll upload some when I have a more permanent connection.

Sunday I left for Pisa. Unable to find a hostel or cheap hotel in the city, I was accompanied to an agroturismo in the countryside. Very pretty, even if far from anything. I took a side trip to Viareggio in the evening with some friends. It's right on the water, and many yachts and other boats are parked in this affluent town. An odd detail was that a piece of a road from the countryside to the city, near an industrial zone, is full of transvestite prostitutes! Apparently there is a gay scene nearby, that brought this market of men from Brazil that are all done up and parade along this road...

A bit of warning: I am going to keep traveling, but I think from here on my journey is going to take a slightly different turn. While I knew that coming back to Italy would allow me to do some research on my origins, what I've discovered has given me lots of work to do. I'm still going to Spain and Holland this week and next, but then I have to come back on Italian soil to further some research. The sight-seeing is going to be converted into work a bit, so there might not be as much carefree sightseeing from here on. And the Americas are going to have to wait...

Emilia Romagna

2006-10-10T21:50:00.000+02:00

Lugo, Ravenna, Bologna, Mirandola, Verona... it was an interesting week! 5 hours and 3 trains east of Genova is the not-so-small town of Lugo, home of the Ferrari logo! Their local hero was a plane pilot in the war, and his logo was the horse that you see on the famous car. His mother knew the founder of the Ferrari, and when he was looking for a logo for his company, she suggested he used her son's horse. Baracca, the hero, had died during one of his raids.

I was in Lugo for just 2 days, but my wonderful hostess (I can't help but call anyone that I've visited in this journey a wonderful person... they're the ones that have made possible 7 months of travel!) took some time off her busy schedule to show me a little of Ravenna, the main city nearby. One of the most renowned schools for mosaic restoration is here. The little stones create designs all over the local churches.

On Thursday I left Lugo to head towards Mirandola. Since the train stopped in Bologna, I took a couple of hours and walked around that city. I didn't take many pictures here, I had an unsafe feeling right off the train station, but I walked for a couple of hours under the "portici", the archways that line most of the sidewalks of the center. I read that they total 80Km worth of covered walking space! Who needs an umbrella here?! Like most medieval towns, it is a network of alleys and small streets. I even found a "Via dell'Inferno" (hell's road), but it was a very anonimous, no-shops, short street.

I arrived at Mirandola in the evening. I spent some summers and Christmas holidays here, when I was little. I don't remember much about it, but the home I used to visit is up for sale, abandoned... The girl that used to play with me in the yard is now a woman with her own family, and the town has grown in size, with many new buildings under construction. I biked all over with her, running errands, and we visited the local castle. I've decided I'll show my artwork here some day. After centuries of abandonment, it has been restored, and inside there is a museum, but also offices, conference spaces, and galleries! It's a bit out of the way, but I loved the space. Yes, I'm focusing on this being-an-artist thing, finally. Still not sure on how to actually get to it, but the idea is taking a better hold. And once there's a will, there's a way!

Saturday we took an afternoon trip to Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet. The historical center starts at the "Arena di Verona", an international concert venue. It's like a mini Roman colosseum. We walked through the narrow streets for a couple of hours, strolled by high fashion shops. It's amazing how even the smaller towns are full of shops with mad expensive designer stuff. I don't understand this cry of economical problems. It can't be just tourists that spend 1000EUR for a bag... how do many shops thrive even in the small towns??

Pictures are here, of course.

I returned to Genova Sunday, just to head back to Torino on Monday. I met a friend of my parents there. We spent 2 hours talking about them! It was enlightening. But that is a story for another blog... or book ;)

Tomorrow I'm headed to Isola d'Elba, for another chapter of battlegirl-meets-her-past. And next week I'm leaving Italy, with no date on when I'll return yet...

Next week will also mark 7 months of European travel. I have another month or so planned in Europe, then I foresee winter at the tropics, in Costa Rica. And since I'm on that side of the world, the plan is to visit the USA in the new year. So start preparing them guest rooms! :D

8 months of travel through Europe. I am starting to envision a product of this gestation... hopefully it'll come out with all 10 toes and 10 fingers.

The Balkans: an overview

2006-10-01T20:00:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the delay, folks. I've been back a week already, but I spent it all sick with the flu, and I had tons of pics to sort through, as well! Here is a rundown of the experience.

The trip overall was great. All my concerns about safety were unfounded. The only semi-threatening thing we had to watch out for was racism in Macedonia towards Serbs, left-over from old wars. But even that, it was more of a general sense of being looked down upon when we used Serbian words. It never came to physical violence. Well, unless you count the incident in Ohrid where the clerk of a mini market made a disgusted face and forcefully threw the receipt in our direction when she thought we were serbians... but as soon as she realized we were Italians, she was all smiles!

Let's see, the itinerary was roughly like this:

Sun 10 arrived in Belgrade, Serbia
Mon 11 drove south all day, into Macedonia. Arrived in Ohrid
Tue 12 explored Ohrid
Wed 13 day trip to Sveti Naum, south, at the border with Albania
Thu 14 drove north to Skopje, explored the city
Fri 15 drove north back to Serbia, to Vrnjacka Banja, stopping at Nis and Sveti George on the way there
Sat 16 day trip to Studenica
Sun 17 drive back to Belgrade, stopping by Golubac and Smederevo on the way there
Mon 18-Sat 23 Belgrade

The trip revolved mostly around city centers, churches and monasteries. The latter are everywhere! It's very interesting to see all the different religions co-exist in these countries. Due to the various conquests in their history, the population is now a tollerant mix of orthodox, catholic, muslim, and jewish faiths. Most cities, especially further south, have both minarets and steeples dotting the city's skyline. We didn't enter any mosque, ignorant as we all were of their customs and not wanting to offend anyone, but I have come to learn a bit about and appreciate the orthodox church's architecture.

An important note on the trip was the economical power we had. It was like japanese people coming to visit the west. Serbia still has its own currency, and the cost of living is much lower than Italy. We often dined at expensive restaurants, the best in town, the most picturesque... and paid only a third of what we would have spent in a just-good restaurant in Italy! To give you an idea, the most expensive meal we had cost us 15EUR each. And this was a huge, delicious, home-made-style meal at a gorgeous restaurant, drinks included! The only truly expensive parts were the car rental for the first week (gas prices are high even here, no escaping that) and the hotel in Belgrade.

Hotels in Belgrade... now, *that* is a sore spot. There are no true budget accommodations, and the hotels we found were falling apart! In the first, we paid 52EUR for one night, one room with four dorm-style beds, and a bathroom whose door handle fell off, the curtain was help up by a tube and wire, and the towels they gave us were floor mats. Pretty run down, overall. No bugs, that's true. And TV with satellite service. This was the Royal Hotel, where we stayed the first night.

The second week, we had 6 nights at the Slavja. We were in a mini-apartment. Maybe 20 years ago this was a deluxe accommodation. Today, it is a run-down, hot-water-not-quite-working, clogged-sinks, old place.

The people were the highlight of the journey. Starting with the two wonderful hosts we had, friends from a previous trip, who went out of their way to cook us dinner and take us out, and the new friends we made on the bus. In Serbia, not many speak English, tourism is still mostly from Eastern Europe itself, but we found several occasions where people went out of their way to help us out. At the bus station, we were trying to ask for directions to someone who wasn't able to communicate in English. So he left his post, and went around until he found someone else that did speak English, and explained to them what we needed, and made sure we understood! Looking for a frizer (a barber) we walked into a ladies' salon, and the one girl that spoke English walked us over to the other side of the street, and explained to a barber exactly what we needed...

While still sore from their troubled past, and with many political issues up in the air, like the Kosovo situation, the Balkans seemed to me a great spot. I'd recommend anyone to travel there, especially before the European Union takes over and the cost of living becomes insanely high.

But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here are the Balkans

Right now I'm in Genova, almost all better, just coughing a little. I'm headed to Emilia Romagna this Tuesday, and will spend a week in that region, visiting two different friends. One is a woman I met in New York, and it's kinda cool to see her here. The other is another childhood friend, in 15 years I only saw her once! I'm meeting her 3-years-old child, can't wait.

Blogging time might be a bit limited again, but I 'hope you're all still tuned!

quickie: back safe and sound!

2006-09-25T21:12:00.000+02:00

The last days in Belgrade were spent at a very lazy pace, and we took a combination bus/train to return (about 24 full hours of travel to make it home!) without any significant hitches. I'm working on sorting pictures, writing up an extended blog entry, and will upload as soon as I have a chance!

quickie: belgrade

2006-09-18T16:00:00.000+02:00

We made our way safely out of makedonia and back into serbia. One of our last stops was Vrnjcka Banja (yes, I learned how to pronounce 6 consonants in a row!), a town built around thermal waters, full of spas that charge the insane amount of 6EUR to use the jacuzzi-style pool of sulphuric waters, and 10EUR to get a massage... Next time, I'm spending a week here!!

It was funny how we felt relieved to be able to talk serbian freely again, with no fear of discrimination... Belgrade is going to be our base for the rest of the week. We returned the rent-a-car, so I'll soon experience the ultra-modern rail system. ;)

The only down-side to Belgrade is the insanely heavy air pollution. Cars here are still old-school, you can smell the lead going into your lungs...! Ah, and wait until I tell you of the hotels...

Return trip is set for sat evening, so we'll be back in genova later on Sunday. Another bus trip, diff. company. Let's hope for the best :)

quickie: onwards to skopje

2006-09-14T08:50:00.000+02:00

3 nights in Ohrid, we saw all the churches around, the one gutted-out fortress, the historical center, a town nearby, Saint Naum, at the border with Albania (and technically one of us crossed the border for a minute while chasing a peacock for a photo!), enjoyed the lake, great weather, good food, and we finally managed to avoid looking like serbians, so all is well. ;) We are now headed towards Skopje, the capital, for one day/night of exploration. We've been warned to keep our serbian rent-a-car in private garages... Let's see how we get out of this one ;)

quickie: alive and well in makedonia

2006-09-11T23:52:00.000+02:00

the bus trip was 17 hrs, but somehow they went by smoothly and quickly! I would have never believed it... Eurolines service gets my kudos. Belgrade is an interesting town, still recovering from the war in places, and it is a mixture of extreme poverty (gypsies mostly), old grandeur, and modern life. We were there only one night, so we saw very little, but we plan to dedicate some days to it again towards the end of our trip.

This morning we rented a car and made our way to Makedonia, aaaall the way to Ohrid. The only warning we had for the trip was to avoid Kosovo at all costs, and to park overnight in garages (a car with serbian plates can get pinpointed by certain locals...). So we first headed to Skopje using a combination of highway and mountain roads that circumvented the area, then we looked for the next highway to keep going south, to Ohrid. We got on this tiny road, figured it was an underdeveloped section of the country... and all of a sudden one of the guys reads a sign: "Kforce border patrol 1.5 Km" (I'll get back to you on the actual spelling of "Kforce", I forget what it actually was...)and asks us "Kforce? What does the Kosovo military have to do with this zone? Aren't we in Makedonia?" We suddenly realized we had taken a *very* wrong turn north and had headed straight for disaster! We did a quick u-turn and high-tailed outta there. No harm, no foul. But a nice scare to wake us up after the long, boring drive we had gone through.

We reached Ohrid late, found our hostel with some difficulty, but were pleased by the contrast of quality with the hotel we had in Belgrade. That one was a filthy, broken-down, almost scary place. Here, instead, things are run by a family, it smells nice, and even though when u look closely the bathroom is a bit yucky, overall the presentation is so much nicer!

Mistakes not to repeat: even though the languages are similar, do not use any serbian words in Makedonia! Ppl seem to get quite irate and dangerously unamicable when they think you are serbian... So we are defaulting to English, but try to make sure they understand we are Italian. That seems safe... Ah, and learning the cyrillic alhabet comes in very handy... I can muddle my way through it now!

We are keeping a communal offline diary with all the coolest adventures and things, so I'll have plenty to write about when I have a longer chance. Toodles until then!

center, north, and onwards east!

2006-09-09T17:33:00.000+02:00

bdays come and go, but the memories of good times remain... Saturday we had a combination party for myself and another girl who was also turning 30, just 6 days before me! Yummy bbq, good friends, 4 home-made cakes... it was so nice! :D

Then on Sunday I headed off with Claudio to Torino. He had to go for work for a couple of days, so I tailed along and caught the chance to get to know another city closely related to my past. My mother used to live there, I think. A couple of days before going there I mustered the nerve to call a phone number, of a lawyer whom I didn't remember, but my father had told me he used to hang out with my family and was friends with my mother. He was from Torino, so I was hoping to seeing him. His son answered, and *he* remembered me from when we were children and we played together! The father made me feel like it was only last year we last spoke, and was so glad I called, and was looking forward to meeting me to talk. He wasn't going to be there that days I was visiting, but once I return from Macedonia I have that to look forward to! I wonder how many things he will be able to tell me about my mother, my family, my childhood...

Torino gave me the impression of a quietly grand city. The center is all old palaces, but besides a couple of markedly different buildings, or churches, they are a bit homogeneous. It could also be that we arrived before everyone returned from vacation, so the city was emptier than usual. The northern part has succumbed to the onrush of poor immigrants from all countries, so it is a bit unsafe, but overall it has a good atmosphere. I finally got to see the Po, the biggest river of Italy, and the first you learn about in school.

I only spent 36 hours there, 'cause I returned reeeeally early to Genova Tuesday to meet with the Social Services about the residence thing. I explored another section of the city, but besides that, I didn't get much more out of the deal. It seems they will do anything for hoboes, but a clean, educated professional in limbo like myself doesn't really "deserve" assistance, I can manage on my own. The girl I spoke with put in my application anyways, to see if I slip through the cracks, but she suggested I take up residence with a friend and get health papers like that. I hate to be in this limbo where I know I could use some help, but I'm just intelligent/able/energetic/educated enough for people to think I don't need it. I understand the nicety of helping the less fortunate, but the country would benefit a lot more from helping me out a little now, than helping a druggie hobo for the rest of his life..

Ah, and I looked into getting a medical check-up privately, and it's indecent the amount of money doctors ask for, even here. I guess since I am in no bad health, I just need routine maintenance, I can put it off for another couple of months. Ah, and I barely started to fully consider the implications of having worked and contributed to social security in the US for 10 yrs, which I'll never see, while in Italy I have no right to a pension 'cause I never worked here... *grumble grumble*

Anyhoo, the rest of the week was spent here and there about Genova, running errands and getting ready for the next leg of the trip: Serbia and Macedonia! We are leaving this evening around 8pm with an Eurolines bus, that goes almost non-stop to Belgrade. 16 hours (if all goes well) in a bus!! I've never done something like it... 'Hope it won't be a horrible experience... Once there, we are spending the night to recover, and then we are renting a car to go south to Ohrid, a city on a lake, famous for a monastery and some other stuff. I'll learn things along the way then write about them, I am totally depending on the other two to be fully prepared (and they are...) ;)

From there we will lazily make our way back up north, stopping here and there. The guys want to pass by Sarajevo... I am a bit nervous about the area, these are places where not long ago war and massacres were at play... There is still much political tension.

Wish me luck and look forward to hear back from me in 2 weeks! There should be internet along the way, I might be able to put up a quick update once in a while. Until then, here are the latest pics.

Genova, city of possibilities

2006-09-03T11:21:00.000+02:00

[original snippet written Aug. 27]
Sunday afternoon. A lazy Sunday afternoon. New setting: the balcony of an apartment in Genoa. Gorgeous sunny day, it's still summer, but it's not as hot as Crotone. The breeze is cool. It caresses my body while I read a book about Calabria. A book of a passionate man and his family, his history, his traditions and focus on rebuilding a legend. The rumors of life bubble around me. Snippets of conversation. A child crying. A dog barking. Planes overhead, far away. Going to other places. And for a moment, I am still. Amid such movement, mental, physical, my emotions are quiet. A sense of peace. A hint of possibilities. The constant doubt of the future. But I feel the ghost of a life. Or rather, the soul. A ghost is of things gone. A soul is of things to come.
[end snippet]

Many things have accumulated since my last full entry. Let's pick it up again from Crotone. I realized I should write down something about the places I've seen...

Crotone itself is a small town, but its historical center is built over and around a castle/fortress on a hill. In the last blog entry where I posted pictures you can see some of that. As far as beaches, once you have a car it's an easy thing to take on of the winding coast streets and stop anywhere, and hike down the semi-cliff to the water. Many small beaches dot the coastline, and the locals know and use them all. They also have this habit of taking along tents, tables, even portable gazeboes, and set up an all-day eat fest. And we're not talking sandwiches... They take along lasagna, eggplant parmesan, sausages... and they'll offer you it all if you get too close, forcing you to fill up until you can't stand anymore, and then you lay in the heat for hours, comatose... The friends we visited, who had a camping spot on a private beach, were more reasonable than that. We ate cold pasta and watermelon. 'Til we burst, too, but at least it was healthy food :)

A couple of days we drove around to nearby towns to see some sights. Among them: Le Castella, a much-visited castle on a tiny island (pic was in last blog). The gorgeous thing about that place was that we witnessed a huge storm approaching from the sea. The lightning was so violent and there were so many hits, that I managed to take several pictures of it! I also took the stormy clouds behind the castle, the look of the rain approaching, the boats running away from it all... We had to run, too, into a bar, to escape the violent downpour for the 15 minutes it passed over us. I love storms. Such power!

Santa Severina is a medieval stronghold town built over a hill further inland. It also has a small castle in it, and we found our way to a small hostel known to our hostess, where she had simply called the night before saying "prepare a meal for 6, of Calabrian specialties". For a couple of hours we sat and kept passing around plates of cheeses (eaten with honey!), assorted cured meat, olives, pasta with mushrooms, a home-made fruit tarte dessert, and several bottled of "digestives", which are a staple at any italian table. Amazing all the different herbs, fruits, and veggies you can add to alcohol!

Back near Crotone is Capo Colonna, an archeological site where both the Greeks and the Romans established temples and residences. A new museum opened just last month, with artifacts found during excavations. Such richness of culture and soil in those parts. Unfortunately, much of it goes to waste, unorganized, unvalued, and unpublicized. The "Colonna" (column) that gives the name to the place is the single remnant of the temple to Hera that used to be there. It is a solitary sight, but the stories behind it, all nicely retold within the museum, talk of much prosperity in the past.

We visited several other places, but the names escape me at the moment. The book I mentioned in the first paragraph talks of the whole region. Alexander Dumas was said to have passed through it, and the book kinda revolves around that. Don't know if there is a translation, but the original is titled "Tra Due Mari" by Carmine Abate.

After the week spent with the group of friends, I spent the couple of days before my own departure organizing my things and my thoughts. I clocked in several hours at my trusty internet spot, the "Maxim Cafè" [ciao Antonio!] and basked in the last of the heat. By some weird law of impossibility I managed to pack my luggage with the couple of extra things I bought while I was down there, and it all fit! I even seemed to have some extra space!! One of them mysteries of life...

My friend accompanied me to the train station on Thu morning... and I nearly didn't make it back north! Out of 3 trains I had to take, the first was cancelled altogether. Loosing all my connections and seat reservations, I had to re-form my travel plan. The original 14 hours of estimated travel time became 22. The wonderful thing about this trip is that I never have to be anywhere at any specific time. So I sat back and relaxed in the chair of the customer services office, while I observed an interesting exchange of thoughts between the local employee and a yelling girl that was upset 'cause her train had left exactly on time, leaving her behind. She kept yelling things like this was outrageous, how dares a train leave on time, here in Italy! No, this isn't Italy, this is Northern Africa! She demanded her money back, and an apology! The employee, a philosophical fellow, had a very unhurried manner, and insisted on taking time to explain to her his thoughts on the matter. Lucky for me he pushed her aside (with a humorous "since you're already upset, let me make you even more upset, sit there and wait while I take care of this lady...") and sat me on the next train going in the right direction, with some sketches of possible schedules I could take, if I found space.

Lightly worried, but still unhurried, I carried on. Had I stayed, it would have been a week before I found a spot. End of august the population that migrated south for the holidays migrates back up, so trains are overbooked... The first train became a combination local train and bus. Then I had to spend the trip from Lamezia to Naples on the floor at the entrance of the wagon, 'cause all the seats were sold out. At Naples I sat around for 3 hours waiting for the overnight to Genova. This was a claustrophobic "cuccette", a 6-seats-turned-beds where all sorts of women travelers played tetris with their luggage and bodies. Nothing like the happy experience I had coming south...

I finally sat foot in Genova around 5:30am. Still pitch dark, I spent the 15 minutes previous looking out the window to a gorgeous sight of a storm over the Ligurian coast. Genova, here I come!! ;) At the station was my new friend and host Claudio. New city, new set of keys. To a gorgeous small apartment in a nice neighborhood just outside of the city center. First order of the day: focaccia! Second was a shower and some sleep... then we spent a long weekend going out and about, visiting Genova, meeting friends, getting to know the neighborhood... I have no clue what the names of the streets are, but I finally know my way around :)

The time here has been great. I have savored some more of the local life, shopping at the indoor markets, learning about food, eating more than I should but loving every bit of it. (I finally bought a scale today to keep track of the belly... lol) The map I have of the city is a flat rendition that gives no justice to a land that winds its way up the hills through narrow streets, stone stairways and even "funicolari", mini trains used to simply go from one level of the city to the one above it. A plaza reached that way gave us a gorgeous overview of the center. I took some pics at sunset, on a clear day. Beautiful thing.

Tomorrow night, Sat, we are having an actual bday party at my friend's home. Tonight it's "aperitivo" time! This is another custom that seems particular to Italy: you go for a drink before you go to dinner. Kinda of the happy hour we used to do in NY on Fridays, but it's a lighter deal. Just one drink, some munchies, and then you go eat real food. If you meet up with friends during the evening, you usually go for an aperitivo. Drinking yourself stupid doesn't seem to be a widespread custom. Munchies are served as part of the drink order, for free. So the smart thing is to know which bars give you the best/most munchies :)

Aaight, it's pictures time. This is Genova!

PS) After many phone calls and visits around several city offices, it seems there's a way for me to become a resident without having an actual home... My being in limbo poses bureocratic questions, I can't even visit a doctor for routine check-ups, 'cause I don't appear in the system... more on this next week, after I go to my appointment!

quickie update

2006-08-31T23:44:00.000+02:00

thx all for the bday wishes! i started celebrating a couple of days ago, still going strong through the weekend... ;) internet connection is scarce, and i admit i have been slacking on the blogging offline front, so unfortunately i don't have many details or any pics to show yet.

preparing for my trip east with my two new friends from genova, i arrived a week ago to spend some time here. in this time i got to know more of this beautiful and yet-undiscovered-by-tourists city. i'll post some nice pics next time. oh, and the food... ah, the food. luckily i have no scale to keep track of my weight. all my clothes still fit, but i often find the need to walk after a meal just to be able to breathe... ;)

this sunday morning we're taking a side-trip to Torino, for a couple of days. then the final departure east is saturday evening.

more blogging soon! time to go celebrate some more! :D

week of ferragosto

2006-08-21T15:45:00.000+02:00

Memorable. We have spent plenty of time at the local beaches, a new place every day. Visited a couple of sight-seeing spots, like the castle at Le Castella, or the town of Santa Severina for a dinner of typical regional food (heavy on the cheeses and the sausages...) Mornings of sleep for all. Me, lots of sleepless nights. Enjoying the company, feeling every moment. Communal lunches and dinners, games of cards, walks around town... fun fun!

I have finally dug into some of my italian roots. Being with 5 other italians, all my same age, has given me a chance to fill 15 years of cultural gaps. It's like an accelerated course of adolescence through adulthood. I even found someone who understands all the languages I speak. I can switch between them, mess up, and I am still understood. I still live a borrowed life, I am still the foreigner... but I am slowly integrating, I found some vestigial roots. I am starting to feel complete. I have even had brief fantasies of settling down and start a family of my own. I might be finally achieving balance. It is scary. But It also feels right. I have a feeling of home. I missed it.

No worries, I still have some ways to go. I am still a random speck in the world, the battlegirl you all know. A friend has dubbed me "Miss Brown". A particle constantly in motion, pushed by the environment. I still have to backtrack to my earlier childhood. Find some family information. Place myself into this world a bit more. But it's getting closer. Life is funny. It is full of surprises if only you give yourself a chance to be open and try to experience things.

As I look back on pictures of this trip, the people I've seen, the people that have come and gone, those that will always remain, those that I will possibly never see again... I feel a mixture of elation and sadness. What is there to life, really? What are the things to worry about, and what are those that are so superficial, they just hurt you in an instant, but are not to be considered for the long haul? Morals, cultural definitions, they are all so subjective... It's all about respect for those around you, but for yourself most of all.

I wish there was a way to integrate my worlds a bit more. Make the physical distances shorter. I miss everyone so. Some I will always regret not having gotten closer to when I had the chance. But life can always be amazing, if you give yourself the right opportunities. You never know what can still happen.

Aaight, enough philosophizing. The last visitors left yesterday morning. It's now back to myself and my friend. She is back to her 9 to 5, so I have a chance to catch up on blog and things. I got a train ticket to go back to Genova Thu morning. My 30th bday is coming up, there's some celebrating to do! Through Sep. 9 I am going to be hanging around up north, looking up other friends I haven't visited yet. Then I am embarking on the trip to Eastern Europe, which has been confirmed. My two new friends have planned what sounds like an amazing experience. I just hope we won't run into any civil unrest... But we should be near internet spots along the way, I hope to be able to keep blogging. The trip will be 2-3 weeks. Then we'll see.

I'm closing down this blog entry with some new pics that have been in the making all this while. Definitivamente, in Crotone, me` scialat'! ('hope I got that right... spero di averlo scritto bene...)

5 months. I can't believe all I've seen and all I've met. Lucky, lucky me.

company and shootings stars

2006-08-12T12:53:00.000+02:00

After another 3 days of beach, walk aimlessly around, and sleep, Thursday of this week the company finally arrived. Started off the day with a friend of a friend, a local girl who's on vacation from studying, and she was nice to take me around and tell me something about the city. We walked the castle, took pictures, the went through the narrow streets and got lost, took some more pictures, then visited the local park and took pictures at a tree that must be mad old and composed of several fused trees...

Before picking up the first visitor for this weekend, we tried to pick up some fried calzones from a local pizzeria. A specialty I was told I *had* to try. They have the pick-a-number-at-the-door system. Our number: 82. The number on the screen: 8. No kidding. After 20 minutes of waiting, they ran out of food. It was only 1:30pm and they closed down! After picking up visitor #1, a friend from Genova, from the bus stop, we drove around trying to find *anything* open. We ended up at a small food store that had ran out of bread but sold us the ingredients to make a carbonara. So we had a nice hot meal in the early afternoon of the south.. lol.

Since then, it has been one cool experience after the other. We attended a greek play outdoors, it was a modern twist of the story of King Oedipus, done amazingly well. It's a theatre company that does has been doing outdoor plays in archeological sites of the region for 3 years. The background to the stage was a full moon. And since it's the night of the shooting stars, we saw a huge one run across the sky right. The play right at that moment called for some loud noise, and we thought it was the meteorite that had fallen nearby! Oh, and since I finally bought myself a tripod, I took some gorgeous pictures of the rising moon above some clouds. Amazing night.

The next guest arrived late that night. After the play and some yummy pizza on a restaurant overseeing a cliff, we went back to the apt, and since the hostess still had to work (life sucks sometimes...), her and her bf went to bed early. Myself and the other guest went to see shooting stars by the docks. I am not sure if it was the ambient light or what, but we didn't see that many! Isn't this night supposed to be one star after the other kinda deal??

Yesterday was a very lazy day of beach, walk aimlessly around (but it's so much more fun with company!) and then in the evening we all grouped for the meal. The last two guests arrived yesterday evening. We are now a total of 6 people in the apartment, and they are all cool, fun, nice, wonderful!

Last night we tried to see some more shooting stars, but we didn't have much more luck. Either this night of San Lorenzo isn't all it's cracked up to be, or we missed something... Tonight, we're supposed to do the fire on the beach at night, so it'll be the last chance for it :P

Unfortunately I had some probs with the computer and I haven't been able to download pics yet, so I'm leaving you in suspense about the pictures. The internet cafe is closing for a week. I'll be back Monday 21st. Happy ferragosto!

PS) This holiday, Aug. 15, also marks month #5 of my trip...!!!!!

first week in the south

2006-08-07T14:31:00.000+02:00

I have been here a week already! I have basked in the hot sun, enjoyed the local hospitality, relaxed and rested, and finally got myself a cell phone number (email me if I forgot to send it to ya). Could I really be trying to settle in? And yet my future is still full of planned trips to other countries...

Tue my hostess started her regular work week. For 4 days I had a chance to do the tourist thing, exploring the city and its people. I found the tourist office down an under-construction alley, a tiny door with a simple "Turismo" tile over it. Luckily the shop guys I asked directions to were good. On my way there I saw no signs to indicate the way. It seems they're just starting to promote the area to tourists. They are doing a lot of work in advertisement, but I'd call it still "under construction". The fact that the office girl kept repeating that she had no official calendar of events for the month, as no one had called to confirm, didn't quite spell professionalism. I did get plenty of brochures and a simple map of the area to help me navigate the streets. I found the beach, and learned that from 1:30 to at least 4pm, but often later, the city shuts down. Only a few food places remain open, but even those close at some point. The heat of the south still mandates life here. Human beings and industrialism haven't overrun nature yet!

In the evening we had guests over, some coworkers that came to enjoy a Genovese specialty: pansotti con sugo di noce. They are a type of ravioli with ricotta and herbs inside, made fresh, and the sauce is made of nuts. Heavy as all hell but yummy, of course! It's a wonder the pasta managed to survive the extra-long plane trip. ...although the sauce did have an odd flavor... :P Still, no stomach ache from anyone the next morning, so it was all good. The fun part was to hear all about their work place during the dinner. Stories of people with mental and physical impairments caused by accidents... just the thing for a pleasant dinner. ;)

Wed. After having explored the town, it was time to hit the beach. Amid the pay-to-enter establishments there are small strips of "free" beach. The only difference being the lack of bathrooms, chairs, umbrellas and bar services. Having a home nearby, and not planning on being there more than a couple of hours, I had no need to pay money to enjoy the clean, sandy beach, clear water, breezy hot sun, and work on my tan!

The next couple of days were more of the same. A stroll about town, looking for summer clothes so I could change the only pair of shorts I currently own. Then the beach, then home to hang out with my friend, tired from a day of work, but up to showing me some spots and do the dinner thing.

Saturday and Sunday we hung out with another friend at a camping area. They are locals but like to have a camper by the beach. Great idea, in my opinion. :) It was a nicer beach than the one in town, in a curved piece of coast. One of the amazing things was the weather. Sunny one moment. Then dark clouds. Then sun. For lunch we had a huge downpour. Then sun. Then when we had to leave, the skies opened up again. The view was amazing. The dark clouds in the background, and the coast of the small beach all sunny. Luckily I brought my camera the second day. So you can see some pictures of Crotone and its beauty!

The next couple of days I am planning on doing some cultural things. Then starting Thursday we're going to have guests. A whole bunch of friends from the north are coming by for the big Italian holiday of Ferragosto, the middle of August. I don't remember what the holiday actually is about. Kinda of a mid-summer day, and as it's usually too hot to do much in August, many businesses just shut down for the whole month and not much gets done. Why not celebrate that? ;)

I'm going to try and work on more pictures. I have been slacking this past week! And there are too many nice places not to photograph. 'Til then!

southern crooks and the (foreign) visitor

2006-08-04T18:28:00.000+02:00

Finally! After 5 days of checking out every internet point I found in town, and of being denied in each one to connect my computer, I found one right around the corner from where I live that does it! Still expensive, but now I have the freedom to upload blogs, pics, check email, chat... :D

Here is the first blog entry I had offline. Nice and long to cover your weekend :) Subsequent entries were still incomplete, but I haven't done much more than the beach and walk about. I'll try to have more on Monday, for all of ya bored at work. ;)

Monday evening. I left Genova at 5pm on Sunday, by train, to go to Crotone, at the bottom of Italy. I was scheduled to take 3 trains over 14.5 hours. My friend had a plane reservation for that evening, a trip of just 3 hours. She kept trying to convince me to go by plane with her. ...I ended up getting to her workplace before she did! Her airline was a mess and she didn't get in until 3pm today. My trip, albeit long, was uneventful. Even the half hour delay of the first train didn't mess up my schedule. I found the overnight train with 10 mins to spare, and my companion in the 2-bed cabin was a woman who was very nice and showed me everything there was to the trip, even gave me tips like putting the top bed's ladder in front of the door to prevent break-ins.

Then came the fun part: I arrived at the train station in Crotone. I had 1.5 hours of sleep Sat night. And about 5 hours and several 20-mins naps from the trains Sun night. I went to call my friend, who told me she was still stuck in Rome, all planes delayed. She told me to get to her workplace, get keys to her place from a friend, and make myself at home. I was tired, but not exhausted, and I figured it'd be easy enough to go the 3 miles to her work and then another 3 to her home. So off I went to find a cab.

An older guy offered me his cab, showed me to the car, helped me out with the luggage, asked me why I'm here... the whole nice guy routine. Then we took off. After such a nice train trip, I was all optimistic, and never imagined I'd run into trouble. But I'm older and wiser than I look. When he told me we were taking a shortcut, my little antennas stood to attention. I non-chalantly made sure to say that I just wanted the shortest and cheapest route. And he said it's still going to cost me about 20-22EUR. This for a 5 Km trip. My eyes popped open. Great, so much for a good trip.

I calmly told him that was insane. So he starts going insane. Granted, it wasn't that bad. He just started blabbering that I was insulting him of being a coward and cheater. Still calmly I told him not even in NY we pay such prices. Then he starts to try and make a deal. 15EUR to get there. I told him no. He threatened to take me back. I told him he could leave me there for all I cared. I could give him something for his trouble, but I wasn't going to pay that amount. In the end, he took me 500 meters and back to the station. I even tried to get him to use the meter, which he refused to do, of course. He even said how I just ruined his day, how I was insulting him, how he put in motion this thousands euro machine to give me a service and I was denying him money... I didn't budge, but didn't get upset. I knew the routine. I told him I wasn't a rich tourist with money. I was dropped off at the station unceremoniously, had to take my own luggage off, and he took off with some other tourists.

Back at the station, a group of men, other taxi guys, crowded around me and started asking me what happened. I explained. They told me he *was* taking me the right way, but then they started talking in southern italian among themselves, which I don't understand, and I didn't know if they were unhappy with him or me. I assumed the latter. I went in and asked the customer assistance guy about buses. He was too shy to be a scammer, but told me the buses were the trains' competitors, so he couldn't give me much info. I should ask the guy at the bar, which also sold bus tickets. So I went to do that, got bus tickets, and went back out to wait.

The taxi guys didn't relent. One of them told me he would take me for 10EUR. I told him I already got bus tickets. Then they all started saying the buses were on strike. I was reaching the crying in frustration point, but I figured it'd get me nowhere, and I was better off toughening it up. Back to the bar I went, all the while dragging all my luggage back and forth (never again am I packing this much crap, btw...). I told the bar guy what I was being told, he said he didn't think there was a strike. Back outside I go, and since the cabs were lining the bus stop, I went across the street from there, in the station's parking lot, and waited there.

10 minutes later, one of the taxi guys walked past me, towards one of the cars behind me. I nodded. He went to his car, put some music on, and waited. I didn't even sit down. I had my backpack on, my huge ass luggage on the floor, in the shadow of a tiny tree, hot sun beating on the cement, but wasn't too hot yet, and I calmly waited. I figure he was waiting for me to crack and beg for a ride. My will points were boosted by that, and I resolved to wait there as long as it took. My friend was late anyways, it's not like I had anywhere to go. After 15 mins, he turned the radio off and got up. Somebody he knew stopped by, in a car. They talked. 5 mins later, he came by and told me: "Miss, the buses are *really* not coming today. My friend here is willing to take you. Just give him 5-6EUR, it's all good." I smiled in what I hope was a grateful way, said thank you, walked towards him. Then I had a moment of hesitation, considered the option of being kidnapped and mugged to be shown a lesson... but I figured I was making a point of having no money, the driver didn't look too shady, so I went with it.

The guy was a skinny, silent person. Didn't talk at all during the trip. I tried being alert, observing the route he was taking. He took me straight to the institute my friend works at, helped me with the luggage, and refused any payment! I went from a 20EUR ride to nothing in half an hour! Naive touristy girlie 1, locals 0. :D ...I wonder if I'm riding on the good karma of donating all my good stuff to charity. Thousands of dollars worth of life to the little cement house in Hempstead, NY, to be used by the homeless and whomever that institution helps. The only thing that bothers me at times is that I never seem to repay, but rather pay forward, or sideways. In the bigger scheme of things I guess it works, but I wonder if in the personal world of the people I deal with I'm seen as ungrateful. Know that I'm not! :)

The people at my friend's workplace were real nice, offered me a nutella croissant (yum!), and even a ride to my friend's house. In the end, and all I wasted was the cost of 2 bus tickets, a whole 1.80EUR. :D [note: I later found out there really is a strike of buses this whole week...!] My friend finally arrived in the afternoon, had the stamina to show up for work for a couple of hours, and then we had a pleasant but short evening, as we were both exhausted.

Crotone is a small town, but it has some interesting tourist attractions, including a castle right in the middle, and an archeological museum that highlights its Greek past. It is the home of Pitagoras, the mathematician. It's on the sea, so the beach is a whole 10 mins walk. The water is that transparent clean, clear blue color you see in postcards. The town seems peaceful, just a couple of shady parts. I was told that unemployment is high. My friend's home, which she calls a dump, is a beautiful, big apt in the center.

The heat can get to be a bit too much at night. During the day, from the moment I wake up throughout the day, there is this wonderful breeze that makes the hot sun in the cloudless sky bearable. At night, unfortunately, the air becomes still. AC is seldom used in Italy. So I depend on a cheap fan to work through the night and not melt. :)

The only other thing I have to learn to deal with is that constant reminder that I don't belong. In Italy more than in any other place, since it's my home country, being pointed out all the non-italian characteristics I picked up along the way, all the messes I make of languages and expressions... and being called an American...! It's a bit depressing. Plus the danger of the tourist treatment puts me constantly on alert, which is stressful. And yet, when I really reflect on things, I think I have learned to depend on being unique and separate. I take a sense of comfort in it. Probably not quite healthy, but I'm ok with that, too. All artists need their quirks after all ;) And for every person that doesn't understand me, I have a treasured friend that knows my past, knows me, and to her or him I am just "Val", the sum of an odd life, but a good person deep down. :)

Now let's just hope my stay here will remain safe.

talked too soon...

2006-08-03T11:38:00.000+02:00

Greetings from sunny Crotone! The town is tiny, but it has a castle and the beach with 5 mins from where I am staying. Internet connection is mad expensive and I can't find an internet point that will let me connect my computer, so I will be blogging offline and working on meeting the rich locals, hoping for an at-home connection I can get hooked to... ;) I will be checking just my gmail account once in a while, and I guess I will be reduced to working more on my tan... man, i gotta stop complaining ;)

cross your fingers and send good charm vibes my way, to help me find that internet conenction! :D

now we're talking...

2006-07-30T07:20:00.000+02:00

Pictures!

I finally found a fiber optics connection to hook my computer to for a couple of hours... the place is amazing, a robotics lab in an old palace in Genova... a wonderful mixture of high-tech with old-school. and i get to visit it at 3am... lol. Man, this is the life. I've really spent a great week here. :D

I'm off to the south of Italy this afternoon, sunday. Should arrive monday morning, and then I have to find an internet connection again... *sigh* good news is, there shouldn't be much to do in Crotone, so I'll have time to update the blog :)

Genova: 15 years after.

2006-07-27T15:34:00.000+02:00

My health has been holding up. One up for designer pills! :) So I have been out and about town, scarfing down as much focaccia and "baci di dama" and Genovese specialties as I can.

Even though I do not have a hometown now, I have had several in my past. This was my second. I have been visiting some old friends, seeing their lives, hearing their stories. I haven't seen them in 15 years. All I remember is their personalities as pre-teens. It's interesting to see that in the adults of now.

Down memory lane there are also other classmates, and I heard scraps of their stories. Many surprising reversals of fortunes: the nerds that became druggies or developed serious disorders. The underachievers who now have normal and good lives, with steady jobs, or became entrepreneurs. A few expected endings, both good and bad. It's amazing to hear all this. And to be still considered a good friend after so much time. My friends are truly my family.

Besides the mental walks, I've done some real-life ones. I have taken some pics of places and people, but unfortunately this block of email and chat includes sftp, so I can't upload anything to my server. I need to find a better connection... ugh.

Anyhoo, we have done several group outings, I met new people and old friends. We walked the boardwalk in Nervi, a beautiful town. Hung out by the water on a small pier. Had ice-cream and anything cold enough to make the heat bearable every day. Tried a local restaurant, up a hill, middle of nowhere. No way a tourist can find his way up here.

I did not have the camera with me these past two days, I spent them in a camper at the beach, and I didn't want to chance salt and sand. Besides the good food, sun, and the gorgeous, clean, transparent blue sea, I had the good company of Lore's family. Her 6.5 yrs-old daughter is a cute terror. I forgot how malicious kids are! But we got along and spent hours of fun at the beach. Until we started seeing medusas. :( The tropical-like weather has brought those damn things around the Italian coast. We only saw one tiny one, slightly purple, and I managed to get a nice welt a couple of inches long. Luckily the stinging sensation passed quickly. Only a bit of skin remains burnt now.

This Sunday the friend I was staying with is going back to work. Her vacation is over. Her job is on the southern end of Italy. I'm supposed to go with her, but I have yet to book my train ticket.

Man, it's been hot this week...

Italian public wifi spots... useless

2006-07-20T20:15:00.000+02:00

Confirmed: email clients are blocked at a public wifi spot. And so are chat clients, apparently. So I'm stuck with webmail and public internet. Definitely no checking of my bank account here...

I'm surprised that the blog client works. At least I got one thing! Although now I have to worry about my traffic being watched... passwords snooped, usernames logged...

The place I'm at now is not very accessible from where I am, but I'll do my best to try elsewhere. Cool news: I might have found travel companions for a trip through Eastern Europe in September! 2-3 weeks semi-planned by other people :) More news on that if and when they take shape.

I'm freeeeee!

2006-07-20T17:14:00.000+02:00

...of fever, at least. There might actually be something to these designer pills. Headache is slowly melting away, and I even dared to go out yesterday night for a chill evening down by the old harbor. Genova is not often associated with beauty as far as cities go... but I like it. Where I lived it's outside the city, in one of the nicer neighborhoods, apparently, so I was lucky. But even walking through the city, the little streets, the palaces, and the old harbor, felt and looked good.

They cleaned things up a lot over the years, and now the historical center is a cool place to hang out and even live. In the harbor there is an aquarium that is supposed to be the biggest in Europe. I made a note of visiting it, and I am curious to compare it with the experience in Valencia. Near it there is a funky construction of masts, which hold a 360 elevator, and at night it illuminates the sky so brightly, that a cloud of seagulls circles over it, creating a stunning visual effect. Next week I'm going to try and photograph it!

Today Thursday I dared lie in the sun I have been avoiding for all these days, to try out a bit of tanning. I'm used to the tropics, where I have to time each side I tan on properly or I burn. Here it's hot, but it doesn't seem to burn quite as quickly. Tomorrow morning we might venture to the actual beach! Ah, it feels good to be well again!

If you're reading this, I finally found an IV of life in the city. Internet connection! It's frustrating to be cut off regular communication with the world... The internet is really what is allowing me to maintain this international identity. If I'm cut off... a lot of me will be lost.

Still, all is well, I am around friends, and I'll try to connect as much as I can with updates. I'll definitely keep blogging offline, take pics, and hope to find spots to upload from as I go. Although I envision dozens of minutes spent downloading spam the moment I get my computer online...

Adventures in the Italian Health Care System

2006-07-20T16:55:00.000+02:00

It's Tuesday night, July 18. With no internet connection in sight, I'm doing some offline blogging.

I've been in Italy 3 whole days! Yey! I'd almost say home sweet home... but that expression is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I still have to experience much of what I came back for. All I've seen up to now is my bedroom, in the beautiful home I'm staying in... and the emergency room. Kinda sad. When I arrived after 10 hours of traveling, I was taken straight from the train station to the nearest Pronto Soccorro. Not really 'cause I was in an emergency. But given the fever and the soreness, that would be the only place to do all the blood tests on a Sat night, and check to make sure it wasn't anything contagious or serious.

6 hours later, they confirmed that my blood was fine, x-rays said I had no lung infections, the antibiotics seemed to be doing their job, so I could go home and finish taking the recommended dosage. If, at the end of the antibiotics, I was still with fever, I was told to go back. I should have taken their offer to take me in for the night. I spent the next three days cursing a constant headache, on a fever roller coaster. I had 38 degrees when I woke up this morning. Same as every night since Sat. I was tired of seeing only the inside of the house, as nice as it is. We decided we'd eat lunch, looking forward to another long wait, and then head to the hospital again. By lunch time, though, the fever hit a low and went away. Figures. If I showed up now they'd probably decree me cured and send me packing. So my friend decided to run errands, and I returned inside, back to my cage.

4pm, fever check: 37.3. I figured it'll only climb higher, so it was enough to warrant going back. The first run to the hospital was kinda slow, but when I finally got to see the doctor I was listened to, asked questions, and cared for. I was quite impressed by the system. I went back looking forward to a similar service, hoping for a cure. Silly me.

Different reception guy, kept being interrupted by emergencies, and I observed him send away an old guy, bloodied, who needed a transplant, 'cause him and the wife, old people, made the "mistake" of calling emergency rather than take a cab to their surgeon! The old guy was actually, somehow, walking around. The nurse declared a bureaucratic tie-up, and told them to either take *their* surgeon but expect no transplant, or go take a cab! And then they are horrified by the stories of USA health care system. Bureaucracy seems a shit on both sides of the world. Although you have to admit that in the USA it revolves heavily around money. Here money is not the object. Just the right papers and right stamps for the right procedure.

Back to me, he was in no mood to listen to my pitiful sore throat/headache/fever story. He deemed me a non-urgency, and sent me to a throat doctor in an annex. After a dispirited check-up, I was sent back to emergency with a list of blood exams. They told me very nice, I could go and get them done elsewhere. Surprised, I tried to explain my situation. I currently have no residence in Italy, which means no pre-assigned doctor that can assign the blood exams. No pity. They told me the paper said "suggested" tests, not "required"! I tried again, telling them the nurse that took care of me Sat was there, he had recognized me in passing, he would know. I was taken by the guard direct to the doctor, a different one from Sat, though. The nurse did try to explain about me, but she'd have none of it. She told me to have my friend's doctor prescribe me the exams (technically illegal, as he's not *my* doctor) or try the infectious diseases annex in the morning.

In the end I was sent home up with a new antibiotic prescription from the throat guy's 2 minutes check-up --and he didn't look like he tried hard to figure out what I had. "Let's try a new molecule" he said. "A newer, stronger antibiotic, to see if it works." You can imagine the warm and fuzzy feeling that put in my belly. With no other option until morning, we went to the pharmacy. And got free, mad expensive, new-generation stuff. Free 'cause Italian health care system prices its services, including medicines, based on income. Having none, the price was zero. If what I have happens to be one of the strains it's designed to combat, I should be set. If it's not... I am ingesting 66 euros worth of designer pills and building immunity for nothing.

So now I'm back to the room of a wonderful home in the Italian Riviera... the blue sea only 5 mins away... and yet I'm inside, watching cheesy American shark attack movies dubbed to Italian, headache still there, blogging offline, and waiting 'til morning to try the Italian Health Services offices and see what they tell me.

In every place I've been to I was well prepared, had guides in hand, researching where I went before arriving... figures that my home country is the one to give me troubles! Although I admit that my hostess is up to par with all the hosts I've had throughout my trip. She has taken me up and down without a complaint. How nice it is to have childhood friends... almost like having family :) And her father is also mad kind. I've eaten nothing but home-made gourmet food, all natural... Italy might have corruption, bureocracy, lazyness, pollution... but it's hard to beat its food culture!

As far as the emergency service... next time I'm going to take my friend's advice, and play it up at the reception. Tell them I am in paaaain, I need heeeelp, I've been huuurting... you know, the Italian way ;)

not cool things about being sick in europe...

2006-07-14T22:05:00.000+02:00

I think they gave me a dosage too low of antibiotics, afraid that it would hurt my liver. 'Cause now, 2 days later, I have fever and feel like crap. The soreness *is* a bit better, but now it's concentrated in a shoulder, and the fever is a bit high. I already booked my ticket for mad early tomorrow, and I'm better off going to Italy than staying here alone in a country I have troubles communicating.

No clue about the internet situation yet, so hang on tight for news... ;)

Paris to Italy

2006-07-12T21:56:00.000+02:00

My neck is sore, my throat is sore, my head hurts, my body is blah, I am tired, and in no mood to go anywhere... I think the insane heat and then the cooler nights got to me. My current hosts leave for vacation reeeeal early Fri morning, so I was supposed to leave tomorrow, Thu. They're willing to leave me with keys, nice people that they are, but then I have to coordinate to drop them off with a friend of theirs that lives kinda far. My friend in Italy doesn't get to Genova until Sat, and one other person I got in touch with (the old fashioned way, they don't even have voicemail...) was too busy 'til Sunday. So I'll be chilling here for Bastille day, and I should be seeing some fireworks :)

While searching information about Italy I ran into the wikitravel article for it, which reads:

"The Italian government has recently passed a law requiring all public-access internet points to keep records of web sites viewed by customers, and even the customer's ID. Accessing e-mail service has been also forbidden. However, if you bring your own laptop you should be able to check e-mail, but not avoid ID recording. Hotels providing Internet access are not required to record ID. Publicly available wireless access is forbidden unless the provider has a special government license. This has caused only major phone-like companies to be able to afford that, so wireless access is generally expensive."

How insane is that?? My connection future is looking gloom. Most of the people I know have no internet at home, I think... :P

Cool thing about being sick in Europe: health care is basically free. Not for locals with a job. They get to pay lotsa insurance every month, and have to pay the doctor 20EUR every time they visit on top of that... But since I have no insurance, I went to a pharmacy, told them I needed antibiotics, they weren't sure what I could have, so they sent me to a local doctor, who saw me right away and told me I didn't need to pay anything! All I had to pay was 9EUR for the pills and some throat spray. She thinks I just have laringitis and tonsillitis, combined. Soup, chamomile, rest, medicine... all in 30 degree celsius heat. lol. Sucky weather to be sick.

Only other thing I've done since the weekend was go shopping for shorts (It's probably why I got sick, overheated in corduroy long pants...). Summer officially started ;)

Back to the future. Or rather, forward to the past.

2006-07-11T22:17:00.000+02:00

I keep retracing my steps. A part of me feels bad, thinking I am wasting my time. But I recognize that feeling as that same little voice in me that also keeps nagging I'm never doing anything good. So I tell it to shut up and I go ahead with my trip.

Dog owner arrived on Friday as scheduled, we got together, chatted, walked about, I spent the night there, and had a reservation for a train early the next morning. Ah, one really good news: I found my camera's flash card!!! As I was packing to leave, I found it in one of the thousand pockets I have, in my backpack... behind a bag of chamomile tea... lol. So I have some cute pics of the doggies I talked about. Then from Brussels I took one of them mad fast trains to Paris. First class, too. They had a half-price internet promotion that ended up being 15 euros cheaper than a regular 2nd class ticket! Got free breakfast and nicer seats for less money. Now, *that* is making good use of my money :) Only scary part of the trip was how badly the train shook throughout. After hearing about the Valencia metro accident all I could think of was that this train was going to derail, too... I even got motion sickness! Took one pill, tried to sleep most of the 1.5 hrs it took to travel, and arrived with no problems :)

The idea for this leg of the trip was to make a brief stop at the same friends' place as I visited last time, research travel options like last-minute deals and all those good promotions, and work my way south through France to Italy, where I am meeting another friend half-way in July, before heading south to Crotone (aaaall the way at the bottom of mainland Italy) for all of August, to chill by the beach. One thing I didn't consider was that July 14 is a major holiday in France, Bastille's day. Same as the 4th of July in the USA. So traveling this week is kinda insane. Another tiny detail that is hampering my progress is that my friends' internet connection broke exactly the day I arrived!! I'm writing this offline, hoping it'll be resolved on Monday. [editor's note: they finally got it working on Tue night! They're still troubleshooting the details, but I was able to start checking email at least :) ] Now I have to plan a week's trip in one day. How the hell did people do it back in the day...?? I mean, I *could* just go to the train station, pick up a brochure, pay full ticket fare, and find my way as I go... but stuff like that always leaves you much poorer and hassled at the end than if you had figured out the right itinerary and cheapest route first.

Anyhoo, I already had lotsa fun these two days back in Paris. Sat we went shopping at an outlet mall. Unfortunately if I buy something, I have to leave something behind, my suitcase can't squeeze anything else in it (and I've already left pieces along the way...!) and I didn't find anything worth that. Even though I'm dying with my winter corduroys and sneakers in 30 degree heat.

Sunday we went to mini-France. Similar concept like Madurodam in Holland, but this one is actually geographically accurate. They recreated France, and built representative miniature sites in their corresponding spots. I saw a couple of sights that I really want to try and go see. The one that stands out the most in my head is Mont Saint-Michel, dubbed the Wonder of the West. It seems to be a tiny island with a castle and an old town in it. Gorgeous model. I hope the real thing is similar. It might be more than a day trip, unfortunately, so I have to plan for it.

Cool extra thing about this place was a mini theme park half-way through the models. Oddest thing was that all the rides were completely do-it-yourself! There was one pirate ship-looking thing, for just two people, whose instructions were actually to find someone to lock the gate and push the button for you from the outside!! The coolest, and hardest, "ride" was a climbing tent. The foot/handholds were barely enough to put your fingertips in them, making the ascent really hard! And other people climbing would shake the surface, since it was a tent and not a hard, stable thing. I held on for dear life for what felt like forever near the top, until I found the strength, coordination, and quiet surface to reach the last two steps! We later found that we started on the hard side... the other side had a lot more footholds, and without socks it was a cinch!

Both evenings we watched the World cup matches. I'm glad that Italy won (even though 3 other people in the room were rooting for France) but I can't say that a final won through penalties is much of a victory. You should have heard the quiet in the neighborhood... ;) And Germany did get third place at least, Lila ;)

Tomorrow everyone is going back to work. Which leaves me stuck with no internet and roaming the streets of Paris, aimlessly, alone... Feel sorry for me yet? ;) Here are the pics for these couple of days.

PS) The worse tease about this lack of internet is that my computer recognizes other wireless connections... but they are all securely locked! If only I could find out the owners, to ask for temporary access... Ana and Nico don't really know their neighbors, so they have no idea who it could be. Ugh. [ note to self: getting to know your neighbors might be worth the hassle ;) ]

a quiet week

2006-07-07T15:43:00.000+02:00

Dog sitting isn't anything like cat sitting. This having to take walks 3 times a day is hard work!! This whole week I fell into a routine of waking up (late), showering, take a 1-2 hours walk, come back to eat, chill for the afternoon, playing offline videogames mostly, since my internet connection is so flaky, then 6-7pm another walk, this one a bit shorter, no more than 1 hour. Then home again, to play some more. While watching the world cup if it's on. And one last quick walk before sleeping, so I don't feel bad if I sleep late ;) Their owner is dues back in only a couple of hours. In a way I'm relieved. I take the responsibility seriously, and I have been stressing over them. In another, I am going to miss them...

I tried to keep things varied by taking a different route every morning. I think I have visited every major park in a mile radius! I haven't made much human contact, so I've taken to observe the two doggies. One is an older female chihuahua mix. Almost looks like a macho chihuahua, if that was ever possible. It has scraggly hair and it's bigger than a regular rat... but, alas, while it doesn't have the huge pop-out eyes and the shakiness typical of that race, it's still as submissive as it can be. At least with humans. It takes no shit from its companion, though, a Yorkshire Terrier Mix. Much younger, only 2 yrs old, it's a little ball of energy that keeps the other one active. But has a similar submissive reaction when handled. They make an odd pair, sticking together through most things, while still being different. They're both likable. But it's easier to be happy and energetic around the little one. The older, when approached, will just put her head down to be petted, looking completely surrendered. And won't play, letting the little one take the toys. She plays and becomes confident only when the little one nips at her and provokes her. Then she switches personality, becoming just as energetic for a couple of minutes. And I feel sorry for her. She looks at you with sad eyes, wanting attention, but just sitting in her corner until you go up to her...

Then I think about people. We all have different personalities, too. Some people are more shy, some are more energetic and care-free. Throughout my life I kept being told by my peers that I was too serious, too quiet, I had to be more energetic, fun, outgoing... I always had to strive to be more, better, different. The world, after all, belongs to the ambitious ones, the confident ones, the ones that push themselves out there. And I did try, being proud of myself every time I broke through my lack of confidence and accomplished something that labeled me as cool, fun, with personality, with style... But feeling bad every time I didn't manage to do so, and I was just plain me. Where do you draw the line between being ambitious, bettering yourself, and accepting who you are?

What makes for different personalities? Where is confidence? How much of it is learned, and how much is what you're born with? What is different in the brain? Does it all come back to chemicals? We take drugs to alter ourselves, often losing our inhibitions, gaining confidence, or, rather, loosing fear and care of consequences... the world becomes acceptable for a little while. Life is good. Medicine is hard at work to alter the nature of the human body.

I keep coming back to the idea of human beings being just a random flow of chemicals...

And it's all, always, random.

Random, random, random.

And, yeah, Italy is in the finals. *\^o^/*

piccies.. the last for a little bit :(

2006-07-02T17:45:00.000+02:00

I finally get around to adding to my photo album. I have pics of Amsterdam, none of Brussels. But I thought I'd take some pics of the doggies, my new charges, to add on. I take the camera, says no CF card. I go to take it out of the computer. It's not there. I panic. Then reason. I was running out, I probably put it in a side pocket. Yeah. That's it. I go search my luggage. Nothing. I search it again. Still nothing.

Ugh.

All I can do is email the lady whose apt I was staying at, and hope she finds it and can mail it. A 2GB Compact Flash card would put an extra dent in my pocket I wasn't planning for.

So, here are the pics I have for now... Seems like I am doomed to not take pics of Belgium :P

- Aalsmeer and Amsterdam: the flower auction, and a couple of street shots.

- The Heineken Experience: being an indoor touristy thing, I had no fears of having my camera out all the time. So plenty pics here!

Enjoy... and I'll keep you posted on this week's adventures :P

PS) Italy is in the semi-finals... Forza Azzurri! *\^o^/*

dog sitting in brussels

2006-07-02T13:51:00.000+02:00

Uff. This didn't quite start off with the right foot. I arrived yesterday, friday, at 5pm, at the door of the apartment in Brussels, where the doggies and the couple taking care of them were supposed to be. No one was home. So I sat in front and waited. For about 40 mins. Which was fine, I knew they were given a 5-5:30pm leeway. Problem is, while I was waiting, the owner of the apartment came by, to show a place for rent to some girl. He of course asked me what was I doing there. I didn't quite give him the full story, but I mentioned dogs. He got upset. He said no dogs are allowed here. I shrugged and said I don't know, I'm just supposed to meet someone here, I don't really know them. Which I'm sure sounded mad suspicious... but the innocent face for once worked in my favor, I guess. He let me be and went in with the girl. He did check on me one more time, trying a couple more questions, but I didn't give him much, so he went back in.

10 mins later the couple arrived with the doggies, I walked them away and explained that the guy was there, maybe if we waited a little bit he'd leave and then we could go back in. He did drive away, but I had a gut feeling he was going to just circle around the block and check on us. We walked to the apt, the keys didn't work, and, of course, the guy drove by, parked again, and asked what were we doing, and the kids lied and said the dogs were theirs, they were just visiting... I kept quiet, glad that he was questioning them, not me. But then *I* was the one to have to spend the next week avoiding him! We went inside, waited for a little, they planned on leaving with the dogs and coming back. Which they did in 10 mins. Then they left. And now I'm stuck here dreading the twice-a-day walks they are supposed to take...

Now, I sent an email to the owner of the dogs. She left her cellphone in the apartment (...) and I pretty much have no other way of getting in touch with her. Only thing I know is she'll be back on Fri afternoon. If I see the apt owner again I can only explain my situation and hope he's not some angry guy who's gonna have a fit and throw me out. I hope he'll let me stay and deal with with things when she is back.

Meanwhile, I am dreading leaving the house alone, for fear they'll bark. And I don't really wanna go out with them, for fear of being seen. But also 'cause being about with two dogs you can't really just walk into stores. Sucky, eh? And it's a nice day out... although I think I've seen as much as I wanted to see of Brussels last I was here, so I am not really feeling like I'm missing out.

One good thing is, I finally found a spot in the apartment that catches a public wi-fi signal properly! Kim kept complaining that the connection she found kept dropping, and she hadn't found a spot where it'd work better than other spots. Turns out her "bedroom" (one of those crawl-in holes near the ceiling) is the nearest point to the signal, and it seems to be holding!! I was getting so frustrated being stuck here *and* not having a connection...!!!

Now I just have to find people to come visit. The place is tiny, but it's cute. Anyone visiting Brussels this week? :D

last day in Amsterdam!

2006-07-01T12:24:00.000+02:00

Ah, let's see, this one is going to be a long entry. Lotsa stuff since last Sat! Although I'm about to go to the train station to catch my train to Brussels... So please excuse any inconsistencies. I'll re-edit when I have a chance. And will add pics :)

Sunday, the 25th, was real cool. One of the new ladies I met volunteers as a cook at a squatters' farm near the park. It used to be a regular food farm, building was abandoned, squatters took over, and got organized so well, that they ended up making a deal with the government to restore the building, and they work a bit as a half-way home for people that need to "take a break from the world" for a couple of months. And they also have workshops for children. And while I was there, they ran two movies from DVD, they had a project setup!! Cool place. The building is half in ruin, but it's cozy from lotsa loving living in, and has a great garden setup. Random people come in and out, some volunteers, some residents... many dogs, random furniture, but good and extremely cheap food. Met one of the organizers, a half Dutch half Italian guy, and we philosophized for a little while in Italian. I even managed to find their website he mentioned, so I can make up for forgetting the cf card for my camera and not taking any pics... lol: http://www.buurtboerderij.nl/

We got there around 2pm, but then ended up getting stuck there late, as it poured for most of the afternoon! We finally made it back a little too late to catch the beginning of the Netherlands-Portugal game. We went to the local bar to watch the second half, and we didn't miss much, as they ended up loosing. A dejected group of customers left, and they closed the bar soon after. But since keys lady knows the owner, we hung out a bit after, chatting up the staff. From there we felt like keeping the party going, so we went off to the local lounge to dance a bit. I ended up getting some dancing out of my system, with a random guy that seemed to be into it as I was. When they closed *that* place, he said he knew of another place that still had music going. I hadn't danced in a while, and it felt good, and the guy seemed safe... so off I went! It was the first time I can remember that I rode in the back of a bike!! I finally can say I biked in Holland ;)

The place we went to was one I had looked up and had wanted to go to, but hadn't dared to go alone. The name is Korsakoff, and it seems to be the local heavy rock/goth/industrial joint. Well, not quite goth. More like the heavy metal look. A bit Europeanized... no one looks too crazy. Music similar to what they run in the main room at the Batcave. We closed that place down as well. Wasn't even that late, 3am :)

Monday I have to admit I was hurting. Not only my stomach from the all day and night partying, but my butt, too! And not 'cause of what all of you dirty-minded people might already be thinking... ;) but rather a little from the dancing, and a lot from the metal of the bike I kept bouncing on whenever we ran over bumps!! I tried to use my sweater and his jacket as padding, but it didn't quite work... lol. So I spent all day inside, recovering.

Tuesday I walked about a little bit. Days are starting to blur here... I think I went to the Electric Lady Land, which turned out to be one psychedelic experience. Not so much for the facilities, but the hippie dude from Brooklyn that explains everything to you, and shows you every piece he's got under long- and short-wave UV rays. Trippy.

Wed I woke up at crack of dawn to go to the flower auction in Aalsmeer. It's the biggest commercial building in the world!! Cool thing is, I got a private tour, since the guy I met is one of my father's business clients :D Impressive the volume of material and money that goes through!! On the way back we also stopped by another impressive feat of Dutch engineering, The storm barrier. Once back to Amsterdam's Central Station, I decided to go off the opposite way I came from and see the Nemo museum. The half-ship looking thing. Walked aaaall the way to the entrance, to be told the museum card was not accepted, and the roof was closed. Not worth 11EUR. So from there I walked through the red light district to get to the Cannabis College. Not much to it. You can find out all you want about pot. They will even direct you to coffeeshops. And they have an indoor pot garden, but I didn't pay the 2.5EUR to go in...

I also finally visited Anna Frank's house. Interesting experience. Nicely set up exhibit and signs. But the most interesting part was a temporary interactive exhibit about human rights, with interactive voting.

From there, I realized I was running out of time and I haven't tried nearly enough pot products. So I searched for the famous brownies. Had some regular food first, then had the dessert. I was a bit anxious, never tried them before, so I made my way home quickly to wait for the high... which never came! As far as I could tell, I was sliiiiightly relaxed and happy, which I guess *could* have been from the pot. But I didn't feel anything in my head resembling a high. *shrug*. Gonna try one more time. The brownie *was* good, though :D

Thu I woke up rather late, and I had set an appointment to meet keys lady and daughter at the park again in the evening, so I made time for just one touristy spot: the Heineken Experience! This is a cool place, worth the entrance money, especially since it includes 3 beers and a souvenir. Highlights were a mini-ride in front of a screen, on a moving platform, titled "Be a Heineken Bottle"! Best way to experience the experience is to go with a small group of friends. Many of the activities are geared to groups, and it's more fun to hang out in the two internal bars when you have ppl to chat with. I was alone in the first one, I quickly downed my beer and continued the exhibit. But the last 2 I couldn't quite rush through (I'm a slow drinker!) and I ended up chatting with a group of 4 girls and one guy. It was hilarious, none of the girls wanted to drink beer, among the 4 of them I think they only had 2... so the guy ended up with 8 glasses in front of himself!! The were from Ireland (hehe) and I just *had* to take a pic. I ended up making little notes on their map about places to see. I then realized I was gonna be late for my appointment, so I rushed out and went home.

Fed the kitty, went to the park, hung out, went back home... by 11pm, I decided to head back to korsakoff by myself. Today had been a gorgeous sunny day, weather was still fine and not cold. And I had gotten a decent sense of the place from last time I was there, figured I'd be safe. I arrived there too early for ppl to be there, so, bored, I started doodling... you can see my results in the photo album :D I should make a series of "bar coasters art"! The night was mellow, spent most of the time at the bar itself, then headed off to the dance floor, but wasn't quite feeling it. Only a couple of guys started chatting me up at random times. I was polite but didn't express any interest, so wasn't bothered too much. I ended up doodling and staring more than dancing. But went home content.

Fri I had just one mission: find brownies! Given last experience, I figured I'd eat real food, buy two brownies, then go home. These did hit me. A bit too much, as I fell asleep on the couch mad early, missing the italy soccer game! lol. With more time I think I'd try to experiment a bit more with them... find the right mix of food and those and just get mellow... ah well.

I'm off to the train station in 10 mins, going to Brussels for 6-7 days to take care of two doggies. Internet connection there will probably be crappy, but I'll try to keep up. Although 2 puppies are a lot more interactive work than one cat... *sigh* sometimes I don't think things through :P

Overall, Amsterdam gets thumbs up!! \^o^/

thu fri sat

2006-06-25T03:20:00.000+02:00

Seems like a lot of time to catch up on... but, as you can guess, there actually hasn't been much going on... :P

After all the time out on wed, thu I had to recover ;) Fri I ventured out again. Did a fair bit of walking, checked a couple of churches along the way, the new one by the Dam plaza has art exhibits in it, so I learned a bit about Ukrainian artists. I want to try to catch an organ concert there, it should be amazing. Since the red light district was only a couple of blocks over, on the way to the Rembrandt's house, I decided to give it a shot and walk through it. It was a little after noon, after all. What safest time? And yes, I saw the famous prostitutes in the windows. The oddest thing that happened to me while I was walking there was a Dutch guy who started talking to me and walking alongside me, and kept asking, politely enough that I couldn't just flip him off, if it was weird for me to see this. I wasn't about to admit my uneasiness, so I tried to pull off a "eh, I lived in NY, you see anything there." He tried to press the question a couple of times, made small talk, offered to walk me for a little, but he wanted to show me the street where transvestites were. I am not sure what his deal was. Arriving to the New Market (most plazas around here are "markets") he said something like "well, here you are, have fun." And I said bye, and that was it.

I feel odd here in Europe. I was used to people telling me I was "scary" when they didn't know me, and to people being surprised when I say I'm only 5'3", 'cause I seem to carry myself as a taller person (I do have some odd height complex, I can be standing next to someone my same height, and yet I am convinced I am taller... I am always truly surprised by pictures of me next to other people!) But here most people I have spoken to see me as innocent, tiny, cute, perhaps, but overall harmless. Maybe even a bit in need. And people recognize me for the Italian I am, which also didn't happen much in NY... Beyond a bit of hurt pride, 'cause it's cool to be a hard-ass, my main concern is to be seen as the naive little tourist. Traveling alone, it puts me at risk of being harassed, or worse. Best I can pull is a surprised/different reaction once people actually talk to me, 'cause I am smarter/older than I seem (*grumble*). But that's not going to stop anyone from mugging me. I was recently asked why do I insist on trying to keep up an image of someone I'm not. Well, self-preservation, mostly. Who wants to be vulnerable, especially when you don't have the skills to defend yourself, physically or emotionally? I can only hope to pull through with my luck and that I keep running into more nice or harmless people like me... :)

Rembrandt's House was cool. Unlike the one in Antwerp, this was the real deal. Where he lived for 20 years, made his paintings, had his family... the nearby Rembrandt Plein has a bronze sculpture reconstruction of his famous Night Watch painting. It was cool to see it recreated in 3D. Gave me a much better perspective on the painting. Walking the Golden Bend, where some of the nicest canal houses are supposed to be, was a nice experience. And by then I had enough. I made my way back home in time to feed Nestor. And I cracked down and got some pot. I can't be in Amsterdam and not indulge. :P The place I saw along the way didn't have pre-rolled joints like most of the touristy places. So I had to buy some fresh buds and do my own rolling. Which I had seen done plenty times, but I don't personally have that much experience. So I did a bit of a mess... lol. But I managed. Still didn't get much out of it... but dammit, I feel like a local :)

I did take some pictures, but I keep feeling that busting out my huge camera in public is just not gonna be a good idea. Now even more. But, enjoy the few pics I do have.

Today I hung out with the lady of the keys and her daughter at the park nearby for most of the afternoon. In true European fashion, we had blankets, food, and bottles of wine for the afternoon, while naked children bathed in the kiddy pool nearby. I wanted to go out to some club, but I am tired of going out alone and dealing with the anxiety of possibly having to defend myself. Plenty of time tomorrow to go out. The Dutch play Portugal so I'm hanging out with the ladies again, probably to the same lounge as wed. Go Oranjie! :)

u'd think i'd be in a cooffeeshop every day...

2006-06-23T00:19:00.000+02:00

...instead, I continue my unhealthy addiction to TV, computer, indoors... Well, I *might* have something to show for the day. Some web help, research, emails... but not really. I figure if I was stoned all day I'd be in a very similar state as when I stare at the two screens... but my lungs are clearer :D

Wed. did turn out to be a somewhat productive day. Passed by Anna Frank's house, the line was too long and didn't care to wait in it while it drizzled. The next nearest museum was the Bible museum. Not a likely choice for a non-religious, almost atheist person like myself... but I had seen brochures about a special exhibit of silver work on books which I wanted to see. Since it was free entry for me, I strolled through the whole thing. Learned a couple more things about the Christian religion. The place is "famous" for the reproduction of the Tabernacle made by the house's last owner, before it became a museum. Also had some egyptian art, and they kept the original kitchen and some rooms from when people lived there. Amsterdam is all about the canals, and the houses alongside them are beautiful pieces of architecture. Seeing them inside is just a cool experience. And the books were damn pretty :D

By the time I made it out, the dreadful, rainy morning had turned into a cloudy sky. I walked home, and when I went out again at 8 it was sunny, as if the day had been nothing but! Crazy weather... I met up with the keys lady, went to a local bar with a friend of hers to watch the game. Several glasses of wine later on their part, and a mixture of beer, sprite, water, and tea for me, we left after a tied 0-0 game, and they decided to go to a local lounge. I followed, not quite feeling 100%, but curious. I tried to have a mini glass of wine myself, managed to make my way to a second, but then I had to give up. I chatted with them and hung out, mostly absorbing the atmosphere and seeing them interact with the people.

I love how I manage to mix being a tourist with mingling with locals. I wish I was getting more of a language learning experience, but everyone speaks English here, even half of the TV is in English, just with Dutch subtitles... it doesn't quite feel much of a displacement. Actually, the second most spoken language with me is Spanish! Seems like the Dutch like latin culture. One girl I met that night had lived in Spain for a couple of years, and we chatted up in Spanish. The bar owner had a bar in Spain before opening the one there... keys lady studied salsa music in the Netherlands for her PhD... I hate to believe in the cultural stereotypes, about "northern" people being cold, but loving the warmth of the "southern" people... but I think I am starting to see it...

Not much more to tell about. I do have some pics, but it's mostly of the books. I got one outside pic, in lousy cloudy light... tomorrow I am kicking my ass outside and staying there until I can't take it anymore! Also going to try and make some sleep up. Kitty is cute and all... but this wanting to be fed by 8am is not fitting my NY time lifestyle... I don't think I've had one full, continuous night of sleep since I got here! Which is not helping my motivation... let's see if closing the door, sleeping early, and using earplugs helps :P

Amsterdam Tuesday

2006-06-21T00:52:00.000+02:00

Ok, this apartment is comfy. It's bright, spacious, homey, clean... it has a kitty, and it's in a decent neighborhood; ethnic, but near a pretty park. The light in the living room all day is amazing, straight in through the almost wall-to-wall windows... :D

Arriving late afternoon Sunday, I took some time to settle in and got some basic groceries (the "night shop" is a cool idea, around Europe. It's a grocery store open when the other stores are closed. Key on Sundays!)

I spent Monday mostly inside, too. Slept in short spans, the other lady that was here the first night I arrived woke up reeeeal early to leave by 6am... Then the kitty wanted to be fed at 8 am... Even with laringitis, he woke me and my sense of responsibility up. Uff. Later I got a chance to try out the kitty toys, the hair brushes, the petting... only thing i can't do yet seems to be pick him up and keep him on my lap. Dunno if he's that way in general or if he's just not a lap cat... It probably would have helped to see him interact more with his owner to get a better sense of him... ah well. Also researched and noted all the Amsterdam walk-throughs I found online. I got a really colorful map now! :D

Today I finally motivated to venture out for a couple of hours. Walked to the south side of the center, saw Leidseplein, big bar/touristy shopping area. Unfortunately I started cramping by the time I got there, stomach, ovaries, all a big mess. It's not always easy being adventurous and carefree when you are a girl... *sigh* So I made my way back home, navigating the network of bridges over the canals... I was able to appreciate some of it even while not feeling well, it's quite pretty, and any other time I'd have loved the way you can't quite make a straight line between most two points... but not today :P

Evening at home, then. I feel kinda lame. Safe, but lame. But I have tentative plans to see the Dutch soccer game tomorrow night at some local bar, with the lady of the keys :) And next week visit the auction house in Aalsmeer, the equivalent of a global Wall Street for the plants business. And tomorrow I am hoping to be better and actually make it to some museum, which always makes me happy :) ...aaaaand, I hope it will make me bust out my camera again. Which I did take with me today, but I saw few tourists, and one big sign to watch for pickpockets... so since I wasn't up for much fighting or running, I opted to keep it safely tucked away. I did look into a cell phone w/camera. Still debating if it's worth spending all the money on the model I think I want...

Well, I manage to write a lot even when I do nothing... lol. Watch out for the next entry! ;) And thank you for the comments and emails! Yey for two-sided indirect communication! ;)

grin broadband is the shit

2006-06-18T17:04:00.000+02:00

All is good. Mad hot day to be lugging luggage around... but a quick bus ride, a little walk, a cheap phone call (only 20 cents to call a cell, unbelievable but true...), a lovely lady with keys, and I am already settled with my charge, *with* wireless access. :D

This is Nestor, the kitty (well, not quite that young, more of a senior cat...) I will be feeding and petting and cleaning and playing with for the next two weeks. ^.^ Isn't he cute?? I got him purring, and he got so loud, I was worrying he would over-purr himself to exhaustion!! He kept it up even while chasing a little mouse on a string!

Now, to figure out what's around. I did pass by Westerpark on the way here, looked pretty nice... groceries are also a must. Feed the kitty, but feed me, too! :)

off to Amsterdam

2006-06-18T12:08:00.000+02:00

After two very tranquil days, dedicated to catching up with people, re-packing, relaxing, and re-organizing things, in just a couple of hours I am off to Amsterdam. There is supposed to be internet in the apartment, but the lady of the house didn't know how it was setup... I am hoping it's not password-protected or that it doesn't require any fancy configuration I have no access to... It would suck to have a blinking modem 5 feet from me, and every day have to walk to some internet cafe just to blog and do email!!

While 2 weeks seems to be a bit much to be sitting in one place, I am hoping it will give me time to be productive. I have several things I want to accomplish:

One, actually reading the myriad of books and magazines I have been lugging around about photography. For all the money I spent on that camera, I keep just taking snapshots. Not really thinking technically. So, while I enjoyed the time away from the camera, I do want to learn to use it better. It will help in the art I want to do.

Two, dedicate my time to some writing. When I set off for this trip, I mentioned to several people that I was thinking about a book. At first it was a more generic "oooh, pretty pictures of places, a travel book." But I also had in mind to do a sort of biography. "Based on a true story!" ;) In keep with the "searching myself" theme. I think the snapshots situation is pushing me to thinking my life is going to have a better shot of being of interest than the random pictures I've been taking, only few of which might be good enough for commercial printing.

I am still debating the need to be private vs the need to let things out... All those artists that do put themselves out there, expose their inner selves... and all those people that love watching/reading them, but yet are so afraid to open up their own world to just the people next to them... It's a control thing, isn't it? You withhold information, you don't let people have control over you, be able to judge you, influence you... On the other hand, your fear of being exposed, and the lack of knowledge, is what really makes you vulnerable, how you are controlled. When you have enough strength to be open, to expose your hurts, it's when *you* take control over them. Plus, it is those people that do not have enough info that are abused by the world. You think you are abnormal, you are ashamed of yourself, while there are a million others like you. Those women that do not know that there is more to the world than an abusive husband. Just need to identify with someone else that did get over it. Boys who grow up with an insane guilt complex from religion or parents, especially about sex, and yet if they were shown that sex is natural, not something to be ashamed of, that there *are* others who didn't grow up with the guilt, that it's ok to enjoy it... What a difference information makes.

Life is life. Morals change across the ages. What was ok a century ago is now a shameful thing... What is ok now was unthinkable only 40 years ago. Humans are beautiful because of their diversity and their versatility. And fear is really the biggest problem of all. The only line to be drawn is the one infringing on another's freedom and well-being. If you enjoy hurting, hurt yourself, not another!

I'm going with the thought that if you are a good, strong person, you have nothing to hide. Yes, even considering that "good" is relative. Leave it to politicians, scammers and liars to master the art of privacy! But even for them, truth is truth. Past facts are un-doable. What ppl do will always have a chance to be known by others.

So, *my* experiences can go into the collective of biographies that help the world identify, and they might feel like there *is* someone out there that does feel the same, that went through the same shit, and came out ok after all! And *that* is a good contribution to the world, I think. Make something useful out of my self-centered being ;)

But, even if I never actually get to the point of publishing, writing it might be a good exercise. There will always be these blog entries to flow through the world.

And then there are still all the places I want to visit around Amsterdam. Hmmm, I hope I can actually get everything done!

So, the next entry is either from my new broadband connection... or the dinky internet shop next door :P

PS) And as an extra insight: for those that have followed from the beginning, did you notice a change from a more "today I did this" structure, to an actual personal thoughts and feelings mode? Maybe *I* am gathering strength...? ;)

cool life experiences

2006-06-16T01:16:00.000+02:00

Randomness strikes again. I really liked this week and a half disconnected from my comp, from old friends, from books... anything that kept me from actually facing the world. After I met my new friend in Brussels, Kim, web manager extraordinaire, amazing life survivor, and an inspiration all in herself, we went together off to Ghent, to see the sights for the afternoon, then we parted ways, she going back to Brussels, me to Bruges. Here the interesting stuff started.

Well, about Ghent, it's a *really* pretty city. We did the boat tour, and visited the castle in town. On the boat, there were 5 drunk local women who made the trip interesting. Fun, overall. Tiring and hot, though. I was lugging about my backpack and it was 30 degrees centigrade. Hot. We called it quits around 3pm.

But Bruges takes first prize in Pretty town to visit in Belgium. It is a gorgeous, safe, old town, lots to see and experience, and wonderful local people. While getting there was exhausting--the hostel was ghetto (do "The Passage" if you can, not the "Europe"!) and was outside the center--I met many tourists and nice people on my time outside. I even worked at a restaurant as a busboy! (bus girl??).

But let's start at the beginning. After a cold reception at the hostels, and after visiting a local, *tres ghetto* supermarket (but yummy mini-sausages!!), and after a nap, I headed into town. Since it is light until after 10pm, there is plenty time to stroll around and see the sights. Ended up at a famous local bar, the 't Brugs Beertje. Had some local suggestions (bartender was very nice and knowledgeable!!) and met some guys from Sweden, who enlightened me about their country, and a guy from North carolina, one of them forces of nature, who enjoys life to the fullest. He told his "I was mugged in Brussels" story a couple of times, completely enjoying it! We ended up ambling about Bruges at night together. Fun experience.

The next day I went about town, seeing all the sights. I kept running into two American guys from Nebraska, whom we had met the night before. Completely odd, we kept saying "bye" and then we'd meet in another side of town, a couple of miles away. Nice people :) I didn't enter many places, opting for not spending money on museums here. But I did see the Lace center. Amazing how they braid threads to compose all sorts of forms... I was so impressed that I cracked and bought some souvenirs! The first after the comic books in Spain. The other famous sight was Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child", one of the few works from the guy that are outside of Italy. Free to see, too, which was odd.

For the evening, I looked up a good restaurant. There are these guides for young people that are the shit, with very useful information on where to go and what to do. I discovered them in Antwerp and looked for them in every city afterwards. http://use-it.be/ is the website. They had an Italian restaurant "where they only speak Italian" listed. Figured I'd get a chat in there. Turned out to be quite an experience. I walked in saying "Buongiorno!" in Italian. The owner sat down with me to talk about food and beer. Ended up giving me a card for me to go to a businessman friend of his, and get a free "best beer of the world for 2006" (the Westvleteren Abt 12). He also told me him and one of his friends were going to be at a certain bar to watch the soccer game for that night, so if I wasn't doing anything, I could see them there. You'd think he was trying to hit on me. I have that radar always on, expecting it from any guy that talks to me... with this guy, though, it wasn't quite that way. More of a "here is some company, you seem to need it" kinda feeling. So I told him I'd probably see him there. The bar I wanted to visit was closed, so I went there instead. Found a spot at the bar. Watched the game. It was the bar of the Passage Hostel, Lotsa young ppl about. A group of Argentinians that were cheering on. The game was Germany vs Croatia. After the first time, they show up. Didn't quite exchange words. Just sat down, said hi, acknowledge me there, then watched the game. The friend was an older guy who also worked in the restaurant. At the end of the game, they told me they were gonna play pool in the back. I chatted with some Australian guys for a while, then joined them. Didn't play, but hanged out. On their way out, it had started raining. This, after a whole week of *gorgeous* weather! I even got sunburned. A little tourist tan :) So they offered me an umbrella, and I said I'd bring it back the next day.

Walking home was a long thing. But I hadn't gotten 5 minutes, when the older guy calls me. He was walking my same way, and invited me to another drink. Wary again, but he felt on a good vibe, too, and had worked in my hometown... so we sat down and chatted for a while. Nothing wrong. Just some nice, harmless bonding. Antonio is his name. I finally got to the hostel around 2am. A short night sleep, as I had to check out at 10am. Then I walked to the restaurant again. Actually, first I stopped by the store to look for the beer. Guy there seemed curious as to who I was. Told me the best way to enjoy this young beer was to let it sit in a cool cellar for 4 months... But it would be ok as-is, too :)

After that, showed up at the restaurant. Owner was busy with suppliers and the phone. He said hi but was kinda off after that. I wasn't sure whether to hang around or not. Was offered tea. Then I though I should leave. Was offered pizza. After that, I was offered a job. The other guys working there were wondering who I was. Randomly asked me questions. I had originally turned down the job offer, thinking it was more of a "wanna earn some money?" thing, but it turned out to be more of a "I need help today" gig. A way to repay the food I gobbled up. So once I realized that, I offered help. So I worked as a busboy for the first time in my life. Mad nervous, kept sitting down waiting for someone to leave to clear their table and clean it... but I came out of there feeling grateful. Little things the owner, Alessandro, said, about his life philosophy, his view on things, gave me one of them "wow, this is a Good guy that actually helps make the world a bit better" feelings. Which I don't get often. I sat down with all of them to have lunch. I tried to explain I was just shy. I was told I was *not* shy. Something else, maybe, but not shy. I later was told by someone else that all I have is lack of confidence... Got me thinking.

By 4pm Alessandro was on his way out, he just said bye. I panicked, saying I'd leave, too. He told me the rest of the guys wouldn't bite. I still felt like it was time for me to go. So he ended up offering me a ride to the train station. Along the way he picked up his woman and son. I had a quick insight on his personal life. It felt amazing. I held back tears, of confusion, of relief, of happiness, of nervousness... Once I told them bye, on the way home, I let it all out, Didn't care I was in the middle of a train station. It was an odd feeling, I felt I had just learned something deep, and I was happy for the experience.

So, if you are ever in Bruges, do stop by Trattoria Trium, it's north of the main Market Square, and tell them you know Valeria from the Island of Elba... maybe they'll remember me.

I ended up back in Brussels, called Kim, who was busy but left the apt open for me (isn't she amazing?). So I went to hang out with her doggies (I never thought I'd like lap dogs, but they are just good, too...) and slept. When she got back, we chatted about our experiences from the past couple of days. It's amazing how some times you meet just the right people. We went together to the museum of comic art in Brussels the next day (not quite worth the 7.50EUR...) and parted ways at the train station. But planning the next trip. I am so looking forward to keeping in touch with her. Her life story is amazing, and she is one strong woman.

Now I am back in Tilburg. Due in Amsterdam Sunday for my cat-sitting job. My hosts are still on vacation, they just left me keys (I still don't believe my luck) so I could get in. Life is amazing. Being out there is rewarding. I am thinking I should head down south for the summer, chill and maybe find a part-time job through August, then travel again in September, when things cool and calm down. Hopefully my finances will hold. July and August are high season, no hostels left available, too many tourists about...

I am having visions of a bohemiam life style. Living random places, doing odd jobs like cat- or dog-sitting, traveling, and making art. Letting go of all my "I should, I can't, I oughtta...." and just live for a little. Do what most people experience in their college life... before they get a "real" job and become "adults"...

Then I have to figure out a way to make it all up... but if I can repay a 10th of the goodness I have received during this whole trip, I'd be happy.

Oh, and today marks 3 months of my travels. Amazing, uh?

leuven, brussels... check, almost check!

2006-06-11T00:53:00.000+02:00

Aaaah, the joy of broadband and unlimited time on a computer... It's almost like crack. :P Now, if only I could master this "azerty" keyboard...

So, left Antwerp with no problems, and yet another place to crash while I travel. This is really the life. It's like being an elite bum... Although I am accumulating lots of karma. Once I settle down, it better be in a really nice spot, with at lest 2 guest rooms... so many people to repay back in lodgins! ;) So here is to hoping I figure out this making money thing!

Anyhoo, back to the itinerary. Leuven turned out to be pretty, as promised. It also helped that mother nature finally remembered it is june, and that should mean warm, nice weather. Which she gave plenty of. This whole rest of the week, into the weekend, has been amazing. I am finally starting to miss my summer clothes. Today in the train there were sooo many people with burnt skin. No one was expecting such a revesal of weather!

An afternoon of strolling about allowed me to discover the most picturesque architecture. The town hall is this massively decorated stone building, with a statue of an important person every 2 meters or so. Also strolled through le Beguine, a place formerly used by women who renounced men, but weren't nuns. Widows or spinsters. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. It is now used as dorms for students and faculty. Really cool (enhanced by subconscious envy?). Since it was so nice out, I just laid in parks for whiles. I had dinner in a local brewery, and tasted their beer, which is pumped straight from the production tanks. I'll have to look up the name. quite smooth.

No new friends in this town, just a quiet convo with my roommate over breakfast, but no exchange of contact info. She was from Northern Netherlands. But I got some extra travel info on eastern europe, which was useful. So I headed off to Brussels, to meet a girl I found through the ad I posted in forums. Turns out she is amazingly nice. And so are her two doggies. She is super friendly, yet private and mindful, too. Just one of those people you are happy to know. We spent the afternoon strolling through the center of the city, visiting Grand Place (not quite living up to the hype, IMHO), the mannequin pis statue (another tiny disappointment), and the museums of chocolate and of beer (do not waste your money. They each wanted 5EUR, and you get a tiny room with info you could pull off the internet. They give you one sample in each place, but it's just a waste of time). In the evening we tried to find a place near her apt, got snobbed twice, waitress was just not nice, and finished hanging out at a bar near a concert venue, where tons of cool ppl usually crowd the place. We just pretended like we belonged, too ;)

Today I went off on my own through a museums walk. If you have the stamina to do 5 museums in 7 hours... then I recommend the mont des arts pass (not the belgium pass!) I managed to get to 3, loooved the art nouveau and permanent 20th century collection of the museum of fine arts. Very elegant building, one of those places i would go back just to hang out and get inspired. The royal library was interesting, lots of old typography machines about the hallways... and the museum of musical instruments has a neat system where the headphones you get tune into a radio signal as you approach a showcase, with music of the instrument you are looking at. makes for a bit of a headache, changing music every 4 steps... but cool experience!

So, overall, Brussels is a nice city. A bit too many bums around, many with dogs... but not unmanageable. This evening I joined a new set of hosts, friends of a good friend of mine, who live outside brussels. tomorrow they are headed south, through the countryside and forests of Belgium. I get to see a non-city side of the country!

i do wish i had a camera sometimes... but the freedom of traveling with just a backpack is just too cool :) i really have to look into a multi-functional cell phone purchase.

i have been trying to keep a blog offline, as well. but i think the book idea is finally taking shape. so the notes are mostly for that. and to vent all the personal crap. i am getting inspired. i am struggling with my mind. figuring out the me that *is*, accepting that, rather than fighting to be the me I keep thinking I *should* be... but i have possibilities to unfold. the creative juices are starting to remember what it was like to flow... If I can just get past the ideas, and to the production point, i might actually become a full-fledged artist for real! i think the weather change, the continued support of old friends, and the new social interactions are lifting my spirits. it would be really silly if depression is nothing more than a chemical imbalance. all the crap you go through, and it's just the wrong atoms hanging out in and around you... ah well.

'Hope everyone is well. Do leave a comment when you have time. Those make me feel warm and fuzzy and connected :D

ps) please bear with the lack of editing. i need to fill in the job again :P

Antwerp.... check!

2006-06-08T10:29:00.000+02:00

A quick "I'm alive, all is well" entry before I am off to the train station, to my next destination.

Antwerp is a nice city. A mixture of old-school and modern European life. I hung out in a cobblestone plaza where some students were playing jazz, cruised by the river, did the museums (Reuben's house: not worth it. The other two museums, pretty cool.) Also visited the Kulminator, a bar famous for the insane variety of beers it has. Their menu is a 40 pages catalog!

Met a couple of new people along the way. One, my roommate, from Japan, who's studying French. Unfortunately she was leaving when I arrived. So a short but pleasant conversation was all we could do. Then, yesterday evening, 3 musicians, a sax player, a piano player, and a DJ. They were so nice, they invited me over to their places to listen to music. Wary, but with a good feeling, I went along. Turned out to be a cool night! The mix of live sax over a DJ spinning is a good sound. Hurray for random acquaintances!

So, all is well. I was told Leuven is a tiny student city, not much to see. But that is where most of the local universities are. Just one night there. Then off to Brussels, to see if my random acquaintances continue on a good streak.

Half an hour in an internet cafe doesn't give you much time to think... the length of my posts might finally be under control! ;)

oops! right, right, pictures!

2006-06-06T01:02:00.000+02:00

Silly me. Here are the pics from the weekend. :D

hostels galore... and more geo-caching :)

2006-06-06T00:32:00.000+02:00

I am about to embark on a fairly long trip, away from known friends and material property... I figured I'd do one big update before I go crazy trying to work out the logistics of the trip (yeah, I'm leaving in the morning...) :P

Let's see, I headed off to Maastricht on the mid-morning of Fri, Jun 2. I couldn't find accommodations for Sat, so I had to reschedule for an early weekend deal. Liege was the closest town with an available hostel. That is in Belgium. The town I was visiting was in Holland. International travel is so easy to accomplish in Europe ;) Although you'd think this would have taught me to book things in advance... not wait 'til the night before, like I did now... I am stuck with a 2 days gap, no place to stay yet...

Anyhoo, back to the pleasant memories. I'll deal with that in a bit :)

Maastricht is a quaint town, I was told by many it was a must-see, full of history, of important sights... but I was rather bored by it. There *was* one cool bit, the tours to the caves in "mount" st. pietersberg (it's a 300m hill...) they have nearby. These, by the way, are the same caves where the famous vault of fine arts created by the Nazis lies. When they thought they were gonna get invaded, they gathered all the best stuff they had stolen (they keep mentioning Rembrandt's "Night Watch" as the highlight) and put them there, hoping to make a new Nazi museum upon winning the war. They never got to do that, of course.

Fri afternoon I did the boat tour to the southern caves, which was supposed to be the best. You'll see in the pics the high ceilings, which was really the only diff. Only down-side was that it was all in Dutch, so I didn't understand a word. Sat I did the walk to the Northern caves, 2km or so from city center, and this one was in English. That's where I learned all the bits ;) Cool thing they had us do in both tours: they turn down the gas lamps, put them around a bend, and have you walk in total darkness, just following the wall, around a pillar. Interesting sensation. In the first tour, people cheated, opening a cell phone for light!

The hostel I had booked for Fri night was in Liege, in Belgium. I actually liked this town much better. It was a mix of skyscrapers and old buildings... which I love. I arrived in the early evening, walked the 45 mins to the hostel, to get to see the town. Walked into the room, no one was about, so took off with a local map and hiked around. They have a huge staircase that goes to a hill, so I did that one. Then took back roads and reached city center, through the student bars area, and back towards the hostel.

The night was short, I ended up going to bed by 1am, the beds were full, everyone asleep. And by 6:30am, the first one woke up. From there 'til 8:30 I tried to stick to my sleep... I finally grumbled out of bed, said a polite "good morning" and got a "Oh My God you speak English??" in reply. Turns out this young girl had just started *her* pilgrimage through Europe, a planned 2 months, also had a couple of friends to visit, but was hoping to make a random trip. Unfortunately we were headed in opposite directions, she had plans for Barcelona and Valencia after Switzerland... but we walked to the train station together and exchanged emails. If our roads coincide along the way, I might have found a travel companion :)

I headed back to Maastricht early Sat. The other highlight of the trip was to see an old-school mill being prepped to work! I had to go out of the way, take buses, and depend on the kindness of strangers (an old couple that knew exactly where I wanted to go, even though the bus lady didnt...) but it turned out to be really worth it! And they only do this twice a month. I got there right as they were about to turn the mill and set the sails... Nice people. After that I went to see the rest of the caves, I must have walked 15km easily that day. By late afternoon I couldn't find anything else to visit, so hopped on the train, and slept most of the way back to Tilburg.

Sunday was a day at home. Slept *very* late (don't ask the time...) and just did some light travel planning. Too light, as I'm now at loss. Although, luck strikes again! I booked the hostels I did find a spot in, and had a gap for fri and sat night. I resigned myself to finding some place last-minute, paying an insane amount of money... but my ad for a travel companion bore fruit! I made a new friend over the internet, a fellow web designer, from the US, who just moved to Brussels, and could use both the company in her own language, and a guide. Me, armed with my trusty guide and my touristy planner, am more than happy to trade navigational aid for a couch to sleep on for two days!! She just replied by email, it seems it will all work out, after all. This is so cool! :D

Only bit I can't work out is London. I can't find a cheap enough way there, and, more importantly, back... so I might skip it, unless I find a good solution along the way. I do have to be back in Amsterdam by the 18th... as I got the cat-sitting apartment! yey for that, too! The poor lady is so scared to entrust her apartment and cat to a stranger... but I hope to prove how cool an responsible I can be :) I'm glad I made enough of a good impression the day I met her. So I have to go find keys during the day of the 18th. But I have to stop by Tilburg first, to pick up all the stuff I'm leaving here...

So, yeah.

:D

Only other bit left to update on is today's geo-caching. We set of to De Moer, a town nearby, *very* pretty, expensive houses and all. And near a huge nature preserve, with one of those "get clues, solve the puzzle to find the cache."

After a good chunk of walking, with several baby stops, we found it! It was my hosts' first, my second find (but, like, my 4th try...)

Things that went in: a google pen, and a heart-shaped keychain that had been taken from a cache in spain... i thought it appropriate to leave it there. a note in the log hinted to the significance of it... Go find the cache if you're curious ;)

So, that's it. I'm off tomorrow morning. No laptop, no camera, minimal clothes. Just a backpack. See how far I go before cracking ;) Although I plan to keep in touch over internet, at least briefly. Might not be able to do IM, but I'll definitely check gmail, and try to blog along the way. If I can't, I'll try to keep an analog blog, to type in when I get back. I can only hope I manage to work out which kind of modem is in the apt in amsterdam, and hopefully I can get my computer hooked up to it! Europe has a lot more options than the USA in modems. So I am not familiar with all the trappings to be worked out!

Wish me luck, catch up with you all when I get back, as early as June 13, but could be as late as by the time I get to Amsterdam, the night of the 18th...

hrmph... figures

2006-06-02T00:58:00.000+02:00

As I go to double-check on the email feature form bloglet.com, I see a post from the developer, who says he will discontinue the service, and to use another sister website, feedblitz.com.

So I had to re-post the info, all users should have been moved over, and I changed the code on the blog... now I just have to way 24 hrs and see if it works. Please let me know if you experience any problems, like getting double-emails, not getting emails, or any other behavior you don't expect! As of now, the service is set up to send you updates once a day. Hopefully that means new updates only.

Sorry about that!

oooh... now I figured it out!

2006-06-02T00:30:00.000+02:00

Most of you know that I had added the "send me an email when you update this blog" option to my blog.

From the start, many friends told me it wasn't working. The one thing that did work was the tracker of who visited the blog. Well, kinda. It gave me very low stats from countries I know no one in... so I figured it was all screwy.

Tonight I finally logged back in, realized what the error in the setup was (although I'm sure I got it right the first time, it just un-did itself! I swear!), so all 18 people that signed up should be getting emails from now on! This will be a good test for it. If you get this in your email, remember to check http://battlegirlEU.blogspot.com/ once in a while to hear about my adventures. This is Val, by the way ;)

So many people I hadn't heard from since I left, and I thought they were all lost in time, but now I realize they did give it a try from the get go. I am soooo sorry I didn't get to fix this earlier. I'm looking forward to hear from ya. 'Hope you get this post. Miss ya all!

- Val

looking for travel companions

2006-06-01T22:59:00.000+02:00

Well, Thursdays are for laying about :) And for planning future trips, like the travel to Maastricht, the oldest town in the Netherlands, down south, in a strip of land sandwiched between Belgium and Germany. I am staying my first night in a Hostel tomorrow, fri! Couldn't find any accommodations in the town, so I'll be hopping over to Liege, in Belgium, for the night. It was too far for a day trip. Let's see how that goes. After that, I am planning on hostelling it aaaall the way through Belgium to London... so it's kinda cool to get a trial night first. I am so spoiled :D

Also, since I'm facing 10 days of travel alone, with no friends nearby, I posted this ad on a couple of forums, to see if it's possible to find a travel companion:

------------

Hello fellow travelers,

I have been traveling through Europe for the past 2 months, solo, but I am tired of doing the touristy things alone. I am looking for a travel companion for the following tentative itinerary:

start tue, june 6 early afternoon in antwerp (I'm coming from the netherlands), stay a night or two. sights of interest: royal museum of fine arts, mayer van den bergh museum, rubens huis.
thu, june 8-10 (or 11) in brussels, for grand-place, brewer's museum, museum of cocoa and chocolate, and, of course, the mannekin pis statue :) Also the Musee Royaux dex Beaux-Arts, and the center for comic strip arts.
mon june 12 from brussels, one day trip to Leuven, to have some Laffe beer, and check out the pretty city
tue june 13 head early to bruges, but stop by during the day in ghent to see the cathedral and the city.
Stay the night in Bruges, and spend the next day checking out the sights. Not sure which, but I'm told it's a must-see town. One thing I know is there is De Halve Maan, a beer museum and brewery.
From there, find a train-ferry-train combination to london. Stay somewhere centric and visit all the major sights. Return trip is on fri, june 16. I'm going back to friends either in the netherlands or france to rest a bit before heading south towards italy.

As you can tell, I love museums, and I love beer :) I am on a pretty tight budget, so it's hostels and cheap transportation all the way. I'll gladly spend money on museum entrances, though, and can live on sandwhiches, even though I like good food. Can't say I'm an energetic and high-spirited companion, I'm more on the shy side. I'll happily try bars and/or clubs, I love to dance and drink, but this trip I'd rather see the sights during the day than drink and party. I'm not much of an early-morning person... but I'll make an effort 'cause most of the cool places close early! Plus it's hard to sleep late when you're in a hostel.

The ideal companion would be another girl who is in a similar situation as I am, traveling solo and with no fixed itinerary, just a desire to travel. I am *definitely* not looking for a hook up, so I'll be wary of single guys. Really, if you are looking for personals ads, go to another site. Don't bother replying to this. I'm also older than I look, I'm close to 30 yrs old, so I'm more keen on the cultural stuff than the late-night partying. I do enjoy my beers, though :) An older person would be cool. Younger people might want to look for others of their own age, unless they're geeky enough to be into museums over partying.

I have been keeping a detailed blog of my travels on blogspot: http://battlegirlEU.blogspot.com . You can check that out to know more about me and the places I've visited. If you have something similar, please share it.

My trusty guide for all sight-seeing has been the "Let's go Western Europe on a Budget." It has proven very accurate and useful on all data, from best places to see to transportation. Since it covers so many countries, it is often light on details about smaller cities, but if I stay in a town or country long enough, I buy a specific guide for the place.

If you think you fit the bill, reply to this or send an email to webgirl at the domain name battlegirl dot net. If you're not geeky enough to get that, just reply to this post, I'll keep an eye out for replies. ;)

-----------

Think I'll get a reply? I can't be the only one traveling about alone, and checking websites. I do see that on average only 4% of posts to the forums are of solo travelers looking for companions, or info... but I figured it's worth a shot! Also, what is the chance to find traveling skeeves? Most have got to be locals, preying on tourists...

Kinda thought of this a bit late, but still worth a shot!

More info after I come back from the trip to Maastricht. By sat night, when I'll be back, I should know about the apt with the cat in amsterdam, and see if i got replies... wish me luck!

Amsterdam's first impressions

2006-06-01T01:48:00.000+02:00

I went to see Gabriele and Nestor today. The apt in Amsterdam opportunity. Turns out she has someone to take care of the cat through the 19th in the morning, but she still needs someone for the rest of the time through the 28th. But she is still meeting another girl, so nothing is sure yet. I should know by Fri! 'Til then, all I can do is plan for some more traveling. I am thinking Belgium and London. If the apt goes through, I'll be back before then. If it doesn't, I'll take it south from there.

Well, this gave me a chance to see Amsterdam for the first time. The one city most guides dedicate themselves to, and I left it for last. Still didn't get to see much today. But I walked from the train station to her place, through a lovely residential area, of old houses over canals. I didn't realize Amsterdam is such a water place. I guess Venice must be like this. The only down point to the walk was the freezing cold. Damn was it chilly! And today was supposed to be nice... *sigh*. I had a sweater on, but I froze my ass off. Gabriele was going to give me one of her old coats 'cause she couldn't believe I was walking around with just what I had! People here are still in coats and scarves...

Anyhoo, after visiting her I took a tram to the Rijksmuseum. The most popular one in Amsterdam... and I'm sure it's lovely... if it wasn't under construction 'til 2008!! They are now reduced to 2 floors of 5 rooms each. Very poor selection. The first floor is all about the Netherlands and how cool their past is, and how they had an empire in the past. Ceramics, doll houses, silverware... The second floor has the masterpieces. Including Rembrandt's "Night Watch". It has a neat little stage, a curtain, and seats in a room all for itself.

I am starting to be quite cynical about art. How artists are exalted and specific paintings over others are popularized... it's ringing a dissonant chord within me. I'm gonna have to mull on this one.

After such a quick walk-through, I looked up for something else that would be within walking distance. The Van Gogh Museum was just across the field. Headed that way. Almost missed it. Even with my museum card I had to pay 10EUR! Again, totally worth it. They had a special exhibit that compared Rembrandt with Caravaggio. Some of the comparisons were a bit sketchy... felt pulled... but it was cool to see paintings side by side, and hear the commentaries from the included audio tour.

Then the rest of the museum was, of course, about Van Gogh. Of the 800 paintings he outputted in his short career, they have about 200. And then about half of his 1,100 drawings. And 700 of his 800 letters to his brother, which follow his thought process throughout his career.

More cynicism. I mean, if you see most of the guy's stuff, it sucks. Or, it's nothing special. It's the efforts of someone learning to do art. So why does he get to be so famous? 'Cause of how his life became public through his letters, I guess. And his contacts with other artists of his time. And how he connected it all in his head, with his writings. He has a couple of pieces that did make a difference in the art world. But you should see all the other stuff he did besides those. The stuff he's famous for seems to be just a couple of things, almost a mistake in technique, which he didn't replicate throughout his career...

What makes "good" art? Or is anything art? Is it all just about the passion? The dedication? If you declare yourself an artist, and just keep at it, no matter whether you are good or not... is that enough? If you know the critics, and get them to talk about you... is it all just about publicity? If you happen to make one revolutionary statement... does that validate your entire career?

I feel all the years I spent learning fine arts didn't really sink in. Or, rather, I learned by memory what was told to me. And promptly forgot it. But the critical analysis kinda got lost. I know I did plenty of thinking and analyzing. But I can't remember any of it now. Nor was it at a grand scale of "what *is* art?" I'm sure my teachers asked the question. Had us read articles on the subject. But I never really cared, or never really realized the impact of the question. Its implications. Its reality.

I recently finished a book, whose main character called herself an "opsimath" which means "one who begins learning late in life." I remembered my father thinking that of himself. That he matured late in life. Before his 30's it was all child's play. I am starting to think it's genetic. He was a genius. While I cannot claim such a high IQ, maybe there's still hope for me for the little things in life... :)

Ah. And the pictures. The pictures! I'm not gonna go such a big stretch again without posting. Although my hard drive is kinda running out of space... *sigh*

yup. pictures. 20 days later...

2006-05-31T00:38:00.000+02:00

I didn't realize I had so much catching up to do. But no worries. Got to it all now. And I didn't even bother to watermark them, or resize them. You're getting pretty good quality stuff here. Had to sacrifice on something.

I had to go over pretty much everything since I've been in the Netherlands! The sites are all linked one to the other, but here is a quick rundown:

Tue, May 09: Tilburg, Textile Museum
Wed, May 10: 's-Hertogenbosch
Thu, May 11: Utrecht
Fri, May 12: 12 of 12 in Tilburg
Sat, May 13: Region of Zeeland

Mon, May 15: Den Haag

Wed, May 17 through Tue, May 23: Madrid, Valencia, and around.

Fri, May 26: Den Haag
Sat, May 27: Tilburg
Sun, May 28: Rotterdam

Monday and Tue I took off. I needed to recharge. Lousy night. I am reaching the point where I start getting homesick. Which is silly, 'cause I don't have a home. At spots I get too depressed to keep traveling, I am emotionally drained, and traveling alone is no fun. But I am not likely to get this chance again, so I'm gonna milk it for all I can, even if I have to force myself through it. So, next up is Belgium, London... if the apt in Amsterdam works out, I will have 2 weeks to settle there. Oh. I just realized I should ask if there is internet!! I keep thinking it's a given... big mistake.

Today I also had the house all to myself, as my hosts went off Mon night to a conference for two days! Paaartyyyy!!! :D Eh, I mean, just kidding... nothing happened... yeah, Figment, don't worry... ;)

What I did do is take a chance, against Figment's advice (they all do butch haircuts here! It's terrible! Don't let them touch you!) to go to the local commercial center and visit the hairdresser... I figured I might as well fully live out the childishness I keep having tacked on me. After 2.5 hrs (!!) I got out with colored stripes and some extra layers... Maybe you'll get to see it in a new picture later.

Yup. Keep going. I can do it. I don't need no one.

Now all I'm missing is a good shoulders, neck, and back massage... maybe those are cheap here, too... *grin*

PS) Here is a public thx to those online that listened to me ranting... it helped a lot. Even though you are so far away, having your thoughts and comfort, or even just some distraction and company, made a big diff. And ppft to anyone that says otherwise.

wet culture

2006-05-29T00:55:00.000+02:00

The rain continued on Sat, but I was on a roll. I had big plans to go to Rotterdam, but I'd have had to get up fairly early to make it there with enough time to see any museum... and that didn't quite happen. :P So by 12pm when I finally was ready to go out, I figured even if I stuck to the local area, I could get to see some cool stuff. In Tilburg I had skipped over the modern art museum, the De Pont. The rain seemed to have subsided, and the day couldn't be as bad as the previous one... so I made my way out, this time with my heaviest sweater, which also has a hood. Unfortunately, I forgot my umbrella...

By the time I made it to the center by bus and walked the km to the museum I was quite drenched. But walking into the place for free (well, pre-paid, kinda) and seeing the stuff there made up for it! I spent a couple of hours happily exploring the warehouse-like space, the current exhibit and the permanent collection. :) Trudging alone through Europe, I really think museums are the highlight of my travels. They refresh my spirit, inspire me, enrich my soul, they are safe for a lonely girl to hang out at, and oh so quiet...

So anyhoo, skip this paragraph if you plan on visiting the place and don't want the surprise ruined (hint hint Figment...). The coolest piece in there is one from their permanent collection. It's the only closed door in a row of doors that line one wall. An attendant will open it upon request and tell you to walk in but not to approach the black round shape in the middle of the room, just walk around it. It's a tiny room. (S)he will ask you what do you think it's made of. I guessed a piece of reeeally dark felt inset slightly into the marble floor. She told me to approach it slowly and try to touch the middle of it. Nothing was there! It's a hole 1m deep, and the inside is coated with blue india ink pigment, which is one of the densest things out there, and absorbs all light, reflecting nothing. It's quite a cool experience. The walls of the room next to it were *entirely* coated, and a shape floats inside... There were a couple of other light plays, another dark room... and 2 Bill Viola pieces, which I tend to be fascinated by. Overall a cool experience.

From there to the center in the continuous rain, checked out movie options, decided on the 8:45 Da Vinci Code, and had 2 hrs to kill. Roamed the streets, most stores were closed, not many people about. I ended up in the covered outdoors of the Bolle Cafe, munching and finishing a book. The movie was so-so, here in the Netherlands most movies are just subtitled. Unfortunately pieces of this one were in french and latin... and I didn't understand a word of the Dutch subtitles... so it kinda added to the boredom. Oh, and intermission... I can't believe they do that in movie theaters! For 15 mins 2/3 of the audience pours out to get snacks and I guess go to the bathroom. Worse thing was that the big blue screen reading "pauz" was right in the middle of the chase scene in the forest!! Pfft...

The late show gave me barely enough time to catch the last bus back home... luckily I learned my lesson from the one night I got lost, and stopped at a shopping center I was familiar with, and walked from there. A bit of a walk at 12:30am, but at least I knew where I was!

Since museums are closed on Mondays, I made an effort to wake up early today Sunday and go to Rotterdam. I slept on and off in the bus and trains there... but enjoyed the view of the city and the museum Boymans-van Beuningen. Rotterdam was bombed during WWII and most of it had to be reconstructed. So you see a lot of ultra-modern buildings next to the old ones. Pics will do it more justice than my words. Sad part: I put on my winter coat today. Good part: it didn't actually rain. The were moment when the sun actually peeked out!! I got hope for tomorrow...

The way back was way longer than it should have been. I kept missing trains and buses by minutes, and had to wait a whole half hour for the next one. And the worse is that I took a wrong train back and ended up in a completely wrong city, West of the region instead of East. 3.5 hours later I finally got back home, and almost went straight to sleep. But hung out with my hosts instead, who were doing major living room reorganization. And once I went upstairs I figured as long as I chilled in bed I'd have enough strength to blog. Maybe even get at those pictures... Ha! you thought I'd finally get them up, didn't ya? That's what Mondays are for... :P

crappy weather

2006-05-27T03:13:00.000+02:00

hmmmm... yeah... about them pics... *blush*

Well, while Thu was spent indoors again, in pajamas, cooking lasagna (which came out a little better than last time, I controlled the pasta situation a bit more, although not quite perfect yet...), Fri I figured it was not going to stop raining or get any warmer, so I might as well go somewhere else and try to get my tush back into motion. Since I left The Hague with museums unvisited, I headed off in that direction again. I managed to get to all 3 I had in my list, with a bit of a rush:

- the Genteenmuseum is kinda of a generic "a bit of everything" museum. Skimming through the decorative arts sections I learned a bit about the famous Delftware. In the basement are the Wonder Rooms, each one an interactive experience. Some pretty neat, some a bit lame. But pretty worth going with someone to play around a bit. Definitely good for children.

- The Mauritshuis was a slight disappointment. Even with my museum card I had to pay 4EUR. Good thing it included a "free" audio tour. If you want to listen to the whole thing, plan a couple of hours at least. But the place is tiny... Its claim to fame are a roomful of Vermeer's, including "Girl with a Pearl Earring", and another roomful of Rueben's. They had a temporary exhibit about Italian landscapes, but not from big name artists.

- The coolest one, and unfortunately the one I had the least time to explore (silly 5pm closing times...) was a permanent collection of Escher's work at the Palais Museum. Even though I had to pay full fee here (a whopping 7.50EUR!) I was only upset that I had to rush through the end of it, and I didn't get to try the interactive activities. I love this guy's stuff. This place was bigger that the Mauritshuis, and included photos he took of his family and places that inspired his work.

Since all cultural places were closed, I made a soggy and cold way to the warmth of home. A night of planning has given me a good list of possible next steps. I found out I can make my way by train and ferry to London for a decent price... So that should be coming up soon. And I've been looking into Belgium. Tomorrow through Wed it'll still be fairly soggy, so I'm trying to stick to museums. There are a couple of outdoor places that seem worth visiting... if only the sun would peek out!

Cool news: I am meeting a woman in Amsterdam on Wed, I might get her apt for free for 2 weeks, just as long as I take care of her cat... Which would be sweet, and it would give me time to explore that city, which has way too many things to see, and further north, which right now is kinda too far. Let's see how it goes and if it's worth it... this would place me in the Netherlands through the end of June...! Then I *really* have to make my way south... :P

A vacation from the "vacation"

2006-05-25T05:29:00.000+02:00

yeah, planning and traveling non-stop isn't quite a relaxing thing. Well, I have to admit every place I have stayed it's been an amazingly comfy time, and I haven't rushed one bit, even taking whole days off in between things... Hmmm. Well... so maybe I didn't quite need the vacation... Let's call it a "I wanted to do it so I did it 'cause I can" week... ;) Here's a brief recap. (Still no pics... sorry! working through a better process on those :P)

Trip to Spain was pretty sweet. Arrived Wed night after a very quiet flight (I think I am finally getting over my panic of flying that I developed a couple of years ago...) to a very warm Madrid. Netherlands' weather had been exceptionally nice, compared to all the horror stories I kept hearing about rain and more rain and chill... but Madrid was still a welcomed summer heat. After a day of rest, we took off on Fri to go to Valencia for the weekend. On the way we made a side trip to try out some geo-caching. Cris just got into this, so I'd been curious to try it out. I searched geocaching.com for something along the way, and one cache popped out: A trip to the Roman ruins of Valeria!! No kidding, spelled right and everything. The cache logs said it was probably defunct, but we had to go just for the experience, and to take pics :D After quite a bit of driving, and one wrong turn (i'm still working on my navigational skills... :P ) we reached the place a half hour before the sunset. No cache, but cool experience in a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere...

We finally arrived to the hotel past midnight, so we had a slightly late start on sat. We still managed to experience most of the City of the Arts and Sciences. Kinda did the same itinerary as i did 3-4 years ago when I visited the first time. We mistakenly thought we wouldn't have enough time to do everything (oceanografic, museum, imax theater), so we scheduled the museum for the next day. We ended up hanging around, chilly in the Valencia evening, for way too long, waiting for the 9pm showing of the IMAX thing... so, even though we arrived there at 2pm, if u have enough stamina, it's totally doable to see *everything* in just one afternoon. Even if the ticker lady raises an eyebrow at ya in disbelief, don't let her convince ya to split the itinerary over 2 days!

We didn't quite make time to visit the center of Valencia, or its beaches... Instead, on Sunday we got ourselves into a serious hike somewhere north of Valencia, pretty unprepared, had to buy a local map along the way, drove back and forth looking for things a couple of times, then had to hike uphill, me in long corduroy pants, with just a bottle of sugary water with us, under a pretty hot sun... but the final result was really worth it. Gorgeous view of the gulf of Valencia from a place in the middle of nowhere, and this time we did find the cache!! We made it back pretty late Sun night, past 11pm I think... but it was fun. Monday I caught up w/Angelitush and Ariel again, and Tue morning I was already flying back... such a quick trip...

Back in Holland after an afternoon of travel (plane delayed, then had to switch trains once 'cause I missed the direct one, and then a bus ride...) I arrived back to my Netherlands home town a little wet, but happy, refreshed by the sight of a full rainbow as I stepped out of the last train. Was gonna take a pic but I would have had to assemble my camera in the middle of the rush hour people traffic... so I took a good mental picture instead, basked in the happy feeling, and went to catch the bus in a rush, as it was leaving in the next 2 minutes! I arrived to the smell of barbecue, a small gathering of friends, and, tired but happy, I joined in.

Today Wed I just took the day off. I didn't do anything but get hooked to my computer, and spent time learning how to MUD. Prob a big mistake, as the combination of that, the lousy rainy windy coldish weather here, and the general "i dunno where to go next" feeling are not exactly conducive to travel... but I know I can't afford to slow down. Still got lots to go through!!

I'll try to get to pics tomorrow night... Promise! :P Tomorrow it's a holiday in Holland (didn't plan for that one... when you travel, be sure to keep up on the local holidays!!) so I'm not sure what the options are. I also have to make my way to Belgium, Northern Netherlands, Luxemburg, maybe Germany again... and figure out a cheap way to get to London and possibly Ireland... ideally all in the next 2-3 weeks. Then I get another week of "vacation" and then I'll head back down south, through France and finally to Italy...!

*yawn* man it's late. Ah well. NY time keeps creeping up on me ;)

Utrecht

2006-05-17T01:02:00.002+02:00

Thu I ventured out to one of the major cities around, Utrecht. Got hooked up with a friend of Cris', Wsl, who was kind enough to use one of his vacation days to play tourist with me. We had a late start 'cause of an interesting glitch on the Dutch transportation system: they changed track number for the train we were supposed to catch, but rather than announcing it over the speaker or post it on the board, they had an employee walk up and down the track asking people individually whether they were looking for the train to Utrecht, and if so, they had to go to the other track... After missing the first train 'cause of time, and the second 'cause of this... we finally caught the third one and we were on our way!

Similar to Den Bosch, but on a bigger scale, Utrecht has a couple of water channels running through it, making for some very pretty scenery. Old architecture mixes with some modern buildings. The oddest mix was a house designed in the Mondrian style, the Rietveld Schröder House, which sits at the corner of a street full of old-school brick buildings.

After walking through the indoor commercial center that is attached to the train station, we found our way to the cathedral. Part of it collapsed at some point, so now they have a tower and further back what remains of the church as a separate, repaired entity. Rather than looking into a tour for that, we did a tour of the Speelklok museum, which had a special exhibit going on, bringing together from all over the world clocks that incorporated music. Some were true gems and I was impressed. Interesting bit about this museum: it's set in an old church. The percentage of re-purposed churches is actually pretty high in this country. They are often converted to museums or venues for random events.

Trying to look for the Mondrian house actually took us a good chunck of the afternoon, and had us walking through a gorgeous park, and reach the outskirts of the city. By the time we made it back to the center we were pretty hungry, and we were lucky to get a table at a restaurant on the Oudegracht, the oldest canal in the city. So we dined by the water on some Italianish kinda food. And it was yummy... :)

After dinner, what best than a smoke? Yeah, I know, I quit smoking... but how can you go to the Netherlands and not go through the experience of buying pot legally, and smoking it, too? We found a *koffeeshop* and I got a pre-rolled skunk joint. There wasn't exactly space in the cafe, so I asked if it'd be ok to just smoke on the street. Wsl didn't know, but we took a chance anyways. No one said anything, but I later found out that it's a big no-no. Technically, *all* drugs are illegal, even here. There's just a tolerance towards soft drugs in small quantities. So keep your smoking to the inside of a koffeeshop or the privacy of your own home, and don't do like ignorant me and go about the street thinking it's ok. As it had been my previous experience, pot did close to nothing to me. *shrug* I guess I should be glad I don't like it. So we went to look for a bar instead :)

The rest of the time we had before catching the last train back home at 11pm (no all-night public transportation...) we spent at a bar, picking up a conversation with a Dutch who had relocated to the Czech Republic. Pretty typical bohemian type, said he used to be a programmer... lol.

The trip back had one interesting bit to it. Trains were all good. No prob with getting back or connections... Then I had to take the bus. Turns out I had looked some info wrong, and the bus that stops in front of where I'm staying wasn't running anymore. There was one other line that passed nearby, but I didn't know where exactly. So I got on, told the driver I needed to be close to such and such street, and could he please let me know when we got there.

About 30 mins later, I'm the only one left on the bus, the driver has been text messaging throughout the whole ride, and I am getting nervous. He finally lets me off somewhere, telling me he *thinks* the street I'm looking for is that way... I figured it was a safe area, I had a small hand-drawn map of the main streets, and worse came to worse I did have a cell phone. So I start walking. And recognize nothing. I reach a dead end. I turn back. It's *really* quiet. No one is out. I see that there is a major road and once in a while a car goes by. I think "No problem!" I call Wsl and get his voicemail. I explain I need a hand with some google mapping... could he please call me back. I hang up. Accidentally shut off the phone. Cursing, I turn it back on. The SIM card needs a pin. What was it again? Something with 5... 5555? ...nope. 1234? ...nope. 5678? nope. *lock*. Now it needs a different, special code. Shit. Now I can't call. No one can call me. I'm still in the middle of what I think is nowhere. And no clue how to orient myself. Ah well. There's worse things than walking about on a mild night in a safe area in the middle of Europe all alone.

As I reach the street, debating how to flag a car down, I see water. Another one of those random water channels that are everywhere. Even out here in suburbia. Elated, as my friends' house was near one of them, I walk to it. Still don't recognize anything. Maybe there's more than one of these things around...

Determined, I keep going. And I hear voices! A group of teenagers is hanging out in the dark. Is it safe enough to talk to them? Probably not... It's 1am and they could be hooligans... Then again, this *is* a good neighborhood. And I can run. So I walk up to them, and say "Hi, I'm kinda lost, can you help me figure out where I have to go?" With my little hand-drawn map, the light of a cell phone, and their 3 heads together, after 5 minutes they figured out a direction for me to take. I thanked them and they saw me off wishing me luck. That went rather well. With some hope finally back, I walk down where they tell me. And find home only 3 blocks away! The light is on, all welcoming. Everybody sounds asleep, and I'm glad I didn't have to bother them. Yey for positive thinking! ...and for good luck ;)

Dutch culture and Den Bosch

2006-05-17T01:02:00.001+02:00

Watch out for bikes. No, really. Cars, don't worry about. But be very afraid of bikers. They have priority at least 90% of the time in the Netherlands. Every road and every sidewalk has a corresponding bike path. Even highways. You are supposed to tell it apart from where you're walking, 'cause it's in clear, red bricks, contrasting with the grey of the sidewalk or pavement. *Supposed to.* Often, in older parts of cities, the bricks are the same color, you don't realize you're in a bike zone, and you have to run out of the way of a little bell. 'Cause they are not used to clueless people that stand in their way. They do not stop. They are the masters of transportation in this country.

Then there is credit cards. They are nearly useless here. Do *not* depend on them. The Netherlands work on debit. Not even supermarkets take credit cards. *Some* restaurants will, but they might charge you a fee for using it (and it's expensive)! My debit card didn't work here, so not sure if it's just a different system or what... And most vending machines (the train ticket ones, for example) will not take bills. So you either need lotsa coins, or you have to buy a chip card. Which is basically a pre-paid debit card. For Dutch people, it's linked to their local banck account. Not sure how tourists buy one... Do you go to an ATM, get money out, and give it to a vendor just so they can charge the cash onto the card? A bit redundant... but if you are spending any long amount of time here, you'll find yourself needing it.

On to the new places I visited: Wed, May 10, we went to Den Bosch, which is short for 's-Hertogenbosch [link to wiki]. The girls have been very cool and always ready to go places, no matter how far. With less than 9 months of age, I was very impressed on how agreeable both baby and mother have been to travel!

's-Hertogenbosch is a small but very pretty town, with a small system of water channels. (This, by the way, seems to be a regular setup for cities here. Amsterdam is designed around water, a detail I didn't know about before... but more on that later.) We didn't get to go on a boat tour, missing the last one 'cause it was sold out... nor did we get inside the cathedral, which is only open 1-3:30pm... Instead, we bought a walking tour of the town, and started to follow it. About half-way through we finally realized why we kept getting lost. The thing was 1) written in bad English, and 2) was meant for retarded people with no initiative. We kept walking further, thinking we were supposed to go a while to find the next turn... and always had to walk back to the last spot, 'cause the next step was only 3 meters away. :P

Cool thing about this town: it's the home town to Hieronymus Bosch, one of my favorite painters. He basically did what Dali did, surrealism... but in the Middle Ages! Cool stuff. We visited the local museum, which was aaight. And I made the effort of trying another fried Dutch food thing, the "bear claw". *Almost* managed to finish it... :P

Tilburg, Netherlands

2006-05-17T01:02:00.000+02:00

I got a nice tour of Tilburg University on Monday. It is a quiet, small campus, and just walking through it you wouldn't know that it is renowned world-wide for its econometrics program. The glass corridors between buildings are especially pretty. And the lawns with wi-fi coverage all over even better :)

Today Tuesday was the first real venture into Tilburg proper. I took two buses, with Figment and her baby girl, to the center of town. Living here is almost like being out in the Long Island suburbs, by Suffolk. A bit out of the way, but with train access, small shopping center, main town small but with enough to cover more than the basic needs.

We visited the textile museum, which is actually pretty neat, and big. Tilburg is the Queen's official linens supplier (or at least they used to be. They still have official seals everywhere.. but I can't find any info in english online to confirm the fact...) The museum is still an active warehouse. And they also do translation of works of art to tapestries and rugs for artists. One project we saw was a 5X3m rug for a church. 2 people were assigned the job, working 16 hours a week each. With pattern in hand, and outlines traced on the canvas, they place individual strands of color to form details of the design, something a machine could not do, as it requires too many changes of colors. Estimated time to finish: 1 year! I didn't dare ask how much it costs to do this kinda stuff...

Evenings have been spent at home chilling with the family, planning trips and learning stuff. And relaxing, which I am always happy to do :) And I'm kinda back on NY time... ;)

Den Haag

2006-05-17T01:01:00.000+02:00

After a tranquil Sunday, since the baby got sick (aaww), on Monday (May 15) I set out on my own to The Hague (Den Haag), a quick day trip. You can read the wiki for more details, and then read on to my impressions. This day, btw, was my 2 months anniversary since arriving to Europe! :D

I went there with a general idea in mind. I have the museumcaard (a 30EUR value that lasts the whole year and lets you into most museums for free, or at least at a reduced discount!) and there is a small but famous museum there, with several masterpieces. And then there is Maduradam, a cool miniature city with buildings and sightseeing spots recreated in small scale. I figured, even if I only got these two things in, the trip would be worth it.

While in the train I spend some time going over the guide, thinking of a route to take. I happen to read up on the museum. I note there is a schedule. I read it, just to have an idea of how to organize things. Tue-Sun. ...Tuesday? Hmmm, and today is... doh! I should have known this. Mondays is often a day off for museums!! My plan just went puff. Ah well. I'm already half-way there. I'll at least get to see the city itself, and the miniature city.

I get there no problem, and I used my not-too-detailed map of the city from the guidebook to navigate to my first sight-seeing spot by way of the library (free, clean bathrooms and a detailed map of the city ;) ). The town at first felt a bit disappointing. Not many tourists around, and I had a not-quite-so-safe feeling overall. So I kept my manner purposeful, kept the camera in my bag, and tried to look not like a tourist. The buildings around weren't exactly striking, so I had no urge to play tourist anyways. Then I got to the Town Hall. It is a typical stairs-roof Dutch style corner building, which I really like, and it was just really neat. From there through the Dutch Parliament buildings (Het Binnenhof) and by the Museum Mauritshuis, sitting on a mini lake, reflecting in the water, I was fascinated. I did a lot of walking, and did manage to get into one museum, the Panorama Mesdag. Not much to it, but the main dish is worth the entrance price. A circular room with a 360 degrees painting! You are in a circular platform in the middle, sand is around you to the wall, and the wall is just a giant painting of the town nearby, on the water, as seen from a sand dune.

Another long walk through a forest (*real* nice, if it wasn't for the still not-so-safe feeling... I think some guys were harassing me from afar, but I didn't understand a word... so not sure...) I reached Maduradam! This is pretty neat. The best was to see miniatures of places I had already visited in real life, and then I got inspiration of new places to visit. I must have spent 2 hours there. I got a cute little souvenir by putting a coin in a box near a reproduction of a ceramics fabric, and a little truck brought it over to me, after the mini clogs fell into its cargo hold from a chute. :D

Right now it's 1am of Tue night (technically Wed) and I had a quiet day shopping and having dinner out. Tomorrow I am flying back to Madrid, I'm taking a vacation from my "vacation"... :D Going to spend 6 days of fun in Madrid and Valencia! Yey!

...and as I go to publish the blog entries for the whole past week... I just realized that all the work I did yesterday night, of pulling photos and creating sites for them, disappeared. When I came home earlier tonight I had some problems with my computer and had to force-quit stuff and restart... The work hadn't been saved!! :(

So pictures will be forthcoming... sorry.

Hasta la vista, babies. Madrid, here I come! \^o^/

South West Netherlands: Zeeland

2006-05-17T00:27:00.000+02:00

Saturday, May 13 - The best part about visiting a new country where you know people that live there is to see the places through their eyes. Not the touristy gimmicks (which can be fine once in a while, but they get frustrating) but the actual life of locals. I'm still in awe by how lucky I am.

Today we visited the in-laws, who moved to a very picturesque section of the Netherlands. The region of Zeeland is famous for the Delta works, the massive dikes that keep the seas at bay. There were two major catastrophes related to storms and the sea ravaging towns and people... 1/3 of the country is actually below sea level! So the Dutch took it to hearth to dominate the waters, and set to build this huge complex of barriers. On the way we stopped a couple of times, near dikes, to observer their impressiveness.

Once we arrived to Veere, the first order of the day was to shower the baby with presents and attention and all that cute family stuff. The mother-in-law shared an amazing collection of engravings by a renowned local artist. She even had her portrait done by him when she was a little child. Then we set out to walk the town. It's right on the sea, so it has a pier and gorgeous scenery. Since it's a small town, now dependent on tourism, it was easy to take a leisurely walk through the whole place in only about 2 hours. It felt good. It was peaceful, gorgeous, the sun was shining... My soul re-energized today!

We made our way back in the early evening, through the non-scenic route. Still pretty, though. Saw some old-fashioned windmills along the way, and had yet another chance to appreciate Holland's flatness :)

Yey for side trips!

Holland

2006-05-09T04:42:00.000+02:00

On Sunday afternoon Frank and Steffi drove me over the border, to my first Dutch city, Nijmegen, and spent the afternoon with me. They had me try my first typical dishes. Apparently this country is all about fried stuff. Especially fried unidentified meat.

They tell me what I had was Frietjes met Frikandel Speziaal en Kroket. You can read the wiki on Dutch food, or simply believe me when I say they're quite... odd. The kroket, especially, which is this almost slimy, mashed meat-and-stuff mix, shaped into a ball or a thick finger, and deep fried... And they are often sold in machines built into the walls. Look the wiki up for the explanation on that one.

While Nijmegen is quite small, it had all the indications of the typical Dutch culture which I have come to identify in my 2 days here:
- bikes are a key transportation system. I could not believe the sea of metal frames by the train station. I've never seen so many altogether. And on bike paths, they have precedence over pedestrians. And stairs have special wheel-sized channels to make it easier to drive the bike up and down. Very well planned. So you better keep your eyes open and jump out of the way of all wheeled transportation systems!
- driving, people coming from your right have precedence. I am told it's quite disorienting at first. Even the Germans were cursing.

Oh! And I forgot about the autobahns in Germany! No speed limit felt so right. And crossing over the border to Holland, the difference was incredible. No wonder cops patrol the border areas closely, looking for German license plates... Also, the whole legal marihuana thing keeps the border patrol busy. Many sick people, disabled or terminally ill, cross the border to find medical relief.

ok, back to my list of all things Dutch:

- Most cars seem to have a hook in the back. It seems quite common for a Dutch to own a caravan and travel Europe for vacation like that. I remember something similar in Italy when I was tiny...

Ah, just in case anyone was as ignorant as I was before this trip... some clarifications on names:
- The country is called "The Netherlands" [link to wiki].
- "Holland" is a region of the Netherlands.
- In many languages they don't care about this, and use "Holland" to mean the whole country (in Italian it's done that way. They also translate "Netherlands" to something like "The Low Countries")
- The adjective to mean something from this country is "Dutch". Which really confused me at first, as I thought I was going to Denmark. 'Cause "Dutch" doesn't sound like it's related to either "Netherlands" nor "Holland"... you can look up the etymology of that word on wikipedia, too, under Dutch language.

Here are a few pics of the Netherlands. Sorry for the lack of close-ups. Kinda just trying to get things out there :P

I have yet to see the coffeshops from close up (where they sell pot) but I'm guessing that'll be an experience for either Amsterdam when I get there, or in Utrecht this Thu.

Uff! All caught up yet? I took today off, we just did a quick bus trip to the university campus, and a drive to get food. Tomorrow we're going for the local museums. Wed I'm venturing out further, and Thu I should be hopping all the way to another major city.

I am starting to get a bit further into unknown territory. I started in a country where I knew the language and was familiar with things... Then in France I started loosing language, but still was able to muddle through some of it. Germany, and now especially Holland, are completely foreign to me. I barely understand "hello". I can't decipher any words based on the other languages I know. And the way they do things makes me feel like a child learning basic social customs again. Definitely getting more frustrating. And I am definitely glad for the continuous support of friends! This trip is such a pleasant experience thanks to all of them! I can't imagine doing this on my own and in unknown accommodations...

More Dutch culture and impressions tomorrow. 'Til then!

drive-by Germany

2006-05-09T03:28:00.000+02:00

May 6, 2006: 6 hours after leaving Paris by train, I was in Dusseldorf. Frank picked me up at the station, and drove 45 mins to their place, out in the countryside, near the border with Holland. Big difference between the cities and here! It's all nice and quiet and idyllic... They have horses and a dog and a cat and guinea pigs and there's sheep around... although we actually haven't spent much time here. After only half an hour after arriving we drove right back out to Dusseldorf to visit the town. No pics of that night, unfortunately, I was told it wouldn't be safe to bring my camera there... turned out it would have been fine. I would have just looked like a stupid tourist, which is ok, I am, after all... ;)

It's a big drinking town, there are several pedestrian roads with bar after bar, of all different kinds. A bit like Madrid, but the streets are much wider, and there aren't any annoying "chupito" people trying to get you into each bar. We walked through the Promenade, which is basically the street by the Rhine river, also filled with bars and people just hanging out and drinking. Cool sight-seeing spot: across the river you see the TV tower, tallest building around, and it has a lights-clock along its length. They explained how to read it, and they said it's the biggest digital clock in the world! Pretty neat.

The rest of the night was spent bar-hopping. Typical things: bachelor parties. Apparently everyone that gets married around here comes to Dusseldorf with t-shirts customized to have the groom-to-be's name, and they start the day doing stupid stuff (like putting on a diver's outfit and slosh around a public fountain in front of the cathedral of Cologne, fishing for things the others throw at you...) and then bar-hopping, asking people to participate in different ways, like paying to kiss the future groom, or asking to be bought a drink... all I saw was lotsa drinking and singing and making noise...

Other typical thing: coasters have an extra use in the bars of Dusseldorf. Waiters use them as tabs, to keep track of how many beers or drinks they brought you. With a pencil they write down a price, and then start putting lines around the edges. They keep going around 'til it doesn't fit anymore. Then they switch to a new coaster, and I saw a waiter just write the previous amount in roman numerals, before continuing to notch around.

Last typical thing: If you ask for beer, as soon as you have about 2 gulps left in the glass, they don't even ask if you want another one, they just take your glass away and put down another. If you don't want them to bring more, either leave the glass half full (don't let it get too low!) or put a coaster on top.

I thought Germany was a big beer place. It actually has a very scarce selection. But it's supposed to be really good, and most bars will have home-brews, kinda like wines in italy, where most restaurants will have a house wine.

The night was quite uneventful. We sat down at several places until fairly late, catching up, people-watching, talking about culture and places. The only random interruptions were from a guy who tried to pick up a fight with Frank over something stupid. A waiter was called and the guy was kicked out... I didn't understand a word. *shrug*

At the same place, there was a girl going around with a breathalizer. For 2EUR you could test your blood alcohol. Frank clocked in at about 0.8, while I clocked in at 0.67! Which is so not fair, he drank sooo much more than me, I was only on my 2nd real beer. Before that I had a mini generic german beer, a shot of Killepitsch (damn nasty strong stuff!) a non-alcoholic jeger[?] beer, and a couple of beer coctails, one with sprite, one with coke. (They were trying to get me to like their beer... they didn't have any other kind! lol.) I finally discovered a Weisse. Which came in a huge glass only, though... After two of those and a bottle of Grolsh, I said enough.
Our designated driver Steffi, who had a baby 5 months ago and still can't drink, patiently hung out with us and then drove us the 45 minutes back, some time around 3am I *think*...

German words I learned tonight: "Ich rauche nicht. Yep. Prost!" ;)

Next day, even though we all wished for more sleep, we got up at a decent time and headed out to Cologne (Köln in German!). The drive there was a bit longer, and my poor stomach and head made sure to remind me all day how much fun I had the night before... ugh. With baby in tow, we first had something to eat, to try and gain some strength, and then headed off to the famous Cologne Cathedral... Inside it was pretty much the same as every other gothic-style church I visited, like Notre Dame and St Denis, maybe just with more space... but the outside was huge, very detailed, and impressive. I think it's the most elaborate one I've seen so far. Plus interesting history behind it (read the wiki)

I forgot to look up on my trusty guide any info, so I had no clue on what other places Cologne is famous for. We headed towards a museum that was supposed to have a Rembrandt and a Durer... but the entrance was 8EUR (the Louvre was that expensive!) and it was deserted, so we decided to skip it. We walked by the Promenade, not as pretty as Dusseldorf's, but relaxing. Wasn't much talk today, we all were kinda tired and lacked the energy... :P

After a lazy stroll about we drove back. We stopped home, then went out again to pick up their other car from being serviced. On the way back, my stomach finally gave way. I had to ask Frank to pull over, he quickly veered into a driveway and I walked out and threw up lunch and whatever else had managed to stick around from the night previous.

By the time we got home it was already 9pm. Instead of having dinner we hung out in the living room and watched pictures and videos, of their wedding, of trips and events, and of my trip. Before we knew it it was 11:30pm! So we all retired for a much needed night of sleep.

Despite my weak stomach, I tried a couple of german dishes while I was here: on Fri the "Sauerbraten mit Knödel und Apfelmus". The second dish, on Sat, is the one that didn't survive my nausea: "Kohlroulade mit Kartoffelpürree." I think I should have tried the stuff I knew from the German restaurant I tried in NY, to have something to compare it against. Ah well, I'll have to go back.

Also, I learned about the Dutch/German interactions. Their languages are similar enough, but they make fun of each other and in general seem to have a rivalry that goes back centuries... kinda like north vs south of Italy, or Dusseldorf's vs Cologne's beer...

Ah, and here I saw my first (and hopefully last) old-style Dutch toilets, the ones with a "shelf" instead of a hole inside... (picture here) so your business is nicely on display for ya to inspect before you flush... Definitely odd. And smelly. Oh, wait, no, that was me. lol.

I'm off to Holland tomorrow, already. In the afternoon I'm going to be driven to Nijmegen, which is only 15 mins away, and I will probably find a train to my next temporary home...

Cool places to come back for: Duisburg (I think) for a castle/goth club where they have medieval dinners once a month...

Phew!

Oh, and here are some pics. Sorry I didn't bring the camera to Dusseldorf! :P

goodbye paris... for now

2006-05-09T02:59:00.000+02:00

Tuesday through Friday in Paris were filled with more fun, food, and sight-seeing. I am lagging a bit on the blogging... so this one is gonna be a quickie.

Let's see, Tue, May 2: no clue what i did during the day... i know i went out, 'cause i was supposed to prepare the crepes' batter, and i left a note about going walking and hopefully being back ontime... but where did i go without my camera...? probably walked about st denis. oh, to buy saffron. then ingredients for lasagna. and i walked to a local park, and then back through a Cemetery, where a guy told me to go a diff way 'cause he had just closed the gates. We spent the night making crepes, with a bunch of people over.

Wed, May 3: met with irina to go to parc st cloud. pretty, and huge. walking through it, we talked about living in paris, expenses, taxes, salary... then guys, relationships, people... then she had to go to work, so i got onto the tram and went to the defense on my own. then back home and made rice with saffron.

Thu, May 4: woke up late to make lasagna. prepared sauce, then went out for a last day of sight-seeing in Paris. Original plan: Musee Orsay, Notre Dame, Pompidour. First was mobbed so i didnt go it. Second i went in and was disappointed. third didn't have time to go in, but it was actually cool to walk around it, really nice area of paris. got back early to finish lasagna, which came out too pasta-y! :( but sauce was good... :D

Fri, May 5: last day! woke up too late, ran around st denis to buy a gift, flowers and vase, then ran to the train station to meet ana, who saw me off. hugs and goodbyes and a promise to come back :)

For time's sake, I condensed all pics in one page.

it was a cold and dreary weekend...

2006-05-02T02:01:00.000+02:00

well, most of it. we did see some sun yesterday late afternoon. But I'm jumping ahead. Let's start with Sat, when, after the usual late start, I quietly stepped outside into St Denis to be out of the way when Ana's in-laws came in. I figured for one, I'd be in the way, as they'd go through all the social greetings, settling in, catching up... and for two, I suck at social group happenings. So rather than be uncomfortable and sit there trying to nod and smile, I'd keep myself busy with the Basilica of St Denis. (btw, I'm going to try and link to wikipedia articles of the place I visit from now on, so I don't have to fill in too many cultural bits...)

(You can click on the pic at left to see more. I'm upgrading my blog ;) ) It is only a 10 minutes walk from where I'm staying, and for 6EUR I gained access to the necropolis and crypt, which house the tombs of several kings and other nobles of France. You can tell the most important ones have full statues of the royalty praying. Lesser nobles are depicted just lying down on top of slabs, pets at their feet, or weapons in hand for some men. Other cool things were the stained glass windows. of the two big round ones, one had the zodiac wheel on it. And the crypt, where they seemed to either still be digging, or they left it intentionally hole-y. When I walked back outside, I finally figured out what was the fenced construction area in front, in the middle of the street. A camera crew and ppl with mics were explaining about a new discovery of bones that somebody was going to donate money to investigate. I peeked through and saw partially uncovered skeletons. Neat :)

Since that took only an hour, I started walking about, trying to find a nearby park I had seen on a map. It was getting damn cold (first day I busted out the scarf and my one heavy sweater, and a turtle neck...) so after a couple of failed attempts at finding the place I walked back.

The evening was a pleasant dinner with the whole family, who spoke a couple of words of English. Coupled with my couple of words in French, we managed to have some conversation. After a while it reverted to all French, which I paid attention to a little but it got to be too much for my brain to process. :P

Sunday I dared go out. With Irina, my walking companion, we tried the Chateau de Vincennes, which was a disappointment. It's under construction, so the inside is closed. For 7EUR you can enter just the chapel. Which, we figured, was not worth it. I took a couple of quick shots in the rain, but we ran back to the metro soon after, to find an museum we could dry ourselves in.

Next stop was the Rodin Museum. Now, this is the kinda place I'd buy and make my home if I had an insane amount of money. Smack in the middle of Paris, it's a gorgeous huge house, with beautiful gardens, half in the symmetrical french style, but half it's a little forest with tall trees and a spot to tan... *sigh* so pretty. Even in the rain and cold I was happy. Now I just gotta work on those billions, and figure out where to relocate the museum so the world doesn't kill me. :P

After a stop at a cafe to recharge energy and the stomach, the sun finally made an appearance. Refreshed, we walked toward the Eiffel Tower, passing through Les Invalides, but not paying to go in. I already saw a cool exhibit of arms and armor in Madrid, I could leave this one for another occasion. By the time we made it past the Eiffel tower and to the Esplanade (a hill/park/building in front from where you get a better view of the tower) we figured it was actually still a good idea to get the Bateaux-Mouches, the "fly-boats", that for 8EUR tour the Seine for an hour, pointing out spots along the way. Irina suggested it'd be best at night, so we hung out at a McDonalds 'til 9:30. The tour was cold (this weekend was chilly!) but very nice. I even managed to get better pics of the Eiffel tower than when I was on land!! And the weirdest thing: a miniature version of the Statue of Liberty from NY...

I made it home mad late, around midnight, so next morning I missed the in-laws leaving early, and woke up right as Ana and Nico were having lunch. We spent the day at home, playing cards and planning a week of gastronomic exploits... tonight we made frog legs and snails (I cooked!!), tomorrow it's crepes, and wed and thu it's my turn with some italian cuisine with risotto allo zafferano (rice with saffron) and some of my famous lasagna!

On the frog legs and escargot: they bought frozen stuff at the supermarket, and we made them ourselves. the snails were pre-sauced, so they just had to go into the oven to roast... they do taste much like mussels, which I love... it's my second time trying them. The first time I couldn't get over thinking they were slimy things... this time I enjoyed them, much like I would enjoy calamari... The frog legs were kinda like chicken wings. Well, less meat. A bit of a crab meat taste. Very slight. But overall yummy. We didn't make them properly I think, but still enjoyed the whole lot. :) yey for my hosts giving in to my crazy french stereotypes cravings! (French ppl have them maybe once a yr... not as a regular thing. lol)