Mi sono ripreso un po' (that means 'I'm feeling better') and won't be complaining that much in this post. The reason for this sudden change? It's the holiday season, the season to be jolly. Even though I'm not working and hence not earning any money, it does feel good to have some time off - especially because I've managed fairly well not to think about work a lot. I'm also feeling better physically and, most importantly, Christmas is finally over!!!!
In the end, we didn't get to have our Austin Powers movie night with Nissrine but she came over for some drinks and then we unfortunately had to say our final goodbyes. Well, final... For the moment anyway, I'm sure she'll manage to return. And Facebook has already proven to be a great way to stay in touch as she is as addicted as I am.
The last days at work were very stressful but I'm confident that we'll pull through and we should be alright for January. That does mean I haven't been paid yet but, then again, I probably would have spent it all these two weeks if I had been paid yet, so it's actually not such a bad thing. It was great to end the year with my weekly reward, though. Paola and I had another amazing two-hour lesson listening to music and trying to figure the hidden meanings behind the lyrics, while of course incorporating philosophy and our continuous quest for the etymological origins of strange but fascinating words. We're not sure whether we'll be able to continue in January, because they've loaded me up with courses and I won't even have time to have lunch - but there is of course a distinct 'Yeah, money!!!'-feeling behind this small inconvenience. I'm going to try to rearrange my schedule though, because I am absolutely unwilling to give these lessons up. I've come to realise they are very important to satisfy my hunger for knowledge and for my mental sanity. Losing them is just not an option.
We didn't do much the weekend before Christmas. We did a shitload of groceries for our Christmas dinners and I played a lot of Civilization. On Monday, Jorryt and Lilian arrived and we had a great time with them. Olaf was cooking during the day, so Jorryt, Lilian and I went out to walk around town, wonder about the emptiness of the city during the holiday season, and - of course - go to the Christmas market. As Olaf wasn't with us, it was obvious that he would have to suffer for this, so we spent a lot of time looking for the ugliest presents to give him that night. We ended up giving him three almost identical pen holders with babies on them, a candle in the shape of an ugly, slutty, round-breasted mermaid and a fake 18th-century doll with in a hoopskirt that turns slowly and produces a horribly sweet melody. I was extremely satisfied. Santa gave me, among other things, a scented candle, a jigsaw puzzle, vanilla-scented wooden balls (what the hell am I supposed to do with those?!?!) and a book about art history I really wanted to have. Jorryt and Lilian had bought a chocolate fountain which is absolutely amazing!!!
Even though Jorryt did his best to fix my computer, he didn't manage in the end and it's still not working properly. He's going to try to replace the hard disk now, as a last resort, but since my baby is already over 3 years old she might just be beyond repair. Anyway, we'll see. We spent the rest of the holidays playing boonanza (a fantastic game!) and of course eating and drinking. Olaf's Christmas dinners were amazing and the liquid one on St. Stephen's Day came out really well. It's impossible for me to describe them completely but here are some of the courses I really enjoyed: tuna carpaccio, chickpea soup with smoked salmon, gazpacho, chocolate fondue and of course the cheese platter. The food was excellent, the wines were very appropriate and - though I ate way too much - I cannot but say I enjoyed both dinners immensely.
On Christmas Eve, Lilian and I went to mass at the Duomo. Neither of us is very religious but Lilian had never been to a Catholic Christmas Eve mass before and was curious about it. I had enjoyed the Easter mass a lot and was hoping the Christmas Eve mass would be even better, especially because the archbishop of Milan himself was presiding. We were utterly disappointed though. The atmosphere was nothing like the one at Easter. The service was very cold, reserved and recited. All they did was read from the same book they always read, in very monotonous voices, without any emotion or humour and even the choir wasn't that good. The service was being broadcast at the same time and cameraman had difficulties finding interested people in audience to focus on, because nearly everyone on the screen was sleeping, yawning or doing something else. At some point they brought out a horribly painted kitsch statue of the baby Jesus and we were amazed and disgusted to hear that we were supposed to worship it. I mean, worship a little statue with an inappropriately horny smile that's lushly painted red and pink was a little bit too much, even for me. The mass was also way too long and we had to leave early in order not to miss our last tram. You can imagine we were not sorry to have an excuse to go.
The Thursday after Christmas, we rented a car and drove to Valle d'Aosta, a small French-speaking region in the Northwest corner of Italy on the French and Swiss borders. This is a very mountainous region famous for its ski resorts and numerous castles we got to see. We first drove up to Breuil-Cervinia on the slope of the Matterhorn (and could at that moment add another wonder to our lists). We played in the snow and had a mini snowball fight, probably the only one we'll have this winter. I enjoyed the fresh air and snow very much, it was so good to be out of Milan, even for a day. After the Matterhorn we drove to Aosta, where we visited the Roman ruins and Medieval buildings in order to sniff up some culture. We then decided to go home early to eat a lovely home-made pasta and play some more boonanza. Here are some pictures:
Yesterday I slept very late and went out for drinks with Caroline, Veronica and Amanda. It was really nice seeing them outside of the school and I am proud to say that we didn't talk about work at all! I'm a bit worried about what I'm going to do with all the free time I have left, but I'm sure I'll manage to find something to keep me busy. That jigsaw puzzle is not finished yet, after all...
I hope you are all having good, warm and relaxing holidays and are spending them with the people you really want to spend them with. If I don't update my blog before the new year anymore (which, let's face it, is quite likely with my track record), I'd like to end this post by wishing you all a lot of fun on New Year's Eve, no hangovers on New Year's Day and a wonderful 2008! Here are some more pictures of Lilian and me with our life-size snowman named Margaret - so, she's technically a snowwoman, I guess...
