It has been a week since Thomas dad and little brother Lucas left. They spent a week here with us and it has been really nice. Though from the beginning their arrival wasn't anticipated from us as a regular family visit. The reason is probably that Thomas and his dad have a complicated past (that I have no right to tell here), but what I can tell for sure is that the week we spent together had a meaningful importance to me...and I'm sure for them too.
Our awesome adventurous Spring break!!!
We traveled around Jordan and visited Jerusalem.
I feel I've learned so much in 7 days only... Click on the link below and enjoy our video!
While traveling Thomas and I read a book his mom sent us before the departure. It has been my very first real "band dessinee" (BD). I should be ashamed if you think I've married a Belgian!!!
In fact, these kind of graphic novels/ comics are integral part of the francophone culture. Karin (Tom's mom) has a huge collection of them in her home in Charleroi. I have to admit that the first time I saw her library full of Tintin and Marsupilami I was pretty shocked. Although Italian culture has some good "fumettista" (cartoonist) like Manara (I think he's the only one I know, but I assume there are more) I used to look at comics merely as children reading material.
I've always been quite skeptical about BD, but honestly I never gave it a real try... I guess reading a few strips on the potty doesn't count, right?
So, the book that somehow broadened my understanding on the Israeli-Palestinian issue is called "Croniques de Jerusalem". Its author is this Quebecois guy...Guy Delisle (if you pardon the pun).
Just like my wise husband has predicted, I enjoyed as much as a movie. The nice pictures, an interesting background plot, simple political analysis and a sharp irony, make this 1 year of daily Jerusalem life a very pleasant journey.
Happy Irish day everyone!
Dinner is still cooking and while I wait for my pollo con pancetta to be ready, I want to share something on this Saint Patrick's day.
It's not my first year overseas and I should be used to this celebration by now. But somehow, Saint Patrick's day is hard to understand for me: in my opinion, the fact that this day is related to a Saint is even contradictory. No one knows (among the majority of people I know) who Saint Patrick was and what it did. On the other hand, everybody has very clear the main purpose of this festivity: get wasted and drink as much as your body can possibly stand (and even a little more). I know, there are many other Saints-related celebrations whose original meaning is ignored by most of the people (Valentine's Day #1 example). But they didn't become an alcoholic day!!!
Well, I was out last night and I had tons of fun...I'm not "against Saint Patrick". I just don't get it. Maybe it's because in my entire life March 17th was something else: it' s my mom's "name day".
Her name is Patrizia (Italian feminine version of Patrizio - Patrick) and she used to tell me how important this day was for her when she was little.
In post-war Italy, religion was still a huge deal for everybody (much more than what it is today) and children didn't get to celebrate their birthday. Their special day throughout the year was their "onomastico" (name day) and it was always related to a Saint. In our calendar every day has one, or more than one, designated Saint. The idea of my mom at 12 all excited while getting ready for her party and my grandma (nonna Maria) baking and cooking, as she always did for special occasions, warms my heart and gives me a more familiar connotation for this crazy Saint Patrick's day and I like this one better!
Buon onomastico mammina!
Has an entire year really gone by from that March 11th, 2011?
In terms of events it feels even more than one year considering how much my life has changed:
I got married (one day I want to write a post on that and it'll be happier than this), I moved to a different country, got a new job and things and people around me have evolved deeply.
On the other hand, the memory of that day in Tokyo is still vivid in my head, heart and in my subconscious.
I cannot compare my experience to the one of thousands of Japanese whose life has been irreparably devastated in a few hours by the earthquake and tsunami of that Friday afternoon.
I had a look at my iPad today and read something I wrote a couple of days after the jishin* stroke, when, with a small suitcase, I was on my way to the airport, to catch a flight to Italy, leaving behind me an entire life without knowing when or whether I would have come back. A decision taken in a snap without even realizing that I was putting thousands of miles between me and the man I loved, my home, many friends and the city that had taken me under its wing for 4 beautiful years.
Today I could fall in the prosiness of talking about how great Japanese people are, what a great reconstruction was achieved in these months, but I won't.
Watch this BBC video and through the eyes of its children you will understand the essence of Japan!
This morning I woke up feeling like doing nothing.
In a few hours Thomas will be back from his WWW Thailand trip and I figured I could use this time to play the guitar and practice some new songs. You've got to know that when he's around I'm not allowed to play much. In our division of "family roles" HE is the guitarist and I am the singer. No interferences of roles are permitted.
Honestly speaking, there is no doubt that he's way better than me at the guitar, but I miss being able to learn new songs and play them for hours on my own. Back home, many years ago now, I used to annoy my family playing the piano and singing (loudly) almost every day!
This is our family jewel and this on the side is the room where I spent most of my high school afternoons, instead of doing my homework, as I was supposed to.
I had a song in mind these days: "Runaway Train" by Asylum. A few weeks ago Jake and Ramon came over for a few drinks and Jake ended up playing that song that I haven't heard in ages... I loved it! Here is my attempt:
Sorry for the ending C chord. It's very hesitant, but I didn't want to start over for that one last note!!!
After singing Runaway Train, I kept playing changing my repertoire completely.
Last song for today (and probably for a long time...) : "You and I" by Ingrid Michaelson. Simple and lovely. Happy lyrics, this is my favorite phrase "...maybe I wanna do what bunnies do, with you, if you know what I mean". LOL! Do you know what I mean?
Now that I've annoyed you enough with my songs, I'm done for today! You all have a great weekend and I go get ready to pick Thomas up at the airport!!!
"Adda' passa' a nuttata" is a famous sentence of one of the greatest Italian actors and playwrights - Eduardo de Filippo- in his legendary play: Napoli Milionaria.
In a strong Neapolitan dialect, Eduardo concludes the last act of his commedia saying "The night shall pass". I love his old, almost folkloristic, theatre. While telling the stories of simple, sometime miserable people, De Filippo reminds me of those values Italy used to be founded on: family, compassion and humour. Values of a society that, I'm afraid, no longer exists. But I'm glad Eduardo came across my mind today and I had the chance to include him in my blog.
This prologue, not quite fitting, was just to explain the words I wanted to use to connect this post with what I wrote yesterday.
So, to start with what I had left last night and as anticipated by my previous post, it took me a while to fall asleep but my dreams have luckily not been disturbed. Just as Eduardo wished in his third act, my night has passed and the new day has come taking with it a lot of fun things to do.
26 degrees - Sunny. Perfect weather to go to the beach and even better if a bunch of friends go with you and there are beach volley courts!!! Great day. We played for hours and I went for the first swim of 2012. Brrr...The water is still cold, but once you get inside it's really nice and refreshing. The cold water awakens each single part of your body with a little shock, but he temperature outside is so pleasant that it makes the initial suffering totally rewarding. Here some shots of us playing...
Not bad, mmmh? Can you tell from these images how hard have we been playing? We did and by 3.30 pm we were all hungry and all agreed we deserved a little treat. We went to Maria Bonita, a Mexican restaurant around beach road. Nice place and atmosphere, good food, fun people and...animals! Yes because there we met a funny mascot: a talkative (loud) parrot with an unexpected skill: he could hold nachos in his claws!!! Isn't it bizarre? It looked almost fake, I had to take a picture!
I know, it has been a very hard day for me so far. You're probably feeling bad for me wondering how I made it through such hardships today (gosh, life in Dubai is so hard!!!).
To reassure you...I concluded my day going to the spa for a full body massage. Well, perhaps I will squeak by. LOL:)
Now that I'm done with my show off and I gained the antipathy of many, I can go to bed and get ready for the new week to start. A whole week at work without Thomas. (By the way, I talked to him earlier. He's in the jungle of Northern Thailand, almost at the border with Myanmar, and he loves it. He said they're in a wild and mystical place that could be the setting of a Vietnam war movie! Tomorrow they'll start building a library, the goal of their Week Without Walls project, bravo!!!).
So, I have to go to work for a week relying on myself only. That worries me even if it's usually me getting up first in the morning. But it's mathematically proved that sleeping alone increases the possibility to get up late or ignore the alarm clock.
Will I oversleep?
It's midnight already. Better go and set 2 or 3 alarms, just in case!
Good Night!
Since we're in Dubai, this is the first time I'm home alone. Thomas left on Wednesday, off to Thailand with a bunch of 8th graders for Week Without Walls. Yes, those lucky little kids get to spend a week somewhere really cool in the world to learn about community service and cooperation, putting their effort in a project that will benefit less privileged kids.
So, right now Thomas is probably sleeping dreaming about the elephant nursing he did today and petting that tiger in Chiang Mai yesterday (that must be so cool!).
In the meantime, I'm about to go to bed looking for one of his T-shirts to place next to my nose on the pillow. Gross? Maybe, since the T-shirt I picked is definitely an used work outfit, but I need a comforting presence tonight. Yes, I do miss him very much. But tonight I have an extra excuse!
First time to the cinema in Dubai with some friends. Lee (PE teacher at ASD and my super star Boot Camp instructor) picks the movie. She tells me the title, but I don't even check what it is. "The movie doesn't matter, I just want to hang out". At least that's what I thought.
Turns out that tonight choice was "The Devil Inside". I will not give a review of the film, as I'm trying really hard to keep those images faaaaaar from re-visualizing in my head. I will just say that it's about exorcism and that I've always proudly managed to avoid watching "The Exorcist" in all these years.
It was scary and intense and now...I hate the fact that I'm home, ALONE! :(
Amore, where are youuuu!?! I don't think I've ever had a stuffed animal I needed to sleep with or a Linus security blanket when I was 5. But now, at the age of 28 I'm looking for a reassuring smell to keep the bad thoughts away.
I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm pretty sure Thomas' T-shirt will do the job! Good Night! :)
It has been a week since Thomas dad and little brother Lucas left. They spent a week here with us and it has been really nice. Though from the beginning their arrival wasn't anticipated from us as a regular family visit. The reason is probably that Thomas and his dad have a complicated past (that I have no right to tell here), but what I can tell for sure is that the week we spent together had a meaningful importance to me...and I'm sure for them too.
Une Semaine avec 3 Lambert
But somehow, Saint Patrick's day is hard to understand for me: in my opinion, the fact that this day is related to a Saint is even contradictory. No one knows (among the majority of people I know) who Saint Patrick was and what it did. On the other hand, everybody has very clear the main purpose of this festivity: get wasted and drink as much as your body can possibly stand (and even a little more). I know, there are many other Saints-related celebrations whose original meaning is ignored by most of the people (Valentine's Day #1 example). But they didn't become an alcoholic day!!!
I don't think I've ever had a stuffed animal I needed to sleep with or a Linus security blanket when I was 5. But now, at the age of 28 I'm looking for a reassuring smell to keep the bad thoughts away.
