La bellissima neve, Carnevalissimo e la cagna

Okay, so it turns out that getting into a roll with studying kind of caused me to get a bit lazy with the blog and fall ridiculously behind... So, after 5 weeks senza blogging here is a brief run down of my weeks since...

So, have a few more short stories of my time in Italy... Roll on!

Snow days

So, I've done the math, that in my lifetime I have seen snow falling from the sky (not on the ground or created by a machine) on average 1 day in every 7-13 years of my life.  So when it began to snow in Milan I was a little bit childish in my enjoyment of it.  I was meant to be going to Tuscany for the weekend to see some family friends but the trains got closed down by the heavy snowfall and I was 'stuck' in Milan for the weekend... Though, in truth I was happy with this, mostly due to wanting to play with the snow.

It began during class on a Thursday morning, and the teacher brought it to our attention... I spent most of the next hour and a half looking out the window and enjoying the sight... Because, let's face it, it was one of the reasons I wanted to come experience a Northern winter... (The great irony here is that Boston has just experienced its snowiest winter ever, and during my week in Boston, at Christmas no less, I got nothing but sunshine, scattered cloud, and a bit of light rain)... So that day in class was something of a write off as those of us who came from warmer climates (namely... Just me) stared out the window while everyone else half concentrated on their work and half concentrated on my amazement at something that isn't uncommon (the Russian girl in the class at the time seemed very unimpressed by snow)

My view out the window during the class

I mean, really, who isn't fascinated by a roof

When class was finished I exited and began to enjoy the fresh snow and the unfamiliar sights of snow on the sidewalk (not salted like in Indianapolis), snow on all the parked cars, and in the parks I needed to pass to get to the metro station.  I enjoyed this even if only for the novelty of snow falling on me...

Fresh snow falling on the scooters

Fresh snow on the cars in the street

Fresh snow in my beard

The next day was even better as the snow had built up and was large enough to play around in like a 26 year old child with a beard... And play around I did, to the point where I'm sure people must've thought I wasn't right in the head... Seeing a man stamping his feet into snow built up over a drain just to force it into the mesh and seeing the maniacal smile on his face must be odd... Seeing a man run his hands along each car he passes in order to gather snow to then throw against a wall, all the while smiling like a Cheshire cat, must be an odd sight... Seeing someone take photographs of otherwise deserted or dirty parks, not of a person, not of an animal, but just taking a photo for no apparent reason, must raise some curiosity as to why he would be doing it... This was my Friday... Before and after class, this was my Friday...

The Thursday night before...

The Friday morning after... Thick on the balcony

The walk into school

The same view on the Friday

This was actually really fun for me

And stamping my shoe prints in the snow... I mean, super childish right?

Second snow day

It hasn't snowed in Milan since... But I did spend a weekend up in Valtellina, which happened to be the same weekend as Carnivale in Morbegno, and on the Saturday night it snowed overnight... Leaving Sunday morning with this view:

A light dusting in the backyard

It also allowed me to make my first snowman... Which, admittedly, was not a brilliant effort... But I was unlucky enough to post it to Facebook on the same day as someone's honeymoon in New York during a massive snowstorm in the American North East, so the comparison was never going to be kind to me...

First effort, no help, not a heap of good snow to use by this point in the morning... Excuses, one and all

Though, the mention of snow in the Valtellina valley on the same weekend as the weekend I was there is probably a good way to segue into Carnivale

Carnevalissimo!

On the weekend of February 21st I headed up to Morbegno to spend another weekend with the family, though this time it was with the other side of the family.  I headed up on the Saturday morning, met Monica and Alessandro, and later Ivan, where we had lunch together, and then I went with Ivan to spend the afternoon with some of his friends.

He took me to a farm nearby (after a stop off at a mechanic and at his parent's house (though, I just stayed in the car and they weren't home anyway) and we entered a large garage with a giant trailer parked inside... The trailer looked like a float, and I had very little understanding of what they were building and why they were saying I was going to be dressed in costume on Sunday... This was the key point, I had little to no understanding of what was going on... I eventually joined the dots, but when a group of people who don't speak any English who you only met an hour or so prior begin telling you that you're going to be in a parade all dressed up it is a little disconcerting (I'm never drunk enough for that sort of showmanship), but I later found out that it was everyone and a heap of kids and it was this big family event where everyone dresses up and has a bit of fun and all that jazz.

Whilst at the farm and passing the time I saw the meanest creature with webbed feet on the face of the earth, in the form of this goose:

The damn thing attacked a crippled dog!

That afternoon I spent some time with Fabrizio who took me into Morbegno to buy some cake, but we had to settle for many small sweets... The cream puffs they make in Italy are amazing... So, damn amazing... I just wish they were so messy to eat (especially true with a giant beard!)

On the Sunday morning I got up and was unable to shower due to the power cutting out in the apartment below their house all morning, so eventually after showering, building my poor snowman, and spending a bit of time watching the TV in Italian, Alessandro and I headed into Morbegno and met Ivan who was busy working on the float.

The colour and the floats and the costumes and the energy was amazing... I am ridiculously lucky to have gone up at random on a weekend such as Carnevalissimo.

"Brick by brick: Reconstructing the world"

Myself, Alessandro and his cousin

It wouldn't be Italy without someone in the background having a smoke

In case you hadn't guessed by now we were Lego blocks and characters

Capitano Giacomo Passero

Walking two laps through the streets of Morbegno

The experience was truly amazing

The Chicken man from Family Guy is hiding out in Italy with a family

Sam the Lego block

The Grunka Lunkas... All the way from the Slurm Factory

The smoke breathing dragon... Any guess who won the competition?

Second place... But first place in your hearts

The characters!

 

We did two laps of the city, with music coming from all the floats and with kids and their families lining the streets, all dressed up in costume (despite the gripping cold of the day), most of the kids were throwing confetti and some lucky few had silly string and we shooting it at friends in the parade.  Others were just picking random targets, and I copped one or two shots right across the beard...Some of the music got a little bit repetitive (like this song about a chihuahua) but the entire experience was really fun and really enjoyable... If you'd told me 4 and a half months ago that I'd be taking part in a Carnivale parade in Northern Italy I'd be surprised at the very least

Honestly, I was a little bit jealous of the kids who have this day every year to dress up and enjoy a day with their entire community, dressed up and having fun and all that... I can't think of anything like that we had in Adelaide during my childhood... I am sure something existed, but I just can never remember ever going to an event like this (I am not counting the Christmas Pageant, which I consider to be different anyway, especially because they have Christmas in Italy and I am sure would have an equivalent event).

After the event all the teams returned to their starting areas and each had a chance to be presented on stage and receive a participation certificate or, in the case of the winner a winner's certificate.  During this time a whole bunch of thin breads covered in powdered sugar arrived around our area and we ate and reminisced about our day spent as Lego blocks... This was mostly done through me smiling politely, and saying things like 'Si, mi è piaciuto oggi' or 'Molto divertente', which roughly translate to 'Yes, I liked today' and "Very funny"... After this the men involved in the event on our team went into a nearby bar and had a coffee or hot chocolate and then I jumped in a car with Ivan and two of his friends and we fought traffic all the way to their house, while the float was slowly towed back to the farm.  I grabbed my bag, got dropped back off in Morbegno at the train station and headed for Milan.

What a day!

Sports Talk

What kind of Sam blog would this be if I didn't do a little bit of talking about sports... Between the last blog post and this one I have been to the San Siro a few times.  I saw AC Milan draw 1-1 with Empoli.  I saw F.C. Internazionale Milano lose 0-1 to Fiorentina (on the same weekend I went to Firenze).  And I saw Inter defeat Glasgow Celtic 1-0 in the Europa League.

All these games offered something, from a goal keeper red card in the Milan-Empoli match.  A wonderfully played game between Fiorentina and Inter (the boys in white and purple played bloody well I thought).  Or seeing European football from a wonderful seat that I bought as I walked up to the gate on the night of the match, and being able to listen to the Celtic fans sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' (hearing Scottish accents in the crowd was also a nice change).

Milan v Empoli

San Siro on another beautiful grey Milan day

All the kids near me were the same as Auskick kids in Australia... When Empoli equalised all I saw were Crows fans cheering a goal scored against Port

Though given the near empty nature of the arena one might think I've nailed my colours to the wrong mast

Players shake hands and get ready to go

Menez is lovingly called Figjam by me and no one else... The kid never passes the damn ball

Ball cleared from the Milan area

Goal to the Rossoneri

Half time

How it ended

One goal keeper leaves with a red card, another enters for the final 10 minutes to save the game

The Empoli game was also memorable as after the game I met one of my American classmates Emma and her boyfriend Najee where we had a meal, then a coffee/hot chocolate, and after 26 some odd months of having a pristine phone screen I managed to drop it face down on a slate floor in Milan and complete fuck the thing... It still functions fine and everything can be seen and understood, it is just a bit of a pain in the arse...  Only a few weeks though, then I can see what Australia has to offer in the phone department...

Inter v Fiorentina

This is not in chronological order, but I would rather end on the Europa League match (I also took more photos at the Europa League match)...

Fiorentina beat Inter 1-0

The Inter fans packed in for a Serie A game, and they're at about the same place in the table as AC Milan... This is what I mean when I say I may have nailed my colours to the wrong mast... Even though I've preferred AC Milan for many years

The teams enter

Handshakes

Kickoff from the nosebleeds

The Inter youth team celebrating a Cup

Fiorentina scores

And the fans who'd travelled from Tuscany for a late Sunday game celebrate

How it ended

I would normally segue here into my day in Florence (or, if I was really smart with my chronology I'd have had this after my day in Florence) but given at the outset I had said the Italy portion of this blog would be different from the American section, and given I don't want to mix subject matter necessarily, lets roll on to Europe...

Internazionale v Glasgow Celtic


I was amazed that I could walk up to the arena on the night of a big game and get a seat as amazing as I did... I was amazed the number of Celtic fans who made it to Milan on a weeknight for a game... The atmosphere was thick and it felt like a big game...

Inter entered the game even on goals with Celtic after a 3-3 draw with the Scottish giant the week prior... Which meant that if they played out a nil-all draw they'd go through to the next round on the away goals rule.

This meant that the Scots were chasing a goal, and Inter were only really interested in holding on... Although Inter had the better chances throughout the game, and certainly got the better of the refereeing throughout.  Glasgow had a man sent off for a second yellow midway through the first half, which meant the 10 man side was chasing a goal and the 11 man side were indifferent, so as a spectacle it was probably not what it could have been, but both teams were excellent to watch and it really gave everything as a spectacle, and the fans of both teams just added to this... My favourite comment from the crowd was one I could easily understand, when another foul went against Celtic a loud Scot behind me screamed 'FER FOOK SEAK', which brought me to laughter, but none of the Italians around me seemed to see the joke... Apparently swearing in multiple languages is only funny to me... Every time the Scots in the top deck of the San Siro began to chant or sing the Inter fans at the opposite end would begin whistling to drown out the sound... I kind of wanted to listen to them sing in English and all that, but instead I only heard whistling... This is all part of the experience I suppose

Inter scored their winner after the 85th minute, and the place went absolutely mental... Honestly one of the most enjoyable sporting experiences I've had overseas purely for atmosphere... I am likely to try to go again when Inter play the German side Wolfsburg, down 3-1 after the first leg... With Inter chasing at least 2 goals it should be entertaining... This is to be played on Thursday night this week Italian time...

Europa League

The Inter fans packed in!

The travelling Scots in the upper deck

The teams enter

Pose

Inter v Celtic

Celtic take their team photo

The Inter players get ready

Celtic made us all wait, and were booed and whistled at by the entire arena

In the 2nd or 3rd minute, down the Inter fans' end... More boos and whistles

Inter throw

Cleared

Celtic free kick

Brilliant seats!

Celtic down to 10 men

Half time sprinklers... WTF?

Celtic fans singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'

How it ended

Celtic chasing the game

This was one of the best experiences I have had at a sporting event anywhere in the world, but when you consider that it was an international competition, not a domestic competition, that I managed to get a brilliant seat at face value less than a half hour before kick off and the sheer noise, passion and atmosphere, I really need to be thankful that I have the opportunity to have these kinds of experience, sports obsessive or not... I only hope the Wolfsburg game is as good!

Da Vinci's Got Nothing on Me

Okay, so that is a bit of an overstatement... But I ask you, which is more pretty... A bearded Australian man posing with a bunch of random language school students, or a work of art by one of the greatest men the world has known?

I only got to play Jesus because I had a beard

Jesus got to play Jesus because he is the son of God

Yeah, I wouldn't pick me either...

Il Cenacolo Vinciano - The Last Supper

I'm not going to tell any biblical stories here... I feel borderline heretical already for comparing myself to Jesus... I mean, I'm not a member of the Beatles...

If you get the chance to go to Milan and have any time to take in this kind of culture then please try to make the time (and book in advance! I was lucky I went with a school group)... The painting spans an entire church wall and is amazingly impressive... On the wall opposite is another religious painting, not done by Da Vinci, but just as breathtaking... Though, in the room there is but one showpiece and that is Da Vinci's work... You're not allowed to take photos of the painting (and the menacing looking guard didn't instill me with much desire to test the boundary), although I did see someone take a selfie to get the wall behind her to try to circumvent the rules... I think she got away with it, but I didn't want to be a selfie taker in the presence of such a work.

Well worth the trip and the ticket!

Troubles at home - Revisited

In my last blog a month or so ago I wrote a short bit on the housemates not really getting along with me... But thankfully now this has turned completely and I am on brilliant terms with my housemates... The one who was a bit snide to me even came onside... He has since left, but we were cool before he left.

I had been living with 3 Japanese people, but after the male left he was replaced by an Angolan girl (whose name escapes me), so instead I am now living with 3 girls. 

One of the Japanese girls, Natsuki, transferred into the same class as me by coincidence and has been great to chat to because we both understand that our Italian isn't the best and we try to speak Italian as much as we can as opposed to English.  She has also been really good to bitch with about the issues we have at school or around the house... Which leads me to the revisited part of this portion of the post... The landlady...

This morning at 7:30 AM the landlady entered the apartment without warning, and every person in the house was woken up, one by one marched out of their rooms wearing their PJs (so, in my case underpants) and berated/interrogated as to why the toilet in one of the bathrooms wasn't pristine... It had a tiny piece of dried poop at the back of it, and honestly it had been there for quite some time, and it wasn't big enough to cause anyone any issues, I've lived in sharehouses before and I've lived in hostels before, what we were dealing with here was nothing short of a non-issue... She kept on repeating 'che schifo' (which means 'it disgusts me' or something to that effect) and then demanded to each of us as to who did it... She is a crazy, crazy bitch... It is a god damn share house... I understand that it isn't the nicest thing in the world, and it is a bit disgusting, but we were the ones who had to live with it, not her... No one new was coming into the house until I leave, and at any rate she has cleaners (I'll get to this momentarily).

After her tirade she said 'I'll be telling the school'... I couldn't help but laugh at this... What are the school going to do? Really? Tell us in class that we are all adults and should know how to wipe our own asses?

I understand the message she is giving... But the mode of giving the message is all wrong... Firstly, to enter the apartment unannounced at 7:30 AM, this is not the thing to do; to then march every person out of their room as though they are 6 years old and berate them over something that might not have even been them is just appalling... Further, she was speaking pristine English the entire time... The day I arrived in Italy she said she didn't speak English, and told me all the rules in Italian, which to that point I didn't understand (I was just lucky to have someone with me who understood and translated), she has spoken to everyone else in Italian and refused to comprehend our broken attempts to speak to her because she is only trying to extract money from us... She is a SHARK... Preying on unwitting students who don't understand what she is saying when she understands them completely... Absolute shark...

There is a tie in here... Where she said 'I'm telling the school' and the fact that she has cleaners...

If the school comes to me with any disciplinary issue then I've got no problem in turning around (and I'll be sending them an email regardless when I leave to express my concern for the fellow students in the house) and telling them about the conditions in this house.  Now, the actual conditions are fine, the place is comfortable enough... But the communication, or there lack of, with the landlady and the tenants is appalling: 

• Recall the last post where I detailed the landlady turning up at 10:15 PM to give me some funny money and detergent so I could wash my clothes; this kind of late night disruption is not on (I was taught as a child that you only bother someone after 8:30 PM on a weeknight if there has been a death or an emergency).  Further, there was no communication prior to me initiating to get a coin to do my washing (which I only knew because a former housemate knew from experience).
• Last Friday my room was cleaned... This is fine... Only problem was NO ONE TOLD ME IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! I had my computer, my Passport and over 150 Euros on my table, in open view, because after class that day I was getting straight on a train to Rome... If I knew someone was going to go through my room and move my things (and things WERE moved) I'd have moved these items either a) out of sight or b) taken them with me.  Everything was there when I got back, but sweet Jesus, what if it wasn't!... Again, my room being cleaned is not an issue, it is the lack of communication that beggars belief.  If I have a room with a locking door I should have a reasonable expectation that the room will not be entered while I am out.
• The oven has been non-functional since before I arrived at this apartment.  The landlady knows I tried to use it, we asked her how to fix it, and she just said it was broken... Any chance it could be fixed? Any? No? Right, well don't expect me to be all happy when you threaten me over a non-issue and get me out of bed and trot me out in front of everyone else in my underpants just so you can berate me in perfect English...

I got home from school today to see signs everywhere, but all just telling us rules and telling us to clean everything all the time... I even got an email with an all in CAPS 'WARNING FROM GINA' title and told:

"Ciao Samuel,

 

show this message also to the other guests,

 

Thank you!

Dear Guests,

kindly remember to flush the toilet and use the toilet brush 

to remove potential residuals and keep it clean for all the

guests to use.

Thank you!"

I honestly feel like this would be funny if it wasn't so childish and frustrating... She is running her operation as though she is a backyarder, first timer, who doesn't know what she is doing, but she is actually a shark looking to extract maximum dollars/Euros/Yen from unsuspecting students... Why she didn't get in touch with each person individually rather than asking me to be her messenger boy is astounding... She strikes me as a bad person

I'm sure there is more to this, and more that has already happened, but I'm writing this in a hot headed state...

The last time I was yelled at by an angry Italian woman about ruining a toilet I was about 6 years old, at Nona's house, and I'd just filled the toilet with toilet paper to the point where it was inoperable... I never thought I'd have that happen to me again, but here we are... History repeats in a way...

Smoke 'em if you Got 'em

Rather than finishing this post on such a negative vibe, I'll leave you with this photograph, and the promise that the next post won't be 5-6 weeks coming, and will include the cultural and historical centres of Firenze and Roma...

This guy loves smoking more than your typical Italian... He is almost the Super Italian!

Until next time!