I am here

I am here

to hear about your day

for you to say 'hey'

I am here

to see your pretty smile

that always makes me fuzzy inside

don't you know i pray about you sometimes

to wish you a happy day for the long night ahead where i am

I am here

even though it's raining outside

i never let it creep inside me

because with you on my mind

my heart will remain fuzzy like spring

photo from dave's phone

bluetooth action!!!!! (we both had our haircuts :P)

<1 mesi

Wowww it's only a few weeks now until the final presentation and thesis submission...!!!!!!!!!!
shite...

The Great Debaters

Just having a quiet Sunday, with Hind (my new flatmate) gone to Bologna for the weekend, I remembered she transferred me a movie called “The Great Debaters” last week. I thought of her and decided to watch it (aww). From the good ol’ harpo productions (Oprah backwards for those who didn’t know) with Denzel Washington as the director- this film was great!!!! Based on a true story about 3 college students at Wiley Texas, the film shows how they become to defeat Harvard, followed by a further 10 years of remaining an undefeated team. Reminded me of my debating days in intermediate & high school though the subject was not as heart-pounding (i.e. real) as those issues of racism and the true embarrassment of the face of the world created by human society as the movie showed. Anyway, the reason why I wanted to write about this film was so I could write down a memorable quote from the movie:

“We do what we have to do…so we could do what we want to do”

It got me to think…how many years do I have to live in this world? And of those years, what is the most important and investing thing I will have done? And what do I have to pass on to the world?

The last 2 questions go hand-in-hand. If I’m investing on something in this life for a long time, naturally this thing will be what I will pass on to the world? Anyway not to think too complicatedly, I know FOR SURE that in order to get anywhere past this year, I have to finish my thesis J and that’s just what I’ll do…and in the meantime, I hope you too can realise there are many things in life we just have to do…in order to do what we truly want to do.

That’s psychologically good enough for my noggin =)

Point of View

Shuffling:
I shuffle over to the other side of my bed at dawn trying to close the small gap between the heavy curtains,
before the light gets the best of me-
before it prevents me from enjoying the last hour of sleep
I dream not only of seeing the light, but having enough light to warm my body,
to be able to lie under it in my underwear,
it is so cold and dank inside here

Rain:
Walking through the rain, it's so heavy it's started to seep through,
following the metal lining of my umbrella i can feel a drop on my head following my hair
it's annoying
I want to feel the rain,
to walk through it-
unable to get outside, i press my head against the cold cement wall
trying to smell, to feel, to even only imagine
the slightest of rain diffusing through the wall

If i could feel one blade of grass,
if i could wake up disturbed by the sound of a crying baby,
if i could be late to work because of the cranky bus driver,

if i could tell the world what it's like to be kept inside

i would start by saying: "what if you could never..."
then you'd see their somewhat sad faces, gazing down on you
as if to say sorry

but as soon as they turn their backs on you and continue carrying on with their lives
they quickly forget the different point of view
between the rain seeping through their umbrella
and me

trying to feel the rain through these square walls
and the only rain felt is down my cheeks in the middle of the night in my bed

1 month

Well it's been raining in Trento for awhile now, lovely if you are inside, ugly if you have to walk around. It's all about the balance!
I've just taken 2 chocolates and a coffee...approx 1 hour before having lunch! I'm such a pig.
And for the record...it'll be midnight in about 1hour in NZ which means 1 month before 6 years anniversary!

Almost there...

This long distance relationship is so hectic.

I've seen so many married couples in San Bartolomeo where one partner is in her/his home country with their children! heck, one hasn't even seen his recently-born daughter yet! It's so crazy. If i were them i couldn't have a long distance marriage relationship with the kids involved? I guess you never know until you're in it for real though. Maybe it works out just fine...But anyway, enough blabbing =)

Happy 5/11 anniversary to me & dave (x)

"Like morning sun you warm my soul ,some times at night you are the only light,and for the days in between you become my life..." david, jan 24, 2008

25 years old

Happy b'day to my bro who's turned 25!

Birthdays are a funny thing. You never quite know whether you feel young or old enough for being at the stage of where you are at that moment. HMmm...I guess there are not much standards in the world because we learn 'till we die...I know that's one thing we have in common. We all learn! I'm extra happy on his b'day coz it reminds me end of Bush and continuum of Lincoln :P OH AND NO MORE WINSTON PISS-HEAD finally!
Well anyway, only 42 days left until i'm out of Italy...hrm, SO MUCH TO DO!! EEeek!

Things you must do before you turn 20...and why

For those who are still <20...and for my younger self

1) eat whatever you want >10pm
it's SO much easier to grow a wee belly after you hit 20
2) play netball...in a team!
when you get old, it's impossible to find a full team for a game of netball!!
3) dress up on halloween
you may end up in a place where this day is not 'celebrated'
4) drink excessively
but make sure your friends are around
5) use the skills learnt from textiles class and make your own clothes
enough said
6) learn how to ride a bike
yep learning this late definately has it's consequences
7) learn how to knit
because when you're old enough to actually want to knit, you'll go crosseyed trying to learn how
8) colour your hair orange
memories are so much more vivid when you were in that hair...
9) sleep in a car
10) make door signs...for every door in the house
11) buy pastel coloured pens for writing in journals
12) make an ant farm
13) work in a supermarket or similar
14) wear red trackpants
9)-14) its just unecessary/tacky, plus, you will be much more lazier and be a sanitized creature when you're older

hmm..i could go on forever here, i should stop and just go to bed- work tomorrow!



last but not least (had to edit post i almost forgot)- learn how to photoshop or else it would look something like this: (my first attempt) :(

Snowtop Mountain

The formidable mountains,
bigger than the footsteps of men,
seemingly untouchable,
as they say-
the incapabilities of changing a human adult,
could it be that i see
the whiteness covered to remind you that life-
the strongest of all forces, the great land protruding nearer to the sun
allows the most delicatest sprinkles of snowflakes touch and cover it's grandeur like satin,
without a sound, without haste-
can it see it's own beauty? Such a beautiful thing, yet stronger still...
they say you cannot change a man but there are things we all appreciate
like the silloutte of snow on the untouchable, unreachable and the undestructable...

Saw V

was goooooooooooooooooood :)



Image from: http://www.starpulse.com/

you will never learn without mistakes

You know those cliche-type, so-called wise phrases? I don't know about what others think and frankly i really don't care, life's too short to care about what others think anyway (well, for some things...) Aaaanyway, enough ranting here's my favourite phrase that's just wrong:

"You'll never learn if you don't make mistakes" As if we make mistakes on purpose? Or worse, that we should be?!?! please!! Mistakes may not be 100% synonymous with accidents but we all get in a slump and make mistakes not at our own will. It just happens as life runs down the dark-ally! And yes we ALL learn from our mistakes but that so-devised phrase definately deserves a bullshit tag

New Webcam

These days my life is all about work work work. SO to escape, I'm going to write about my new webcam that i bought today. For bloody 33 Euros (Logitech)!!!!! It's one of those cams that you can clip onto your laptop. Though my super cool Samsung is too fat so it doesn't go in so easily...

Problem: So anyway, i had actually bought a BRAND NEW webcam on arrival to Italy (Labtec) but had to get a new one (Solution) as per requested by a viewer (lol now that sounds dodgy)...Anyyywayyy>>>and to compare, here is a pic of me taken a few months ago with the previous cam:

(a)

Ok, apologies for trying to look "cool" but the point is...new cam is better, as seen by the image (taken today!) below:

(b)

Evaluation: So i reckon (b) is better than (a)....Oh and the reason why (a) appears kinda yellowy is coz i have to turn on the lamp (which by the way also heats up the room, could be good in winter but so far it was only bad) in order for the other party to see me. Yet (b) seems to be in perfect lighting although i had NO additional lamps on in the room. Yay!

So TheVerdict: I guess never buy Labtec cameras as Logitech clearly outruns it

Oh and before i go, i would like to share with all of you this tremendous fact: Yesterday i went to a "PotLuck" of Elisa and Andrea- two fellow researchers in the office and weighed myself in their bathroom...And guess what happened? I gained 7.3Kgs since coming to Italy (been roughly a year). How damn shocking is that? I have to lose weight...seriously- the pregnant lady in our office only gained 9-10kgs (baby's due in January)...and i'm only 2 kgs away from being equal to carrying a baby!!!! What the..

Ok thats all for now...

How i do in the morning. My rtual

I want to introduce you to my morning- a typical tuesday like today with piles of work and problem solving ahead...from when i sleep:

• I am usually in bed by midnight if i am super good about not being a geek on the internet
• I wake up to my CASIO alarm clock which is set to 07:30...but it's 5 mins fast
• I troddle to the kitchen and put approx. 2 cups full of water in the kettle
• I turn on the computer ! :) and check if i have emails and see if my boy's online on skype
• While various things on my computer are starting up, i get dressed-usually the same clothes i've worn the day before which are thrown nicely on my couch
• I go back to the kitchen to prepare tea- and while tea is infusing i go to the bathroom
• wash my face, brush my teeth..
• After i am set to go i put milk in my mug and take the teabag out...by this time it's around 08:15 (my bus is at 8:33)
• when i have time i straighten my hair super fast and also put some eye make-up on- but i usually leave the mascara alone coz i can't seem to focus my eyes looking too close in the mirror at such an early hour and usually end up smudging or stabbing myself with the tip of the mascara rod!
• Now it's time to catch my bus so i drink the tea about 3/4 down the cup and im done!

And there you have it, a typical morning of me :)

Changing hair colour

Ahh do you see the difference? :) My hair seems to change colour over time after being colour-treated but anyway...i made it slightly brown as i'm the kind of person who cannot leave the hair alone without any changes...it's been a while since i cut my fringe and felt like changing the colour- only very slightly tho! :) Did it myself of course!

English Teaching

Marcello, 7, and Marina (who i've yet to meet), 13 will be my "students" for the rest of my stay in Italy. Quotations 'coz i only need to converse with them and play with them with the odd book-reading in between! So far, Marcello has shown me his favourite toys and drawings, he loves dinasours, pokemon and transformers! Go kiddo! I think i'll paint with him next week he seems talented from all the drawings i've seen on his wall...although...he ripped off some of them today as he felt they weren't good enough for him...

Anyway- things went well today, and was pleasantly suprised at such a modern house on a hilltop! Lovely!

skype webcam

So i've been chatting to this really cute looking boy using a webcam even ;), check him out below:

Cute huh? ^^ He didn't even know i was taking this still shot while we were chatting on skype hehe i'm so naughty x.x

Ok, for those of you who still haven't realised...he's my boyfriend and i do hope he doesn't mind me posting pix of him here :)

Actually not much to say as writing about him makes me sad! Being on a long-distance relationship can be so hard, especially when you're exactly on the opposite side of the friggin' globe! What i hate the most about the time difference (now 11 hours, in full winter will be exactly 12 hours!) is that one can never say "talk to you tomorrow" to the other because it'll be the same day for one of you and the next day for the other...ok hope i'm not confusing anyone here...

Anyway, here is us being silly below (Verona):

teehee!

Ok, i'm teaching 2 italian children english for the first time tomorrow, and NO, not the one from the welcome office as a few of you have already asked me x) A girl i know in Trento has passed my number on to a mother who's keen on teaching her kids english! So i should probably sleep. Arr i haven't had to get up early on a saturday for over a year! I hope it won't be too much of a mission...

update on that tomorrow!

Autumn in Trentino

Last weekend me and couple of my collegues visited the food stalls/outdoor restaurant temporarily setup for the Autumn festival in Trento.
Live singing, lots of people (+dogs) and of course food (no dogs here...haha)! Typical food from the mountaneous regions of Trento like speck, polenta, cheese etc.! Although this particular event has finished, you can check out the rest of the events here which will continue throughout the season of Autumn:

http://www.festivaldeiraccolti.it/events/autumn-in-trentino.htm

You can see the local (i presume) chefs cooking up a storm for roughly 100 people! And if you look closely there is a peculiar looking tortellini (purple colour so perhaps cabbage flavour??)!

Below you can also see my collegues enjoying the delightful food!

FBK

Foundation of Bruno Kessler or (FBK in short), is where im currently doing my internship {correctly known as "Stage" (pronounced "Staazsh" ^.^)}. Recently there was an annual party at the research centre, oh and for any of those who are interested in this research group (also some cool jobs on offer right now!) you can go to http://www.fbk.eu/. So as i was saying, i've got some pre-party pictures and a cute video of the younger family members of the researchers of the institute so enjoy!:

Yasemin and me looking all prettied up :)

Reflection shot of the main dance floor (of course before everybody started dancing!)

Yasemin and my dinner (and of course my first beer of the night ;))

Finally you can click below to see children playing with the cube-sofas before the party began- and you can hear the band warming up! :)