Marina’s Bloggariffic

After doing a bit of research on the different providers, Cart and I went to Tre to get for me a sim card with mobile internet in it for my Innov8.

I might be one of the last few people to get on the bandwagon, but mobile internet is quite fun. It was rather liberating to be able to check on emails and websites on the go.

Prior to this, I had to be content with wireless@SG when I was in public places as there were no internet bundle in for the mobile for prepaid cards.

My Samsung Innov8 is sexeh

As a sidenote, I found interesting that in both the tre shops that we visited, none of them carried the Samsung Innov8. And they keep insisting that internet would not able to work on my phone with their plan - till Cart had to use his sim card on my phone to show them. I’m rather flummoxed.

Regardless, I was finally able to do something that I’ve always wanted to do for a very long time - mobile blogging.

What is mobile blogging?

Mobile blogging is where users can publish posts directly from their camera. I was raring to post pictures of the interesting things that I see and immediately putting them up.

Like this gelato that Cart and I had at Monteverde

I think that its pretty cool to be able to share things with friends on a real time basis.

Applications for Mobile Blogging

Installed in the Innov8 (but also supported for many phones) is an application called Shozu. This application will allow you to send images, video and other media on your phone to various sites like wordpress, seesmic and flickr.

I like shozu because of the numerous websites that it supports as well is its ease of use - once you’ve opened the application, you choose the file you want to send and upload it.

Shozu also automatically resizes images to a web friendly size, as well as allows you to tag and rotate your images prior to sending.

My only qualm with Shozu is that it is a little intrusive. Pictures would have a very prominent logo accompanied to it which, unfortunately draws away from the uploaded picture.

Apart from Shozu, you could also upload via email on the phone. It took a bit of fiddling to set up (so 1996!) but it was smooth going after that.

There are so many websites that supports mobile uploads, thats its mind boggling.

After experimenting with different services and wrestling with the pros and cons, for simplicity, I finally decided on uploading my media to posterous - a website that is recommended by Claudia.

Like Shozu, posterous supports many external websites, but by itself, it is already very powerful. It can host practically any type of media from a phone and still manage to have a simple and clean look which I like.

I like this look

The lifecasting experience

The first few hours was a little awkward. I was experimenting and I took pictures and uploaded them, happily. Little did I know that I was spamming my twitter feed, which was linked together to some websites. (Self spamming is so 1996!)

Regardless, with a little more education, the next day, I decided to do a lifestream of my day. I snapped some pictures that depicted to where I was at - in the wet market, my favourite pizza place as well as the gelateria.

It was a little awkward as I could see people looking suspiciously at me - its hard to be a spy as a mobile camera is never as fast as a regular camera.

But I had fun, nevertheless. It was an interesting experience for me to share my experience on the go.

On the other hand, its rather cumbersome. It takes a good 10 seconds to start the camera, at least another 10 seconds to take a good picture, and depending on the speed, at least 40 seconds to write an email, attach an image and send it online for ONE post.

It got a little fastidious. How some people are able to do moblogging on a regular basis, without losing their patience is something quite impressive to me.

And as much as I like mobile blogging, I dont think that it’ll take over my miniblog nor this regular blog. Mobile blogging is a form of complement rather than a substitution. But gosh, I’ve left so many digital footprints already!

What do you think of mobile blogging? Do you prefer bits of information compared to a complete post?

Related links :

• Shozu
• Posterous
• How Claudia lifestreams
• Rinaz Posterous

Sidenote : My package from Singapore arrived yesterday and Cart and I are rediscovering our wedding gifts. Thank you so much everyone! I feel so loved :-)

On the other hand, Italian Customs are holding my HP Touchsmart ransom. They want money before releasing it to me.

During my first few weeks in Italy, I was extremely homesick. Its a whole new world here - different culture, different people, different language. I felt really lonely. I really miss my family and friends back in Singapore.

My world was like a diablo map.

You know, when you start out, your map is all black and uncovers when you start exploring. (As a sidenote, I am really anticipating Diablo 3, it looks fantastic so far)

Hence, I tried to find a way to connect.

And the easiest way that I could think of was by searching on the internet, looking for the different events that might spark my interest like how it is in Singapore - on sites like www.sg, ping.sg and tomorrow.sg.

Unfortunately, trying to do the same thing here wasn’t so easy. A quick search in google for ‘events in Rome’ would only lead me to mainly touristy places to see or even worse, the website has not been updated since March 2008!

And that was when I remembered stumbling into a group that focuses on expatriates living in Rome on facebook and decided to go for a couple of their events.

Its not that the people there aren’t interesting. But it was just not for me. I needed to be with a smaller group, in a conducive environment to feel comfortable with.

I remembered my friend Clare (who is living overseas herself) telling me about Elaine, a lady that she knows in Italy and urged me to email to her. And from that point onwards, I started to network with a small amount of people living in Italy. This was very impressive to me at how close knitted they are - Singaporean women living overseas. And fortunately for me, a number of them had facebook accounts.

That was when I decided to start the group ‘Singaporeans in Italy’ on facebook. It is a small group but it was heartening to see them posting on the wall, interacting with each other. And that was when the Rome gang decided to meet up.

Our first meet was in this restaurant called Thai Inn which was owned by a Malaysian. There, I met Lynn, who has been staying in Rome for the past two years as well as Xiangwen who arrived in Rome about the same time as I did.

It was really lovely to hear some Singaporean accents.

We talked almost everything under the sun like, how we’ve been adapting so far, random daily misadventures, as well as talking about our lives back in Singapore.

I really felt at ease. It was really fantastic to finally be able to communicate normally (as opposed to being stunned trying to talk in Italian)

We met again recently in Garbatella in an Egyptian Restaurant. And it was such a delightful evening.

A tad oily, but its the first meat that I’ve had in ages!

Sure, we might not be such a large crowd, but it was more meaningful and intimate to me, having heart to heart discussions and having a laugh together. Probably a good step to ease in, in a country so far away from home.

My Diablo map isn’t complete, but hey, its still a good start :-)

Links :

• Singaporeans in Italy Facebook Group
• Lynn’s Polymer Clay Blog
• Will someone please sponsor me to Singapore day? :D

P.S : Dont you think that these spoons that Lynn made is absolutely pretty?

Sidenote : Jerrick is coming over to Rome tomorrow! YAY! Cart and I will be playing host!

Or rather, happy belated woman’s day to all :)

8th of March is the International Woman’s day as well as the equivalence of Festa della Donna in Italy. Its been said to be conceived from an event in New York, when women garment workers held a strike over working conditions.

In all honesty, I haven’t been all that aware of women’s day since it wasn’t given such a big emphasis when I was in Singapore. But here in Italy, there is a culture here where men are supposed to give women - wives, girlfriends, daughters, female friends a yellow mimosa.

Unlike the pink mimosa flowers, with the shy leaves that I was accustomed to, the mimosa here is yellow and they grow in trees. It grows quite abundantly here even - thus I was quite surprised to see florists and street vendors selling them.

And when I retold this to Cartcart, he asked me if I was hinting to him to buy some mimosa :P But to buy it makes the entire intent seem a little commercialised, so I said no.

It was when Cart tells me that sometimes even women give mimosas to other women. And that made me quite excited to experience female camaraderie. Finally a chance to bond across diversities! I dressed up prettily and together we drove off to Gianicolo.

It was then when I noticed the spectacular sunset. Roman skies are really pretty, to the point of being unreal - like paintings. When we reached Gianicolo, this was what greeted us.

Unfortunately for me, there was no women around distributing mimosas and messages of strength and unity. In fact, I didn’t even see any women carrying mimosas!

Oh well, too bad. All is not lost though :)

So what did you do on women’s day? :)

Sidenote : I started jogging again. But the first time I did that, so much cold air went into my lungs and my throat felt extremely dry and painful. At the end, I felt like I was breathing through a straw. It was horrible.

Now I make sure I jog with a woolly scarf on.

Stuff in Italy isn’t exactly cheap.

This was what I saw in a window some while ago. 146 euro? Thats almost 300 singapore dollars.

And this is what a Big Mac costs in Italy.

Thats about $12 SGD. Yikes!

Now that I’m unemployed a domestic goddess at the moment, I dont really have the liberty of spending money like I did before. Its beneficial to be a little more frugal.

And one of the best way to save money is to buy and cook our own food.

Over in Italy, there is a wet market where you can get your fresh produce from. My mum in law took me to one near her home during my first few weeks here. Just like in Singapore, there is a bustling of activities here from the customers to the sellers.

You could buy all sort of things at the wet market - vegetables, meat, cheese, bread, even flowers, shoes and carpets! I was very excited to see such vibrancy here.

Cart and I went the wet market at Piazza San Giovanni di Dio a while ago. I loved seeing all the colours there. I just wished that I wasnt so self concious to take more pictures of the sellers.

Regardless, in the end, we could get two whole bagfuls of vegetables for about 10 euro. And with that, it completely stuffed the refrigerator and lasted us for a good two weeks.

And oh boy, have I been having fun!

Prior to this, I haven’t really been too interested in cooking since I’ve been happy to eat anything that my mum cooked. But now that I’ve been given the liberty to a kitchen for my own, I’ve actually been enjoying preparing food.

This is Vegetable Curry. I made this! I was worried that Cart wouldn’t like it as I’ve never made curry before. But in the end, he enjoyed it so much that he took seconds. I was surprised!

Geri loves Cream Pasta. Now I can make it for her when she comes to Rome :)

Nowadays I feel a little more confident of my cooking skills which is interesting as I wasn’t that inclined to be in the kitchen. Whoever knew that the girl who didn’t like to cook is actually cooking :P

Moreover, I realise that cooking is actually very sexeh. Thanks to my new boyfriend, Gordon Ramsey.

But I suppose good things comes with its own problems.

I’m 64kg now. Ah crap.

Sidenote : Just for fun, take a peek at my old video on how to make arrabbiata. Looking back, I realise how very unfluent I am in Italian.

In Singapore, there is a 100% humidity with a temperature of about 28 degrees celcius all year round. Its like being in a sauna. While it is actually good for skin, keeping it youthful looking, the downside is that it tends to bring the oil gland factories working at a mad pace, such that its not extra ordinary to be able to fry eggs with the natural grease from the face alone.

Thus Facial blotters are something that is very commonly used in Singapore. These are small plastic like films that you dab on your face to soak up oil. Its amazing to see how much the little film extracts oil. Sometimes I wonder if I should have used it on a fried chicken.

So when I was in Rome for the first time, I was amazed that I did not need to use a facial blotter.

But now, after some weeks here, my skin feels sallow, that ‘radiance’ was gone that even Cart said so! :P It was only when my face started to get a little flaky was when I finally realised that it was actually getting dry!

This was my usual facial skincare

As I’ve been using skincare for oily skin for since my teenage years, it was something very new to me to finally be buying moisturizer for my face. But buying skincare in another country, where you don’t know the language well, is very daunting.

I used to know these as Oil of Ulan, then it changed to Olay and now its Olaz in Italy

For example, the first week when I was in Rome and running out of hair conditioner, I was extremely confused. What on earth is “Conditioner” in Italian? All the bottles looked the same. I didnt see any “conditionero”.

It was only after a long while that I found out that I needed a bottle of “Balsamo”

But eventually, with the limited amount of Italian that I know, I’m actually having fun decoding the packaging.

It wasn’t that hard to translate! This one says :

New refreshing formula
Hydrating day cream
24 hour hydration and protection for fresh skin
With lotus extract and vitamins - SPF 8
For normal and combination skin

And it got simpler after that, so much so that I feel more confident of getting other nice stuff :)

The Rosa body cream is now my favourite! The funny thing is that it doesnt exactly smells like rose, but more like rose and milk. I suppose that its bandung, yeah?

And I think that this is a great way of immersing in Italian language at the same time too!

Now you know what “No more tears” in Italian is :)

And now, I can continue to look <shameless> cute and sexeh </shameless>

Sidenote : Ok, so I’m a little thickskinned. But I’m quite amused by this and the number of hits that followed.

Nowadays I am a little hesitant when needing to trim my fingernails.

This is because I will have only a couple of weeks left before the henna dye on my fingernails will be completely gone. And that will end virtually the only physical mark of my wedding.

This is what my hands look like freshly painted on the wedding dinner

Its a Malay custom to have the hands and feet decorated with henna for their wedding. This is to symbolise the couple’s upcoming wedding occasion.

And these are the palms

There are basically two types of henna that you could use, either fresh ones from crushed henna leaves or the one prepackaged from most Indian Shops.

When I had my hand and feet to be decorated with henna, it took about 30 minutes to be drawn for each limb and I had to concentrate to keep still the entire duration so that the henna doesn’t smudge.

Here is a video I’ve recorded via Ustream of the henna drawing. You might want to skip to the 3rd minute where I stop fiddling with the computer and when the artist actually starts drawing :P

Online TV Shows by Ustream

But it was the waiting for the henna to dry part. It would usually take at least 2 hours for the henna to dry before you peel it off. The longer the person lets it dry, the more vibrant the colour.

And there I was on the couch, with my hands stretched out on the sofa arms, motionless like a dynasty empress. Unable to even change the channel on the tv, and all the while worrying about the wedding preparations that is going on the void deck.

I really liked my henna. Days after the wedding, it was fun to show them and do ala magician’s flourishes.

Now my nails look like this

It feels like I’m losing the wedding radiance

Even Cart said so!

Me : I’m losing my radiance, the air here is making my skin dry, I’ll probably age faster.

Cart : When have you been radiant?

Ok, we have our language differences … but still …

Sidenote : Ridz sent me a postcard all the way from Singapore! I love it! How thoughtful :)

Happy belated valentines day to you!

Last Saturday was actually the first time that I celebrated San Valentino with Cartcart due to the both of us being in a long distance relationship for the past four years. It was a simple date, just the two of us spending time together in Trastevere and then watching a movie.

Rinaz with the poet Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli

We watched the curious case of Benjamin Button. Granted that it was in Italian, nevertheless I still enjoyed the movie as well as Cart’s company for the entire day.

Il curioso caso di Benjamin Button

In any case, if you are in Italy around San Valentino, it would be hard not to notice Baci Chocolates for sale. There are so many of them in different sorts of packaging - some wrapped with flowers, some with bears, some are even in lock shapes.

Baci means Kisses in Italian

And this reminded me of the day when Cart and I visited Ponte Milvio a few years ago.

Ponte Milvio is an interesting place where you could see a plentiful of locks on each lamppost. And if you look carefully, on each lock will be the name of a pair of couple.

There is a custom here where you write your name as well as your partner’s name on the lock. Secure the lock on the lamppost and throw the key away in the Tiber River below so that your relationship can never be broken.

I’m still a little cynical about the whole thing, but ah, its for the charm of it all. For those who are not too near to Rome, you might want to do it online! Try to spot my lock near the yellow lights.

So, how did you spend your Valentine’s day?

Sidenote : I think I’m getting used to learning Italian now. Previously I felt like vomitting when I went for class, today I just feel ill