No, really....

Can I say ONLY IN ITALY?















Stay FAB!

No, really

I came across this newspaper article in the Toronto Star a few days ago and I thought I would share it with all of you. For some reason I am not surprised that this happened in Italy. What are your thoughts?

http://www.thestar.com/article/459861

Stay WELL

Turn it UP

The good old summer heat is here in Italy. When I say it's hot in this city, its hot. Not only is it hot it's also humid. A kind of humidity that I am so not use to but realize that I better get used to it because it's here to stay. I have experienced some bad conditions in Toronto but have always been saved by the AC. Everywhere you go in Toronto during the summer months the AC is in full swing. I often brought a sweater with me as I knew every building would be kickin with AC. Here in Italy, its a different story. When I enter a building, for example the mall or a shop I am expecting to feel the difference in temperature from outside. But, no I continue to sweat....uuuggghh. Where I work there is AC but it's never in use. Those who are in Italy know what the weather has been like the last few days, HOTTTTTTT. So it would be nice if after riding my bike through the smog, traffic and humidity I get a little cool feeling if I was to enter a building. I am not saying that all inside places are like this but most of them are.
My OH's mom's house also has no AC and sleeping at night is just out right uncomfortable.
At least I know that in Australia the AC is kickin':) which is something to look forward to.

Stay FRESH
2heartsinaustralia.blogspot.com

4 minutes and Work

These two songs 4 minutes by Madonna and JT and Work by Kelly Rowland are both driving me to drink. Every second I turn on the radio I hear either one of these songs being played on at least two different radio stations. Its funny because I have never heard so much of Kelly Rowland since DC as she seemed to be in the foreshadows of Mrs. Knowles. I pray that the next time I turn on the radio here in Italy I hear something different like, ummmmmmm, I don't know but something other than M and KR.

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!

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!!!!

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?

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

Dinner w/ the ex

I was speaking w/ my BF today who informed me that his ex-girlfriend would be coming over to his house for dinner. She is close to his mother and sister so they decided to invite her over for dinner to celebrate her graduation. My reaction to this? well I questioned as to why he needed to be present for the dinner. And he said he felt he needed to be there for support because she is not close to her family and has had issues w/ an eating disorder, he felt if he was not there "she would have problems". So I thanked him for telling me even though my first reaction was not good. I am not at all threatened by her but I know he would have some questions if I had a dinner for my ex-boyfriend.
Is it a culture thing? here the parents would ask the son/daughter if it was okay to have their ex over for dinner. Once your an ex, in most situations, the parents respect that and would not invite their daughter/sons ex over for dinner if they said no.
Anyway, I love him all the same.