Money money money

I just realised I hadn't collected the seconda rata (25%) of my scholarship (700e), luckily Kumar reminded me. When I got to the segretariat, il kapo (the boss) said:
- 'Ahh, sei l'ultima! Hai soldi!' (Ah you're the last one, you have money!)
Me: 'Nooo, ho dimenticato.' (I forgot lah)
- Him: 'Forse sei inamorata?' (Maybe you're in love?)
Me: 'Eh.'
Him: 'L'importante è lui è bravo.'
Me: 'Si si, molto!'

He's funny, always wisecracking with studenti despite his stern persona. This week I dragged Michele and Dali to the bar for our fav mojitos. And on mercoledi, we invited Gang and Tony the 2 ragazzi cinesi to our place for dinner. L prepared antipasto of caprese and ham, and cooked peperoncini and meatballs in pomodori. Gang said I'm very socievole (sociable), which is probably driven by my innate curiosità about other cultures and using the opportunità to communicare in italiano!

The weather's getting unbearably hot - as high as 37 deg C - as Agosto arrives. Millions of italians escape to the montagna or mare during this period nearing the ferragosto, annual summer holiday. Taking the cue from them, I suggest to L that we'd go to the nearest beach to satiate our craving for some blue blue ocean. Per la prima volta, è contentissimo di questa buona idea! We picked Falconara, one of the many beach towns dotting the Marche coast near Ancona.

Il tempo era perfetta quel sabato quando siamo arrivati a falconara. We had taken the early 7am treno and reached there at 10am+, molto eccitati sotto il blu cielo. Falco was just waking up and needed a huge cup of caffe like us. Determined to splurge on a room with a bella vista of the mare, we sniffed out 2 alberghi - the first was pure horror film material with a toilet that hadn't been scrubbed for 20 years (40e) while the second was a non-descript room with just 4 walls (80e) - before huffing up the steep slopes to the top (a good sign I said to L) to Hotel Touring.

There was 1) a piscina (pool) - a good start since we are both suckers for it, 2) the receptionist was very friendly and 3) gave us the key to a room at the top 4th floor with a seaview (92e). We were sold by the vista alone, which stretched to Ancona bay. And did I mention the aircon? A luxury and lifesaver in this wench weather. We changed into our swimgear and plunged into the pool to cool down before heading into the centro for a late lunch.

The spiaggia (beach) was crowded with a zillion ombrelloni and wrinkly sun worshippers. L took a look at the acqua and rather stayed dry in case his sensitive skin act up. We were also determined to indulge in some pesce (seafood) since landlocked Perugia was hardly the place for it. The pool boy's dinner recommendation - L'Arnia - was quite a fancy modern joint however the menu was down-to-earth. We were pleased with the starters of insalata di polpo (octopus) and carpaccio di spada crudo con finochio (swordfish with fennel), poi classica zuppa di pesce and risotto con cozze e fiori di zucca (mussels n zucchini flowers). The bottiglia of vino bianco (from Marche of course) round up the meal to 60e, reasonable compared to what we pay in S'pore.