Teaser: What to do if you have 3 hours to kill in Rome.

I am rushing off to class in a bit (yes, Dee-d sayang, I do go to classes, they just don't make as nice a subject as my roaming! Not yet anyway, I am sure they will at some point!). It's the charming Mazziotta with his statistics today, i suspect we'll be playing with real data and i am definitely looking forward to it!

Just to tease you into coming back to see the pictures Azwa and I took on our whirlwind tour of Rome at 8 am this morning (!!! some Rome hasn't even stirred from last night's slumber, I swear!!!) when we got colosseo to our-giddy-selves and I tossed a shining Malaysian coin in the Trevi (Azwa caught it on camera! That girl is fast!).

Watch this space!

And Azwa, thanks for stopping by, even if the rice cooker and rendang are otherwise detained in Algeria!

ps: Just to prove I do have classes! :) That's Max's head behind mine.

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

My new resolve

I know to some it is an obvious thing but when have I ever been rational? Somehow I have been waging a personal protest (very the Italian, huh? ha ha) by refusing to devote myself to the learning of the language - insisting on using my very basic Spanish and - worse - exasperating the Italians by conversing with them in English.

But I am ready now. My new resolve from today: I am going to commit myself to learning Italian.

YES, I WILL!



All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

Pieces

A protest organised by the Political Science Faculty (at one point, a daily event) just outside our building, where the faculty is located.

Exasperated, kailash asked, "do you have to take photos everywhere we go?" my friend, the answer is, "YES!" it's a sickness with me - the japanese tourist syndrom. think of it this way - you'll never run out of profile photos for your facebook.

Thais and kailash showing me how to drink from the drinkig fountain the way of the romans...although i have never seen them actually doing it this australian-srilankan-brazilian way :)

he looked so serene rolling his pin. we ate his pizza.

via urbana. we had the chance to look at the view from the 6th floor of a buildig and totally fa in love with the view from the bath tub. ~dreamy sigh~

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

where the hate is

It was a sunny day in Rome and a girl was seen sitting on a wrought iron bench outside of the Australian Embassy. reading. in her hand was a book on a man that was cursed with DNA that while enables him to time-travel, gives him none of the control as to the wheres and whens. She paused her reading, put her finger on the last word she read, looked up and sighed a contented sigh. it was a good day in rome.

Even as the thought floated in her head, a car sped towards her. a man with half his body hanging out of the passenger side screamed "Asia.." something, something in italian to her. meanly. she smiled because not only she doesnt understand a word he said (non parla italiano), she just had her first racial attack! check in the 'racial attack by an italian' box. "Va bene," she thought "...i should blog about this".

her eyes returned to her patient finger and she continued reading. it was a good day.

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

where the love is

i almost died and went to heaven on monday when i find myself at the entrance of the mercato on via vittorio emanuelle II near cavour. everything an asian might need to produce a faithfully asian dish. everything. from the right kind of chillies to squid sauce that sizzles to beehoon to suitably fresh ikan aya/tongkol/tuna suitable for singgang and halal beef - and all at a much more prefered price.

sure the budu was not from terengganu. but close enough - a bottle of budu-coloured sauce made of fermented anchovies in the philippines. sure the guy saying 'apa khabar' was not a malaysian. but close enough - a bangladeshi who worked for 4 years at a construction site in ampang. outside, there are numerous shops operated by chinese, taiwanese and koreans ( i cant tell the difference!) selling everything from warm clothing to shoes to maggie mee to santan liquid and powder.

we stopped at a bangladeshi stall selling fish and went home with 6 pieces of salmon (E6.50 per kg) and 1 kg of thai squid (because i am a malaysian demanding for a malaysian price, E5.00, down from E7.00). and various veggies for E1.70 - so much less than what i have been paying at the supermarket down the road.

we walked a little more to absorb the friendliness of the market, we arrived at a stall operated by a philippino girl. she came to rome for a holiday 4 years ago, fell in love with the city and has been here ever since. i asked her how is rome for a straniera.

"i love the city, but rome is not kind to foreigners. here we are treated like second class citizen. why? when we contribute to the economy," she said with feelings. i felt a little guilty at the way malaysians sometimes treat foreign workers in our country - not much difference from the romans.

i was reminded of the landlady of a room i was thinking to rent on via urbana. when asked about the mercato which we heard was a good deal, she said, "i only shop in the shop downstairs. i dont go to the mercato on the other side. when i am driving there, i have this fear that someone would stop me and ask for something. it is not real this fear but it is in my head. so i dont go there. but there are more police there these days, so it is better."

after another gander around the market, we quickly went home and had a pan-seared salmon with potatoes. after weeks of being denied the taste of home, i was (almost) in heaven with happiness. i hope i made some friends - i definitely want this to be my once a week shopping destination and a (bigger) discount is surely appreciated!

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

around circo massimo

rome is a lot like angkor, it's too big for photographs. you get overwhelmed by its big-ness. my solution: my manual stitch. the one thing that my camera cant do.

oh, well...

i have been walking around the colosseo a couple of times now, but somehow was not ready to take its photos. i think i am ready for colosseo now.

definitely tonight :)

cant wait!

just another friday

It rained for the first time today since the 10 days i have been here. Grey gloomy day that i suspect was a preview to what winter time will be like in the eternal city. And today, it mirrored my overall outlook on italians and all things italy. dont get me started on italian efficiency. maybe i was just missing home - i said i wouldn't say that again just to give rome a chance, but i do miss the familiar comforts and predictability of Kuala lumpur.

Where were we? My grey gloomy outlook - I was locked out of the apartment in my pajama at 9 this morning. I jiggled and wiggled, somehow the key i had just wouldn't turn - until a neighbour forced it to. At that moment, what i wouldn't give for the chinese efficiency in making key copies that can actually work without you having to have the strength of a bull. ~sigh~

If you were wondering why i was out of the apartment in my pajama (i had a jacket on, and i did brush my teeth before i leave the apartment), i assure you it is not a habit i just picked. i was just delivering a message to our nigerian classmate (two days old in rome!) who was waiting outside. today was just one of those days...

The transportation workers were supposed to be on a strike today. We small people of rome who depend on the public transportation sighed "here we go again". By we, i mean them. it has been one major topic of conversations in class. i on the other hand was a little bit excited at the prospect of watching this italian 'culture' for the first time. alas, at 9.32, kailash (coursemate, friend, motivator) smsed "the trains are working!" and we all went about our day as usual.

Took the Metro B to Termini, changed to Metro A at Termini for the Flaminio stop, walked in the rain for about 1 kilometer, i arrived at the insurance company to purchase my resident insurance. Strange how in Kuala Lumpur the agents would be hounding you and here you do all the work. i guess they save their aggression for something more beneficial...like a strike.

Walked back to Flaminio station, took the Metro A for Termini, saw some people holding flags and banner from inside the coach, changed to Metro B for Basilica San Paolo station, walked another kilometer or so to the nearest PosteItaliane to our apartment to hand over my 'Permesso di Soggiorno' document. After a combination of bad english, unintelligible italian and sign language, the whole thing costed me some 70 odd Euros. on the way back, a driver in a fiat turning the corner screeched to a stop a couple of feet from me as i was crossing the road - the guy in my light was green - go figure.

Walking in rome in autumn is so pleasant if you can handle the psychotic/idiotic drivers. i can walk and walk and walk and continue to walk. today was an exception - it rained. and even then it is somewhat pleasant if you dont mind the soggy shoes.

at home, i toasted some cheese and tomato on bread sprinkled with olive oil. served it with some grapes on the side. bruschetta for lunch. on the balcony. very the italian.

we have 5 days of free days before we hit the statistic background classes next week. we crash-coursed a one term economics course in 24 hours last week. between the curves that are actually straight lines, state of equilibrium that constantly changes and notional neoclassical views on growth/wage that are used to rule the real world, we were all exhausted.

"hey, it's friday night. would you like to do something? onyelkachi is with me, and we can see of thais is free too," said kailash on the line. i had better get ready. it's just another friday afternoon in rome.

Santa Maria Degli Angeli

At the Airport

"You've always wanted space from your family. Perhaps now you will appreciate us more," she said as we hugged goodbye.

was i that bad? :p no, dont answer.