emotional farewell to my friends and family

Uuuaaahhhhaaahhhhhha!

So everyone, how have you been keeping these days? sorry for keeping you wondering where I was and what I was doing, but you know I'm a busy one (not telling you what) and things have slowly started getting more hectic by the minute.
Interviews, shopping, general panicking, packing (?) and trying to watch as much trash tv as possible - taking it all in, as you do, before I get in the "Mai dire Banzaiiii" trend - this is what I've been up to these days.

So, yeah, the interview...I mean not to brag or anything, but when the whole CoolCrew knocked at the door, you can imagine my shock! I didn't even have the time to put my YSL Touche Eclat...luckily they brought their own make up artist and after a wee retouch here and there I was perfect...
in reality a very friendly guy who fell in love with our dogs - so much so that at one point I thought he was going to write about them...- so that earned him a couple of extra friendly points, and now this article is going to appear on next week's edition of this magazine. Can't wait to send you all off to buy a copy.... muahhahhahh.

Moving swiftly on, I don't know if I told you that our doggies had 7 puppies...this is now what I'm leaving behind:














Adesso, in italiano: raga' ci sono sti 7 cuccioli che sono troppo belli, hanno 3 settimane. Stiamo cercando una casa accogliente per ognuno di loro... mi raccomando, parlate con amici, parenti, conoscenti, tutti!
se qualcuno e' interessato, mi lasci un commento sul blog che io poi vi contatto, o vi faccio contattare!!!
danke schoen.

off to pack now, cheerio.

Go on...have a laugh!

Big Train, Little Train

Sinking

Munich...

Jesus!

- une semaine

Hello again!
It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd give you a little update of my incredibly busy life as it is nowadays...
...so...let me think...oh yes, it was valentine's day yesterday,and as a token for my own self love, I bought myself a funky new digital camera.
This is one of my most significant artistic expressions:



















which is me wearing a crash helmet. Maybe the picture will not give justice to the helmet, which is one of those with air-conditioning, coffee making facilities sort...needless to say that I burst out laughing when I saw it, as images of me riding a pedal bike in Hanoi with this thing over me head rolled in my mind, but then I was reassured that
a- it is to be worn only on motorbikes and on tuk-tuks
and
b- the other VSO volunteers wear one too, so the locals won't just laugh at me (pathetic reassurance, I know..)
So anyway, this is something else I'll pack as part of my 25kg allowance this week...I'll have to think hard (and believe me it is a struggle) of what 5 books, 5 dvds and 5(?) cds I'll bring, and how all these fundamental items will fit in the luggage allowance.
another question I have is, how will we (departing volunteers) recognise each other at Heathrow airport next Thursday?
the helmet under the arm could be one answer...
anyway, isn't it a nice picture? :o)

Musica Maestro??

Lately, I've had the chance to participate to a few conversations about music, and these are the my amazing discoveries:
- that The Prodigy's song "Diesel Power" DOES NOT say "Close your mind-tracks and leave fantastically" but rather "Blows your mind drah-stically fantastically". This was a major trauma for me, especially cos I thought the lyrics were great like I'd interpreted them, and had already decided how to name my blog.
- that the song "Personal Jesus" was not originally by the Depeche Mode, but by Johnny Cash. Later this was proven wrong by brother (expert of all things with regards to music): evidence shows that the song is from the Depeche Mode and then had been covered by Johnny Cash, which proves what a drastically and fantastically musical genious he was.
- that my knowledge of Queen has been fading away slowly as I claimed Bohemian Rhapsody to be the first record I'd ever bought. This, by the way, was an unintentional lie as well as being wrong, as it was I tape I recorded from a friend's vinyl of "A night at the opera".

Ok, I admit it, I've lived in ignorance long enough (give time to the neurons, they're still practising the lambada). I'm now putting together a whole musical playlist to take with me to Vietnam, and I'm calling out to you to advise me and suggest what music should accompany me during this experience.

Giuda Ballerino...

the end of pimp my ride

Once upon a time, when myself and Amoure, my sistah, decided to leave sunny South Wales setting off for new adventures in a 10 year old Ford Fiesta, my colleagues and good friends from Newport gave us a great present. We had a Pimp My Ride session in Sarah's farm, and this is how my car looked by the end of it:
It was fantastic...driving down to Lecce, we were being encouraged by all the truck drivers, who became our best friends on the road...it was the most popular car in our town - oh, those were the days. Now this is coming to an end. The car is getting and Italian license plate and.....TRAGEDYYYYYYY - the Congedo Rally Team writings are coming off.

I love you Pucca. I always have (well, except when I had to change the engine, battery, electrics,...but that's another story). Goodbye.

This is my alter ego

So, here's my second post in my new blog...how exciting..except, I really don't know what to write. Or better, I have loads to write and I don't know where to begin?!
As many of you know, I'll be leaving to Hanoi, Vietnam soon - 23rd February! as a VSO volunteer. After some weeks of in-country training, I'll be working as a PR adviser at the Hoa Sua vocational training school for disadvantaged youths...check out the links on the right here.
It's dead exciting, yo, I'm going to be there for a year, and the preparations are going well. Well, I've had my immunisations and all that, but most of all I met the most amazing people at the training courses in Birmingham. Not to mention how great it was to be in Munich, Glasgow and Manchester to see my family and friends.
psycho-somatic addict insane...
I need to explain the presence of some of the links here...you may think I'm a bit of a left-wing intellectual, by having added Chomsky's website. Well, no. The reason I've added it, is that a very very very good friend of mine, Manu, has so much trust in me intelligence that he sent me that link. It's there cos I know some of you may be interested, and you're more than welcome to come back to me with some summaries.
the only thing that could associate myself with the "left-wing intellectual" persona, is that this is how I dress up at Carnival parties.
so long...till I have better things to write.
muac

Ode to Davdeh

Un uomo entra negli uffici della redazione di un giornale per far pubblicare il necrologio sulla morte di sua moglie.
Si avvicina al banco e il tipo della redazione gli da un foglio dove poter scrivere il necrologio.

L'uomo scrive sul biglietto "Marta e' morta".

Funzionario: " Sa, signore, puo' aggiungere qualcosa a questo testo, il prezzo rimane lo stesso"
Gli riporge il foglio, e l'uomo si allontana. Pensa, ripensa per 10 minuti, scrive qualcosa e torna.

"Marta e' morta ieri".

Funzionario: "Beh, magari puo' dare piu' notizie sulla morte, o ringraziare i famigliari ed amici per le condoglianze...prenda tempo, non c'e' fretta.."

L'uomo si allontana di nuovo e comincia a pensare. Rimane cosi' a rimuginare per una buona mezz'ora, poi gli si illumina il viso, comincia a scrivere e torna dal funzionario con un sorriso.

"Marta e' morta ieri. Vendo Panda blu".

ahhahhhhhahh.

Sorry people, this had to be in Italian. Welcome to my blog, I hope you'll laugh as much as I'm doing now - out of hysteria, but most of all, thanks to the people around me.
Had a fantastic month away, seeing friends, relatives, and meeting new people at the VSO training courses. And this is to keep you all updated and entertained whilst I prepare for my departure to Vietnam as a VSO volunteer!