September 2007

High Water (Not Hell) in Venice, part 7

September 29, 2007

Hummingbirds & Other Venetians Sep 29, 2007 ^ detail on Saint Mark’s cathedral ^ So much for the singing gondoliers. They seemed to spend most of their time on their cellphones (like everyone else in Italy). ^ Alitalia Italian Airlines? Not for much longer… The scene above took place on the balcony of the apartment, [...]

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High Water (Not Hell) in Venice, part 6

September 29, 2007

Venice’s Bad Karma > On Saturday morning, I learned what a macchiatone (“big spotted one”) is: it’s basically a caffé macchiato (coffee “spotted” with steamed milk), with a bit more milk – so, somewhere between a macchiato and a cappuccino, served in a cappuccino cup. I had it with a delicious little torta di riso [...]

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Trattoria Al Passo, Venice – Only Fish!

September 29, 2007

While we were all in Venice, Jeet’s friend and Andrew’s colleague, Umberto, wanted to take us to his favorite restaurant in the nearby village of Campalto. The restaurant’s card says Solo Pesce (only fish), and that’s all we had – lots of very, very good fish, most of it local and extremely fresh. Umberto and [...]

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High Water (Not Hell) in Venice, part 5

September 28, 2007

When in Venice, Eat… Curry In St. Mark’s Square, Jeet bought some necessary props: We returned to the apartment to greet Andrew and Victoria, arrived from Paris. Jeet and Andrew set to work making a fantastic Indian meal. Which they served in appropriate national costumes: (Hey, I just live my life, in all its glorious [...]

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High Water (Not Hell) in Venice, part 4

September 28, 2007

In the evening, we went for a walk around Venice (above). Other Venetian scenes: ^ Even in Venice, kids go to school, and furnaces must be refueled. ^ How real Venetians ride in gondolas – none of your touristy lolling about on plush sofas! ^ The modern world is out of proportion to Venice (look [...]

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High Water (Not Hell) in Venice, part 3

September 28, 2007

A Tight Squeeze On the way home from Ca’ Rezzonico, we saw this interesting scene: The water was still high. How was this heavily-laden boat going to get past this bridge? Answer: very, very carefully. Knowing exactly how far your load sits above the water is a necessary skill for any Venetian boat operator. They [...]

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High Water (Not Hell) in Venice, part 2

September 28, 2007

Abuses Past and Present Enrico, Geraldine, and I decided to visit a museum. The only exit from our apartment was now under water. I had gone back for two more pairs of boots, but there’d been a run on them that morning, and none were left in Enrico’s size. So he improvised with the heavy [...]

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High Water (Not Hell) in Venice, part 1

September 28, 2007

the best greengrocer in Venezia, near Campo San Barnaba – at low tide! This weekend Enrico and I were invited to Venice by my Woodstock classmate, Jeet, who’s renting a large apartment from Views on Venice, and keeping it filled with friends and family. In all my years in Italy, I’ve only been to Venice [...]

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My Desire to Live

September 27, 2007

original I remember a crucial moment in our friendship, our first serious conversation. I believe it can be called serious in spite of the fact that we kept drinking wine mixed with Zabov and the effects were felt ever more intensely. I remember it vividly because at some point during the evening I went to [...]

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School Life

September 27, 2007

original That fun game where you call someone, and as soon as they turn around, you take a picture.

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Strange Religious Practices

September 26, 2007

The monsoon is over. For a week we haven’t had anything but sunshine and blue skies. Then, just like a tube of toothpaste that never ends – you always manage to squeeze a little bit more out – we have one of those last inexplicable and senseless showers. The Return of Monsoon, Monsoon Strikes Again, [...]

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Orphans, Junior-Senior

September 25, 2007

original Trishna

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Orphan Kids

September 24, 2007

original Sunday I went to play with orphans in a school near here. I won’t give long speeches about how I see the world from another perspective, I feel changed and my mission in life is to help the needy. These are experiences… The other day India beat Australia in the cricket semifinal. This evening, [...]

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Image of the Day

September 22, 2007

How the Swiss play hockey – now that’s macho! (Actually, it’s a safe sex/anti AIDS poster, with the slogan “You also need protection here.”)

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Samosas

September 21, 2007

original MomComm: Ross’ Italian friends on fotolog didn’t know what the above objects were. To clear up any confusion: they’re samosas, pastry cones stuffed with ground meat and/or vegetables, and deep fried.

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Out of Bounds

September 21, 2007

#2 My new friends have given me a wonderful meal to welcome me to India, and now insist on buying me whatever I want. The day continues fantastic, Trishna has mehndi done on her hands by a guy on the street, Angela buys an absurd straw hat and wears it for the rest of the [...]

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Fair Weather Holiday

September 21, 2007

original #1 There are boring days. There are exhausting days. There are days when you’re not yourself or days when you have so much energy that you would like the world to turn upside down. Then there are the days which change drastically from one moment to the next, days which start normally, then transform [...]

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Baby Moet

September 19, 2007

original Thinking of you in England with an empty bottle of baby Moet.

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The End of Ramadan

September 19, 2007

original Today during theater class we made masks (we’re studying Greek theater). First, my face is completely covered in Vaseline. Then, cold, wet strips of plaster are layered on top. Bleah. My personal Ramadan lasted all of one day. My mood was terrible for the duration of the fast and I didn’t want to do [...]

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Ramadan

September 18, 2007

Laura, the American who lives in Paraguay, wakes me up to tell me that it’s 4: time to eat. For several weeks she has been going with one Alamdar, a very good photographer, Afghan. Ramadan has recently started and Laura, for solidarity with her new love, has decided to keep him company: "I’m not Muslim, [...]

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