photo by Ron Layters

“Canal Grande Reality“.
It is not the name of a new tv show, as it sounds. It is the new monitoring system made of 14 webcams, installed in Venice a couple of days ago along the famous Grand Canal to supervise 24/24 hours the real situation of the aqueous traffic in that important communication route of the city, in particular to control the speed and the number of boats per area.
The aim is to guarantee to the citizens and the tourists the normal circulation without traffic offences at the navigation code, which is strictly connected with the swell, of vital importance for a city like Venice which was built just onto the water.

From now on, people will be able to check the traffic along the Grand Canal visiting the website of the municipality or - I prefer this next one - of the observation system called Argos which presents, in the section called “il traffico” in the upper blue bar (you have to click there to watch the webcams), the images in rotation taken from the different areas of the channel, pointing out in yellow in the last line the number of the boats which drive above the speed limit.

The deputy mayor of Venice, Michele Vianello, assured also another useful tool for the citizens: an online forum where to talk about the problems of the aqueous traffic which will be totally open to everybody and so without restrictions or moderations, which will certainly see the active participation of the mayor as well.
Mr Vianello is sure that this monitoring system will be successful, so much that he already announced that the same system will be implemented soon at the Tronchetto Island and on the Schiavoni Shore.

The major part of the boat drivers are spoke up for this innovation, because they claim that it will bring more safety in a special area of the city of Venice which has to be safeguarded; obviously there is always a small number of boat ,drivers who thinks this monitoring system will reduce the privacy.

We will see the results, personally I strongly recommend this news item, I think it will be helpful for the work of the local police.

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It is what some Italian and French scientists affirm, in a research of Bruno Scaillet at the Geological Sciences Institute in Orléans which has been published by the English scientific journal called “Nature“: the Vesuvio could suddenly awaken and explode in a violent and devastating eruption such as the one which occured in 79 A.D.

photo by puntasolchiaro

After the disasters which covered the cities of Pompeii and Ercolano in 79 A.D., the volcano had a milder activity, especially from 1631 to 1944 when its last eruption was noticed.
Now, after 64 years of silence, the scientists assert that this period could be due to the replenishment of the magma chamber, which in fact turns out to be occluded, creating in this way a sort of lid which causes a dangerous growing pressure.

During the last decades, a lot of studies have been completed about a possible eruption of the Vesuvio and the situation seems to be under control.
From my point of view, the best is always to rely on the experts who will surely be able to inform people in time in case of emergency and evacuation.
For now the citiziens who live in the surrounding areas do not need to be alarmed. Anyway, I totally understand their desire to live next to the volcano; I have been there once some years ago, as well as in Catania in Sicily which is situated just under the Mt Etna, and I miss the fantastic climate and the special atmosphere which you can breath when you are there!

P.S. Today I want to remember the victims of the attacks in Sept. 11th, 2001, I clearly remember that day and those moments because I lived them in front of the tv, as I was there by chance after the morning shift at the fruits & vegetables shop which I used to manage with my ex boyfriend. God bless the whole world.

I also want to report that I found a job as cashier and merchandiser in my town, I guess I will start to work at the beginning of the next week. Yay, thanks a lot for your wonderful support, I love you all!

My personal situation is still pending, but I am trying to be strong and continue to look for a job, while trying to wait to get the chance to prove that I am sincere, very sorry for what happened and willing to sort out everything, at least with him because I love him to death, but I hope with time also with his family.

I titled this entry in this way because it is just the case to tell it: “if the mountain will not go to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain“.

It is exactly what I am trying to do.

My mother’s friend asked a few times to her friend about my job application as merchandiser and she told that my CV is in pole position for an interview, but maybe they are not needing someone in this period and anyway I can not wait for too much time.
Yesterday morning I wanted to browse the job offers on Infojobs.it (if you are interested, you must know that it is also available for Spain and Mexico, reacheable at the url http://www.infojobs.com and they offer jobs also in foreign countries, just give it a try, for me it is fantastic) and I found two interesting ads, so I immediately sent my application.
You know what? After one hour I received a call from a job agent near Bologna which asked me my availability. I replied positively and she assured me to send my CV to the company and to let me know about an interview.

So yesterday I thought a lot about something which always caused me discussions in the past with my parents about the kind of job which I should consider, I guess it is all about different points of view.
Well, first of all now I am not in the right position to be picky and I actually do not mind what kind of job I can have, I only need to work and earn money, while proving that I very much want to live a simple serene life with my boyfriend, being a good person.
Then I absolutely do not judge any kind of job because I firmly think that every job is great if it is honest.
What I want to say is that I do not mind to be a secretary or a labourer, because the job should be only considered as something which allow us to live decorously and for me it should not be seen as the reason of our life!!

That is why I am waiting to tell to my parents that maybe I found a job:

- because they still need to call me for the job interview;
- because that job will be as char in some companies in my surroundings.

my personal shot

Now the question comes spontaneously: Do you have a bias against some kind of jobs or do you consider everything as an opportunity, like I do?

P.S. Thanks a lot for your friendship, I am ok, sorry if I did not have the time and the right mood to reply personally to each of you, you are in my heart and I hope to see you all here again. See you soon, my friends!

I prepared my CV, I asked myself what will be my ideal job in this situation and I started to send my application to some agencies, supermarkets and ipermarkets which offer a job as merchandiser.

Fortunately my mother has a very kind friend who works for a supermarket of the same chain for which I worked some years ago, she wants to tell about me at the director so that maybe he will be able to offer me a position soon, it would be great!
That friend works during night shifts and I must admit that I would appreciate the same hours, as I am almost used to be awake during nights, especially in this period with this love difficulty, and as it would allow me to be free during the days and maybe also to reach my boyfriend more than what I could do with day shifts.

I started to remember that I loved that period in 2004 during which I worked as cashier into an ipermarket near Bologna, I worked only 18 hours per week receiving a nice salary and everything I did in addition was all cashed as overtime, it was wonderful!!

Cashes at the ipermarket where I used to work in 2004 and
where I sent my application again in these days (my own shot)

I know it will be hard to meet my boyfriend a very few times per month or maybe only once or nothing at all, but I totally trust in him and I know he loves me, I am sure that he knows what to do with time to avoid to force the situation, especially with his family.
Anyway, I hope he will really be able to give me another chance soon, that is why I want to wait and to “follow his rules”, showing him that I am judicious and adult, I hope that this good behaviour will pay me in the future, I really love my boyfriend and I want a future with him.

Well, I just realized that probably titled this entry in the wrong way, because nowadays the young Italians do not care much about love; if they do not have what they want, they immediately look for it somewhere else, they do not fight but, on the contrary, they choose the easiest way to be happy, which is often a fake happiness.

Sometimes I think to be very different from the major part of the young ones, I am a sort of “old fashioned” girl, the first and most important valour for me is LOVE LOVE and LOVE again, in every form, for my point of view without it I am nothing, we are nothing!!

So please, wish me good luck with the job, but especially with love, I am determined to resist and struggle because I totally love!!

Three days ago my boyfriend’s family found old entries of my Italian blog where I put them down, it was when I didn’t even know about the relocation and something also later, but all written no more late than this spring.
They found harsh word which I never wrote, I realized that someone had access to my Italian blog and changed a lot of things. Yes, I criticised my boyfriend’s family and I am convict about it, but I never thought and written those bad words.
My boyfriend’s family does not believe me or maybe they even do not know this fact.
I do not know how to explain things if someone does not give me the opportunity to do it.

They obviously took offence, I felt bad even by myself reading those words which I never wrote, and now they do not consider me anymore. My boyfriend is unsure about what to do, he took offence too, but maybe he still feel a little bit of love for me.

I had to leave with my parents for Belgium now, but I decided to stay at home to have more chances to talk to my boyfriend as much as I can. I want to proove him that I am not that bad person, that I stopped to think and write those criticisms for several months now, that I was very happy to get along well with his family and to move and that I love him with all my heart.
I hope he will be able to give me that opportunity, but I am not sure at all.

I can not think about these 4+ years together, we were almost ready for the final relocation and we were so happy to start a new life, me too, absolutely (I also wrote it in several entries here).

The unique thing to do now is to stay in touch with my boyfriend, who asks for time and space, and to show him my real intentions and the truth about who I really am.
I hope so badly that he will give me the chance to do it!
Now he does not want to meet me, only phone calls and one or a very few ones per day.

It is ok for me, I can imagine his contrasting feelings, but I also hope that he will think about our relationship, I am ready to be put to the test completely, I am determined to fight for my love and future with him, but I really need to act immediately about the flat and the job.

photo by sp_clarke

I am deciding to spend the major part of the day at my parents’ flat (fortunately they live just at the end of this street) to avoid to see the bills here growing and I am planning to send my CV at some job places around here.

I feel so badly, I hope to retrieve my life with him, but I need him to give me another opportunity, please please please pray for us!!! Then maybe, later in the days or months, I will get the chance to talk to his family.

Everything changes so quickly in this life, I was not ready for something like this, I was ready to move and start a new life with my boyfriend, I love him so much!!!

P.S: Sorry for the whining entry, but I really need to give vent to my feelings.

photo by abuigues

Here you never know what to expect from an interview; in fact, if you changed a lot of jobs, some recruiters may think:

1) that you are very adaptable and flexible and is obviously good;
2) that there is something wrong in you, so maybe you are a goof-off.

So what is the right behaviour to have? What to say exactly during the interview? How to introduce yourself and your working experiences?

I guess that in Italy nothing is ok when you talk about the job, never! If you say that you are flexible, they will think that you are not reliable; if you say that you want a steady job, they will surely end up looking for someone with a more modern mind.

I am also noticing a substantial difference about the job offers in my region, which is the Emilia-Romagna, and my future place, which will be in Piedmont. Maybe I am prejudiced, but it seems that here we have more varied job offers, in many more fields, while there they only offer positions in two or three fields…

Well, I do not mind. I know the job hunting is always hard, I guess everywhere, especially in this era, but I also know that it can be quite stirring in my situation, as I will have the chance to start all over again, choosing exactly who I would like to be and this opportunity comes only a few times in life or maybe only once.
I absolutely do not want to waste my time, I have so many ideas in my mind to explore just before and after my relocation to low Piedmont.

Now I only need a 10 days-vacation to Belgium with my parents (fortunately I was able to plan a little getaway this year, I will say good-bye later, as we will leave only on July 31st), then I will start to move the last things and to really think about my future in Novi Ligure.
Yay, it sounds very exciting!

That is why I strongly believe in the union Italians-scrapbooking.

This “meeting” is happening in these last years, but we’re quite far from the other Countries with that fabulous hobby.

Anyway, it is showing a growing interest and I am sure that it will gain ground quickly, because it offers a great chance to preserve memories and even to work in that field (I am one of the ones who wanted to take that job opportunity as scrapbooking consultant immediately thanks to a wonderful Italian company so, if you are in Italy and are interested in creative meetings, markets, weekends, I will be really happy to see you where you are and to show you our great products, to suggest very nice ideas for your pages and albums and even to offer you the same opportunity to work for us if you live in Italy, simply contact me via email).

I would have so much to say about scrapbooking, it emotionally affected my life and I guess it will never leave me, I am also affecting my friend with my crazy addiction, so I will surely have the chance during the next months.

As today I am already quite in a hurry, even if it is only 6 am, because my boyfriend is coming home for his couple of days off, I will not be able to write so much, but I certainly want to show you a layout which I created about the 13 points about How to know that you live in Bologna, do you remember my entry?
Well, that entry inspired me this page:

I used two nice postcards of my capital of province, some flowers in tissue and felt, some glitter powder, doodlings, some paper clips, some letters of the alphabet in die cut style and so on.

Enjoy and I will talk to you later about my great hobby and activity, my friends. Ciao!!

Some days ago, for example, as you can see here above from the small outline which I took yesterday during an online research, the undersecretary at the presidency of the lower house of Parliament, Carlo Giovanardi, approved a testing which will surely bring great benefits to the attempt of saving more lives.

In fact, four Italian cities (Cagliari, Verona, Perugia and Foggia) from September 2008 will experiment this advance test to verify the presence of drugs or alcohol into the blood of the ones who will get for the very first time or will renew their driving licence. Then, the test will become compulsory for the whole Italy starting from the 2009.

Mr Giovanardi explained that this necessity comes from the fact that Europe will approve the same important measure in 2011 and Italy wants to anticipate it to contribute to the hard process of saving always more and more lives and of educating people while driving.

In my personal experience I can say that in Italy people drive in a very bad way, drivers often break the laws of the highway code, they do not seem to mind about fines and reduction of the points from the driving licence, they cause accidents which are due often to unscrupulous use of drugs and alcoholic drinks which are usually fatal.
Someone has to stop this situation.
That is why I totally support this experiment and the consequent measure, it will surely help our roads to be safer and our lives to be healthier. Good job!

I tried to search for foreign online news about the “Parmigiano Reggiano case“, but it seems that anyone abroad knows nothing of what happened, so I am here to inform you and to find a solution for my own little world.

Some months ago, Greenpeace published an article with the news item that the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese woud be at risk of OGM; it does not mean that it is made with OGM, but the problem is due to the fact that the cows which produce milk eat the genetically modified soy produced by the Monsanto company (read the translated article HERE, if you find errors it is because the translation has been made by the Google’s automatic service).
By now, this Monsanto firm is famous to work with OGM without scruples only to get rich.

Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

I will not write here my thoughts, even if you can easily imagine, together with the citizens’ reactions to this bad news item, especially because it is about a famous great product which everybody abroad envy us, but I wondered how will I act when I will move to low Piedmont.
Now I am already trying to avoid the Parmigiano Reggiano, here we do not have a great choice which could replace that cheese, but other Italian regions surely have!

My boyfriend, who lived with his family in low Piedmont for more than 20 years, affirms that there is a great valuable product which comes from Lombardy with a nice flavour and even a nice price, if compared to the Parmigiano Reggiano: it is called Bella Lodi.

Bella Lodi cheese

Well, the unique evident difference is the rind; while the Parmigiano Reggiano’s one is yellow-light brown like the rest of the cheese appears, the Bella Lodi’s one is black.

Absolutely nothing to say about the flavour, as my boyfriend told me that, every time I visited his parents, I ate it onto the first courses.

Well, I can not be 100% sure about its cows’ nutrition, but they seem reliable, I also found their website which is available in 3 languages.

Extraordinary discovery, I am pretty satisfied today, I can not wait to buy and use it again, when we will establish into the new flat.
For me, without doubts, Bella Lodi knocks down Parmigiano Reggiano!

P.S. I would like to thank the wonderful Joy O’Hare who some days ago wrote a nice review about my blog and the ABolognaNet’s staff which discovered my previous entry and mentioned it into their Italian blog, thanks a lot for your kindness!!

photo-postcard by Alessandro Canova

I can not stop to realize that I will miss it a lot.
Well, this morning, almost involuntarily, I started to note down a list of points about “How to know that you live in Bologna or province” which I absolutely want to share with you now; some of these points are even hilarious, but you can also learn more about the city.
Enjoy!!

• when someone tells you about Neptune, you do not think only about the god of the sea, but also about the big statue in the middle of the Piazza Maggiore (Major Square), which is one of the symbols of the city;
• when someone tells you about the Piccola Venezia (Little Venice), you immediately understand that he/she tells about part of the Aposa torrent which flows at the open air between the buildings of the city;
• when someone tells you about the Due Torri (Two Towers), you do not remember only the ones which collapsed in NY, but also the Twin ones downtown (called Garisenda and Asinelli, from the ancient two families’ names who owned them), which are other symbols of the city;
• when you think about the most ancient university of the Western world, you picture in your mind all the ones of the city;
• when you can not decide if the appellation of La Rossa (The Red One) is attributed more to the colour of the red houses and their roofs or more to the historical preference for the Left wing of the citizens (both true);
• when you do not worry too much about reaching every place you want in Italy, because the major part of the trains passes through the Central Railway Station of Bologna;
• when it rains, you do not soak even if you do not have an umbrella, because you can walk along the long porches almost everywhere;
• when you do not find into the menu the dish called “spaghetti bologna” which does not exist, because here spaghetti are eaten with tomatoes, vegetables and other sauces, everything but not ragù (!!!);
• when you can not breathe because of the dampness all day and night long for at least 4-5 months a year, when the fan becomes your best friend in that period and when you see never-saw sort of African insects walking onto your mosquito nets;
• when you have to leave, driving along the A14 highway, at improbable hours of day and night to avoid the traffic jams everywhere, especially from Easter to the beginning of school;
• when you can not find open shops and shopping centres on Sundays (except during Christmas holidays) in the whole province, except the Outlet Factory Store and the Ikea Store;
• when, driving to the Ikea Store coming from the Eastern part of the province, you turn your eyes trying to catch sight of football players at the head office of the Bologna Football Club;
• when you speak the bolognese dialect, you are totally able to talk with French people.

I could go on until tomorrow, hahaha!!
I hope you liked these points, they are very important to remember if you decide to move here =)
Have a nice weekend and see you soon with great news!!