Good mornign guys,
and sorry if you missed me sooo much!
Today I want you to know about my adventures in Turkey, Instanbul actually. That's all I saw of Turkey, so it's just Istanbul not Turkey...I guess the title should be Istanbul delight...well, doesn't matter!
I went with my boyfriend and it took us at least one month to decide where to go on holiday...oftern arguing! Firstly we wanted to go to India...but then we found out that in June is monsoon season...so...mmmh... better not to go. So we thought...why not Canada? And we thought and we thought and we thought...by the time we decided the flight was to expensive, so...no Canada! So...what was the other one? Don't remember..must be getting old...anyway, at the end we booked a flight to Istanbul. I've been lucky to be honest, because my flight costed me only 150 euros return! But soon you will find out why...
So! The big day arrives (I don't remember the date, sometime in June.,.23rd? Could be) and my parents take me to the far far far far away airport. We get there to find out that the flight is 2 hours late. And here I start panicking, coz that meant getting to Istanbul at almost midnight...buses? Taxis? Now, the fact is that my boyfriend was supposed to get there like 5 hours earlier than me (he was flying from Manchester, me from Milan) so he was going to wait for me in the city centre. But now, considering the time, I asked him to get me a shuttle from the hostel. Meanwhile, I call my sister and I tell her to check all the possible bus timetables on the net! Ah, poor Ellie. So...we seat on a chair, me mum and dad. One chair each, obviously, and we wait for the check in to open. Let me tell that this was the first time in many years in which I decided to check in my bag. Normally I fly with Ryanair and I just take a hand luggage (Ryan is too expensive when it comes to check ins...) but Blue Panorama included the bag in the ticket! So I thought...why the hell not?
Finally, after the moon and the stars moved slowly in the sky, the check in opened and I happily join the queue, celebrating. It was almast my turn, when the check in closed, and I had to join another queue. Oh, how happy I was. Swearing loudly, I changed queue and I ended up behind a massive and noisy turkish family! Ah poor Ellie...finally my bag was on and my parents left me alone, heading to Istanbul.
The flight was ok, and I finally got where I had to be...2 hours late.
So...get off the plane, stamp the passport, go and collect my bag. Stand in front of the rolling thing and wait for the bag.
Wait for the bag.
Many people collect their bag and go.
Wait for my bag still.
Wait for my bag.
Me and an Italian guy left waiting for the bag.
Silence surrounding us.
Wait still.
The rolling thing stops.
My bag wasn't there.
Swearing softly, me and the guy look at each other, our eyes lost in some other planet or parallel dimension where, a so much happier version of us, was now leaving the airport. With the bag.
So...we collected our courage and went to the lost luggage office. Mmh...mmmh...and here the problems start. Yes, they start NOW, can you believe it? I couldn't. Anyway. Obviously, English is a language mostly unknown and overlooked mostly suspiciously...luckily (some luck at last) the girl was very nice and tried her best to understand and help us. But there wasn't much we could do, our bags weren't there. So we filled some form and left...
I started calling my boyfirned who said that a driver would have been at the airport waiting for me. Obviously he wasn't there (that reminded me a bit of China...waht about you?) so I called him and he said that he didn't know what to do. What's the point of having a boyfriend if, when you are stranded in a far away airport, he can come to pick you up because he's watching the world cup?
No comment.
So, after sheding some tears (just 2 or 3...I was nervous and angry, you know!!) I left the airport and I started wandering around, avoiding taxi drivers and looking for coaches. I approached all of them just saying "Istanbul?" till someone answered... yes Taksim! Got it!
Jump on the bus, keep texting to my sister who tried to cheer me up (bless her) till I get to Taksim square..and the world cup boyfriend at least was there! And even paid for the taxi back to the hostel.
So I went to bed, slightly smelly and hungry, sheding some tears (just a few...) and I fell asleep...
Tenerife
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Thinking about Italy
Life in Italy is strange. Italians love to look great. Massive sun glasses that make them look like flies, all the same. You just want to stop them and ask if they think they're skiing. All boys cover their hair in gel and shoot them to the sky...ok, Italians are small...but...how many cm do you think you can get? I don't understand...why do you wear sunglasses in the shade? Why are your pants falling off, we don't really need to see your underwear! Come on, pick them up. And they think they are cool...all wearing the same clothes, pretending to be original...bah!
Just look at our prime minister...a shame, a clown, a joke. He couldn't rule in any country but Italy. Because he's rich and full of women (paid ones) and Italians want to be like him. Well done. All the world take the piss out of us because of him, but Italians...keep voting for him.
Thanks god I live in England.
God save the Queen!
Just look at our prime minister...a shame, a clown, a joke. He couldn't rule in any country but Italy. Because he's rich and full of women (paid ones) and Italians want to be like him. Well done. All the world take the piss out of us because of him, but Italians...keep voting for him.
Thanks god I live in England.
God save the Queen!
Chinese Life part 2
Hallo there my friend!
here is so unbelievably humid that you must forgive my spelling mistakes but the keys are slippery (good one, isn't it?).
Anyway, where were we?
Oh yeah, my first day. on Monday I didn't work, so I was planning to sleep and sleep and sleep. what else? But obviously I was wrong. First, I had to call my family to tell them that I was somehow surviving, and to do that I had to get up at 6. then, when I was gladly falling asleep again, my colleague stood under my balcony calling my name. What? I go downstairs and she tells me (at 7am) "Should we go for breakfast?" what? "Mmh...maybe a bit later..." "Oh you know, breakfast is served between 6 and 8" and that is the deepest and darkest hour of the night for me "I see" I said "I think I'll skip it for today". I haven't been since. but she forced me to go with her at lunchtime, at 11am.
see how Chinese work? breakfast is actually a midnight snack; lunch, between 11 - 12, is breakfast; dinner, between 4 - 5.30pm, is actually lunch. and then? I throw some dumplings in the microwave at 9pm and I feel better. The Chinese way...
Anyway! we get to the canteen and I see a room as big as my village (no, seriously...it looked like a stadium) packed, and I mean PACKED, with minuscules children, all the same, running and screaming up and down hunting for food. I stood still. What? Song smiled and I followed her to the teachers quarter, as a big as a napkin, where more less 200 teachers were packed sucking their lunch. Chinese eat sooo fast that in 5 minutes they've swallowed a bowl of various stuff (normally rice+hot vegetables+hot meat+spicy soup). I sat with my bowl and I attacked with my chopsticks. Ya hi! To be honest the food was GORGEOUS on the Italians' face (on my face, then...mmmh...). it's so tasty and varied...all this unknown things floating in I don't know what, but for some reason soooooo good. I loved it. Obviously we had to eat in 5 minutes, giving me a very heavy stomach all day. I'll never get used to that! After lunch Song forced me to have a rest (?)...and I actually needed it, and a lot of hot tea to free my stomach from the massive ball of stuff I had in it..."I'll come to pick you up at 5 for dinner" food again???? "Ok...see you in a bit" and I went back in to burp loudly!
Later we went to see my future classes. and a long shiver chilled my spine.
Ok, there are 2 big buildings with more less 6-7 floors each. Each floor has 4 classes. Each class more less 80 kids. You count them...
Obviously even the kids were staring at me, jumping on each other to get a better view. Oh god...I decided to get sunglasses and a black wig...that could help!
Whatever! Dawn came, and with it...gym time! At 7am a very loud music is unleashed from the loudspeakers all over the campus, and the Chinese exercise! Now, you have to see that the earlier I start working is 8.50am so I have the damn right to stay in bed till 8, at least! No, wake up at 7, and they keep playing music for a hour or so...don't ask me why.
but I stay in bed, skipping breakfast and gym! ole'!
But the real nightmare is the classroom. I got in and counted them. 86. 86! eighty six, my god! All looking at the green alien standing in front of them. WHY ME!!!?!
In some way we went through the lessons, and I noticed the most strange thing!
At around 2 o'clock in the afternoon a relaxing music is unleashed from the loudspeaker with a voice giving instructions, I guess...and the kids start massaging their heads, eyes, noses...for 5 minutes or so...and then we start the lesson.
During lunch time I was eating happily (fighting with my chopstick) when a lady approached me and started talking to me. how nice! She said I speak English very fast (clearly, so you won't notice my mistakes) and she underlined that this is the best school in the city. and so I thought...is it not the ONLY one???? But I didn't say it. She kept asking me question for half hour and, came 12, the canteen guy kicked me out because they had to close. Nooooo, my rice!!!! Oh well...
The big problems start in the evening. there's nothing to do in this city, it's very small. No bars or pubs. People just sit in front of their houses and chat with the neighbor...but unfortunately I can't chat much...so I have to stay at home on my own, writing this stuff, chatting on skype or watching movies. The fact is that it takes me between 2.3 and 5.7 minutes to plan a lesson, so I don't have much more to do. and anyway, 2 lessons are enough for one week, since I have 18 different classes in 5 days. Rock on.
Between one class and the other I go back home for a quick nap (I don't sleep at night, I will have to sleep sometimes) and at the end I just go home and sit.
This is the problem of being a celebrity! they all look at you in awe but nobody seems interested in getting close to you. how depressing.
And another good thing! Soon we'll be 5 below 0, and there's no heating in the whole house and/or school. Well, I have the air conditioning in my bedroom (that can work as heating as well) but what about bathroom???? I will wash myself with blokes of ice.
So, it's all uphill, and yesterday night I found a mouse in my house and today my fridge broke. Bye bye dumplings, had to throw everything away.
So I ask Song if someone could come and properly clean my house, and she finally revealed me that the house hasn't been clean since the last teacher left...4 months ago! Well done! So...this week end I'll be away and meanwhile they are supposed to clean. Fingers crossed.
Let me just take a short digression and explain you about the weather in Hu Bei. We are on the tropic, even if I don't remember which one. So...it's SLIGHTLY humid. just a bit. I'm so sticky that everything I touch get stuck to me. I feel a bit like a blue tack. It's never sunny in Tianmen, just cloudy (or too polluted? probably the second) so the heat stays on us. Oh well, it's breezy, but never enough. I visit the shower very often (not as much as I normally do in August in Italy, anyway) but it's completely useless, because, as soon as you are out, you're sweating again. and the whole house smells of humidity. My clothes never dry!
And now came the rainy season...you can imagine the smell...HAPPY HAPPY DAYS!
But let's talk about happy things! Tomorrow after work I'm leaving Tianmen and going to Wuhan! Yahiii, to the big city! There I will meet up with Stevie, a friend I made while studying for my celta. yes, she live close to me (in Chinese terms, obviously...). But she lives in a real city, stays in a real flat (no mouses!) and work for a university. Now you see what is the difference between being mother tongue and not be. ah ah. but we, mixed race, are stronger!!! ahahahahah! Anyway....I complained so much to her that she decided to leave her shiny tower and come down to visit the mortals. how nice...sigh sob...I can't wait to see her!!!!!
Ok, I leave you now and go packing.
Bug hug to everyone, I'll update you next week!
Ellie
Fun fact of the day: at the ticket office everybody approaches you telling any timetable, but the one you need. And once they got what you want, they can tell you up to 5 different journey lenght for the same route. How can you plan something here???
here is so unbelievably humid that you must forgive my spelling mistakes but the keys are slippery (good one, isn't it?).
Anyway, where were we?
Oh yeah, my first day. on Monday I didn't work, so I was planning to sleep and sleep and sleep. what else? But obviously I was wrong. First, I had to call my family to tell them that I was somehow surviving, and to do that I had to get up at 6. then, when I was gladly falling asleep again, my colleague stood under my balcony calling my name. What? I go downstairs and she tells me (at 7am) "Should we go for breakfast?" what? "Mmh...maybe a bit later..." "Oh you know, breakfast is served between 6 and 8" and that is the deepest and darkest hour of the night for me "I see" I said "I think I'll skip it for today". I haven't been since. but she forced me to go with her at lunchtime, at 11am.
see how Chinese work? breakfast is actually a midnight snack; lunch, between 11 - 12, is breakfast; dinner, between 4 - 5.30pm, is actually lunch. and then? I throw some dumplings in the microwave at 9pm and I feel better. The Chinese way...
Anyway! we get to the canteen and I see a room as big as my village (no, seriously...it looked like a stadium) packed, and I mean PACKED, with minuscules children, all the same, running and screaming up and down hunting for food. I stood still. What? Song smiled and I followed her to the teachers quarter, as a big as a napkin, where more less 200 teachers were packed sucking their lunch. Chinese eat sooo fast that in 5 minutes they've swallowed a bowl of various stuff (normally rice+hot vegetables+hot meat+spicy soup). I sat with my bowl and I attacked with my chopsticks. Ya hi! To be honest the food was GORGEOUS on the Italians' face (on my face, then...mmmh...). it's so tasty and varied...all this unknown things floating in I don't know what, but for some reason soooooo good. I loved it. Obviously we had to eat in 5 minutes, giving me a very heavy stomach all day. I'll never get used to that! After lunch Song forced me to have a rest (?)...and I actually needed it, and a lot of hot tea to free my stomach from the massive ball of stuff I had in it..."I'll come to pick you up at 5 for dinner" food again???? "Ok...see you in a bit" and I went back in to burp loudly!
Later we went to see my future classes. and a long shiver chilled my spine.
Ok, there are 2 big buildings with more less 6-7 floors each. Each floor has 4 classes. Each class more less 80 kids. You count them...
Obviously even the kids were staring at me, jumping on each other to get a better view. Oh god...I decided to get sunglasses and a black wig...that could help!
Whatever! Dawn came, and with it...gym time! At 7am a very loud music is unleashed from the loudspeakers all over the campus, and the Chinese exercise! Now, you have to see that the earlier I start working is 8.50am so I have the damn right to stay in bed till 8, at least! No, wake up at 7, and they keep playing music for a hour or so...don't ask me why.
but I stay in bed, skipping breakfast and gym! ole'!
But the real nightmare is the classroom. I got in and counted them. 86. 86! eighty six, my god! All looking at the green alien standing in front of them. WHY ME!!!?!
In some way we went through the lessons, and I noticed the most strange thing!
At around 2 o'clock in the afternoon a relaxing music is unleashed from the loudspeaker with a voice giving instructions, I guess...and the kids start massaging their heads, eyes, noses...for 5 minutes or so...and then we start the lesson.
During lunch time I was eating happily (fighting with my chopstick) when a lady approached me and started talking to me. how nice! She said I speak English very fast (clearly, so you won't notice my mistakes) and she underlined that this is the best school in the city. and so I thought...is it not the ONLY one???? But I didn't say it. She kept asking me question for half hour and, came 12, the canteen guy kicked me out because they had to close. Nooooo, my rice!!!! Oh well...
The big problems start in the evening. there's nothing to do in this city, it's very small. No bars or pubs. People just sit in front of their houses and chat with the neighbor...but unfortunately I can't chat much...so I have to stay at home on my own, writing this stuff, chatting on skype or watching movies. The fact is that it takes me between 2.3 and 5.7 minutes to plan a lesson, so I don't have much more to do. and anyway, 2 lessons are enough for one week, since I have 18 different classes in 5 days. Rock on.
Between one class and the other I go back home for a quick nap (I don't sleep at night, I will have to sleep sometimes) and at the end I just go home and sit.
This is the problem of being a celebrity! they all look at you in awe but nobody seems interested in getting close to you. how depressing.
And another good thing! Soon we'll be 5 below 0, and there's no heating in the whole house and/or school. Well, I have the air conditioning in my bedroom (that can work as heating as well) but what about bathroom???? I will wash myself with blokes of ice.
So, it's all uphill, and yesterday night I found a mouse in my house and today my fridge broke. Bye bye dumplings, had to throw everything away.
So I ask Song if someone could come and properly clean my house, and she finally revealed me that the house hasn't been clean since the last teacher left...4 months ago! Well done! So...this week end I'll be away and meanwhile they are supposed to clean. Fingers crossed.
Let me just take a short digression and explain you about the weather in Hu Bei. We are on the tropic, even if I don't remember which one. So...it's SLIGHTLY humid. just a bit. I'm so sticky that everything I touch get stuck to me. I feel a bit like a blue tack. It's never sunny in Tianmen, just cloudy (or too polluted? probably the second) so the heat stays on us. Oh well, it's breezy, but never enough. I visit the shower very often (not as much as I normally do in August in Italy, anyway) but it's completely useless, because, as soon as you are out, you're sweating again. and the whole house smells of humidity. My clothes never dry!
And now came the rainy season...you can imagine the smell...HAPPY HAPPY DAYS!
But let's talk about happy things! Tomorrow after work I'm leaving Tianmen and going to Wuhan! Yahiii, to the big city! There I will meet up with Stevie, a friend I made while studying for my celta. yes, she live close to me (in Chinese terms, obviously...). But she lives in a real city, stays in a real flat (no mouses!) and work for a university. Now you see what is the difference between being mother tongue and not be. ah ah. but we, mixed race, are stronger!!! ahahahahah! Anyway....I complained so much to her that she decided to leave her shiny tower and come down to visit the mortals. how nice...sigh sob...I can't wait to see her!!!!!
Ok, I leave you now and go packing.
Bug hug to everyone, I'll update you next week!
Ellie
Fun fact of the day: at the ticket office everybody approaches you telling any timetable, but the one you need. And once they got what you want, they can tell you up to 5 different journey lenght for the same route. How can you plan something here???
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