.transient in a constant flux: June 2006 Archives

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June 26, 2006

notte bianca 2006

Oh, I've been terrible this week. Going out every night after school this week, because it has been too hot to be at home... The temperatures have been soaring, I find myself getting to school later and later, wearing shorts, skirts and flip-flops to school, apperitivo in the evenings with friends, and gelato breaks takes precedence over coffee breaks.

On Friday we ended up in the English pub on Via Torino watching South Korea get beaten by Switzerland. Joe was so gutted, I think he must have been thinking about the South Korea loss all through his flight to L.A on Saturday. He'll be gone for a couple of months and I'll miss his chatter quite a bit.

After the game we went to Duomo to watch the free Sting concert. It was absolutely packed and incredibly hot but it was good to be there with friends. Sting is fab live; the songs sound exactly how they're meant to be sung.... Rox-anne....

This Saturday was Notte Bianca in Milan, which is when various free events take place all over the city and Milan becomes party central.

So, Saturday we went to see the jazz in Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele but the acoustics makes them sound like they're playing in a bathroom, plus the noise from the stage in Duomo was overwhelming, which was a shame. Should have organised that better.

So we ended up in La Feltrinelli where I bought a few books for the summer: "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner, "The Disappointment Artist" Essays by Jonathan Lethem, and Haruki Murakami's "Birthday Stories". I'm annoyed because I left a couple of Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami books in Amsterdam and Jakarta. I also was reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera" on my flight back to Europe, but I seem to have misplaced the book and I can't find it anywhere... grrr...

In the evening we went to another jazz show at Teatro No'hma near our house. It was okay, not fab; I think Robert is a bit spoiled that way, he's seen so many fantastic artists live, so he gets fed up and leaves when the band is not playing so well.

Sunday I had a bit of work to do with Kinjal and Huie. Afterwards, Huie and I played a couple of games on Playstation2, and drinking the iced coffee that I made. Dinner was at the Indian place in P.ta Venezia, with Robert, Joris and Huie. Then it was beers at the English pub to watch the Dutch-Portuguese game.

I told Robert and Joris that I would support the Netherlands by not cheering for the Portuguese. Fair enough, no? I felt bad when the final blew though, because Joris looked devastated. Ah well, he'll probably cheer up when he sees England kick some Portuguese butt next week.

Posted by Yasmina at 12:11 AM | Comments (3)

June 12, 2006

weekend away

Last Saturday, Lili, Ana, Robert and I ran away to the Ligurian coastal town of Levanto... We spent an afternoon basking in the sun on the beach before Ana headed back to Milano. It had been a while since I'd swum in the sea and I'd forgotten about the salt drying in your hair, and the salty taste of your skin after swimming. The water was cold, fresh. It was great.

In the evening, we walked up the hill to the castelo and watched the sunset. We had a birthday dinner for Robert at Scaramouche Cave, owned by the theatrical Massimo. The food was excellent and Lili and I shared a chocolate fondue for dessert.

Sunday started out hazy but as we approached the fishing village of Corniglia, the sun stopped being shy. We sampled wine at an enoteca and I discovered the wonderful *serak-serak basah* voice of Folco Orselli, who sounds like a jazzy, slightly less-angsty, Italian version of Tom Waits, and whose CD became the official soundtrack to our trip ;-)

Being on the beach, driving through Cinque Terre and the little villages, was truly a lovely way to spend the weekend. I wish we were there for longer. Robert and I promised each other we would do one roadtrip a month, at least, while we are living in Italy. He wants to move out of Milano and live in the mountains.

Posted by Yasmina at 07:06 PM | Comments (4)

June 05, 2006

Heliuphant: Urban Street Game

Last week, we were running around town, participating in Alejandro's experience prototype, as he calls it. I was in a team with Aram, who, by the way, has posted all these dodgy photos of me during the game on his Flickr.

* All images originally uploaded by blese.

The ransom note.