Buon Anno!

Questo e' un nuovo anno! Anno scorso, molte cose sono successo..e sono molto felice.

Primo - Ho passato i miei primi sei mesi di lavorando.. ho insegnato alla mia scuola scorsa, e anche ho insegnato a sei studenti. Insegnando e' un cosa felice per me..

Secondo - Sono andato in vacanza in Italia in giugno per due settimana. Sono andato in Roma, Firenze, Pisa, Milano e Verona - per vedere il concerto di Laura Pausini. E' un'esperienza memorabile e ho fatto molti amici dal paese differenti - Austria, Croatia, Monaco e Italia. Bellisimo. Voglio ritornare in Italia... forse aprile prossimo. :)

Terzo - Ho cominiciato la scuola all'universita' nazionale di singapore. Qualche volta sono molto occupato, ma penso mi piace molto molto. La scuola e' divertimento... e ho fatto molti amici. Spero tutto saro' fine e finero' la scuola senza qualsiasi problema.

Questo anno spero tutto bene, e spero mia familia saranno molto felice e sentirsi bene.

Grazie a Dio per tutto.

Arrivederci :)

School...

Started a month ago. Thereabout. Awesome class I think. I like it that we are much closer than other faculties. A sense of belonging somehow. A little more family-like.

Pace is so fast.

Time is so short.

So much to do. Coupled with tuition.

Sorry if I don't hang out as much anymore.

Quote from a dental staff, "You all dental students what... almost no life one. Life comes after graduation"

And by the way, the albums for the Italy trip were done LONG ago. :) :) Sweet memories to live by.

Mi dispiace che non ho tempo.. arriverderci!

A memorable journey...

Just came home to Singapore from Italy, and landed 2 days ago. I had such a WONDERFUL trip. It was really great that I travelled alone. Maybe if I had travelled with my own friends it would have been fun too, but a different kind of fun. I met so many people and made so many new friends.

Some days we travelled together, other times I was alone and then I made new friends on the train, on the plane, at the bus stop, on the bus, at the hotel. Its amazing how easy it is to find companionship among other travellers.

I have uploaded half of the pictures I selected from over 900 pictures taken. This is only a short post... a preview about my story. There is too much to tell in one single post and I need to organise my photos and thoughts.

To my dear friend Tine, thank you so very much for having me in Milan. Baci..!!

More to come later... :)

Ciao Italia~

Swine flu no more?

Yeah right its gone. Its now called the "Novel H1N1" flu. Damn straight it is. Fanciful name. I doubt it will go down in history as glamarous (or rather, notorious) as names like Black Death. Whatever. Please disappear forever (or at least put your plans on hold until I return from the beautiful country).

Anyway last week my Italian teacher made us write a 'short composition'. I managed alright. More like a paragraph. I came up with something that a 7-year old Italian kid could probably scribble with little (or no) effort. By the way, its a FAKE story.

Accidenti! Ieri sera, quando sono andato al cinema, il tempo ha fatto brutto! Per due ore, ha nevicato. Dopo il film, sono tornato a casa alle undici ma non ho trovato la mia chiave. Ho lasciato la chiave al cinema! Che brutta giornata! Ho dormito sul una sedia fino la mattina. Mia madre ha aperto la porta e lei mi ha svegliato.Dopo la colazione, mio padre ha ditto il mio cane è morto. Che bella notizia! Ho dormito tutto il giorno perchè sono molto triste.

In English:

Damn! Last evening, when I was going to the cinema, the weather was very bad. For 2 hours, it rained. After the movie, I returned to my house at 11 but could not find my keys. I left my keys at the cinema! What bad day! I slept on a chair until the morning. My mother opened the door and woke me up. After breakfast, my father told me that my dog is dead. What bad news! I slept all day because I am very sad.

I know. Its a stupid story.

It amuses me like hell. :)

Buonasera~

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

In the end it boils down to Swine Flu. Why...must this happen? Is someone trying to stop me from going to Italy? I shall whine about it below.

1. I already wanted to go for a holiday to Italy like since forever, so when forever started, I was already looking for friends to go with me.

Result: None of my friends can afford it. Even the cheapest tour package will drain them.

2. Took up Italian Language course since October 2008 and met some great friends. Met a nice lady who so wanted to go to Italy and kinda agreed that June 2009 will be a good time to go.

Result: She's working for a lighting company contracted to F1 race and has a damn busy schedule. Cannot go for holiday.

3. Met a couple at Italian class who invited me to join them for their Europe trip in May 2009.

Result: Its their honeymoon...how can I intrude?

4. Met yet another friend from Italian class, a fashion designer (woo!) who initially was able to go with me to Italy in the first 2 weeks of July, but now his company cannot let him go for holiday until 3rd week of July.

Result: 3rd week of July will be Orientation week for Dentistry. TOO LATE TO GO!! :(

5. Fuck it. Decided to go ALONE. Fashion designer friend suggested I get a Lonely Planet: Italy travel guide.

Result: Borders - SOLD OUT. Kinokuniya - SOLD OUT. MPH - 1 last browsing copy left. What is wrong? They are STOCKPILED with lonely planet guides for all countries BUT Italy! Never mind, got my mildy distorted travel guide at a discount.

6. Spent a few days planning my trips, booking hotels, and buying my plane ticket.

Result: This is the only "win" for me. Got a round trip plane ticket to Milano (Malpensa Airport) and back. Got a domestic flight ticket from Milano (Malpensa Airport) to Roma ( Fiumicino Airport). Both on Lufthansa. Trip will go like this: Singapore>Milano>Roma>Firenze>Pisa>Milano>Verona>Milano>Singapore. AWESOME!!! Excited.

7. Trip was planned to coincide with Laura Pausini's Concert at Arena di Verona, Verona, Italy, on 29th June 2009. Decided to buy the ticket online.

Result:

a. All numbered seats totally SOLD OUT. Mind you this is 2 months to the concert and they are all SOLD OUT. No choice, gotta settle for the free standing "Unreserved Stone Steps" ticket that costs 41 euros.

b. Official ticketing site is Ticketone.it. Guess what? Account registration error. Multiple attempts to fix the "Invalid Username" error failed. Fucked.

c. Tried to book ticket at yet another ticketing website. Now what? Credit card error. All my cards encountered the same stupid error. Even with paypal.

d. Emailed my hotel in Verona and they were kind enough to direct me to the Arena di Verona ticketing website and finally bought my ticket. Woo!

8. All set and ready to go! Just need to wait for 18th June 2009 to come so I can fly!!

Current Status: FUCKED. The first swine flu case has been suspected in Italy. Swine flu is spreading all around the world. Could it have come at any WORSE time? Pwned.

Good luck world. :)

Update..

Long time since I last posted. As usual. I just completed my second coure for the Italian Language. Lovely. Going to start the third one soon. I really hope I'll have time to continue when University starts. NUS doesn't even offer it as a module. Sadness.

Been busying myself with teaching. 5 private students and 11 from Meridian JC's SRP. I think I like to teach, but I'll never choose teaching as a career simply because it requires too much patience, tolerance and passion. To those who know me, I like to get things done perfectly, and fast. And I can't imagine myself teaching the same thing over and over again, multiple times everyday. Too much hard work.

I'd really like to post in Italian but I'm not fluent enough. Yet. :P Anyway this is for me to read so who cares right. :D

Ciao!