off to the beach

I won't be on for a couple of days as we're leaving town. 'we' is my auntie, cousin and I, who will soon be joined by my uncle and my parentals.

Lately my patience with strangers here has been extremely limited. Let me explain. This town isn't that much bigger than Busselton. People talk like crazy, my grandma in particular (she has not yet gotten over the fact that we left her..). So during the past week, I have had A BILLION nosey strangers want to meet me and give me a cheesy smile, looking at me as if I were a strange, foreign specimen, and daring to ask me if I understood Italian!! It's annoying me, now when we happen to be in big crowds and my family start talking to someone I don't recognise I slowly move away, to avoid having to recount for the hundreth time how YES, I speak Italian, and YES I'm happy to be here, and YES I'm quite happy living in Australia... and then some go on asking about what I'm doing with my life, and there I start again.. grrr.. I mean if they are friends, I understand and I'm happy to explain, but curious 80-yr-old women dressed in black in the middle of summer who whine at me: doyouremembermeeeeeeeeeee?? kind of get on my nerves.

But anyway. Yesterday we did some more shopping, had some friends visit, and went to see an exhibition my cousin was part of. The humidity went down a tiny bit so beach should be nice. It will be good to compare Italian beaches with the ones in Australia. I will try not to step on too many people. I'm thinking of getting a second ear piercing. Yes?

Oki doki george :) have a good rest of the week!
x

anche le brave ragazze piangono.

So today was a hormonic, up-and-down day which reminded me of year nine. In the morning we did some crazy shopping, then had lunch al fresco (in the backyard) and.. then things went down down, and back up when I went to see my friend Alessandra. She is quite the singer/songwriter these days! I'm impressed, and happy to know she'll try out for San Remo. I'm getting a bit of a tan I must say :) I'll be going to the beach from thursday to saturday with my auntie, uncle and cousin so that should help. Fortunately I'm much too wise to avoid using sunscreen :) aaaaaaanyway. Not much to tell really, we're off to dinner at some friends' house soon so I should get going.
I hope everyone's well?
If you care to drop in a line it would be most welcome, the email address is its_only_el@hotmail.com
Arrivederci!

today i went cycling!

Just around town, with my grandma's bike. I was hoping to check out a few nice shops BUT I soon found out that most of them close on Monday mornings! What's with that?? They're already closed all Sunday, jeez..

The other day my parents and I caught up with about 25 of our old family friends who were so nice to organise a lunch for us all in a good restaurant on a nearby mountain. It was really hot, particularly after walking up hill after lunch! We kept mingling untill 7pm, when I had to get back home to go watch a movie with some friends. Batman it was, although I'd already seen it- it was as good the second time around though, exept possibly the dubbed voice of the Joker, which didn't meet the standards of Heath Ledger's. After the movie we walked to an Osteria (pub thing) and I was shocked to see a glass of Prosecco, a fine local wine, was half as much as an iced tea! It was nice to see some guys order the one drink and be satisfied with it, instead of getting a dozen or so, untill they aren't able to talk anymore.

We have also been to eat a really good pizza at an incredibly busy restaurant/pizzeria. People were coming in at 10pm to have dinner! eheh
Here are some more things I've learnt:

Distant, boring old relatives are just that.
I like shoes! Especially on sale.
I also like giancanelloni (pizzas folded up like a warm wrap, yum)
Italians have a serious obsession with tanning. It's scary. Like if you're white in summer you're an outcast. No one cares about cancer.
I have an English accent! :s
I'm scared of the sacrament of matrimony..
Just because you're going uphill- it doesn't mean it's going to get any cooler.
Italian roads are bloody scary!!!!

Have I mentioned my granma has a rooster living next door to us? I'm going to kill it. Really. I threatened her that if she doesn't poison it before next time I come back, I'm going to stay in a hotel. It wakes us up at freaking 5am.

All is well :)

i've learnt things already!

I learnt that I brought far too many clothes with me
I learnt that clothes shopping CAN be cheap in Italy at the weekly markets
I learnt that my parents knew A LOT of people here
I learnt that A LOT of people know about me
I learnt that my cousin LOVES PS2
I learnt that "these markets are huuuge!"
And that some people just look to make their lives more unhappy


Questa sera we are having dinner (*groan* at 8.30!) at the house of one of my friends from primary school. Looking forward to it lots! It's weird.. without meaning to sound racist at all, I have to say it surprised me to hear a number of Chinese shop assistants speak Italian! By mistake I greeted one in English. Gosh :p
ps. sun's nice ;)

am i really here??

It's still a little surreal :)
Hello! Well at the moment I'm at my uncle's house, he's been generous to agree for me to use the internet when I wish! He lives upstairs from my grandparents' house, where we are staying. Lovely little duplex! I just met their two pet turtles, Ingeniere (engineer) and Geometra (geometrist)!

So getting here was a long but manageable journey, we stopped for a night in Dubai which was great cos we not only got some sleep, but visited around the gold markets (cheap and very noticeable!). The place is really impressive but I had mixed reactions as you got the impression that a small bunch of people were governing a huge amount of cement- I mean development which had all only recently happened. The rest of the population seemed like some SouthEast Asian populations, poor and trying to sell you anything they posess. The temperature was 45 degrees which was incredible, coming from a chilli Busselton.

So on thursday the 24th we left for Italy, along a large amount of very loud Italians, including a big group who had travelled to Sydney for WYD. It was so strange to hear so many (young) people speak Italian! Funny though :) around six hours later we landed in Venice, where our family picked us up from. Again, a few differences in the local road rules (what road rules?) which could give some laid-back Busselton drivers a bit of a heart attack ;)

So now I am home. Or my grandma's home anyway..? The weather here is really pleasant at the moment, we will go to the markets tomorrow in the centre of town- I'm assured by my gran that she has been busy preparing food for us just in case a sudden famine decides to hit the planet!

Must go now, my gran made sure half of the town knows we are here so.. places to be.. people to meet... :)
ciao.

here comes reality..

So if you're one of those people who hates public displays of affection and can't stand close relationships to the point of two people needing each other to feel at home.. you should not read on. Because yesterday I kissed Rob goodbye, a goodbye which we could say is more a 'see-you-later', however 'later' seems so far away that 'goodbye' seems to better express the experience. It was hard, and it's still hard to procrastinate considering how long three months feels, especially without him by my side. Thank God I was brought out that night by Ian, Carolyin and the girls, because had I not been out socialising and dancing with my boss [... that does sound a little strange.. but really there was no one else on the 'dancefloor' and we had lots of fun! ...] I could see myself miserable at home. The night of the 18th I had a really nice get-together over dinner with a group of friends, and we made use of the cheap cocktails during happy hour. So, anyhow, I'm going to use my free time to pack I guess, something I don't really enjoy doing. How am I supposed to not bring my whole wardrobe with me to Europe??
Hmmmm.. I shall see what I can do, until next time :)

these new feelings!

I have to express these feelings that have brought butterflies of excitement to my tummy! I guess it's because lately I have been talking more and more about my travels, with friends and family.. it's getting closer and closer! I'm looking forward, perhaps seriously for the first time, to go back to Italy, to remember places I used to visit often, to see how much people have changed.. my now 12-year-old cousin, for example! I look forward to visiting Trieste, Trento, l'Alto Adige.. breathing in fresh mountain air.. going to the markets with my cheerful grandma.. waking up and being fussed over for the following 14 hrs, by people saying 'mangia, mangia'! I hope mum and I get around to going to Rome for a few days of mad shopping.. and I look forward to catching up with people who, for a few days, will make us feel incredibly interesting! Oh, and I also really look forward to seriously telling some friends that I used a kangaroo-service to 'hop' to school.