Early this week, Lynn contacted me about a Singaporeans meet with the minister. And the first thing that came to mind was, “Me? A minister wants to have lunch with a small fry like me?”
Regardless, the desire of meeting other Singaporeans living in Italy was very strong. So I made my confirmation to attend soon after. As Cart was working, I had to go on my own.
With the use of Atac and Google Maps, it made exploring much easier and with very few drama, I met up with Lynn and together we headed to Tullio restaurant, where there was a Singaporeans meet hosted by the Minister Lim Hwee Hua and Ambassador Loo Choon Yong.
This is Minister Lim Hwee Hua
When we both entered the area, I was so pleasantly shocked. I knew that there were more Singaporeans that were living in Italy, but to see so many Singaporeans in front of me was such a nice surprise anyway.
Our last Rome meet was already a good number.
But this meet was twice as large.
This is Ambassador Loo Choon Yong.
I met many interesting, charming and witty people. Some of them have been living here Italy for a long time – like 25 years. It felt a little unreal and also a little intimidating for me though, to be talking to successful people who really made it in life. There was a lawyer, jewellery maker, fine arts furniture maker … while I’m just a housewife.
Nevertheless, they were really nice and friendly. The minister herself seemed genuinely interested in what I thought, asking about life in Italy.
We also had such lovely food which I thoroughly enjoyed.
This was my Parmigiana di melanzane
This was my Mont Blanc
In any case, the meet was an initiative by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to keep Singaporeans in Italy to keep in contact with each other and should we need any help, they assured that we were free to approach them.
And there was a possibility that next year would have a Singaporeans day in Italy. I was rather upset for missing Singapore day some months back so this would be absolutely fantastic!
So us Singaporean in Italy facebook group could finally all meet up together yeah? Lynn and I to do that, but the logistics seems daunting but now that we have backup, I’m definitely looking forward to that.
After visiting the Toy convention in Singapore last year, I was keen on going again. And thus, I was at the Romics Comic Convention last weekend with Cart and his friends.
When we reached Fiera Di Roma, where expos and events are held, there were already a large amount of people there.
I noticed that while queuing in, the cosplayers were lining up in a separate line. We found out later that people who were in costumes got to enter in for a cheaper fee.
After queuing up for the tickets, we entered inside the event hall, and at first sight, I already knew that the experience will be something similar to the one in Singapore.
There were so many people!
The Comics
Obviously being a comic convention, there were a number of publication houses on display. One of the biggest names that I could spot out was Panini Comics.
Panini Comics is probably best known for their character, Ratman. Ratman is interesting because the character was conceived as a parody to all the comic superheroes – with his Mickey Mouse’s ears and his cape. He was wierd but yet, amusing. Kind of like how 2gether was a satire for the overflow of all Boybands.
I also had the chance to seeing a couple of artists doing works in progress, drawing and singing autographs. And I admired a few artwork and wished that I had half the artistic talents that they had.
This particular guy was so diligently doing watercolour on the first page of his comic book.
Looking closely, I see a name tag and saw that his name was Luca Russo – Of course, I had to google it out, and I saw a couple of his artwork. It was so lush.
Naturally, Cart being crazy about reading comics and collecting them, bought for himself a nice pile of comics to add to his shelf dedicated to all his comic books.
I looked around and I saw a number of Japanese comics that I recognized like Love Hina, Battle Royale, Evangelion.
And I was pausing for the longest time pondering if I should get a Domokun Comic. I love Domokun! It’s a charming singing brick but this time round was in Italian.
The Toys
There were not as much toys here as compared to the convention in Singapore, and the World Cybergame section seems to be very subdued. There was hardly any console games like Nintendo Wii or X-Box consoles, Playstation and such but there were still a couple of interesting collection of old-school toys to be seen.
Like these figurines of characters from the movies. I think that it was really well done. The joker really looked like Heath Ledger.
I quite like the top row with the “Movie Set” smurfs.
Did you know that in Italy, smurfs are known as Puffi? There are even Puffi flavoured ice cream in Italy, but that is another story altogether 🙂
Stewie, from Family guy, probably the most evil baby in the world. And also one of my favourite cartoons that I watch here.
A couple of stuff from the Lord of the rings. I snapped this picture because it reminded me of the crown that Yanni crafted not too long ago. The lady behind the counter offered to let me try it on, but I didn’t want to have the risk of being tempted to get it.
And this was a nice figurine of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Coming up in the future, we will have a nice figurine of Hang Tuah.
Oh and this is a very interesting figurine.
Which reminds me, I even saw a booth dedicated to Hentai, with a tv display for all to see. I was momentarily stunned. But the interesting thing is that I didn’t see any horrified faces around me. Europeans are really liberal about this, I suppose. The person manning the booth was amused to see my flabbergasted face.
The Costumes
For me, I think that the highlight of the convention was probably the cosplayers. There were so many! I think that there were probably about an equal ratio (or perhaps even more) regular outfits to the cosplayers. Regardless, they were all pretty nice. And if you asked for a photograph, they would always oblige
There were characters that I could recognize like :
Flippy from Happy Tree Friends. I lurve happytreefriends, I think that they are the most adorable critters. The irony is that I dont have the heart to watch an episode since they always die violently.
Bender and Doctor Zoidberg from Futurama. Another one of my favourite cartoons!
Luigi and the Princess.
And at one booth, I spotted out something interesting. A storm trooper playing a Clone wars game! A very dedicated and loyal staff.
This is one piece – It seems to be very popular judging from the amount of people dressing up as Luffy. I like the middle cosplayer’s boots! Quite well done! But the actual anime annoys me though.
But as much as there were many that I could recognize, there were many more that I could not. Anyone could help spot them out for me? Like this character below.
Mario hanging out with the Milk and the Mushroom.
Seriously, I wouldn’t have the patience to sew this and they both coordinated their outfits well!
And this is another fantastic costume. With the black face and the red eyes and all.
But after spending some time spotting out costumes, the following would be in my top 3 :
I think that this guy here did a very good job in his zombie outfit that I had to peer closely at his make up.
Scary! And it wasn’t just his neck, but his entire limb had wounds and such.
This guy probably took at least 3 days to make his costume.
Also, he’s the first person to have the initiative to really pose when you ask for a picture. Seems like a professional cosplayer. Regular people would be frustrated after the 5th person I think.
And lastly, I’m not too sure what character this is, but I think that this costume was one of the most well made and the most intricate one that I’ve ever seen.
I think he did an amazing job on his costume!
Anyway, interestingly enough, while I was there looking at the different costumes, a little boy came up to me and peered at me as if I was wearing a costume myself. That was so amusing.
Being Malay, it’s inevitable that I look close to my Asia Pacific counterparts. I could go to Indonesia and blend in as an Indonesian, the time when I was in Thailand with my girlfriends, the locals thought that we were Thai ourselves until we opened our mouths.
But in recent years, there has been countless the number of times that I’ve been approached and asked, “Are you Filipino?”
Even on youtube, there are people who think that I look like Happyslip, an insanely talented youtuber who has ancestry from the Philippines.
I’m not skinny enough to look like her
Don’t get me wrong though, Personally, there is nothing to feel offended about and I think that there is nothing wrong with looking like a Filipino. Besides there are so many attractive looking ones at that.
Like Lea Salonga.
Like Marian Riviera
Like Toni Gonzaga
But it’s just weird for me that everywhere I go, everyone would assume that I’m from the Philippines. Even in Singapore! And even by Filipinas!
Like the time while Cart and I were shopping at a Filipino Shop to see if we could get some Asian groceries, the clerk started to cheerfully talk to me in Tagalog.
It was later when she saw that I couldn’t respond to her, then she realised that I wasn’t a Filipino.
Maybe I should start to learn a little bit of Tagalog. But the only word I know is Mahal kita so I probably wouldn’t get very far with that.
But anyway, I just wish people in general would stop assuming things. And I’m not the only one. Even my Egyptian friends are commonly mistaken as Moroccan here.
Now if people went up to me and said, “Oh my gosh! You remind me of Ziana Zain!” That’ll be another thing altogether.
I hope that you and the entire family are doing fine in Singapore and are enjoying your holidays with the relatives
Cart and I are both fine. After a month of fasting, yesterday, Cart and I celebrated Eid.
Personally for me, I think that this year was one of the most challenging fast because unlike in Singapore where dawn and dusk are more or less the same, here in Italy, during the first day of ramadan, we started fasting from 4.40am all the way till 8pm.
Even though the timings got more tolerable towards the end of the holy month, Cart and I eventually fell ill.
But that did not keep me away from trying to have a little celebration of our own here.
The day before, Cart and I went to Piazza Vittorio to get some supplies. Its a very interesting place here. There is this wet market which is full of different type of nationalities that it doesn’t feel like Italy at all. I can hear all sorts of languages here. And here, you can find quite a number of goods all over the world. Its really cool. I’d like to show you this place when you come to Italy.
And if you walk a little bit more, suddenly you’ll find yourself in an interesting place full of Chinese people and plentiful of Chinese shops. I was so amazed by the density that it made me wonder how is it possible for any shopkeeper to make a profit there with all the competing stores.
Made in Singapore
Regardless, I found a shop here that sells lemongrass! Thats fantastic! Now I can make a proper Ayam Masak Merah! There is even instant prata! And durian!
Its frozen though. Maybe one of these days I’ll give that packet durian a try to see how it tastes. But for now, I think I prefer fresh durians. For sure, Cart wont even touch them
On Eid itself, I woke up early to cook. Cart wanted to eat Briyani. And I wanted to make Ayam Masak Merah, Sweet and Sour Fish and Satay Goreng. It was really tiring to make all that food. I dont think that it was very good, and hopefully I’ll do better the next time. But how on earth do you have the energy to cook 5 times the amount of what I did?
I wanted to go to the mosque for mass prayers in the morning. But I didnt manage to go since Cart wasn’t feeling very well. I felt a little regret when I read that there were about 30 000 attendees. It must have been very festive! I really wanted to be a part of that. Hopefully we manage to be there next Eid.
I invited Cart’s family for lunch and Cart asked his best friend over.
I had a very lovely time.
I still don’t understand what most of what they were saying though since my Italian is still not very fluent. But it was still a nice day just to get together to talk and bond over a meal. Cart’s mum brought over 3 different types of vegetables by the way. There was so much food, I think that I probably not have to cook the next 3 days. Hehehe
Guess what mak, Cart wore his baju kurong!
Cantik tak?
Later on in the evening, my Singaporean friends came over.
We had a new addition to the Singaporeans in Rome gang. Her name is Lajay and she’s been living in Rome for about a year now. And I was very happy to see that all of us got together very well.
And Lynn is going to be a mother! I was stunned when she told me that she was going to have twins!
Its really nice to see our group getting bigger! And its pretty cool to have a Chinese, Malay and Indian in the group. Very multi-racial!
We had so much fun and chatted all the way that we did not realise the time was past midnight. Cart probably went to work groggy this morning and I had a nice pile of dishes that I had to wash
But its times like these, I feel more like I have a part here, now that I have good friends and family here. Every day I feel more grown up and adult.
But I still miss you heaps though. I miss being with you. I miss being your daughter.
Marina rindu sangat dengan Mak
Selamat Hari Raya Mak. Maaf zahir dan batin. Tak sabar menanti bulan Disember.
Just in case you were wondering what my table looks like, this is what I work with.
From left to right :
Lenovo S10
HP Touchsmart
Samsung Innov8
Canon Ixus 870is
500 GB Maxtor HDD
Looks pretty spiffy right?
I’ll go through them one by one.
Lenovo S10
My Lenovo S10 is a netbook – the hardware is not as fast as a regular computer, but it’s more portable than a laptop. I really like it when I’m on the go, for emails and catching up on social media sites.
I am liking Ubuntu so far, I see applications running significantly faster despite the fact that I did not upgrade my netbook. It was surprising to me that I could run graphics intensive sites like Pet Society and many HD quality videos on YouTube because it was sluggish on the XP operating system.
My big issue though, is that due to technical issues between S10 and Ubuntu, I cannot do video streaming on ustream.tv. Also the internal microphone does not function! I guess no skyping for me for now.
But since I mostly use my netbook to surf. I reckon its not so crucial. Oh well.
HP Touchsmart
My HP Touchsmart is my main computer for editing pictures, videos as well as the occasional gaming.
I love my HP Touchsmart! With 4 GB ram, its a lot more speedier than my old desktop. Hence, I could render my videos a lot more faster. Also with the internal graphics card, sceneries in Secondlife and Granado Espada looks so much lovelier.
It’s probably not such a big deal to most, but seeing realistic looking water ripples and the various sun reflections is a breakthrough to Virtual Worlds. We’ve come a long long way since the first VRML world was created.
I use Adobe Photoshop CS for editing my pictures.
At this point of time, Adobe CS 4 has been released, but I don’t think I’ll upgrade for now. At $700 USD, CS 4 is a tad bit too pricey. Moreover, new versions are always memory intensive. I think I can manage with my version for now.
For video editing, I use Premiere Elements 4. And I love it since the first time I used it.
It makes it easy for video dummies like me to use. Clicking here and there is all there is to it. Also it’s more affordable compared to many of the video editing software that I’ve come across.
As for the pictures in this blog, I use the Canon Ixus 870is.
Most of the pictures that you see in this blog from November 2008 onwards are snapped with it. What was originally meant as a review unit sent by Canon, I found that I liked it so much that I went to buy one for myself.
Its quite trusty. And functions relatively well in less stable hands. One small issue is that it does not do time lapse video like this video I did with the Ixus 80is
But now I’m quite keen on trying out HD Videos so I’m really jones-ing for a camera that does that. What that means is that I’d have to upgrade to a new video editor too.
If I see anything interesting along my journeys, I snap a picture and send it via email and in a few seconds, it will appear in the sidebar in rinaz.net. Live updates like these even have a term called Citizen Journalism.
Indeed, I have a spiffy workspace. Now all I need now is actual work.
For today’s road-trip, we are going to explore Monte Terminillo!
Terminillo is a location somewhere in central Italy where it is a popular destination during the winter for skiing. Looking through a couple of pictures through google, it looks like a winter wonderland. There isn’t any snow during the summer but the temperature there is still cool and refreshing regardless. It’s a good getaway from the warm and stuffy Rome summer.
It’s a long drive to reach there, approximately two hours. Regardless, it wasn’t dreary at all for me and instead, I was very excited since I’ve never really been to the mountains before.
As we approached Via Salaria, a road connecting to Terminillo, it was already starting to look quite charming with the farm areas and wooden huts.
And as we started to enter the mountainous area, I saw a number of cool looking signs. There were also yellow and black poles at the side of the roads, indicating how deep the snow was, during the winter.
Check out the cow sign, poor thing got shot
But it was when I finally got deeper in and saw that we were rather high above, was when I started to really get excited.
Coupled with the beautiful day that we were having, the view was gorgeous. And for the next half an hour or so, I was just content to look out of the window and admire the picturesque scene before me.
There was even a curious scene of a group of people suntanning on the grass of the mountains.
I even spotted out a sort of mausoleum. Cart says that this was a typical graveyard area for people in small towns. What was interesting to me was that, because of the stacked formation, it looked quite like a condominium.
After the long drive we were feeling rather lethargic and peckish. So we stopped by a little town called Albaneto and entered a little tavern called La Tana Del Lupo.
Only 94 inhabitants?
It was an interesting place, this tavern of wolves. The wooden build made it look charming. And apparently, it was a popular place to go according to the signed pictures on the wall. It was even the place for the Italian Harley Davidson group to be at, judging by the number of bikers that I saw having lunch there and through the plaque that I saw as we passed by.
And everywhere I saw, there were quite large groups of people around having their meal. And I got to see why later.
I was stunned when our food arrived. The food portions was huge! The appetizers alone was three kinds and I was stuffed even before reaching the main course. When my gnocchi arrived, I nearly fainted.
Needless to say, I hardly touched my gnocchi and felt bad about the food wastage. Next time, I’ll try to remember to always carry a Tupperware with me.
To walk away the stuffed feeling, we then stopped by a little town called Leonessa.
It’s a really pretty town. Because cars are not able to enter inside the premises. Visitors have to leave their cars outside the walls and explore the area by foot.
The first thing that came to my mind was how charming the area looked like. There were cobblestones footpath and with people going by, looking very relaxed and friendly in their little shops.
I quite like the design of the doors in Leonessa – it looked very historical.
We passed by about 3 different types of churches, each one rather decadent inside. I was a little worried about being rude and taking pictures inside since there were people praying, but do I regret at not taking the picture of the gorgeous ceiling and fresco of some of the churches.
It was a very idyllic area all around. And everywhere I go, there were postcard worthy scenes – like this building with the mountains in the background. I think that people living here are very lucky to wake up to see such a lovely view every morning.
As we left the town of Leonessa, at the corner of the entrance, Cart and I noticed a little stall selling potatoes. We bought a sack anyway and found out later that the potatoes are bright yellow inside. So far, we’ve made a couple of dishes with them and needless to say, they were pretty scrumptious.
Finally we went back on our road trip and drove to the highest part that the road could take us. It wasn’t the peak, however. I suppose that visitors would need to take the cable, should they want to go any higher.
We parked our car and went for a short hike. As we were probably the only ones there, it felt peaceful and quiet. Standing there, I could see from miles and miles away.
It was almost sunset, and the mountain was bathed in golden light. From the distance you could see the soft hazy formation of the other mountains nearby. And it was so cool, literally! The temperature here is roughly a fresh 20 degrees Celsius.
With the wind caressing my face, I was just marvelling and feeling very blessed that I had the opportunity to see this.
It was such a spectacular day for me seeing all the gorgeous natural beauty. Even the stone formation here fascinated me so.
Cart is amused by my antics and thinks that there are even nicer looking mountains. But for me, I think its such a pretty place anyway.
And check out our curious friend.
Why, its super squirrel! Squirrel crasher doesn’t have a thing on him!
Selamat Hari Kebangsaan kepada semua rakyat Malaysia! Today is the 52nd year of independence for Malaysia.
And speaking of which, have you watched 15 Malaysia before? 15 Malaysia is a project consisting of 15 short films about Malaysia and I think that its quite fantastic.
It was then when I noticed the 15 Malaysia webpage. Not every of film is published at this point of time as each will be released on a specific date. But my favourite so far would have to be this one.
Check out the cameo at the end of the video. I cant help to notice the little touches of irony in the film like when the boy walks through the school compound and there were the words Respect, Justice and Self esteem on top. What a sad story
Have you watched 15 Malaysia before? What do you think of it?
