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.