17 June, Day 41, “Che Carina!”


I’m fascinated watching convection traced by soot particles floating in my candle’s liquefied wax.

I got back from karma after dawn and collapsed on my bed until the afternoon.

Valeria invited me to go with her, Paula and Matteo for an aperitivo at Sio café –another trendy joint on the outskirts of Milan. I first met them at lingua bar a few weeks ago and have hung out once or twice since. But this is the first time I’ve seen Paula outside of lingua bar. She’s like an Italian version of my friend Kristin from Stanford. Only she says “che carina” about every 10 seconds.

I rolled up in my flipflops and jeans with a growing hole over the right knee, but the bouncers didn’t say anything. Maybe they thought I was Brazilian. At one point the girls asked how many Italian girls I’d conquested. I don’t know if they believed my answer (zero) and then proceeded to tell me how enviable it would be for them to have a boyfriend from Miami. I guess this is a non-so-subtle hint that they might like me. Too bad I didn’t meet them 9 months ago. A lot of things might be different. But I have one more job interview in Italy, so maybe I’ll be able to get to know them better if it goes well….

15 June, Day 39, Minchiando on Friday

Minchia is Sicilian for dick, but it’s used in a semi-vulgar colloquial sense to add emphasis or in various expressions unique to their dialect. I translate minchiando as wasting time (dicking around.) I was planning to meet umberto in Milan to make up for missing him last night, but got held up again waiting for a ride. (You’d think I learned my lesson yesterday…) I finally escaped at 7:30, but still hadn’t received a confirmation from Umberto. His friend Dante wanted to go out too. I planned to meet him, but didn’t arrive at the locale until almost 9, and they’d already gone home. (I was 2 hours late; so don’t blame him at all.) Feeling hungry and grouchy, I began searching for dinner. The place we planned to meet was very chic, but I wasn’t in the mood to have an aperitivo alone so went looking for a restaurant. I found a sushi place near by.

Then I took a tram to the piazza duomo to meet the Sicilians and their friends at the free concert there. I slept at their place that night and went to the pool in vimercate with them the next day. Fabrizio made a notable lunch of rigatoni with a sauce made from tomato puree, tuna, a splash of white wine, and some spices. I had a döner kebab for dinner and then met the boys and my Russian friend Katerina back in Milan to go to a club called Karma. We were a big group -4 cars total. Karma was fun. It’s a huge open-air venue full of Milan’s young and hip with a lot of pretty girls in addition to the ones we brought with us….

14 June, Day 38, Death By Pizza

I ate 2 pizzas today. The first was a pizza for lunch at a restaurant near the office called Gest. Then I had planned to see Umberto and Jen for an aperitivo, but I got stuck in the office waiting for a ride to Milan. I should’ve just taken the bus, but I wasn’t thinking that until it was too late. So I went with a couple of colleagues to a pizzeria out in the country north of the office. The pizza was very good, but nearly 2 feed in diameter. I was satisfied to finish it, but regretted it after…

Day 33, June 9, Verona and country living

After a conversation with the GM I’ve ramped up the job-hunt another few notches. Considering the possibility of leaving Italy fills me with an awkward mix of melancholia and excitement. I know there are more adventures to have here --both socially and solo. But moving on has a potential to be more exciting (depending where I’m going and what I’m going to do there). I think staying in Italy without getting bored will require a more significant shift from spending my free time traveling to more and more and more social experiences. I have a lot of fun with the Sicilians and some of the others, but I still feel a social handicap. And the more I get to know the Italians, the more I see fundamental differences between the ways we perceive life.

I went to an Italian-style tiki bar called Bahia north of Monza on Friday with Paddy, Maddy, and some of their friends. It was a lot of fun. There was pop and salsa music, dancing in flip-flops, dodging an excessive amount of stiletto heels, and lots of people standing and moving around instead sitting frozen at tables like usual. I didn’t approach many people, but I think there is a lot of potential for some interesting social dynamics if I every return. Speaking of fundamental differences, at the end of the night I made some insightful revelations of the meaning (and lack thereof) of the Italian word fidanzato.

I went to Verona Saturday and then to visit Emiliano for a party in his hometown in the countryside outside of Mantova (Mantua). I enjoyed both days. Verona is a beautiful city albeit some crowding by a plentitude of vacationing Germans. The countryside that was home to both Virgil and my friend Emiliano, presented a glimpse into a beautiful bucolic lifestyle that I seldom have an opportunity to see first hand.

It’s late so I have to leave you with another outline. Maybe I’ll get to fill in this one, but I’m not really expecting to get around to it.

Adio Apartamento
Another train for Venice
Garda, Sirmione
Germans
New Prada knockoffs
Arena
Juliet: Changing tides
Wedding singer in St. Anastasia
Fishermen
Napping
Magnum ice cream bar

Biking country roads with Paco the dog
Bees
Stinky water
Se mangia bene
Italian country-rock
Bells at the Abby
Se mangia bene ancora





Day 26, June 2, Music in the rain

A good run
Scala Philharmonic
A blanket of umbrellas
“Disco-bar”

Day 23, May 30, A night in the park

Pawel Althamer and the naked floating colossus
Bar Bianco, Parco Sempione
Jen