Numbers, food & conditionals

Ciao tutti,
Back again. My eerie feeling about being back in Milan has left completely, fortunately, and I'm up to speed again. Work's going well, I've got a lot of courses and my new part-time admin job consists of a lot of numbers and contracts. It also takes a lot of questions - and I fear I'm driving my boss a bit crazy walking in and out of her office every 5 minutes - but I suppose that's just because I'm an over-achieving perfectionist. I like it a lot though. It's been a long time since I could do my job just sitting at a desk in front of a computer. It's very relaxing and I hadn't realised how much I'd missed playing with numbers and working with excel. It's oddly nostalgic, even though it's all in Italian and English now and not as complicated as my old job was by a long shot. And then there's the personnel side, I've never had much to do with contracts and personnel administration, but it's always nice to try new things and improve your skills, isn't it?

And last week I started teaching a Dutch course, how cool is that? A friend of a friend of a friend of Olaf's was looking for a Dutch teacher and he emailed me before summer and we finally started last week. It does feel a bit strange talking Dutch with an Italian - because, come on, Italians hardly speak English, let alone Dutch! But it's fun. I'm enjoying the new diversity this course and my new admin job have given my work and am really excited about the future!

I also had a less enjoyable experience last week, although it wasn't that bad. Last Wednesday, someone from the palazzo di giustizia, the courthouse, called the school asking if we could immediately send an interpreter because their regular one hadn't shown up. I was the only one available at that time and naturally jumped at the occasion to earn some extra money. Veronica said I would have to interpret for an English witness of an accident and supposed that I would have to translate phrases like 'I saw the car hit him' or whatever, something I could easily have done. Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as it turned out to be about a murder case! After running to the courthouse (which is just a 5-minute walk away) I got lost inside and I spent some time looking for the right department, so I obviously arrived a bit sweaty which is never good for my confidence...

So, when I had entered the room everyone was in it turned out the case was about a British journalist who had been killed a couple of years ago while working for the BBC in Italy. The witness wasn't just anyone but turned out to be the BBC's director of external broadcasting, who had been flown in for a day to testify and who was very anxious because the judge had suggested to postpone because the interpreter hadn't shown up. The deceased had apparently been working in Italy in a managerial capacity without actually having been promoted to that position and his boss had to explain how he had been given a verbal promotion which hadn't been finalised in a contract, how much he would have earned by now had he still been alive, how much he would have earned five years from now etc. to take away a lot of doubts about this case. I swear to you, I didn't know people were capable of using that many conditionals in such a short time. My Italian is good but not that good, and I obviously messed up a bit at first but luckily the witness' lawyer spoke English quite well it turned out all right in the end. I was really scared of making mistakes though, because, you never know, what if I had translated something incorrectly which might have resulted in the acquittal of the perpetrator!!! It was a very interesting experience but made me realise that I'm extremely happy that I'm not a full-time interpreter but just a teacher...

Anyway, after an efficient week of hard work, I treated myself to a nice 12-hour sleep Saturday morning and we spent a lovely night at Veronica's eating lasagna and watching an Eddie Murphy sketch. We didn't do much on Sunday, but I decided it was time for me to cook as I hadn't cooked for ages. I'm not very good at it but was in the mood for paella and we invited Stefano and Elke to come and taste it. Olaf has also made limoncello again and 'mapocello' as well, a similar drink made of a kind of tangerine, and as they enjoyed his last limoncello so much they just had to taste the new stuff as well....!!!

So, now it's back to work until Friday, but on Saturday we're leaving for Paris, the city of love and art!!

XXX, Fe

Winter time *BRRRRR*

Ciao tutti,

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's winter!! And it's soooooooooooooooooooooo cold! At least, that's what the Italians would have you think! As the summer holidays are over this obviously means that winter has started. Even though it's still between 25 and 30 degrees, it's not uncommon to see people walking around in winter coats and sweaters. Italians have a very interesting perception of time. The actual weather is of no consequence but the perceived and logically deduced wintriness such wins out. When summer officially ended at 3rd September, the public transport services actually introduced the 'orario invernale', the winter timetable... Seriously are they crazy?

Going back to work and acclimatising took some time. After being gone for three weeks Milan didn't feel like home anymore - and neither did our apartment. I'm slowly getting used to it again. The same goes for teaching. It was great seeing some of my old students again and hearing about their summers, but I can't do it on auto-pilot anymore. I really need my preparation time now, but I suppose that will change soon. I've also started my new 'job', I am now responsible for Corporate English' financial and personnel administration. It sounds more than it is, but it's nice. I haven't really done much yet, except for studying some documents and reading some instructions, but it doesn't seem like rocket science so I'll manage.

Last Thursday there was a Corporate English get-to-gether at Hora Feliz I enjoyed quite well and on Friday we went to a long-desired sushi meal at Wasabi with some of my colleagues. Yesterday evening we ate and drank far too much at Más with Idil and Felix - but OMG it was so good. That's one thing I've missed about Milan the wonderful food!

I don't have that much to say yet because everything is still starting up. I'm looking forward rather than back right now and that seems like a good thing. So, talk to you soon when I will actually have things to say!

XXX, Fe
There's n

Summer holidays - Bucharest, Chisinau, Odessa, Kyiv, Kamyanets-Podilsky, Chernitsvi, Lviv, Krakow

Ciao tutti,

We had a wonderful holiday, but I'm really glad to be home again. I could tell you many stories about what we've done and what we've seen, but I don't really feel like it. I've told so many people already that I don't feel very inventive anymore and would just repeat the same stuff feeling like a tour guide. Once again, pictures speak louder than words. There in the wrong order and I don't know why, but that's just how they were uploaded. So, I hope you're ready for a journey backwards in time.

Krakow's old city hall and covered market place

Someone called him Gandalf, but he's supposed to be God (Franciscan Church, Krakow)

A crouching Jesus pondering his sins on top of a chapel in Lviv. An image one does not see very often.

Lviv's famous cemetery:

The famous twisted spires of Chernivtsi's Russian Orthodox "Drunken" St. Nicholas Church

Kamyanets-Podilsky:

A funny touch, dancing apostles in front of the Transfiguration Church in Kamyanets-Podilsky

Kyiv:

St. Sophia's Cathedral, modeled on Istanbul's Ayah Sophia

St. Michael's Cathedral with its shiny golden domes. This cathedral was founded ages ago but destroyed by the Soviets and rebuilt in 1998.

Kyiv's famous Caves Monastery:

A detail of the strange Chimaera building

The 'Friendship of Nations' monument. It sounds quite impressive and global but the two statues underneath just symbolise Ukraine and Russia

Some random pictures from Kyiv:

Odessa, which we didn't really like:

Chisinau in Moldova:

A grave on Chisinau cemetery, a must-see for anyone there

An amazing fresco of Christ being transport into heaven by angels while still crucified. I have never seen anything like this

Me in front of some marshrutka's, the life-endangering mini buses these countries use as an integral part of their public transport system

A cute church in Chisinau

View from the night train from Bucharest in Romania to Chisinau in Moldova, very early in the morning

Bucharest:

It is very good to be home again though and to relax and finally sleep. Summer has ended, work is starting and it's time for a year of new challenges!!

XXX, Fe

Ukrainian update

Ciao all, a very, very, very short update this time. Kamyanets-Podilsky was lovely, Chernitsvi was interesting and we sort of made a new friend who was kind enough to show us around the city. Lviv has been extremely nice although the weather hasn't been as pretty as it was before. It isn't very big though, so it's obviously time to leave. We're taking the night bus to Krakow tonight. This is going to suck!!!! But hey, we''ll be entering the EU again which should make the rest of the trip a lot easier!! More news and pictures will come soon! XXX