The Dark Heart of Italy
it's a very well written book by the british writer Tobias Jones. The ISBN code is
0-571-21424. The link on amazon is
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865477248/qid=1117521794/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-3440296-7543927
Nando gave me this book upon my arrival. Among a zillion things to do, fun and frustrating (from
the permesso di soggiorno that has yet to be issued to the trips in Toscana, Ariccia and Sicilia,
fom painting at home to annoying problems at the border in Fiumicino) I had not had a chance to read this book
till yesterday. It's simply fantastic. Many friends ask me why I have not updated this blog.
I wanted too but I was afraid of putting too many negative stories beside the great wine and cheese
adventures. So I decided to wait before uploading some of the entries.
If you wonder what is so frustrating then you need to read this book. If you re not Italian or have live
in the US or UK then you migh appreciate it even more. As the author explains, he covers many of those little
details and subtle aspects of Italy that are never covered in any travel guide. not even on Lonely Planet!
More on this soon - I hope. Shahram
Monday, May 30, 2005
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
Cervical Erosionand Hpv
Culture Shock
Many people have asked me why no updates have been made since February 1st. I think the short answer is: culture shock. when all of a sudden every little thing that was 'different' seemed to be annoying and frustrating, despite the great wine and many many dinners and lunches at 'Taverna dei Briganti'!, I figured it had to be culture shock.
So rather than nagging about all sort of details and be angry about it I decided to let it go for a while and come back to these details when I had a chance of being objective about them. Not sure if that time has come yet but I'll try to explain some of the striking moments in the last 40 days: the application for the permit of stay (permesso di soggiorno) and the romanian family with their 2 kids who has spent the night in fron of the office, the 4 times that I was almost run over by some idiots when trying to cross the street, the old ladies at the super market who would intentionally ignore me in the line at the cashier to my greatest amusement!, the overcrowded buses in the morning , the oma fans during the Roma-Juve soccer match at Stadio Olimpico, the incredible welcome party at fontana di Trevi, and finally the breathtaking view at the intersection of Via XX Settembre e Via delle 4 Fontane.
When I think about it though it's funny that I actually suffered from culture shock. after allI had spent 11 years here in Rome and I had grown up here before going to the US. Many friends in the US called me the 'italian due' because of my way of doing things. So 7 years later it was pretty funny and perhaps emblematic when in more than one place here in Rome people called me the 'american guy'.
A few years ago there was this line in a U2 song that I loved because it resepected very well my state of mind: Home, Hard to know what it is if you have never had one.
I recall how much I missed Rome after moving to San Diego. And now I seriously miss the Pacific Ocean and its view in the morning. Somehow the last 7 years have offset the previous 11. So while I'm enjoying the beautiul city of Rome with the eyes of an adult I can't stop being critical of the things that I don't like and maybe I'll never accept anymore. There is only one thing that makes all this worthwhile. And that's my brother and knowing that now I get to see him and share a few hours a day with him for a while.
Many people have asked me why no updates have been made since February 1st. I think the short answer is: culture shock. when all of a sudden every little thing that was 'different' seemed to be annoying and frustrating, despite the great wine and many many dinners and lunches at 'Taverna dei Briganti'!, I figured it had to be culture shock.
So rather than nagging about all sort of details and be angry about it I decided to let it go for a while and come back to these details when I had a chance of being objective about them. Not sure if that time has come yet but I'll try to explain some of the striking moments in the last 40 days: the application for the permit of stay (permesso di soggiorno) and the romanian family with their 2 kids who has spent the night in fron of the office, the 4 times that I was almost run over by some idiots when trying to cross the street, the old ladies at the super market who would intentionally ignore me in the line at the cashier to my greatest amusement!, the overcrowded buses in the morning , the oma fans during the Roma-Juve soccer match at Stadio Olimpico, the incredible welcome party at fontana di Trevi, and finally the breathtaking view at the intersection of Via XX Settembre e Via delle 4 Fontane.
When I think about it though it's funny that I actually suffered from culture shock. after allI had spent 11 years here in Rome and I had grown up here before going to the US. Many friends in the US called me the 'italian due' because of my way of doing things. So 7 years later it was pretty funny and perhaps emblematic when in more than one place here in Rome people called me the 'american guy'.
A few years ago there was this line in a U2 song that I loved because it resepected very well my state of mind: Home, Hard to know what it is if you have never had one.
I recall how much I missed Rome after moving to San Diego. And now I seriously miss the Pacific Ocean and its view in the morning. Somehow the last 7 years have offset the previous 11. So while I'm enjoying the beautiul city of Rome with the eyes of an adult I can't stop being critical of the things that I don't like and maybe I'll never accept anymore. There is only one thing that makes all this worthwhile. And that's my brother and knowing that now I get to see him and share a few hours a day with him for a while.
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Business Plans About Poultry Farm
Horoscope!
when did you last read yours? I did read it about 7 years ago... until last night! :-)
I was on a brand new Mercedes city bus with the LCD displays in the middle. It was striking
how many people were carefully listening to their horoscope for the day/week/month.
somehow the horoscope is not this popular in the US. and I had forgotten about it completely until last night.
What occurred to me, while observing the people on the bus, was that it's probably to have masses
in the bullshit from the stars instead of the lies and bullshit from Fox News.
In fact recently at many gas stations (pompe di benzina) in the US they have started adding fox news
broadcasting to the color LCD's while you fill up your tank. I'm sure Orwell is shaking in his grave.
If this is not the Big Brother Bush propaganda I don't know what else it can be.
when did you last read yours? I did read it about 7 years ago... until last night! :-)
I was on a brand new Mercedes city bus with the LCD displays in the middle. It was striking
how many people were carefully listening to their horoscope for the day/week/month.
somehow the horoscope is not this popular in the US. and I had forgotten about it completely until last night.
What occurred to me, while observing the people on the bus, was that it's probably to have masses
in the bullshit from the stars instead of the lies and bullshit from Fox News.
In fact recently at many gas stations (pompe di benzina) in the US they have started adding fox news
broadcasting to the color LCD's while you fill up your tank. I'm sure Orwell is shaking in his grave.
If this is not the Big Brother Bush propaganda I don't know what else it can be.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
How To Insert .jpg File In Autocad
Cell Phone and SMS
if you don't have _AT LEAST_ one then you do not exist!
Do you send at least 10 SMS's per day? no? then what are you an alien?
if at this point you are asking yourself 'what the fuck is an SMS anyway?' then you
are simply from planet Mars or beyond. :-)
I have sent and received more messages, and used my cell phone more in the last 4 days
than in the previous 3 years! I'm already thinking of getting a second one so that I
can have cheap rates with all Vodafone subscribers as well as WIND subscribers. :-)
Decartes once said: Cogito erogo sum (or something like this), but right now it must read
SMS ergo sum! :-D
Good night! Shahram
if you don't have _AT LEAST_ one then you do not exist!
Do you send at least 10 SMS's per day? no? then what are you an alien?
if at this point you are asking yourself 'what the fuck is an SMS anyway?' then you
are simply from planet Mars or beyond. :-)
I have sent and received more messages, and used my cell phone more in the last 4 days
than in the previous 3 years! I'm already thinking of getting a second one so that I
can have cheap rates with all Vodafone subscribers as well as WIND subscribers. :-)
Decartes once said: Cogito erogo sum (or something like this), but right now it must read
SMS ergo sum! :-D
Good night! Shahram
Melina Velba And Friends
First 3 days
Hard to define a 'mood' for these notes. Since there is no wireless :-) I wrote them at different times and with very different moods from pissed off to ecstatic. I'm pretty sure you can tell my mood from the notes.
one thing though: the traffic is so crazy to be almost funny. 405 near LAX at 3pm in LA doesn't look that bad any more. :-)
26 January
SMART:
I saw the first one on our way yo my old place from the airport.
I thought someone with a toy car (I'm dead serious!) had got on
the highway by mistake. I was then told this was the famous SMART car
(I really think the name is meant to be ironic) which has a
Mercedes engine and a swatch (the fancy swiss watch company) cover.
roma nord:
I was misquoted on this one in Francesca's account. What I recalled
from my old neighborhood was far from the reality today. to some extent
it reminded me of the dirtier part of East village in NY. crowded
like crazy and pretty old compared to the images in my head.
when we first moved to this neighborhood in 1996 I thought it looked too
new and industrial compared to the beautiful 'old' and ancient centro storico
di Roma.
6 years spent in california in places that are at most 20 years old, and now
all of a sudden this place looks 'old' (not in a good way).
Next week Francesca will take me for a tour of Colosseo and all around it
on her motorino. I already know that's gonna be a wonderful view of
old buildings. :-)
28 January
food:
well let's start with the best thing so far: food!
of course not unexpected but way too good to be true.
from the cheap sandwich on campus for 1.60 euro, to the espresso
at the bar (meant as a coffee shop in Italy and not a place for liquor
as intended in the US:-)), from pizza al taglio, to fior di latte
and mozzarella from GS supermarkets, the quality is just superb!
Food tastes good and there's no more that disturbing sweet taste in
everything. Not to mention that the calorie content of the stuff
actually makes sense now. :-)
Even the 'cornetto alla crema' at the airport tasted great. and I had
my first supli` at a rosticceria in the neighborhood tonite after
6.5 year!
bad bad bad: bureaucracy! It was bad then it is probably worse now.
It took 2 days to find out who to talk to about my starting the job.
This was the easy part.
Obtaining the permit of stay (il permesso di soggiorno) is by far more confusing.
Nobody has seen a contract like mine, nor has any idea which documents
could be needed to apply for my soggiorno! This is supposed to be
done within the first 8days after one's entry. 2 days are lost and
6 more to go. Needless to say the official website of the police department
has nothing useful on this regard. The information reported are correct
(probably) but apply only for a specific set of jobs. More on this on
Monday. This can potentially become a pain in the ass since anything
I can think of doing requires me first having the soggiorno issued:
bank account, visa to other countries, just to mention a couple of
things that come to mind.
overall this has been the most frustrating and discouraging aspect
of being back.
Luckily there is Daniele's mom who has come to save me twice in the last 14 days.
Looks like I can now go to the police office (in 6 hours) and hopefully file for
my permesso di soggiorno. :-))
How does it compare to the US? It just doesn't. In the US things
can go slowly sometimes but one knows _exactly_ what to do, where,
what to expect. here it's more of a hit-and-miss style. not efficient
and definitely not pleasant.
transportation:
certainly improved. way more busses all over the place. I could
find my way easily. and even the website http://www.atac.roma.it
works really nicely and gives useful and correct information. I must
admit this goes by far beyond my expectation. But of course there
is the problem of traffic...
traffic:
if you thought LA or SD were bad, well come to Rome for a change.
It took only a few hours here to realize that what I called traffic
in SoCal is a funny joke down here. I still look around amazed by the
number of cars and moving objects on the streets. Not sure how long
before I'll dare to drive or ride one myself. Hopefully sometime before
the end of February or I'll be in trouble checking out the night scene. :-)
Hard to define a 'mood' for these notes. Since there is no wireless :-) I wrote them at different times and with very different moods from pissed off to ecstatic. I'm pretty sure you can tell my mood from the notes.
one thing though: the traffic is so crazy to be almost funny. 405 near LAX at 3pm in LA doesn't look that bad any more. :-)
26 January
SMART:
I saw the first one on our way yo my old place from the airport.
I thought someone with a toy car (I'm dead serious!) had got on
the highway by mistake. I was then told this was the famous SMART car
(I really think the name is meant to be ironic) which has a
Mercedes engine and a swatch (the fancy swiss watch company) cover.
roma nord:
I was misquoted on this one in Francesca's account. What I recalled
from my old neighborhood was far from the reality today. to some extent
it reminded me of the dirtier part of East village in NY. crowded
like crazy and pretty old compared to the images in my head.
when we first moved to this neighborhood in 1996 I thought it looked too
new and industrial compared to the beautiful 'old' and ancient centro storico
di Roma.
6 years spent in california in places that are at most 20 years old, and now
all of a sudden this place looks 'old' (not in a good way).
Next week Francesca will take me for a tour of Colosseo and all around it
on her motorino. I already know that's gonna be a wonderful view of
old buildings. :-)
28 January
food:
well let's start with the best thing so far: food!
of course not unexpected but way too good to be true.
from the cheap sandwich on campus for 1.60 euro, to the espresso
at the bar (meant as a coffee shop in Italy and not a place for liquor
as intended in the US:-)), from pizza al taglio, to fior di latte
and mozzarella from GS supermarkets, the quality is just superb!
Food tastes good and there's no more that disturbing sweet taste in
everything. Not to mention that the calorie content of the stuff
actually makes sense now. :-)
Even the 'cornetto alla crema' at the airport tasted great. and I had
my first supli` at a rosticceria in the neighborhood tonite after
6.5 year!
bad bad bad: bureaucracy! It was bad then it is probably worse now.
It took 2 days to find out who to talk to about my starting the job.
This was the easy part.
Obtaining the permit of stay (il permesso di soggiorno) is by far more confusing.
Nobody has seen a contract like mine, nor has any idea which documents
could be needed to apply for my soggiorno! This is supposed to be
done within the first 8days after one's entry. 2 days are lost and
6 more to go. Needless to say the official website of the police department
has nothing useful on this regard. The information reported are correct
(probably) but apply only for a specific set of jobs. More on this on
Monday. This can potentially become a pain in the ass since anything
I can think of doing requires me first having the soggiorno issued:
bank account, visa to other countries, just to mention a couple of
things that come to mind.
overall this has been the most frustrating and discouraging aspect
of being back.
Luckily there is Daniele's mom who has come to save me twice in the last 14 days.
Looks like I can now go to the police office (in 6 hours) and hopefully file for
my permesso di soggiorno. :-))
How does it compare to the US? It just doesn't. In the US things
can go slowly sometimes but one knows _exactly_ what to do, where,
what to expect. here it's more of a hit-and-miss style. not efficient
and definitely not pleasant.
transportation:
certainly improved. way more busses all over the place. I could
find my way easily. and even the website http://www.atac.roma.it
works really nicely and gives useful and correct information. I must
admit this goes by far beyond my expectation. But of course there
is the problem of traffic...
traffic:
if you thought LA or SD were bad, well come to Rome for a change.
It took only a few hours here to realize that what I called traffic
in SoCal is a funny joke down here. I still look around amazed by the
number of cars and moving objects on the streets. Not sure how long
before I'll dare to drive or ride one myself. Hopefully sometime before
the end of February or I'll be in trouble checking out the night scene. :-)
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