Friday Night, Jenga Night

So after a long week, we were not sure what to do on Friday. We were all late at school working on projects, and had to come in on Saturday too, so we wanted a quiet night.
Massimo offered to host dinner at his house, and we persuaded Dani to come and repeat his pasta from Christmas (although in the end Max cooked as we were hungry). But we had quite a crowd - Percy, Vlasta, Luca, Dani and me all availing of Max's hospitality. Luca went home on the way to pick up the Jenga that Vlasta and I bought him for his birthday in October, and that we have never played. Friday was the night.
We grabbed some provisions at Pam - the great supermarket near the station - and headed back to write forfeits for the game. You can judge the severity of the forfeits from the concentration on our faces as we played. It was a memorable night, and I think may have started a Jenga mini craze....

Long week

Last week seemed interminable.
The low point was Wednesday, 4 hours of advanced economics, 4 hours of advanced finance - a killer. The good news is that this is the last segment of finance, so once we are through this, we are done in terms of finance - unless you pick it as an option. (I won't)
Thursday and Friday were more interesting - emerging markets management with a professor from Hungary who is half Afghani and half Italian and worked in Tokyo and lived in London. He has a real world view and it was interesting to hear his thoughts.
Things are picking up though. If we can get through this current period, which is a little dull, we will start to see more companies and do more interesting things. This includes visits to wine companies for testing the product (clearly required as part of the business evaluation) and a coffee connoisseurs course at Illy Caffe - also business motivated! We also have a trip to Bled, Slovenia, and another to Munich on the horizon. Will be worth the wait I hope!

Carnevale is coming, get out the confetti

When I first noticed that there was more confetti around than usual, I thought it might be that this was a popular season for weddings - like summer in England or October November in India and Hong Kong. But given the amount of confetti currently on the ground in Trieste there would have to be a bride on every corner, as you might be able to see from the photo of Piazza Unita on Sunday.
Then in the square I saw a lion in his pushchair. And a princess chasing a balloon. And I realised that the dusting of confetti was to do with the run up to Carnevale.

I will have to stock up before the weekend in Venice and Muggia.

Finally... a run on the Napoleonic Trail

I have tried to run the Napoleonic trail from the Opicina tram many times. And have been thwarted by the weather every time. So the sunshine and unseasonably warm weather on Sunday morning encouraged me to give it another shot. So armed with my iPod and a bottle of water I once again got on the tram from Piazza Oberdan and we struggled up the hill towards Opicina. They are working on the line at the moment, so the tram only does half of its normal journey. But there is a courtesy bus to get you the rest of the way.
In Italy there is not always a huge amount of information for tourists. There are tourist boards with free information, but not always signs and very regimented instructions. But if you are headed this way and are in doubt its pretty easy to spot the start of the trail. Get off the tram or bus when it empties out - almost eveyone on the tram is heading for the trail and not for Opicina itself. If you are in doubt there is also an obelisk to mark the beginning of the trail.
My perseverence paid off. The trail is lovely - a little like Bowen Road in Hong Kong - a great surface to run on and very flat. The views are beautiful, you look down initially on Trieste nestled into the bay, then on the Miramare Castle as you get towards Prosecco.


In Hong Kong when you are out walking on a Sunday you often see familes out walking. There were people of all ages (and hundreds of dogs!) walking the trail on Sunday. But one thing that was new to me was the number of people rock climbing at the end of the trail. There were 5 or 6 people with ropes and cliips scaling the cliffs, with the rest of the gear in the roof racks of their cars parked nearby. Those that weren't climbing, walking or running were watching the others - it was great to see a young girl climbing almost to the top and everyone egging her on from the ground.
Enjoying the sunshine and the exercise I ran back to the Opicina end of the trail, then down to Roiano and back along to Pam supermarket for some shopping before going home. It was a great run, but I paid the price on Monday when getting out of bed was a bit of a challenge with my legs aching!

Minature Muggia

I heard that Muggia was lovely – like a mini Piran (seaside resort in Slovenia – see post from October). So having a Saturday morning to myself I jumped on the bus and went to see for myself.
It certainly is small, but very pretty. There were lots of fishermen, fixing nets and wandering about in wellies. I walked along the promenade, where the ladders attached to the wall behind the benches, combined with a complete lack of people made it look like a modern art installation.
After a seafood lunch, great but expensive, I went for a coffee in the piazza. To give an idea of how small a place this is, while sitting outside soaking up the winter sun I saw a woman dashing across the piazza (now deserted) for a coffee with the foils from her highlights still in her hair – bleach and all!
We will be going back to Muggia in a couple of weeks for their carneval, resplendent in costumes, so expect to see another post in due course!

Karaoke Italian-style

Karaoke strikes me as one of the most Asian activities I know. So the thought of karaoke Italian-style in the nightclub in Trieste seemed too good to miss. Oli, who we know can sing from his 30th birthday in Lignano on our first days of the course, and Walter, budding rock star and master of the air guitar (he has a real guitar too he tells us, but no-one has seen it yet!) were both keen. So Wednesday night we went down to Mandracchio prepared to join in the festivities.
There are many differences from Karaoke as I know it. No small private room, no tambourines and no self-controlled sound system – the karaoke in Mandracchio was a screen on the edge of the dancefloor with songs controlled from the DJ booth. Most of which were Italian. And one microphone.
Vlasta and I bravely started the singing, belting out Cindy Lauper's Time After Time (a karaoke classic that brings back memories of Karaoke in Japan and Korea for me - an international favourite!)

Following on in the footsteps of the ladies was a rousing rendition of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry (Oli, featuring everyone else) or Guns and Roses Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Walter, likewise backed up by the rest of us!) We even gamefully joined in with the Italian songs – despite the fact that most of us didn’t know them!
It was a pleasure for all of us when the DJ started playing real music, and we spent some time dancing before heading home. School came round early on Thursday morning!

Sunny Sunday

Skiing on Saturday was excellent. But at about Euros 85 for the day, really a bit much for the student budget to repeat for a second day.
So there was a group of 14 of us who were at a loose end on Sunday morning, but determined to make the most of the glorious weather.
After a bit of research, we decided to take the cable car up to the mid point, then to meet the skiers when they came there for lunch. Following which the idea was to go for a walk, head up to the top of the mountain, and later to get the gondola down again.
Instead of which we went to the half way point. And sat in the sunshine. Where we sampled the rum tea, made snow angels, and generally chilled out.
Then lunch (goulash soup and chunky bread with a cold beer – yum! And much better than the meal the night before!) followed by some more beer and lots of laughs.
At about 350pm – 10 minutes before the lifts closed – there was a half hearted suggestion that maybe we should think about heading back down the mountain. But then the skiers came back in, the music was turned up, and an impromptu party ensued.
As time marched on it became clear that there were 2 ways to get down the hill without skis. Either walk (slow) or risk life and limb on a black bin liner (fast). Needless to say there is now a very amusing video doing the rounds of MIB’s finest hurtling down a World Cup ski run on black plastic.
The journey back to Trieste was long, but significantly quieter than the rest of the trip had been – the excesses of MIB on the Snow taking their toll. A really fantastic weekend.

Nevica (aka snow)

The key ingredient for cocktails in room 102 of our resort in Bad. Perhaps thanks to inspiration from the Baileys ad (you want ice, you got ice) we decided that we needed cold cocktails. And given that we were surrounded by snow….
Flavio mixed the strangest combination (vodka, Bacardi, coke, orange, water…. And nevica) which Marina tells me tasted better than it looked – not hard! But everyone indulged in the Nevica cocktail range.
Except perhaps Tuvshin from Mongolia. His tipple of choice is vodka, straight up and without the contamination of Nevica – but later videos show him consuming a fair amount of water to wash the vodka down with. So who knows, maybe next time Tuvshin will be on the nevica too. Maybe we will start a trend in Mongolia on his return!

Saturday on the Snow

In finest skiing tradition, the late night on Friday didn’t stop us getting up early on Saturday – especially as it afforded us our first view of the lake, and the sun rising over the mountains. The layers of ski clothes went on, and Vlasta and I stomped off to breakfast through the snow. Austrian breakfasts are good – ham, salami and cheese to go with the good bread, and lots of muesli and yummy jam. The coffee however was hideous, and made me think that the Italian experience has ruined me for life on the coffee front. I was a coffee snob before, and now, ridiculous – the Austrian coffee was undrinkable!
Hiring skis and boots took forever – literally an hour or more – but finally finally we were headed onto the slopes. Luca was leading the way and Marina, Dani and I following behind as fast as we could.
We had a fantastic few hours skiing in the good weather, before the wind got up and the snow started to swirl. Having trudged with skis off down a road and back again in almost no visibility (with a brief pause for Marina and I to make snow angels – much to the bemusement of the lads) Luca suggested that we head into a ski hut for tea and to wait for the weather to pass.

A hut loomed in the mist, and we dumped the skis and staggered in. And what a fantastic place – wood paneling all around and a big fire in the middle with views of the slopes (well, views of the storm at the time). Marina and I snagged a table upstairs, and the guys went off in search of the local beverage of choice – jagerthe. This is regular tea, with a generous shot of Stroh rum and a slice of orange – fantastically warming and – it turned out later – great for skiing confidence! We were also treated to 2 large cakes – one chocolate and one with red berries – soon to be burned off on the slopes.
A few more hours skiing until the wind and then the hour closed the lifts, and then we went to the spa. I had been a little perturbed pre-skiing to learn that the sauna in Bad Kleinkirchheim is naked – and mixed! The thought of sitting around with classmates and other schoolfriends in the buff, and then going back to school on Monday, seemed more than a little odd. Luckily however, we limited our relaxation activities to the swimming pool (warm, and clothed in swimsuits)! Swimming in a hot mineral bath after a day on the slopes is a fantastic idea, and recommended to any skier. (In hindsight though, challenging first Vlasta, then Dani to races across the pool after a day’s skiing was a little ambitious, I was dead by the end!) Luca deserves a special mention for taking up the challenge to jump out of the open air pool and lie in the snow, and Marina and Elis deserve a bigger mention for joining me in following suit! The water in the pool felt even more warm and welcoming after lying on the ice!
In the evening we went to a restaurant in Bad Kleinkircheim, where we ate some kind of soup with a sweet cake to co with it (strange, but not unpleasant) and boiled beef with scrambled wet bread with horseradish (strange, and unpleasant!) and a very eggy pancake thing with apple sauce which was just way too eggy for my liking. There was a very funny moment when halfway through the speeches the stuffed chicken that had been featuring in many of our pics of the night caught fire in the candle!
Following dinner, the night was rounded off by dancing in the local bar to a live band of 2 Austrians on the guitar and keyboards singing soft rock. Despite the terrible music, we all danced until it was time to get back on the bus!

Friday night at the Austrian disco

Friday night’s schedule indicated that we would be visiting the local disco near the hotel. It was a bit of a shock when we arrived in an empty bar with a darts board and a few Austrian locals quietly drinking. The biggest feature on the walls was pictures of JFK – a strange and unexpected shrine in the middle of the Austrian mountains!

Needless to say that it didn’t take long for the group of 40 of us to take the place over. Soon the Scissor Sisters was playing (I suspect someone tipped off the DJ – a busy guy who also doubled as the barman!) and we turned it into Mandracchio mark 2. Lots of dancing, lots of pictures and lots of laughter (I STILL can’t play darts!) before we had to get back on the bus to return to the hotel.
Luckily Chris has been to Bad before, and knew the drill, so we returned to one of the rooms for an impromptu party before finally getting to bed at about 3.

Off to Austria

The trip to Austria started well. I packed my passport. And it turns out I didn't need it. I really didn't know that once you get into the Schengen zone there are no borders - you can literally go where you like!
After a few hours on the bus (and a festive atmosphere with beer flowing freely - hence the picture of Chris with the slab above!) we got off the bus for a dinner of Wiener Schnitzel and chips and Austrian Beer. There was tonnes of snow - but no Austrians in Leiderhosen that i could see!

Bus Jam

After the snow on Thursday, I caught the bus to school on Friday morning. Everything was going fine, apart from being loaded down with luggage for the upcoming ski weekend (which irritated a pensioner trying to get past no end) but as we climbed the hill towards the house where Ale, Luca and Massimiliano live, we stopped. And there we stayed for about 15 minutes.
Eventually we realised the problem. At the end of the road the bus has to turn right to continue the journey to school. But a car had parked across the exit of the junction and it was impossible for the bus in front of us to get around.
When patience ran out we jumped off the bus and went for a coffee - the first time I have seen a coffee bar run by a Chinese family since I have been here - and returned to the bus stop just in time to see the tow truck putting the car back in a more suitable spot. I imagine that there will be a huge bill for someone to pay, but my debt is mainly to my group who were waiting an hour for me to arrive.

Winter arrived - and then left again

Thursday morning and snow arrived in Trieste for the first time this winter. The school looked really orange with its white dusting and at the break we staggered outside against the wind and weather to throw some snowballs.

Flavio, who is from Brazil, had never seen the snow before, and was surprised by how soft it was, and the crunchy noise it made. I have attached a pic of him with the imprint of his first snowball!

We spent the weekend in Austria - another post on that later - and by Monday when we came back the snow was long gone. The sun is now shining brightly and we are itching to get outside in the 15 min break before the next lecture.

International Relations

Today the International Relations exam - and tomorrow and Friday we are working on a marketing case study on an alternative Viagra called Cialis. There is a lot of reading to do! And then some slides and numbers to crunch.
We need to get everything done by Friday as we are off to Austria on the bus to go skiing.
Also this week, I need to start adding more photos to the blog. Mainly because I have started sharing the link with friends in the class - and the friends that are not in the pics are giving me a hard time!
So... to start to correct this - here is a picture of my friend Walter who I sit next to in class.

Day off for the calendar guys!

Another "Only In Italy" post
It was on Sunday that the attached picture made me smile. I love the idea that it is someone's job to change the date with stones every day - its almost a Japanese thing! But the difference here is that on Sundays the stone calendar guy has the day off. Long Saturdays at Miramare - 48 hours at least!

Tourist day in Trieste

Yesterday dawned foggy and a bit gloomy. But after a Saturday night mainly spent ironing and watching terrible TV, it was time to get out.
I got on the bus to Opicina, thinking that I would go for a run along the Napoleonic trail. But by the time the bus got there, the clouds were back to the low level of the last few days and I couldn't see anything. So back on the bus, and then down to Barcola. From there, I ran along the waterfront path to Miramare Castle, overlooking the headland. I had a stroll around the park (it was beautiful - not such a tough life being an Austrian emperor back in the day) and then decided that I would visit the castle itself.

Anyone that is heading this way, I suggest a trip to the castle - its 4Euros, but worth it. (Don't bother with the spoken guide unless you are a real history buff - there are panels inside explaining everything). The thing that really struck me was that, although there are cameras, there are no security guards around, leaving you with the feeling that you are really wandering around someone's house on your own. Its great - and I especially liked the oriental rooms, but maybe I am biased! Massimo told me this morning that it is considered unlucky to go with your partner there - because Massimiliano's love story was not so successful. I am not sure if that is only because he died in Mexico.... But anyway, if you aren't with your partner - go and see!
I ran and walked back to the flat, passing Hakan and Cesar from IMTL out for their own run - then went past the Verdi theatre. I saw that there was an opera on in 45 minutes, so grabbed a half price ticket.
The next three hours (after a quick shower and change of clothes - I learnt from the Mozart concert that people dress up to go to the theatre) went by with a large helping of Wagner. It was great to go, but my first Wagner experience, and I suspect one of my last. It was a bit heavy going for me.

Manuale D'Amore 2

A quick plug for the newly released Italian movie "Manuale D'Amore 2", (Love Manual 2), which I went to see last night at the cinema at Torri D'Europa (the local mall - a bit soulless, but the cinema is a big improvement on the one on Viale XX Settembre). The cast is full of Italian greats - the only one of whom I knew was Monica Bellucci. But having seen him on screen last night, I will now be keeping an eye out for other movies featuring the delightful Riccardo Scarmacio!
The movie is a series of short love stories, all of which have their own difficulties - the physiotherapist and her wheelchair-bound patient; the gay couple with an unaccepting parent; the manic woman desperate for a child and her long-suffering husband; the man in his 50s and the young Spanish girl who is staying in his building - but it is a great combination of laughter and some poignant moments too. I couldn't understand 100%, but I got by enough to get the story. The Gianna Nannini music brought back memories of the summer just after I left Hong Kong - when Sei Nel'anima was playing EVERYWHERE. (Now it's Scissor Sisters - I don't feel like dancing that follows me around). I recommend it!

I hear the view is lovely from Carso

But I wouldn't really know. Yesterday the fog was so thick you couldn't see anything. Except for the man in flouro yellow who was jogging. We crawled along in Massimilliano's car, in flotilla. Somehow, thanks to Massimilliano's driving and Giulia's navigation we made it to Da Mario.
And it was well worth the journey. We spent a very enjoyable afternoon ensconsed in the restaurant, drinking wine from jugs on the table and tucking into delicious pasta. I have discovered a great option for the indecisive in restaurants (my family would tell you that this includes me!) Tris di primi (thanks to Ciccio for helping me with the spelling!) is a selection of 3 types of pasta, enabling you to effectively choose different options for your pasta course. Yesterday these options included Gnocchi con Cinghiale (wild boar potato dumplings), whole wheat ravioli with venison, and a tomato and mushroom pasta. We followed with potatoes in tecia (like mash potato with ham and onions - yum) and salad.
Then they let us loose on the grappa trolley. I have seen this a few times in the past, but normally the owner stays in the room. Yesterday we were in one room, the owners in the other. And with us were about 30 empty glasses and about 15 bottles of grappa - flavoured with everything from a strange green herb, to hazelnuts, to berries. We sampled a few, I enjoyed the nut one, and the berry one was nice but too sweet to drink too much of it.
And all for a cost of 22 Euros - can't be bad.

Un giro e pranzo

This morning a lecture on macroeconomics - an interesting insight into the financial situation in Italy. Best summed up as not good.
A couple of weeks ago Massimo and I had planned a 'giro' (turnabout) on Sunday and lunch. Due to a communication collapse we ended up not going.
So the news this morning that the Johnson and Johnson representatives were stuck at the airport because of fog, meaning that we had a free afternoon, the opportunity seemed too good to miss. So in a short while we are all jumping in cars and heading off to a village near the border to have lunch together. This is also a follow on from an email that Chris sent some time last week to encourage us to get together to do more things - such as eating out, bowling, the Carnevale in Venice (a lifelong dream for me!).
Talking of doing things together, skating last night was fun - although in the end there was only Hakan, Vlasta and I skating. Building on the success of Christmas skating, I was trying to do turns and skate backward. I am definitely heading for leg-breaking territory if I go again during our trip to Austria next weekend for the annual "MIB on the Snow" offsite.

AAAAAgh is for accounting

The accounting exam today was really tough - advanced accounting for management - really difficult.
The good news is that all of us found it difficult so hopefully we are all going to be doing it again together or we have all done enough to bring down the average so that we can all scrape through.
Tonight, to recover, we are going ice skating and afterwards for dinner at the little restaurant near to my house. It should be good!
This week also marks the start of outside visits - we had AT Kearney come and see us yesterday and tomorrow we have Johnson and Johnson who may want to interview some of us.
I am writing this in the dark in the classroom as we are watching No Man's Land - the Oscar-winning moving about the war in ex-Yugoslavia. It is especially interesting as it is in Croatian / Serbian with Italian subtitles, and currently rather graphic. I think that I will try to get hold of an English version at some point so that I can watch it for real.
The plan is that things will get a bit easier from now on - fewer exams and fewer hours, although having just heard the timetable for the next few weeks I am not sure how much easier. I am counting down in horror towards Advanced Finance in February.
The pic here shows Luca and I hard at work on our Strategy projects last Friday. The thumbs up is ironic!

A Multicultural Evening

Last night another first - a trip to the movies. I went with some of the class to see Rocky Balboa in the cinema in Viale XX Settembre. The tickets were Euro 7 each - the same exact price as in Hong Kong. But there the similarities ended.
Firstly all the movies at the cinema are dubbed into Italian - you can only see original language movies on DVD or at film clubs (there is an American one, but it is quite expensive to join and the movies are old). So its good for the language lessons, but not always rewarding for the comprehension and relaxation!
Secondly, when we entered into the cinema through curtains, I was a little surprised not to be able to see the screen, but instead to be faced with rows of faces on two levels looking expectantly in my direction. Then I realised that the screen was in fact over my head - we had entered underneath the screen.
The movie started and after about 10 minutes they turned off the heating fan which had been whirring happily over my head - so then I could actually hear something. And, happily, understand it - although the quantity and quality of dialogue in Rocky Balboa may not be a clear representation of comprehension levels!
Then halfway through, the biggest surprise. The movie stopped, the lights came up and the word "Intervallo" was splashed on the screen. A handful of people stood up and left. Apparantly this is to give people a chance to have a cigarette or to get a cofffee. So Italian!
But barely 90 seconds after the start of the interval, the film restarted. It seems strange to break the film, and then not give a break long enough for people to do anything. Perhaps it is gradually being phased out.
After the movie, we headed to Bar Rudy on Via Valdirivo - near to my house. There we ate german food cheese and ham, drank German beer and listened to the drunken oompah band. Hilarious! It was Elis' birthday and the rendition of Happy Birthday by the drunken trombone player and the guy on the spoons will stay with her for a while!


Just to round off the evening, we hit Colonial - the club near to Piazza Unita.
A truly multicultural evening!

First no buses, now no cars

A curious piece of news today in Trieste - at least for a Hong Konger.
Due to concern about the pollution, there is a car ban.
Tonight cars are banned from crossing from one area to another, and from entering the city centre, between 4 and 7.
Tomorrow the ban is almost all day.
I have been amazed since I got here at how fresh the air is, certainly after Asia. The fog has been terrible for the last few days, and I am not sure if this is related to the ban - but the idea of having the power to tell cars not to drive for a day and a half to help control the pollution is an interesting one - a learning point for HK perhaps?
I have stopped buying the monthly bus pass, as Massimo drives me to and from school now. And the ban is not really an issue today as we will be here until at least 7 doing strategy projects for tomorrow.
I predict that the ban will have another effect. It is likely to alleviate the parking nightmare in the city. Finding a space to park in Trieste is like winning a lottery and remains a major gripe for the city's residents. I imagine that shortly after 7 this evening, the city will seem empty of cars for a while - or that there will be a major jam as traffic streams in to park...

Back at Work

So school has started again and in some ways it feels as though we never left! You would think from the greetings on Monday morning that it had been months since we had seen each other - it is amazing how much we all missed each other over the vacations and I am not sure what we will do when the course is done in a few short months!
The new year also means new working groups and the end of point 22, my previous group. We had a farewell dinner last night, across the border in Slovenia. Slovenian food - at least what I have experienced of it - is often very heavy and mainly fried. We started last night with fried cheese, then followed up with ljubljanski (not sure of the spelling!) - which is like cordon bleu - and much other meat and cheese - all accompanied by chips - and a tomato salad to try to counteract the fried items! All of this was washed down with beer brewed on the premises.
Today I will be at school til late, we are in lessons til 4, then I have to work on my strategic analysis of Generali for Friday. There is a lot to still do and little time!

Activities for the New Year

Many folk around the world make resolutions that revolve around activities and getting fit in the New Year. Its true that studyoing took priority over exercise in the latter months of 2006 (and it was WAY too cold and dark to run outside in December!) but my New Year started with 3 days of sitting around and drinking coffee.
So it is good that now that I am back in Sarnano, I have a few outdoor activities planned.
Tonight I am going ice skating in Servigliano - at the outdoor rink that they have set up in the piazza. I have done this once already and loved it - an became much more confident towards the end. This is a bad sign I think as the more confident I get, the higher my chances of coming a cropper on the ice.

Banking bureaucracy

Banking in Italy is an interesting game. This morning, like so many mornings, I set off with my list of things to do. By lunch time, I had managed to achieve one thing - go to bank.
This was not due to the length of the queue. But because I needed to change accounts to a residents account. This means that I can pay less tax and commission on every activity. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this is really just in compensation for the amount of bureacracy it takes to open the new account.
And to close the old one. For which there was a fee of close to E40.
I also needed to track down the money from Hong Kong that had gone missing in December. It turns out that - in error - this had been posted to another person's account. The error has now been corrected and whoever the person is that was momentarily richer over the Christmas period, I apologise profusely! I will certainly be checking the balance on the account carefully from now on...
By the end of the 2 hours something that I spent in the bank, I had at least managed to start my new account, to close the old one, to sign up for internet banking, to transfer all standing orders and to eat 2 free caramels (with all their sweet wishes for the New Year - get it?)
Fingers crossed that the 20+ signatures that were required to make this happen were sufficient and that I can now look forward to trouble-free and lower commission financial transactions in the future.
But I am not holding my breath!

L'Anno Nuovo

The New Year has started well. The last time I tried to drive to Bracciano to Irena and Mo's house I did so without a map and without a plan. As a result it took about 6 hours to get there. This time I took the wise counsel of Via Michelin and made it there in about 3h30 - a huge improvement but meaning that I was there well ahead of time. Poor Irena and Mo who had planned a morning a casa! We had a very relaxing lunch then started getting sorted for the party in the evening.
By about 9 everyone had arrived - a full complement of 4 kids, 2 dogs, and 9 adults - and we soon tucked into the Morrocan food that Irena and Mo had prepared. At midnight the champagne flowed and we went into the garden to watch the fireworks from the castle (as made famous by TomKat in November). After midnight in Italy you are supposed to eat lentils as they signify money for the following year. Traditionally these are consumed with Zampone - the skin of a pigs trotter into which the grissly bits that are too yack for sausages are stuffed. We therefore bypassed the zampone, but I trust that this will not affect the power of the lentils - my finances are such that I ate mounds of them in the hope that there was something in it. It cant hurt right?
At midnight I also tried to send messages to friends and family around the world - but the Telecom Italia Mobile network was not up to much and I am not sure how many messages actually went through. A quick round of charades and a chat meant that we hit the sack around 4...
New Years Day dawned bright, and seemed the perfect setting for the pajama-clad Oprah marathon! Lunch was leftovers from the night before followed by more lounging around - the perfect way to spend New Year! In the evening we ventured out of the house (no longer in pjs) and headed to Trevignano on the other side of the lake for dinner and the most delicious chocolate and biscotti cake.
The morning of the 2nd started as New Year's Day had - drinking coffee and chatting. Then Irena, Mo and I went up to Bracciano village to have a look around, and another coffee before I set off back to Marche. Huge thanks to both of them for not batting an eyelid when I invited myself over!
The new route to and from Bracciano (new to me at least) is failsafe - essentially a straight drive all the way. There are some amazing views as the road twists through the Umbrian countryside up into the mountains, but possibly my favourite bit is once you hit the SS77, the other side of Foligno. Here the road ceases to be just a superstrada and becomes the centre of commerce for potatoes and onions. I was reminded of the sign that I saw in Ljubljana which campaigned for potatoes and onions to be recognised as an independent dish - if ever the society needed to do any shopping, they could hit the SS77 outside Tolentino for all their requirements. I did not stop to buy anything. Partly because I don't really eat many potatoes and have no idea what I would do with a bag the size of the ones that they were selling and partly because I could not possibly choose between the many tractors that were parked touting their wares. So I drove onto home.

Buon Natale

I have been having some Blogger problems and have not been able to log in, but am back online now!
Its been a lovely Christmas. Its cold here in Sarnano, but the sun is shining and the sky is blue. On Christmas Day itself we actually had to go in serach of the snow - this must be the first year when there has not been white stuff on the ground outside the window - and I had promised Connie and John - who were over from Hong Kong - a white Christmas! So we jumped in the car and headed up to Sassotetto. The sun was hiding behind large black clouds up there most of the time, but this didn't deter us from lobbing a few snowballs or from drinking our champagne which we had brought up for the occasion!

The rest of Christmas Day passed in a festive way - with a viewing of A Christmas Carol starring George C Scott (the classic version) and much wine and festive grub. Presents were exchanged around the Christmas Ladder - I couldn't bring myself to buy a tree only to throw it away in the New Year - so I had decorated the bamboo ladder that I shipped from Hong Kong in the Summer, and put all the spare baubles in bowls around the house. Before I had the idea of the ladder I thought I would just decorate the furniture, and started hanging decorations everywhere. I am sure that sometime in June I will find a stripy-stockinged reindeer hanging off a piece of furniture I had otherwise forgotten about!
Connie and John left on the 27th after a Boxing Day trip to Servigliano to see the ice rink and the living nativity in Sarnano, and a wonderful meal at thealways fabulous Restaurant Duilia in Snat'Angelo in Pontano. This little village is Englishville and a lot of the people I know here are put off from going there as a result, but the place is amazing overlooking the whole valley from mthe top of the old castle walls (circa 10th century) and with Pappardelle con Cinghiale (wild boar) that makes my mouth water just typing it!
The journey to the station in Ancona for Connie and John's train was a fast one - gathering pace at the end as we flew along the A14 counting the minutes until the train left. That we made the train in the end was thanks to the rally-like driving, the Smart ForFour that I was given byt the hire car company but which is actually very nippy, and thanks also to the brilliant autostrada - you may have to pay for it, but the road is straight, the tarmac good - well worth it!
Yesterday I hit the stores with Irene, a friend from San Cristoforo, near Manadola, and in the evening we hit the ice rink then went for Raclette at her house - it really feelslike Christmas other than the fact that my family aren't here.
Tomorrow I am doing the 4 hour drive to Rome to spend the New Year with some friends from Hong Kong at their house on the Lago di Bracciano, now famous thanks to mr and mrs tom cruise.
More in the New Year, but until than, Buon Anno a Tutti and all good wishes for 2007.

And the news is… there is no news

A strange sight on RAI’s TG1 tonight.
I tuned in for the news at 8pm – after L’Eredita – a terrible yet strangely addictive game show that ends with a contestant who has to choose 1 word per pair from 5 pairs. For each wrong answer, the amount of money they stand to win is cut in half. Once there are 5 words available, the contestant has to write a word that links them all together.
I have never seen anyone win anything on the show.
So I knew tonight was special, as the contestant won E50,000. Very strange.
Then the news started, and the usual anchor was nowhere in sight.
The first item on the news was…. That the journalists are on strike. The stand-in anchor proceeded to read the statement from the editor – in which it was made clear that the journalists were standing to lose a portion of their salary and their pension too, “in an incomprehensible manner”.
Then we had a few headlines, read from paper sheets (I presume the teleprompter was likewise not in work) and no pictures.
The subjects covered included Berlusconi and Prodi – Berlusconi always seems to get first billing still now – a few words on Palestine and the murders in Suffolk, then a few more words on the strike and the journalists.
Then the next game show started.
Being a Hong Konger, strikes are not a common experience for me, but in Italy, there seems to be a surfeit of industrial action. The bus drivers have been striking regularly in Trieste since I arrived – at least 5 times since September.
Luckily, Massimo now takes me to school, and he doesn’t strike!

When the bora blows

Finally, the bora has arrived (although the Triestines tell me it is still speeding up). It is really cold when it blows, and the rain is washing down too. Overall, we have not had a bad run - the winter so far has been far better than expected, and the guys at the meteo (for some reason often in uniform on Italian telly) say it wont last.
I hope this is true as I have decided to drive down to Marche on Thursday as I will take some Christmas goodies from here for Christmas.
I am also trying to track down Giorgio, my geometra, regarding the work that is being done (I hope) on the apartment in Sarnano at the moment. They are supposed to have done the stairs internally before Christmas, when Connie and John will arrive from Hong Kong. I have heard nothing from Giorgio - and sometimes with Giorgio no news is bad news! I have now sent him an email in Italian to try to get some news...

Hitting the town again

The Masters in Tourism and Leisure finishes for Christmas today so they are heading out for their Christmas party. Some of the MBAers are meeting up with them later, some not, but either way there is a meeting at Bar Stella near Piazza Unita at 10pm. I imagine we will hit the bars for a while and may even do some dancing...
Mandracchio is our local nightclub and it is about as cheesy as discos get. I have been a few times so far, with my friend Walter who is irresistible to many Triestine ladies, so is always fun to be out with!
Mandracchio is a perfect example of Italian bureaucracy.
Situated in the corner of Piazza Unita, it is easy to spot the club. There is a pig pen for the smokers outside – no smoking inside in Italy anymore, so its always occupied – and there are 2 bouncers on the door.
Although these are bouncers in the loosest sense of the word, they are not very discerning as far as I can see. If you are daft enough to want to go in, you can.
You queue up, and get a ticket from the boys in black as you pass them.
This says “Drink” – which is an instruction, not a suggestion.
Then you are in!
Down the stairs to the coat check – an obligatory service in this part of Europe where the temperature inside the clubs is approaching 33 degrees and outside its currently 8 degrees at night (and falling).
At Mandracchio, it’s Euros 1.50 to leave your coat, for which you get another ticket.
You are then able to hit the dance floor or go for a ‘giro’ – a prowl around the place looking for likely candidates to dance with. The music is Europop at its corniest, but the great thing is that everybody dances.
This process continues in rotation (giro, dance, dance, giro) until it is almost time to leave.
At which point Walter tears himself away from the ladies and we go to get a drink.
The drinks are 7 Euros, whether you ask for a coke (Walter) or a vodka and orange (me).
And you have to hand in the “Drink” ticket.
The drinks arrive along with another ticket.
“Exit”
Again, we take this as an instruction, not a suggestion.
So out past the guardaroba (hand in other ticket, get coat) then up the stairs to the bouncers.
Who take the Exit ticket, then we can leave.
In other parts of the world, they just charge you a cover charge to get into the disco. I think it can only be here in Italy that hitting a nightclub involves 3 official documents and 5 official transactions.

Last Exam Before Christmas

Finally, we are done with exams before Christmas. Yesterday was Supply Chain Management - a strange multiple guess exam that everyone thought was easy, but which probably means few of us have passed!
We went out for an end of exam drink in the evening, but a combination of the cold weather and the tiredness meant that it was a quiet night with no-one on top form. It is definitely time for the Christmas holidays - we all need a break.

Winter Wonderland

Its getting really cold at night now - the thermometer said 8 degrees last night, but it felt colder to me! Vlasta and I went for a walk after the exams in Piazza Unita and around the Christmas market so I finally managed to take some photos of the trees. It is gorgeous at night and there is Mozart playing at the same time. It feels very European - a bit like a film set! I am waiting for people to start waltzing around the square.

Finance on the Up

Unbelievable news - a B in finance. Huge thanks to Luca, to Hakan and to Joyce who helped me enormously. I am not going to change my career direction, but I am delighted with the result! Another exam tomorrow - supply chain management - but we are celebrating on tomorrow night!

Christmas Party

We are planning a Christmas dinner. This will be next Tuesday at a restaurant called La Tecia, downtown in Trieste. For 20 Euros a head we have starters and pasta, wine, water and coffee. We will run a Secret Santa and generally get into the Christmas spirit - long overdue.
The city is looking beautiful, especially Piazza Unita which is full of Christmas trees, and white lights and has classical music playing. There is also an iceskating rink that I have not hit yet, but I plan to before I leave for Marche. Look out for pictures!

Busy Days

An apology to regular readers, it has been absolutely hectic, and I have not had time to write so much. I have been doing exam after exam, the MBA game has really been played at maximum capacity! We are all pretty tired and for a while the cracks were starting to show. But our last exam before Christmas is tomorrow and after that we are counting down to the holidays.
I am not sure what to put about what I have been up to since I last wrote - winetasting in Cividale and the UK trip seem a long time ago now!
There was the problem of the finance exam (3 hours of number crunching, and I am not sure it was any more successful than last time, although I did manage to get an A in my resit which is great!). We will get the results tomorrow.
We also did a strategy presentation on insurance. I have attached a pic of the team before the presentation.

We will stop working together as a group after Christmas and we are a little sad about it - we are a good group and have very complementary abilities and personalities. But the whole class is great really, so although there will be some upheaval after Christmas with the new groups it shouldn't be too bad.
We have also had a marketing exam - a multiple guess affair and a bit of a collaborative effort between the class - its the Italian style of examinations and a big change for me! Very collegiate!
We also went to the alumni dinner for ex MIB students. This was at a German restaurant downtown (of which there are many - a throwback to the Austrian routes of Trieste). The pic shows the dinner - more pork and sauerkraut than I have ever seen on one plate. I didn't make much of a dent in it if I am honest!

We did manage to go out dancing afterwards, at a bar called the Colonial Cafe, near Piazza Unita in the centre of town. Its Trieste's answer to the Far East - with Buddha statues and raffia fans on the walls. But the people and the music are pure Italian! It was a lot of fun, and I think will be the first visit of many when we are less busy....
I have also finally managed to get my hair cut - last weekend in Slovenia with Vlasta. It seemed strange going abroad for a haircut, but is a big improvement! We had a lovely relaxed girly weekend, not too much studying, but we are all tired and cant keep going on forever at the same rhythmn.
On Sunday we headed back to Trieste, and I spent the afternoon at a degustzione (wine tasting) with Ciccio and Massimo. Massimo knows a lot about wine, and Ciccio and I were avid students! It was a great afternoon and the setting was gorgeous, in the Stazione Maritima congress centre with a view of the sea and the bay. As the sun set we went out on the balcony with our wine. Fabulous and a nice way to end a relaxing weekend, even if we felt a bit guilty about the lack of studying going on.
Yesterday we went on our first visit to a company - hitting both Electrolux and ACC in Pordenone, about an hour away from here. I have attached a pic of me and Lovro from Slovenia outside the factory. After an hour inside we were pretty happy to be back in the sunshine - it is a tough life for factory workers - and a mention must go to the lady who was sitting alone checking the paint job on washing machine bodies one by one for 8 hours at a time. A real incentive to keep up the studying.

Weekend in London

Last weekend I went to London to celebrate my Grandad's birthday with my family. This is the first time that I have done a run to the UK from Trieste, and it was surprisingly easy - and cheap!
I took the 0630 Eurostar to Venezia Mestre, then the bus to the Marco Polo airport. By 9am I was checked in to my Easyjet flight and ready to go.
The journey back was also simple, although I got back to the apartment at about 2am, so Monday seemed like a long day.
The great thing about the trip (other than catching up with my family) of course! was that the flight was only 60 Euros!

Enoteca Nanut

Last night was a quick aperitivi session for Daniele's birthday. I wasn't intending to go originally as there is such a lot of studying to do right now, but having had the finance resit (easier this time I think - we will see) I decided to have a night off. Like all good aperitivi it metamorphasised into a much longer session than we intended. In a radical break with tradition, we moved away from our normal La Portizza / Bar Marino routine to a small enoteca named Nanut, just around the corner from the market where I buy my fruit in the mornings.

Nanut, curiously enough, is also the name of the Dean of our school with whom we had a meeting over drinks and doughnuts today. Italy tends to be pretty formal so this kind of informal chat was a new thing for the school and for a lot of the students too, but it went well and I think we will do it again.

But Enoteca Nanut was lovely - a really wide selection of wines and a gorgeous setting with stone walls and a big wooden bar. Massimo - in the front of the picture above - is our resident wine expert and picked a fabulous red from Sardegna for us to enjoy. In usual Trieste style we got lots of free nibbles, including hams and cheeses to mop up the vino - this is a necessity as we rarely have time to eat dinner these days as we are at school til late.

An All Time TV Low

Wednesday night was an all-time TV low. Il Megliore Miss Italia was a quiz show that pitted the 'brains' of the different Miss Italias throughout the last 20 years against each other. Truly appalling TV, yet strangely addictive the night before a finance exam!

Group shot

Its really very busy here this week. I have been doing a presentation on Red Bull, one on Fabtek (seaarch online for the Harvard Business School case if you are interested, its very dry) and working on my insurance presentation for strategy. All in all there is a lot going on, and not a lot of time. I did get a good result in the strategy exam last week - when I managed to get an A. But whilst on the subject of exams the Time Value of Money resit is tomorrow, following 4 hours of lectures on Finance and a presentation from L'Oreal who are running an MBA competition called the e-strat challenge.
So with all that, there is not a lot of time to write on this blog!
Instead, I am attaching a group shot of me with some of my colleagues at the wine tasting trip on Saturday.

Tocai No More

An interesting trip to the vineyards near Cividale on Saturday. It transpires that the famous local Tocai wine is now Tocai no more (or at least from April 1st 2007). There are 2 types of Tocai on the market at the moment – the Hungarian version - a sweet wine and the version from Friuli – AKA Tocai Fruilano. The European Union has ruled that this latter version is to lose the name Tocai from April, at which point it will become simply Friulano – from the Friuli region. Obviously this presents a marketing challenge for the producers, who historically are fiercely competitive with each other and have not been working as a region – this is now changing. In the name of research, I have been trying the Tocai before it becomes obsolete to see if it is worth drinking. So far so good – give it a try before it disappears!
The case of Tocai also highlighted another interesting point. My Italian friends struggle with their use of the letter ‘h’. A little like Cockney people, the Italians add ‘h’s where there are none, and don’t use them when they should. Which made our Tocai discussions an interesting linguistic challenge as they were angry at Hungary…
The picture was taken at the end of the day, after a lot of wine tasting, just after a rousing rendition of a Beatles medley!

Call me Doctor....

It turns out that in Italy you can take the title Doctor as soon as you have a university degree. I have always harboured a secret desire to have the title Doctor. Now I can do it without the inconvenience of having to do a PhD!

Clementini

I am absolutely addicted to clementines. I have been buying them on the market near the Canale Grande in the morning, and bringing them to school, where I eat them like sweets!
It is different from HK here, as in HK you can get the same fruit more or less all year around. Here the seasons are much more noticeable - when things are in season, they are glorious and omnipresent - when it is getting to the end of the season, they look pretty sad. But right now, the clementines are fabulous, and the whole class is munching through kilos of them every week. A bag of about 30 of them is about Euro 1.60 so they are suitable for a student budget too!

Hard at work

Its been a busy few days, and getting busier. I am writing this at 1915 Trieste time, and many of us are still at school and anticipating being here for a while. We are drowning under the weight of group assignments, reading, revision and so on - and that is before we try and figure out the mundane bits - washing, ironing, shopping and so on!
The weekend did provide a little chance to let off some steam though as there was a party for 5 of the guys from my class who combined their Euros to organise a joint birthday party.

We had a great time, and it was much needed after the building pressure at school. The picture is of us at Luca, Alessandro and Massimiliano's house before we went out.
It was not all play this weekend though, I spent 5 hours yesterday studying finance with Luca from my class. He understands the subject well, and in the end, I think I did too. I am planning to get some more practice in before tomorrow if I can.
Our major project at the moment is a strategic analysis of an industry and a company. Hakan from my working group selected the industries for us, and I am relatively happy to be working on the insurance sector - having worked for Eagle Star (now Zurich); New York Life Insurance and Ace Insurance, I know quite a bit about the industry and its challenges and opportunities - at least in Asia Pacific. My individual company to analyse is Generali, based here in Trieste, so it is a good chance to practice my Italian too as I read through the presentations of the company to find out what they are doing. We are supposed to make recommendations about future direction and business opportunities - it is a bit like Free Of Charge consultancy I guess, but if the recommendations are good enough we might be able to do something with it to earn some cash! I am trying to cultivate links at Generali, just in case....

Studiamo Insieme

We have formed a study group for strategy. It has a limited but varied number of participants, but has been great as we ploughed through 200 odd slides and about 400 pages of a book. It's interesting stuff, but pretty dry and easier if you can add examples, Or just some fun chat in between matrixes.
Tonight will be the third night in a row that we have met. The exam is tomorrow. Let's hope it makes a difference to the result.

Excuse me, but I can't get through

At least this is how I imagine the dialogue went this morning when my busdriver left the bus (motor running) in the middle of a junction to grab the attention of the policeman who was controlling the traffic near the turning in Piazza Goldoni.
Whatever he said it worked.
The policeman in question left his post.
And came to clear a path for the bus.
I hope to get the same driver tomorrow morning! or the same policeman...

Social Sarnano

One of my friends on the course asked what I did in Sarnano – didn’t I get bored in a place as sleepy as Le Marche?

The answer this week is certainly no! It’s been a whirlwind few days and I have barely managed to fit in everything that I had planned – let alone time to be bored. I have eaten 2 delicious meals, one at Simonetta and Fabiano’s house where I tested out my newly improved Italian on them and their friends, and the other at Chris and Irene’s where we sampled Irene’s rendering of the local bacala.

On the menu at Simonetta’s house was carbonara pasta. Its one of those dishes that sounds easy, and I suspect is horribly difficult! For secondo we had cold meats and bread – thin slices of proscuitto crudo, 2 types of salami and

The two highlights of the trip home were a trip to the shoe mecca of Cassetta D’Ete – home of the Tods factory – where I treated myself to my annual to-me-from-me present of some boots for the winter. Not at the Tods factory – now that I am no longer working Euros 200 for a pair of boots – even if this is heavily discounted from the normal retail price – seems exorbitant! But I got a good bargain and like all addicted shoppers, am wearing my new purchase whilst typing this on the train!

The other highlight was the Diamanti a Tavola (Diamonds on the Table) festival in Amandola. All the small towns in the region have these autumn tastes festivals and the Amadola one didn’t disappoint with truffles – both white and black – local wine and cheese and mountains of salami and local ham. The festivals are always done well – and it is jolly to see all the locals strolling around and shopping.

The rude awakening this week was the onset of winter. It was 19 degrees when I left Trieste – no complaints – but I noticed on arrival in Marche that it was appreciably colder. That night there was a hard frost and by Thursday the temperature had fallen to zero in the day too. Then the snow started on the mountains and today as I left the wind was so strong I was worried about the olive tree in my garden. Especially as one of Augustino’s flower pots took off from the roof above me and smashed on the ground – I was delighted that I was not in the garden at the time!

Its also been a bit of a mad scramble as it appears as if the internal staircase that I have been waiting years for is going to be started this week. I am not entirely sure that I know how the finished article will look, and I am working on suspending my disbelief that the stairs will actually ever happen – it has been so long coming that I am not entirely convinced! But nevertheless, I have once again cleared out the downstairs room in the flat, and covered the furniture. So we’ll see.

Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if this time there was progress on the stairs. And there is a litany of reasons:-
1. Its winter and the builders want inside work
2. Now that all my things have arrived from Hong Kong this is the time of maximum inconvenience for me
3. I have friends coming for Christmas – so predict unfinished work and HUGE amounts of mess
4. The price has gone up so much on this work that its now worth their while getting out of bed to do it!

I have attached a picture of the lounge before the whole in the roof, so I can remember what it used to be like in case anything goes wrong.

Ciao Bellisima!

“Come va? Tutto bene? Un cappuccino?”
Thursday morning – market day in Sarnano and this is the greeting I get when I go for a cappuccino to my favourite coffee shop. Its not just the warmth of the greeting that makes the difference. The cappuccinos in this shop are the best in Sarnano – and I have done a lot of market research.
The proprietor of the bar spent some time as a barista in Rome, where the discerning coffee drinkers vote with their feet. If the cappuccino isn’t good the business closes.
So Sarnano has profited from this master in his field returning to his routes. And I have profited from my market research.
The owner of the bar once made a small gesture that will ensure that his bar is my preferred coffee locale in town for all time. I was with Mum who can only drink freshly squeezed orange juice. We ordered, but the bar was out of oranges, so we cancelled the order and stuck with coffee. The next thing we saw was the proprietor leaving the bar unmanned as he dashed across the road to buy oranges from the greengrocers, so that he could meet our request.
And every time I come back to Sarnano, and I go for a coffee, he greets me in the same way “Ciao Bellisima!...” then makes me my regular drink.
All in all it makes for a heck of a homecoming! It takes a long time to get to Sarnano from Trieste – about 6 ½ hours on the train then a drive from Ancona – and last night when I arrived I was exhausted. But being at home, with my things around me, has a remedial effect – I soon forget my tiredness.
And coming the night before the market is a great idea. I have had a stroll around today and seen many people who have all welcomed me back.
And other than the social side, I have also managed to do some shopping – buying a roast chicken at the porchetta van, fagiolini (small beans) and fennel at one greengrocers van, and clementini at another, and some fresh pasta from the best pasta place in town, in the square. I bought some pastries at the bakers, for Chris and Irene who popped round for a coffee and a chat helped me consume them.
It is really starting to feel homely here, and the greetings from the folk of Sarnano make all the difference.
And the Ciao Bellisima is an added bonus!

Liquidity

I am pretty solvent as students go, mainly long-term liabilities, and not too much short-term debt. (Spot the A/B accounting student!)
So I was a little alarmed when my Bancomat card – our cashpoint in Italy – stopped paying out.
LA CARTA E PRIVA DISPONIBILITA the machine helpfully pointed out. (The card is not available). No clue as to why.
This morning however, I have found the answer.
Doing some long overdue filing at home I came across that bit of paper that comes with bankcards that no-one ever reads. (Or at least, I never read).
It helpfully tells me in miniscule print that I am limited to taking out Euros 1000 a month, regardless of the amount of money actually in the account.
Which I suppose is a good thing, a sort of forced fiscal responsibility.
But it wasn’t that helpful when I needed to eat on October 29th.
Like so many things here, now that I have found out, I know and I can deal with it accordingly. But up until then, ignorance can be far from bliss.