There wont be any snow in Africa this Christmas time

But there is snow in Italy this end of November time.

It snowed again today. I also hear that there may be an apparent train strike. So that’s a double whammy against me in the trying to get to work department. Once again, I stayed home and used the dial-up to post blogs, find Christmas recipes, research NKOTB possibilities and flights to Vancouver (not for myself, for my aunt). Fun times eh?

Operation NKOTB. Part: I’ll be loving them forever

Tickets for the concert may be cheap. And my love of the New Kids still runs high all these years later. Unfortunately, after a check of every airline that flies from a local Italian city to Birmingham (3 total) I found that they do not fly on those days that I would like. Or they do, but the flight home costs more than I will pay (on the bonus, the flight there would be only 29 euro). Add to the fact that I would have to leave from the same Milan airport I will be leaving from to Berlin, which takes a couple hours (and costly train fares) to get to.

The tickets in Frankfurt are not as cheap and therefore it’s not a likely option.

Dublin is on a Wednesday and expensive as well, costing me not only money to go but also in missed work hours.

So I give up. Unless I find another cheap way of getting there or I consider going for a day or two longer than I would like. Or Santa and Dominick decide to give me a wonderful Christmas surprise

Oh well, the dream kept me entertained for a day. And, I know I said I gave up, but I will continue to search for options until the day before the concert. Trust.

Don’t worry, the blog will keep you updated on the latest goings on of my pilgrimage to see NKOTB… I shall not let one detail go unreported (I’m sure in the near future I’ll re-name it NKOTB adventures… god I wish).

And in response to my previous question about Birmingham, I did look it up Mom… on dial-up, in a cold bedroom with no heat. It took a long time but I did it. Although I’m sure your high speed cable internet in your warm house would have been faster and could have compiled info into a simple email for your daughter to read instead of having to sit in a cold room waiting for the pages to load. You should no better than to sass me in the matters of NKOTB. Here’s what I learned about the airport:

-The Birmingham airport is the 6th busiest in England, the second busiest not serving London
-The concord made a visit to the airport on her farewell tour
-In June 2007 an investigation found that the airport security team was often sleeping on duty, ignoring the security x-rays and worked under the influence of illegal drugs
-One month later, in July ’07, it was voted as Europe’s best airport in the 5-10million passengers per year category (coincidence??)
-The airlines flying from Italy to Birmingham are Bmibaby (Milan), Flybe (Milan) and Ryan Air (Bologna).
- In 2007, the 10 busiest scheduled destinations at the airport were Dublin, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dubai, Paris, Glasgow, Frankfurt, Malaga and Alicante. The 10 busiest charter destinations were Palma, Tenerife, Arrecife, Paphos, Dalaman, Las Palmas, Heraklion, Fuerteventura, Larnaca and Ibiza

In which Jen finally travels in Europe

I booked my ticket to Berlin on Wednesday. My friend Kim has been in Berlin since September and we’ve finally arranged to see each other for New Years since I’ll be on vacation from work for the Christmas holidays. We haven’t seen each other since March, so I’m really excited to be able to see her here in Europe since she’s the one that got me curious in the whole travel shenanigans.

I was able to book through the notoriously cheap airline for flights in Europe- Ryan Air. Of course if I had tried to travel when it wasn’t the busy season it would have been cheaper, but I take what I can get I guess. Although, I did realize how it could be so cheap (seriously, during non-peak times a flight can be around 30 euro, sometimes less… mine was considerably more expensive), they do like to trick you with extras, such as baggage. Most times you have to fly out of airports far from where you are, I’m leaving from Milan, but not the airport in the city centre, rather the one 50km outside of it. If you want to check your luggage, it’ll cost you 30 euro… for a 15kg bag. Anyone who has ever traveled with me knows this is almost impossible, so I’ve chosen the cheap and economical option of a carry-on which I’ll pack as small and light as possible (I’m told Berlin is super-casual so doing this shouldn’t be too hard). They also try to trick you into travel insurance, if you’re a swift internet clicker, such as myself- the kind who doesn’t read everything before clicking ok- they add that on for you, luckily I saw that and skipped that charge. I think they charge for something if you’re not an E.U. citizen, so I gladly selected the option that I am a citizen of the European Union.

Sadly, Ryan Air does not fly to Birmingham from Italy (oh wait... they do, from Bologna). But I found some other cheap airline that appears to do so for around 20-30 euro… only they fly very rarely and I’m not sure about the days I need it, I want to try to leave on the Saturday morning and come back Sunday afternoon, staying in a cheap hostel or something for the night. Believe me, come hell or high water, I will try to make it to England for the New Kids (they do have concerts on other days but I need a weekend, the next weekend they’re in London, which I would much rather go to, but it’s sold out), if not they will be in Germany at the end of January and Dublin as well (but that’s on a Wednesday).

PS: Thanks Mom for the engaging comment on my previous post about going to see NKOTB.

And as for my changes to my blog layout, I obviously switched it back to the original format since the other one wasn’t jiving with me or my mother. I’m going to keep fiddling though, because I like changes :D

Where the heck is Birmingham?

And how do I get there?

Here's what I do know:

-it's in England
-the New Kids are playing there on January 17th
-FLOOR tickets (FLOOR!!!!) are only 35 euro
-I want to get there

Anyone?? Please advise

Luv J

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

This is the scene I woke up to on Monday:




I ask you one question: What’s prettier than the Italian countryside?

Answer: The Italian countryside covered in snow.

If this beautiful country couldn’t get any more beautiful, it succeeded when it dumped a couple of inches down on Sunday night. Of course, there are the usual downsides, especially to us living up on the mountain where the snow is much deeper than the rest of the city, the worst being that we couldn’t drive anywhere and thus keeping everyone indoors and away from work.

The second downside being that it’s freezing, although it was like that before the snow appeared. The bonus to this is that we have fires, something that we haven’t done in years in Canada due to the cleaning up factor (and that mom likes to decorate inside the fireplace), and what’s more fun than sitting beside the fire reading a good book (ok, probably a lot of stuff is more fun, but you get my point).

I had been warned by various people about snow here, although the warnings were often different. Some said it never snows, my family told me that it does, especially since we live so high up in the hills, making our house a winter wonderland.

At Sunday lunch we all spoke of the mythical snow. Some said that it wouldn’t come, that it was still weeks away. Others told stories of years past (apparently last year on a Saturday night out, Christian was driving home around 2am only to discover it had started snowing on our mountain. His car is useless in the snow he turned around, parked the car at the town at the bottom of the hill and walked up… a brave feat during the day in normal weather, but at night in the snow, wow). As I went to bed Sunday night I looked at the clouds and predicted that snow would fall during the night, when I was woken at 6am (both by the need to use the bathroom as well as all the talking downstairs) I realized that indeed the outside was covered in a blanket of the white stuff and no one would be going to work. So I went back to bed.

While I love the looks of it, driving, and thereby working is impossible. Luckily the roads get plowed and salted pretty fast around here, so by Tuesday morning the snow had stopped and we were able to go to work, even myself who hates driving in the snow.

Right now it’s the perfect kind of snow, it’s still on the yards and in the trees and the rooftops. The mountains and fields are absolutely gorgeous, but the roads are clear and safe for driving. On my way to Vicenza on Wednesday morning it was great to look at the blanket of white on the fields as I listened to Christmas music and realized Christmas is less than a month away!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

As you may notice, things have changed around here.

I'm not sure if it'll stay this way or if it'll go back to what it was or to something new, but I got bored this cold Sunday afternoon and went for a change.

But now dial-up is annoying me and I can't perfect everything. So, it'll be like this for the next day or two.

Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it.

My Italian is coming along slowly. Very slowly. It’s there, because I understand things more often than I did when I got here, reading it is pretty good as well, but speaking it, that’s another story.

Until Friday.

I had a conversation in Italian! WOOOO! This was exciting for me because I was getting annoyed because after being here 2 months it felt like I wasn’t progressing. So on Friday, I was going into this shop to get something for my mom (awesome Christmas surprise… maybe) but they didn’t have it in the window like it was on Wednesday. Taking a chance, I went up to the woman who worked there and in Italian, told her I didn’t speak very well, but I wanted to know what happened to the ________ that was in the window the other day. She told me they were sold out.

I would have been sad because the gift is awesome and I’m sure my mom would love it, but any sadness I should have felt was gone because I successfully communicated in Italian :D

I’m not saying what the gift was just in case I find it somewhere else.

But, this little communication gave me the confidence to start talking more in Italian no matter if I make mistakes. I usually do and realize it as soon as I walk away. Oh well, hills and valleys kids, it’s all hills and valley’s.

When I got home later I giddily told my story to everyone and they were proud. Hooray… I may actually have a handle on this language before I finish here.

In other news…

On Saturday night people ate dead birds at our house… while I have taken to trying almost everything once, the dead birds will not be tried (they still look like birds!). Although I did give pheasant a chance, tastes like chicken actually. As for polenta… I had no idea what I was missing up until this point in my life.

Also on Saturday night, I went out with Christian and his friends. One of his friends is apparently related (cousin’s I think) to the person who plays violin in the singer Shaggy’s band. Upon hearing this I thought “Shaggy requires a violinists?” Then I thoughts “does Shaggy still tour?” I know you’re all jealous… I would be too if it were the year 2000 and that stupid “It wasn’t me song” wasn’t already played to death.

And apparently I’m a better bowler than I thought. We played on Saturday night at 2am and I was better than I remembered, I didn’t break 100 but I got a spare, and I think that’s more than I could say for my bowling prowess in Canada.

Female Donkey's are called Jenny's

Or so says wikipedia.

Because they're the most reliable source out there, I believe them. I was doing research for my awesome present for Team I.D. when I found that out.

I also shamefully found out I've been spelling Dominick wrong. It's Dominick, not Dominique. I apparently wasn't using the Italian version.

Fun facts for your Monday morning :D

Snow-capped mountains are bringing in the Christmas cheer

I’ve been holding out. While I did add Christmas tunes to my iPod about a month+ ago, I have been avoiding listening to them. Why? Right now I think it’s because I haven’t got the red cups of Starbucks to remind me that Christmas is upon us and that I need to get excited. I know, I’m victim to such a commercial marketing ploy, and a transparent one at that, but I can’t help who I am. IT’S WHO I AM! DO YOU WANT ME TO CHANGE WHO I AM? (as a side-note, I have read several other blogs where the writers, from elsewhere in this world, are also victim to the red cup being their marker of Christmas season as well, so I’m not alone) I’m told that as of Nov. 13th the egg nogg hit the ‘bucks in their red cups and I’m hoping everyone out there got the chance to drink one in my honor (as a addendum to my last request, I apparently have to inform people that it is the reduced-fat ones they should be enjoying… my own mother didn’t even remember the Jen-trivia that states that coffee is always non or reduced fat (egg nogg is not available in non-fat since… well it’s an oxymoron)).

Luckily I have had a few audio and visual stimuli to remind me that corporations do and do not run my life and I can get through this Christmas season without a red cup to remind me to be festive. The first clue that Christmas was upon us was last Monday when my aunt and I were doing the dishes, she started humming a tune that I had only heard from my father before. After my first initial shock that someone else knew this silly song (apparently my other aunt, Lella, should no too… if you’re reading ask my dad about it and confirm knowledge please), I got a warm-fuzzy Christmas feeling and began to feel the excitement.

The song, for those wondering, and if anyone knows it please comment on that fact, is as follows:

“Christmas day is coming, lights are on the tree, hang up your stocking for Santa Clause to see. If you haven’t got a stocking then a little sock will do. If you haven’t got a little sock God bless you”

It’s much better sung by my dad, so if you’re given the chance, make him sing it… there’s also a kicky dance that goes with it (more of a hand dance actually) that I hope he will throw in with it.

The second Christmas clue was that the stores are decorating, the cities are stringing up lights in the piazzas and we bought poinsettias. Both my aunt and Jessica bought one. While I told Jessica to keep it away from her cat, Ginger, who’s this cute little thing that may be my uncles new best friend, I told my aunt that I want to relocate ours to sit just beside Poochy’s (our cat) bed. You see poinsettias are poisonness if ingested… and just because Christmas is upon us doesn’t mean I don’t still hate the cat.

The third clue and the second most influential commercialism clue is that I saw my first coca-cola Christmas commercial. Not as cute or as fun as the polar bear ones they had running in North America a few years ago, but still good nonetheless.

And so that’s it. Christmas is upon us and expect the blog to be inundated with Christmas spirit for the next month and a half. Big things are planned, and while I’m sure most of them will be carried out (Jen in Italy is still as much a procrastinator as Jen in Canada) stay tuned for the holiday fun! :D

PS: Note to Team International Delight- your present will be awesome, I’ve started working on it and I’m uber, uber excited about it.

Life is like pizza, When it's good, It's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good.

I figured it was about time to write an update about my life here rather than what I think about life here and around the world. But that’s my nature, isn’t it? Make snarky and somewhat cynical and witty remarks about whatever is on my mind and hope I’ve entertained someone (I know my mom is entertained, thus… mission accomplished).

So, life in Italy. Where to begin? I’ve been here two months now, yet it seems like just yesterday I was stepping off the plane and into the Venice airport. I still vividly remember the happiness I felt as my bags were the first to come off the belt (in what screwed up universe does that happen?), the sense of accomplishment I had as I somehow hoisted all three 50+ pound bags onto the cart, all while watching to make sure no one was stealing my purse, and the curiosity I felt as I strolled through the arrivals doors merely being asked only one question by the “customs” agent- “Where are you from?” (he was not behind a desk, instead he stood by the door and briefly looked at the address label on my bags, he could have been anyone actually since he wore no uniform, but I trusted him because he was flanked by two rather large men that looked as if they could have been packing weapons of some sort).

The weather has certainly changed since that warm September day, it was about 30 degrees when I arrived, today the temperature stands at about 8 degrees. The rain has appeared and the fog is usually quite thick and lasts throughout the day. But the thunderstorms are pretty frequent and rather soothing as I sit in the house with my cup of tea with milk (milk in tea is a foreign concept here, everyone thinks I’m strange. They think I’m strange for other reasons, the tea is just one of many).

I’m getting into a routine here, usually during the week I work everyday but Thursday, teaching students in a one-on-one setting. Three of those days I travel into Vicenza by train, unless foiled by train strikes, as I was on Monday, but otherwise the train system here is pretty good and much more comfortable than the Skytrain’s in Vancouver. My students are great, they’re all really talkative and excited to learn, most are either learning because their business is paying for the course, and it’s quite different from teaching in Vancouver actually. Here I am mostly focusing on conversation rather than teaching grammar rules, I’m also working with older students whom are more talkative than the one’s I taught in Vancouver. It’s the cultural differences I suppose, I was told that European and South American students are more talkative and would rather learn through conversation, whereas Asian students, who made up 90% of my classes in Vancouver, would rather learn the rules and practice the language through writing and structurized activities. Neither is better or worse I guess, just different and I’m adapting accordingly.

Having finally mastered the stick shift I drive to the train station on the days that I have to go to Vicenza, on Tuesday I drive to the company that has me teaching one of their employees. It’s nice to be able to get off the mountain and see more of the city, especially as I gain more comfort in the car and with other drivers. Although I spend much of my time in the car hoping that I don’t have to stop at one of those pesky roundabouts, I have this strange hatred towards first gear and try to avoid stopping as much as possible. I still drive more cautiously than I would in Canada, I like to think that it’s because I have to be cautious for the other drivers as well. Italian drivers… it’s an experience that no words can really describe.

I still would rather drive an automatic though, I hate having to change gears, especially when I know a car exists where I don’t have to. But I have drawn some conclusions- the Italians don’t live lives where driving and drinking coffee is normal, and it is illegal to talk on the phone here while driving. Thus, they do not realize that the right hand- the gear shift hand- is better used holding your starbucks or talking on the phone. It is my mission to spread the word.

My Italian- it’s coming along. I’m getting over my initial desire to have to speak everything perfectly. At first I was trying to remember every grammar rule I was taught in university, which is seemingly impossible since there are literally millions of them, don’t even get me started on verb tenses. There is more than I can even try to remember and each subject has their own verb ending.
For example: In English if I wanted to use the verb ‘to go’ in present tense it would be something like this- I go, you go, we go, they go, he goes, she goes. There are two different verb endings to remember there right? (go and goes) Pretty simple. In Italian, if I want to use ‘to go’ in present tense it would be something like this: vado (I), vai (you, singular), va (he/she/it), andiamo (we), andate (you, plural), vanno (they).

Now, think of the 500+ verbs that we have in Italian, and then try to remember all them plus the different endings and rules for the 14 different verb tenses (not to mention the different rules for irregular verbs and spelling for special cases).

It’s a lost cause. Trust.

So, imagine my excitement when my aunt told me that everything I learned in Italian class in university… all that money and time and hard-earned grades… was crap and in actual fact not applicable. I mean of course, if I was doing school here or wanted to talk like I knew what I was doing I could make the effort to do that, but in reality when trying to learn this stuff, I don’t need to worry about all the tenses and rules, instead focus on using the correct verb and sentences structure. In essence, I need to just speak and not worry so much about being right (so hard for me, so very hard).

I think I need to contact my Italian teacher and have a little chat about what he’s been teaching students.

As for my French, well it’s about the same as when I left Canada. Which is next to none. But according to Italians, I should be fluent because I’m Canadian and urban legend says that all Canadians speak French. Mais Non, a Canadian does not a French speaker make.

In other news, I did not vote for Obama. But luckily I did not vote for McCain either. It’s hard to imagine, but as a Canadian I was not able to vote in the American election, something that a few Italian strangers that I encountered on a recent night out had a hard time grasping. (We’re our own nation dammit! With our own stupid Prime Minister! Nor do we have a monarchy!)

Weekends are usually spent with either Christian or Jessica, most often Christian and his friends, some of whom speak English, others whom try when they’ve had a few drinks in them. Oddly enough, my Italian improves if I have a few glasses of wine in me as well.

The questions I’m asked here most often include “how old are you?” “do you have a boyfriend/husband?” and “what pizza is better Italian or North American?” That last one is always said in a voice that means I should say Italian… but I remain neutral and say they are too different to compare, because honestly they are.

And oddly enough, my sarcasm and cynicism, in spite of what you may think while reading this blog, is slowly fading. Or maybe it’s just not as sharp as it once was seeing that Europe offers less to be sarcastic and cynical about… at least to the visitor, I’m sure the native European could find much to complain about.

Sadly, since my initial sighting, I have yet to see Dominique the donkey again. I am hoping he reappears before Christmas, but I have my doubts.

The cat still hates me, even if I have attempted to make amends on more than a few occasions. She’s clawed at me and tried to bite me, I retaliate by refusing to feed her and shutting the garage door on her when I notice her trying to come in.

So I guess that’s it from my side of the Atlantic. I’ve kind of stuck in the same spot for now, but I’m hoping to travel much more in the coming few months, I’m planning a trip to Berlin in late December to visit with Kim, my old roommate, for a New Years version of the “Jen and Kim Show.” Other than that, I’m happy, I’m relishing the Italian culture and I’m enjoying life. Hope everyone else enjoying the rain back home and is excited for the upcoming Christmas season.

Baci!
-j

Earn This



The title of this entry comes from the classic Stephen Spielberg movie “Saving Private Ryan.” As my brother knows very well this line gets me every time. It’s sad because (spoiler alert) it’s muttered in the dying breathes of Tom Hanks’ character to Matt Damon- aka Private Ryan- as a reminder that so many men gave their lives so that he would live, so his mother didn’t have to face that three of her sons died in WWII.

I used to wonder how one person could earn that… how one man could live his life well enough to make up for those who lost theirs? Trying to earn it could drive one person so insane that they may give up as a result of never feeling good enough. Because how does one go about living their life to make up for everything that they gave up? These men, about the same age as Ryan (with the exception of Hanks, who already had a family), could have gone on to have wives, children, grandchildren, etc. and it was up to Ryan to earn everything they gave up. Private Ryan did, and as he visits the graves we see him with his wife, children, grandchildren and he questions whether he was a good man, whether he lived his life well enough. And I guess we’re supposed to feel like that’s enough, live your life to the best of your ability and that will have to suffice.

I don’t intend to give movie reviews here or to contemplate all of Spielberg’s classics (although I may revert to Schindler’s List when I finally visit Auschwitz or E.T. when I need to discuss possible alien life). I used Saving Private Ryan as an example because a) it’s a darn good movie and b) the whole earn this concept is quite fitting for the day.

It’s Remembrance Day. Growing up it was merely a day off school and a reason to waste half a school day at an assembly on the 10th. As I got older it was time and a half at work. Sure, I bought the poppies, and I replaced them when they fell off my lapel (which is quite often), I wore them as if the day was significant to me but felt mostly like a lemming, pinning it to my jackets or work clothes merely as a statement that I comply with this tradition.

In the past couple years, maybe as I educated myself more on the history of Canada in the wars or as I matured and realized what this day means, I began to think about why we have this day, why we pause at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month.

Canadian Military Personnel Killed
* First World War: 66,655
* Second World War: 44,893
* Korean conflict: 516
* Peacekeeping: 121
* Afghanistan: 87

During World War I Canada sent 620,000 soldiers to fight and over 66,000 were killed. There are few, if any (the internet gives me unreliable stats) WWI veterans still alive in Canada and their average age would be over 100.

In World War II over one million Canadians fought in World War II, most of whom were my age or younger and almost 45,000 of them did not return. There are over 268,000 WWII veterans — including over 30,000 women —alive in Canada and their average age is over 80.

These men and women gave their lives - their futures - to protect our lives and freedom in conflicts that luckily many of us will never have to experience. We will never know what they had to fight against or the hell they lived through because they made this ultimate sacrifice for us, so that we would have the possibility for a future.

But why must we remember? Why must my generation- most of which have no memory of war or could never conceive of what life must be like to live through that- take a day to remember these men and women who are long gone?

Because as a human race, as human beings, we must remember what has been lost, what has been gained and what has been sacrificed in order for us to live this way. The memory of the lowest and most significant points in our human history pushes us forward; it evolves us as humans and hopefully prevents mankind from having to live through such violence again.

Remembrance day makes us take pause in our busy lives, the lives in which we are free and able to do as we choose in our great country because of these men and women who worked so hard to protect that freedom.

We are here today because of them, we are here to honor them and we are here to thank them. I only hope that as a society we will continue to remember them and earn what they have so graciously given us.

It is because of these men and women that Canada is the great place that it is today.

DISCLAIMER:
I know I have been very vocal in my extreme opposition to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but today is not a day to argue the merits of these wars. Today is not the day to fight over whether one believes that war is necessary right now; there are 364 other days of the year to do that and I hope that I have successfully made my comments as unbiased as possible.

a public apology

sorry kristina...

I can't be sure if this is entirely deserved, but I'm really looking forward to the Christmas surprise so I better stay on your good side.

I also know that you have been commenting, I just noticed a slow down from everyone lately and wanted to see more people.

Apparently that doesn't work.

So thanks to you and my mom for entertaining me :D

is there anybody out there?

aside from my mother?

where are all the commenter gone? I like the comments, they entertain me. Don't get me wrong mom, I like trying to decipher your misspelled messages, but wont anyone else entertain me?

The change we need

Lets get the inevitable out of the way first:

I’m so happy, so, so happy that Obama (or Obie as Jessica lovingly refers to him) is the next president of the United States. I didn’t think it was possible, I thought they would let me down again.

Hooray!

I spent a lot of the last week watching the few English-language news programs we get. Those include CNN worldwide, BBC News, MSNBC (which is mainly economy news) and the ever-reliable “unbiased” FoxNews… seriously? Unbiased? Those guys have their head so far up McCains ass and despise Obama so much, that you’d think McCain was running their programming. It’s like a car wreck, I can’t stop watching because I have to see what other “impartial” election coverage they spew out.

And I also came to a conclusion why I dislike McCain so much. It’s not the fact that he puts air quotes around the words women’s rights, as if they’re something to be laughed about. It’s not even the fact that he has voted against women’s health issues over 100 times, so not only would he have been a president that made abortion illegal, but he would drive women’s health issues into the ground. I can even overlook the whole Palin thing (only because I’m in love, love, love with what Tina Fey has done with it, without Palin, we’d never have seen the Fey impression)… although if I hear her call herself a Maverick one more time I may scream, the least she could do is quote Top Gun while doing so (“you can be my wingman anyday”). I can almost forgive him for inflicting Joe the plumber on us, but only because it looks like Joe smartened up in the final hours and left him (in his final campaign hours… or weeks actually, he relied too much on Joe, way too much on Joe).

No, all that is nothing compared to McCain and the way the man acts like a teenager when faced in an argument, and buddy is not a teenager. After watching the final debate I started watching the way he reacts when asked about his competitor or about anyone that happened to be against him. Instead of answering in a mature and thoughtful way, he instead tried to make insults that struck as low-blows. He constantly had to get the last word in and usually made them slight, underhanded comments that were meant to insult, they came off not only as if he sounded immature, but also petty and stupid. To be quite honest, they reminded me of the comments my brother and I would fire at each other when we fought when we were younger (who am I kidding? we still do). But this man is running for President of the United States, grow up and learn to debate like a mature adult.

Other random updates from my world not concerned with anything political:

-I’m still a 75-year old woman when it comes to my obsession with weather. Maybe it’s the Canadian/Vancouverite in me (I can’t remember is everyone in the country obsessed with weather or only the Vancouver people), but I constantly feel the need to update everyone on weather around the world. While I momentarily missed the rain, I can say my longing for wet stuff falling from the sky is over. I had never gone so long without rain, as all Vancouver-ites know, rain is a part of life, especially from late September until May-Junish. So when it didn’t rain all October, I got worried. Mother nature has more than made up for it and I swear on Tuesday night alone it rained as much as it would in one month in Vancouver. Thunderstorms… well last Sunday we probably experience more than a year in Vancouver. Don’t even get me started on the frizz all this is causing in my hair. In other weather news, it was 30 degrees in Southern Italy last weekend.

-I need everyone to go out and buy an egg nogg latte from starbucks, drink it in, savor that first sip and then report back how delightful it was. I’m seriously missing my ‘bucks lately, especially since I know that right about now the egg nogg is out (even if they’re not advertising it, they probably do have it already, just ask). How will I even know it’s Christmas without the red cup? But, as I sit in the cold stealing my free internet I wish I had a cup of coffee in that familiar cup. I don’t think it’s the coffee I miss, because believe me, I’m drinking enough espresso here, but the idea of having hot coffee with me to sip and enjoy over a period of time. Here it’s bought and drunk very fast, taking coffee with you is out of the question. I have my travel mug here, but it hasn’t been used yet, I fear the faces of those on the train when I step on with my mug of coffee and sip it throughout the 40 minute train ride.

-One thing I’m not going to have to miss anymore… hockey! Last week our satellite provider offered the sports channels for free (until March, then it will be charged, that is if they’re kept), meaning that we get about 50 different channels, mostly offering soccer and all soccer related news, but some do show hockey games. Most of them are taped the night before and shown the next day, but on the weekends they’re shown live, at 4am of course (this Sunday will be the Canucks, I think they re-show it at 9 the next night, so I’ll wait for that version). I came home from work today to the sweet sounds of the announcers (in English of course) giving a play-by-play to Anaheim vs. Detroit. Neither team I like, but I bounced in the room high as a kite in the anticipation of watching my ‘nucks.

If it turns out to be a joke at the end, I'm going to be so pissed at whoever started it

Ahhh, November. It’s one of my favorite months because it’s right in the thick of fall, the air is crisp; warm and cozy clothes are a necessity and Christmas is around the corner. It also signals the end of October, a month in which this year, much like the past four, I am happy when it ends.

It seems rather odd that I look forward to the end of a month from the moment it strikes midnight on October 1st, but I do, with good reason of course. I actually thought about writing this blog entry a week ago, but held off even starting it in fear that I would jinx everything and render it all useless.

Why the disdain for a month that brings us such joy as Thanksgiving, Halloween and beautiful landscape filled with the changing colors of the leaves? Well the answer is simple really, and those who know me know that the answer may sound kind of weird in a Jen-way, but in reality it makes complete sense. And of course, in true the future-lawyer Jen fashion, I have the evidence to back it up.

You see, the month is cursed. I can never make it through the month without some horrible disaster happening to me. Of course, in reality, it’s not disastrous in a sense of world hunger, AIDs, war or extreme poverty… but for the sake of my tendency to be overdramatic, the month of October tends to be much harder on me than any other month.

But, not this year. Oh, this glorious year here in the foothills of Italy. I have broken said curse. Or maybe it just hasn’t found me on this side of the world, because no horrible things had happened this October. I didn’t find myself so stressed out that I would begin to cry over a stupid bus driver, nor did I end up in an emergency room or have 4 midterms to study for all in the same day… the worst I faced was a scorpion, which I was actually quite calm about when I alerted Christian to come kill it. Maybe because I’m not in school nor am I stressed out that things haven’t been happening to me, but the point is, it became apparent to me the other day that I had just about made it through the month without any problem, then when the clock struck midnight on Nov. 1 (in Vancouver, lest I be fooled by time change) I gave a silent cheer and hoped that when I return to Vancouver the curse doesn’t find me in October.

Many don’t believe in curses or anything like that. And I get that, I’m probably one of the first people to discredit these things and call it a mere coincidence or bad luck. Besides, it’s not as if I live the month in fear of things, it’s just that after a few years I noticed a pattern to these things and that I have a higher occurrence of bad luck in October. For those that may be skeptical, I give you my evidence:
*October 2004: the great flood of the Cardero apartment.
*October 2005: 4 midterms in 2 days and Jen has no idea what she’s in for during
her first tests at UBC
*October 2006: The great computer crash in which Jen loses a lot of stuff that is irreplaceable (also when I acquired Marley the Macbook- not such a bad thing- and learned that backing up is vital)
*October 2007: The great face falling off incident (which technically lasted until about March ’08, but the initial losing of the top layer of my skin started in Oct.)

Without detailing everything, trust me when I say that these things were pretty crappy events in an otherwise crappy month (because in school, October is generally a bad month because midterms are due and paper topics are generally chosen and profs for some reason always want outlines so they can tell you your ideas suck after you’ve spent countless hours researching… god I don’t miss school).

So happy November everyone! Hope you’re all getting geared up for Christmas and the return of Dominique!