Diary of a Singaporean now living in Rome, Italy
I saw my colleague and she said
“Marina! Look at your tummy! You’ve gone fat!”
I meet up with my friend and she commented
“You’ve put on weight!”
Even mum teased me
“Looks like I’M the slim one now!”
I know that I’ve gained quite a fair bit of weight …
BUT!
I’m still gorgeous
Fantabulous
And smashing bay-bah!
For those who dont like it … I just got one thing to say
I feel that school is one of the experiences in life when it is fun and enjoyable.
True, that it can get stressful, during examinations and tests. But in the daily life of a student, one meets their fellow friends, have laughs together, confide with each other, share and experience scenarios together.
One of my more memorable incidents would usually be revolving on schools.
I’ve come to appreciate schools and education more lately, ever since I’ve been taking up night classes. And having to struggle and juggle between work and studies.
It isnt easy.
Just the other day, one of my tutors commented that, from what he heard from the institution, the prices for night classes might increase the following year. From the current $90 per subject, the candidate would have to pay $300 instead.
Economic factors aside, there is still into consideration of the time factor, trying to manage your life between work then night classes and then between social, I dont really get to see much of my family as I wanted to as they would usually be asleep once I reach home from class and morning is a hectic period of everyone rushing to school/work.
It isnt easy. Its a struggle, yes, but its something that I’d have to go through for the next few months so that I could step up a little bit higher.
So it makes me sad to see that many of our youths today not appreciating the things that they have and them taking things for granted. Even worse, believing that they are the emperors of the world.
I was installing some softwares in the computer lab the other day, when a class of students streamed in and proceeded to make noise, chew gum, surf the net, play games, scold vulgarities, even wrestle and everything except the task that they were supposed to do.
It was only till about 15 minutes before the class ended, that they remembered what their task was and by then it would be a mess with many of them asking each clueless person on how to complete their task.
There are many wonderful and good students around.
Unfortunately there are just as many recalcitants. Just walk around any neighbourhood school and observe. You can see the types. They swagger when they walk, their coarse language, the pants which are so loose that it hangs dangerously at the edge of the hips.
It makes me wonder on how and the reasons why rebellion happens to youths.
Parents having no time for their child as they are busy working?
Too little love and attention? (or even too MUCH love and attention?)
Peer pressure?
No corporal discipline in schools?
Unaware of what independent life?
I think a large part of it lies in our own culture itself. We are already turning into an unfeeling and care-less society. And the source of that lies in the way that we are governed.
We are expected to always be the best, to have the best marks, the best food, first in line, best clothes … and this has brought this “ME first” mentality to people living here.
There’s no point in pointing the fingers to anyone now. Its already been inbued in us.
At the same time, doesnt mean that we should just give up though. We should live with honour and gentle dignity. We will have fun and cheer with grace. We will live as exemplary as possible.
But one person cant do it alone. Come on everyone … lets help each other …
Pay it forward works. But dont let the chain break
Everyone aquainted with me will know that I am horrible at calculations.But for the first time ever, I was actually better than someone in maths. (Incredible!)
I was having dinner yesterday, as usual before heading off to night class. I went off to the vegetarian stall and had my fried beehoon (rice vermicelli) and assorted veggies as usual. I knew that the meal would cost more than two dollars, so I had two $2 notes ready. As she handed me my plate, I asked her
Me : How much?
Hawker lady: $2.30
Me : Oh! (Digs in purse for 30 cents)
Hawker lady : (Grabs the $4.30 before I could pull the other $2 note away and she hands me a dollar coin)
Me : Err …
Hawker lady : Dui mah. Wo gei ni yi-kuai (Its right. I’m giving you back a dollar)
Me : Pu tui. Wo gei ni se-kuai san (Not right, I gave you four dollars and thirty)
I looked at her. And she looked at me back. We looked deeply in each other’s eyes till her partner beside her noticed the error and quickly took my dollar and gave me back my two dollars.
Its was just a funny story to me. Chinese people are supposed to be better at maths. 😛
Yusof Ishak says … Eh! Dont fight over me!
Yeah! Italy wins the 2006 world cup! I can almost hear the cars honking and can almost see the excited screaming of the fans in Italy and the feverent waving of the red, white and green.
Congratulazione Italia!
My cousin Sheeda and her new husband came over today, along with her mum and dad. It was a Malay custom to visit their relatives after their wedding.
All the afternoon, my family and I poured over the beautiful wedding pictures and wedding videos that they brought along with them.
Such a beautiful couple.
With that in mind, many well meaning people tend to ask me, when would I be getting married.
I really dont know.
To me marriage is something sacred. Marriage isnt just about cohabitation. Its about making a promise to each other. A vow between two people to care, to protect and to love each other.
When I get married, if God willing, it is forever. Marriage is a serious sanction. I wouldnt want to have my vows crumble in 10 years? 5 years? A year? Even less?
People who get hitched in the spur of the moment wake up to their partners, and finding that they have ‘compatability issues’ as well as ‘irreconciliable differences’
Do I want to risk that? No
Do I want to get married? Of course
I’d like to take care of my partner. I’d like to have children too.
But at the same time, I’d like my partner to know and understand where I’m coming from, my beliefs and my ideas while I try to share his before we jump into matrimony.
Do you really want me and my future partner to be in a marriage that we’d be unhappy in?
Marriage – Its not that simple.
Went to the Excel fest yesterday. The excel fest is a sort of sharing session to showcase the practises that teachers use for their teaching of students. It was my first time attending to these type of exhibition.
The school that I was attached to, Shuqun Secondary School was showcasing two displays. I came along to help out with the photography as well as videography.
We reached Nan Hua High School in the afternoon and the kids I brought along, Jean, Jeerin as well as Cecilia, were impressed with the size of the school and they started comparing the the school with Shuqun.
It was already quite crowded with people, mainly with teachers from other schools who were participating in the workshops conducted.
We started to walk around the school to look at some of the activities.
It was rather interesting for me to see the roles being reversed, teachers being the students at the desks.
This was a workshop that showed the Using of CMS (remote control appliance to answer questions) to conduct classes in a more interactive way.
This was a re-enaction of a class where the students are encouraged to discuss with their classmates for their lessons while the teacher guides.
As well as a sharing session where the students will have to learn how to distinguish between what is the truth or false in the example of advertisments.
I even saw Ms Ong, a teacher from West Spring, a school where I was attached to previously. Here she’s doing experiments using DNA (if I’m not wrong)
One of the workshop that I liked was the voice projection workshop conducted by the drama students of a local junior college. I was tickled to see their unique way of emoting, like putting a sad face to sing Edelwise really loudly. They reasoned that it was because when you are sad, you tend to wail really loudly, which is the basis of voice projection.
It was an interesting experience, because it surrounded by mainly teachers. You could see and observe the way they act and interact with each other.
They were orderly and civil. During the break time, there were refreshments in the canteen. There were about 200 people there and yet there were no jostling, no pushing and no shouting. Compare that to the typical buffet in the public – You’d have to shove and push and scream before you could reach the already crowded buffet table.
Even the students at Nan Hua were so adorable. Every female students with long hair are required to tie their hair in two pigtails. I thought that they looked super cute.
But eh? Whats going on here?
Looks like a few students are quite shy and didn’t like being photographed. Poor kids. Too bad for them for my kids can get rather persistent. It was still funny anyway, with them trying to cover their face and facing the wall, like that.
My kids can get weird too, surveying toilets as well as taking pictures and videotaping the toilets.
-_-”
All in all, It was a really nice display, if I knew about it sooner, I would have signed my parents up. I’m sure that my mum would enjoy these type of workshop. But because of the size of the school, it was difficult to see all of the display.
Maybe I could go there as part of the public, next year 🙂
Its been a week since I’ve left Italy.
I miss him desperately. Even more so compared to last year. Every now and then, I tear up during sudden flash back moments. Its really painful. Never imagined that emotions could have such a deep effect like this.
I’m not entirely sure how this story will end. Neither am I sure how the journey goes either.
But lets see how the story unfolds and then pray, and hope that there’s a happily ever after.
In the morning, we realised that there were no bread left, neither were there any breakfast biscuits. What on earth can we do that was quick and easy to make?
I decided to make bananas in coconut milk with the bananas that we bought the other day and with the santan that I brought with me from the flight. Taking the coconut milk out of the fridge, I found it to be rather thick. “The fridge is working well, and is cold 😛 “, Cartcart said. I added a little bit of water and again, the huge bubbles appeared.
A bit of brown sugar, some pandan leaves and cinnamon, the bananas was ready. It wasn’t a typical breakfast, in fact, those were supposed to be dessert but I guess it was good enough for get by.
I decided to also make some Roti Jala. Cartcart wanted to see it being made up close, so we went ahead and added the ingredients together. Eggs, flour, coconut milk and a a bit of tumeric for the colouring.
First few times wasn’t that great as the batter wouldn’t come out of the funnel and I added more and more water till the batter was extremely viscous. The Roti didnt start out that great but at length, We finally managed to come out with something presentable.
Cart : Looks great
Me : Only one problem though
Cart : what’s that?
Me : We usually eat these with curries
Cart : I don’t think theres time to make curry
Me : I guess we have to think of something else
Presenting, the worlds first Roti Jala with Hazelnut cream. Not nice.
In the afternoon, we planned to see the Modigliani display. I asked Narima and her friend to come along but they were too tired from all the travelling the previous days before and had to decline.
Modigliani was an artist who was famous for portraying his women with long necks and oval shaped faces. I stumbled upon him while playing with the face transformer application that I found on the website.
I assumed that the display was held at the Palazzo Venezia where Cart and I saw the Botero display last year. We took the car and saw a number of people on scooters and cars waving the Italian flag.
Italy just won the match against the Czech republic and I heard air-horns, supporters being exhilarated. Since it was hard to get parking at the central area, Cartcart parked the car at the Trastevere Station and we took the metrobus to reach there.
Inside, there were already loads of people. I looked outside and remember some of the places that I passed by previously. Inside, I saw a two men in a verbal argument but I couldn’t catch what they said.
At length, we reached our stop
Me : Oh! I remember this place! This is the cat sanctuary! I see the cats down there
Cart : Yes, but I’m not going down there and then walk back up here again.
Me : At least there’s more shade here 😛
It was a really warm day that day, which was quite sudden, being that the previous days were relatively cool. It was as hot as Singapore, maybe even slightly warmer. The thermometer display next to a nearby pharmacy registered it to be about 34 – 36 degree celcius.
We had a pretty long walk. And my feet were starting to ache. The dr scholl jellies that were supposed to cushion my feet from the heels didn’t seem to work as it was supposed to.
At length, we reached the Palazzo and Cartcart went to get the tickets. He spoke in Italian to the lady at the counter. She shook her head and replied back to him in Italian and pointed to a direction. Cartcart then came up to me.
Cart: The display isn’t held here. It’s in another place.
Me : Which place is it? I could have sworn that it was in Palazzo Venezio
Cart : It’s at the Vittoriano, it’s easy to get these two mixed up 😛
More walking. We walked past the stronghold and then the vittorio emanuele monument and my feet was screaming out in pain. I was regretting that I was wearing heels but at length we were there! Complesso Del Vittoriano!
We entered the museum. One of the first thing we saw was a video display introducing Amedeo Modigliani. It was entirely in Italian! Luckily Cartcart was there to translate.
Modigliani was an Italian who was heavily influenced by his mother, he said. The family was rather eccentric. Modigliani moved to Paris where he was friends with Picasso, which was why some his paintings tended to be lopsided, I realised. He found that it was difficult to keep with a lifestyle in France and stayed in cheaper lodgings and lounged in coffee houses.
That was where he found women for his art subjects. It was there where he started to have his own unique style of drawing women with elongated necks. He met a girl, called Jeanne Hebuterne. They became partners. But in time, Modigliani suffered from tuberculosis and died. Upon hearing the news, Jeanne committed suicide by jumping out of the window with her baby along.
Shocking.
We then proceeded to walk around the gallery and viewed the artwork one by one. I saw how Modigliani started out with sketches and then sculptures to the paintings that he was known for. There were a few canvases that was painted on both sides. Cartcart explained that Modigliani was poor at the time, so he didn’t have enough money to buy more canvases.
I looked at Cartcart engrossed in the artwork. I was happy to see him admiring the paintings. He even remarked, “It’s amazing how he could get the colours so natural with his palette. The painting might look simple but trying to blend it, is a work of art”
The day happened to be the day when Cart’s sis, Paola wanted to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. We stopped by her house for a while and I met Paola, as well as Cart’s parents. We talked for a little bit and I showed her the cards I purchased at the museum.
“It looks like you!”, They remarked.
Cart’s mom found out that I was leaving soon and wished me goodbye and to have a safe flight the next day. I smiled and thanked her, that I was happy to have met her. Cart and I left, hand in hand as we waved our goodbyes.
But inside, I was really was sad to leave. How can I ever cope with this ache again? How can I go through the painful goodbyes again? I just can’t think of tomorrow. My heart will just break.
Thoughout my entire stay, Cartcart was so sweet to have cooked for me. Some of them include:
Arrabbiata
Grilled Bell peppers with Olive Oil and Parsley
Tomato Rice with potatoes and salad on the side
They were all lovely. In fact, he fed me so well, that I’m still rather bloated at this point of writing. In turn, I wanted to cook for him too. I tried to make Vermicelli Soup with the pack of dried vegetables that I packed along. Inside it contained dried shitake mushroom, dried lily buds, vermicelli and dried tofu which I soaked to make it softer.
I cut up some potatoes and finally eggs which I eventually combined with the soaked food in boiling water.
Me : Eh? Why is the water boiling like that? Why is there so much bubbles?
Cart : Its the type of water we have here. We’ve always had these type of water.
Me : This water is hard water!!!
Cart : Its good water! Full of calcium.
I try my best to scoop away the bubbly deposits. In the meanwhile Cartcart cooked some rice.
Me : Uh, Cartcart… why is the rice so thick? Are you making porridge?
Cart : Oh no. This is risotto. Doesnt your rice look like this?
Me : No. Our rice doesnt expand like that.
Cart : It must be that risotto contains more starch that makes it so.
Me : Ohh … Well, the dish is all done! Lets tuck in!
Cart : Smells good
I taste the soup with the risotto and makes a face
Cart : Whats wrong?
Me : Something’s missing
Cart : What?
Me : There’s no flavour! This is tasteless!
Cart : No! This is fine! Really!
Me : No its not! Yuck! I’m hopeless at cooking! I’m so ashamed! I conked up with such a simple dish! This is terrible!
Cart : Come on! See, I’m still eating it. Its not bad, really!
Me : I dont like it!!!
Cart : Ok, what can we do to improve this?
We stuffed the food in the fridge and the next day, Cartcart helped to buy some soup cubes. I beamed at him and proceeded to fix my concoction.
Me : Ready!
Digs in to the soup with the risotto
Me : Mmm! Much better!
Cart : Yes it is, but I’ll still eat whatever you cook 😛
—
We went for a walk in the park in the vicinity. I’ve been facinated with the relaxing, flowing fountains outside of Cart’s window. It was so tranquil to see children playing with their families and to see people just relaxing after a workday.
Me : Look dearest! A rosemary bush. Smells great! There’s one there too, and there and there!
Cart : Oh my gosh. So many
Me : Now we can cook baked potatoes 😛
—
Grocery shopping in the afternoon. I was facinated by the rows and rows of different cheeses. There were so many that the eyes can see. I’ve never seen so many varieties and make before.
Cartcart shows me some vegetables that I’ve never seen before.
Cart : Do you have this? (Holds up a Radicchio)
Me : No, never seen it before
Cart : How about this? (Points to orange zucchini flowers)
Me : No, thats not a common food here.
Cart : Banana?
Me : I know what a banana is!
Cart : I mean, for the banana pudding. Is that good?
Me : Oh. (sheepish) Yeah. I think so.
After the grocery shopping, we chanced upon Cartcart’s parents and they invited us up to their apartment. Cart’s mom showed me some old pictures of the family and I admired the beautiful family. (Cart’s mom was a hottie in her days!)
She then showed me a some dancing videos and proudly showed the trophies that they won. (Cart’s parents used to teach dancing)
Cart’s mom : We got 3rd place in the national dance competition
Me : Impressive! Do you still dance?
Cart’s mom : No, we only do it for fun now
Me : What kind of dance do you know?
Cart’s mom : Foxtrot, Cha cha, Paso Doble, Jive, Rhumba …
Me : Awesome … I’d like to know how you are able to balance yourself in such high heels
Cart’s mom : It takes practise, lots and loads of practise 😉
—
We went to Gianicolo in the evening afterwards and admired the view. Gianicolo was a higher point in Rome and it had the spectacular view of the different famous Roman monuments. I could see the vittorio emanuele monument from here. From the distance, I can even the Pantheon and the stronghold.
It was also a great make out place.
I noticed a few couples making out beside the lighthouse tower. At the same time, a tour bus arrived, full of American tourists. These people came pouring in and snapped pictures of the view like there were no tomorrow.
And yet ANOTHER tour bus arrived and our area was full of tourists (at 9pm?) I could imagine the other couples being disgusted at the disturbance. These people cuddling up with their partners and then suddenly multiple camera flash buzzes.
But why would anyone would use flash at night time? It doesnt illuminate the background and the picture will turn all washed out. It reminded me of what Satoko said about Japanese tourists posing with peace sign at every single thing and it made me chuckle.
Some people do such funny things.
Back in Singapore again after a 14 hour flight ordeal.
Missing him a lot. Where did the time go? It feels like the days just passed by in a blink of an eye. A wonderful week with my dearest and now I’m back here again. It’s quite heart aching actually, sometimes.
I spent a most lazy vacation, doing nothing but lounging around the house doing housework and meals, and the occasional dinner and passeggiata. I was even too lazy to take much pictures. Not complaining though, getting a break from work and studies was a total breather.
And the meet with Cartcart’s parents? I think it went fine.
They invited us for dinner on wednesday. Throughout the day, I asked Cartcart, “Do we bring gifts? How do I greet them? What are the correct things that I should do?”
I spent a while thinking of what to wear before finally deciding to stick to the feminine and demure pink knit top and skirt that I was already wearing.
By the time I was done blogging, we were in a rush already! We were supposed to be there at 7.30 pm and we only left home at 7p m. Cart told me that it was considered rude to turn up exactly on time as it was perceived that the guest was only interested in eating.
I didn’t know that! Ack!
At length, we finally reached the place. Cartcart quipped, Relax! Sometimes I’m always late anyway, We take it for granted since we are family 😛
He pressed the buzzer, the gate opened and I stepped in and a rather large apartment. There were a few people already at the door saying hello.
I muttered in confusion, Buona Sera, Buona Sera.
Cartcart introduced me to his sister, Paola, her assistant, and finally his mom and dad. I shook hands with them and smiled but I was rather flustered as I couldn’t speak the language so well. It was way over what I could handle.
Nevertheless, they were really nice and friendly. Since I wasn’t fluent in Italian and the rest of the family wasn’t fluent in English, Cart had to be the translator, bridging me and the rest of the family. Poor Cartcart, having to talk non-stop like that. 😛
Cart’s dad invited us down to the garden for an aperitif while he talked about the fruit trees that he had taken cared of. Paola’s children came down to play and I was amazed at how extremely cheerful the family was. Everyone was smiling and clapping and saying words of encouragement to the children even at the smallest accomplishment. It looked very very loving.
It was quite different to the more reserved Asian household that I was used to.
In time, we had dinner and I looked and marveled to myself that I’m actually having authentic home cooked Italian pasta. Paola made tomato based pasta with olives, capers and a large prawn. It looked more like a small crayfish actually.
After which we were served with a large plate with at least 6 different cheeses. By then, I was already rather full as Italian portions are rather large. But I wanted to try the cheeses anyway. The sweet Cartcart carved some for me and I tried a few. There was one in particular cheese which I was fond of – the delicate sweet milk cream cheese which tasted very refreshing with honey.
Paola’s daughter was gregarious but appeared shy when she was near me. Cartcart explained that she was fascinated by Sandokan, a popular Italian TV series about a Malay pirate. And me being a Malay, she was expecting me to arrive with a kris and give a fighting display. Which was quite funny as I’ve never heard about this ‘Sandokan‘ before being explained about it.
Cart’s mom and dad had a chat with me over dessert while the children were sent to bed. It was already approaching 9.30 pm. Interestingly, it was still bright at 8.30 pm.They asked questions about Singapore, the nice sights to see around here, how the country made their money, and the different types of people here.
I looked at Cart’s parent’s features and I can even see how he got his eyes from his mum and his nose from his dad. “He’s got my stubborness too!”, quipped Cart’s dad.
A while later, we thanked them for a wonderful dinner and said our goodbyes. It was the norm to make kissing sounds as you put your cheek left and right, close to theirs.
As I waved from out the window, I asked Cartcart.
Me: How did I do?
Cartcart : Well, I think that it went fine. If I dare say, I’m sure they think that you’re cute!
Me : Cute!? Grr …
The night seemed rather early. Cartcart decided to take me out to Piazza Navona. It was a lovely night as we walked down the cobblestones as I recognized the place were we visited last year. Though it was night time, there were still a throngful of people walking about and we stopped for a while to listen to a group of people singing acapella.
I then noticed a stand with a cartoonist drawing caricatures. Admiring his style, I persuaded Cartcart to have a caricature of us together. He was initially shy, but after much insistence on my part, finally agreed.
“Smile! Bigger! Smile again!”, directed the cartoonist as I gave out a grin and looked out at the statues and buildings around the Piazza.
Me : The place has changed a little bit
Cartcart : Really?
Me : Yes, I see renovations in some of the buildings.
By now, some people gathered by to see the cartoonist at work and there was this lady who was chuckling at something the cartoonist drew.
At length, the artist was done and we took a look at the completed picture.
I think the cartoonist did Cartcart really well. The facial features, the beard, the nose, the eyes. It doesn’t look like me however, save for maybe the hair.
We then walked to the Fontana Di Trevi. By then it was way past midnight and yet there were a number of people around. Most of them threw in coins and took pictures. There was one crazy enough to dip her legs in the fountain and posed for a picture. A couple even pushed another into the fontana and made themselves soaking wet. It wasn’t allowed though and soonafter a policeman was blowing his whistle and gave a glare.
I looked into my coin purse and to my horror only found 10 SG cent coins. It was something that couldn’t be helped. I threw three 10 cent coins in the fountain. And then sat down to hug and cuddle with Cartcart as we looked at the tranquil fountain.
It was a beautiful night. It was a moment that I didn’t want to last.