Mostly about me, too boring?

After my last encounter with Alitalia, I promised myself to avoid it as much as possible. But when I had to book a flight from Dubai to Milan, Alitalia had a direct flight and I couldn't resist it.

The Alitalia flight was due to take off at 8.50am this morning so I reached the airport around 7.30 to check-in but I saw something wasn't right when I noticed that the flight was not listed. After some time I found the Alitalia desk and I saw the flight was delayed by 10 hours, as you can see in the picture.

Ten, just in case you think of a typo.

After few minutes of astonishment I called our 24 hours travel helpdesk and they booked me on a Lufthansa flight to Munich (from where I am writing this) with a connection to Milan. Probably I will be in Milan 5 hours later then expected.

Once again, GRAZIE ALITALIA.

I sincerely hope the Italian unions that made this possible (by vetoing against any real privatization) will always use Alitalia flights to really understand the monster they have created and to suffer for it like the customers do on a daily base.

Marry Christmas to you all,

Alfonso

Hi all!

Today is holiday in the middle east, so I took some time to post my images and to share with you this icredible experience!!!

The first picture is quite self commenting... Nutella Arabic style! ;-)



The next picture is from a lift I took to go to Nokia's office in Abu Dhabi. It's the first time I press a "PH" button. PH stands for penthouse, "attico" in Italian. But of course other memories came to my mind if I think about penthouse... ;-)



The hotel I'm staying is quite big and there are several bars and restaurants inside it. In the basement there is one pub with motorbikes video games. Now this is also possible in Europe. But here in the Emirates REAL MOTORBIKES are connected to the videogame!!!! AMAZING! I will try to play with it tonight.



And finally, yesterday while I was walking back from the beach I passed by the "Emirates Palace Hotel", one SEVEN starts hotel in Abu Dhabi. Click on the picture to see other pictures of this incredible hotel. Parked at the hotel I found a number of government cars:
- 37 BMW 745 (around 100k€ each)
- 19 Audi A8 6.0 (around 125k€ each)
- 45 Mercedes S600, S500, S450, S350 (from 80k€ to 150k€)

All of the same color... 8-)
I couldn't take a picture because it was too dark for my mobile phone...

Hi world!

I landed in Dubai yesterday at 3am but since this is my only free day in Dubai (the weekend here is Friday and Saturday, so Sunday is a working day) I got up early to do some tour of the aerea.
In the picture I stand next to the Hammer that will bring us into the desert. :-)
There will be a camel ride, dinner and a belly dance show in the desert.

Enjoy!

Tuesday evening Giuseppe invited me to his house to celebrate pikkujoulu. Pikku means little and Joulu means Christmas. It's a very tipical Finnish party usually done between mid-November and mid-December. It's a typical party among friends and for work teams. It was a very pleasant party and as usual Giuseppe had many guests and I had the chance to meet new people. I even met a French girl that lives with her boyfriend 100 meters from my apartment. When we both asked to Giuseppe why he didn't mention this to us earlier, he said something like: "Yes, now that you make me notice, you are right. You leave really close to each other!" ;-)

As you can see, Santa-Giuseppe came to visit us and brought us a lot of nice gifts!

The next day it was a bank holiday in Finland (Indipendence Day), so I invited few friends for a Risiko (Risk, in English). Most of them were still drunk from heavy partying Tuesday night and at the end we were only four: Giuseppe, Nathalie, Massimo and me.


Yes. I had the red army. I LOVE winning at Risiko... ;-)


And last, but not least, finally my next trip has been announced:

Hi there!

I've almost forgot! There a HUGE news about my flat that I didn't deliver to you yet. Finally, after only 9 months (you might call it a pregnancy, if you wish) of my movement to Helsinki, I bought and connected lights on the ceiling in my flat. Great, isn't it? And you didn't hear it all still. The funny part is that these damn lights don't give any light at all since the blue colour stops most of the light.

You might want to know how did I survive 9 months without lights. Easy: there's is a trick. My kitchen has few neon attached. :-)

Last weekend I also borrowed some tools from a colleague that I need to finish building some small ikea thingy that I bought back in February. Seems like I'm trying to make some order in my life. Will I have any luck? :-)

If you wonder, the title is Latin and it means "light came".

Alfonso

Hi!

Last week, while I was walking home after work, I saw three girls offering hugs for free. I never came across something like this before, so I thought to take a picture.

At first I was a little worried that they could get mad at me for trying to take this picture, but I was so positively surprised to see that this girl actually moved under the light to help me take a better picture. And she looked quite happy and smiley.

You can really meet nice people in the dark Finnish autumn! :-)

alfonso

Hi there.

One friend from Italy (from Sicily) made me hear a song by Mario Venuti about a Sicilian boy that is working alone in Milan. As you might (or might not) know, during the second half of last century it was very common for young people from souther Italy to move to the "rich but cold north or Italy" to find a work. This experience is actually quite personal for me since my parents, both born in south Italy, move in the north looking for work and that's how they met.

Nowadays this still holds, but most probably numbers are smaller. Obviously, it's quite interesting to draw a parallel from my parents' experience (and many other souther Italians') and my own.

And here you go, the original lyrics, the lyrics translated in Italian (many of my Italian friends would not be able to understand all the words) and a translation in English.

Sicilian: Sulu

Cancia culuri a sira luntanu
Ogni profumu ca pottu cu mmia
Resta 'nto cori e ghintra a me manu
A terra chi fuma e mi lassa sunnari

Stari luntanu pi travagghiari
Picchi si restu nun pozzu campari
Fammi moriri ma no'ccà
Sulu, sulu

Sulu,sulu,sugnu sulu 'cca
Ca travagghiu pi campari

C'è sempri friddu e u suli è annigghiatu
chi amara vita ca fazzu!
N'attrovu nuddu ca iè com'a mmia
E gghiettu sangu pi quattru rinari
Quattru rinari si!
Mancu l'amuri mi pozzu pavari

Puttari a cruci no è travagghiari
E di stu 'nfennu vulissi ascappari
Fammi moriri ma no 'ccà
Sulu, sulu.

Famminni iri, ti ricu famminni iri
Comu lu ventu supra lu mari
Fammi ternari, signori, fammi ternari
Intra 'na rutta je lu me cori
Famminni iri, ti ricu famminni iri
Comu n'aceddu, famm'avvulare
'Na la me terra ca sapi di sale

Italian: Solo

Cambia colore la sera lontano
Ogni profumo che porto con me
rimane nel cuore e nelle mie mani
la terra che fuma e mi lascia sognare

Stare lontano per lavorare
Perchè se resto non posso campare
Fammi morire ma non qui
Solo, solo.

Solo, solo, sono solo qui
dove lavoro per campare

C’è sempre freddo e il sole è annebbiato
che amara vita che faccio!
Non trovo nessuno che è come me
E butto il sangue per quattro soldi
Quattro soldi si!
Nemmeno l’amore mi posso pagare

Portare la croce non è lavorare
E da questo inferno vorrei scappare
Fammi morire ma non qui
Solo, solo.

Fammi andar via, ti dico fammi andar via
Come il vento sopra il mare
Fammi tornare, Signore, fammi tornare
Dentro una grotta è il mio cuore
Fammi andar via, ti dico fammi andar via
Come un uccello, fammi volare
Nella mia terra che sa di sale.

English: Alone

The evening is changing colour far away
Every scent I bring with me
stays in my heart and my hands
the earth is smoking and it lets me dream

Being away to work
Because if I stay I won't survive
Make me die but not here
alone, alone.

Alone, alone, I'm alone here
where I work to survive

It's always cold and fog covers the sun
my life is really sad!
I can't find anybody like me
And I work really hard for few money
Yeah, few money!
I can't even buy love

To bring a cross is not work
And I'd like to run away from this hell
Make me die but not here
alone, alone.

Let me go, I say let me go
Like the wind over the sea
Let me go back, my Lord, let me go back
my heart is inside a cavern
Let me go, I say let me go
Like a bird, let me fly
to my land that tastes like salt.