I don’t exactly know when my interest for nail art started, but some months back, I saw a set of nail art tools being sold in a shop for about 3 euro. Impulsively, I got one for myself even though I’m actually quite bad at art.
Nevertheless, I had fun trying out different designs. Many of them were inspired from youtube and also looking through google images.
I still need to do a lot of practice for a better looking bird, but this was a lot of fun!
And this is a design I tried to do for my friend Claire.
Cupcakes! It’s her obsession! I tried this tutorial out. Claire’s nails are quite small though, so she has 10 really teeny-tiny cupcakes!
This was done on a bored day. First I painted it blue. Then I got bored and I tried to paint clouds. And then I got bored and put sprinkles on the tips.
In the end, it looks kind of like a sort of ice cream doesn’t it? This design was inspired by this tutorial, although she does it way better than I do!
And then I felt the need to wear red so it’s strawberry nails! It looks so messy though, I was so impatient that I didn’t let the polish dry and smudged the tips.
I didn’t see a tutorial online for this exact nail, but it’s super easy! Being patient is the difficult part!
And now I’m currently wearing this. Such cheerful colours!
It’s close to 3 years now that I’ve been living here in Rome. For me, I think that’s the amount of time to really get used to living here. The first few months was probably the hardest, being all homesick, missing friends and family. It’s not so much about the language barriers, but the sense of loneliness that kills you.
I can completely relate to Carrie when she was in Paris and happened to walk past a bar with 4 friends laughing and having a moment together.
Even now, sometimes I miss spending time with my besties Jules and Hema. We went to school together, and since then, we’ve done a lot of activities together, and so there are loads of memories. It could have been the simplest type of meet, but it’s the company makes it joyful.
It might take a shorter time for others to integrate, but for me, I needed time to assimilate and really feel like, “This is my home. This is my life,” instead of it feeling like a long stay-away. Which is probably what the mentality of a number of people that I’ve met here, have. They know that they are not going to stay here long term and eventually go back to where they came from. But it’s different for someone who’s married to an Italian.
It’s hard to abandon the metaphorical tree that I’ve sowed and start on a new one. And it took quite some time, but I finally have close friends whom I can confide and hang out with. It doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.
And I feel so amazed that it was just about a week or two ago when I’ve felt like I’m stuck in a rut, missing my financial independence. But now I’m getting more work opportunities. What I’m doing right now, is not my dream job, but at least I feel wanted and that my skills are not stagnating.
I feel like I’ve a more social life now, about twice a week I hang out with the people at the centro sociale, where there are quite a number of interesting activities held there. It’s a fun, stress-less, non judgemental place just to bond with others with a mutual activity.
I’ve been taking better care of myself, exercising more and watching what I’ve been eating (more or less) and I’m increasingly happier with I look at the figure in the mirror. I’ve went past my pre-wedding weight now and just a couple of kilograms more to my ideal BMI!
All these small things makes me feel motivated and I feel blessed. Things are looking up. It seems as if my new tree is growing healthily. And if there are anyone who’s just migrated in a new country like how I did, just hang on in there. It will get better.
It’s a common Italian gesture of friendship to kiss each other on the cheek.
But I just find it wierd whenever a guy who’ve I met for the first time, (like Cart’s or my in-law’s friends) start to stroke my cheek, or my chin. It’s odd because firstly, I’m a grown woman, not a child. And secondly, I’ve had a phobia of someone touching my face for the longest time since I was a teenager because of my bad case of acne.
But normally, these people don’t mean any harm and think that they are being gallant or exude their Southern Italian charm and so I had to fight very hard internally not to freak out.
I was reading with interest, this blog post by NYC Ragazza.
I got the feeling that she’s the lady who asked on how to pronounce cocomero while at the Gelato event last September
In her post, she writes that it’s quite easy to be lazy and not speak Italian because there are so many expat meet ups where you could socialise in English. And if you’re travelling around in the center, there are many shops and restaurants servers who are able to speak English well enough to get by. While at home if you had cable, you could simply change the language from the dubbed to the original language which is mostly in English.
But it does get a little harder for someone who’s married to an Italian. Because they’re pretty much expected to integrate which on the one hand is great because it is immersive. It’s tough though. It’s like teaching a person to swim by throwing him in the deep end of the pool. Some might be able to pull through, but some might just trash around the water in fear.
Although I did learn a little bit of Italian back in Singapore, it was a different ballpark altogether when I moved to Rome – the speed, the dialect and the slang that the people here spoke, was vastly different compared to the contained classroom environment. It was pretty overwhelming.
And as much as I appreciate Cart trying to assimilate me, taking me out to meet with his friends, try as much as I could to concentrate, it tends to be hard to focus after a while because :
I don’t understand what they were talking about because of mainly because of the vocabulary that they used and I didn’t want to be of a hindrance and interrupt the flow of the conversation to constantly ask what was going on.
Because they’ve been friends for a long time, there are a lot of context and inside jokes that I didn’t get. Sometimes I feel like, unintentionally, being pushed out.
Hence, I’d rather just listen and watch the conversation and even when I do contribute to the conversation, there are times when I struggle to find the right words to express myself and it gets frustrating.
I took some Italian courses here in Rome, and while it was daunting in the beginning, eventually, it got easier. It did loads to my independence. It’s so much easier going to the supermarket by myself, buying a ticket at the tabbaccaio, taking the public transportation by myself, without having Cart to help me.
All the normal, every day sort of activities. But it was terrifying for me when I was new here. But I feel a lot more comfortable when I’m by myself now, and I don’t panic when I’m walking outside and some random person asks me for directions for example (although it’s a little puzzling as to why they would specifically ask me, when there are others because I look obviously foreign )
I don’t speak perfect Italian, but people seem to understand what I say more or less.
But sometimes Cart can be so hard on me. While I’m marveling at how much I’ve progressed, he pushes me to speak perfect Italian, which usually doesn’t go well with me. Because my philosophy in learning is to be nurturing and supportive. Kind of like how a baby learns. The baby tries, and the parents motivates her with positive words to continue. Why should it be any different from an adult?
It might sound quite juvenile, but when someone pushes me like that (be it for learning Italian, or learning to drive etc) instead of being motivated, I feel like closing up instead. Which is probably the wrong approach, but I easily lose the joy of learning that way. I need someone to clap their hands or say, “You’re doing great!” every now and then. Learning should be happy.
Cart recently psycho-analyzed me and claims that I’m homesick and thinks that by my resisting in speaking Italian, I’m trying to hang on to my bit of home. While I do get pangs of homesickness, I’ve already long resigned that I’ve be living here long term. So I don’t think that, that’s it.
But nevertheless, the way that I’ve been treated, I’ve slowly grown a sort of mechanism. While I used to be flighty, now I have the mentality to be more patient, and to just not care too much and just speak Italian as how I’m comfortable with, without (mostly) thinking about people will be judging me. Sort of an insensitivity training if you may.
Which is not bad for a rather egoistical person, such as myself
Sidenote : Somehow I’m reminded of a scene of a literature that I read about a foreign woman who’ve lived in England for many many years but still didn’t speak any English at all.
Did anybody see Jennifer Lopez in the latest Fiat 500 commercial?
It was also featured in her “Papi” music video which I’m not all that crazy about (sorry Jerrick!) It was much too much, trying to be all Love Potion No. 9. I didn’t like the flatness of the song, I didn’t like the destructive elements – cars crashing, windows smashing. I didn’t like the overly product placements …
Nevertheless, coming back to the ad, the Fiat 500 is totally my favourite car! It’s love at first sight for me, pretty much like it was for the Vespa GT200. Come on, it’s totally sexeh! Just look at the shapely body.
And everyone driving one instantly becomes sexeh themselves too!
I have to say that I’m extremely jealous. I would really love one! But realistically speaking, as someone who’s just started to work (and just freelancing at that) it’s not something within my price range at the moment. It costs at least 11k euro, not including insurance and various taxes.
I wish I had a proper job here, at least something like what I was doing while I was back in Singapore. Sometimes I feel like my skills are becoming dormant and I have so much to contribute but I couldn’t. Because getting a job is quite tough here … Nevertheless, it’s still nice to dream.
But coming back to the ad, there was something which bothered me a little. I was staring at the gear stick and wondering, why it looked so odd …
It’s an automatic! I didn’t know that there are automatic 500? There are only three gear! Reverse, Neutral and Park. I was momentarily stunned. Not to sound all snotty and all, but after learning how to drive a manual car, with all the blood and sweat and tears … it all seems like lazy driving to me.
Ehm, but I shouldn’t speak too confidently. I’m taking my driving practical exam at the end of the month. Hopefully karma doesn’t bite me in the ass
Update : I just found out that JLO never stepped her foot in the Bronx during the entire commercial shoot. She was in LA the whole time while a body double was used for the scenes in the Bronx. That’s so wrong!
I had the most amazing time last night at the auditorium for the Pat Metheny Trio concert. I’m not normally that sophisticated to listen to jazz, but I went with an open mind, and it was a blast and it could have possibly turn me into a groupie
The place reminds me quite a bit of the Esplanade in Singapore, which is another concert hall. The only thing missing was the sea, I suppose.
Coincidentally, it was also the location where Pat Metheny played some years back while Cart and I were dating, Knowing how much he loves this group, I would be happy to treat him to a concert. But either Pat arrived come months too early then or Cart some months too late and we didn’t get a chance to watch it then.
But as soon as Cart told me about the concert, I quickly jumped at the chance. Take it as an early Xmas present or a 2012 birthday present I guess *aren’t I a good wife? *coughs* And here are the tickets!
Because the seats were quickly filling up (and we bought the tickets the day before) we only managed to get balcony seats at the sides. Which is amazing, because I think that this particular concert was the priciest in the list of concerts … Buy hey, whatever makes Cart happy … He just better not get too used to it
There were loads of people when we arrived there last night. It doesn’t look crowded here in the picture below because I snapped this earlier February this year. There were interesting phrases in lights above every pillar. This particular one says, “Music is the soul to the universe and our imagination”
And *here* is the same place yesterday, with a crowd of people yesterday. There were probably about 5 thousand in all.
And here is the theater! It’s huge! It looked as if we were in a huge spaceship with the futuristic looking lighting on top. It was my first time in there, and it was Cart’s too even! And as a sidenote, I’d have to confess that even though I’m a Singaporean, I’ve yet to watch anything in the esplanade … that’s quite sad.
Anyway, here we are, taking a picture for posterity, waiting for the concert to start. The concert was supposed to start at 9 but they started like 15 minutes later and before that, poor Cartcart was stressing out, trying to reach the area by 8.30pm to search for parking and stuff.
But at length, they started. We’re sitting in an odd angle, but the sound is amazing up here nevertheless. All three players were really energetic and enigmatic and there were a number of songs which I recognized, as Cart forced encouraged me listen to them.
I took a couple of pictures which is totally not allowed, hence it’s a little bit blurry. But there were so many others taking footages (many with flash too … WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!) so I thought that one or two wouldn’t hurt.
The one on the bass is Larry Grenadier and it was rather hypnotising seeing him handle his instrument to the point that it looked quite sensual. The one on the drums is Bill Stewart, he totally reminds me of animal when he plays and we all know that animal, is fabulous! And of course, on the guitar is the amazing Pat Metheny himself, with his trademark striped shirt. We only got to see his back throughout the entire concert though, boo hoo!
But oh, if only I could somehow do a Professor X and share with all of you telepathically the concert somehow, because it was simply spectacular. Especially the finale bit where Pat Metheny performed alone, but pressing some pedals, he controlled a couple of instruments to accompany him as he plays.
If only I could remember the title of the song … argh! But that performance was totally eargasmic. I wonder if I’ll ever hear that again.
Anyway, before I end, I thought that I’ll share his last encore performance which was really beautifully haunting to me. Visually, it’s a crappy quality but sound wise I think it’s worth listening to.
It’s very sexilicious, no?
Anyway … Well. Well. Well! Look at how happy Cart looks with Pat Metheny leaning on his shoulder
If I were rich, I would buy Pat Metheny and make him play before I got to sleep each night. But I’m not rich … So it looks like I’d have to start harassing Cartcart to pick up the guitar again
When you’re chubby, it’s nice when you’ve lost some weight.
But one not so nice thing about it is when your wedding ring gets all loose. So loose that it starts to slide off your finger as you ride the scooter, while you wrestle to keep it on while focusing on the road, for example.
I used to have the same issue with the engagement ring, and I had it tightened at the jewellers with the use of a tiny piece of metal.
The thing is, my skin doesn’t take well to non-pure metals and the combination of water and perspiration aggravates the allergy even more. So I had to be very careful.
Anyway, one of the more skin-friendly technique that my ex-colleague taught me was to use a regular thread and wrap it all around the ring to make it more snug. It takes ages to do though, just this bit took me close to an hour as I had to do a dead knot at each turn so that the thread doesn’t move about too much.
And on some days, even with the thread around it, it’s still quite loose. But at least it doesn’t fly across the room as you shake your hands dry after washing them.
I suppose another solution is to just wear the two rings together. Like this.
It’s a holiday on the 1st of November in Italy. And on this day, Claire, Cart and I woke up bright and early to head to the monumental Saint Peter’s Square for the 3km charity Corsa dei Santi Run.
Normally, trying to park around the area would be a nightmare. But luckily for us, participants could park their cars at a multi-storey carpark called Terminal Gianicolo at a reduced price. From there, it was just a few minutes walk to San Pietro.
And here we are, all nice and shiny! I’m so proud of Cartcart for joining us, even though I know that he’d rather stay home and relax
Oh! By the way, do you see our three digit number bibs? Unlike the run in mid-October, here it was very crowded with participants. In fact, when Cart and I were there at the registration counter last Sunday, just one hour after it opened, we were already number 526 onwards. Woah! There were already 500 people before us?!
The race started at about 10am and by then, there were so many people! Even while walking on our way to San Pietro, there was a crazy huge line forming outside of the porta-potty (which I have absolutely no intention of ever going inside again) Which is why you should always empty your tank before going out of the house kids!
In any case, it’s a bit of a confusion trying to get to the correct section as I didn’t see any signs for the 10km and the 3km runners to head to.
It was only later when the race started, we were herded to the correct lane by the marshals when they spotted the colour of our bibs. The three of us happened to be standing next to a huge organizational group. I was amused that they kept screaming out their region as soon as the cameras went towards them.
Not too long after, off we went! It was such a beautiful sunshiny morning. Just as we left the area, there were people cheering on at the sides. It was nice to see that even though I know that they were cheering more for the 10km runners! Hehe!
At every crossing, we had precedence to go even though the traffic light was red for us. It felt like such a privilege, as if we were a celebrity or a a royalty somewhat. I don’t envy the vehicles on the road though, they were honking at the policemen like mad, but it’s not like they’d have a work appointment to rush to!
It was a pretty easy run since we’re all running on a solid, flat path and we went to picturesque areas where we’re seeing with different eyes, the sights that we’d have missed as we ran through instead of rushing over in cars.
And before we knew it, we’re running next to Castel San Angelo (which is directly opposite of San Pietro) and thus we’ve already made a complete round and close to the finishing line already.
And we finished it in about 20 minutes or so. Hooray! Such a nice feeling! What would make it better is if I had my own entourage cheering me on, but that’ll be asking too much
And here are how we looked like after the race. Still fresh and clean! Not so red this time as it was an easy run for us.
And here is Cart.
Still looking good and hensem! I feel like such a bad wife for leaving him, as much as I’d prefer that we start and complete together, Cart needed to go at his own pace. Hopefully he’d go for more regular walks with me in the future
(Instead of always being glued to the computer … *coughs coughs*)
I’m a little bit disappointed in the goodies though, not much food freebies this time round. I spotted a stand where only this cake and a cup of water being distributed. But I shouldn’t complain much as it’s all for charity.
Next year, I’d love to try out for the 10km one. Each participants have medals … I want a medal too! But I think I just have to train a little more, for me, my aim is just not to be last and be forced to ride the “slow bus”
Here’s a video of the race :
On a slightly unrelated note, Alex, Claire’s fiancé joined us as well as her brother Peter and his girlfriend Katie who were in town and we were chilling out around the area after the race.
One of the places that we went to was Gelateria Pierrot where I found this interesting machine. It’s sort of like a blender/mixer. Intrigued, I wanted to try something different instead of a typical gelato.
And that was when I learnt that Frappè is milkshake = gelato + milk. There’s also the frullati which is like a smoothie made of fresh fruit + milk.
I was quite fascinated looking at my ice cream and milk being shaken together in the machine and some minutes later this is what my pistacchio and hazelnut frappè looks like.
Mmm! Totally yum! (I didn’t share) But with the amount of calories in there, my lunch was already settled
It’s not often that I get to eat fresh fish at home as it’s quite expensive. But it so happened that there was an offer on Orata, one of my favourite type fish in Italy, last weekend. And I got a piece.
At 6.50 euro, it’s still not cheap, but it’s a once in a while treat. Moreoever, cooking it yourself is definitely cheaper than in restaurants and it’s not that difficult to do.
The hardest part is probably gutting and cleaning a fish, but luckily, most of the work was already done for me at the counter.
All that I had to do was to cut away the fins on top, the side and the bottom and scrape away any scales that was still there.
Nice clean fish!
Dry it with a paper towel, then sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and cover it with some slices of lemon on the outside.
And in the inside where the gills used to be, sprinkle some salt and pepper and stuff with some garlic and parsley.
Wrap in an aluminium foil on top of a bed of potatoes (already mixed with olive oil, salt and rosemary) and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius.
The fish will be cooked in it’s own liquid mixed with the lovely ingredients that you’ve added. And when it’s done, the most amazing smell wafts out as you open the foil.
Using a fork to pierce through the flesh, the fish is wonderfully tender and moist. I just couldn’t wait to eat this!
And I did. And it was so delicious and I ate with gusto! (Hence the lack of pictures) All that’s rest are bones.
Le sigh! I wish I could just share with you a taste. It might sound extremely simple, but trust me, it was very very good!
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