hello,
finally, one week later, the jet lag has been conquered. In a way it has been nice getting rid of the desire to go to bed at 4pm, but I think I will miss the feeling of wanting pasta first thing in the morning. although that might not have been so much of a jet lag issue, but more of a carbohydrate addiction issue.
now, the only flight plan for the rest of the year is going home for christmas. looking forward to family time and ryan's annual christmas gathering. not many other plans beyond that.
my goal for december is to meet all of my neighbors. its been four months now but i have either been away on a trip or preparing for the next one. i was hoping to make everyone cinnamon rolls with a new kitchen aide professional mixer but instead used the miles for my flight home for christmas. next up will be the mixer, but for now the neighbors will have to be ok with not perfect cinnamon rolls.
its time to dive into another winter round of making hot chocolates that will likely make me sick. the body can only take so much heavy whipping cream. it will pay off eventually and the reward of a perfect hot chocolate will be glorious.
italian dinner night with brian and allison! i'm going against everything in my body to not make pasta. going to try the risotto this time.
have a good day
your friend
chad
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
do not walk on the black marble
Ciao from italia!
its been good fun in the italia the last week. we just got back from going to Martina's graduation. I didn't really understand a whole lot of what was going on (not too keen on the law words), but apparently the thesis presentation was a success, so she is on to the graduate school part. last night was watching their salsa dancing class and some very very good bruschetta.
the places so far:
venezia: walk, walk, walk, walking. bridges and churches and squares. we found a great place for lunch that was right off the main street and not made or priced for the tourists. and the indiana jones church, which is no longer a library but is currently housing the ever touring da vinci machine exhibition-i saw it about three years ago with my mom somewhere else in italy. very nearly falling into a canal; if it wasn't for a small piece of rope attached to the side of a wall, it would have been all over, with camera number four gone in a year. lesson learned, do not walk on the black marble. it is slippery.
milano: a communist union party rally and, later in the same square, TRL (mtv's total request live) Italia. the great duomo and some quick thinking to get onto the roof (you can't tell us its closed). the last supper; way bigger than i thought. and whoever thought it would be genius to put in a giant door into the last supper wall, didn't put a lot of thought into it. it really is unbelievable. The city is quite the land of fashion and i was finally able to buy the european jacket that i've had in my mind. next up a backpack (invicta to be specific for the italian fans), but it is a strange thing. every single person has one, but they are not sold anywhere. seriously, nowhere. looks like it will have to be www.ebay.it for me.
verona: be the first into the arena, don't trust the city maps, and buy the day passes for all the sights. juilette's balcony was actually kind of cool. for some reason nobody goes into any of the places, so it felt bad standing out on juilette's balcony while every else was trying to take a picture from the ground. they obviously did not purchase the day pass. the most impressive for me was the castle. i like to imagine the places i go as how they were when they were made. with things like the gladiator arena it takes more imagination on my part and is probably not very close to how things really were. but the castle made it easy to see things from long ago. something about walking the castle walls at night with all of the bow and arrow slots. the imagination didn't have to work very hard. we also tried climbing the hill to a castle that over looks the city. it was a good walk up, but by the time we got to the top we were engulfed in cloud, so not much to see.
it's great seeing Mattia's home and family and friends. they are all good people. the chocolate is perfect. i am determined to purchase a proper hot chocolate machine. i think that is the only way to go.
have a good day
your friend
chad
its been good fun in the italia the last week. we just got back from going to Martina's graduation. I didn't really understand a whole lot of what was going on (not too keen on the law words), but apparently the thesis presentation was a success, so she is on to the graduate school part. last night was watching their salsa dancing class and some very very good bruschetta.
the places so far:
venezia: walk, walk, walk, walking. bridges and churches and squares. we found a great place for lunch that was right off the main street and not made or priced for the tourists. and the indiana jones church, which is no longer a library but is currently housing the ever touring da vinci machine exhibition-i saw it about three years ago with my mom somewhere else in italy. very nearly falling into a canal; if it wasn't for a small piece of rope attached to the side of a wall, it would have been all over, with camera number four gone in a year. lesson learned, do not walk on the black marble. it is slippery.
milano: a communist union party rally and, later in the same square, TRL (mtv's total request live) Italia. the great duomo and some quick thinking to get onto the roof (you can't tell us its closed). the last supper; way bigger than i thought. and whoever thought it would be genius to put in a giant door into the last supper wall, didn't put a lot of thought into it. it really is unbelievable. The city is quite the land of fashion and i was finally able to buy the european jacket that i've had in my mind. next up a backpack (invicta to be specific for the italian fans), but it is a strange thing. every single person has one, but they are not sold anywhere. seriously, nowhere. looks like it will have to be www.ebay.it for me.
verona: be the first into the arena, don't trust the city maps, and buy the day passes for all the sights. juilette's balcony was actually kind of cool. for some reason nobody goes into any of the places, so it felt bad standing out on juilette's balcony while every else was trying to take a picture from the ground. they obviously did not purchase the day pass. the most impressive for me was the castle. i like to imagine the places i go as how they were when they were made. with things like the gladiator arena it takes more imagination on my part and is probably not very close to how things really were. but the castle made it easy to see things from long ago. something about walking the castle walls at night with all of the bow and arrow slots. the imagination didn't have to work very hard. we also tried climbing the hill to a castle that over looks the city. it was a good walk up, but by the time we got to the top we were engulfed in cloud, so not much to see.
it's great seeing Mattia's home and family and friends. they are all good people. the chocolate is perfect. i am determined to purchase a proper hot chocolate machine. i think that is the only way to go.have a good day
your friend
chad
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Ladas still exist?
Hello,
Man, with this hour change it gets dark way to fast. and it always makes you realize how many clocks you have. right now i'm running at about 40% changed to the correct time.
The work travels have been good. Guatemala was good, but not enough time in Antigua. I think I could eat that Limoncello icecream thing every night of life. I was most excited about Ecuador. I only went to Guayaquil this time. As a city, not so much going on. But the people were a it-would-have-been-creepy-if-it-had-been-somewhere-else kind of good. Nearly every single person I met, wanted to know what I was doing there, how long was I in town for (not just to ask a question, but they were trying to figure out their schedules to see we could hang out), did i speak spanish, what did i think of the place, when was i coming back again (again, to schedule time to hang out), and more and more questions. I could understand running into a slightly strange person every once in a while that would ask these kind of questions. But this was everybody. Hotel people, store people, icecream people, water people, juice people, other water people (by the afternoon i realized i don't think i could live on the equator every day of the year), the lady that made my lunch, the guy picking up the finished lunch tray. everyone i met really.
i always wanted to hire a cab for awhile and go to a few places, so it was fun to give that a try. the car was a barely staying together russian lada. the seat belt might as well been a rope tying me to the seat. but Felix seemed like a good guy so he drove me around all over the place, swung around to the hotel to pick up my bag and then off to the airport. all for ten bucks. the lada didn't go very fast and nearly every car was passing us wherever we went, but for ten bucks, well worth it.
so i'm taking a break from the work travels and going to italy on wednesday with jamie. no plans at all. just hanging out with Mattia and his family near Milan (although i think he has quite the itinerary planned). borrowing Brian and Alison's camera so i am praying the camera curse for this year does not continue. real hot chocolates, scooters and the greatest country in the world, here we come!
have a good day
your friend
chad
Man, with this hour change it gets dark way to fast. and it always makes you realize how many clocks you have. right now i'm running at about 40% changed to the correct time.
The work travels have been good. Guatemala was good, but not enough time in Antigua. I think I could eat that Limoncello icecream thing every night of life. I was most excited about Ecuador. I only went to Guayaquil this time. As a city, not so much going on. But the people were a it-would-have-been-creepy-if-it-had-been-somewhere-else kind of good. Nearly every single person I met, wanted to know what I was doing there, how long was I in town for (not just to ask a question, but they were trying to figure out their schedules to see we could hang out), did i speak spanish, what did i think of the place, when was i coming back again (again, to schedule time to hang out), and more and more questions. I could understand running into a slightly strange person every once in a while that would ask these kind of questions. But this was everybody. Hotel people, store people, icecream people, water people, juice people, other water people (by the afternoon i realized i don't think i could live on the equator every day of the year), the lady that made my lunch, the guy picking up the finished lunch tray. everyone i met really.
i always wanted to hire a cab for awhile and go to a few places, so it was fun to give that a try. the car was a barely staying together russian lada. the seat belt might as well been a rope tying me to the seat. but Felix seemed like a good guy so he drove me around all over the place, swung around to the hotel to pick up my bag and then off to the airport. all for ten bucks. the lada didn't go very fast and nearly every car was passing us wherever we went, but for ten bucks, well worth it.
so i'm taking a break from the work travels and going to italy on wednesday with jamie. no plans at all. just hanging out with Mattia and his family near Milan (although i think he has quite the itinerary planned). borrowing Brian and Alison's camera so i am praying the camera curse for this year does not continue. real hot chocolates, scooters and the greatest country in the world, here we come!
have a good day
your friend
chad
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