Il mio ospito americano e la città delle tre T

As you know I've just become a truly Couch Surfing enthusiast. It's not a mystery CS gives lots of opportunities for travelling and lets not to feel like a tourist in a completely new city because of hanging out with people who live there. Nevertheless the spirit of CS is not only taking but also giving, not only learning but sharing as well :)

That's why I decided to host my new friend Aaron from California, who is travelling all around Europe by bike. Good for him! If you would like to follow him you can click here.

Anyway, Aaron was my perfect guest and I was trying to be perfect host so after short conversation and enjoying lasagna I prepared for dinner we went for a trip around the most popular pubs in Cremona where me met my friends. Then we went for the Festas Latinas de Verano where we ware dancing salsa (yes, Aaron was a king of dancefloor) and eating typical south-american meals. We went also for a walk called by me "Cremona by night" and as I noticed my guest was really impressed by my town and especially by a story about three T of Cremona... :))

Festas Latinas

 

Above there are three T-specialties of Cremona, but 3xT for us were more like Talking a lot, Tacos mexicanos and having nice Time together :)

strong one...

(source)

UPDATE 10 - 12:56 third tremor till the morning noticeable in Cremona. 

UPDATE 9 - There is no damage around the Cathedral and Baptistery. 

UPDATE 8 - Seriously injured 20-years-old man was founded in Castelvetro. There are nine deaths in Emilia Region.

UPDATE 7 - The Itis has been closed. Technical controls and fireman preparations are in progress. 

UPDATE 6 - The agencies speak of 8 deaths in the worst affected areas. 

UPDATE 5 - There are a lot of phone calls to schools with an appeal for early closure

UPDATE 4 -Two another shocks between 10.26 and 10.27. 

UPDATE 3 - At 10.26 earthquake is continued.

UPDATE 2 - Technical and firefighters were involved in help. For now there are no serious damages, but the investigation is continued. 

UPDATE - A strong earthquake was distinctly felt in the province of Cremona. All schools were evacuated. The epicenter is in the province of Modena. The richest magnitude - 5.8.

8 Giornata Nationale del Naso Rosso 2012 a Cremona

It was rainy Sunday (contradiction, isn't it?). The only one thing I was dreaming about was a little bit of sun... 

Suddenly I noticed a group of colorful people. It wasn't difficult to guess who they are: red noses, painted faces, baggy multicolored trousers... Clowns. But really special ones: VIP Clowns :)

E' stata una domenica piovosa. L'unica cosa chce stavo sognando era un po' di sole. Improvvisamente ho notato un gruppo di persone molto colorate. Non era difficile indovinare chi sono: i nasi rossi, le facce dipinte, i pantaloni larghi multicolori. I Clown. Ma quelli veramente speciali: I Volontari Clown VIP (Viviamo In Positivo).

Ho comprato questo libro per sostenere l'azione. Più tardi ho scoperto che il libro per i bambini è ideale per imparare l'italiano :)

Avevo bisogno di sole e l'ho preso! Cremona è una città magica! :)

Trenta secondi di terrore...

The 2012 Northern Italy earthquake was a 6.0 magnitude earthquake, which struck about 36 km north of the city of Bologna in northern Italy on 20 May 2012 at 4:03 am local time at a relatively shallow depth of 5.1 kilometers. The epicentre was near San Felice sul Panaro. Two aftershocks, one approximately one hour after the main event, and another eleven hours after measured 5.1 in the moment magnitude scale.

Initial reports listed seven dead including four workers at a factory in Ferrara, and about 5,000 people have been left homeless. At least one hundred structures of historical significance have been damaged or destroyed. Many churches in towns around the epicenter suffered damage. One of the towers of Castello Estense, a moated medieval structure in the center of Ferrara, was damaged in the earthquake; another medieval tower dating from the 13th-century - the torre modinese- in Finale Emilia collapsed. This earthquake is being called the worst in northern Italy since the 1976 Friuli earthquake.

(source)

Zabiorę brata na koniec świata...*

Finally! My younger brother at last came to Italy to visit me. We spent wonderful time travelling, cooking, walking and laughing together. The weather was great and we were sure that nothing and no one can destroy our brother'n'sister time. Even the train strike! And of course it tried...

Il mio fratello più giovane finalmente è venuto in Italia a visitarmi. Abbiamo trascorso il tempo meraviglioso viaggiando, cucinando, camminando e ridendo insieme. Il tempo era fantastico e noi eravamo sicuri che niente e nessuno potrebbe distruggere i nostri “fratello-sorella” momenti. Nemmeno lo sciopero dei treni! E naturalmente esso ha provato...

Milano:

Torino:

con Nadia (Polish EVS from Arona) al museo del cinema a Torino

Konrad (il mio fratello) e Stefano (il nostro host da CouchSurfing) a Torino

Genova

Acquario di Genova

Cinque Terre:

Allontanarsi dalla linea gialla... la più bella stazione:)

l'amore fraterno:)

Sarzana:

La funicolare di Bergamo Alta 

* the title of the post is a title of Polish song for children as well. When I was little I could sing that song all day long. It means: I'll take my brother at the end of the world. 

Il soriso del riso, ma non c’e risotto :)

Yes, we totally love Italian cuisine, but... I guess for Italians there should be no 'but' after this statement, nevertheless for us (international group of young people) there was a little 'but' so we decided to forget about pasta and pizza for one evening and make... SUSHI!

Sì, amiamo la cucina italiana, ma... Forse 'ma' dopo questa frase non serve agli italiani. Comunque per noi c'era un 'ma', così  una sera abbiamo deciso di dimenticare della pasta e della pizza e fare... il SUSHI!

It was fun. It was oriental. It was delicious :)

E' stato divertente. E' stato orientale. E' stato squisito :)

La visita nella libreria italiana

Picture this: you are between high bookshelves with italian books. You smile when you are able to understand the title. This pure joyful push to take this book. You open it and then you realize that inside it is not so understandable... So you put the book back on the shelf. You are walking around the bookshop and you try to find a good cookbook with big pictures... Suddenly you stop. Just like that. You realize that the name of a shelf in front of you is POESIA and between all those books there is THE ONE. 

You take it and start reading. You don't care it's in Italian. You believe you understand more than five minutes ago. Do you feel it? This strange and funny mix of longing, sadness and desire... You should.

It is nostalgia. 

Prospettiva

da "Due punti"

Si sono incrociati come estranei,

senza un gesto o una parola,

lei diretta al negozio,

lui alla sua auto.

Forse smarriti

O distratti

O immemori

Di essersi, per un breve attimo,

amati per sempre.

D'altronde nessuna garanzia

Che fossero loro.

Sì, forse, da lontano,

ma da vicino niente affatto.

Li ho visti dalla finestra

E chi guarda dall'alto

Sbaglia più facilmente.

Lei è sparita dietro la porta a vetri,

lui si è messo al volante

ed è partito in fretta.

Cioè, come se nulla fosse accaduto,

anche se è accaduto.

E io, solo per un istante

Certa di quel che ho visto,

cerco di persuadere Voi, Lettori,

con brevi versi occasionali

quanto triste è stato.

Festa dell'Europa

After few weeks of preparation, meetings and organisation finally we could celebrate this particular day. Festa dell'Europa (Eng. Europe Day) has been organized at the beginning of May for last few years. This year I was that lucky to get a possibility to take part in this event. Whats more, I was responsible for design of posters and leaflets (you can see the effect below) and for coordinating the event called Dance of Europe which demonstrated to participants cultural diversity of Europe and showed the way to integrate in spite of those differences. Well, everyone knows that on the dance-floor the nationality doesn't matter at all!   

Volks Pupuli - the magnificent folk band from Cremona

First visit of my Polish friends and short trip around Tuscany

That was really crazy weekend. Before I began my Tuscany adventure I heard from everyone that this region is truly magical and (guess what?) now I can honestly confirm this words. Totally! 

I started to explore Tuscany with Pisa, where I arranged a meeting with my two polish friends Edyta Mika and Anka Czabajska. I was really excited to meet them cause it has been first visit of my Polish friends since I'm here. The excitation was so huge that I wrote an Italian poem (I believe the shortest one) for them:

Amica Mika e

Anche Anka  

Cute, isn't it?:)

Let's get back to Pisa. My host from Pisa (excellent ragazzo, Sergio) showed me the best sides of this city and thanks to him Pisa is no longer for me only Leaning Tower (btw, also amazing). Now I find Pisa as a center of nightlife, so crowded after midnight, so alive and so singing and dancing.

Next day we went for a short trip to Lucca...

... and then we visited beautiful Siena:

I'm sure I'll be back in Tuscany before long. There are still so many places to see here: San Gimignano, Volterra and Florence of course... See you soon, my Dear Tuscany!/Ci vediamo, Cara Toscana! Maybe next time the weather will be kinder and more favorable...