Love is in the HAIR

So, another post about my hair. This time I am happy to say its all about the LOVE.
We knew about this hair salon in Vicenza since last April and now decided to give it a try as I was going crazy with all the new growth to my hair. I thought about going natural but even then I would need to find someone to help me maintain it. Anyway, we ventured out to the salon for my 930am appointment and was happy to be the only ones in the salon. If any of you know black hair salons, you and ten other people could have the same appointment time. There was only one lady working in the salon who is also the owner along with her sister, whom just had a baby and therefore was taking time away from the salon. The lady (sorry I don't remember her name, oh dear!) who is from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic communicated with my BF through me as she spoke limited English. There was nothing fancy about this hair salon which is not what I am used to back in Toronto. But it kinda reminded me of the "around the way" hair salon. You know the ones with a couple of chairs, magazines from 2002 and a few hair dryers.
She set up shop there 5 years ago so I trusted her with my hair. Even though we could not communicate to one another directly I knew that she knew what she was doing. Her hands felt good in my hair, she wasn't afraid to pull, trim or blow dry my hair. Some of the procedures where different, like she roller set my hair before using the blow dryer which I have always wanted my hairstylist in Toronto to do but because of timing her never did it. This process allows your hair to have more body and for someone with thin hair I prefer to have a rollerset. There was also limited use of the flat iron which is always good as it damages your hair. Overall the experience was good. And like all "around the way" hair salons there was some drama....something about a girl who later arrived had been threatened by her husband etc...etc. My BF communicated this to me after we had left.
Anyway, two and a half hours later I came out looking ultra FAB! Sorry I only have this pic to show but believe you me I was happier compared to my last hair salon experience. Stay FAB!

What's in the cup?

Recently a friend came over with McDonald's as he was too lazy to head home and eat and refused to eat what we had prepared. While he was eating his McDonald's I suddenly started to smell "beer". I wasn't drinking any beer and neither was anyone else in the house. So I asked him "what's in your cup?" and his response "beer". Yes my friends he bought beer from McDonald's He ordered it through Mcdrive which is the drive thru at McDonald's. So anytime you want to drink and drive head to McDonald's and order a beer....lol. All jokes aside I spoke about it for hours with our guest and drying to find a logical reason as to why they would offer beer at McDonald's? here is the pic.

Stay FAB!

What colour is your house?

Why, why, why? Is there a law in Italy that says the houses/apartments need to be painted a certain colour. The pics below are some of the colours in our neighbourhood which are not so bad compared to what I have seen else where in northern Italy. How about bright pink and puke green? Those of you who live in Italy do you know of any such laws or is it just personal taste?

Stay FAB!

Me Likey!!!

Not sure if your all going crazy over the "not" so new Chanel blue satin nailpolish. I searched high and low here in Italy to find it to find out that Italy will not be receiving the colour until early February....uugghhh. At the moment I found out the sad news my boss was going to Paris on a business trip. So of course I had to get her to pick it up for me. It was 1.50 euros cheaper and no one here in Italy has it....hahaha. I will post the pics of it on my nails shortly but for now here is a look at it in the bottle. You likey?

Corvara 2007

Happy New Year to all of you. Hope this year brings many joys and health to your life. Our winter holiday was spent in Corvara which is in the North of Italy. I love the winter season and more so enjoy the sight of the snow falling. I have always wanted to spend the winter holidays skiing but never had that opportunity in Toronto.
The drive to Corvara was about 2.5hrs which seemed shorter due to the BFs driving. We stayed at a lovely garni which cost 30 euros per night. The room was cozy, warm and comfortable as many of the rooms are in Corvara. The residents of Corvara were nice but seemed to prefer the German people more than the Italian people. I sometimes thought I was in Germany as all the Italians spoke German when they were speaking amongst themselves. I was told later that they do prefer German people as they prefer to be German, interesting eh? Anyway, here are some pics.

View from our room at night

New Year's dinner (maccaroni con salmone e crema mascarpone....buonissimo)













The BF paragliding....it was cold!













12:01am (Happy New Year)

The night before Christmas...Dinner for 30

Every year the family meets the night before Christmas to play "catch up".
I have been to many family dinners here in Italy and thought then there was a lot of food prepared so I therefore of expected the same for the Christmas Eve dinner, how wrong was I? My BF repeated to me throughout the day that there would be a lot of food but I didn't believe there would be anymore than our usual family dinners. The menu included (what I could remember); piselli, patate al forno, verdura cotta, zuppa di funghi, pasta con ragù di lepre, polenta, anatra, costicine di maiale, pollo, zuppa inglese, panettone, pandoro, parampampoli (caffè con grappa, vino e spezie). From start to finish the dinner took about 5 hours and boy was I happy it was over. My poor belly after was about to explode but they say here once you drink parampampoli the digestion process is simpler.

Felice Anno Nuovo as I am off to Corvara to skii....here a few pics, enjoy!

Before the storm....lol

My first taste of parampampoli

The taste was really BAD....eeewwwww!!!!

Summertime Gospel Choir

The first time I heard this choir sing here in Padova I had goosebumps the entire time, you know that feeling when the music moves you? Well, these set of people do it each time. They are Italian and sing in English some of the most known gospel songs. I searched high and low for a link to post but I wasn't able to find anything. Check out their website www.summertimegospel.com .

Buon Natale!

Watch your step

You know those people who allow their dog to shit on the sidewalk? Well, that's what I am talking about. Here in Padova I see dog shit everywhere. I had to learn the hard way to watch my step after I stepped in some. What would it take for the owner to pick up after their dog? I see many dog walkers walking around without a plastic bag. Once I actually saw a dog owner neglect to pick up after her dog. I stood there in disgust and so badly wanted to say something but couldn't find the righ words. Anyway, just a little vent!

Smooch

HAIR today....HAIR tomorrow!

The first big question I had for my BF when we decided that I would move to Italy was "who is going to do my hair?". Back home I got my hair did every week at the hair salon. I was totally dependent on Cristos and the team at (http://www.urbantextures.com/) to make my hair look fabulous each week. So when I decided to move that was one thing that caused a lot of anxiety. Many suggestions came to my mind; go bald, go natural, wear a weave, wear braids, you name it I thought about it. I decided with the help of many consultations from my peeps to just go as is and deal with upon my arrival. So, that's what I did.
Four weeks into my arrival I was due for a "touch-up" and desperately needed to find someone to do that for me. With the help of my boss (god bless her soul) she helped me find a hair salon in the city that carried a product similar to what I was used to in Toronto. The days leading up to my hair appointment I was very nervous and was thinking only bad things. I thought for sure that my hair would fall off if not immediately shortly after.
One thing to remember that in Italy there is a hair salon or two on every street, there are no shortage of hair salons here. Woman in Italy love to pass time at the hair salon talking "ish" about their neighbours....lol. The problem I knew I would have is finding a hair salon that was capable of doing a black woman’s hair. Our hair is VERY different than white woman's hair, the care and the maintenance calls for different measures. So the fear, nervousness and anxiety leading up to the appointment day was all called for.
On the day of the appointment the BF accompanied me to the salon as the stylist spoke NO English and me very little Italian. I decided to go the salon with my hair air dried so that the stylist could see the natural texture of my hair. After 2hrs in the hair salon, I was SATISFIED with the end result. He was able to give me a good blow dry but when it came to using the flat iron he was not sure how to use it.
Since the visit two months ago I have not gone back and probably will not go back. I have been doing my hair myself and when it comes time for a "touch up" I will just let my hair grow out until I arrive back in Toronto.
Here are the before and after pics....enjoy!

Hair today, hair tomorrow
Ciao

The BIG 30 in Roma

Can someone tell me the difference between 29 and 30? Or, wait. how about the difference between 20 and 30?
Anyway, the BIG 30 came on the 19th and I must say I haven't noticed the difference. From about the age of 25, I always thought that 30 would be different than 20. I for sure thought my bones and mind would be weaker from everyone telling me that 30 was old. But I have realized now isn't so bad and as I have only lived 8 days into my 30 I believe all things get better from here. I am actually waiting for the day that I start to look 30. What does that look like? Everyone one says I look younger, which is a nice compliant, thank you. But what is a 30 year old woman supposed to look like? I guess as I live through my 30's I will find out the answer to that question.
For my 30th bday I was taken to Roma which was a pleasant surprise. My first trip to Roma a few years back I hated it. I felt like I was in tourist central no matter how I tried to get off the beaten path. So when I landed there this year I had only expected it would be better due to the fact I was traveling with an Italian who knew the city farely well. Our BWB (bed with breakfast) was nice, minus the small quarters. Don't be fooled people bed with breakfast is not the same as bed and breakfast....lol. We were very outside of the center which meant using the metro to communte each day. I actually enjoyed using the metro minus the fact that I had to watch the BF's back for the every so cleaver pocket pickers. The metro kinda reminded me of NYC's train system but I felt I had to keep my eyes open more often while riding the Roma metro. Since my BF was traveling with a black girl, caring a Nikon camera (professional one), we really looked like tourist. And for this reason a not so nice lady had the nerve to try and charge us 20euro's for two cappuccino. The restaurant owner thought we were American tourist eventhough, my BF ordered our drinks in his perfectly spoken Italian. When my BF approached the lady about her ridicoulsly over priced cappuccino, she said in Italian "oh, the prices are on the wall". BS, there were no prices on the wall and their wasn't even the prices in the menu. My BF mentioned to her that the couple sitting next to us, who were obviously Italian (from Roma) ordered much more than we did and were charged a lot less, she responded by saying "I don't know how that happened". Then my BF asked for the receipt and realized that on a Sunday in the early evening the restaurant had only produced 27 recipts for the day, he immediately knew what kind of restaurant we were in. Anyway, at the end of all this we paid for 2 cappuccinos and a tiramisu 16euros, which in my opinon is overpriced. Overall, I really enjoyed Roma. I was able to visit many places I did not visit on my first trip. On the way home we stopped in Firenze (which is my FAV place in Italy) and Orvieto. Here are some pics, enjoy!

Graduation & Condoms

I have been in the square many times when graduates have been celebrating their long and hard work over the years. What this means is that the graduates are greeted with loud cheers and chants by their friends and family in the streets near the University of Padova. It is a tradition here that when you graduate you dress up like a fool and walk around the city showing yourself off while everyone else makes fun of you. Once the graduate presents their thesis to the academics the are greeted with chants of "dottore, dottore" (the title means a lot in Italy). The graduate must read a long poster a loud which is written by their friends and family outlining all their flaws. Some are dressed distastefully however its very amusing to watch, here is a pic, enjoy.

As for the condoms, I came across a machine selling condoms awhile back. While I was taking the pic everyone was looking at me, strangely. What I have never seen a vending machine that depenses condoms, so I decided to take a picture. I think they should have condoms accessible 24=7, why haven't they thought of this in Canada?

Italian 101, Part 2

Learning a new language can be a difficult thing to do expecially at my age. I started my language lessons prior to my arrival and I thought it would be beneficial to have a head start on the language. Shortly after I arrived and started to listen to people around me speak I soon realized that what I had learned in Toronto meant nothing here in Italy. Dialect is so widely spoken in this part of Italy, not sure why? maybe its because speaking dialect is easier. If the person I am listening to is not speaking dialect they are speaking super fast so I am not able to understand, how frustrating is that?
When I walked into my Italian class on the first day I wasn't too surprised. I was one of the many immigrants registered in the class. Many of the students in my class are from Eastern Europe. There are four English speaking students in the class, two from N.America and two from the UK. The four of us all sit together and speak to one another in English when we are not able to understand what the teacher is saying. The teacher often calls on us to translate a word into English when she doesn't know or when she finds that some of the students are not understanding her.
I am somewhat satisfied with how the lessons are being taught. I find it a little slow for me as I have already learned quite a bit grammatically when I was in Toronto however its a nice refresher at the moment. I wish the teacher was a little bit more vocal when the other students are talking during her lessons. I find myself being the one to tell the interrupters to shhhhhh or SHUT UP!
I am now one month and a bit into my lessons and have 8 more months to go......uuuggggghhhh.
Those of you here (Italy) learning the language, do you find it hard to build up your confidence to speak? This is my problem, I am afraid to make mistakes and be laughed at which always happens when I say something wrong.

alla prossima!

Anymore questions?

So, I have attended many social gatherings since I have been in Italy and realized one thing, I have and continue to be asked the same set of questions. The most common question is "what did you eat in Canada?" my response "the same thing you eat in Italy" of course minus the pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner....lol. Next question, "when are you having children?" what the bleep, since when is that question asked to someone you barely know. My BF answers this question because he knows that I will not. And for the second most commonly asked question "who does the cooking at home?", now really why is it so important for anyone to know the answer to this. So what if my BF cooks every night? what's the big deal, really? I realize that they are just trying to know me but I find the series of questions to be a little too much. I would be more comfortable if they asked other questions like "how is life in Italy" etc...etc.

Who wants Milk?

Literally. I had to blog this because I was amazed when I saw that you could buy fresh milk from a machine. Apparently some company thought it was a good idea to make milk available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It cost approx 1.00 euro per litre and you have the option of bringing her own bottle or using the bottle supplied by the machine. I never would have imagined purchasing milk from a machine and no its not like purchasing coke from the machine.
My BF purchased a bottle as I was curious as to how it would taste, mind you I did not taste it. He said it tasted like regularly milk, just a little more tasty, meaning "fat"....lol

Unexpected SMS....

and yes in deed it was unexpected. We got the SMS this morning from the Questura for my PdiS appointment. When my BF asked me to guess the date I laughinhly guessed November 19 (my birthday) and of course he laughed back and me. My appointment is for March 5 2008, yes you read correctly. I mailed out the kit on September 21, received the SMS on November 1 and will be interviewed on March 5 2008. If that ain't BS bureaucracy, I don't know what is. I am just happy I was not given an appointment after the expiration date of my VISA.
Further update on this topic, March 2008.

Ciao a tutti

Stop pushing....

Damn it! This are the words I spoke the day I visited the Questura and had to wait in line for 1 hour. I decided that I wanted to visit the Questura 2 weeks after my arrival as I wanted to get a head start on applying for my PdiS (Permesso di Soggiorno).
Well we arrived at 730 am to a decent line of about 20 ppl, we counted that we were 20th in line so we were happy. At the blink of an eye (no lie) swarms of people arrived. Families with all their children and belongings in tow. Woman who appeared to have just returned from a late night out and the men who looked like they had somewhere to go. I kept a close on the arrivals after us to make sure we did not loose our place in line. Well, low and behold, we did as few people managed to push their way in front of us. As time approached for the gates to open I felt my body being pushed forward and it wasn't a good feeling. Anyway, the feeling was nothing compared to when the gates actually opened and the police arrived to randomly pick only 20 people to enter. As he spoke in Italian, none of which I understood all I could see is people's hands raising to get his attention. My BF and I decided not to raise our hands and wait patiently and it worked out in our favour. The police officer spoke to my BF, took my passport and allowed us to enter. Once we arrived into the office with the rest of the immigrants we had to wait another 30minutes before they attended to us. The police officer was polite and answered all our questions and was also able to direct us to the right places; post office for the kit (which I already knew but my BF wanted to see if he could receive the kit for free) and the post office to send the payment for the insurance. Prior to being served I watched how other people were spoken to by some of the officers. I can tell by the facial expressions and the hand gestures of the officers that they were not being polite and this was later confirmed when I asked my BF to translate what they were saying. I think because my BF is Italian we were treated differently. So after a day or two of running around with the kit and filing out the many required pages we are patiently waiting for something, anything to arrive in the mail.

Stay tuned!

The JOB!

I can't say how much easier it is not having to find a job. As many of you know the BF found the job for me while I was in Toronto so there was no job hunting for me once I arrived. The week I arrived I met the mother (father was at work) and the two children; Marco who is four and Martina who is eight. . My first impression of the children was positive. They both were very polite and oh so cute with nothing but nice things to say while I was there meeting the family. My boyfriend did most of the talking while I played with the kids. We planned it that way so that the mother would see me interacting with the children. I was pleased that the children willing played with me and didn't lash on to their mother while I was there. Before I left the house both of the kids gave me a kiss, which surprised me as it was our first meeting. I decided at that time to start one week early as since it was four days into my arrival I was kinda bored at home.

Most of my time is spent with Marco teaching him English while Martina is at school. Now I am six weeks into the job and still loving it. Working with children has allowed me to find my creative side. At first, I found the job to be a little boring but once I became creative the time spent with the children goes by much faster. Because Marco's English is very limited and my Italian is also limited we sometimes have communication problems but we always seem to get our message across.

As for the parents, Monica and Giulio they are wonderful. They treat me with the respect and are open minded and free spirited. They have two other woman working from them as well, cleaning their not so big house. Monica is a Professor and Giulio is an Engineer so they are well educated and have no money problems. I rarely see Giulio, I met him once and saw him one other time when I decided to work a Saturday. He works 1.5hrs away from home so I imagine he gets home late, eats dinner and goes to sleep....lol. Anyway for now Monica and I get along great thankfully as there is nothing more than having a boss who is a bitch.

A side note, for those who are planning to teach English in Italy please don't expect a high salary. I was aware that the salary wages were low and therefore settled for what was offered.
It was actually my BF who negotiated and successfully got me a higher salary.

Ciao a tutti

The apartment....

I really thought keeping up with this blog thing would be much easier once I moved to Italy.
It is actually much harder as I have less time. Anyway, here goes it; the apartment.

Prior to the move I was only shown the pictures, pictures I thought were poorly taken and therefore did the apartment no justice. When my BF told me we were moving into an attic my heart began to beat so fast. When I hear an attic, I think of a dark unkept room with spiders and cob webs. Because of this horrible thought in my mind I asked my BF that we stay at his mom's the first night as I did not want to enter the attic. He declined and said I would like the apartment and reassured me that an attic in Italy is not like an attic in N.America.
Well to my surprise the apartment is lovely with its "travi a vista" structure and open concept layout. Its probably the same size of my the apartment back home but with a different layout. The first days in the apartment we went crazy at Ikea and bought many things. The apartment came furnished so we just had to purchase the other things. I never thought I would like Ikea but Ikea Italy is not bad. Much of the same things I have seen at home but with better prices and nicer designs. The BF is a handy man so everything electronic or that requires fixing and placing he is good at. As of now our apartment is pretty much finished, we have bought more than we need and his mamma keeps giving us everything in her house. I am now used to saying "no grazie" when she placing items in my hands. I will take the pics and post soon....baci

btw, I rarely proof read these post so sorry for my bad grammar and sp mistakes....lol

The flight....

So we decided after packing many suitcases that we would each bring four pieces of luggage, seven of which were mine. We knew that we would be paying the extra dollars for additional luggage and weight so we were prepared for that. I was flying Lufthansa/Air Canada and he was flying Air France. Our flight left 4 hours apart his departing before mine and arriving 2 hours ahead of mine. As he approached the check-in counter my heart was beating quite fast as I feared the worse ie. no additional luggage allowed. Prior to him approaching the check out counter I tried to scoop out the nicest looking agent I could see but to no surprise they all looked miserable and underpaid....lol. So I told Chicco to flirt with the agent so that we wouldn't have any problems with our luggage. As he approached the agent I knew she was going to be a bitch but I figured with his charm things would be okay, wrong again. She was a bitch gave him hassle with the extra two pieces and billed him the full price for the extra pieces and the additional weight. Chicco was off to catch his flight and I only prayed that all pieces of luggage would arrive in Italy the next day.
Four hours later, it was my turn. The hours between Chicco leaving and me checking in I was nervous. As I imagined having a harder time with my luggage as it weighed more and was much bigger. Since I have travelled many times with Luftansa/Air Canada I felt confident that I wouldn't' get a bitchy agent. As I stood in line I saw the agent that checked me in the last time I had visited Italy. I remembered him being very funny and easy going, so I hoped when it was my turn to present myself, it would be him that would be checking me in. I had my mom with me to calm my nerves in the line which was a big help. To my surprise the agent that was ready to serve me was the same agent that served me 4 months earlier. First thing I said to him was "I remember you from four months ago" he said "really? this is my first time working here since about four months ago". We exchanged laughs and what nots before he it came down to the nitty gritty. He weighed my luggage and as expected they were over weight by some kilos. He asked that I take somethings out of one suitcase and put into the other, which I was happy to do. After some talking about my long stay in Italy, he kindly told me "I am letting you off easy" and I smiled and said "thank you, when you are in Italy I will make you dinner" and we laughed.
Apparently I missed the increase in additional baggage by 2 days, luckily. Now Air Canada charges $225.00 for additional luggage and increase of one hundred dollars....mama mia!
My advice to those moving overseas and don't want to pay the to ship your belongings, check with the airline prior to departure because sometimes its much cheaper to pay for additional luggage rather than shipping belongings. I also called the airline company to tell them that I would be having two pieces of additional suitcases with me which was a good idea as the agent when I arrived was aware that I had additional pieces.
When we arrived in Italy after a long boring flight we were happy to be together again and also happy that all eight pieces of luggage arrived in tow.

Ciao a tutti

Well....Well....Well

Ciao a tutti, I finally made it to civilization. We connected now to the Internet in our apartment so I can blog away. There is much to update everyone on but I will start with he most recent first; the Internet.
So the Internet was ordered in early August when my boyfriend signed the contract with our landlady. I should have known that the Internet would not be connected when we arrived. Anyway, most of our weeknights up until this point was spent at his mamma's checking my email. I felt so lost with out the Internet expecially when I was always connected in Toronto.
The strongest single I get on my lab top is when I am sitting on the toilet, ain't that funny? I refuse to sit on the toilet and write/check emails unless I am desperate for a connection. With wireless there is always something going wrong with the damn Internet. For now we just cross our fingers and pray that we stay connected.

Cheerios
R.