Xmas In Italia

Finalmente, I got on the plane on Emirates and began my 20-hr journey to Roma on early sabato morning. I had just started packing on Friday night - trying on assorted winter-like combos of what I could find in my wardrobe - and managed to stuff the xmas gifts in the luggage too (which weighed just 13.9kg). At 12.45pm, the plane touched down at Roma and I ran to catch the Fiumincino espresso where I chatted with a jewish businessman from Israel while staring out at the familiar vista. The only tell-tale signs of winter were the bare trees against the clear blue sky, and everyone all wrapped up in furry coats and boots.

The cold crisp wintry air was actually refreshing and jolted me up from my jetlagged slumber. I spotted L easily at the platform, his blue eyes beaming underneath his cap and his kiss like a breath of fresh mint on my face. We found the Best B&B (Vatican) easily and it looks exactly like its advertised foto - modern n minimalistic, plus the superb colazione lived up to expectations. The next morning after sleeping for 14 hours, we seeked out la bocca della verita (mouth of truth) where I stuck my icy hand in and tried to think of a honest question but the stupido staff kept saying 'ooonly 1 foto!' and interrupted my thoughts.

We hurried back to Napoli where Raef came to pick us up in time for Mel's Sunday lunch. Ah back again at Pozzuoli. This time in winter... and it's freaking cold lor. One doesn't seem to do much in winter except eat, sleep, watch tv. No wonder I felt like a bear, gaining extra fats during this hibernation festa period. Luckily everyone seemed pleased with my gifts, specialmente Nonna with her deep plush purple chinese silk and chinese frog buttons (perfetto for her 80th birthday dress), Raef with his oilment and muscle medicated patches, and Mel with the silver bag and sequinned blue shirt.

She paid for a lovely blue knitted dress which I picked out at the open market at Bagnoli. I so loved the seasonal produce, from the bright orange clementine mandarins, whole stalks of gorgeous artichokes and leafy bunches of kale to streetside roasted chestnuts and festive sweets. I couldn't find any ideal boots there so L and I made a trip to bustling Napoli where everyone is fighting for last minute xmas bargains.

Of particular interest, Via San Gregorio Armeno is the famosa strada of nativity artisan workshops responsible for the intricate nativity scenes and terra cotta figures (Obama anyone?) to dress up the festive home decor. After a quick grab of pizza fritta (deepfried folded stuffed pizza, very fattening), we located a Chinese shop selling all kinds of winter boots and both picked out the same pair of brown sporty boots (15e). Yay, sono quasi italiana ora, keekee.

Apart from pure vanity, one reason why I got the boots was the Xmas eve wet fish market at Pozzuoli where everyone heads to buy some fresh catch and soak up the festivity despite the freezing cold. It is one of my few favourite places in Italy where tenacles, fins and shells of many kinds rub me the right way. I love my polpo (octopus) - big and small, when it's boiled, chopped up and dressed with parsley, salt, olive oil and lemon juice.

Mel, cugina Linda and zia Luisa stocked up on a shipload of pesce and seafood for the Xmas Eve, Xmas day AND Boxing day family feasts (si, 3 days in a row and we only got out by escaping to Sicily!) - where everyone come together and stuffed their faces on traditional favourites such as pasta al forno, lenticche con zampone, frittura baccala, poven-roasted fishes and copious amount of vino. They could see I was fawning over the fresh artichokes and made a bunch battered in crumbs and crispy fried, specialmente per me. So sweet. Certo, ho finito tutto.

Every Xmas eve morning, Mel also makes pizza dough from scratch and filled it with a light mixture of spinach and raisins. This pie-like treat is considered a 'light lunch' - the calm before the storm. Tip: some walking before dinner also helps.

I also liked the spaghetti con aragoste (lobsters) - although L said the sauce could be better. He's a real sticker with food but that's one of the many qualities that I love about him. We could discuss and debate about how to cook various ingredients. Sometimes he would describe careful steps of preparing a certain dish for me - peppered with lots of amore - and it's very sexy. OOOOh.

On Xmas Day, we played the traditonal festive game of Tombola (akin to Bingo), ideal for the young and old. Except they don't play very high stakes, so not very fun for Chinese people. Ha. I enjoyed more cugina Linda's yet soul-satisfying brodo di spinach, oily fatty pork and sausages. The pork meat was culled from the recently-slaughtered pigs on Massimo's farm and tasted very good. I had 3 helpings and gave the thumbs up to them.

Dolci (desserts) was another thing - fresh seasonal melone, roasted chestnuts, chocolate-coated spiced natale nougat, whole panettone, crumbly doughnut-like pasteria, and struffoli - tiny fried pieces of soft, porous egg pastry, formed into balls coated with honey and sprinkled with bright and colorful candied sugar and candied fruit peel. Warning: do not consume at one sitting or suffer from 10 thousand calories! (See the foto: what's the common link among the 4? They are all sooooo sweet! That's Alessia - Anna's 5-month old baby girl. She was conceived right after the wedding which I attended last year. Mamma mia!)

Lights camera act

We fired our intern last Friday. It was inevitable. We were tossing with the decision for the past 2 weeks, even at our annual potluck ALOFQ Xmas party. Talking about him always makes our blood boil but we thought hell, we could try to put up with him for 1 and half months more till end Jan'09. Anyway his lecturer's call was the last straw on the camel's back. He asked if all was ok, so we met him and found out that K has been complaining non-stop to him, the other lecturer and his friends about us. We could tell he was miserable but expected him to be more mature about it.

Even his lecturers said he has to learn to deal with the stress and empathise more with us than him. We decided with the lecturer's blessing that it was better for K to move on to another company where he might eventually like or not (and realise it's not us, but him). On Friday we broke the news to him and he seemed ok (maybe relieved?), just mummering 'Sorry I let you all down.' We said it's not personal but hope he'd see this as a positive lesson. Life moves on.

Xmas seems to be creeping up real fast - I've had my share of turkey, pork knuckle and the works at 2 Xmas parties already. And the real countdown started over the weekend to seeing L again on 20 Dicembre this sabato. Roma is flooding over from the torrents of rain and northern italia is buried under tons of snow. But we are looking forward to a wintry snug Natale and ushering the New Year with some prosecco and fireworks. Ironically, we are not sure how it'd unfold for us but we're clinging onto every hope that we could be together. C'e speranza.

I'm happy for V, who is getting hitcked to P from down under. Just today she was shrieking and I was doing the 'V-is-getting-married!-dance' in the office, as she clicked on the online ROM application and booked the date 16 March. That's the day they first met online and a year later, they are taking the vows. It's funny how things turned out. Marriage is scary but it is the logical decision once you've found that someone special to spend your life with; who's your soulmate and best friend, whom you want to travel the world, laugh and cry over everything and nothing.

Intern woes

Pop the prosecco - it's 1 Dicembre! Cool bananas cos in 3 weeks I will be on that plane back to Motherland! I've gotten most of the Xmas gifts for L's famiglia - including a durian bar from Davao for L, who's craving my spicy tom yums and curries too. Aspetta un po' caro! He said winter has finally arrived and the temperature has dropped to 2-3 degs at night and 15 degs+ in the day. Luckily my sis is lending me her glam winter jacket with a warm rabbit-fur lined collar (ok i know not v politically correct but I do eat rabbit). I've been trying to eat better these days too ever since I've started our cats on a trial raw meat diet (grazie Jan!). If I can bother with their health, what about mine?!

With all the recent health scare, I have thought twice about all the food that goes into my body. After all, we are what we eat right? My new food guide rule no.1 is to eat more vegetables and fruits (esp organic ones), and will try to stick to 3 vegetarian days in a week. I don't think I will ever give up fish and seafood, but will slowly wean myself off red meat for a start (meat production is a factor that's also contributing to the declining global climate - becos more resources such as animal feed go into it).

I also try to buy more environmentally-friendly natural products ('Yes To Carrots' is a good label, avail at Watsons) and recycle wastes including open envelopes/used mags/papers/plastic bottles/ etc. Personally I also have been carrying my own shopping bag for more than 1 year now and in the office we have been using our own lunch boxes to tah-bao food for more than 2 years now! Perseverance, my child! :)

However our new intern K needs a little lesson in this - he has been bringing in daily sandwiches packed by mommy in those plastic triangular boxes. And everytime he finishes them, he throws them away. N literally asks him to skip the boxes but I still see them on his desk. He's a tough nut to crack. Also since I've come back, I've heard nothing but complaints about him from the girls that he's an unmotivated blur sotong. I tried the 'soft approach' - being the funny, easygoing, approachable boss - but it didn't work as he continues to show a lack of initiative and enthuasiam.

One day the dam broke, V lost her cool and we lashed out at him which made him cry. I actually said 'You should learn to use your brains!' He's a little better now but we have no great expectations from him. Already we've secured a new intern from my alumni Comm Studies at NTU for next year - she seems hopeful; in fact an over-achiever who has a black belt in karate (national athlete leh, don't pray pray), who started her own online portal for the youths, partakes in theatre and charity, and has learnt Korean! Truth be said, girls make better interns because most guys can't multi-task well and are less mature at that age. It's true!

Reading the signs

I'm not very inspired to write these days. Nor to read despite the pile of new books and tons of reading materials on my newly self-assembled book shelf. Infatti, I'm a little lost. Sometimes I feel pulled in different directions. Frankly I'm ready for a change. But I don't know what form it will take. Perhaps it's the time of the year - to make new resolutions again. I'm quite proud to say I've achieved most of my resolutions in the past 2 years! That's the power of listing down your short-term goals and working towards them. Pick up that pen and paper, it's easy lah.

A girl's issue

Work has been on an upswing with a few projects coming in at the same time; we couldn't really complain - especially with the recent 'economic downturn'. Take now and worry later. I try to skip all the negative headlines in the papers too, because life is already quite tough trying to put up a positive front. We don't need the media telling us about the next World Depression. Perhaps all this credit meltdown is a good thing. Humans deserve a big wake-up call to stop over-consuming and over-spending when they don't have the bloody means to. What happened to buy it only if you can afford and need it?

Greed is one evil that needs to be replaced by responsibility. Take the latest melamine scare for example; it goes to show businessmen's greed is blinded by quick profits with no heed for conscience and integrity. We should all boycott China's produce untill they learn to respect consumers' safety.

This led me to ponder about the pet food that we've been feeding our cats. You never know where this melamine is hidden. Ah Girl (Ripley) has been losing a lot of weight and is all skin-n-bones these past months, probably due to old age (she's 16 and that's almost 80++ in human years). We confirmed it at the vet who did a blood test. It indicated that her kidney, liver and heart are under stress and she'd need to change her diet to prescribed food, undergo weekly fluid dialysis, and take a liver tonic and heart pill. Poverina. My mom cried on the way home, as she loved Ah Girl the most. We'll just have to care for her in the best ways we can now, while we still can. She has lived with us for close to 10 years now since I adopted her from the streets of Tiona Bahru and is a part of the family. Sigh.

Ok just to cheer us up, here's a funny incident which happened to me last week on the mrt. I was on the way home and playing with my phone when this Indian guy seated next to me, said in a heavy accent:
He: 'Miss, the train is very slow today...'
Me: 'Huuuh?'
He: 'The train usually 2mins from Tanah M to Simei, today 4mins.'
Me: 'Ooh is it? I dont know. bo.'
He: 'Miss, you married Singaporean?'
Me: 'Yes' (i thought 'oh no')
A brief silence.
He: 'You know where is cheapest to stay in S'pore?'
Me: 'No, I dont know, sorry...'
He: 'Sorry miss, i ask u because u look very educated.'
Me: 'sorry I dont know. Bye'

Encore encore!

I got my attestato di frequenza today - quite amazing - considering I was expecting it 3 months later. But these italians surprised me at times. I do miss them, the country, my life back there as a carefree studentessa. When people asked me how it was, I just smiled and they knew it was incredible. During the last 2 weeks, I've gotten emails from Elena, Iris, Michele, Gang, Dali, Kumar, Moe and the 3 Yukos. Some are back in their own countries (save for Mic who's in 'paradiso' in Seychelles), while the others are pursuing C1 at Perugia. I even got a hilarious reply from the wonderful madcap Professoressa Daniela who wrote:

"Ciao bellissima chiacchiera mia, tante grazie. Mi viene da piangere al ricordo. Buona e bella vita a te e ai tuoi, te la meriti. Qualche volta, poco poco ricordati di me grazie con tutto il cuore, Daniela M (cell no.) Non ho computer a casa. Carissima, unica, insostituibile chiacchiera mia."

(Translated: Hi my very beautiful chatty one, many thanks. The memories make me cry. Have a good and beautiful life, you deserve it. Sometimes do think of me a bit, with all my heart, Daniela M. I dont have computer at home. My dearest, unique, unsubstitutable chatty one.)

She's one of the most unique characters I've ever met - why be normale when you can be brilliante, passionate and funny? The current world needs more citizens like her - people with a real consciousness and deep faith in their ways. Faith is one ingredient that'll also keep L and I going; we miss each other a lot, especially after being together 24/7 for 3 glorious months.

After some deliberation (ok I didn't take much time to decide), I've booked an air ticket back for Xmas and will fly off on 23 Dicembre on Emirates (oh no, Dubai again)! Funnily I've never spent Xmas in Italia before, so I'm really forward to the frost, festivity and food. We're also planning to head for the Dolomiti for some skiing and snow. Now how cool is that?

P.S: Oh, my organic farming story came out in Simply Her Settembre issue while I was away -- I love the layout and my bellissime foto! I emailed it to Iris at Casa Lanzarotti and she said 'sei una vera artista!' They're the real heroes in my eyes :)

Auguri mio caro

Today's the birthday of L and peccato that we couldn't celebrate it together. We'll just have to take a raincheck then. Ottobre is a busy month for birthdays indeed. Just 2 days ago, his sorella celebrated her b'day(auguri!) and in a couple of days, their mamma Mel as well as my papa will be celebrating theirs on the same day. Si, what coincidence! Mel said L was a gorgeous baby; blonde, blue-eyed, snowy skin and chubby. No one could resist pinching those cheeks and he'd respond by kicking them. Bad, bad boy.

Touch Down

I'm back as some of you might know. After an exhausting 18 hours of travelling including the Eurostar from Napoli to Roma (2hrs), then Fiumicino Espresso (30mins), then waiting (2hrs) at the aeroporto. Then to Dubai on Emirates (6hrs, great service, food and inflight entertainment by the way), plus another 4 hours of transit (so many deadbeat passengers sleeping on the floor everywhere). Then there was the extra stopover at Colombo, Sri Lanka, argh! (1hr), before being comatosed in the air for 4 hours back to Singapore. Hallulueh. Grazie Dio.

To be honest, I didn't feel homesick at all. As heartless as I might sound, I didn't miss my famiglia, cats, work too much because I had L and Italia. L was my family and Italia was home. But I know I have to be back; greater things await us. And hopefully we can embrace a new chapter in our lives. During Daniela's last classe the previous week, we had to give a farewell speech, and I had written:

'La Fine... ma non e' la fine, invece e' l'inizio di un altro capitolo nella nostra vita. Aparte di migliorare il mio italiano (spero!), penso che abbia trovato molti amici nuovi, e questa esperienza mi ha aiutato di capire meglio la natura d'umano; italians, giapponesi, georgiane, tedeschi, pervertiti! In particolare, questa lezione era una piccola confessione per noi... Per ogni viaggio, io cerco un messaggio - in questi 3 mesi, ho imparato di apprezzare il presente, che e' il piu importante perche il tempo vola. In somma, prima ero infatuata d'italia, adesso posso dire che questa infatuazione e' diventata un amore maturo e piu bilanciato. Grazie lei, grazie tutti!'

(Ok translation: 'The End.. but it's not the end, instead it's the start of another chapter in our lives. Apart from improving my italian (I hope!), i think that I've found many new friends and this experience has helped me to understand better the nature of humans; italians, japanese, germans, perverts! In particular, this lesson was a small confession for us. For every journey, I search for a message - in these 3 months, I've learnt to appreciate the present, which is the most important becos time flies. To sum it up, before I was infatuated with Italy, now I can say that this infatuation has become a mature and more balanced love. Thank you, thanks everyone!')

Addios Perugia

We couldn't believe this was the last week at Perugia. It seemed like just yesterday when we first arrived on a stuffy hot Sunday, when we cleaned out the cubby hole at 19 Via Colombo Antonietti, and how I've struggled with the iscrizione all' universita' and the merda di permesso di soggiorno. We got our test results back on martedi (cos Rita was lazy to mark all) and everyone did quite well (cos she was lenient and distracted with her cat, mamma, tv, weather, ecc). Anyway I didn't care less, as far as I know, I did my best and I did good. L was my best gauge, and said my italiano has gone up the roof specialmente with the parolaccia (I can even swear in napolitano now!)

I popped by the secretariat all'universita to collect the last bit of the scholarship money and paid 10e for the attestato di frequenza (cert of attendance), plus another 7e for postage and 14,62e for the miseria marca da bollo. We all couldn't believe how much shit and add-on expenses there are to everything here. On mercoledi, L's cugino Angelo came by to stay with us after his year-long stint in the militaria at nearby Viterbo. Angelo's a bit of a madcap but at times a shy quiet boy, you never know what to expect.

Anyway we brought him to a farewell cena with my classmates at Da Mi Coco (only 13e); there were 11 of us, most of the Japanese girls, Mic, Paola, L and me. Angelo was instantly attracted to Yuko Prima and I think she also found him cute, because they were soon posing for foto together and having a private sigaretta pausa. Ooh la la. Angelo said that he had invited Y to come visit him anytime at Napoli and she said she'd come with us that venerdi when we'd leave together! Talk about being interested!

We ate and drank to our hearts' content, poi braced the windy cold outside for a nightcap at a bar. The next day, L, A and I took off to nearby Foligno (40mins away) for the festa dei primi piatti d'italia, our 4th sagra of summer 2008. There were various 'tasting villaggi' spread out across this flat-footed town, come Toscana, Umbria, Veneto, ecc. Our first pitstop was for gnocchi and fresh tagliatelle, plus a whole bottiglia of vino rosso to chase away the cold. Brr, it was freakin' freddo when the wind blew hard.

We then trotted down to 'Veneto' to load up on free formaggio, birra, badges and pencils before signing up for the 7e degustazione menu of the regione's famoso polenta and risotto. Still hungry, we dug into a portion of lasagne al tartufo and free samples of cheese, cioccolato and biscotti given out at the night gourmet market. Foligno was buzzing, man. Everywhere else seemed more interesting than Perugia!

Having fun-ghi

After we got back from Milano, the weather remained chilly even at Perugia. I told L we can't complain of the cold now since we always bitched about the heat before. Meglio freddo che caldo. The week crept by and everyone was all wrapped up in their autunno/inverno vestiti except me. I just layered my cardigan over my long-sleeved Mango top over my whatever I have. At least the jeans and sneakers can come in useful now and keep me warm... untill the wind blows and freezes my skinny arse.

We did our last test of the course, and afterwards I was the most relaxed, because it unofficially marked the end of my course. Unlike others, I had chosen not to do the esame, perche 1) odio esami (I hate exams) 2) non ho bisogno il diploma o il stress (I don't need the dip or stress) 3) preferisco di partire piu presto a spendere piu tempo con L (I prefer to leave earlier and spend more time with L). On venerdi, Prof. Teresa (whom Mic and I shared a secret laugh when we noticed she actually has a moustache upclose) brought us on a field trip to visit the fabbrica di Perugina to see how the cioccolato was made. Perugia is known worldwide for their 'baci' (kisses), where inside every cioccolato, there's a message of love attached. The profumo di cacao lingered in the air as we were led from the presentation lounge to the factory and then the museo. Outside the rain continued to pour - un perfetto tempo per cioccolato e baci.

That last weekend at Perugia (si, we couldn't believe it's the last too), we coordinated a weekend getaway for us, Michele, Yuko seconda and Yuko Terza, and drove to Parma and nearby Casa Lanzarotti at BorgoTaro (which L has nicknamed Borgo di Cazzo becos it's quite tucked away). Il tempo non era male, infatti c'era sole fino a Milano dov'e' sempre grigio. Mic kept the Jap girls talking while we enjoyed the scenery during the 4-hour ride up. At Parma, everyone was excited by the buzz in the citta - the 2 Yukos wishing they had studied here instead of boring Perugia. It was hard to find a parcheggio al centro so we took a risk and parked in a slot reserved for residents (later we got a multa of 36e, che palle).

As this was my 3rd time, I knew my way around and brought them to the very packed Sorelle Picchi for a satisfying pranzo of antipasto di prosciutto, local pasta such as cappelletti and the vino du jour - the sparkling dark red Lambrusco. While L took a nap in the Ford, we strolled around and Mic bought more goodies for tonight - grappa, Lambrusco, prosciutto and formaggio. Contenti, we drove 30mins to BorgoTaro, which sets the stage for funghi harvest at this time of the year.

The scenery became familiar as we turned into the green valley among the lush montagne, alongside the pebbled stream that snaked around the terra. I immediately felt at peace and at home. Being the guida, I happily announced to the gruppo that we've arrived at Borgo Val di Cazzo (Taro). It was as I remembered, leading to Gotra and the cafe-bar-shop where I used to hike down an hour for sigarette e vino. We found Casa Lanzarotti easily and a scruffy Swiss WOOFer Paola was there to greet us as Iris was at the mercato and Gianluca was on Red Cross duty.

The fattoria seemed smaller and more battered; the cats timida Puffa and sweet Georgina, the animals and the greenhouses were still there. I proudly pointed out the caravan at the backyard where I used to sleep, the pomodori, zucchini and vegetables plots and the ripe apple trees. Ole Giacomina the horse was still there among the sheeps, albeit looking very scrawny - her ribs showing under her taut tanned leathery skin which has lost its sheen. She must be at least 80+ years in human age.

L was going crazy like a dog on heat, sniffing the baskets of warm freshly-baked bread left out in the open to cool. Pane and patata were his droga. Iris returned in time and after a round of hugs and handshakes, we sat down for a wonderful four-course cena of salume and cured zucchini, followed by her homemade local pasta sheets al pesto, stewed cinghiale (wild boar) with fagiolini and carote, and marmalade torta. Ahhhh. Mic was in his element and interrogated the 2 Yukos about their way of life, their approach to romance and marriage. Iris came in and out clearing the courses, amused at our intermediate italiano.

As I had hoped for, everyone was warm, full and extremely pleased with the agriturismo esperienza. L told me earlier by chance he had seen Yuko Terza dancing quietly with joy by herself - that to us was her conservative Japanese way of expressing her happiness. We grabbed our coats and a bottiglia di grappa and sat outside in the cold silent darkness to admire the glorious blanket of stars. It was about 4 deg C so we went in for more vino and a game of world map picture puzzle till late. I was surprised the thick woolly blanket served us well throughout the night, infatti I kicked it off at some point towards dawn as the warmth crept up.

Sticky, sweet n cold

Madonna's concerto came and went on 6 Settembre 2008. We made a huge boo-hoo with Hertz's opening hours on that sabato (it closed earlier than usual, merda!) and we had to scrabble to Roma in the treno senza our barang barang. Our orignal plan to drive up to Roma and then Napoli for the weekend was thrown out of the window as the treno moved unbearingly slow towards the Eternal City. Luckily we reached the termini, found the metro and tram to the stadio Olimpico just on time at 9.15pm and found our seats among the 60,000 screaming worshippers. The lights dimmed and the Queen of pop came on.

It was a non-stop 2-hour session of dance and music, as Madonna jiggled, strummed and muscled her way on the stage. After the concerto, we walked 4km to Roma Termini with the thousands of fans and must have tried at least 20+ hotels around the stazione ma tutti sono stati completi. Just our luck! I laid out the newspapers next to a pee-stained vandalised wall while L kept awake as bodyguard from 2am to 6am for the primo treno per Perugia. We were never so grateful to be back home, even though it was a warm cubby hole.

Anyway our wish came true. The weather turned cold with the arrival of autunno last venerdi. It began with a heavy downpour just as we got the keys to our Lancia macchina and were on our way to Bassano del Grappa up nord near the Alpini. After passing Firenze, the rain turned to hail (grandine, mamma miaaa!) and our car was pelt with loud thudding of small icy white marbles; scary lor! We stopped at an autostop before continuing to Bologna, Vicenza and Bassano where the temperature has dropped to 20 deg C. Here we were in our summer clothes, shorts and slippers, while his amico Gianni and his fidanzata Danila were all wrapped up.

After a quick cena, we took a passeggiata around the centro di Bassano and the old ponte; it felt like we were in Germania or Austria with its old pubs, Trenta-style architettura and the Alpines in the pristine montagna backdrop. What stood out here were the flat wooden window panes which probably serve well to keep out the harsh cold during l'inverno. The town was even more charming in the light the next morning as we toured the thriving market and had a quick cuppa with our kind hosts before rushing to Milano in the relentless pioggia.

We were running very late for the 1pm pranzo with Ele, Alberto and piccolo Paolo at Meda and only arrived at 3.45pm. But it was great seeing them again especially Paolo who has grown a lot and was chatty and running all over the casa. After a quick bite, Alberto drove us all to nearby Lago Lecco for a stroll and I tried to grin and bear it in my short skirt and slippers. It was brrr fu%kin cold lor.

We had a piccola festa that sera at their rustic cosy basement with Ele's amica Marta and her new ragazzo Fabio who was younger than her - like L and me. The next day we had colazione at our fav bar, which served up a great cappucino and pastries, before driving across the Swiss-Italian borders to Campione d'italia to see the casino. L was excited to be back on familiar grounds; he must miss the action the way he was caressing the roulette and blackjack tables. When we got back, we kissed our gentilissimi amici addios and headed for cold grey Milano, because L hasn't been there before and we were so close.

It was FREEZing, and I layered all the clothes I brought to weather the wind and drizzle. The piazza duomo and galleria were packed as always, even the shops. I couldn't find any purchases at Promod or Mango - all the sizes too big - I was itching to buy something, anything.

Streak freak

Time flies and it's Settembre already! I can't imagine in less than a month, I'd be back in the Lion City (2 Oct to be exact). Sorry for being MIA recently because I was busy travelling on the weekend and too lazy to write on weekdays after classes (on top of writing in my diario). But anyway I have been studying hard and fortunatamente I did well for the month-end Agosto test, yay (26\ 30 not bad lah)! Now everyone is anticipating the test and final esame at the end of Settembre.

Classes went smoothly this week as we finished the chapter on la forma passiva. But trust me, this settimana wasn't passiva. Infatti we had a little avventura just yesterday evening after Daniela's lezione. I was walking up a quiet slope with 4 jap and taiwanese classmates - all girls - when this youngish guy stopped to ask us for directions. 'Scusate dove è l'università per stranieri?' Being so nice, I was about to reply when Margherita pulled me away from him and it occurred to me he had his bermudas down to his knee and was happily jerking his cock!

I was still too stunned to react but the other girls have stepped about 10m away. For a split second, my mind contemplated a couple of options - 1) ran away with the girls 2) retaliated and screamed all the practiced italian vulgarities at him. Guess what I did? :P I regained my composure in 2sec and poi starting cursing: 'Vaffanculo!? che stronzo?!!!! è piccolissimo!!! che schifo?! vaiiiii e moririiiieeee!!! (translated into 'Fuck u! Fucker! It's very small!!! So disgusting!! Go and die!!!!')

He was still grinning with his huge pene hanging down (ok it was really grande even at a relaxed state, don't ask me how long please!) but as I started to awake from my shock, he ran past our Daniela who was just starting on the slope and disappeared around the bend. We tried to look for him in the childcare school at the corner but couldn't so we called the carabinieri to lodge a report.

Daniela, being the fierce feminist that she is, was as worked up as me - 'è un violenzaaa! she said, but at the same time we were both laughing about me screaming all the italian parolaccia, instead of all the niceties they taught us in classe. Margherita said this was already the second time he has flashed her, and later we found out another girl has also seen him. Matto pervertito!

In any case, the carabineri took a good 20mins to show up and I attempted to describe him with the help of Margh. I could recall his full get-up -- green tee with white design, greyish bermudas with 2 string cords in front, short curlyish dark hair, dark eyes, huge cock. I joked to Luigi that if need be, I'd be happy to identify him among a row of suspects because I could recognise both his heads. Hahahahaha.

As a reward, we are off to Madonna's sold-out concerto tomorrow at Roma (we got great seats!!!) and then driving to Napoli for the weekend until Monday. The weekends in Settembre - as L dreaded - are already planned in advance, no time to waste, I also say.

Road trippin'

I got a brainwave one lazy afternoon and proposed a weekend getaway by car to Toscana and San Marino to L, who was surprisingly up for it. Una buona idea, specialmente when the car costs only 95e for 2 days. We thought 'the more, the merrier', so we invited Gang and Michele, our vino kakis to join us on this roadtrip. They took the bait subito after I mentioned keywords in our itinerary like 'vino tasting' and 'sagra di bistecca (steak)'. Si, we haven't given up on our sagra chase and are determined to hunt down our meat this time. A stake or no steak.

Sabato started out great when we got upgraded from a Fiat Punto to a sporty Volvo S40 - we teased Gang that Hertz knew he was our guest so they changed it (Gang's from Beijing and an engineer with Volvo in Italia). Michele was already busy chatting with the parrucchiere next door when we arrived to pick up the car. Germans are very punctual indeed. Our nickname for Mic was sindaco (mayor) as he's the oldest among us at 56 years old and very distinguished-looking with his Bavarese full beard. We looked like a mismatched squadro; a German, a Chinese, a Sporeana and Italiano, so our make-believe roles were respectively driver (L), tour guide (me), bodyguard-cum-photographer (Gang) and sindaco VIP (Mic).

Our first stop in Toscana was at a vineyard 'La Ciarliana' (www.laciarliana.it), close to Montepulciano - a hilltop town which is known for their nobile vino. Along the way near Cortona just as I was telling the guys about 'Under The Tuscan Sun', we zipped past Frances Meyer's casa 'Bramasole' that happened to be up for sale. Allora posso comprarla ora, haha. At 10.50am, we sipped 4 diversi vini with the kindly owner - also named Luigi who gave us a tour of his facilities - and went away brilli with 4 bottiglie (I got a yummy 2001 Nobile Vino for just 15e).

We reached Montepulciano easily and toured the quaint town on foot. The colourful bandiere (flags) of the diverse contrade (clans) were already up, in time for the upcoming medievale race 'Bravio delle Botti' next Sunday, where the different team members have to roll 80-kg wine barrels (botti) around a 1.8km corso. Mamma miaaa, not an easy task considering the narrow uphill cobbled pathway. We zipped to nearby quiet Arezzo for a late pranzo at 2pm and snacked on antipasti platters with more vino rosso and cantucci dipped in the sweet golden vin santo. Piazza Grande was closed for renovation in preparation for the upcoming annual highlight 'Giostra del Saracino' (www.giostradelsaracino.arezzo.it).

Contenti and pieni, we embarked on our hunt for the sagra but took some time to locate Civitella in Val di Chiana (it's this tiny village off a discreet turn). When we got there, it was dead quiet and no burning charcoal was in the air. Errrh. An old lady pointed us to Badia al Pino 10mins away (si, it was super ulu, man) ma finalmente we saw a tent for the Sagra della Bistecca' (festival of the steak). The chefs were busy chopping up the thick cuts at 7pm and the cool evening breeze carried the greasy profumo into the packed tent where we chopped down on wonderfully charred steaks among the locals, some probably never had Asians in their fold.

We had paid 17e for the set menu of bistecca, pane, pomodoro or fagioli and frutta, and an additional 3,50e each for the vino rosso. A bit expensive, we thought for a bicchiere (glass) but to our surprise the waitress brought us 4 bottiglie, all opened already and corks thrown away, so we had to drink them all. Non c'e nesun problema. Needless to say, we were molto felici after the 2nd bottglia.

Michele tried to chat up the lady next to him being his usual kaypoh self and asked her if the salsiccia is grasso but she seemed offended by his inquiry. We whispered to him not to talk to any local married woman cos they are propably not used to stranieri asking them about sausages. A stage was set up for a band (like our getai set-up) and the old folks dressed in their best jiggled their bits happily in sync to the tune all night long.

The next morning on domenica, L found the way to San Marino (an independent state like the Vaticano). I imagined a fascinating state with ancient peaks and uniformed guards but didn't expect the hordes of tourists, cheap eatries and trashy shops. The only saving grace was the breathtaking 360 degrees panaroma, especially the vista of the Rimini coastline and the misty blu Adriatic sea.

Usually the local culinary delights will cheer me up but even the specialty of piadina, a dry insipid tortilla-like crepe, filled with cheese, ham and rucola was a letdown. Pui. Sad to say, San Marino lacked authenticity and anima (soul), just a disguised Disneyland with real towers for buon mercato merrymakers. We drove to nearby Rimini for a spot of sea breeze before heading home; it certainly felt like Gold Coast in Australia with its many hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops catering to the millions of summer holidaymakers browning themselves at the beach crowned by the various bathing establishments. L said Rimini is probably where Italians have the most sex fuelled by the caldo sole.