Less than 10 days to Christmas!

Decorations at the Christmas market in Bassano del Grappa

I love this season. I love the candles, the smell of oranges and clementines, the hustle and bustle of people looking for just the right present for someone important. I don't of course love the bad weather - and it is bad weather since there is still no sign of snow! - but I'm willing to ignore the damp, miserable darkness outside because it is what makes all the warmth and light inside look so much nicer.   It's funny how this silly little city that I really didn't like in the beginning (and now I can say it!) is starting to feel like home. It's growing on me. At least on some days!

I'm excited about going home to Finland on Monday. I will have a stop over in Rome for one night before flying to Helsinki. I have had very little work this week and but I still haven't managed to do much shopping for presents, but that's mostly because I'm really fussy and I would like to spend far too much money on the presents for the family. Unfortunately with the current work situation I've had to slightly control that urge. It might just be that this Christmas the presents will be Balsamic Vinegar, Extra Virgin oil and Panettone for the whole lot...

The news papers are writing about schools turning Christmas celebrations into Winter celebrations and banning things that are in any way related to the true reason of why we celebrate Christmas. The other day I called a call centre in the UK for something or another, and at the end of the call I found myself searching for the politically correct way to wish the very helpful young man at the other end a peaceful Christmas. I ended up wishing him happy holidays, but somehow it's just not the same. I want to wish people happy Christmas, because it is Christmas. At another time of the year I have no problem with my friends wishing me a happy Eid or Hanukkah or whatever celebration is important to them. We also wish each other Happy Halloween, which is essentially a pagan celebration, although having written my dissertation partly on the topic, I know probably better than a lot of people how complex the history of that particular holiday is.. Well, leaving that can of worms unopened for now, the point is that throughout the year we send wishes to our loved ones and friends for all sorts of reasons and events, whether they are culturally, religiously, or historically "ours".

Christmas belongs to everyone and even if you are not a Christian, I would still like to send you my best Christmas wishes, since there is never too much love in our lives.

A guy making personalised baubles and other glass decorations in Bassano

Another sleepless night

Nights full of emptiness.

I miss you, I can hear you,

yet you are too far

and silent screams fill my head.

-------

Happy Independence day Finland! I know I'm a little late but I assure you I didn't forget; I went to work dressed as the flag (read: dressed in blue and white) and even had a nice dinner to celebrate the occasion. Now I'm just counting days for going home to Helsinki.

Bassano and pastries

Merry-go-round and an unsuspecting little girl in Bassano

Today I went to visit Bassano which apparently is very famous for its grappa. Grappa is not really my cup of tea, so to speak, but the town was nice. It's full of chocolate shops, cafes, and now coming up to Christmas, there is also the mandatory Mercatino di Natale with a merry-go-round and mulled wine. The landscape there is beautifully non-flat, which makes me unreasonably happy, and in fact I liked the atmosphere in the town so much that I would not be entirely opposed to even living there one day.

Plastic ice!

There was an ice rink too, except that you can imagine my shock as I went closer to look at this wonder, and realised that the ice wasn't actually ice but plastic! I can assure you I have never seen that before. People skating on plastic ice... Only in Italy!

We took a cup of hot chocolate from this lovely little chocolate shop near the old bridge. I would have taken a photo of the shop but didn't quite have the courage to do so, so I only took a pic of the sign. If you ever find yourself in Bassano, this place does good cioccolata calda da passeggiata (hot chocolate for walking). It tasted a lot like my mum's home made suklaakiisseli (choc pudding), and was marginally more runny than the usual Italian hot chocolate which you have to eat with a spoon (as I have already previously described in some post...) but this "walking hot chocolate" is still nothing like the hot chocolate we are used to in other countries. I'm actually starting to think that all these years my mum has been making Italian hot chocolate without even knowing it. Oh and even today I also had ice cream too. The unholy combination of hot and cold chocolate all in one day!

When I came home it seems I still hadn't had my dose of calories and sugar, so I set about making some prune jam and Finnish joulutorttu Christmas pastries. And then I ate them all. (Ok, I didn't make a huge amount of them, but still!)

A lovely chocolate shop in Bassano

Joulutorttuja

Nightime blues

Tuna and sour cream pie

I had a pretty nice day today. Only one hour of work, a cup of tea with a student/friend, a lift home from work and a bit of silly jamming to the car stereo, and in the end even a little bit of baking; I made a tuna and sour cream pie (the recipe can be found here) and it turned out pretty good.

Still, at night when everyone else is sleeping and I have time for my own thoughts without no distractions these blues really creep in and I don't know how to stop them. I guess I can't and maybe I don't even have to. In these moments I miss being able to call him.

Feis Fever!

Last Monday it was my Birthday. Thank you to all of you who remembered! (and those of you who didn't remember: shame on you!! Just kidding!) It was definitely a much better birthday than last year, when I spent the day at airports travelling to my new "home" Italy. The weather was disgusting too; when I arrived here it was dark cold and rainy and the area had just been suffering from some semi-serious flooding. This year instead the whole week before was sunny and bright, even unusually crisp considering the humidity which normally completely dominates the weather in this area. After my birthday it's been really foggy though. There you go, that is the weather report done!

Under 17s Champions' parade

The more interesting stuff follows: the Mainland European Oireachtas 2011 are in Milan this weekend, and obviously I couldn't not go. For those of you (read: the large majority of you) who don't know what Oireachtas is, it's basically the local (i.e. European, N-American, Irish..) championships of Irish dancing, which is also a qualifying competition for the World Championships. Irish dancing is a whole different thing from anything you might imagine. I mean, yeah, there are some people in elven-style dresses skipping around beautifully, but the other side of it is the flashy neon coloured glitter dresses and huge wigs. And everything MUST sparkle! It's great though.

This beauty won the U17 category

It has been some years now since I stopped dancing but listening to the music and watching dancers compete for a good 9 hours yesterday left me feeling like dancing too. Trust me, 9 hours (and I arrived late and left early!!) of watching non stop Irish dancing is not an easy thing to do. I really feel for those adjudicators! Let alone the musicians, because don't forget that this is all done to live music. As a result when I was sitting on the train and starting to doze off, I closed my eyes and dreamed girls in glittery pyjamas with huge wigs. When I opened my eyes had left a wig on the seat next to the girl on the opposite side of the aisle! Except then I realised it was her brown woollen scarf... I also noticed that my hands (which used to do this when I was still training) started to do the steps to the music that was still playing in my head. This is one of the main indicators how to recognise an Irish dancer. Play some danceable music and see if his/her hands start moving (provided that full out dancing is out of the question). While I was waiting for the tram outside the station - and therefore my feet were free to move - I started repeating the steps of the Blackbird and when I got to the lift it was damned near that I brought the whole thing to a halt, not to mention wake the whole building up, because I couldn't resist trying a few trebles on the soft carpet (as if to keep the noise down, you see). Old habits clearly die hard! It's as if an ex-smoker has even one cigarette. This Feis day pushed me right over the edge again.

Happy winners

One team preparing for their figure

I apologise for the lack of good photos. Only a silly girl goes to a Feis without charging the camera battery... But the photographing during dancing is not allowed anyway. You can click on the photos to see a bigger version.
P.S: If you find that it is your photo here and you don't want it to be on the blog, let me know and I'll take it down!

Cake image: YaiSirichai / FreeDigitalPhotos.net, other photos are mine. Please don't copy without asking!

Savoury treats

The trees outside my window have lost their leaves over the past week. Oh the sadness! And it happened so fast too. Now when I wake up I see the gray sky, clouds so thick you could cut out a slice like I did yesterday with this pie I made:

Pie!

It's a ham, red pepper and cheese pie and it was pretty nice! The recipe can be found here, but it's in Finnish so if you need a translation, let me know!

This blog is not and never will be a cooking blog because I'm a sporadic kitchen user even at best, but this gray weather is making me want to eat comfort food and other things apart from only pasta. The other evening my flatmate came home a little late and asked if I wanted to share an omelet with her. She made a really nice one with potatoes and cheese and I don't quite know what. Maybe one day I will ask her to share her secret with me. I, on the other hand, had seen a recipe on my friend's food blog for some pecorino and cumin sticks that seemed really simple and quick and easy enough not to get wrong, so I decided to try making them to accompany the omelet. In the end we shared the omelet and the sticks with all the flatmates and both were a great success. The recipe for the pecorino and cumin sticks is here and I recommend you take a look around the site because there are some yummy looking recipes there! (again: it is in Finnish, translations available upon request!)

And finally here is a link to a pie video that I quite like.

I, the metereopatica

London came and went. I had a brilliant time - thank you to all of you who did fun stuff with me, cried and laughed with me, and a special thank you to those of you who offered me a place to sleep! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I can't show you any photos, but I can tell you the city has changed so much even in just the 12 months since my last visit. Everything is being spruced up for the Olympics, I nearly didn't even recognize my old hood in East London.

I did a ton of stuff; Sunday morning started with a Classical Coffee Morning concert at Royal Albert hall. It's basically a cup of tea/coffee, a pastry and some live music. My friend introduced me to this thing about a year ago (thank you!) when I last went to London and I'm glad it's still going on because it's a really nice way to start a Sunday.  After that we had a little stroll around the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is currently hosting an exhibition on Postmodernism. The grand finale of my week was an out-of-control shopping spree that lasted a good two days - I literally went to a bar (or several of them) with all my shopping bags, miraculously not losing anything, and continued shopping the next day as soon as I managed to get myself moving again.

The school observation at the East Barnet School was really interesting and I enjoyed my week probably more than I expected. There are some interesting differences in the school systems as far as I can see, but I think that is something I will not get into in this post. Maybe I'll write a whole post dedicated to it at some point.

Autumn has definitely arrived in Italy now. For the past couple of days it has been raining a lot and I have learned a new word metereopatica meaning a person whose mood is heavily affected by the weather. I have self-diagnosed myself as such a person. These rainy days leave me feeling blue, full of regrets and feeling - even more than normally - like I've lost a huge part of myself. I don't how to overcome this sadness and to be quite honest maybe I'm not yet ready to do so either. However, it's not all doom and gloom and tears; there are days and moments when things seem a little lighter and easier than even a month ago.

On Sunday I visited the local IKEA and went a little crazy with all the wonderful Christmas things they already had on display. It's high time too! Those of you who have worked with me before I moved to Italy, know that I would gladly start listening to Christmas carols and decorate everything already in October. That said, it is hardly a surprise that I ended up buying gingerbread smelling tea lights, a Christmas-red rug, glögi and some gingerbread to bring home. Now I can organise a pikkujoulu (a very Finnish pre-Christmas party) for me and my flatmates! I love coming home from work in the evening and opening my door. I put some tea lights on top of the radiators so that as I open the door and step on my christmassy rug, I can already smell gingerbread even before lighting the candles.

I'm wishing you all warm woolen socks and hot cups of tea for these autumn evenings.

Image: pixtawan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: think4photop / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A big hug and a thank you

The point of my last night's rant was not to attack my friends. I was questioning the behaviour of certain individuals, some of whom are involved in my life and some of whom I have just been watching from a distance.

To friends and family who are and have been helping and supporting me: I really appreciate it. I was not looking to make you feel guilty. Unfortunately it seems that those of you who have actually nothing to feel bad about, worry that I'm upset with you, where as the people who could mostly benefit from my rant are blissfully ignorant that I have even ever ranted.

Just to make it really clear: guys (you know who you are), thank you. I would be a far bigger mess without you. I hope one day I will be able to pay you back one way or another.

Baci

Compassion in action

In the past weeks something has really been bugging me; it seems that the more people have resources or the more influential they are, the less willing they are to help. Yes, many people have given me their condolences or good advice: "try not to stay alone too much, we are here for you" but the moment these beautiful words have left their mouth they are already forgotten. Let alone if you actually have a real problem that you need real help with, people run like you've just been hit with a sudden case of the Black Death. Compassion, it seems to me, too often reaches no deeper than our lips.

Only those, who have very little or nothing themselves, are willing to give. This real compassion is rare but it exists. I have seen it in action. A member of my family has had some health issues and I've watched, green with envy, how his friends have stepped up for him, helping with little practical things when us - the family - are too far to run the errands for him while he is getting better.

I've seen near strangers holding back tears of compassion, offering whatever help they can give to me, while people I hoped would stand by me were too busy buying concert tickets or going to Zumba (figuratively speaking of course, I'm not against anyone's Zumba lessons).

I've seen friends and strangers pulling together to help an entire family. I was lucky enough to be one of the people who helped, even if in a very small way, an entire family in need. I wasn't able to do anything huge. Maybe the most valuable thing I gave was my time and attention, but at the end of the day, people who I had only just met, helped me in return in a way that left me thinking: who ended up helping who here?

Why is it so hard to help a friend in need? Why, when someone has a problem and needs real help, those who would have the means to do something about it, turn their back? Is it that those who have never needed help don't understand the need to help anyone else? God protect me from becoming so blind to other people's needs.

Last rays of the summer sun

So, I'm back in Italy, in fact I've been back already the best part of a month but I've needed to take some time for myself and haven't really been feeling like posting anything here. I just honestly didn't know what to say.

Life is still in a turmoil, everything is open and I don't quite know what to do or how to do it. There are good days and bad days, and then there are days when I barely get out of my pyjamas. However the sun is still shining here and even though evenings and nights are getting colder, the days are still nice and warm. I think it has been really good for me to take it easy in these past weeks, walk around a little, and soak up the last rays of the summer sun.

Work is quiet, I've made an effort in looking for some new private students and I think things will start picking up in October anyway. The next big thing to look forward to is a week long trip to London October, that should do a world of good for my mood even if it will probably have quite the opposite effect on my bank balance...

I will try to start updating here again once I figure out my life a little. I want to thank you for the support I have been getting and am still getting from you guys. I need it and I appreciate it.

This is what I'd like to say...

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling in the sky the message He is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.


Funeral blues by W.H. Auden

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Fermate tutti gli orologi, staccate la cornetta,
date al cane un osso succulento prima che si metta
ad abbaiare, zittite i pianoforti e al cupo segnale
del tamburo portate fuori il feretro, parta il funerale.

Alti gli aeroplani s’avvitino con voce di sconforto
scarabocchiando in cielo la notizia: E’ Morto.
Mettete un nastro nero al collo bianco d’ogni piccione,
fate indossare ai vigili guanti neri di cotone.

Era il mio nord, il mio sud, il mio ovest, il mio est,
la mia settimana di lavoro e il mio giorno di festa,
il mio meriggio, la mia notte, la mia parola, il mio canto.
Sbagliai a pensare eterno quest’amore – ora so quanto.

Le stelle non servono più: spegnetele una a una;
smontate il sole e imballate la luna;
strappate le selve e scolate tutto il mare.
Nessun piacere potrà mai tornare.


Blues in memoriam di W. H. Auden
(traduzione di Nicola Gardini)

Gone to find Gaddafi.

The world has gone crazy.

People are rioting in London. People are dying in Syria. The Nigerians and the Tunisians are busy stabbing each other outside my windows and the Italian militaries are now a permanent fixture on the streets here. Someone I know is lying in a military hospital in Afghanistan, daily reporting to me about the wounded that have been brought in.

And a friend told me: "I'm going to war. I have to go find Gaddafi before he comes and finds us". What do you say to a man who knows he is going to war?

The immigrant omnibus

There is quite a nice park on the other side of the city and next to the park there is a little gelateria, Vaniglia, with the best gelato that can be found here. I had two more bus tickets left so I decided to head that way to enjoy the sunny day outside.

Somewhere along the way two guys got on the bus but refused to pay the bus fare. The bus driver asked them to leave the bus, which they wouldn't do. After some arguing one of the guys started to get quite heated so the bus driver decided to calm the situation a little and continued driving, but the guy would not calm down. At this point the other passengers started to tell him to shut his mouth, which just aggravated him even further. These two guys were black, and I'm sure you can imagine how the argument went. The passengers were telling the aggressive guy "if you live in our country you have to follow our rules" - which is fair enough - to which the guy said they were Italian. Of course this provoked someone to say "yeah, you look so Italian too". This went on for a good ten, fifteen minutes, and at some point it really looked as though the aggressive guy was ready stab someone on the bus, he was running back and forth picking a fight and shouting.

To cut the long story short, eventually the police arrived, at which point the culprit had already left the scene and his friend, who most of this time had stayed quiet only occasionally defending his friend, but always in a civilised and calm manner. The police searched him and took him away. The aggressive guy got away with it, and I know it because I later saw him in the park.

I wanted to defend the friend, the guy who stayed calm, because at the end of the day he hadn't done anything else wrong apart from not having a ticket. It was hardly worth being taken away in a police car. But he was black and regardless of his words or the way he said them, he was guilty by proxy.

But here is the twist: as I looked around the bus, I saw one Asian woman, commenting to the woman in front of her (from some East-European country) how the guys got what they deserved. I saw three black women, one wearing a traditional African costume and speaking French (I will not start guessing which ex-colony she was from because my African knowledge is not quite up to scratch), and the two others dressed in a western way. There was also a woman who spoke Italian with a heavy Russian accent, she was the one telling the boys they were "not welcome in our country" if they couldn't respect the rules. And then there were two Italian men, two old Italian women, and me.

Even with my rusty maths skills I can tell that the majority of the passengers were immigrants. And they were very keen to tell these guys they didn't have a right to be there. At one point the more quiet guy, who spoke perfect Italian, unlike the Russian lady, said "do you think I would want to be there if I could have stayed in my own country?". The old Italian man told the young man he was not welcome and no one wanted him here because apparently they it was obvious he was not a good person. I wonder how this was obvious. The guy was dressed smartly and spoke in a very educated way. Don't white Italian boys ever travel without a bus ticket? I can assure you: they do.

Who's country is this in the end? We, the other immigrants, are prejudiced even though also we have come here probably in search of a better life, whether it be because there is an economic, cultural or political crisis in our home countries.

I agree, if you live in a country you have to follow the rules, but I can't help but feel bad for the guy in the white t-shirt. It seemed to me that the main reason he got dragged into this mess was that he knew the other man, and that he was black.

The beauty of the belly button.

As a continuation of my confused ramblings about democracy, my little head decided to look for unifying factors between us humans, rather than those that keep us apart. And what popped into my mind? We all have a belly button. Napa in Finnish. What a nice word, napa! Much nicer than navel or umbilicus in English. I would like to do some navel gazing now.

We all have one, generally speaking. We all at least have had one at one point in our life. It's something we expect to see if we see someone's exposed midriff. In fact, it is one of those things we don't much notice normally, but I am pretty sure if someone didn't have one we would be likely to do a double take. I back this statement up by the fact that the model Karolina Kurkova's lack of traditional belly button has been the subject of much speculation. On top of that they have actually had to photoshop a belly button onto her belly in fashion shoot photos (to avoid some people being horrified, I assume). Recently they have also published a study concerning Belly Button Biodiversity. This study found that there is a whole new world to explore in our belly buttons. So to speak. Not to mention the discussions on whether an inny or an outy is better, if cropped tops exposing our navels are indecent, belly piercings or belly dancing. There is much more to the belly button than meets the eye.

Some of us tend to do too much navel gazing, some of us probably don't do enough of it. The fact remains that no matter what colour, religion, cultural background or race you represent, at one point in your life you have had - and chances are you still have - a belly button. And this is just one, relatively insignificant part of your body which didn't serve any real purpose after your birth. At least it was quite insignificant until they found a whole zoo of interesting new bacteria living there.

Just consider this: we could spend more time looking for similarities, gazing into each other's navels if you wish, and less time looking for the differences. Isn't it quite wonderful how many things we people have in common?

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Democrazy

In the past couple of weeks, already much before the events in Norway, I more than once found myself asking my students whether or not Italy is a democracy. The response: invariably "no". This left me thinking.

What is democracy? This is how Merriam-Webster defines it: 

"Democracy a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections".

Officially and on the surface Italy was still a democracy the last time I checked - granted that was probably around the time I was still studying for my A-levels. I think most of us consider Europe pretty democratic, and even Italy has the typical signs: a constitution which in theory guarantees people equal rights, freedom of speech, elections and multiple parties to choose from etc. Some would also add, that there must be open and unbiased media.

We all know about a certain man's connections with the Italian media, what many of you probably don't know is that in Italy the TV channels have been divided among political groups. Basically one channel traditionally represents the right wing view, one the left wing and then one is for the centre and so forth. We can of course discuss whether this system works or not, but the benefit of it is that at least people can, in theory, get information presented from different points of view. However, the head of the local public broadcasting company RAI is chosen by the Prime Minister, who, as it happens, is also a major owner of the private TV. You see the problem? Needless to mention that this said man also controls a large lump of the newspapers.

Elections in Italy are free - to an extent. The parties choose who they want to put on their list and apparently, this is what I have been told and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, the parties are reluctant to add for example young people on the lists, thus the country is mostly represented by old dinosaurs who tend to be (personal opinion again!) much more interested in protecting their own interests.

So is democracy when a group of old men decide to pay themselves a huge salary while the rest of the country is struggling? If that is not democracy, why are the Italian people not resisting it more than they are? Well, that's opening a whole new can of worms.. Or is it democracy when a person decides that his beliefs are better than someone else's and kills close to a hundred people? Surely this is putting yourself above democracy. Acting like the rules, that the majority have accepted, do not apply to you because in your opinion the majority is wrong. Italy has big issues, but so do the rest of us.

It looks to me as though democracy in Europe is having to redefine and readjust. I have always considered democracy to be one of those things that Europe has been and should be at the forefront of. The question on everyone's lips now is: how far can you take your democratic freedom of speech? How far are you allowed to go? And who decides where the lines are drawn? Certainly people who decide that their holy mission of defending pan-European and Christian values justifies the killing other people are not flying the flag of democracy very high, but neither are the dinosaurs protecting their own tails (and wallets).

In the general elections in Finland this year the winners was undoubtedly the right wing. This made many people very unhappy, but the fact remains, that this is how a part of the nation voted. We may not like it, but the people had the freedom to vote as they wanted and this was the result. We can't ignore or annul the vote, that's not how democracy works.

I know this post is a jumble of this and that, but it pretty much represents what is going on in my head in regards to this topic. I just have a feeling something is off but I can't put my finger on it, or maybe I do not consider myself high and mighty enough to try to do so.

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sunday morning rain is falling..

Murano

Last night I woke up to thunder. I normally love thunder and I would have even gotten up to watch the show but this time it felt so close that I even momentarily wished I hadn't been alone. It's possible I dreamed the whole thing though but the heavy rain clouds hanging on the sky this morning support my observations. The good thing about this place is that rain tends to fall in the nighttime. The bad thing, on the other hand, is that at least lately the sun has only seemed to really come out during office hours meaning that all us poor labourers never get to enjoy it! Weekends in July have been cloudy. My beautiful tan is fading! Oh no!

My mum visited me in June, which was great. As soon as she arrived (also on a Sunday morning, as it happens) we headed off to Venice and Murano. She loved the glass! In fact I think she would have been happy spending most of her week just walking from glass shop to glass shop. I have to admit, some of the things were extremely impressive, if not always beautiful. Some things were also extremely beautiful. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take many good photos as the shops often have no photo-policies. If you are visiting Venice (for the second, third or umpteenth time) and want to see something else than just Piazza San Marco and the Rialto, I recommend Murano. There isn't much to do but it's nice to get away from the crowds, exchange a few words about the weather with some old Italian lady and possibly, if you feel very motivated, visit the Murano glass museum, which we didn't actually visit.

After mum had spent a couple of days exploring (the shops of) my city while I was working, we took the train to Rome. Bella Roma! As we only had two days there I took her on a flash tour of the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill archaeological area, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain (my personal favourite), Piazza Navona, the Spanish steps where unfortunately we were too late for the blooming flowers, and Trastevere. Naturally we walked practically everywhere so our feet and eyes were quite tired towards the end. There is just too much to see in Roma and we left much of it for the next time. Vatican can wait until my dad comes to visit too because he will definitely want to go there.

Tiber River

From Rome we continued to the rolling hills of Tuscany. I wanted to take my mum to Florence because it is the city where I feel most relaxed in Italy. I was curious to see if it would still have that same effect on me - it did. Florence has a special soul. It has an atmosphere of relaxed intelligence. It is full of history and houses some of the greatest artworks of all time, yet it manages to be quite nonchalant about it. Oh they are valued and admired and about a million tourists flock to the city of 380,000 inhabitants every year and you really can not miss them (both the tourists and the works of art) because they are everywhere. Yet Florence has still somehow managed to not turn into a living museum like Rome. And the food. Don't even get me started on the food. Regardless of the Fiorentinis' fascination for strange things such as intestines, most of the food is fantastic. We stayed in a little hotel called Sampaoli (comes highly recommended, I've been there a few times). It is very near the centre, the staff are nice, rooms are basic but charming and the price is reasonable. Ok, enough about the wonderful Florence, there are still things I need to tell you.

Ponte Vecchio, Florence

The real news is this: I resigned! After lengthy discussions with the boss (he talked, I mostly listened) I decided I had heard enough and announced that I would not be coming back in September. In the end it was quite an easy decision to make. This all started when I went to the registry office to finally get my residence permit papers sorted. It turned out that the piece of paper from the school, which was supposed to prove I work in Italy, was worth nothing. The matter is of course more complicated than this but as a result, after the school refused to give me the right sort of paper within a reasonable time period, I decided to walk. Of course as an EU citizen I can stay here as long as I like without any special permits, but in order to have health care and insurance etc I need to register. Kela is soon kicking me out of the Finnish social security system so I feel the pressure of not wanting to stay in limbo between two countries.

The funny thing is that after hearing more than an earful of "you will not be able to find anything better" from the boss, I directly went to a job interview and was offered a job in a different school, all within the space of 2 hours. I have done my training there and now I'm waiting to discover if they give me any hours. The pay is better and the conditions seem not-as-bad too so we will see.

So things are changing. I haven't really done any very interesting and/or cultural things in these past weeks. I've been far too (mentally and emotionally) tired to make the effort. I'm really looking forward to coming back to Helsinki for a couple of weeks though and seeing my family and friends!

An update (and a little thought about having mercy on your body)

This is from Colli Euganei, where I had lunch last weekend!

I know it has been a really long time since I have written anything and I do apologise for it! The weather has been really great, apart from this past week when it has been pissing down on most days. This morning I woke up at 8AM to a bright sunshine and immediately started thinking about where to go to enjoy such a beautiful day but during the hour that I have been awake the sky has gone dark and now it smells like rain again. Boo. But as you might guess instead of staying indoors and online when it has been sunny, I have been working on my tan, which is now looking pretty good if I may say so myself. Another reason for not having been online has been work. Maledetto lavoro! As it happens, we were somewhat short staffed (congratulations to those teachers who managed to find a better job! I'm well chuffed for you!) which has resulted in me working really long days and weeks. Of course I am not complaining as it is a very good thing in terms of finances but I have been quite knackered as a result. Things are finally calming down now though.
So here is a little update finally. In these past 2 or so months I have: visited Cinque Terre (finally!), worked on my bikini lines in the park, by the sea in Liguria, by a swimming pool, and in Sottomarina (which truly lives up to its reputation in NOT being a fantastic place!). I have finally discovered a very good gelateria in the city and I have eaten clams, mussels, octopus, scallop and an oyster! I truly have ventured out of my comfort zone in this sense. I have watched two matches of calcetto (5-a-side-footy) and have actually quite enjoyed watching it. Ive applied for many jobs and received no responses and I have probably gained about 5kg eating too much gelato and other yummy treats. I also suspect that I have learned a little bit of Italian as I have been hanging around real Italians quite a lot and even though a lot of the time they speak far too fast for me to understand I do hope some of it is miraculously sticking to my brain.

I have been thinking I should start writing little notes for myself because whenever I'm sitting on the bus or train travelling between companies, I have my head full of things that I would like to write to you about but as soon as I get home I get distracted and forget everything. Maybe I should write myself a note to remind me that I need to make notes.
One thing I do remember even now though; A couple of months ago I was in a shop in Verona trying on some shorts. They were the size I normally take and from a shop that I normally shop in so everything should have technically been fine but as I discovered in the fitting room, the shorts just didn't fit. Fair enough, this is not the end of the world and of course it happens all the time to all of us but the observation that I made that day was: as soon as I pulled the shorts on and found that they didn't fit I commented to myself "oh great, my thunder thighs are too fat!". I know, we have all been there. There is nothing new in criticising yourself when you see your image in the fitting room mirror. The difference for me this time was that afterwards I found myself asking why I immediately blamed the ill fitting shorts on my thighs? Why, for once, couldn't my first reaction be that there was something wrong with the cut of the shorts? And why, for heaven's sake, do the clothes manufacturers have the right to dictate what shape and size my thighs should be? I have made a decision that the next time I try something on and it doesn't fit, I will ask myself "what is wrong with these clothes?" instead of questioning my body. I think it is a much less self-destructive approach to shopping. Are you with me?

A little note.

I returned from cold but sunny Finland on Sunday afternoon after a lovely weekend with family and friends. I must admit that the best part of the weekend was spending a whole day with the nephew first getting all covered in blue crayon and singing lion hunt while dancing wildly around the flat followed by a chilling session in a comfy chair with music and storybooks. I think everyone should try to spend a day with a 3-year-old regularly. It must be the key to staying young as at the airport I was thought to be 10 years younger than I am. That definitely made me smile too!

Otherwise life has pretty much returned to normality. I'm working, as always, and looking forward to the next visitor whose ETA is about a week and a half away. The weather has gotten a little bit cooler again (it's still about 20 degrees out) so I suppose we are back to the "correct" temperatures for the season but I must admit I kind of hope the hot weather will soon return.

Homebound

Its been a while since I have written anything. This is not because I abandoned the blog, it's just that I have been too busy! It's all very positive of course, it's about time that my social life picks up a little. The past weekend was spent in good company as my friend from England came to visit. We had an interesting and most unexpected Friday night here in "my" town, enjoying the local drink Spritz with a student of mine and some of his friends. Thank you guys, it was fun! On Saturday we visited Venice. We were blessed with stunning weather: bright sky and warm sun. As we returned from the station to my flat some guy yelled "carne fresca" (fresh meat) at us. I generally ignore these comments but that one really left me wanting to speak my mind..

On Sunday it was Verona's turn. Verona is my personal favourite out of the two, partly because it seems more laid back and partly because I prefer the shopping there. We sat on some steps near the Verona Arena watching the social life of a piazza in an Italian city and enjoying the late afternoon sun. After returning home we headed out for a pizza. I would like to think my friend had a pretty complete Veneto experience and hopefully she enjoyed her stay. The cherry on top on Sunday was again another meat comment; This time it was a random guy from the back window of a 4x4 shouting "BEEF!". It was doubly funny because of the carne fresca-episode, plus this guy was actually laughing as he yelled it which made it mostly just silly. What a strange country..

This week I have been extra busy because I'm going home to Finland tomorrow. I'm very much looking forward to spending some time with family and good friends. I'm not looking forward to the cold weather however, I much prefer this +24 that we have had in the past week but it will be great being able to bring some summer clothes and shoes to Italy finally. It will be almost like if I had been shopping, seeing all my things again!

This time I have nothing deep to write about, as you can see. It's all been just hectic and I'm quite tired and really wish I could open a bottle of wine and relax in good company but unfortunately tonight there is not even the flatmate to share it with me and I don't feel like downing a whole bottle on my own since I will spend most of my day tomorrow travelling (and marking students' exams!). I doubt it would be much fun while hungover.

I'm in Italy, now what?

The sun is shining - albeit through a constant cloud of fog and/or pollution - and even though the Italians are still wearing their winter coats I have already spent two days walking around in jeans and a t-shirt, exactly the dress code NOT encouraged by work.. Oh well.. It's spring! And the Finn inside me is dying to get  out. I will restrain from acting out the Finnish spring rituals of getting drunk in the park, peeing between parked cars and the minimum amount of clothes possible as soon as the snow is gone, but I don't care if I get funny looks from people! For me +24 is summer and in the summer you don't have to wear a winter coat, or a coat of any kind for that matter.

On Monday, as a friend decided to put it, I took a pasticceria turn in my life. I decided to test the gas oven which my flatmate never uses and make chocolate squares (mokkapalat without coffee). I figured it was a pretty easy and foolproof way to start and even if something did go badly wrong I wouldn't end up crying for lost money or time. I found a recipe here and they actually turned out to be pretty nice, despite a little icing malfunction. I think it has been about 13 years since I last made them and I forgot I should have let the cake cool down before the icing so much of it actually just disappeared inside the cake. Fortunately I had sprinkles to cover it up with so it didn't look too bad in the end. As the recipe says, the squares really do get better as they get older. They were a bit too fluffy when they were fresh but a by Tuesday and Wednesday they actually were very nice. Next week I will try with something a little more challenging, I spent a few days looking for oats and finally located them in a ipermarket outside the city so I think oat and chocolate cookies could be a good plan. Watch this space.

I'm happy being in Italy. I was walking home last night tired after work and knowing I would have to spend yet another Saturday morning at work too (my Saturday student doesn't want anyone else teach him despite our administrator's best efforts in trying to free my weekends), but I still felt pretty good about being here. At best my students are great and funny, at worst they are usually only boring, which is better than being verbally abused by customers while all you can do is smile back. Of course every job has its downsides and this one isn't perfect either, but for now the downsides are still mostly related to finances. Regardless, I find I'm regularly asking myself "I'm in Italy, now what?". I have realised my dream of moving here, what is the next step? The next city, the next job, the next dream. Usually I catch myself doing this and remind myself that I should just stop running for one second and enjoy now. This is going to be a fun - and - sun -filled spring starting from next weekend when the lovely Laura is visiting me, all the way to the Take That concert in Milan in July. Even waking up from an afternoon pennichella (nap) with the flatmate coming in with friends who then proceed in slagging off all us foreigners here (very rudely) until the flatmate points out to them that I actually understand Italian, is not going to ruin it.

Spa day

As soon as I finished work on Saturday I went to a spa not far from the school for a lovely treat a friend had booked for me. I had a gift certificate which entitled me to a massage, facial, free use of saunas and the pools etc.. They even had a real Finnish sauna complete with a naked Sicilian pediatrician. I don't generally tend to start chatting to naked men in public saunas but I walked in and asked if it was ok for me to heittää löylyä (throw some water on the stones) which immediately inspired him to ask me where I learned to use a sauna. Turns out the guy was headed to Turku for some medical conference in May and was at the spa trying to get rid of injuries he had gotten in a car accident. Later on, as I was being pampered in a dim room with nice music and the soothing smell of essential oils, I heard the same guy whimpering in the next room "fa male fa male" (it hurts, it hurts) as he was getting his (less enjoyable and probably less gentle) massage. Poor fella.

Thats mostly it. Otherwise the weekend was quiet. Weather is getting warmer though, which is great. They have promised 18 degrees for Thursday!

Auguri Italia!

Today is the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. Supposedly there were some fireworks last night but it felt like the whole city has been under a 13,5 tog duvet of clouds for the past two days with a constant drizzle so I ended up staying at home reading Gomorrah instead.

I'm not a literary critic by any means and I know the book has received an enormous amount of publicity and praise but as interesting as it is, I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. Saviano's text is full of metaphors. It seems like everything he describes he has to say in three or four different ways, which just serves to give me the impression that he really loves his own voice, and it makes the book quite heavy to read.

Having said that, I do think it is probably one of those books that one - particularly one living in Italy - should read. While reading the book I have had to keep remind myself of a few things; firstly, the man is a journalist, not a novelist, which probably has something to do with the style of the writing. Secondly and linked to the first point, he is reporting - not inventing - on things that happen regularly and daily right here in Italy and also in other parts of Europe. After more than 2500 years of European culture, some 300 years after the enlightenment and after 150 years of unified Italy, it still really is a jungle south there. I know the problems involving mafia are complex and I'm not going to pretend that I have any solutions to offer, the issues are deep rooted in this society on social, economical and political levels. I do really hope though that in the next 150 years Italy, with its long and impressive history, can find a way to restore some of its former glory.

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's day too!! Ireland will always have a special place in my heart, maybe I'll even do a little jig tonight just because.

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Got chick lit?

I was thinking, I have some books and dvds that I have very much enjoyed reading/watching but probably will not read/watch again and I expect you guys might have the same. I am, however, always on the look out for new books to read and new chick flicks to watch (ok, occasionally other genres are fine too!)

This is the idea: I could post the books that I am willing to part ways with here on this blog and if there is something you are interested in you could send me an email or a message and offer something you have in exhange. This would work because I know (most of) you guys personally. So a book for a book, a book for a dvd, a dvd for a cd.. Sky is the limit. And no money needs to exachange hands. I am not trying to sell my stuff, just exchange it with friends for some fresh reading material and give good homes to books that are now collecting dust and taking up space. Sender(s) would pay postages if we can not see in person.

A good plan? Discuss.

Image: Felixco, Inc. / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

100 years of female appreciation

Today is International Women's Day. I hope you already knew that but just in case you didn't, now you have no excuses. Now - particularly if you are a man - before you do anything else, at least send a quick text message to the most important women in your life. I know just as with Valentine's Day and lovers and friends, women should be appreciated every day of the year, but on the occasion it's still nice to hear you are special.

In the past 100 years women, and many men alongside them, have campaigned for womens' right to education, work and maybe most importantly for the right to vote. Maybe you are thinking "oh no.. please don't start spilling your feminist ideas now". Rest assured, I have no intention of doing that. I will however say that I am grateful I was born to a culture where I have had every opportunity to study, learn, work, even pack up my things and go chasing after my dreams in other countries, despite the wonderful men in my family probably occasionally nearly losing sleep over this. I am also proud that I grew up in a country which was at the forefront of not only giving women the right to vote, but to having women elected into the parliament. Not everyone is so lucky.

This is what I want to say to you women: you are important. The world would not, and will not, function without our gender. Know your value as women, not only as human beings. Embrace your feminine quirks, they are what make you so special. Those hormones and emotions that make us act as mild cases of sawdust-in-the-brain at times, are also what give us the gift of the need to take care of others, the gift of empathy, and the gift of being completely over the moon when good things happen. When the men in your life want to open the door for you, be thankful. When they want to offer to pay for that drink or help you do that little DIY job at home which you know you could do yourself, accept their help with a smile. In their own way they are trying to take care of you and show you they appreciate you.

Being a woman is a privilege but as with all privileges, it comes with a huge responsibility. Take care of the men in your life. Sometimes it may feel like they don't deserve to be treated nicely on their birthdays as they have forgotten yours three years in a row, nor do they deserve that special cup of tea or soup when they are struck by a severe case of man-flu, but they do. They deserve our love. They might be utterly rubbish at remembering special dates, but they will be there for us when we truly need them. They might be bad at expressing their feelings but I bet you if you were stuck in a sticky situation, it would be your brothers, your dad or your male friends who would rush to help you if you would call them.

Even more importantly, ladies, we are the women in these men's lives. We have the power to show them what a good woman is like. We have the power to be the models of good women to our sons, so that they will grow up to respect and love the women in their lives. We have the power to make our husband grateful for what a wonderful woman he has married, and yes, we have the power also to be good girlfriends who, even if things go sour, do not leave behind men who are shattered and full of resentment towards women.

Men, love the women in your life. Your wife, your mother, sisters, friends and your special little daughters. They need you to in order to become the kind of women that I just described. Don't leave behind women that are broken and scared to love. Tell the women in your life they are beautiful because it is a self-fulfilling prophesy! A woman needs to hear she is beautiful in order to become truly beautiful inside and out. Love them when they have a crying fit because you bought the wrong things in the supermarket, and most of all, do not scorn them on being girls! 

Fathers: you are extremely important. You need to tell your daughters they are beautiful, smart and wonderful. Do not leave your daughter with insecurities, because you are too worried to tell her she is beautiful and wonderful, in case she might become superficial. Take your daughter on father-daughter days, hold her, hug her and show her you love her.

What authority do I have to say this? I am a woman, albeit not a perfect one. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt and a friend. This women's day I want to tell all my beautiful girl friends: you are wonderful, valued and deserving of good things. And for you guys: I feel so lucky having many wonderful male friends in my life. I promise I will try my best to be (and to become) a good woman for you. To my brothers and to my father: I love you to the moon and back. You are the men who have made me who I am. And last but not least to my little nephew: I will always be here for you. You are the bright ray of sun in my life and you are the most perfect little boy there ever was.

Happy International Women's Day!


Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Carnevale di Venezia 2011

What a nice weekend this has been! Full of ice cream, pizza, frittelle and other delicious things to eat, sunshine, friends and nice surprises.

For once I wasn't working on Saturday so we headed to Venice already around lunch time. It was a nice sunny day, not exactly warm but certainly not cold either. I reopened the ballerina season after having had to go back to my winter boots last week when it was snowing. As soon as we arrived some of us had our faces painted (I want glitter, please!) to get in the carnival mood while the more serious members of the group waited patiently. Despite the horror stories of insane crowds meeting you as soon as you step out of the train it actually wasn't too bad. Yes, there were a lot of people but most of the time we were able to move forward without huge difficulties. One or two bridges were somewhat congested and a couple of times we had to backtrack and try another route but considering how narrow some of the streets are and how many people must have been there I really think getting around was surprisingly smooth.

I think it is safe to say that about 80% of people were wearing some sort of a costume or at the very least a mask or some face paint. It's fantastic that at least once a year grown ups get to dress up in silly (or cool, depends on your level of commitment) costumes, get their faces painted and in general just forget about what is appropriate. I think the general consensus in the group was that those of us who will still be here next year will definitely then invest on some costumes of our own. It's too good an opportunity to miss!

Some of the costumes we saw were indeed pretty cool and what is even better: the people were more than happy to be photographed! The only problem of course was that everyone wanted to take photos so getting them to stop at the right moment or to look in the right direction was an altogether different story. Not to mention not having someone elses arm, hand and camera stuck right in front of your camera just as you press that button.. Then of course there is the eternal story of the camera running out of batteries at the worst possible moment.. Excuses aside, here are some photos from this weekend anyway. They may not be perfect but then I am hardly a professional so what did you expect! Enjoy!. (Click on the photo to see a bigger version)

Is there a visible Russian influence or is it just the strange fur hat? Or is it just me?

The Ghostbusters were there too. Naturally.

Some pretty cool masks, which made the American girls behind us start squealing 'Oh my gaawwd, Oh my gaaaawwwd!'

Looking from Rialto bridge. It really was a nice day!

Frittelle (con crema in this case) are some of the best the carnival season has to offer! This one happens to be half eaten already, of course only just so you can see what is inside.. 

This little bunny was one of the cutest participants, spotted here today.

And here, just to make you drool with jealousy, is my second gelato of today! This one is Crema di Grom with Cioccolato fondente. (The first one was Cioccolato fondente with yoghurt.) 

Watch out Venice, here we come!

This weekend is the last weekend of the Carnevale di Venezia and we are invited! That is to say I am heading there with some friends and you can expect some sort of a report on the shenanigans afterwards, complete with some pictures.

Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to check out this blog thingy of mine and thank you for your encouraging messages too. I am lucky to have lovely friends all over the world who continue to be interested in my life. You are the best!

Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Avocados

It is so true when they say you only realise how much you like something until you don't have (or in this case:  can't buy) it anymore. Now, I'm not a big fruit&vegetable person. On the occasion I eat a fruit or two but they are not a significant or frequent part of my 5 a day. However, the other day I suddenly realised I was craving avocado. It seems Italians don't much care for avocados. I couldn't remember seeing avocados in either of my local supermarkets so I asked my flatmate where to buy them but he didn't even know what an avocado is! Unbelievable. Naturally I felt the need to educate him on the matter immediately, but I doubt he really understood my raving.

Avocados are great! First of all they are good for you; they have a lot of the "healthy" fat, potassium, fiber and vitamin B but most of all they taste delicious. You can make guacamole, a nice chicken and avocado panino, or add some in a salad or eat one on its own. In my opinion the best way to eat an avocado is by putting big chunks on some honest 100% rye bread with a little bit of salt on top. I can't count the times my mum has called me to the kitchen to share an avocado on some rye bread: "let's eat the avocado before the boys notice".    

The point is that avocados are yummy, but they are very hard to come by in Italy. A colleague suggested this would be because Italians don't import all their fruit as we do in the north and avocados are probably currently out of season. I googled where to find avocados in Italy, and I found a post by a guy - an American I think: "[...] for instance avocados. These are scarce at times, but I have asked and they reach around behind some boxes and come up with an avocado." It sounds as if avocados were contraband sold under the counter! I really do think Italians should explore the culinary possibilities of the avocado more.

You can imagine how pleased I was when two days after the avocado-episode I walked into a Lidl near where I go to work a couple of times a week and there right in front of my face were avocados! On 30% sale!! "Yes please, I'll take two!" So this weekend I had two huge avocados to munch on, and a renewed hope that I might yet at some point be able to arrange a Mexican food night complete with guacamole.

Baby steps

This morning I woke up to a gray sky promising rain should I dare to go outside. None the less I and a couple of my friends went ahead with our plan of a mini-road trip to the little town of Sirmione on Lago di Garda, a couple of hours drive away from where we live. I'm glad we ended up going. I think we all needed the day off doing something completely different and a good excuse to get out of our apartments. Sirmione is a beautiful little holiday town and I can just imagine how busy it is during the sunny months. Despite the drizzle we had a nice ice cream (without ever removing our gloves) and a walk to some ancient Roman ruins. Photos to follow. Possibly. It depends on if any of them came out alright. It really was very gray today. (edit: no decent photos, everything looks really gray and dull).

After lunch, which we ate picnic style in the car, we headed to Verona for a coffee, or a hot chocolate for those of us who do not like coffee.. You should know that hot chocolate in Italy is not like hot chocolate in anywhere else. This hot chocolate I'm talking about is thick like chocolate pudding topped with a huge dollop of whipped cream. Needless to say its absolutely delicious! I feel quite proud of myself for having had both gelato AND hot chocolate in the same day as Italians generally enjoy these at opposite times of the year ie. when the sun comes out and the season for ice cream starts, cafes stop serving hot chocolate, and vise versa when the weather gets cold again. It always makes me feel quite exhilarated when I manage to break an Italian "food rule".

While we were driving I was thinking about my life and how grateful I am for how things are now. The past couple of years have been hard, and I feel like much of that time I have spent waiting for someone else to be ready for me or alternatively waiting for someone else to make me happy. My decision to move to Italy, while being somewhat impulsive, was finally a decision I made for myself. To find a way for myself to be content, which after days like today I can say I am. That is not to say that life is perfect by any means. There are many things that could be better - money, work, social life to mention just a few - but I am no longer waiting for someone else to make my life better, I am doing the things that I enjoy doing and making plans and decisions for myself. My great realisation today was that I don't need to always make my life fit around someone else's. If that someone cares enough, they will make the effort of fitting their life around mine on the occasion too. Now if I could only hold on to that thought... I think I am one little step closer to being a balanced happy woman.

This photo is from the entrance to Giulietta's house in Verona.

The walls are covered in years worth of love messages! It is pretty cool.