Mostly about me, too boring?

Happy birthday!

2009-06-01T19:56:00.000+03:00

Normally I would say this would be as good a day as any other to start writing my blog again, but it's not. It's a better day than most, since exactly one year ago I moved to live in Paris.
Now of course this is not a breaking news since if you did not know about this, it means we are absolutely not in touch, hence you couldn't care less about the city I live in. :)
So let's recap what happened during these 643 (or 1 year, 9 months, 4 days) since my last post.
Last time I wrote I just left Finland to moved to Den Haag, in Holland. So I have to report you about my experience in Holland and France.
The fans of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" among you will surely appreciate my accurate description of Holland after living there for almost one year: mostly boring (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Mostly_Harmless).
I can't hide I was happy to leave the country and leave that period of my life behind me. I went there with four good friends and since then only one of them is still in Holland and went so far to start his family there. The other four spread around: me in France, one in Sweden, an two back home in Finland and Turkey.
That was one negative part of leaving Holland, since it's not easy to part from good friends.
An other thing I miss it's my huge flat. I had a 140 sqm flat on two floors just overseeing a park. It was just awesome. Now here in Paris I have a much smaller flat nowhere near a park, and it was damn hard to find it.
To be fair, some pretty funny stuff worth remembering happened in Holland. I will just say "shellfish, what shellfish?" Yeah, I know. It's an inside joke, but that's life. ;)
And then I found a job in Paris, again for my "historic" employer.
I was supposed to move in April but then I was able to push it a bit to June.
Coming to Paris was an historic change. I started to meet people the same day I arrived, and I kept meeting cool people ever since.
At the very beginning I was so thirsty of social interaction because of our miserable life in Holland that I was going out every evening. Bars, restaurants, picnics "En plein air", river cruises, and a lot of friends from Italy or Finland introduced me their friends in Paris.
I've heard many times that moving in Paris can be alienating and that's very hard to meet people. I know exactly what that means. There is so much stuff going on in Paris and everyone here is so busy that you really have to make an extra effort to grab someone's attention if you want to meet them again. Because there is always a party go to, a friend calling for a drink or some other cool stuff. So for an outsider it's hard to fit it.
Paradoxically, my miserable life in Holland helped me out. I was so anxious not to end up in Paris as I was in Holland that I did all I could to make friends. And I managed. :)
Fast forward: one year later.
Incredibly as it might sound to whom knows me well, I'm still in Paris and I still enjoy it. I get to travel a bit thanks to my work (I was in Slovenia, Germany and Italy).
I do speak some French (but I have no clue how to write it), I still meet cool people (albeit I have to admit very few of them are French) and most importantly I have no plans to leave for the time being.

I've heard I have a new reader. ;-) So I'm curious to see if my last post will be noticed. ;-)

Au revoir,

alfonso

Like a swiss clock

2007-08-28T22:29:00.000+03:00

Well, an other month.

Man! Time flies!

Originally (that is, three weeks ago), I wanted to blog on the weekend I spent in Italy to pick up my motorbike. I guess I will do that, but I want to write something more later this week (lazy bastard!).

So, let's start from the beginning.

As soon as I moved to The Netherlands, I had the wish to reunite with my beloved motorbike, so exactly the second weekend (!!) after I came here I flew to Italy, one way... ;-)

The organization started well in advanced. I had to unblock the insurance (otherwise I couldn't drive!), find a flight and find the best way to come from Italy to The Netherlands.

Unblocking (reactivating?) the insurance was the hardest part: I had to keep my finger crossed hoping that the new papers from the insurance would be able to travel 500km in three days. If you never sent mail in Italy, you can't understand this point. ;-)

About the way to travel back with the motorbike, at first I planned to drive all the way, sleeping in Germany Saturday night. It was just 1.000km, and on the German highway (the autobahn) there is no speed limit... But then a friend gave me a great idea: bring my motorbike with the train! Of course, no electronic ticket for that, so I had to buy it over the phone and a friend in Milan picked up the ticket for me.

And finally, the cherry on the icing: the motorbike, to run in Italy, needed a compulsory check to a mechanic (so called "revisione") since four years are elapsed since I bought it. I found a mechanic's number through a friend and (incredible!) Saturday morning was his last workday before holidays!

To be totally ready, I borrowed a GPS addon for my mobile phone, so that I would be able to see the road with it.

So, as you can see, it was planned as a typical, relaxing weekend.

I landed in Milan Malpensa airport around 10pm and the first good news came to welcoming back in my home country: the first bus for Lugano was leaving in about an hour. I decided to do something nice for my sisters (who hates to drive, especially to pick me up) and I took a taxi to the train station. During the short ride, I had to listen to the driver's complains because in the whole day he just had two customers, both going to the closest train station. I didn't feel really sympathetic towards him, thinking about the 100 EUR he would charge for the 50km from the airport to Milan.
Nevertheless, I reached the train station (about 25 EUR). The train brings me much closer to my parents' house. I told the change in plan to my sister and I started my journey.
About one hour later I was at the station. My sister was already waiting for me (maybe the first time in ten years?) and I reached my parents' house around midnight.

Few minutes after stepping into the house, we started arguing, but I am not gonna talk about that... ;-)

After dinner I started preparing for the next day. I prepared a small baggage, made sure the motorbike was all right and I checked the papers from the insurance (they actually came on Thursday!!!).

The next day, Saturday, I woke up at 6am, since the appoinment at the mechanic was for 9am. Since the motorbike was not used for more than one year, I disconnected its battery, which went totally flat in the meanwhile.

Using the appropriate cables, I connected the motorbike's battery to the car's, in order to turn it on. As you know, the battery charges while you are driving. But you need to drive for a while before the battery has enough power to turn on the engine again. So, if my engine would stop, I would be in trouble.

I started driving toward the mechanic, but once I was in the right town, I didn't know how to find it. I stopped to ask to someone and to avoid the noise, I turned off the engine. You guessed, the battery was still too low to turn on my engine again. I felt so stupid! But I had been lucky, I was on a slope: I just let the motorbike go freely downhill, I put the gear on and I turned the engine on.

Once I reached the mechanic and I started talking with him, he told me he didn't plan any work for that day. He was only supposed to clean before holiday period, but he did an exception to help me since at the phone I explained my situation to him. That (i.e. "an exception") is what I miss about Italy. Here (pretty much like in Finland), a rule is a rule, and the concept of bending a rule doesn't have space in people's mind. Somehow I have the feeling that here in The Netherlands they just enjoy red tape (burocracy).

Less than an hour later, I was on the road again, heading to Milan to pickup my train ticket.

I reached my friend's place, picked up the ticket and headed to Verona, where the train would leave. I was even there before the scheduled time to load the train! ;-)

Now a little cultural corner about Italy: the nice and friendly personnel from the train company (Trenitalia) that was supposed to check-in the drivers was speaking ONLY ITALIAN. The train was heading to Düsseldorf, it was full of Germans and Dutch, but the guy didn't speak a word of English, German or Dutch. I cannot guess for how long he did that work, but still the car's plate was "the ID", with the result that people always showed their passport when he was asking for "auto ID"... No comment.
Luckily a lady from the German train company (Die Bahn) was speaking German, English and Italian. By the way, the website for this service is dbautozug.

This is what my motorbike looked like after they loaded it. They also locked it so that it wouldn't move, but the picture was take after they took the locks away:

For the first hour or so I was alone, and then in Bolzano a family (father and son) from Germany joined my coach. They were actually a very funny couple. The father was probably on his late forties, and the son was 10 or so. They had a week of holidays together with a motorbike. We had a nice chat during the evening.

The next morning, around 7am, I was ready to drive from Düsseldorf to Den Haag, except I didn't have a clue which way to drive! This is when I turned on the GPS, but how to see the mobile's screen while driving? Have a look:

This looks crazy, I know. But believe me, it worked! I linked the mobile to the engine's key.

Without the GPS I would have been so lost! Sunday morning (7am) in August in Düsseldorf. There was nobody to whom ask for any indication.

Believe it or not on the highway the phone didn't move up to 200km/h in the autobahn.

Yes, this is the other thing I wanted to tell you. I reached twice, only for few seconds, 200km/h. It wasn't particularly fun. It's probably the kind of stupid thing men do. I did.

There were two way to tell when I crossed the border from Germany to The Netherlands. One was a sign on the side of the road, the other was that everyone slowed down to 120km/h. :-(

At that was it. I finally have my motorbike here with me! The fact that everything went exactly as planned made very happy.

But I cannot hide the truth to you. After four years, I had the first small accident with this motorbike. Few days ago I went to the cinema and while I was watching the movie it started raining. The area where I live is a damn maze of tram rails, and even if I know all the theory about it, I slipped on one tram rail. My bruises are almost gone, but my little bike will carry the scar for much longer. I guess shit happens. :-(

Stay tuned! More soon on the incredible amount of red tape in The Netherlands.

alfonso

The Netherlands

2007-07-28T20:01:00.000+03:00

Almost two months! This is for sure the longest time without any update in my blog. So what happened during these two months?

Well, I think it's quite a long list of events I'd like to talk about!

In June I spent a week of holidays in Italy, and I went for the weekend near Naples, where my grandmother lives. I really would like to create a special post for that weekend, so more about it later.

Then in July I was contacted for a job offer (and this is the main reason that kept me off the blog) and here you go.

NOW I LIVE IN THE NETHERLANDS!

I left my previous employer and I started a new job in the same technology area I used to work. But this time I will not have to travel, which I think it's good, so I will be able to have a more stable lifestyle and I will visit my girlfriend more often (she lives in Paris). You're free to quote this sentence when I will start complaining about lack of traveling in my new job! ;)

Of course, a change of country brings a lot of other changes too! I had to plan a move (and it wasn't easy, believe me), try to sell my furniture (which I managed to do!) and find a new flat in The Netherlands.

But now I'm here, and I like it! A live in an area of The Hague called Scheveningen. It's a very nice looking street, with only two floors building and it's very quiet and peaceful. It's only 10-15 minutes far from the sea as you can see from this map.

Yesterday I went walking on the beach with a colleague and I took some picture. Here you can see how many windsurfs and kitesurfs there were in the sea. It was really windy, but really great.

I really enjoyed walking and talking on the beach. It was very nice. In the evening we had a nice Argentinian dinner and we went home pretty early. For the whole week we slept about 6 hours a day because we were commuting to a different city. 4 extra hours every day.

I spent today doing laundry and answering emails and planning my trip from Italy to here with my motorbike. I bought a one-way ticket to Italy and I plan to drive back with my motorbike. So finally, after 17 months, I will start using my motorbike again! Great!

Enjoy!

alfonso

Poetry

2007-06-07T20:44:00.000+03:00

Hi all.

These days, on the BBC, I can see the new advertisement for Italia (did you know Italy spent 45 millions Euro to relaunch Italy's image of which 10 millions were used for the new web portal http://www.italia.it?).

I have to say, I really like it. I couldn't find the video online.

A voice reads some Italian poems and sentences from novels.

I really like one poem by Vincenzo Cardarelli that I've never heard before:

Non so dove i gabbiani abbiano il nido, ove trovino pace.
Io son come loro, in perpetuo volo.

I don't know where seagulls have their nest, where they rest.
I'm like them, perpetually flying.

So I changed the old description of the blog which was:

Sono un emigrante, ma del XXI secolo. Così invece delle cartoline e della valigia di cartone, ecco il mio blog... Spero mi aiuterà a rimanere in contatto con gli amici!

Also, regarding poems, there was one poem I wanted to share with you. This is by Cecco Angiolieri a poet who lived in Siena in the XIII and XIV centuries:

S' i' fosse foco, arderei 'l mondo;
s' i' fosse vento, lo tempesterei;
s' i' fosse acqua, i' l'annegherei,
s' i' fosse Dio, mandereil' en profondo;
s' i' fosse papa, sare' allor giocondo,
ché tutt' i cristiani imbrigherei;
s' i' fosse 'mperator, sa' che farei?
a tutti mozzerei lo capo a tondo.
S' i' fosse morte, andarei da mio padre;
s' i' fosse vita, fuggirei da lui:
similmente farìa da mi' madre.
S' i' fosse Cecco, com' i' sono e fui,
torrei le donne giovani e leggiadre,
e vecchie e laide lasserei altrui.

Translation:

If I was fire I would burn up the world;
If I was wind, I would blow it apart;
If I was water, I would drown it,
If I was God I would throw it into the pit,
If I was the pope I would be doing fine
And cut off all the Christians’ nuts;
If I was Empereor, what would I do?
I would cut off everyone’s heads with one blow.
If I was death, I would embrace my father;
If I was life, I would run away from him:
Likewise with my mother.
If I was Cecco, as I am and always have been,
I would take all the young and good-looking women
And leave the ugly ones for everyone else.

Au revoir,

alfonso

bitter cabbages (cavoli amari)

2007-06-05T20:31:00.000+03:00

Hi all.

THIS IS FUNNY or at least it is for me... :-)

Yesterday I went to have dinner at a friend's place here in Paris. She did food shopping and then we went home and chat while she was cooking. At some point she started freaking out saying something like: "Oh my God, how could I forget that?". I didn't know what she was talking about but after she calmed down I realized she forgot buying cabbage. Since it was already 8:30pm and we were not in the centre of the city, she was sure we couldn't get a cabbage, but I told her I was sure we could find one.

So we went out and tried all the groceries shops around her place but they where all closed. So I tried to ask in a restaurant (mind you: I don't speak a word of French and English is not so common here, but I managed to find always nice people willing to try to comunicate with me) and they told us about an other groceries shop nearby. That was open, but he didn't have any cabbage. I said: "You see: this is already good news, now you know an other shop near your place which is open long hours!".

But then the real fun started: I started to go into each and every restaurant trying to buy a "chou" (the name in French). In general people were reacting in a nice way. In the first restaurant they tried to ask in the kitchen but there was no cabbage. I learnt that cabbage is not a common food ingredient in French cuisine. :-)

But then I saw a Japanese restaurant and since my friend was cooking Japanese food, I thought that I found my solution! I went in but unfortunately the people inside the restaurant didn't speak neither English nor Japanese (my friend is Japanese). So I started to ask about "chou" and they said they had it. Great! When I was about to pay, I read on the check "chou salade", so cabbage salad. I started to explain them I needed the full cabbage, but it was not so easy without a common language between us! Finally the younger waitress said: "home cooking?" and the magic was done. Few mintues later I walked away with a plastic bag and a cabbage, and a big smile.

Ciao,

alfonso

Oulu

2007-06-01T21:30:00.000+03:00

More than two weeks silence... I'm really a lazy guy!

This post is about last week. Actually I will change the date to last week so that there will be no record of my laziness... ;-)

I spent the last two days of May in Oulu, which is a town (130.000 people) around 500km north of Helsinki. Something that you learn flying north from Helsinki is that it's very hard to say who lives north. This should be a lesson for the "North League", an Italian political party whose main political idea is to distinguish Italy in who lives North and who lives South...

As you might easily imagine, the city is very quite.

Unfortunately there is not much that I can tell you about it, since I was there only one night and I didn't really go around. I had dinner in a Turkish restaurant called Istanbul and it was very good!

The only story I have is from my previous trip to Oulu. Since the weather was cold (500km north of Helsinki, just to remind you) I decided to go to the cinema. During the movie I moved my jacket and my mobile phone that was in a pocket fell on the floor. When the movie ended I found the mobile phone and walked away. During dinner I realized that I lost also my GPS receiver in the cinema. When I went back an other movie was already started in the room, so I couldn't go and check. I told what happened to the people working in the cinema and I left my number.

No I know it's not easy to believe it if, for example, you live in Italy. But at the end of the second show I got a phone call and they even brought the GPS back to my hotel. Welcome to Finland.

Ciao,

alfonso

Pizza Italians

2007-05-14T14:35:00.000+03:00

Last weeks Beppe Severgnini, an Italian journalist and book writer was in Finland, so (following his usual custom) a pizza was organized in the country for all the Italians that follow his forum on the internet called Italians.

It was actually a very funny evening. On his forum, he mainly gives voice to Italians who live abroad. Some people are complaining about the country they are visiting, some people are very happy to have moved abroad. Some (like me) complain that Italians don't really have a choice anymore if they want to have a decent salary and a challenging job without any "hidden sponsor" that puts them in a nice and cosy position...

This is the picture from that evening of the people seated at my same table.

Alfonso

Vappu (two weeks later)

2007-05-14T14:15:00.000+03:00

I've been lazy these last weeks, but now it's time to update the blog.

Two weeks ago, Tuesday 1st of May, in Finland there has been a great party that every year involves all the population: Vappu.

This is already the second year I write about it. You can read about last year Vappu.

Year after year, I still love this holiday and I would do everything possible to have the traditional pic-nic in Kaivopuisto, a nice park by the sea. This year I was especially happy since the weather was bad before and after Vappu, but on 1st of May the sky was blue and the temperature was not so cold. :-)

I will try to show you some different picture than last year. In this first picture you can see the huge crowd in Senaatintori (whit the big white tuomiokirkko in the background):

This is a picture taken during the pic-nic: as you can see drinking and partying take a toll... :-)

Happy Vappu! Hyvää Vappua!

alfonso

Faces

2007-04-25T18:35:00.000+03:00

Hi all!

I'm back in Helsinki, Finland... :-O

I was looking at my pictures, and I realized that I shoot very rarely faces, but I also think that when I do so, I get great shots. The first is from San Miguel De Allende in Mexico, the second is from Krabi in Thailand.

Enjoy!

Songkran: the most regulated wild party

2007-04-20T13:22:00.000+03:00

Last week it was Thai New Year.

It lasts from 13th to 15th of April. The party highlight (for "farang" - foreigners in Thai language) is a stroll in Khao Sarn Road in Bangkok where everyone is armed with a plastic water gun and powder to cream everyone's face.

I feel really lucky since I spent Songkran with Thai friends. On Thursday evening we went together to a big club called "Holliwood" where most of the people were Thai. The place is really different from any club I've ever been before. There is a huge catwalk in the middle on the floor and there is live music and a huge amount of girls singing and dancing on the catwalk. The one thing I was most impressed by is how all Thai people were paying respect to unwritten rules. Up till midnight, hardly nobody shot water with their gun and then, after midnight, the wild party started. While the people started shooting at each other, on the catwalk the girls were less and less dressed (please note: most of the audiance in the club were Thai girls). At the end a group of them had just a star on their nipples... I'm not sure about this last batch of girls, but all the other after the show on the catwalk were just joining the crowd and mingle with them.

Anyway, something I really liked was that nobody throw anything (other than water) and for the whole night (despite the heavy usage of alchool) the guns were always loaded just with plain clean water.

I feel great respect for a population that can enjoy a wild party without loosing respect for some basic rules. After unexpectedly shooting a complete stranger, the usual custom was to bow with join hands to salute and thank the shooter... :-)

The first pictures are from Flickr (just search for Songkran or Kao San). The following shows one of the many great performances in the Holliwood. :-)

Yellow Monday in Bangkok

2007-04-04T12:34:00.000+03:00

Hi there!!!

I'm in Bangkok, Thailand!

This is my second week here and I can say I really really like it! There is so much more to see and to do here (I can already imagine the comments...). The touristy weekend was great. I saw the Grand Palace, China town, Wat Po, Wat Arun and I spent one day with two colleagues in the "Ancient City". But also during the week there are so many things to see and do! The night bazaar, Thai massage, Thai boxing...

I wanted to share with you this quite interesting thing I saw last Monday. Most of the people in the street (and also in the office) was wearing a yellow shirt. Thailand is yellow on every Monday to celebrate the king 80th birthday and the 60th anniversary of his access to the throne.

Coming from Europe (and from Italy) it's really striking to imagine that Thai people care so much about their king to dress in a specific way on their own will to celebrate him.

I also had a very interesting conversation at lunch about the traditional Thai culture. Quite interesting (at least from my point of view) to learn that even so far away from the reach of Catolic teaching, in the old Thai culture was very important to have sex only after marriage.

As you say in Italian: "tutto il mondo è paese", literally: "all the world is like a small town": the habits are very similar in every corner of the world! :)

Next week: holiday in south Thailand. I truly deserve them!

Ciao,

alfonso

Munich (two weeks later)

2007-04-04T12:10:00.000+03:00

Hi!

I know, I know, I've been really lazy lately, but these days I've been really busy...

So before I tell you something about my present location, please let me share these pictures with you about my hotel in Munich and tell you something about my week there.

As you can see, the room was on two floors!!! :) It was the first time I see something like this and I really like this kind of setup, so I just decided to show it to you! The hotel was really close to the city centre (Hauptbahnhof).

About Munich: the week there was really great! I met some new colleagues and I also met Riccardo, and old flatmate from my time in Milan as university student. Sooooooooo long ago!!!

7 years ago he moved to Munich and he has been living there since then. It was a real pleasure to see him and get to talk to him. He has a good suggestion for a nice club for every night, so I've been partying quite much there. On Saturday night we went to a small club called Cohiba (if I remember it right) and we met an Italian friend of Riccardo: Pietro. As soon as we started dancing we met two girls and start talking English with them. You guessed it: they were Italian... ;-)
So we started dancing and after the place closed we went on to an all-night-open diner. We said goodbye at 8am. A very funny evening indeed. :-)

Ciao,

alfonso

Munich under the snow

2007-03-21T16:37:00.001+02:00

Munich under the snow
Originally uploaded by fonso78.

Hi there! This week I'm in Munich. Today should be the first day of spring but look at how the city looks this morning. :-)

Munich under the snow

2007-03-21T16:37:00.000+02:00

Munich under the snow
Originally uploaded by fonso78.

Hi there! This week I'm in Munich. Today should be the first day of spring but look at how the city looks this morning. :-)

Home sweet home

2007-03-18T18:03:00.000+02:00

Home sweet home
Originally uploaded by fonso78.

Hi all. Just landed in Helsinki and I found a warm welcome waiting for me: a snow storm... :-) I spent the weekend in Milan, where I saw few friends and I had a ride on my motorbike. It was a very nice and relaxing weekend. :-) Tomorrow I'll fly again. To Munich! Ciao, Alfonso

Happy Birthday to me!

2007-03-14T03:24:00.000+02:00

Yesterday (Monday) it was my birthday. I'm now 29 and soon I will be 30. Amazing.

I received a lot of messages from you (my friends!) and I was very happy about it.

Usually is not really something important for me but maybe since I'm not in the best mood these days I appreciated it even more.

Thank you!

It's the second birthday I spend in Latin America. Last year I was in Brazil... ;-)

To celebrate I went out for the weekend to Querétaro and San Miguel de Allende, two very nice cities about 4-5 hours bus from Mexico City.

In San Miguel I rented a horse with Amelie (a French friend) and I had a ride in the countryside. Very relaxing. Trotting was not very good for my back, so yesterday I was very soar... :-)

It was my first time on a horse and I was very surprised how simple it was to learn the basics. They helped us climbing the horse and then they put us in closed ring and taught us for 20 minutes how to let the horse go straight, turn left and right and trotting. Afterwards we rode in the countryside for one and a half hour.

Monday evening I went to eat in very nice Japanese restaurant, as you can see from the picture. :)

Happy birthday to me!

Cheers,

alfonso

I'm a horse

2007-03-10T06:56:00.000+02:00

Today, after a meeting with the customer I went with some colleagues in a restaurant and we had a long (very long - as you can see) business lunch.

Among the very many subjects of conversation (believe it or not, two guys at the table worked in Japan for several years... guess what was one of the main topics?!?!) we bumped into Chinese zodiac. Since I'm not really used to check zodiacs, I had a look on the net and I found out I'm a horse.

Then, once at home, I read that page, and frankly I'm quite impressed. Here is what I think it applies most to me:

- Horse people are active and energetic. Horses love to be in the crowd.

- The horse is very quick-witted and is right in there with you before you have had the chance to finish what you are saying: he's on to the thought in your mind even before you've expressed it. In general, the Horse is gifted. But in truth he is really more cunning than intelligent - and he knows that. That is probably why, most of the horse people lack confidence.

- All Horse people invariably leave home young.

- Although they have boundless energy and ambition, Horses have a hard time belonging.

- The Horse is hot-blooded, hot-headed and impatient. He is a bit of an egoist, well, selfish sometimes, that it is rare for him to interest himself in any problems except his own. And though this egoist works only for himself and for his own success, his work nevertheless benefits everybody.

- The Horse is a worker, adepts at handling money and a good financier. But unfortunately, he is also famous for suddenly losing interest on something. In his relationship with opposite sex, the Horse is weak. He will give up everything for love.

- Being born a Horse, there are many contradictions in his character. Horses are proud yet sweet-natured, arrogant yet oddly modest in their approach to love, envious but tolerant, conceited yet humble. They want to belong, yet they are burdened by their need for independence. They need love and crave intimacy yet often feel cornered, pressured.

- Hard working, self-possessed and sharp, the Horse skillfully acquires power, wealth and respect. However, the Horse's sometime-appreciated frankness can be tactless. The Horse's impatient pursuit of success may become selfish and predatory. Horses can be obstinate.

- With the Horse, movement is everything. Freedom and independence are as essential to Horse-born people as the air they breathe. A low boredom threshold, both in terms of interests and friendships, is characteristic of those belonging to this sign, and adds a whimsical quality to the otherwise level headedness of these folk. Consequently, they tend to act on impulse, and this means there is an element of unpredictability about them.

- They love to take center stage and delight audiences everywhere. Sometimes rash and willful, they can be prone to rapid changes of mood and, although seldom really explosive of temper, when they do see red, it is not a pretty sight. Those who have suffered a Horse's rage will never feel quite the same about him again, for his fits of temper are inevitably a bit childish. If he wants to succeed, he has to master them.

- Resourceful and self-confident, Horses approach all things enthusiastically. Quick-witted and mentally alert, they are quick to catch on and efficient in all their undertakings.

- He is an extrovert and he needs to be surrounded by people who approve of him and flatter him.

- When they fall in love, Horses seem to lose all logic, all sense of perspective.

- Noncomformists, free thinkers, thirsting for life, Horses risk daring romantic adventures.

By the way, according to the Chinese zodiac, a good match for me should be born between Jan. 25 1982 and Feb. 12 1983. Leave a comment if it's your case... ;-)

alfonso

PS As you see, it won't last with a Dragon...

I don't really travel that much...

2007-03-07T06:05:00.000+02:00

Hi all!

Few days ago (the 24th of February) it was my blog's first birthday.

It's been a while since I started writing this, so I think it's good time to stop and think.

During this year I traveled in Brazil, Check Republic, Italy, France, Austria, Poland, the UAE and Mexico, so it's time to draw the world map again.

I also did some math, and it's not really true that I travel a lot... During this year I was abroad only 45% of the time... This means I've been in Finland much more than I thought I would be able to bare. ;-)

If you care for comparison, my previous map is here.

Now I'm again in Mexico, and you know what? I really have no clue when I'll be back in Europe...
;-)

Now, let's have a beer.

Ciao,

alfonso

UPDATE: I did some mistake when I was trying to find out how much time I spent abroad. It is 60% of the time, not 45%... ;-)

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Cars on ice!

2007-02-26T16:22:00.000+02:00

Cars on ice!
Originally uploaded by fonso78.

Here you go! Straight from the track! We are having the same practice that is compulsory for taking a driving license in Finland. We experience car reaction with different kind of weather, like ice or snow, while trying to avoid a sudden object on a straight path or in a curve. I wanted to write now, just in case I don't get to see the evening. :-)

UPDATE: after some practice each of us (we were 13) had to perform a final test. A slalom in three "doors" where the maximum allowed speed was 60 km/h. Winner was the one that went correctly through the three doors, keeping control of the car at the maximum speed.

I'm the proud winner, having crossed the doors at 57 km/h. :-)

Kalle

2007-02-23T00:03:00.000+02:00

Kalle
Originally uploaded by fonso78.

Thursday night at Kalle. This is one of the most famous "tradition" I have in Finland. I don't want to comment it. I just want to remember it. Anybody sees something different here. Young studs want to find some friendly faces, older ones... also. Enjoy Kalle!

Driving on ice

2007-02-22T18:09:00.000+02:00

Hi world!

Next monday my workmates and I will go to drive on ice... Have a look at the track on google maps.

It should be a lot of fun. I'll keep you posted!

Ciao,

alfonso

Back in Helsinki

2007-02-20T10:07:00.000+02:00

Back in Helsinki
Originally uploaded by fonso78.

Hi all!

After more than one month I'm back in Helsinki. As you can see from the picture now everything is white and there is much more light. Check out this web site about how the daylight change over the months here in Helsinki. Quite impressive. The weather is still really really cold (between -15 and -20), but it's manageable. As usual, I look forward to the next trip and I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,

alfonso

Be happy if she says no...

2007-02-14T02:16:00.000+02:00

For the first time since I came to Mexico, Last week I went to eat at McDonald to have a quick bite.

I found this ad: "Celebrate when they say no, since the best (girl) will say yes".

I always thought advertising was a great creative work. Now I think that a little bit less. :-)

alfonso

09/02/2007
Originally uploaded by fonso78.

Living in Italy with 1.000 euro

2007-02-12T07:26:00.000+02:00

I will write this in English, even if I'm talking about a TV reportage in Italian.

This evening I was looking at national Italian broadcaster (RAI) web site. I do that quite often when I'm abroad to see how bad Italy is doing. My hidden hope is that Italy will one day realize the incredible situation it's in and do something about it.

Quite frankly, the hope is fading...

I want to link this video about people who is living with 1.000€ a month. I'm not sure for how long the video will be kept on the website, so take the time to watch it.

In the video you can see how this young generation (they call it so in the reportage, even if they are over 30 years old) is forced to make choices against their will. They have to keep living with their parents or live in shared flats, without the luxury of a car or of summer holidays and with the costant threat of some unforseen expense (like the dentist) that inevitably force them to ask money to their parents. Obviously marriage and kids is a kind of daydream for them. They can only buy clothes in sales and food in wal-mart kind of store.

I have very mixed feelings about this. One side of me thinks it's a national shame that in a country that supposedly is part of a forum for the world's major industrialised democracies (the G8) people barely survives. I believe that if you work you should have the right to live, not just survive. 1.000€ a month means surviving to me. On the other side, I think that everybody is responsible for himself/herself and nobody stops any of these people to try their luck abroad (as I did). Basically this is the same opinion I expressed in my previous post about leaving Italy.

Once I created my personal chart do distinguish between a country where I would live and a country where I would not live. If your salary allows you to afford a house in the city you live with a mortgage of 10 or 15 years, it's worthy to live and work there.

Let's take Milan. When I was working there my salary was about 1.300€ net a month. Usually banks grant you a mortgage so that your monthly instalment is around 1/3 of your salary.
A decent flat of around 60 square meters costs around 200.000€ in the suburbs of Milan.

One of the best options for a mortgage in Italy is called Mutuo Arancio, offered by the worldwide famous ING Direct group. They have a very nice tool where you can select the price of the house and the monthly instalment you are able to pay and you see how long the mortgage will last. Calculate your mortgage length. Input 200.000 in the first field (cost of the flat), 160.000 in the second field (the mortgage covers maximum 80% of the full price) and 450 in the third field, then press "Calcola" ("Evaluate"). A nice popup will inform you that with your inputs the mortgage will be longer than 30 years, and the bank does not allow that.

The site offers you the opposite tool: you can calculate your optimal monthly instalment based on the preferred duration of the mortgage. Calculate your monthly instalment. Enter the same inputs and select 15 years of mortgage. You will see the monthly instalment is about 1.200€, which means that your net salary should be of around 3.600€ to afford it.

With my personal evaluation tool, Milan (Rome would be the same, if not worse) does not qualify as a city where I can live in given my salary.

So what are the alternatives? Basically I see only two (with an optional third):

a) go abroad to get a decent salary
b) do something that will grant you that kind of salary in your own country
c) start working as a manager in the company your daddy founded

How about me? I blow (c) when I decided to study computer science, and I can't say I regret it. At the moment I'm stuck with (a), but as it's more and more clear by the day that this choice does not make me happy. So my only left hope is (b).

How to do that? Well, at the moment my best guess (left alone the chance to sell my body in Viale Zara) is to go back to school and get an MBA. But this is a totally different topic and maybe I will talk about it some other time.

I guess I'm not really making a point, and I don't think I have a point to make. I just needed to write about this to get rid of some of the frustration I get when I see how Italy willingly put herself in a toilet and desperately trying to flush it.

Too bad I'm not a computer grafic guru. I would love to create a picture where Italy (represented as a map with arms) is in a toilet trying to flush herself. ;-)

Probably something interesting would be to try to understand whose fault is this. My easiest guess is that greedy politicians in the last 30 years would make an easy target, but I guess the real situation if far more complex than this.

Alfonso

Finally, I'm ItalianS (and Acapulco)

2007-02-09T07:13:00.000+02:00

One of the most famous Italian newspaper as an online magazine called Italians, that mainly hosts the view of Italians who live abroad.

As such, I read it every now and again.

Few days ago I wrote a letter and I was published, so I'm now an official ItalianS... ;-)

The web site is http://www.corriere.it/solferino/severgnini/

Here is the translation in English, plus all that I wanted to add but I couldn't (there is a limitation on the size of the text):

"I'm a 28 years old man (not boy). I come from Lombardia but my parents are from the south (so the need to travel to find a proper work doesn't come to me as a surprise).

I write from Mexico, where I am for a work project. In december I was in the United Emirates, before in France, Italy, Austria, Brazil and so on.

When I talk about my work people is usually very interested, almost jealous. But the one time I offered a job interview in my company to a friend from Rome, he kindly declined.

Oh, I almost forgot. I should say I live in Finland, even if I live there 2 or 3 months each year.

I started working for the same company in Italy, but because of the salary and of the career chances, I decided to go abroad, and I ended up in Finland.

I see many friends ready to work hard, to move, to leave their house and I see they find good job opportunities.

Of course it would be easier if Italy had salary and job opportunities comparable to France or Germany (let alone North Europe). I would have really liked not to leave my friends and my family, but since Italy is in this situation, I had to make a choice and walk away.

This is why I think it doesn't make much difference to complain about how things go while staying in Italy. Which country (except dictatorships) after 10 years you say exactly the same people running for the elections?
In which city where living costs are comparable to Milan or Rome, you see salaries of 600€ or 700€?

I remember the comment of the Economist after Italy's elections and the end of talks on the youth labour law in France. The problem is, said the Economist, that still too many people don't feel any problem (since, I add, they have privileges they didn't work hard to get) in these countries and it will take still a lot of time (I add, a deeper decline) before these people will understand that without a clear and radical change these countries are doomed.

So, come on, let's all emigrate. Maybe after that the country will understand the need for a radical change e maybe in some years will be able to come back in our loved country."

So far, what I wrote to the magazine. The only thing I want to add is that the price to pay for this life is getting higher by the day, and if there would be any chance to have a challenging job with a comparable salary in Italy, I'm quite sure I would take it. So stay tuned... ;-)

Then, let's talk about Acapulco!!

Last weekend I went there and I have to say it was quite amazing to lay on the beach while in Finland it was about -20 degrees.... About 50 degrees diffence.

No words, just a picture.

Bye,

alfonso