New Year

Dear guys,

It's the last day of this year, how do you celebrate it ? We, mostly in my city, use fireworks at midnight. It's a nasty way of partying because many people among children and adults injure seriously and in some cases they lost their limbs.
Hopefully we don't experience such an upsetting and cruel situation I want to wish a Wonderful New Year fills of joy and desires.

Merry Christmas

Looking for a room in Rome

Hi guys,

I'm going to live in Rome from January to March because I'll attend an internship there with a firm which should hire me at the end of it, I hope.
I had to find a room in Rome for this reason.
As far as I know if you need a room in Rome, you can start your research by looking up in "Porta portese" advertisements journal. Actually, you can come across advs from cars to rooms.
Porta portese is dirty cheap (only 1€ ) and there is an on line version as well, but I don't suggest relying on the advs published on that website because most of them are out of date.
You can can also search on line in Easy Stanza, where there are advertisements only for renting rooms.
I honestly advise to buy a Porta portese (it is issued on Tuesday and Friday), because it's the most popular resource. If you're an English native speaker and your Italian let you get by or you need to be assisted in your researches, for instance you want a translation for some advertisements into your language , if I'm free I'll be pleased to help you.

have you a "dog park" ?

Naples is a fun place and nobody can tells otherwise !
Have your city got a place to park your dog ? We have it !!
A friend of mine took this picture outside of shop located in the Vomero borough, I'd like to remember the street's name...

TOEIC

Dears,

In the last week one friend of mine questioned which is the best certification for proving your English proficiency to the companies or employers.
First of all, after tons of researches on English job offer website, I never come across a job offer which absolutely demands TOEFL or IELTS or TOEIC.
I concern that they ask you to master English, if you prove your competencies with a certificate it's even better of course, but it's not strictly needed.
I might say that TOEFL and IELTS are required mainly for university purposes (e.g to enrol at university).
Yet, you have to take into account that after two years the certificate expires.
What hell does it mean that you no longer speak English?
I don't think so.
If you had a work experience with foreign clients you could state in your cv "I'm confident in English because I worked abroad or because I dealt with non Italian speaker partners or customers. A real experience, surrounded in an English environment is a commodity more important than a certification, I guess.
Whether you're really interested in getting one certification, maybe the best one for non native English speaker that wants to give a proof of their English skills is The Test of English for International Communication™ (TOEIC).
Indeed it seems a specific and reliable test to qualify your English competencies in a work setting.
What I wish to ask you is:
1) Do you think that a (long term) work experience in an English speaking work environment is more worthy than a certification such as TOEIC?
2)Have you ever been asked to prove your English proficiency to your company by showing a certification?
3)If I'm compelled to get a certification which I should to choose ? TOEIC?
Thank you in advance for your consideration !
please lurkers answer the question...I really need a feedback

Being bone idle

In this period that I'm still out of work (I'll start on 2 Jan) I' ve became bone idle, I mean in the morning I can't get up straightaway after my alarm ring as I used to do!
Maybe it's the cold winter that ties me down to my bed!

Rebel Heart

I promise I'll come back speaking about my adventure in London. In the meanwhile I want to enjoy "rebel heart" by Corrs with you.

Assessment II

I promised you to keep on speaking about the recruitment procedure.
As I said after the first assessment is followed by a second one, actually it's an interview with the project manager of the service line for which you have been selected for.
The interview aims to know your motivations and skills, sometimes you can be asked to study a business case and give your solution to it.
During this phase be prepared to answer firmly some questions like: What do you except from our firm? how do you imagine your work? Why did you choose us ?
This should be the last step of your ladder, if they're interested in you, you'll receive an offer.
Good luck to all job seekers

To open an English bank account

Another maddening adventure during my buzzing journey in London was to open a bank account. Actually, I didn't need it because I didn't manage to get a job there and I could withdraw money with my Italian debit card.
In order to open a bank account in London you need your ID, a cover letter by your employer and sometimes your passport (it depends on your nationality and the bank). I reasonably suppose that the same procedure works everywhere in the UK.
Anyway I was asked to help my Spanish friend to open her bank account (she strongly relied on my English ..oh my God). We chose the Lloid bank, where you can get a bank account free of charge. For the first time you get an appointment, generally within one week, you can go to the bank again to open your account definitely. After 3 days we went to the bank and finally we had a complete interview. Here an incredible thing happened to me.
The clerk was speaking in English to us, but she mostly talked to me because I was able to understand her and translate from a quick and "complex" English into a simple and slow English for my Spanish friend....a bit of gloat :)
I was a sort of electronic device which makes a good English broken :)
Anyway only after 20 minutes the clerk realized that I was speaking in English and not in Spanish and she said to me "But you're speaking in English!",
I replied: "Yes of course! I don't know Spanish, if you spoke slowly and easily my friend could understand you without my help" and the fretful clerk continued: "OK, I got it, we don't need you any more!!! " oh my God I hit the roof, the clerk made my blood boil !
I wanted to say: damn maroon you need more than 5 minutes to understand that I was speaking in English !!!! The interview lasted about 25 minutes, they are really thorough and I'd bet they collect enough info about you to have a complete profile of their client for legal and advertisement purposes.
In the end we went out and to celebrate the successful bank account opening.

Thanks, Zsofia for her corrections

Other English podcasts

I already emphasized how important is to practice English every day.
For instance, you can listen to English podcasts which take a few minutes. As well, I showed you where some of them are available.
Now I want to suggest another resource that might be helpful especially for people who need English for their work.
I can't leave a comment yet about their usability, practicability and quality but in the meanwhile you can try them out for me and report a comment :)
I'll try them as soon as possible.
Bye

Thank you Nadia for her corrections

Shame

I have no words, I fell truly ashamed for the Berlusconi's off the cuff remark about Mr Obama.
I apologize for being an Italian.

LOOK LEFT, LOOK RIGHT

In London there is a huge amount of pedestrian signals all around. Before crossing the street, you should notice from which direction the cars come.

In order to help the people distinguishing the correct way to check they write on the street "look left" or "look right" near the crosswalks.



Above all they help the tourists to settle in, I guess.

What I want to point out, here, is the presence of these indications that I've never seen in other cities. Since in my city I don't have this kind of road signs and I was about to be run over several times, I got used to look at both ways... I know I was a fool:)

Another weird thing occurred to me. When I cross the street, generally, I 'm in habit of looking at the driver's head. I have my theory: you don't need to look at the car but just the driver's head and if they seem absent minded or they are looking at some girl :) you shouldn't cross the street, it's unsafe.
When I was in London I looked at the driver's head but given that I'm European I mistakenly looked at the passenger on the left while I should have looked at the one on the right !!!
Result : in the early time I thought that British people didn't care about the pedestrians and I was utterly confused where to look, you know, they are those kind of actions that you take without reflecting, they are spontaneous.

Now in Italy, l always look at both directions, even though I exactly know from which way the cars are supposed to come. Before my departure for London I didn't do it !

Assessment I

Hi guys,

In the recent days I had some assessments that I hope I tackled (it's better to say overcame ;). What is an assessment ?
First of all the recruiters, generally, don't translate the word "assessment" so it's good idea to be accustomed to listen to and use it.
An assessment, usually is splitted into different phases and every one is characterized by specific tests.
Phase 1:
It takes about 5 hours with a break in the middle.
In this phase you have to speak out for five minutes about yourself in front of some managers (or psychologist) and the other applicants, obviously your presentation is mostly focused on your transferable skills.
After, you will be asked to do some number reasoning tests and a written English test. Not all the firms submit you this kind of tests.
At the end or in place of the reasoning test you have to sort out a (or more than one) business case.
In this step they give you some minutes (from 20 to 40) to solve the business case on your own and record your solution on a paper. Then follow other minutes to exchange your idea(s) and interpretations with the other applicants. During this asset to find a reasonable and feasible solution is as important as cooperating with the others effectively and peacefully. It's not a good idea to say something like "We have to put in action my idea because it's the best..." potentially you found the most appropriated solution but you must convict the others candidates to follow you without arguing or prevaricating them.
Afterward the other candidates represt your future coworkers or your manager.
Phase 2
I still don't know because I'm waiting for the results from the first one.. anyway a technical interview is rumored...
Phase 3
Obviously if I lack info for the second I can't give you any for this one.. again somebody says this is the final step. You'll be in front of a senior (= one of the big shot in your firm) and he will question you in order to understand if you deserve that post and you have such a motivation to be part of his firm.

PS1
If you've started wondering what a hell business case is, you can take a look at Mckinsey (How do well in the interview).

PS2

I'll keep on speaking about London soon :)

Travelling with hopes

Dears

I apologize that I haven't written anything for a long time, in these days I'm traveling.
Travel with a faint hope (sometimes) to get a job.
As soon as I can I post something about London.

The world is my house

Seiko's pen

When I was in London I met some guys and I stroke up a friendship that I hope will be lasting.
I've never spoke about and now I want to write some lines.
My classmates were mostly Asian people, Koreans, Japanese and with them I spent my time during the lessons, just once I went out with Nyungian to visit the Tate Modern.
Among them there was Seiko (Japanese) who is friendly and she laughed at me a lot of times. I always asked her to lend me her blue pen. I thought it was a special Japanese pen because of the Japanese characters signed on it. She, Seiko, said to me it's not Japanese you can buy it everywhere in London but I replied it's not true and I needed her special pen to do my exercise.
She, kindly, lent it to me but recommended to give her pen back. I always gave her the pen.. day to day we fought like cat and dog for this.
The last day Seiko said to me "I want to give you a present, it is my NOT Japanese pen as a sign of your friendship". I happily took it and I've been keeping it jealously .

In the afternoon I usually went out with my Spanish and Brazilian friends and we had a whale of a time. It was wonderful to wander London and mass around with them or simply to drink a pint of beer.
With the Spanish and Brazilian people I got in touch easily and immediately, it was almost normal to spend our free time together, perhaps it was due to the fact we were arrived all us alone or because we are sunny, shiny, share our history and we have the same behavior.
I still thank to God to let me know these people.
It was funny to speak to M. (Spanish friend) who always said to me "quick", "quick" while we were crossing the street or you're not a good photographer at all !! I'm missing these moments...

Life

I have my lungs full of life I don't want to empty them...

On the bus

London is an endless list of new experiences for me, I chose to speak in this topic about the "bus".
The buses are, generally, efficient I mean they go regularly but sometimes they don't make a stop, I don't know why and it's really dreadful. Apparently there are no compelling reasons to avoid stopping, in most cases we weren't packed like sardines or the bus wasn't completely full.
On the bus, in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening in other words the silence always reigns in it.
I took the bus everyday and every hour, during my daily trip I saw many people reading a book or a magazine or a newspaper if you are lucky to have a seat, it's a quiet place where you can even prepare your exams.
If you don't sit you had better hold on the pole because the drivers run quickly from one stop to another and break at once before stopping. Maybe this is the answer to my own question "Why in London do the engines of the buses block all of a sudden and it's necessary a wrecker?"
I'm not kidding, sometimes it happened that the bus had stopped running and we needed to get off and wait for another one!
Generally the people on the bus are quite polite and offer their seat for the ones less able to stand. I honestly recommend you to do this and after, you also will hear "you're really kind"as a form of thanking.
Yet, some buses unfortunately not all them (but it' s better than nothing) are fully equipped to allow people on wheelchair to get on easily without any help, it's simply great and a sign of a civic minded society.
The drivers are rather strict, serious (and pissed off), you must respect the rules: before boarding buy your ticket from the machine near
the shelter; don't ask or beg an additional or extraordinary stop it doesn't
matter if you forget your things near the former stop; touch in your oyster card.
Other silly and unpredictable thing: sometimes during your trip the buses may change their ordinary route, they warn you about this but you can imagine it's not pleasant at all.
Be ready to change the way to get your destination or be patient to get off and wait for another bus!
What else ?
I think there' s nothing more to add.

Advice of the day: never buy socks in Primark.... they are dirt cheap BUT they aren't worth buying

The last weekend

Sorry guy for the long (really long) pause.
I know I`m not a good blogger at all, since I haven`t updated my blog for weeks, but I have had a great time in London and busy in different activities.
For them interested in my experience, I`ve decided to write several posts when I`m back (next week) or at least I hope to do it.
Now I want to resume my last post and complete it.
Where were we? uhm
I talked about we went to the church.
it`s not a church as we (Catholic people) usually think about. The Mass was hosted in a theater, the atmosphere is almost impossible to describe, there are light effects, one band, some preachers and many many guys.
The Mass lasts about 2 hours but it`s not boring or tiring, on the contrary it`s quite relaxing, warm and lively, just to give you an idea, take a look at the intro of their website, it really summaries the atmosphere in the Church and the message they want to deliver.
It was an awesome experience because I thought that something can happen only in the movies. For some aspects it was extraordinary, at the beginning I felt a pent up emotion that came out with a mounting excitement.
At the end I realized that I really enjoined it.
We`ll see

Piccadilly by night

Sorry guys,

I'm short in time as usual and wiped out to write anything.
In the meanwhile enjoy these pictures that I took while I wandered Piccadilly.

Weekend 2

Dear Guys,

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted for a long time but I was very busy.
In the weekend I did a lot of things, or better, I visited some places. First of all on Friday night we couldn't miss our appointment with one of the club in the lively London.
Obviously I didn't do AM on Saturday morning, but in the afternoon I went (along with other Italian girls) to Camden Town.
Actually, I didn't know this borough, but my friends told me that it's a popular area dotted with lots of stands and it was worth visiting so I took their sound advice and joined them.
As you can see from the pictures below, the market is literally over crowed during the weekend.


I think that the main characteristic of this market is to sell hand crafted objects (clothes, paintings, earrings,...) and the atmosphere, which is a contamination from the hard rock to the Jamaica sounds.

On Sunday I had to go with some classmates to Hampton Court Palace (I made a lot of efforts to persuade my friends to go together to this place.)
Unfortunately, some of my classmates stood Hyun-Jung (from Korea) and me up for a long time that we supposed they didn't want to go to the palace so we decided to wander the area that stretches from the London eye to Tate Modern (it's a museum).

Graffiti under one of the bridge that crosses the Thames.

View of Buckingam palace

During our hike, we came across in a Korean celebration, indeed it wat the korean National day and Hyun-Jung told me about their traditions and culture... an excellent event to know something about a popultation that I don't know at all!

When we arrived to the Tate modern, I made the decision to visit only the floor dedicated to the pop art ( I really like it) and Hyun-Jung, once again, was a good guide that gave me some explanations about the paintings.

outside view of the Tate Modern

In the evening, Fernando and me went to.... church!
Maybe you're wondering " Does Puntino remember the meaning of church?" or "it's a typo, they couldn't go to church" but I'm not taking you for a ride... it's true !
Provided that I want to make this post gripping I'll continue it in the next days...

London kisses

....maybe a lot of people know the famous French kiss (actually I have never tried them... I'm teasing you of course !!) , here in London there are the famous London kisses, what do I mean by that ?
That for an unknown reason when I say hallo to someone I never give him/her a kiss on the cheek as I used to do when I was in Italy, it's quite strange because sometimes I tend to kiss someone but I have to stop this natural gesture.
When I say London kiss, simply, I mean those kisses that I never give when I say hallo.

Go sightseeing by bus 88

You can take in London by the bus 88, it's a dirty cheap way of doing sightseeing because it's one of the bus you can get on with your ticket or your Oyster card.



I took it with my friend Fernando, who was my guide for the trip. The bus offers you the views of Tower bridge, Convert Garden and Trafalgar Square. We started our trip from Plimico, a residential area in zone 1 and got off in Trafalgar square where is located the famous National gallery (you can enter for free).
Obviously we entered the National Gallery and we saw the stunning paintings but we want to go back again with another friend of us that will give us some explanations about the paintings.
Then we enjoyed a nice cappuccino, offered by my skinflint (Fernando).
Some pictures...

Excuse me if they aren't very clear because of the rain drops on the glasses of the bus

One week

I've been here for one week, and the time has been going very quickly.
Yesterday I visited Hyde Park and Harrods mall.
Hyde Park is very nice, a place where you can find the snail's peace. You can see lots of gray squirrels that sometime are close to you, I wish I had brought with me my camera :( to take some pictures of them.
Hyde Park is very large, as you probably know, and we didn't have enough time to wander, but I hope to go back.
To tell the truth, we needed a brief of relief and for this reason we went to Hyde Park.
After we went to the famous Harrods, I was really impressed by the lust.
First of all I didn't expect some kind doormen at the entrance and I didn't know that you can even buy old fossils! it might be a souvenier for some friends of mine :)

On Friday, we ( I mean some Italian friends and me) horsed around Tottenham court road by night. It was funny and my friend Fernando presented me two girls.
Another thing that kept my awareness was that it's not allowed to stay over midnight in some clubs. Why ? I'm looking for an answer ?
We'll see

149 or 1-4-9

English is a language that can drive you crazy, during these first days I`ve come across the pronunciation of the numbers greater than one hundred.
They have two different pronunciations, the well known one hundred and... but the other one is to spell every single number if you mean the number of the bus.
Going to give an example:
if you get on the No. 149, you have to say "I take the number one-four-nine"
but if you have to pay a bill.. you say:"I pay one hundred and...."

With this post I also want to start a new column "Advice of the day", in which I can give you some, maybe noteworthy, advice.
If you are going to live in an English house with carpet inside, you had better bring with you a huge plenty of socks, because it is not allowed to put your slippers or shoes on and your socks get dirty very soon.

PS
How do you say "I catch up the number 30"? thirty or three-oh ? :)

First day at my English school in London

Hi
I'm very sorry if you have missed me :) .
I'm here in London and fortunately it's available a wifi connection so I can keep you posted as it's possible. I wanted to write some notes down before my departure but I ran out of time.
Today I took my English placement at Mayfair school, it was not bad at all and I have to attend an English course in the morning (9-12) from Monday to Friday plus other lessons in the afternoon (I chose a semi intense course).
I haven't had time to horse around London, I saw only Oxford street.
Here I'm guest of a host family, they are very welcoming and friendly.
I'm dead tired.. I go sleeping.

Answer to my former post

ohhh how many people have answered my former post ?! I'm really impressed !
I'm joking of course, given nobody hasn't answered my question aside from my dearest friend (who already knew my choice) I'm going to answer..

It's London

Now I 'm waiting for your wishes before my departure that is scheduled on 31 August !
Thank you in advance !!

Where are you going?

I looked for my English course and I have found one that I suppose to suit my needs.
Just a question for you.. where do you think I'm going to attend my English course?

London or Dublin

Cheers

My neighborhood

Every suburb of every city brings its own history, I think.
By looking at them you know the dirty and lousily side of the city.
My neighborhood are grey, like the old asphalt with pits, sometimes white like the colors of the houses or the fear upon the face of them that reach my neighborhood, or black like the color of the wheels pile near the dumps or the bereavement for who has been killed or dead in a senseless incident.
In my neighborhood you see the black people drive an expensive car with gold necklace as big as a chain, or you'll see other waiting near a roundabout for someone who give a day work...a black labor market.
In this damn neighborhood every dumps is burnt because of the recent wast management disaster or simply for fun.
Fun ? Yes, here fun is to run on the street as fast as it's possible by car or by motorbike, it doesn't matter if there are children that are playing at football or crossing the street.
At night you had better not take a walk on this wild side you can run a risk, which risk?... someone will make off with your stuff..no!
You can become a witness of something that it's better not to see or it may happen you hear what you mustn't hear.
There is something that you can hear without any problem, it's the rowdy sound coming from the boosters of those flaming cars.

About the life

"When you think about changing your life, it is like to plunge in the sea with a jump"

Thought by Top, English translation by Puntino

Don't buy them !!

You know, I'm striving to get my English better with different kinds of efforts and "little experiments".
I have already told you that I try to use an English dictionary instead of a translator. For this reason I bought some months ago a dictionary and "phrasal verbs" dictionary, both depicted in the picture below. I wanted them to be portable thus I can bring them with me everywhere for this reason they look very small in the picture.




Concern about the School dictionary which is an English dictionary, it has a wide list of vocabulary with a deep explanation despite its small size. Unfortunately it lacks the pronunciation for the words and that would be very useful to me!
Anyway it's my fault because I should have checked this before buying it!
Regarding the phrasal verb is not good at all!!
It misses many phrasal verbs that I manage to find in the school dictionary. Honestly, it is not worth buying, trust me.
Bye

A great surprise

In the afternoon I received a wonderful gift by my American friend Scott, look at the picture below:

They are 7 books (in English of course) that Scott advised me to read and I wanted to do it
!! it's awesome

Thank you, Scott

P.S.
From which to start ? :)

My dilemma: accommodation in a host family

As you know I m' looking for an English course abroad.
I want to spent about one month and half in an English speaking country so I have to crunch the numbers carefully and be care about my choices. You can run out of money quickly in a new country that you don't know yet :)
I would have opted for an accommodation in a host family who provides bed, breakfast and dinner too. It seems a less expensive solution compared to others offered by the schools.
Anyway given my age (I'm 25) I could look like a chubby child who needs someone to take care about him! without knowing that in somewhat I'm forced to chose this solution.
Have you info about students old like me hosted in a host family ?
How was their experience ?

Hunting for advice

It' s time to reflect about my next future. To tell the truth I should have started thinking months ago, but I have been involving in unpredictable long series of events.
Anyway, my next step is to move to an English speaking country in order to improve my awful English and then hopefully to get a job. Honestly the latter is infeasible given my technical skills (mostly Academic ones).
I'd like to receive some advices, these are the questions that are bouncing from one side to another of my mind:

1. Where should I go? I think it's better don't go over Europe so I'm in front of two choices: London or Dublin?
   
2. Why London or Dublin? Because my desire is to stay as long as possible in one of them and at the same time to get a job in my field (ICT market). In Ireland seems that there is a demand for ICT profiles, I also know that the current trend is moving down, so it's hard to get a job even for engineers with a good experience.
   
3. Which accent is better to know and learn? English or Ireland?
   
4. Dublin seems cheaper than London, for example in Dublin it 's used Euro as currency but in London there is the strongest pound !
   
5. Where is easier to get a job Dublin or London ?, in other words where might I have more opportunities in the ICT market?
   
6. How is the people in these cities?

I was taking into account the idea to go to USA or Australia or Canada but I know nothing about these countries, I wouldn't even know from which city to start.
Concern about London or Ireland I could go to another city too for example Manchester or Belfast, it isn't very important to go to one of these two capital my target is to stay over there as long as it's possible.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you

An unfeasible future

I'm about to finish my studies, yet another a few days and the university will be a place which I will never deal with or.... not?
Some days ago, one of my mentors proposed to me to continue my studies as a PhD student at university. This has been one of the most important acknowledgments in my whole student career because I think a PhD is not offered to the first person someone meets. The professors bet and invest on you money, time and energy, you have a duty and to work very hard if you want to get in.
On one side there is an interesting opportunity and the possibility to keep studying things which you desire to focus on.
A friendly team where to grow as person and afford new challenges, on the other there is the great uncertain related to such a choice.

After the PhD there is no certainty about your future, you have to work harder and harder... mistakenly I wrote work the correct verb is struggle or fight !!!
In this country, the mine where the researchers are regarded as crazy people who do nothing worth noticing and with a meager salary this kind of choice requires a huge amount of endorsement !
I'm very confused. Moreover I don't know if I feel up this situation I've always seen the PhD students like a sort of genius, people very talented and skilled, it isn't my case.

Where am I going .. I'd like to know.

Thanks Zsofia for correcting me

Land of hope and dreams

I'm not a fan of the "boss" but I cam across this his song by reading Seat are not for feet
I I have to say, it's really reflect what are my feeling now.
Enjoy it!

Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder’s rolling down the tracks
You don’t know where you’re goin’
But you know you won’t be back
Darlin’ if you’re weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We’ll take what we can carry
And we’ll leave the rest

Big Wheels rolling through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

I will provide for you
And I’ll stand by your side
You’ll need a good companion for
This part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows
Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine
And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams
...

A museum to be touched !!

Now I want to make you know about an interesting thing happened in my city newly.
We have one of the most important Italian museums, "Museo Archelogico Nazionale" situated in the city centre. Like other museum, it hosts several finds belonging to different ages. The news is that some of them have been chosen to allow the sightless people to touch them and get an image with their fingers.
Indeed this gallery brings the name "Il museo tra le dita" (The museum among the fingers).
The finds which are possible to touch date at Roman era.
Have you never heard of such a thing?

A place where I desire to live

Sometimes my mind leaves my body and starts to imagine several things among them there is the place where I wish to live.
Are these the years to continue dreaming even if I'm next to pass my 25 years ? I don't know.. .
My place isn't only in my dream but it really exists. How should it be?

Overwhelmed by the nature, green in a multi ethnic and modest neighborhood, I don't mind having Chinese on one side of my house and Brazilians on the other. I want it to be near a subway by which I can get to the city centre within a few minutes. A city centre not such as the mine, always pollution, shouts in the air and people who hardly get by with their incomings. I'd like a quiet city in which you can live and not just survive.
Flower beds and their scent in the air, no rowdy speakers. Sometimes I close my eyes and I see it, it's hard to pin down this image. It seems Alice's world.

I can give you a touchable view of what I mean, it's name is Akalla in the peripheral area of Stockholm.
I don't know if it has every thing, every is like 'ogni' and goes with singular) that I pointed out, but I'm sure
that some of its facilities make it appealing, worth discovering and close to my imaginary place...

I would chose...

If I could chose in which years to live I would say the 80s. In my opinion, it was a very intense period of life.
It seemed that the world was got up with all its vitality, the younger discovered their rights, struggled for a better world, of course it still was a stark and tough period, not all changes brought positive and sane things.

I've been impressed from the black punch of Tommie Smith held on its own during the Olimpic games, a tangible sign of an underling repression.
I wish I would have his brave....
People against people, guys against adults, invisible walls broken down, hate, love there was all and its contrary. It was an earthquake that rocked the conventional daily life and like after all

earthquakes a reconstruction was needed. For me the best images which represent this period of th human beings come from the movie " Forset Gump"... my mind is flooded of snapshots from that movie.

Probably it's a personal desire of freedom sometimes I feel as if I was in a cage...
Someone could say it's better now because we have made progress, we have more powerful medicines, hi-tech stuff in all houses .. but we also have new illnesses, we face the global warming and so on... on the whole we haven't gotten so much.

That's the life, it's a circle

Thank to Zfosia for her corrections

From the rubbish to the coffee

In my last post I spoke about the rubbish emergency in Naples. At this time I want to be optimistic and show you a worth noticing idea that might help us to get rid of this situation.
A friend of mine, Gigi, advised me about the possibility to recycle the half litre bottle (made up of PET) and the common can.
You can go to Filangieri street and there you'll find a recycling machine, it is still an experimental version, indeed it can't compress your bottle and you're forced to put them in without shaping otherwise the machine isn't able to recognize that a bottle got in.
In addition to this model others which should be more sophisticated are expected.
How does it work?
Simply you have to fill the machine in with thirty bottles of water and it gives you in turn a bill whose value is about 1.5€ with it you can buy a good Neapolitan coffee (the machine is near a bar ;- )
I read that other similar machines are coming up and they are likely to be placed in public places like cinema, in this case you receive a ticket for the cinema as prime for your well behaviour.
In some European countries this kind of machines are widely spread, for instance when I was in Stockholm I saw some of them out of the supermarket.
This is just the first attempt to get people recycle their wastes, grow in our conscious a new thought towards the environment.
Here's the video, unfortunately it is in Italian I didn't manage to find an English version.

Naples is a dirt sheet of paper...

As a song by Pino Daniele say, at that time, when Pino wrote this verse couldn't imagine that one day our city would have lived stark and difficult moments like the ones we are living now.
Every body knows about the dreadful emergency linked to the rubbish issue in Naples, a lasting problem which still lacks a definitive and reasonable solution.
At the moment our prime minister have forced the local administration (majors) to build up new dumps and landfills and given off punishment (up to one year in jail) for the protesters, but the people don't give up.
Surrounded by the rubbish and with the summer coming up it will be hard to get rid of this situation if we don't make a decision, we'll be up against the wall.
The city is currently cleaned up because we 're sending our rubbish to Germany, there has been an agreement signed up on the fly.
In the meanwhile some public officers are arguing whatever or not build new landfill in Chiaiano.
Chiano is a small neighbourhood of Naples in which it might be possible to create a landfill but the local people reject it arguing that the place where the landfill or dump should be built up is in front of one most important hospital of Naples.
The rumour says that besides this there is, as usual, the hand of "sistema" (names of Neapolitan mafia) who would use those areas to build new houses, in other words it prefers the black market of house building.
Since I was born, I've never seen a such upsetting situation and sometimes it seems no real; yesterday my father told me about his holiday in Tunisia two years ago, where he saw rubbish piles everywhere, he wasn't surprised about this, in somehow he expected that unhappy spectacular but he can't believe the same thing is happening in our city.
Where should we dump all this rubbish? Every time a new place is designated as feasible candidate but the local people and researchers struggle against the building of landfill.
It's no longer the time to protest, we can't keep on burning tonnes of refuse every day (do you know that dioxin in the fly ash is more dangerous than the rubbish from which it comes after burning?) we have to find a solution and vow for a clever waste management system.
I leave you with Napule' è by Pino Daniele, the famous song from whose verse I was inspired to write this post... I wish we would be better

The pronunciation that you like

When I speak in English, ops it's better to say when I barely speak in English I always focus my attention on the "stress" and pronunciation of words (despite this I make some horrible mistakes but this is another story..)
Anyway I've noticed that many words in English has two way of pronouncing, for instance the words "either", "schedule", "tomato" and so on.
For a while I got frustrated from this because I needed to learn the same words but with more pronunciations, it was quite stressing, sometimes I hardly remember the word !!
I made my decision when I come across words that have more than one way of speaking I'll choose the easiest and who cares if it can be a reason for making fuss in my future like George and Ira Gershwin sung in their "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off""!!

For the Swdens we are not an european country !!

I've read this funny article and I want to share it with you, a question is rising:
Are the Swedish people so ignorant or the Italians are completely ignored by anyone?

Is Italy in the EU? - A Swedish ID card farce

From The Local

Is Italy in the European Union or have I just imagined the last fifty years of my country's history? This unusual question has sprung to mind on several occasions recently when I have been in contact with Swedish customer service.

A few months ago I applied for an Ica card at my local supermarket. The girl at reception stared for ten long minutes at my Italian national ID card searching for the Swedish personal identification number, unwilling to understand that she was never going to find it on a non-Swedish document.

She was greatly surprised when she asked to see my passport and I answered that I did not have it with me.

"And how did you enter Sweden without a passport?" she wondered.

I did not know if it was better to explain to her that it is possible to travel from Italy to Sweden with just a national ID, or if I had to tell her that actually I did not come directly from Italy to Ica, but have in fact lived in Sweden for a year and had just come from home where there is no passport control at the door.

Recently I tried to buy a bed at Ikea in Uppsala. There was an offer for payment over 12 months without interest. This time I came prepared: I had with me both an official document stating my personal identification number and my Italian passport.

But the guy at the customer service desk refused to let me apply for the offer.

"You do not have a valid ID". Referring to my Italian passport, he stated: "This is not a valid passport, since it does not have the personal identification number".

Of course I tried to explain him that a foreign passport will never include a Swedish personnummer, to which he retorted: "If you do not have it in the passport, it means that you do not have it, thus you are not eligible".

So I showed him, again, my ID document from the tax office and his answer was: "Well, if you have a personnummer, just go and get a Swedish passport".

At this point I asked to speak to a supervisor. The guy phoned his supervisor and told him he had a problem with a customer (me) who had a passport "that he claims to be from Italy".

Finally I was able to talk to the supervisor. But he had some bad news for me.

"I am sorry, we cannot offer you the 12 month rate since you are not an EU citizen". Try as I might I could not convince him that Italy actually is a member of the EU.

I decided there and then that it was finally time to get a Swedish ID card.

Since I am a customer of Nordea bank I decided to call their customer service to find out how to get the card. A nice woman told me to take the following with me to my bank: an ID document from the tax office, a personal picture of specific size and features, my Italian passport and 350 kronor.

Along I went to my local branch and presented all the requested documents. The first answer I got was: "We do not provide this service anymore".

Not being in the least surprised at this stage, I informed them that the customer service had expressly told me, just a couple of days before, that they do provide this service.

The second answer was quite funny: "Do you have a Swedish ID? You'll need one to get a Swedish ID."

"Of course not, I am here to get one."

The third answer brought me right back to Ikea: "I am sorry, you have only an Italian passport and you are not an EU citizen. We cannot provide this service to non-EU citizens".

The front page of my passport bears the words: "Unione Europea, Repubblica Italiana". On the second page this is translated into all 27 languages of the Union.

Despite this, I had to explain once more that Italy was one of the founders in 1957 of what today is the European Union and that Sweden joined it only 38 years later (in 1995).

However it took another half hour, the advice of a supervisor, and the signature of my Swedish-citizen girlfriend (with her ID), to fill out all the forms necessary to obtain the elusive ID card.

They told me that I should receive it in a couple of weeks. I really hope so. Meanwhile I have now been waiting five months for my Ica card.

And I haven't bought that Ikea bed yet.

To use the translator or the dictionary: that is the question!

When you learn a new language, one of the problems to face is to understand the original meaning of the words.
In early times, when you're still a freshman, you take your translator and find out the meaning of the desired word, but I think it's a solution only for the meanwhile, because as well as the translator are, they can't make in our native language the original meaning of the word and sometimes they can't provide any valid translation.
To sort "this problem" out I have been adopting an easy and efficient solution.
First I look up in the dictionary and if the meaning isn't quite clear, I take a look at the translator too.
The point is you have to learn the meaning of the word and do not translate them.
what do you think about?


Surfing on Internet I found two useful tools: MSN DICTIONARY and WORD REFERENCE.
MSN Dictionary is an online dictionary with a good word search engine, which helps you when you spell the word badly, in addition it also provides the pronunciation of the searched word.

WORD REFERENCE has more features than MSN, indeed it can work as translator for different languages (e.g from Italian to English, French to English and so on), like MSN Dictionary it gives you the pronunciation but it has an unique characteristic: you can suggest an own your definition, which will be discussed in a properly forum.

Tales about bad luck

In the morning while I was studying I heard my mother say: be careful with this mirror !
Handle it with attention ! because if it falls down we have to expect seven years of bad luck!!
These words reminded me of the unusual platitudes and traditions that we have about bad luck.
For instance we are also afraid of walking under a ladder or a black cat which crosses the street while we are driving our car.
I think that all of them come from old and scary tales.
For example concern about the black cat's story I suppose I know its origin.

In the Middle Ages, people used coaches pulled by horses. At night the horses weren't able to see the black cats but could feel them pass near their feet so they got scared and started to make trouble as consequence the people seated in the coach got frightened.
I don't know if these stories are widely spread only in Naples or in the other Italian cities too, but I'm quite sure: the bad luck is everywhere :)
Do you know similar stories?

Thanks to Zsofia for correcting me

Where is puntino ?

Hi folks

I haven't forgotten of you, but in this period I'm really busy with my studies.
I promise to write back soon, in the meanwhile enjoy this movie (with English subtitles) about my city.
See you soon :)

Thanks to Gigi for this video

A day trip to Pompei

Last Sunday I went on a day trip to Pompei, close to Naples, it was an important and lively Roman city in the past, up to 79CE when it was buried by the lava coming out from the volcano Vesuvio after its explosion.
We, my friends and I, had a fun time there and thanks God it was a sunny day which allowed us to look at every single corner of this ancient city and tan our faces!
Along with us there was a girl from Germany to whom I talked for a long time only in English!! poor her! I was really talkative.
I hope I was helpful to her and managed to give her the right information about Pompei since we didn't join any guide.
I wish to show you some pictures that I took

In the following photo you can see a big pond whose real name is impluvium where the rainwater fell down through a special hole(compluvium) in the roof.




The photo on the left displays a wonderful mosaic on a wall of a house named the Venere in the shell, indeed it shows
Venere one Goddess praised by the Romans.
I'm really impressed when I saw its excellent
conditions after lots of centuries.


In the next pictures two mosaics are shown but they were part of the floor ! I didn't expect this but I suppose they were put up only in the riches' houses.












Evidences of Pompeii's final moments were buried and and preserved by the volcanic debris.
Archaeologist reconstructed the victims' bodies by filling the rock cavities left behind after decomposition with plaster, it gives us a frozen time picture of that scaring moment!



Other ruins of Pompei
Anyway we can't live tranquil because the threat of a possible blast, eruption keeps alive and our scientists say that it will be much more intense than the first one !
I'm really scared of hearing this because i wouldn't like at all if someone, in the future, built a statue showing my last breath !

Thanks Zsofia for correcting me

When they speak in English...

I was wondering how our politicians speak in English and by surfing the web I came across some
videos... what a naff example ! :(

For the left party: Rutelli



and Prodi (our current prime minister)




For the right party: Berlusconi (this man was also our prime minister and could become again I hope he has improved his English..)



For who doesn't suffer from heart diseases

Easter foods II: Pastiera

Hi folks,

I gave you my word to speak about Pastiera...

Pastiera is a Neapolitan dessert and there are many tales around this delight.
One of them says that this sweet was born in the quiet of a nunnery. An unknown nun wanted to make a dessert which was able to bring the scent of the orange trees planted in the garden of the nunnery to the people.
She mixed the white and soft sheep milk cheese with a bit of brown seed corn which grows from the ground and points toward the sky, then added the eggs, symbol of a new life and in the end some orange flower water and eastern spices.
In Naples there is a funny challenge among the housewives, every one wants to be the best and thinks to have the unique and original Pastiera recipe !!
I like it very much and these days have been literally fattening days I have been eating loads of things from tortano, through the chocolate eggs to the Pastiera...
I'm scared to check my weight :-) but How can I resist ?

Thanks to Zsofia for her corrections

Easter foods I: Casatiello and Tortano

We make a very tasty food called in our lingo "casatiello" or "tortano", it is a ring shaped salt pie, heavily filled with pieces of salami, boiled eggs, sheep milk cheese and bacon.
It is a delicious salt pie but I suppose you'll get fat easily if you eat it every day because its dough is based on lard !!
The rumour says its name comes from the word "caso", which means in our lingo "cheese" that you can find in a huge amount in it.

This type of food carries out different Easter symbols, indeed among its ingredients there are sheep milk cheese and eggs, the first is made of sheep milk as its name suggests but the sheep milk also is the primary nutriment of lamb which is an Easter sign at least for Catholics.
The eggs are the symbol of birth, and Jesus after his death is born again.
In the end, there is the shape, I said like a ring because the ring should remind us of the torn crown which tied Jesus' head.
Between casatiello and tortano there is a delicious difference the first has some eggs upon it covered with a cross (as you can see in the picture) made of the same pie's dough, these crosses reminde again of Jesus' cross.

Next time I'm going to speak about the casatiello counter part : Pastiera

Thanks to my dear Zsofia for correcting me

English Podcasts

Hi guys,
I was looking for some English podcasts to listen to when I drive my car or go to university by bus or tube.
I found English as a second language website and I think it provides a useful archive of podcasts.
Every podcast is categorized thus you can choose among five categories the best one that fits your needs and download it for free, there also is a learning guide concerning the podcast, unfortunately they aren't free :(
Anyway I honestly suggest them.

Neapolitan lifestyle: A cup of coffee

Do you know the widespread habit of drinking a cup of coffee in Naples?

It's rather ritual than a simple habit, indeed we consider a cup of coffee like a clock which ticks our main daily moments.
We drink it at least twice in the morning and other cups in the afternoon, some Neapolitans are so addicted to it that they sip the last daily coffee drop at night, before sleeping.

Yet, the first thing we offer when someone visits us is a cup of coffee, for us it is very easy to get together in front of a cup of coffee.
I could say as the British are tea lovers and the Irish beer lovers we are coffee lovers !

The first step to make a flavoured and tasty coffee is to use the proper coffee machine, like the one in the picture (my grandmother's), fill it with water and coffee (not too much) put the machine over middle heat.
In the meanwhile take a little piece of paper and shape it like a small cone, what is it for?
Now you'll discover, when the coffee starts to boil you should cover the machine's spout with it in order to avoid spreading of the coffee's aroma coming up from the spout.

Then leave the machine on the fire for a while.
This is the traditional recipe but this method to prepare the coffee is no longer used and
the modern coffee machines have replaced the old ones, new recipes have come into usage that enrich other ingredients like chocolate flakes, liquor, cacao...

After these loads of words I have to confess ... I feel like a black sheep because I don't like it at

all :D

Thanks to Zsofia for her corrections

Near my roots

I can feel in the air the people's fear,
in this land you can die because
you want to speak out,
make your voice clear and loud,
find the Justice.

We die before in our heart and then with our body,
a silent shout comes from my soul's depth and become a sob upon my face,
unable to move my lips.
It's impossible to accept the murders perpetrated by the black mafia's hand.
Oppressed, frightened... what are we?
From the dry mountains the mafia victims' blood flows,
a stream without end,
a river that wets our hearts' shores,
like trees on the both sides of this river....
...we are.
Stuck in our fear, we see this river and unconsciously we let it grow,
a day it'll flood our roots.

I would not believe but it is so real.
I already feel their blood near my roots.

Giants in my garden

Now I'm going to speak about one of our typical
fruits...

Amalfi is renowned for its outstanding lemon variety called Stufato, but there also grows another kind of lemon which isn't as famous as Stufato.
These lemons, whose name is unknown to me even after loads of researches on the web, have an odd feature which makes them really different from the Stufato, indeed their size is very large as you can understand by looking at their pictures.
One of these lemons can reach the extraordinary weight of 1.5 kg, I'm not teasing you ! trust me.
For example the one in the pictures weights about 1.1kg.
Besides their size, other characteristics are: a strong bitter taste and a very rough skin.

Unlike Stufato, you can't use this type of lemons for the flavored Limoncello and to tell the truth I don't know any recipe for using them, some say that you can serve them seasoned with oil and oregano like a "lemon salad" or you can dust some sugar over the cloves.
Where did I take those pictures? try to guess....
I took them in my garden though I don't live in Amalfi but in Naples !
My grandfather planted them many years ago, hopefully to yield another kind of lemon sometimes the destiny of the plants, like the people's, is unpredictable :)

Thanks to Zsofia for correcting me

Discover Naples with Tom & Jerry

With this blog I've always wanted to make you discover my city: Naples.
Sometimes, I write some short topics but this time I don't want to bore you with my words and I'll let Tom and Jerry take you for a brief trip in my city.
Enjoy movie

Thanks to my "Swedish" friend Nunzio for this link

Italian Ping Pong

In these recent years, to be more precise since 1994, we have been seeing a continuous alternation between governments headed by right and left parties.
In 1994 Berlusconi (leader of center- right coalition) was the prime minister who barely won power for about 8 months, next followed a government made up of "experts" with Dini as premier.
From 1994 to 2000 was the turn of the left coalition which was, at the beginning, led by Romano Prodi, then followed by D'Alema (twice) and Amato.
Then we arrived at the XIV legislation (June 2001), Berlusconi, again, who was able to govern for the entire legislation.
In 2006 we were called for the elections and you can try to guess which party won, it was left coalition whose leader was... Romano Prodi !
I hope to have made you understand why I entitled this post "Italian ping pong" because it is really what happens here: left, right, left, right and so on like a ping pong ball which bounces from one side to another.
We will go to vote next April and if the game keeps alive it will be Berslusconi's turn.
What do I want to say?
Simply, our country needs a steady and stable government because it'll take a long time to improve Italy and the Italian conditions.
Be careful, I'm not saying that a legislation, which takes 5 years according to our constitution, is too short, but we need an able government that gets the country out of the current demeaning situation in which Italy still lives.
In the best case, in five years, it is quite impossible for our slowest government to give the necessary reforms that Italy needs now more than ever, Italy has bottomed out and something must be changed.
At the next election, Berlusconi is likely to win because the people, reasonably, will no longer trust the left party.
What will it happen if Berlusconi wins the election once again ?
Like in the past, at the beginning he will change and tear down the things done by the former government and then he'll start with his own electoral program.

The consequences of this ping pong are a waste of money and time, and a country which is still stuck in the same frustrating situation.
it 's like to play ping pong having a mirror as opponent... you will see only and always the same image.

Thanks to Nadia for her corrections

Datum point lacking

I follow many blogs and most of them are written by people who live abroad, for example some in Dublin others in Sweden.
By reading them I learn their life story as immigrants, there is something that hurts them, they are lacking a steady friendship and in a few months they pass from one friend to another without making a long and stable friendship grow.
Probably it is due to the fact that they have lots of friends who are immigrants just like them and sooner or later they go back to their native country.
I think it's truly tough (and demeaning) to live this way. it seems like living without a datum point, without a friend with whom you hope to spend a big slice of your life along.
To integrate ourselves into another society which may be rather different from ours, isn't an easy task at all.

Sometimes you have to struggle to make people appreciate your origins, and you can live for a long time with the reasonable uncertainty of not being a part of them and maybe after a very long time you will be able to say I have a trusted friend; you're close to them.
There is a fact that surprise me, I heard someone say when you're in the United Kingdom it's quite simple to get in touch with the British for a night in front of a sparkling pint.
It takes just the night but the day after, the same people with whom you had sung and sat shoulder to shoulder, don't recognize you or say hello to you... it's unbearable !

Thanks to Zsofia and Nadia for correcting me

What do you know about Italy and Italians?

I' m wondering for what reasons or things, we are known in the world.
I have tried to find some answers to this question and most of them are platitudes like:

• the good food and wine. Italian cuisine is really healthy and with a large variety of tastes. Recent studies have stated that the Italian cuisine is a cooking model to copy.
  
• Countryside and seaside (most foreigners seem to know only Tuscany, Sicily and Amalfi),
  
• Art History (Florence, Rome, Venice, ...)
• Berlusconi who is the richest man in Italy and at the same time he has been our prime minister.
  
• Most of us are not good at speaking in English at all (included me).
• Fashion
  

Now I'm curious, do you identify the Italians with other symbols ?