La gelateria della musica

Last Sunday Giovanni, Sonia, Angelo, Fra and I went to Navigli to eat an ice cream. There is an amazing gelateria called La gelateria della musica, with musicians favorite flavors. This has become my absolute favorite ice cream place!!!!! I had nocciola (heavenly, creamy, nutty) and ricotta with citrus fruits (creamy and fresh). I tasted also Fra's pistacchio. I don't usually like pistachio nuts in ice cream but this one was soooo good !! Next time I will taste "toast with butter and marmalade" because it already sounds so weird and long and amazing :) 

Fairy Sunday

On Sunday we visited the Euroluce and Salone del Mobile. A big annual fair held in Milan with a wide range of furniture and lighting applications.

I liked naturally my company's stand (but as I am already familiar with the products, I didn't take any pictures).

Another I was impressed about was the Spanish company Vibia. They had a good looking stand, really nice and well made products. Then my longtime like Flos from Netherlands had fun new products on a goodlooking stand.

We also checked out a big bunch of furniture and in the end we visited some friends in the New Designers- department.

Hilde (Our Norwegian friend) had a table on the fair. The glass of the table makes different noises when you put something on it, as the glass pieces are of different sizes.

4P1B (Antonio, Marco and Simone) had won a second price with their couch table but I preferred the bookshelf, that was adjustable. 

In the afternoon I was so tired of all the walking that I just had to sit for a while on the ground! Note to myself: Do not go to a fair in ballerinas, use sneakers! 

Rotvälska

Hilde, Claudio, Simone och Fra.

På lördagen ringde Simone och Hilde och frågade im vi ville följa med äta middag. Det blev kinesiskt och Claudio var också med.

Hilde är norsk och Simone italiensk men eftersom Simone har bott med Hilde ett tag i Norge pratar han också norska med italiensk accent :) Så jag pratar med dem finlandsvenska, Hilde norska och Simone norska med en stark italiensk accent. Och när vi inte förstår varandra eller ett ord är oklart säger vi det på italienska. Det låter inte vettigt men roligt  är det :)

Claudio och Simone skojade med personalen hela kvällen och till slut måste jag ta foto på hela bunten!

Cogoleton Foccacia

Lauantaina heitin talviturkin! Vai onko se myös talviturkin heittoa jos se tapahtuu Italiassa? Jos merivesi on kuitenkin vain 8 asteista? No sanotaan, että heitin Itlialaisen talviturkkini ja toivon mukaan 70 cm jäätä sulaisi Suomessa vappuun mennessä :) Nevertheless, kävimme lauantaina Genovan länsipuolella Cogoleto-nimisessä kylässä rannalla. Ulkona oli sopivasti parisenkymmentä astetta lämmintä.


Uimme, otimme aurinkoa ja söimme i-ha-naa foccaciaa. Liguriassa on parasta foccaciaa, ohutta ja maukasta. 


Auringossa oli myös hyvää aikaa siivota käsilaukkuni ja löysin sieltä yllärinä hieman valokuvia.


We went on Saturday to the beach in Cogoleto. It is a cute little village situated west of Genova. We sun bathed, swimmed in the sea (okay, more like dipped, because if was freeeeezingly cold), ate delicious foccacia, read books and took silly pictures. I also cleaned my handbag and found some pictures in it...

Fridayfun

I drove to Italy on Friday. After running some errands (buying a new tire for my car and a cute dress for next Saturday's wedding) I met Fra. We were suppose to have a calm evening after a whole week of heavy work, but the evening turned out to be a party night instead :)

We went to a happening in Teatro Franco Pareti, that was organized by Eastpak. Fra's brother Army is the  marketing manager there. We thought it was a eat-olives-and-mingle kind of event but instead we had a 3 course dinner, a few bottles of wine waiting for us :) We dined with some very interesting people from Belgium and Netherlands and had a lot of fun :)

After the dinner there was a possibility to drink Jägermeister drinks and listen to a sold-out concert. The performers were called Battles and were apparently very famous among the street credible Italians.

Dagens

Idag har det varit relativt vackert väder och gårdagens lågtryckskänslor har försvunnit. Hade huvudvärk hela dagen så det var skönt med mjuka kläder och låga skor. Dock idag kände jag på mig att jag skulle skärpa mig och se lite mer kontorsklädd ut, så det blev högklackat och kavaj. Lite bling bling i skorna och jeansen :)

Skor: Boutique i Milano på Via Rembrant. Min favoritbutik för skor.

Jeans: H&M

Topp: H&M

Kavaj: Sand

Scarf: H&M

Snart till Zumba! Vi skall träna till vår föreställning! 

Haha. En av bilderna åvan är tagen med min Nikon, märks det på kavliteten :) ?

Lågtryck

Det här med lågtryck är en ny grej för mig. Att huvudet värker. Och lederna också. Att det gör ont i magen och att blodådrorna synns så bra. Eller nytt och nytt men inte känner jag av det i Finland inte! Däremot i Finland omringas jag inte av Alperna heller.

Alltså flera människor mår i bergszoner dåligt då det är lågtryck. Gamlingar masserar armarna och säger "det kommer att regna idag", de kan känna det.

Så idag, när jag har fått lida av lågtrycksbesvär i hela kroppen klädde jag på mig någonting skönt till jobbet.

Skor: Vans

Mjuka jeans: Sisley

Topp: Marknaden i Milano

Smycke: Våga

Mjuk kavaj: Sand

Klocka: Swatch

Jemppa.

Tässä on Jenni. 

Jenni on suomalainen. Lohjalta. Vaikka on hän Kiinassa ja Meksikossakin asunut.

Jenni asuu samassa pienessä kylässä, jossa minäkin.

Jennillä on ihana koira. Sellanen Verneri, joka on Jenniä isompi.

Aina välillä me lounastetaan yhdessä.

Se on hauskaa, koska saa töistä kunnollisen tauon, kun käy poissa välillä.

Joka viikko me kuitenkin opetellaan saksaa. Jenni, minä ja opettaja.

Ja joka viikko me pyöritellään pyllyjämme ja taputellaan käsiämme Zumbassa.

Ajattelin vaan esitellä Jennin,

kun te saatte aina välillä hänestä kuulla, mutta ette ole ennen saaneet häntä nähdä.

My weekend in details...

I had a great weekend! It was 32 degrees Celsius in Milan (89,6 Fahrenheit) and I really enjoyed it. On Friday after work I went shopping with Fra's brother Army. Army gets a special discount that I used and got myself 2 new pairs of Vanse shoes. I really needed some city sneakers for driving the car, walking to work (I change to ballerinas or high heels in the office) or to have on while taking a walk in the weekends etc.

In the evening I met up with Fra and we went to a birthday party at the Executive Lounge. It was the first time for us there and it was a very nice place! Chic, cool, cute but not too snobish. The conversation was mostly about design and the upcoming design fair as most of the guests had studied together design.

On Saturday we went to check out the aula of La Rinascente, where is now a lighting solution that Fra has made. I am so proud of him! It was amazing and I walked around with my mouth open and stared at the ceiling. Unfortunately photographing is not allowed :'(. We went then shopping, to the hairdressers and out for lunch and in the afternoon it was impossible to be out in the hotness, so we went home, escaped to the cellar to eat strawberries and drink cold drinks and to watch the superfunny swedish movie Kopps.

In the evening (with only 27 degrees!) we gathered with Giulia, Marco, Margherita and Fabio to Giulia's and Marco's place to discuss upcoming holidays and to eat good pizza.

On Sunday we went to church. Fra's uncle is a priest so we went to his service. He did not notice us though. In the sacristy one of the other priests had asked uncle Mario "was it your nephew in the church? sitting in the right corner?". to which Mario answered: "I don't think so! I didn't notice.". The other priest was not satisfied with the answer "But it has to have been! He was with someone who took a few pictures of you!", Mario: "Pictures? No, I couldn't notice...", to which the other priest "The photographer was this supersuperblonde girl" to which Mario "Ah, yes, yes ! That has to have been my nephew!" :) Funny. We had a very nice lunch after that with Nonna, Nonno, Mario and Fra. And yes, my jeans didn't pop as I tried to not overload with the lasagna :)

The lunch was followed by an affogato at Giovanni's and Sonia's. And some more holiday planning.

In the afternoon we went to Cargo & HighTech, a nice design shop, well hidden in an inner yard in Brera, the old town of Milan. And we found there some more memento-glasses to our collection :) The shop was so filled with things that I got this incredible need to move! Just to be able to change everything. What a typical woman I am.

Then Sunday evening arrived and I had to start to drive back to Austria. 30 minutes after my departure one tire of my car exploded. Once again, for the millionth time, I am in Italy on the side of the road with car trouble. This time I had beside this problem a new problem...see, in Italy you have to wear this yellow west if you hang out on the highway. And you naturally have to put the triangle 100 meters from the car. And SmartSaara cleaned away all things from the car when she borrowed hers to her friends and forgot to put them back in the car.... So I couldn't be my fathers' daughter and change the tire myself. I needed to call Fra to come to help me. So my prince arrived on the white horse to rescue me. Or rather by his car with 2 yellow wests, one triangle and an air pressure meter. So we changed my tire (My input was obviously huge) and I continued my way home...

Cultural

Cultural differences between Fra and me has never been a problem, on the contrary, it's something we both find fantastic. We both are strong believers of the saying " when in Rome do as the Romans do" so in Finland we do as Finnish people do and in Italy as Italians do. And I would say we have both adapted the best parts from each culture to our own every-day lives. Except that I can still shock a whole cafeteria in Italy by ordering more than one coffee :) But that's not rude, its just funny.

Here are some funny bits and pieces...

"Oh, my stomach... I have eaten too much. And it was so delicious...!"

"But Saara, that was just the pasta. Now comes the second course!"

Now I have learned. But quite often at Fra's nonni we eat as a meal an appetizer (pizza slices, olives, pies, different salads, sun dried tomatoes, prosciutto, you name it) then follows the first course (a pasta or lasagne or risotto) and then the second course (a beef or other meet, cheese). Then fruits. Then coffee and sweets and a digestive alcohol. Now I have learned to take as little as possible if I don't want my jeans to pop. That has also happened, by the way :)

In Finland:

"Honey, can I kiss her on the cheeks when we meet?"

"Absolutely not! You hug her!"

"Him too? Do I then hug him too?"

"No, absolutely not! You shake hands. Or just say hi without touching. Or clap him manly on the shoulder"

In Italy:

"Amore, as I have never met this Antonio before, do I anyway kiss him on the cheeks when we meet or what shall I do?"

"You definitely kiss him when we leave, otherwise you are rude"

"But when we get there? How do I greet then?"

"Check the situation. He is anyway from the South so I would kiss him on the cheeks also when you meet for the first time!"

In Finland we greet our friend by saying hi. If we meet for the first time we shake hands. If we are good friends and haven't seen for a long time we hug. We don't kiss. A kiss means something more than friendship. In Italy you always kiss. When you meet and when you leave. And sometimes in between (as a thanks for something, for example).

- Älskling, I was so Finnish yesterday...

- What do you mean?

- I all the time waited for everyone else to finish what they had to say to tell my things but my turn never came...

In the North, we don't speak on top of one and other. One speaks, everyone else shuts up and listens and then the next one speaks. It is considered rude to speak on top of each other. In Italy everyone speaks at the same time and it is almost rude to stay quiet and just listen. Or then the Italians ask you "are you tired?". Which happens to me weekly.

- I'm already hungry, should we start to look for a restaurant where to eat?

- What's the time?

Fra eats lunch at 1 p.m. and dinner at 8 p.m. Everyday. Always. I eat when I am hungry.

- Look at that brunette, she has great shoes...where could I found similar ones...hmm...?

- What brunette? Where?

- There! At the bus stop!

- I can't see!

- By the bus stop, the girl in jeans, a red scarf and those amazing pumps...

- You mean that blonde one?

In Italy people with light coloured hair are all blondes. Brunettes are people with dark brown hair. In Finland people are blonde, when their hair colour is something like mine. In Finland a person with light brown hair is a brunette but in Italy a blonde. Also when my Finnish friend Iina, with long light brown hair, lived in Ancona, I remember her once telling me "Can you imagine that they call me blonde here?"

- I would really want to go to Nice this weekend!

- mm-hm

- Shall we just be crazy and go? Just book a last-minute-hotel and drive there now?

- mm-hm

- Okay, I book now!

You know when people make a sound for "yes" and for "no", a kind of mmm-sound? My "yes" is Fra's "no", and my "no" is his "yes". This makes our conversations incredibly great. Clearly :)