Author: Derek

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Life is not a dress rehearsal (see Travel Blog entry 54), but it is more like a Role Playing Game (RPG) without the new game option. My quest in Sicilia will start in 4 days. 

Most role playing games start with a tutorial for the player to understand the basic rules and requirements. Camping is no different. There are normally other characters with more experience to provide guidances like Yoda. Atkinson and Beard are camping gurus. I had to go to Austria to learn the art of the camper. That was my second time ever camping. 

Wisdoms of Atkinson and Beard revised my equipment list for additional comfort. However they were glamping. They had a small flat (HK  standard) for a tent, cooker, kettle, chairs, table, cool box, mugs, knife and a car. They were glamping. (glamourous camping) It was clear that my level of comfort in Sicily will be slightly lower.     

In the next two days, I levelled up in camping 

Level 1. Get a tent – The tent I chose was single spline meaning quick to pitch and light to carry. 

Level 2. Able to set up tent – I was able to set up my tent in a more physical way. Previously, I imagined how the tent would look. 

Level 3. Sleep in tent – Camping was no longer an idea. I slept through a thunderstorm. Kudos for Atkinson to arrange such a storm to test the tent and my waterproofness. Sadly I was more waterproof than the tent.

Level 4. Able to pack tent back into the original packaging – This was the sign that I could camp again and again. I am ready.  

Level 5. Locked 

I cannot say I want to become a guru in camping but an example to the kind of level I need was Level 42.  To brush bird poo off food and continue eating – That is just savage. 

La vita non è una prova. (vedi Viaggi blog numero 54) ma è simile a un RPG gioco senza la scelta per un nuova vita. La mia ricerca di Sicilia comincierà in  quattro giorni. 

Friday, 2 August 2013

Month 3 was a bit like month 2 but with another month passed by. I finally went on the roof of the Duomo. 

Il terzo mese è stato simile il secondo mese ma con un altro mese è passato. Io sono andato avanti il tetto del Duomo. 

Wednesday, 10 July 2013

il mio secondo mese. Month 2 

I am running out of things to write about but I have to write italian for practice. I wake up, I sleep, I eat. “bla bla bla.” to quote several italians. Here is from my journal. 

When I travel italy, it is only logical to carry a slice of pizza at any given time. The pizza is important to me. It is food that gives me about 4 additional hours of travelling time. It serves as a symbol and one day I will go to Naples, the home of pizzas. The rectangular shape makes it stack neatly in my bag which is really important to me. So I can organise my belongings well, camera, journal, pizza, dictionary and apples. The pizza is not A4 sized but bigger than A5. I also carry a bottle of water, “fizzante” of course. Yes, I am in Italy. 

As I took the train to Verona, I had a conversations with a couple of gentlemen. (Not the Two Gentleman of Verona) They spoke little english but somehow, I had a conversation with them, I found out information about Lago Garda, Veneto, Verona, Mantua, Trento and Bolzano. I learnt a little bit from travelling. I begin to feel that I understand every 10th word. Unfortunately no Italian would be patient enough to repeat 9 times. I need to work harder. 

Chinese food from my experience in continental europe tends to be pretty good value for money. Also I missed tea. I missed tea big time.

Io sono a corto di cose scrivere ma devo scrivere italiano per la pratica. Mi sveglio, dormo, mangio. “Bla bla bla.”, Per citare alcuni italiani. Ecco dal mio diario.

Quando viaggio Italia, è logico portare una fetta della pizza in qualche tempo. La pizza è troppa importante per me. È il cibo quello mi dà circa 4 ore  di tempo viaggiare. È un simbolo e un giorno andrò a Napoli, la casa delle pizze. La forma rettangolare rende impilare ordinatamente nella mia borsa che è davvero importante per me. Posso organizzare le mie cose bene, la macchina fotografica, giornale, pizza, dizionario e mele. La pizza non è in formato A4 ma più grande di A5. Io porto anche una bottiglia dell’acqua, “fizzante”. Sì, io sono in Italia.

Ho preso il treno a Verona, ho avuto una conversazione con un paio di signori. (Non è i due signori di Verona) parlavano poco inglese ma in qualche modo, ho avuto una conversazione con loro, ho scoperto informazioni su Lago di Garda, Veneto, Verona, Mantova, Trento e Bolzano. Ho imparato un poco a viaggiare. Comincio a sentire che ho capito ogni 10 parole. Purtroppo nessun italiano sarebbe abbastanza pazienti da ripetere 9 volte. Ho bisogno di lavorare sodo.

Cibo cinese dalla mia esperienza in Europa continentale tende ad essere abbastanza buono rapporto qualità-prezzo. Inoltre ho perso il tè. Ho perso il tè grande tempo.

Monday, 10 June 2013

Where am I? What is my job? Where do I live? How do I live? Why am I here? All these are really interesting questions.

So where am I? For the next two years, I will be in Italy. My book described Italy as “the world’s most celebrated tourist destinations”. 

What is my job? My standard answer is classified. So classified that I don’t know it myself. The silver lining is that I cannot say I am good at it but equally they cannot say that I am bad at it. 

Where do I live? I live in a place north of Milan called Gallarate. It is about 30 mins by train from Milan. 

How do I live? I have observed the Italian lifestyle and hopefully without being too stereotypical, I can embrace the culture. In the morning, I eat a croissant and an expresso, both are freshly made. I always drink fizzy water because I am adaptable. I eat hard also to respect the local so I have the starter, first main, second main course and some fruits (diet) for lunch.  I struggle to speak the language. Italians speak fast, like really fast. My theory is  “Caffeine time”. They have drunk so much coffee that one second of my time is about sixty seconds for Italians. A nation that drinks 14 billion coffee each year. I have to drink more. I learn vocab and drink expresso 4 times a day.

Why am I here? I am here because of the challenges of a new job, a new culture, a new language and new surroundings. For now, I want to keep travelling.

il primo mese…. Allora, 

Dove sono? Qual’è il mio lavoro?? Dove abito? Come abito? Perché sono qui? tutte questomande sono interessanti.

Dove sono? Per i prossimi due anni sono in italia. Il mio libro ha descitto l’italia come la più celebre destinazione del mondo.

Qual’è il mio lavoro? La mia risposta è un segreto. Io non sapio un segreto perciò io non sono bravo ma con fortuna io non cattivo. 

Dove abito? Abito in una città a nord di Milano chiamata Gallarate. A trenta minuti da Milano.

Come abito? Ho osservo la cultura percezione ho ve la Italiano senza stereotipato. del mattino, mangio un cornetto e caffé expresso. io sempre bevo l’aqua fizzante perché sono awesome. mangio molto per rispetto del locale. Ho le antipasto, primo piatto, secondo piatto e fruitti per il pranzo. Faccio fatica parlare la lingua. Italiani parlano veloce come davvero veloce. Mia teoria è il tempo di caffé. Hanno bevuto molto caffé che un secondo di mio tempo è circa sessanta secondi per gli Italiani. Una nazione beve molto caffé ogni anno. Devo beve molto. Imparo vocab e bevo espresso quattro volte al giorno. 

Perché sono qui? Sono qui causa le sfide di un nuovo lavoro, una nuova cultura, una nuova lingua, nuovi dintorni. Per ora, voglio continuare a viaggiare. 

Monday, 1 April 2013

i stayed in a really “hip” hostel in the east side of Berlin. I have no idea what “hip” means in the context of a hostel, but I know that is the right word to describe it. The walk to Ostbahnhof (East Train Station) passed next to the East side of the Berlin Wall. One of the few remaining sections of the Berlin Wall that is still standing. 

I hopped onto a tube to Zoologischer Garten, which I think the Germans meant Zoological Garden, terrible spelling. From there, I worked my way through the city from west to east. After a lot of walking, I finally realised that maps make distances seemed shorter. I visited the Museum of photography, tiergarten, Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island, Potsdamer Platz, Jewish Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, and Kaiser Cathedral.  

I met a Swedish couple who were really friendly and recommended Stockholm for a visit because of the lakes. I responded with my routine conversational topic of vibration monitoring on helicopter transmissions. However, they had to leave just as I finished explaining the concept of synchronised Fourier transform to monitor the health of the teeth on the gears and was about to move onto the fascinating differences of isolating the background vibration signature for the conditions of the bearings. I think it reinforces my understanding if another person can also understand the concepts and theory that I explained. 

Sunday, 31 March 2013

Day 1 in Berlin, the weather was mightily cold. 3 Years on from the start of my adventures in Nepal, I am still wearing the same gloves, hoodie, hat, adventure shirt (cool but smart), scarf, jacket and compass. People around me had grown up and changed a lot, maybe I should too. Actually, I have changed. I can travel into colder and wetter climates. Wow, my evolution was to keep up the British weather. Distances and durations can also be further and longer, but not just yet. 

“Sh!t happened” would be how I summarise Berlin. There were the very tragic events and also in my opinion reasons for optimism. There were the Holocaust, the destruction of Berlin from Allied bombing and the Soviet siege. The scars from the Cold War were visible from the remains of the Berlin War. This was the frontline of the Cold War. It was difficult to imagine a time that one’s freedom would be determined by the postal address. I think the recovery since the fall of the wall had been impressive. Now Germany is a powerhouse in the European economy and I am a proud owner of a BMW. The reconciliation between the East and West appeared seamless. These were done not through luck, but by hard work and great people. 

Berlin had the most complicated metro system ever. Luckily, it seemed that AlexanderPlatz is the answer. It is a convenient centre where almost all tube lines pass through and made all parts of Berlin very accessible. I walked from Alexanderplatz to Tiergarten to see the major landmarks in a blizzard. Unfortunately, the whole city seemed to be under renovation with cranes everywhere. The city was not too photogenic and my fingers were frozen too. 

The purpose of this trip was not to see how many wurst I can eat in one day. The answer is 6 by the way. A quiz in December 2013 on this topic will be given. There was a possibility that I lost my appetite for travelling. The best and only way to find out is to travel. 

Sunday, 9 September 2012

4am London is still sleeping. A 4 mile walk to the start of my post.

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Beach Volleyball was located in the Horse Guard Parade. London was transformed for the Olympics. After watching the games live, I really should have applied for games making at the Beach Volleyball venue with hindsight. 

The game was played on a small court with two players on each team. So as someone without that many friends could tell you that the variations in play and tactics were actually quite limited compared to the hard court counterparts. Rallies of more than 4 or 5 hits were rare. I guess the players’ attire suggests that the focus was not necessary the sport itself. 

However, the USA girls managed to win 3 Olympics in a row spanning over 12 years. Their consistency and concentration must had been a cut above their peers. I did not managed to see them in action but I am sure they were great to watch. 

My Olympics updates became a day by day, hour by hour account which I actually found it to be a bit lacklustre. My experience could be summarised by “intense” (one of all-time favourite word of 2005*). It was tiring, exciting, boring at times, engaging, tedious and mesmerising all rolled into one which is like living. 

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Shift 3 Men’s and Women’s Road Cycling Time Trial – Box Hill 

My commitment to the London Olympic Games were drawing to a close. I really did not have much to do. Perhaps it was a missed opportunity that I could have done more. The point was whatever LOCOC (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) needed I would have provided it. I played my part but would I like to have done more shifts? Probably. Maybe I should have been more vocal, but nonetheless I placed myself on a standby list for another two events.

On this day, I was given a flag and a whistle. I was stationed on a corner having to wave the flag and blow the whistle to warn the GM downstream that traffic was approaching. The event was the Road Race Time Trial so there would be an average 90 seconds gap between each rider. I was stationed at about the halfway point of the lap. It kept me busy. 

The experience and souvenirs were what I was looking for three years ago. I finally got them in a diary, relay baton, 4 badge pins, 1 bag, 1 water bottle, 1 umbrella, 3 T-shirts, 1 jacket, 2 trousers, a pair of trainers, two pairs of trousers, belts, two caps, a pen and most importantly 2 pairs of socks. 

Bradley became (briefly) the most successful British Olympians. He rode past me. 

Monday, 30 July 2012

The atmosphere was initially really quiet after the first 3 unanswered points scored by Russia Ladies.  even though Team GB was dominated by the Russians. The GB players were bouncing off the Russians left, right and centre. These Russian Ladies were tough. Every save made by the GB Goalkeeper was met with massive cheers. The play stopped for a second each time for the Goalkeeper to take the applause in. She was a professional player. The huge roars were reserved for every rare Team GB goal. It was like the movie “Dodgeball”. It was a bit partitioned but I really don’t think the Russian cared as they were wiping the floor with the opponents.  The collective height of the Team GB could not compare with the Russians. The UK needs a national nuclear power plant league to generate the talent pool required to compete with the best from ex USSR states.  

Handball is a bit like football but played with the hands, hence “Handball”. The player in control of the ball has to bounce every 3 seconds or 3 steps. The outfield players are not allowed to step inside of the “D”. However, they can be airborne and throw the ball inside. Defending was more about putting the body on the right spot to slow the opponent down. Therefore the bigger players did have the advantage as others had more distance to travel around. 

The venue is the Copper Box located within the Olympic Park. I entered the ballot for these tickets because it was one of the few obscure sports which may not be as popular as 100m final with the added bonus of entry to the Olympic Park.