Italiano dopo il testo inglese
It's amazing what mildly warm weather will do to one's spirits - the past few days (before the pouring rain and crazy winds arrived) have been relatively mild and very sunny, and I found myself going home in a mood very close to perfect happiness (sadly 100% is unachievable as long as I'm missing one or two key elements). Of course everyone who spent the winter telling me that the first few months in a new place are always hard, and it takes a while to get settled in, and it was going to be ok soon, etc etc etc was absolutely right, and it's not that I didn't believe them, just...well, you have to experience it yourself, I guess.
Anyway, the end of winter means that I can do a lot more things that do not involve being cooped up inside. Periodically S&Y and I will go for a mini-walk around the campus at lunchtime - we are basically surrounded by forestry and it's very pretty. I have the added bonus of having an office window facing some of aforesaid forest, and I've become a keen observer of the life cycle of leaves on tree branches. It's one of my favourite things about working here. (I also happen to face the car park, giving me unfettered access to the comings and goings of every person in the building, but that's a different story). Even more excitingly, the other day I finally tried cycling to work. It was mostly a success - the weather was lovely, the setting is fairly rural so it's pretty, and for almost all of the way I can cycle on a dedicated path which is raised away from the road, so I feel very safe. Until I have to take the same path on the way back, which involves crossing the main road which is distinctly lacking in helpful crossing points - the bike path is only on one side. The only thing marring the general pleasantness is that towards the end there is a nice bit of uphill, which left me rather breathless - and there is uphill on the way back, too, I'm still a bit confused as regards the topography of this place. It takes about half an hour each way, and hopefully if I do it often enough eventually the hilliness will stop hurting so much. As well as enjoying a nice bike ride, this means of course that I get to sleep a bit more, and get to decide at what time I come and go from the office - a pleasure not to be underestimated.
Also, the nicer weather makes one more inclined to go out and partake of all that Princeton, and the university in particular, have to offer. I've been to two really interesting talks this week, which I'll blog about separately because they gave me a lot to think about (topics - the concept of race in the Renaissance, and the issues faced by women in science - as you can see, some obsessions never fade), and the other evening there was a jazz Evensong at the University Chapel, which as you can see is a fairly spectacular place. It was a lovely, lovely thing - we were only in a corner of the chapel, which was mostly barely lit, there was a jazz quartet, some vaguely non-denominational (but still generically Christian) prayers, a poem by e.e. cummings (incidentally, the second line reminds me of colorless green ideas...) and one by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Jazz + chapels: definitely a great partnership. To be encouraged.
In other news, last Saturday I met with a brilliant tax accountant, who tried to make the crazy tax system in this country make sense to me. She succeeded only in part. The gist seems to be that a whole load of things that would have never occurred to me are tax deductible, which is nice. I just have to remember to hoard all sorts of receipts during this tax year. Also I finally had my first meeting with the Girl Scouts - a small group of 8/9 year olds, which I confess I found somewhat overwhelming at first. They have so much energy! And are so high-pitched! But they are also incredibly smart and quick, and fun to be around and talk to. So I think I'll enjoy it after all. And there's camping at the end of September!
Finally, let me end on a food note - last weekend I did a massive shop and spent several hours preparing food for the week (before the stove finally gave up the ghost - but luckily as of yesterday I have a lovely new stove made in the 2000s not the 1970s that I trust wholeheartedly, hurrah!). One of the things I made was a rather haphazard, middle-eastern-inspired stew, composed of the following:
some garlic, browned in oil/chili/cumin
a red pepper
an aubergine
some diced lamb
a tin of chickpeas
I browned the meat and vegetables, added the chickpeas and a bit of stock, and let it cook for about an hour and a quarter. It tasted really good, and even better the next day. And you can take the meat out to make it veggie/wallet-friendly. Try it!
For the second part of the week, I made a rather large batch of polenta, and I understand now why it was so popular in days gone by - it goes a looong way and is cheap and if you're lucky you can make it interesting with a few toppings. My choice was portobello mushrooms sauteed with a couple of tomatoes, but at a pinch, even butter with pepper or anchovies will do.
I've gone on for far too long...
In Italiano
E' incredibile l'effetto che fa il tempo sull'umore - gli ultimi giorni (prima delle piogge torrenziali e i venti assurdi) sono stati relativamente caldi e molto soleggiati, e al pomeriggio mi sono ritrovata di un umore molto vicino alla completa felicita (purtroppo il 100% e' irraggiungibile causa mancanza di uno o due element chiave). Ovviamente tutti quelli che hanno passato l'inverno a dirmi che i primi mesi in un posto nuovo sono sempre difficili, e ci vuole un po di tempo per ambientarsi, e presto sarebbe stato tutto ok, ecc ecc ecc, avevano perfettamente ragione, e non e' che non ci credevo, ma...beh, credo che sono cose che si devono vivere in prima persona.
Comunque, la fine dell'inverno significa che posso fare un sacco di cose che non richiedono l'essere rintanati in casa. Ogni tanto S&Y e io facciamo una piccola passeggiata intorno al campus durante la pausa pranzo - siamo circondati da forestame ed e' molto bello. In piu io ho il vantaggio di avere la finestra dell'ufficio con vista sul suddetto forestame, e sono diventata un'acuta osservatrice del ciclo vitale delle foglie sugli alberi. E' una delle cose che mi piace di piu del mio posto di lavoro. (A dire il vero affaccio anche sul parcheggio, il che vuol dire che posso controllare minuziosamente arrivi e partenze di ogni persona nell'edificio, ma questa e' un'altra storia) Ancora piu exicting e' il fatto che l'altro giorno sono finalmente andata al lavoro in bicicletta. Nel complesso e' stato un successo - il tempo era bello, il paesaggio e' abbstanza rurale quindi e' carino, e per quasi tutto il tragitto ho una pista ciclabile rialzata rispetto alla strada, quindi mi sento molto al sicuro. A parte il ritorno - per riprendere la pista devo attraversare la strada principale che manca alquanto di posti utili per attraversare. L'unica cosa che rovina questa piacevolezza e' che verso la fine c'e' un bel pezzetto di salita, che mi ha lasciata piuttosto senza fiato - e c'e' una salita anche al ritorno, non mi e' ancora molto chiara la topografia del luogo! Ci vuole circa mezz'ora ad andare e mezza a tornare, e spero che se lo faccio abbastanza spesso la salita mi fara' meno male. Oltre a godermi la bella biciclettata, questo significa che posso dormire un po di piu, e decidere autonomamente a che ora andare e tornare dall'ufficio, che e' una gioia non indifferente.
Il bel tempo ispira anche a uscire e approfittare di quello che Princeton, e l'universita' in particolare, hanno da offrire. Questa settimana sono andata a due talk molto interessanti, di cui scrivero' a parte perche' mi hanno dato molto a pensare (argomenti - il concetto di razza nel Rinascimento, e i problemi delle donne nelle scienze - come vedete alcune fisse non scompaiono mai), e l'altra sera c'erano i vespri jazz alla cappella dell'universita, che come vedete e' piuttosto spettacolare. E' stato veramente bello - eravamo in un angolo della cappella, che era poco illuminata, c'era un quartetto jazz, delle preghiere di natura genericamente cristiana, una poesia di e.e. cummings e una di Gerard Manley Hopkins. Jazz + cappelle: decisamente una grande accoppiata. Da incoraggiare.
In altre notizie, sabato scorso mi sono vista con una grande commercialista, che ha cercato di spiegarmi l'assurdo sistema fiscale di questo paese. Ci e' riuscita solo in parte. Il succo sembra essere che un sacco di cose a cui non avrei mai pensato sono deducibili dalle tasse, che e' bene. Mi devo solo ricordare di conservare ogni sorta di ricevute durante quest'anno fiscale. E sono finalmente andata alla prima riunione delle Girl Scout - un gruppetto di ragazzine di 8/9 anni, che devo confessare mi hanno alquanto spaventato all'inizio. Hanno cosi tanta energia! E le voci sono cosi acute! Ma sono anche molto sveglie e intelligenti, ed e' divertente interagire con loro, quindi credo che nel complesso mi divertiro. E a fine settembre si va in campeggio!
Per finire, parliamo di cibo - il weekend scorso ho fatto una mega spesa e ho passato varie ore a preparare pasti per la settimana (prima che la cucina morisse definitivamente - ma per fortuna da ieri ho una cucina nuova bellissima fatta negli anni 2000 non 70 e mi fido di essa ciecamente, evviva!). Una delle cose che ho fatto e' stato uno stufato un po a casaccio, ispirato a ricette mediorientali, con i seguenti ingredienti:
un po di aglio, in una pentola con olio/peperoncino/cumino
un peperone rosso
una melenzana
un po di agnello a pezzetti
dei ceci in scatola
Ho passato la carne e le verdure in pentola per farli abbrunire (si dira' cosi?), aggiunto i ceci e un po di brodo, e fatto cuocere per circa un'ora e un quarto. Era buonissimo, e ancora di piu il giorno dopo. E si puo eliminare la carne per i vegetariani o i tempi duri. Provatelo!
Per la seconda parte della settimana, ho fatto una grande pentola di polenta, e capisco perche' era tanto apprezzata - costa poco e dura molto e se ti va bene si puo rendere piu interessante con qualche contorno. Io ho optato per funghi passati in padella con un paio di pomodori, ma si puo fare anche solo un po di burro e pepe o qualche alice sott'olio.
Ok, adesso mi stuto, ho parlato abbastanza...
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Spring has sprung
Niente traduzione in italiano, sorry - mi sento pigra...
And surprises never cease! Did you know that the robin in the US is a rather different bird from the one in Europe? I had been observing some rather nice birds outside my house which looked like this -
and I couldn't figure out what they were. S & Y at work suggested they might be robins, given the red breast, which confused me somewhat since my stereotypical image of robins is more like this -
But having consulted the Wisdom Of Teh Internets, I find that they are indeed both robins, just, like, completely different and not even related. You learn something new every day.
ANYway, enough with the David Attenborough posturing. It's been ages since I blogged, but then I've seen most of you in that time, so I guess it's not so remiss of me. I'm so exhausted and I can't quite believe that just last week I was in Naples caught up in the celebrations for my aunt's 90th, it feels like a century ago already, and the Oxford visit even more so. It was a little odd going back to work after such a longish break, but luckily there was much to keep me busy and engaged straight away - elation at being accepted for another conference (Corpus Linguistics in July, in Liverpool!), work on an abstract for a proposed journal paper, and actually starting to program and process the parser output. Some of the initial issues I had already encountered in my DPhil work, and I'd written some code to deal with them: I was very pleased to find yesterday that said code was reusable to a certain extent, and was to the best of my ability the most rational way of addressing the problem. Given how inelegant and slow a programmer I am, this was incredibly exciting for me.
But my aunt's party was a great chance for a big family reunion, and getting a few generations of people together, especially those who'd more or less never seen each other before. A lot of hard work, but worth it as everyone seemed to have fun, and it was very touching to see people's eyes light up as they saw this cousin or that and had the opportunity to sit and chat in a relaxed, just-like-old-times manner. So I'm glad we did it!
On the flight back I watched two films I'd been wanting to see for a while, Rachel Getting Married and Burn After Reading. I really liked the first one, despite its rather relentless misery. For reasons unclear to me, I have a soft spot for Anne Hathaway, so I was pleased to see her do a good job in something not twee. It's grim, and doesn't try to whitewash over problems, and family disfunction, and that is good. Though it left me feel quite depressed, so I thought I'd watch Burn After Reading for comic relief. I had such high expectations, I mean, how could you go wrong with that cast? But I have to conclude that I just don't get the Coen brothers. Apart from O Brother Where Art Thou, I just...don't get it. Don't like it (No Country for Old Men being a particularly obvious example, but by no means the only one). Maybe I'm not sophisticated enough or something.
Oh, and I am officially Dr. De Felice now, having deposited a copy of my DPhil thesis in the Bod (but sadly, it's not on OLIS yet!).
Um, so, the eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that I'm neatly avoiding discussing how I felt about being back in Oxford and all that. I had fun - it was tiring as I tried to pack a lot in, and there were a lot of fun&games organised over the weekend - and, well, that's all I'm going to say. I'm here now, and that's that. And, as soon as I've figured out how to acquire a car, and taken a couple of (already booked!) lessons, I'll be driving myself wherever I please!
And surprises never cease! Did you know that the robin in the US is a rather different bird from the one in Europe? I had been observing some rather nice birds outside my house which looked like this -
and I couldn't figure out what they were. S & Y at work suggested they might be robins, given the red breast, which confused me somewhat since my stereotypical image of robins is more like this -
But having consulted the Wisdom Of Teh Internets, I find that they are indeed both robins, just, like, completely different and not even related. You learn something new every day.
ANYway, enough with the David Attenborough posturing. It's been ages since I blogged, but then I've seen most of you in that time, so I guess it's not so remiss of me. I'm so exhausted and I can't quite believe that just last week I was in Naples caught up in the celebrations for my aunt's 90th, it feels like a century ago already, and the Oxford visit even more so. It was a little odd going back to work after such a longish break, but luckily there was much to keep me busy and engaged straight away - elation at being accepted for another conference (Corpus Linguistics in July, in Liverpool!), work on an abstract for a proposed journal paper, and actually starting to program and process the parser output. Some of the initial issues I had already encountered in my DPhil work, and I'd written some code to deal with them: I was very pleased to find yesterday that said code was reusable to a certain extent, and was to the best of my ability the most rational way of addressing the problem. Given how inelegant and slow a programmer I am, this was incredibly exciting for me.
But my aunt's party was a great chance for a big family reunion, and getting a few generations of people together, especially those who'd more or less never seen each other before. A lot of hard work, but worth it as everyone seemed to have fun, and it was very touching to see people's eyes light up as they saw this cousin or that and had the opportunity to sit and chat in a relaxed, just-like-old-times manner. So I'm glad we did it!
On the flight back I watched two films I'd been wanting to see for a while, Rachel Getting Married and Burn After Reading. I really liked the first one, despite its rather relentless misery. For reasons unclear to me, I have a soft spot for Anne Hathaway, so I was pleased to see her do a good job in something not twee. It's grim, and doesn't try to whitewash over problems, and family disfunction, and that is good. Though it left me feel quite depressed, so I thought I'd watch Burn After Reading for comic relief. I had such high expectations, I mean, how could you go wrong with that cast? But I have to conclude that I just don't get the Coen brothers. Apart from O Brother Where Art Thou, I just...don't get it. Don't like it (No Country for Old Men being a particularly obvious example, but by no means the only one). Maybe I'm not sophisticated enough or something.
Oh, and I am officially Dr. De Felice now, having deposited a copy of my DPhil thesis in the Bod (but sadly, it's not on OLIS yet!).
Um, so, the eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that I'm neatly avoiding discussing how I felt about being back in Oxford and all that. I had fun - it was tiring as I tried to pack a lot in, and there were a lot of fun&games organised over the weekend - and, well, that's all I'm going to say. I'm here now, and that's that. And, as soon as I've figured out how to acquire a car, and taken a couple of (already booked!) lessons, I'll be driving myself wherever I please!
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Interlude
The leaves on the trees are starting to bud again (if that's the right word). It's very pretty, even when it's cloudy outside. And, just like the trees, I will soon sprout a new blog post - it's been a hectic few weeks, and I'm still catching up!
Sunday, 8 March 2009
So many achievements!
Versione italiana segue il testo inglese
Some of you may have seen it on my Facebook status: I now have a New Jersey driver's license! Beware! Hehe :-) I was actually slightly surprised I got the actual license already, as it wasn't clear what the rules about converting a foreign license are. So yesterday I went to the place in the middle of nowhere to take the required knowledge/theory test, which I managed not to fail despite my scant knowledge of all the weird laws and fines regulating driving offences in the state. Then they saw my Italian license, saw that it had been issued in 2004, concluded that I was therefore "an experienced driver", and waived the requirement for a road test - so I got my full license straight away!!! How exciting! Of course, I am not a reckless fool and I will take some driving lessons so that I can actually drive - but it's nice to have all the paperwork out of the way, and not having to worry about passing the road test too. And maybe soon I can get my own car and take more control of my life...
Generally it's been a good past few days, after the horrors of the illness the previous week. And there is much excitement and good things in the weeks to come, so I definitely feel that the long harsh winter is over, and I'm actually looking forward to the next few months, and hoping that - assuming I stay illness-free - you will only hear of happy and good things from me.
I've tried to keep my word and work on my baking. First I tried making chocolate cupcakes. The batter was utterly delicious, so I was very excited about them, but somehow the sweetness and deliciousness got lost in the baking and they were fairly uninteresting when they came out, though my friends kindly ate them anyway and said they weren't so bad. But I persisted, because that's the kind of tough girl I am! And I found a recipe for a simple cake suggested by my beloved Nigel Slater. And it worked, and is rather nice! You can find the recipe here, it's the third one down - as you can see it's just a basic cake with nuts and raisins, but I think next time I will put chocolate chips in instead to be more decadent. So there is definitely hope for me and baking, though as I've discussed with some of my friends lately, I think the problem is that temperamentally I am not well-suited to it since I don't like following recipes to the letter, and that doesn't always work so well with baking...
In other news, my involvement with the Girl Scouts is now official and underway! On Friday I met Karen, the leader I am going to be working with, and the troop of 6-year olds I will be in charge of (yeah, right) - I have to say they all look rather sweet and adorable and I am really excited about this! It was a county-wide event for various troops (Thinking Day, for those of you who know what I'm talking about), and it was something I loved participating in when I was a Scout, so it was really nice that this was my first event back in Scouting. I don't think it's going to be easy all the time, but I am really excited about this, and I think it will be good for me - plus I've missed doing volunteering-y things...stay tuned for more episodes of me vs. the 6-year-olds...
I'd also been whingeing a bit about work recently, and feeling I wasn't doing anything worthwhile, but that seems to be changing, too. Last week I was told I'd been accepted at one of the conferences I'd sent an abstract off to, which is great news, and towards the end of the week work did suddenly seem like it was coming together - I've actually started looking at how to turn sentences into bundles of features, what tools I will need, what sort of programming...nice, concrete things - surely it will require a bit of head-banging, but eventually once it all comes together it will be very satisfying. Like the prepositions, but maybe even better. :-)
And to top it all off, I gave myself a weekend in New York, having realised I hadn't left Princeton since early January! It was a lot of fun - on Saturday evening I had dinner at Ranj's friend (well, now my friend too!) Pablo who is an amazing cook and really good fun; highlights of our conversation included the problems of having English partners who don't understand the intricacies of Mediterranean family structures :-) I was also personally rather amused to find one of the wines I really enjoy (made by these people - Oddbins often stock it) in a rather dodgy liquor store on Columbus Avenue, into which I had wandered more out of desperation than any real hope of finding anything potable. Proof that NYC never fails to surprise. On Sunday I went to see my cousin & her fiance's new flat. It is beautiful, and in an unbelievable location in Long Island City, which is basically just across the water from downtown Manhattan, meaning you get amazing views of the skyline. You can actually sort of see the flat in this photo - it's the tall building just on the left edge of the picture, the flat is on one of the lower floors, but you still get a view...sooo beautiful. I love NYC more and more every time I go. I love big cities, I can't help it...I even slept with the window open last night and listened to the noise of the traffic. We also went to Ikea today - there is one in Brooklyn, which struck me as a bit odd, but I guess not any more odd than having one in the centre of Coventry, and mercifully it wasn't run over by hipsters, so it wasn't too bad.
So now I am ready to start the week - a little knackered, but also fairly happy about life, and glad the worst seems to be over - both in terms of physical and mental wellbeing. So many fun things are going to happen in the next few weeks and months, AND the weather is going to improve - I should really have no cause for complaint, so feel free to slap my wrists if I do!
In Italiano
Alcuni di voi forse l'avranno visto sulla mia pagina di Facebook: ho la patente del New Jersey! Chiudetevi in casa! Hehe :-) Veramente non credevo che mi avrebbero dato la patente vera e propria da subito, perche' il regolamento riguardante la conversione delle patenti straniere non era molto chiaro. Comunque ieri sono andata alla motorizzazione, che era in c*** al mondo, per fare il quiz di teoria come richiesto dalla legge, e fortunatamente sono riuscita a passarlo nonostante le mie scarse conoscenze di tutte le strani leggi e multe in vigore in questo stato. Poi hanno visto la mia patente italiana, hanno visto che e' stata rilasciata nel 2004, e hanno concluso che quindi sono una "guidatrice esperta", e che non c'e' bisogno di fare il test di pratica - e cosi' mi hanno dato la patente completa li' per li'!!! Che emozione! Ovviamente non sono completamente sprovveduta e voglio fare un po di lezioni in modo da riuscire a guidare - ma sono contenta di aver risolto tutta la burocrazia annessa, e di non dovermi preoccupare di passare il test di pratica. E forse a breve posso comprare una macchina e recuperare un po il controllo della mia vita...
In generale gli ultimi giorni sono stati buoni, dopo gli orrori della malattia della settimana precedente. E ci sono molte gioie e cose buone nelle settimane a venire, quindi sento che il lungo e duro inverno e' finito, e i prossimi mesi dovrebbero essere belli, e si spera che - a patto che rimanga priva di malattie - avrete solo belle notizie da me.
Ho cercato di essere di parola e impegnarmi con la cucina dei dolci. Prima ho tentato dei cupcake al cioccolato. L'impasto era delizioso, e aspettavo i risultati con ansia, ma non so come la dolcezza e deliziosita si sono persi nella cottura e quando sono usciti non erano molto interessanti, anche se le mie amiche gentilmente li hanno mangiati comunque e hanno detto che non erano male. Ma io non mi sono persa d'animo! E ho trovato una ricetta per una torta semplice, che ha funzionato a meraviglia! La ricetta e' qui, la terza - come potete vedere e' una torta base con noci e uvetta, ma la prossima volta credo che ci mettero' delle gocce di cioccolato per essere piu decadente. Quindi c'e' speranza per me e i dolci, anche se, come si e' concluso con alcuni amici recentemente, il problema e' che caratterialmente non sono molto portata per queste cose perche' non mi piace seguire le ricette alla lettera, e cio non funziona sempre con i dolci...
In altre notizie, il mio coinvolgimento con le Girl Scout e' adesso ufficialmente cominciato! Venerdi ho conosciuto Karen, la leader con cui lavorero, e il gruppo di bambine di 6 anni di cui mi dovro' occupare - devo dire che sono tutte tanto belline e carine e non vedo l'ora! C'era un evento per vari gruppi della zona (Thinking Day, per chi sa di cosa sto parlando), ed era una cosa che mi piaceva un sacco quando ero una scout, quindi sono stata contenta che e' questo e' stata la prima cosa che ho fatto al ritorno negli Scout. Certo non sara' sempre facile, ma per ora sono molto contenta, e credo che mi fara' bene - e sentivo la mancanza di un po di volontariato...prossimamente seguiranno altre puntate di me vs. le bambine di 6 anni...
Recentemente mi sono anche lamentata un po del lavoro, perche sentivo che non stavo facendo niente di valore, ma anche questo sembra che stia cambiando. La settimana scorsa ho saputo di essere stata accettata a una delle conferenze a cui avevo mandato un abstract, il che e' molto bello, e verso la fine della settimana all'improvviso le cose sul lavoro hanno cominciato ad avere piu senso - al momento sto vedendo come trasformare frasi in features, quali strumenti usare, come programmare il tutto...cose belle, concrete - certo richiedera' un po di sbattimento-di-testa-nel-muro, ma alla fine dara' molta soddsifazione. Come le preposizioni, ma forse ancora meglio. :-)
E per concludere, mi sono concessa un weekend a New York, essendomi resa conto che non avevo lasciato Princeton dall'inizio di gennaio. E' stato molto divertente - sabato sera sono andata a cena dal mio amico Pablo che e' un cuoco fantastico e molto simpatico; tra le altre cose si e' discusso del problema di avere un partner inglese che non capisce le complessita' delle strutture familiari mediterranee :-) Sono anche rimasta molto sopresa e divertita dal fatto che ho trovato uno dei vini che mi piacciono molto (fatto da queste persone) in un negozio di vini piuttosto dubbio su Columbus Avenue, nel quale ero entrata piu per disperazione che nella speranza di trovare qualcosa di potabile. A riprova che New York non smette mai di soprendere. Domenica sono andata a vedere il nuovo appartamento di cugina&fidanzato. E' bellissimo, in luogo stupendo a Long Island City, che e' praticamente di fronte a downtown Manhanttan, il che significa viste perfette della skyline. Si puo' quasi vedere l'appartamento in questa foto - e' l'edificio al margine sinistro della foto, l'appartamento e' a uno dei piani piu bassi, ma si vede comunque un po di panorama...trooooppo bello. Ogni volta che vado NYC mi piace sempre di piu. Mi piacciono le grandi citta, non ci posso fare niente...ho perfino dormito con la finestra aperta e ascoltato il rumore del traffico. Oggi siamo anche andati da Ikea, ce n'e' una a Brooklyn, molto comodo!
E cosi sono pronta per cominciare la settimana - un po stanca, ma anche piuttosto felice, felice soprattutto che il peggio sembra essere passato - per quel che riguarda il benessere sia fisico che mentale. Ci sono un sacco di cose divertenti in programma per le prossime settimane e i prossimi mesi, e in piu il clima migliorera - davvero non dovrei avere motivo di lamentarmi, quindi sentitevi liberi di darmi un buffo se lo faccio!
Some of you may have seen it on my Facebook status: I now have a New Jersey driver's license! Beware! Hehe :-) I was actually slightly surprised I got the actual license already, as it wasn't clear what the rules about converting a foreign license are. So yesterday I went to the place in the middle of nowhere to take the required knowledge/theory test, which I managed not to fail despite my scant knowledge of all the weird laws and fines regulating driving offences in the state. Then they saw my Italian license, saw that it had been issued in 2004, concluded that I was therefore "an experienced driver", and waived the requirement for a road test - so I got my full license straight away!!! How exciting! Of course, I am not a reckless fool and I will take some driving lessons so that I can actually drive - but it's nice to have all the paperwork out of the way, and not having to worry about passing the road test too. And maybe soon I can get my own car and take more control of my life...
Generally it's been a good past few days, after the horrors of the illness the previous week. And there is much excitement and good things in the weeks to come, so I definitely feel that the long harsh winter is over, and I'm actually looking forward to the next few months, and hoping that - assuming I stay illness-free - you will only hear of happy and good things from me.
I've tried to keep my word and work on my baking. First I tried making chocolate cupcakes. The batter was utterly delicious, so I was very excited about them, but somehow the sweetness and deliciousness got lost in the baking and they were fairly uninteresting when they came out, though my friends kindly ate them anyway and said they weren't so bad. But I persisted, because that's the kind of tough girl I am! And I found a recipe for a simple cake suggested by my beloved Nigel Slater. And it worked, and is rather nice! You can find the recipe here, it's the third one down - as you can see it's just a basic cake with nuts and raisins, but I think next time I will put chocolate chips in instead to be more decadent. So there is definitely hope for me and baking, though as I've discussed with some of my friends lately, I think the problem is that temperamentally I am not well-suited to it since I don't like following recipes to the letter, and that doesn't always work so well with baking...
In other news, my involvement with the Girl Scouts is now official and underway! On Friday I met Karen, the leader I am going to be working with, and the troop of 6-year olds I will be in charge of (yeah, right) - I have to say they all look rather sweet and adorable and I am really excited about this! It was a county-wide event for various troops (Thinking Day, for those of you who know what I'm talking about), and it was something I loved participating in when I was a Scout, so it was really nice that this was my first event back in Scouting. I don't think it's going to be easy all the time, but I am really excited about this, and I think it will be good for me - plus I've missed doing volunteering-y things...stay tuned for more episodes of me vs. the 6-year-olds...
I'd also been whingeing a bit about work recently, and feeling I wasn't doing anything worthwhile, but that seems to be changing, too. Last week I was told I'd been accepted at one of the conferences I'd sent an abstract off to, which is great news, and towards the end of the week work did suddenly seem like it was coming together - I've actually started looking at how to turn sentences into bundles of features, what tools I will need, what sort of programming...nice, concrete things - surely it will require a bit of head-banging, but eventually once it all comes together it will be very satisfying. Like the prepositions, but maybe even better. :-)
And to top it all off, I gave myself a weekend in New York, having realised I hadn't left Princeton since early January! It was a lot of fun - on Saturday evening I had dinner at Ranj's friend (well, now my friend too!) Pablo who is an amazing cook and really good fun; highlights of our conversation included the problems of having English partners who don't understand the intricacies of Mediterranean family structures :-) I was also personally rather amused to find one of the wines I really enjoy (made by these people - Oddbins often stock it) in a rather dodgy liquor store on Columbus Avenue, into which I had wandered more out of desperation than any real hope of finding anything potable. Proof that NYC never fails to surprise. On Sunday I went to see my cousin & her fiance's new flat. It is beautiful, and in an unbelievable location in Long Island City, which is basically just across the water from downtown Manhattan, meaning you get amazing views of the skyline. You can actually sort of see the flat in this photo - it's the tall building just on the left edge of the picture, the flat is on one of the lower floors, but you still get a view...sooo beautiful. I love NYC more and more every time I go. I love big cities, I can't help it...I even slept with the window open last night and listened to the noise of the traffic. We also went to Ikea today - there is one in Brooklyn, which struck me as a bit odd, but I guess not any more odd than having one in the centre of Coventry, and mercifully it wasn't run over by hipsters, so it wasn't too bad.
So now I am ready to start the week - a little knackered, but also fairly happy about life, and glad the worst seems to be over - both in terms of physical and mental wellbeing. So many fun things are going to happen in the next few weeks and months, AND the weather is going to improve - I should really have no cause for complaint, so feel free to slap my wrists if I do!
In Italiano
Alcuni di voi forse l'avranno visto sulla mia pagina di Facebook: ho la patente del New Jersey! Chiudetevi in casa! Hehe :-) Veramente non credevo che mi avrebbero dato la patente vera e propria da subito, perche' il regolamento riguardante la conversione delle patenti straniere non era molto chiaro. Comunque ieri sono andata alla motorizzazione, che era in c*** al mondo, per fare il quiz di teoria come richiesto dalla legge, e fortunatamente sono riuscita a passarlo nonostante le mie scarse conoscenze di tutte le strani leggi e multe in vigore in questo stato. Poi hanno visto la mia patente italiana, hanno visto che e' stata rilasciata nel 2004, e hanno concluso che quindi sono una "guidatrice esperta", e che non c'e' bisogno di fare il test di pratica - e cosi' mi hanno dato la patente completa li' per li'!!! Che emozione! Ovviamente non sono completamente sprovveduta e voglio fare un po di lezioni in modo da riuscire a guidare - ma sono contenta di aver risolto tutta la burocrazia annessa, e di non dovermi preoccupare di passare il test di pratica. E forse a breve posso comprare una macchina e recuperare un po il controllo della mia vita...
In generale gli ultimi giorni sono stati buoni, dopo gli orrori della malattia della settimana precedente. E ci sono molte gioie e cose buone nelle settimane a venire, quindi sento che il lungo e duro inverno e' finito, e i prossimi mesi dovrebbero essere belli, e si spera che - a patto che rimanga priva di malattie - avrete solo belle notizie da me.
Ho cercato di essere di parola e impegnarmi con la cucina dei dolci. Prima ho tentato dei cupcake al cioccolato. L'impasto era delizioso, e aspettavo i risultati con ansia, ma non so come la dolcezza e deliziosita si sono persi nella cottura e quando sono usciti non erano molto interessanti, anche se le mie amiche gentilmente li hanno mangiati comunque e hanno detto che non erano male. Ma io non mi sono persa d'animo! E ho trovato una ricetta per una torta semplice, che ha funzionato a meraviglia! La ricetta e' qui, la terza - come potete vedere e' una torta base con noci e uvetta, ma la prossima volta credo che ci mettero' delle gocce di cioccolato per essere piu decadente. Quindi c'e' speranza per me e i dolci, anche se, come si e' concluso con alcuni amici recentemente, il problema e' che caratterialmente non sono molto portata per queste cose perche' non mi piace seguire le ricette alla lettera, e cio non funziona sempre con i dolci...
In altre notizie, il mio coinvolgimento con le Girl Scout e' adesso ufficialmente cominciato! Venerdi ho conosciuto Karen, la leader con cui lavorero, e il gruppo di bambine di 6 anni di cui mi dovro' occupare - devo dire che sono tutte tanto belline e carine e non vedo l'ora! C'era un evento per vari gruppi della zona (Thinking Day, per chi sa di cosa sto parlando), ed era una cosa che mi piaceva un sacco quando ero una scout, quindi sono stata contenta che e' questo e' stata la prima cosa che ho fatto al ritorno negli Scout. Certo non sara' sempre facile, ma per ora sono molto contenta, e credo che mi fara' bene - e sentivo la mancanza di un po di volontariato...prossimamente seguiranno altre puntate di me vs. le bambine di 6 anni...
Recentemente mi sono anche lamentata un po del lavoro, perche sentivo che non stavo facendo niente di valore, ma anche questo sembra che stia cambiando. La settimana scorsa ho saputo di essere stata accettata a una delle conferenze a cui avevo mandato un abstract, il che e' molto bello, e verso la fine della settimana all'improvviso le cose sul lavoro hanno cominciato ad avere piu senso - al momento sto vedendo come trasformare frasi in features, quali strumenti usare, come programmare il tutto...cose belle, concrete - certo richiedera' un po di sbattimento-di-testa-nel-muro, ma alla fine dara' molta soddsifazione. Come le preposizioni, ma forse ancora meglio. :-)
E per concludere, mi sono concessa un weekend a New York, essendomi resa conto che non avevo lasciato Princeton dall'inizio di gennaio. E' stato molto divertente - sabato sera sono andata a cena dal mio amico Pablo che e' un cuoco fantastico e molto simpatico; tra le altre cose si e' discusso del problema di avere un partner inglese che non capisce le complessita' delle strutture familiari mediterranee :-) Sono anche rimasta molto sopresa e divertita dal fatto che ho trovato uno dei vini che mi piacciono molto (fatto da queste persone) in un negozio di vini piuttosto dubbio su Columbus Avenue, nel quale ero entrata piu per disperazione che nella speranza di trovare qualcosa di potabile. A riprova che New York non smette mai di soprendere. Domenica sono andata a vedere il nuovo appartamento di cugina&fidanzato. E' bellissimo, in luogo stupendo a Long Island City, che e' praticamente di fronte a downtown Manhanttan, il che significa viste perfette della skyline. Si puo' quasi vedere l'appartamento in questa foto - e' l'edificio al margine sinistro della foto, l'appartamento e' a uno dei piani piu bassi, ma si vede comunque un po di panorama...trooooppo bello. Ogni volta che vado NYC mi piace sempre di piu. Mi piacciono le grandi citta, non ci posso fare niente...ho perfino dormito con la finestra aperta e ascoltato il rumore del traffico. Oggi siamo anche andati da Ikea, ce n'e' una a Brooklyn, molto comodo!
E cosi sono pronta per cominciare la settimana - un po stanca, ma anche piuttosto felice, felice soprattutto che il peggio sembra essere passato - per quel che riguarda il benessere sia fisico che mentale. Ci sono un sacco di cose divertenti in programma per le prossime settimane e i prossimi mesi, e in piu il clima migliorera - davvero non dovrei avere motivo di lamentarmi, quindi sentitevi liberi di darmi un buffo se lo faccio!
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Silver linings
I mentioned earlier in the week that I was ill - well, I'm still ill, so I don't have much of interest to say, but I'm also bored, so I thought I'd write a short note. One good reason for not posting so far has been that I've been really very whingy and pathetic since Saturday (when I got ill in the first place) and I wouldn't have been any fun. Tonight I finally feel somewhat less pathetic, even if I am faced with the prospect of yet another day at home tomorrow - hopefully at least tomorrow I may be able to actually make it out of the bed and wander around the house. I tried today, but gave up after 3 hours.
Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that although it undoubtedly sucks to be ill when alone and across the ocean from one's nearest and dearest, there are still positive things to be found. People from work have been incredibly kind, both in continuously checking on me, and in actually helping me by taking me to the doctor or bringing me groceries. And people further away (not just my parents) have also been amazing in just listening to me, reading my emails, letting me Skype however many times I wanted, letting me cry and rail and vent - even when they had other things on their mind (rowing, anyone? ;-) ). Ok, so I didn't need to be this sick to know that I have some very special friends (and bf) waiting for me in England, but it's always comforting to be reminded how lucky I am after all. I swear, if I get through these two years, it will have been a group effort...
So I guess this is just a public way of saying thank you for your patience and for just being there, though my parents probably won't read it, but I guess you guys will, at least.
Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that although it undoubtedly sucks to be ill when alone and across the ocean from one's nearest and dearest, there are still positive things to be found. People from work have been incredibly kind, both in continuously checking on me, and in actually helping me by taking me to the doctor or bringing me groceries. And people further away (not just my parents) have also been amazing in just listening to me, reading my emails, letting me Skype however many times I wanted, letting me cry and rail and vent - even when they had other things on their mind (rowing, anyone? ;-) ). Ok, so I didn't need to be this sick to know that I have some very special friends (and bf) waiting for me in England, but it's always comforting to be reminded how lucky I am after all. I swear, if I get through these two years, it will have been a group effort...
So I guess this is just a public way of saying thank you for your patience and for just being there, though my parents probably won't read it, but I guess you guys will, at least.
Monday, 23 February 2009
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Special edition - a great talk
[Per i lettori italiani, se ce ne fossero - non avevo la forza di tradurre, ma se necessario lo faro'...]
I am slowly growing to appreciate more and more the fact that I live in the same town as one of the great US universities, and that it organises a vast amount of interesting talks and events, many of which are open to the general public. (in fact, the whole campus is pretty open and non-student friendly - I think the dorms may be swipe-card access, but a lot of the other buildings are not, and it's a nice change from Oxford)
Last night was a case in point, as I went to a wonderful talk given by the former director of the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. And when I say former director, I mean the person who was there in 2003 at the start of the war, and witnessed the looting we heard about, and spent the following months and years trying to secure what was left and recovering what had been taken.
Just to give you a couple of figures, he estimates that 15,000 pieces were stolen (many of them very small), and of these only 3700 have been recovered. That's just under 25%. That's a lot of artifacts currently possibly lost forever.
In keeping with the general impressionistic tone of this blog, I am not going to try and add to the debate of what should have been done, was done, wasn't done, etc. It seems fairly undisputable to me, however, that if you are faced with dozens if not hundreds of locals with weapons ready to break into your building, it would have been nice to have an armoured tank or two at hand to help protect said building. Before it is stormed and looted. But never mind. I just wanted to share some thoughts and feelings that arose from this talk; I've been thinking it over since last night, and maybe writing things down can help me make sense of my ideas.
It must be said that Dr. George is an excellent, excellent public speaker. Clearly someone who has his rhetorical skills down to a fine art. Although he was speaking 'freely', as in, not reading from a script, he is clearly used to giving this speech and the way he used his words, his repetitions, his full repertoire of techniques just drove the point home. You would think it would be grating to an extent, this blatant display of oratory - but instead I found myself in quiet awe of it, much like when one reads a well-written Ciceronian speech. So that certainly helped make the message more effective.
The talk was essentially a commentary on a slideshow of objects from the museum - photos of them in situ, of them after being recovered, of them smashed to pieces, of the ransacked museums galleries. It may seem inappropriate at a time when so much is wrong in the world, to feel emotionally affected by the fate of a museum six years ago. And yet when I saw the images of the damage done, of galleries with smashed artifacts, I felt physically sick. I guess it's because it was just, well, so gratuitous. I can sort of understand the looting - you are stealing something because you hope to make a profit from it - but the random destruction? Of things that are thousands and thousands of years old? By the people whose culture and history this is? This is possibly the thing that gets to me the most - that this was wrought not by 'invaders'; or outsiders or conquerors or suchlike - but by the local people themselves. This is what I find hard to get my head round - that you would be willing to destroy something that has been set up to preserve, document, celebrate your own culture, your own past.
I suppose it's naive and perhaps even Guardian-reader-y of me to hope that museums and other similar places of culture would somehow never fail to inspire reverence and respect, and remain untouched havens whatever the situation may be in the wider world. I realise that a war, a foreign invasion, is a desperate event and being nice to museums isn't really top of anyone's priorities at that point, survival being rather more pressing (and in an oblique way, Dr. George sort of acknowledged as much). But that doesn't make it any less painful to watch.
At more than one point during the war, it was decided to secure the museum. This involved sealing all entrances, adding some steel doors, and then encasing the whole thing in thick cement walls. And then when it was ok to do so, it was all taken down (it took 3 days) and people went back to work. And then they thought it was necessary again, so they went through the whole thing once more. It's a very sensible precaution of course, and one that seems to have worked, but it was really rather sad to see the bricked up museum waiting for happier times.
Among all the gloom, there was a positive note, at least for me. It turns out that one of the groups that helped the most in recovering the lost goods, and subsequently helping in their restoration, giving supplies, training others, and contributing to the rebuilding of the museum were the Carabinieri and other Italian experts. It is nice to know that there are good things we have to offer, and we have made a tangible and positive contribution to this.
This was rather long, and perhaps disjointed - thanks for getting this far, if you have. More information can also be found here.
I am slowly growing to appreciate more and more the fact that I live in the same town as one of the great US universities, and that it organises a vast amount of interesting talks and events, many of which are open to the general public. (in fact, the whole campus is pretty open and non-student friendly - I think the dorms may be swipe-card access, but a lot of the other buildings are not, and it's a nice change from Oxford)
Last night was a case in point, as I went to a wonderful talk given by the former director of the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. And when I say former director, I mean the person who was there in 2003 at the start of the war, and witnessed the looting we heard about, and spent the following months and years trying to secure what was left and recovering what had been taken.
Just to give you a couple of figures, he estimates that 15,000 pieces were stolen (many of them very small), and of these only 3700 have been recovered. That's just under 25%. That's a lot of artifacts currently possibly lost forever.
In keeping with the general impressionistic tone of this blog, I am not going to try and add to the debate of what should have been done, was done, wasn't done, etc. It seems fairly undisputable to me, however, that if you are faced with dozens if not hundreds of locals with weapons ready to break into your building, it would have been nice to have an armoured tank or two at hand to help protect said building. Before it is stormed and looted. But never mind. I just wanted to share some thoughts and feelings that arose from this talk; I've been thinking it over since last night, and maybe writing things down can help me make sense of my ideas.
It must be said that Dr. George is an excellent, excellent public speaker. Clearly someone who has his rhetorical skills down to a fine art. Although he was speaking 'freely', as in, not reading from a script, he is clearly used to giving this speech and the way he used his words, his repetitions, his full repertoire of techniques just drove the point home. You would think it would be grating to an extent, this blatant display of oratory - but instead I found myself in quiet awe of it, much like when one reads a well-written Ciceronian speech. So that certainly helped make the message more effective.
The talk was essentially a commentary on a slideshow of objects from the museum - photos of them in situ, of them after being recovered, of them smashed to pieces, of the ransacked museums galleries. It may seem inappropriate at a time when so much is wrong in the world, to feel emotionally affected by the fate of a museum six years ago. And yet when I saw the images of the damage done, of galleries with smashed artifacts, I felt physically sick. I guess it's because it was just, well, so gratuitous. I can sort of understand the looting - you are stealing something because you hope to make a profit from it - but the random destruction? Of things that are thousands and thousands of years old? By the people whose culture and history this is? This is possibly the thing that gets to me the most - that this was wrought not by 'invaders'; or outsiders or conquerors or suchlike - but by the local people themselves. This is what I find hard to get my head round - that you would be willing to destroy something that has been set up to preserve, document, celebrate your own culture, your own past.
I suppose it's naive and perhaps even Guardian-reader-y of me to hope that museums and other similar places of culture would somehow never fail to inspire reverence and respect, and remain untouched havens whatever the situation may be in the wider world. I realise that a war, a foreign invasion, is a desperate event and being nice to museums isn't really top of anyone's priorities at that point, survival being rather more pressing (and in an oblique way, Dr. George sort of acknowledged as much). But that doesn't make it any less painful to watch.
At more than one point during the war, it was decided to secure the museum. This involved sealing all entrances, adding some steel doors, and then encasing the whole thing in thick cement walls. And then when it was ok to do so, it was all taken down (it took 3 days) and people went back to work. And then they thought it was necessary again, so they went through the whole thing once more. It's a very sensible precaution of course, and one that seems to have worked, but it was really rather sad to see the bricked up museum waiting for happier times.
Among all the gloom, there was a positive note, at least for me. It turns out that one of the groups that helped the most in recovering the lost goods, and subsequently helping in their restoration, giving supplies, training others, and contributing to the rebuilding of the museum were the Carabinieri and other Italian experts. It is nice to know that there are good things we have to offer, and we have made a tangible and positive contribution to this.
This was rather long, and perhaps disjointed - thanks for getting this far, if you have. More information can also be found here.
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