Celebrations and more coffee

To celebrate Ciccio's job, and in order to make the most of the 3 hour break we had yesterday we went out to Piazza Hortis for lunch. It made the briefing session at Sandalj (a coffee trader in Trieste) a little long for some people (Aki!) but was great to sit under the trees in the sunshine.
After more coffee tasting - its a good job we are all fans! - we went down to the waterfront and had a drink with Tullio - our economics prof who was also in the coffee session. The premium for drinking down by the canal is about 5 euros on a bottle of prosecco - so big thanks to Tullio for buying a round or 2!
The evening continued with more celebrations - Bar Walter - Nanut - (as usual) before ending at my house with a bottle of red wine - "yat for the doe" (one for the road) as they say in Hong Kong.

That's all folks

Today was the last lesson for MIB Masters in International Business edition 17.
Tears all round.
Tonight is football at birrerria Forst.
Tomorrow night is our farewell dinner at Hotel Miramare.
i predict more tears and maybe even a little dancing.

What's in a name?

In 3 short weeks I start work in Florence. Meaning that Trieste Trasmissione will no longer be written from Trieste. But I have made a decision to try to keep the blog going as much as I can. Even though it will be permanently on tour - at least until September when we come back to graduate. I figure the name can stay for a number of reasons -
1) because people know it now - and actually read it!
2) because its kind of a catchy name
and most importantly
3) because Trieste is where this Big Italian Adventure started for me. And as the Italian dream isn't over yet, I don't want to stop the blog either. It's just a new chapter in the same story.

Subito sketch a Bologna

Wally left us today to go to Lamborghini in Sant'Agata, near to Bologna. Wally is famous for many things on our course - but one of his early quotes "subito sketch" (basically mischief now) has stayed with us throughout the year and is now in the common parlance of the class. He starts at work tomorrow - so subito sketch a Lamborghini!
Congratulations also to Ciccio - who got a job today - causing a big cheer to go up in the class! Almost everyone now has something to do in the next few months - and despite the tough climate here in Italy, all of us have good jobs with interesting companies. The world of work will seem hard going after this year though!

The best gelato in Italy?

Sunday night (or more accurately, Monday morning) we went for ice cream at Zampolli on the way home. Despite it being gone half past midnight, the gelateria was still open, and we are thankful that we didn't know this earlier in the year - it may have added some hard-to-shift inches to the waistlines in our class!
Zampolli is a Trieste institution - with a mind-boggling array of flavours. The street its in is not very salubrious but it is easy to spot as there are always a load of cars and mopeds outside - even at close to 1am on a Monday morning.
Chris tells me that its the best gelato in Italy - he apparantly has done extensive market research on the biscotto flavour and Zampolli comes out on top every time.
I am sure that its a hotly contested title though - the best gelato in Italy - and it would be great to hear whether there are any other contenders for the title. Especially if there are any in Florence that anyone knows about....

Sunday - out for lunch - and dinner

Saturday night we were dancing at Cantera, a disco near the sea at Sistiana, about 11 kilometers from Trieste, so Sunday morning we were all a little tired. But the weather on Sunday was gorgeous so we decided to head into Slovenia for a cheap lunch. As usual Chris and Dodi led the way, this time to a small place off the main road, but surrounded by hills and fields. We had a great lunch, light as usual for Slovenia - with ljubljanska, patate in teccia and a few cold beers! In order to work off the calorific lunch though we had a game of Boccia (aka boules, or petanque). Team Rome/Kansas (Dani and Chris) beat the guys from Friuli (Luca and Massi), and the girls - Dodi and I - beat Team Rome/Kansas - making the girls the reigning champions!

We headed back to Trieste to pick up Walter as he is leaving for Bologna and Lamborghini today and we had agreed to go for dinner to bid him farewell. So we went to Muggia to a wonderful place on the pier with a 270 degree view of the sea. It is owned by a consortium of fishermen who bring in the catch in the morning, and cook it in the evening. It was a magnificent place, and a very nice evening by the sea to say ciao to Wally. The restaurant is one of those places that you need to be in the know to find - but I wish we had found it sooner. The view from the end of the molo was amazing too - the city sparkles at night and you can see across to Slovenia too.

Chefs for dinner

Last night we had dinner at my house - mushroom risotto and red wine. These dinner parties are always great, but last night I really didn't have to do anything at all except find some glasses for the wine ( I have proper wine glasses now thanks to Luca, Massi and Vlasta who brought them for another dinner party) and open the peanuts and pistachios. Luca and Massi did all the shopping, and all the cooking, and Ale took care of the music. Luca added some extra flavouring to the mushrooms when he sliced his finger with the knife - or was this just a way to get out of the cooking? Somehow the food always tastes better when other people make it for you, so big thanks to the guys.

A special mention today

To two people.
One is the guy I saw last night in Piazza Unita wearing almost nothing but masking tape. Apparantly it was his graduation party, I imagine he had been studying for a long time to get that kind of celebration. I can only imagine how bad it will be if he ever gets married and has a stag night! i am not sure what would have hurt more this morning, his head or removing the tape with which he was covered.
The other person is my opera loving neighbour on the third floor who, either for his benefit, or for mine, plays opera at full volume starting from about 7am every day. Sometimes, like this morning, that is really slightly too early for me, but at least he is not an opera snob - he seems to favour a CD that I imagine must be called "The Best Opera in the World - Eva" or something similar - all the classics. And although I was a bit reluctant at first this morning, it's not so bad to wake up to the dulcit tones of Pavarotti and co.

Summer in Tuscany

Tonight we are celebrating.
I have managed to find a project to do for the summer with a pharma company in Florence.
I will be there from June 11 - September 11 - and Massi and Marina will also be there - Marina at the same company as me and Massi at a fabulous winery. We are looking forward to getting our teeth into some real work again - and to sampling the Tuscan wine that Massi will have access too.
But tonight we will celebrate with some bubbles from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region!
There are 5 or 6 people still looking for projects to do, and we are all wishing them the best of luck. It's really not easy here in Italy, but I am delighted that, for me, the Italian dream will continue for a while longer.
And it gives me chance to continue to try to master Italian.

Comprehending coffee

Yesterday a trip to Illycaffe - something that I have been waiting for since September. We are doing a module on The World of Coffee and it was really fascinating to understand more about the process of how the beans get from the bean to the cup.
Some facts about coffee we learnt yesterday:
1) All Illy coffee consumed everywhere in the world comes through Trieste for roasting. Amazing to me to think that when my friends in HK are drinking Illy coffee it has been through Trieste - and to think I had never even heard of the city before I applied for MIB!
2) The beans are checked by machine, and by the laboratory too. The rejected beans are sold onto other coffee companies for their premium coffees. (Other companies say the same though)
3) There is a big difference between arabica and robusta. Arabica is harder to grow, easier to ruin, and way more tasty.
4) Moka (the machine you put on the stove) accounts for 70% of all coffee consumption in Italy - but most people don't make it properly and ruin the coffee. (A tip for those not in the know - as soon as the coffee starts to splurt out of the spout at the top - turn it off. This will mean that you avoid the bad taste that comes from overextraction)
5) Ethiopian coffee has a naturally sweet taste - that actually decreases the amount of sugar people use if it is added to the blend.
The training facility was really impressive too, but what I really loved was the collection of cups on dsplay.
The coffee wasn't bad either! But at 3 times the price, it ought to be good!

G8 in Trieste

I hear the city will be chaos tomorrow as the G8 is in town. This should make picking up the car for the trip to Florence for my interview on Monday a bit of a challenge, but apparently if I call the car hire company tomorrow morning, they can deliver the car to me somewhere. Fingers crossed!

Parking Problems

I am sure Riccardo Illy, of Illy Coffee fame, has never seen this blog. But as the head of the Friuli Venezia Giulia government, if he does happen to swing by at any time, I hope that he will see this plea to do something about the parking in Trieste. I don't have a car, so its not a direct problem for me, but going to and fro in Massi's car has made me realise the extent of the parking problems downtown.
There was a small piazza where we used to park, but they removed the parking a few weeks ago. There is resident's parking, but its difficult to get the permit - especially if you are in a multi-person flat, or only here for a short amount of time so you don't change your personal registration to Trieste.
Then there is blue line parking - where you have to buy a pay and display ticket. But not only are the prices steep (about E1 per 30 mins) there is little parking available. And today when I had to park Vlasta's car downtown and there is the G8 education summit, and the Generali offices around the corner, I see that they are once again playing with the parking, and have roped off big areas of the blue parking. It took ages to find a place to stick the car, and I totally irritated the lady in the car behind me as I tried to park Vlasta's Opel without the benefit of power steering.
It would not be so bad if the transport options were available to render the cars redundant. But some buses stop running at 8, others at 9, and the only other option is to go on foot...
It's complete chaos Mr Illy!

Sundowners at Barcola

Now that the end is near of the full time part of the course, we are spending a lot of time hanging out together.
Our latest (and best) tradition is that of sundowners by the sea at Barcola.
There is a beautiful spot with a terrace directly on the ocean where we have spent many relaxed and happy hours watching the sun set.
It is starting to get really sad around here though - everyone is starting to realise that we have only a few short weeks together left and that we will be gone from beautiful Trieste in no time at all. We are making the most of the time we have left though, adn already planning the September reunion.

Traffic and Cars

Our first full day in Munich started with an enormous traffic jam. The MIRM colleagues that were on the trip finally arrived at the insurance company they were visiting some 1 hour late as we had been crawling for hours on the ring road.
The cars in Munich are noticeable - they are almost all fabulous - Porsche, Mercedes, and VWs and all seem to be in great condition. This didn't make the traffic any better though - although maybe if you were in the cars rather than looking at them out of the bus window it wouldn't have seemed so arduous.
Our location for the day was the Audi plant - and its the most incredible place. Spotlessly clean, with a fully automated production line that can make a 3 door car, followed by a 5 door car - all with robots. Really incredible.
All of the places that we have visited for a full day trip offer us lunch too - and free food is always an important thing for students - and food generally is important for Italians. Not only do Audi win the award for the best factory, they are also clear winners for the lunch - fantastic! I had Chinese food, with chopsticks, great stuff.
The Audi plant also has a classic car collection, with everything from sports cars to motorbikes, including some really rare cars worth a fortune on the open market.
Following Audi, we went for a walk in the city before going back to the hotel to watch the Milan Manchester Champions League Semi Final, with much cheering from the professor who was with us - and an enthusiastic - and very vocal - supporter of Milan. Milan were victorious and we will cheer them on again on the 23rd.

One night in Munich

My first thought on arriving at the hotel was "Where is Munich"? We were staying at a nice Holiday Inn - but some distance from the city - more or less 25 minutes in the coach. Following a quick turnaround after our looooong bus trip, we went back into the city for a walk around. Munich is a pretty city, low rise and open, with lots of trees and greenery. We spent the first night in Munich in good German tradition - in a beer hall downtown. It was my first taste of German food - and unfortunately did little to change my opinion that its not really for me - too heavy, too fried and too much wurstel and sauerkraut!
The beer was nice though!

Monaco is not Monaco

At the beginning of the year I heard that we were going to Monaco on a study trip. I had visions of the whole class making like Grace Kelly down by the quayside.
I discovered some months later that in fact, when Italians refer to Monaco they mean Monaco di Baveria - otherwise known as Munich. So on May 1st, a public holiday here in Italy as in most other parts of the world, we set off with the students from the Masters in Insurance and Risk Management to Munich.
By Bus
All 50 something of us
With no DVD player
And no CD player
About 7 hours
It was a very long trip and one of the very few things that I am not going to miss about being a student - it will be wonderful to be back in the world where people fly to get places. There is actually a direct flight from Trieste to Munich (aka Monaco) so it will be on our suggestions for the next years trip.
Of course we still managed to turn the trip into an excuse to have a good time - and took a heap of pictures at the Austrian Autogrill...

Frying at Radio Fragola

Sunday morning I got up early to come back to Trieste as Andrea and Chris had organised a group picnic at the outdoor concert run by Radio Fragola, one of the local radio stations here in Trieste. It was a beautiful day, but absolutely frying hot and we lay outside on the lawn at the hockey club (I had no idea that there was one here!) The music was a bit heavy going but the football was fun and it was lovely to get back together after a weekend away.
As usual for an event in Trieste there were loads of dogs, but it was also nice to see the kids out enjoying the sunshine - there aren't so many children here!

Everything sorted

BIG thanks to David who came and cut enough of the weeds that the neighbours - and more importantly me - are satisfied with the garden. Its not beautiful, but at least its tidy. I'm not entering the most beautiful garden competition yet though, although it would seem that the rest of the street is pretty much...
Maybe in the summer...

Weeds and bills

Real life after the masters is approaching fast. This was brought home to me today when I dashed back to my flat in Marche to be hit by a pile of bills, and weeds in the garden at least 1 metre tall - and about 10 cm thick.... I am now desperately seeking the gardener who was supposed to come and be keeping the place in check....

Red Bologna

25th April is Liberation Day in Italy - when the country was liberated from the Fascists after WWII. In Bologna, the red capital of Italy, it was cause for great celebration, with bands in the Piazza Maggiore and everyone else either on bikes, window shopping, or eating ice cream as they strolled around. There are more than 100,000 students registered at the University there, and I was particularly impressed with the two I saw on beanbags in the middle of the pedestrian zone...
The other things that I learnt about Bologna is that the food is great - the market was beautiful and loaded with fabulous fruit and veg, cheeses and breads - and that the light is also amazing for taking photos.

Bolognese Coffee

I thought that my love of the coffee in Trieste meant that I couldn't leave Italy but now I have discovered that the coffee in Trieste is also better than the coffee in other parts of Italy too. Wednesday was my first trip to Bologna - a beautiful city and full of people - but the coffee was really not a patch on what I am used to. I was in the Piazza Maggiore,looking at the sites, but dreaming of the coffee in La Portizza!

Joanna in Chinatown

The cheap shop on the corner of Via Milano has just changed it's name. It has been called Jolly as long as I have been here and is now called Joanna - English spelling and everything! Its strange to walk past and see my name plastered in 8 inch letters all over the windows!

TLAs

TLAs - or three letter acronyms - were a central part of communication when I worked at the Foreign Office.
The most common TLA for us this year has been MBA - in its original meaning - not Married But Available from the singles ads (ugh!) or - as one professor told us - Mediocre But Arrogant.
But last week we heard a new three word phrase. The HR Director from a company counselled us against being too agressive in our search for jobs, and advised that we should be Ambitious But Humble in our attitudes. For the company in question this means accepting little or no pay for an internship with no guarantee of a job afterwards.
I would suggest that another three letter acronym might apply to this situation - Taking The Mickey!
There are a few more of us employed now though which is great. Congrats to Zazu, Massimiliano, Bianca, Nguyet, Chris and Wally. For the rest of us, the search continues...

On the road to Osmizze

Sunday morning after the ball we decided to go to Osmizze. Chris was the guide as usual - he has the most amazing ability to remember where the best places to go are. Sunday this meant that we went to a place on Via Commerciale, next to the tramline to Opicina, and looked down on the bay and out to sea.
Afterwards we went in the car to a place up in the Carso region where we spent the rest of the day...
The Osmizze culture is amazing. It is great to see that all the Triestine's make the most of the great weather and comb the countryside for the frascas that point the way. It always seems though that there is another information system going on - those in the know understand which are the places to go even without the frasce. Luckily for us, Chris is on the inside track, so , by extension, so are we!

Grand Gala @ MIB

The Ferdinandeo palace that is the home of our school was once used for grand parties back in the days of the Hapsburg empire. The hall was more or less returned to its previous use on Saturday night, as it was our annual ball and a good excuse to get dressed up and party.
The ball opened with a waltz. We knew this in advance, so we have been teaching the guys to waltz, which certainly turned a few heads on the waterfront in Barcola the other day! The waltz was 10 minutes, so there was a lot of time to fill. Massi and I shuffled around the floor for a while, then tangoed over to other dancing couples. After a few minutes Max got bored, so Percy galantly took over for the rest of the waltz. Very good fun!
The band were great and it was fun to party all together in our glad rags! The pasta at midnight is a great tradition too - and very welcomed by all of us!

Signs you are at home in Trieste

There are a few things that make me realise I am now at home in Trieste.
Seeing a dog walking around in a department store seems perfectly normal.
Following a bunch of leaves and a painted wooden arrow to a restaurant that only opens for 14 days doesn't seem unusual.
It's also normal to see people lying on the concrete by the sea and pretending its a beach - and I'm doing it too!
It's really a wonderful city to live in, and I will miss it when I have to leave, in only a short amount of time.

Back to school bbq

After a night in Cagliari - with the most amazing food at the 4 Mori restaurant - an unending supply of seafood of every shape, size and colour - including snails, large and green and a bit strange! - I headed off at the crack of dawn on the plane to Milan. The reason to fly there was for an interview - but I had found out that the company in question had cancelled the interview. So I hired a car and drove back to Trieste - a terrible journey with traffic-filled autostrade, clogged with foul air from the lorries heading for Milan - and expensive too!
The upside was that I was able to be in Trieste in time for the Back to School BBQ at Chris and Dodi's house! The memories of the bad journey faded quickly with cevapcici (like a Balkan seekh kebab), terrano wine, and a jam session in the garden and inside as the sun set over the sea in the distance...
Magical way to come home to Trieste!

Agriturismo and Antas

We got back on the road after brekkie – curling thru the hills again this time towards Oristano. It's a nice town, very quiet but we had an interesting stop in the cathedral with grass all around the altar – very unusual. Had cappucini and pastries in the main square. Very good and reminded me of Macau.
Then onto the road again, heading for the south. We stopped at agriturismo near Buggerru (ok, oher places were closer, but I love the name!) for pasquetta lunch – delicious and so kind of the guy to squeeze us in at the last minute.
Then onto the temple of Antas, near Fluminimaggiore – very interesting to see the temple in lovely position –although first restored in 2something AD it was built in 500 BC – in a beautiful valley – v interesting.
From there, onto Isola S. Antioco but nothing special from what we could see so doubled back to an albergo connected to a rest in the slow food guide = in Giba. Restaurant was closed and albergo nothing special – its been a long time since I saw wardrobes covered with 1970s floral wallpaper. Hopped in the car to the furthest south point we went to – Porto Pino = beautiful white sands and the mediterranean sea.
Then dinner at an unimposing pizzeria with great mussel soup and pasta – and scrummy tomatoes, before heading back to the 1970s travel lodge and watching Grease on the TV – dubbed into Italian. All the songs were translated – sometimes with interesting results!
In the morning we realised that the restaurant must be famous - Jacques Cousteau and Frankie Di Tori had both signed the walls after a dinner there.
We went off to the local cheese factory to buy some pecorino to take away with us. And later continued the shopping at the Argiolas vineyard for Turriga and Korem wines - delicious.

Buona Pasqua in Bonacardo

In Alghero we had a great meal on the waterfront as the sun set over the lighthouse we had sailed past earlier in the day – a good way to forget the stolen bag! All the lights are covered with red cloth, giving Alghero a magical feeling. In the morning the grand prix was on the TV, and seemed to attract more people than the Easter church activities.
All of Alghero were out in the town – the streets were busy but shops all closed – a shame as some lovely things to buy from the look of the windows.
Then we went onto Bosa – lovely but not a lot of time to look around.
After a fabulous drive along windy roads, like a car ad, and so much fun in the Alfa!, we went to Bonarcado for lunch. Recommended in the Slow Food guide – a list of the best restaurants in Italy where they still cook in traditional fashion with the best local ingredients - one of our major resources for the trip.
Having arrived and seeing it was gorgeous, we ordered a litre of the house red, so decided to stay the night. Accomodation was in a small cottage with a lawn outside and sheep in the fields all around. We had a fabulous lunch, and very relaxing afternoon reading mags and relaxing in the sun – with the Italian guests all playing footy. Dinner was back in the same restaurant - very chilled out.

Alghero Dolphins and Thieves

Slow start on day 2 with jet lag kicking in for Mum and Dad. Beautiful views to Castelsardo in the morning – and out to sea. Sun shining brightly.
On the way to Alghero, we stopped off the superstrada at the Sella & Mosca vineyard – its beautiful but enormous! We bought a bottle of red and a bottle of white to drink throughout the trip.
Then across the road from the vineyard we went to Anghelli Ruju - neolythic tombs. They are very interesting – and about 5,000 years old so we stopped for about 30 minutes.
But on returning to the car, which we parked in the shade, a shock – we had been broken into and they stole Mum’s new bag (about 3 days old) containing wallet, bank cards etc. In many ways we were lucky though - Dad had the passport, me her BlackBerry and the rest of the things in the car, more monetarily valuable. It was a horrid feeling though, and I am just pleased that they got not even one Euro (I hadn’t given Mum the money I owed her yet) so there was HK$200 and a supermarket card more or less.
Special mentions to Mum for being so cool about it and not letting it ruin her day, to the 2 guys at the Anghelli Ruju with us who took us to the police station, to the poliziotto who let me do a denuncia even though it was after closing hours, and to the lovely guy at Europcar at the airport who changed the car without a question, and even upgraded us to an Alfa.
But things then started to look up. We drove away from the airport and caught a boat to Neptune’s Grotto. We had no desire to go into cave, so spent lovely hour in the sunshine, bobbing about on the waves whilst the rest of the group went in. Then a scoot around Cormorant Island on the way back (called that because cormorants nest there). On coming back towards the lighthouse, the luck changed – 2 dolphins were jumping out of the waves in the sunshine in front of us! The first time I have seen them in the wild. If I was a dolphin though, I would have been there – beautiful sea miles deep, few boats and sunshine.
Then we tried to get into an agriturismo – all full – before ending up in Alghero town at a little hotel. We had a lovely evening walking around Alghero and dinner on the waterfront. Delightful.

Olbia - La Maddalena - Castelsardo

After a journey to forget, (plane cancelled, ferry delayed for 3 hours, no dinner) I finally arrived in Sardegna. Olbia is under construction – will be nice when its finished – if it ever is! Good shops, prosperous and trendy but cement mixers everywhere – all building at the same time
There are though, still touches of old Sardegna - a special mention to the octogenarian woman in the tabaccheria in Piazza Regina Madonnina with a jet black rinse in her hair, thick 1960s glasses and fuschia lipstick – fabulous!
We picked up the hire car and got on the road at last and up to the Costa Smeralda. Wrong turns took us past resorts nestled in the hills, invisible from the road, snuggled against the rocks and beneath the trees – really beautiful. The sea is spotless, and you can see down to the bottom, and the blue of the sea plays off the green of the hills and the yellow-tinged rock making each colour seem all the more vivid.
We pushed onto Palau and then with the car on the ferry to La Maddalena. I have no doubt it is bustling in the summer – all establishments were painting, washing, and sprucing up in advance of the May season kick off. The ferry is so easy – there are 3 companies, and 3 ferries an hour. For E42 the 3 of us and the car went there and back and the trip in the sunshine was beautiful – if anything, maybe not long enough!
Lunch was at a hotel recommended in one of the 3 guides I was dragging around with me – and was excellent! Fish that tasted as if it had just been caught that morning, and Mum and Dad managed to get past the visual impact of the large pieces of octopus to actually try it – and enjoy it!
We walked over the road to see the sea and admire the rocks. La Maddalena – and in fact a lot of the coast – looks like one big sculpture project. The rocks have been crafted by time and the wind into the most amazing shapes. The weather must be pretty wild out here at times to have this much effect on the stone.
The weather was settling in in the afternoon, and Dad was making the most of some open road country driving so we zoomed through the countryside slightly inside the coast to Castelsardo where we stopped for the night. The landscape changes dramatically off the coast – with it looking less like the Hong Kong outlying islands, and more like the north of Scotland. Mum was itching to get into an Agriturismo.
Our home for the night in Castelsardo was the grandly named Hotel Il Castello. It is true that you can see the castle from here – and maybe the name comes from the fact that the furniture hails from the same century – the 12th! It’s a bit eclectic – the owner is older than my granddad, and equally sprightly! And we had to be careful on the way in of the moss on the terrace (slippery when wet)! But it was good value and comfy for all its madness.
In the evening we went for a walk around Castelsardo – nothing special – but the view from the castle at the top is lovely and worth the climb. Then onto a pizza place for dinner and a bottle of the local red wine – the first of many!

Offline

Sorry for the delay - I was away in Sardegna so offline for a bit! Here are some updates on the hols and the things that have been going on since the last post - 9 days ago!

Il Mercato

The market is back in Trieste.
When I first came here a year ago, there was a market all along the canal, and the place was bustling with shoppers.
I assumed when I returned in the summer, that it was just on summer break - but found out later that it only comes once a year at Easter!
So it is a strange reminder to see the stalls out again - it seems a lot longer than a year ago when I was here. How the stalls are coping with the blustery wind today, I am not sure, but I am about to run out of school and head downtown so I will find out then.
Tomorrow I am off at the crack of dawn to Roma, and onto Sardegna for a holiday for a week. So TriesteTrasmissione will be going on tour too... more updates either on the road, or when I return.
Buona Pasqua a tutti!

Flat Stanley

Yesterday after a 6 hour session on creativity and lateral thinking we were asked by Karoline, the school's marketing manager to colour in some 'Flat Stanley's for the kids in her Mum's kindergarten class in the States. The idea is that the children send out these little characters to be coloured in and sent back with names and nationalities on the back. Unfortunately the kids didn't know anyone overseas, so we are their international rent-a-crowd. The children of Racine will now be getting coloured in Flat Stanleys from Hong Kong, Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Mongolia, Costa Rica, Turkey - the list goes on....
Here are some pics of MBA students reverting to their childish roots and getting creative!