Mathie, Patty & Matt in Rome

Mathie & Patty in Rome

Two bachelorettes in Rome...

While Matteo was playing at Indiana Jones in Indochina, Mathilde was enjoying her last few weeks of ‘freedom’ in company of Patricia (who you may remember from our India posts), who came from Seville to visit Mathilde.

Above the two ‘bachelorettes’ who get ready to go dancing. Guapas!

Les M&M's in Angkor

Mathilde 2008

Matteo 2011

Give me one dollar

I have to say that Cambodia is the first country where I did not have problems with taxi drivers. They are all gentle, polite, and smiling. There is almost no bargain with them: they ask you a price, you say ‘no’ and propose yours, and they accept. Finish. Ah, Cambodia: what a country!

But I have to say that, as in most poor countries unfortunately, you are often the target of kids that beg for money: “Give me one dollar. I’ll give you a postcard”. “Give me one dollar: I’ll give you this bracelet”. “Give me one dollar. I’ll give you this scarf”.

I usually tend to snick out without giving them too much leeway, but I could not avoid to engage in a highly intellectual discussion with this child:

“Give me one dollar, give me one dollar”. “Give me one dollar, give me one dollar”.

“Why should I give you one dollar, you don’t sell anything”.

“Where do you come from?”.

“Italy”.

“If I tell you the capital of Italy, will you give me one dollar?”.

“Why should I give you one dollar, I know the capital of Italy”.

“Give me one dollar, give me one dollar”.

“Ok, let’s do this: if you tell me the capital of the country that I choose, I’ll give you a dollar ”.

[…]

“What’s the capital of Madagascar?”.

“Antananarivo”.

‘What’s the capital of Burkina Faso”.

“Ouagadougou”.

“What’s the capital of Iceland”.

“Reykjavik”.

I had to give her one dollar…

Matteo e il Tempio Maledetto (Matteo and the Temple of Doom)

Imagine you are a university professor, an archaeologist. And imagine you are on a work trip, in Indochina, let’s say to attend a conference.

Imagine now that while you are on a tuk-tuk stuck in the traffic, the tuk-tuk driver - a young guy with a New York Yankee hat who speaks with an impossible Southeast-Asian accent - gets all excited once he discovers you are an archaeologist, and insists to bring you to a place where his grandfather used to bring him when he was a kid. You are hesitant, but he insists so much that you finally give up and accept to go.

And after about one hour drive on a tiny and bumpy road that penetrates the jungle, accompanied by the unceasing creaking of the crickets, the deafening croak of the frogs, and by dozens of monkeys that jump from a tree to another above you - suddenly the jungle opens up a bit, everything becomes silent, the monkeys disappear, and you find yourself in front of the ruins of a gigantic temple of an unknown sect of an unknown civilization.

You jump out of the tuk-tuk excited by the discovery and run through the massive stones in search of a piece of evidence that could help you to understand which civilization could have lived there. But when you turn to call the tuk-tuk driver and ask for his help, the only thing you see is the abandoned tuk-tuk and the New York Yankee hat on the ground a few meters from the tuk-tuk.

An icy shudder runs through your back, and you suddenly feel the unpleasant feeling of being observed…

Welcome to Angkor…

Development professionals at work

'Brainstorming'...

(Ps: this time I won't complain about the food)

In volo...

... towards East...

14 May

14 May 1997, Berlin: a dozen of museums decided for the first time to remain open all night and provide free access to everyone. Since then, little by little, the initiative spread throughout all Europe, and today more than 120 cities in all Europe participate to this cultural initiative. 14 May is today the European ‘Museums Night’.

14 May 2011, Rome: we took advantage of the event and decided to visit the World Press Photo Contest exhibition, temporarily displayed at the Trastevere Museum. The Contest brings together pictures from all parts of the globe, providing an overview of how press photographers tackle their work worldwide and reflecting recent trends and developments in photo-journalism. Even if you are not familiar with the World Press Photo Contest, I am sure you have seen somewhere the World Press Photo of the Year: the portrait of Bibi Aisha, the young Afghan woman to whom Talibans cut her nose off.

We enjoyed the exhibition, and recommend it - have a look at whether it will pass by your city in the next months*.

We have selected our favourite pictures. But before disclosing them, we invite you to have a look at these sites** and to tell us which are the pictures that you liked more…

(*) Have a look at where the exhibition will be displayed in the next months here.

(**) http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=blogsection&id=21&Itemid=292&bandwidth=high; and http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/02/world-press-photo-contest-2011/100008/

Tango! (The Gotan Project in Rome)

Just a few weeks after Vinicio Capossela in Parma, another great concert yesterday eve: the Gotan Project in Rome!

For those who do not know them, the Gotan Project is a French-Argentinean group who plays ‘electro-tango’ or ‘techno-tango’, a relatively new music genre that mixes the rhythms of tango with electronic music.

I listened to them for the first time in Ethiopia, without anyone knowing their names, and finally re-discovered them a year later, when I listened to one of their song in a pub in Milan. And since then, I discovered I have an ‘electro-tango’ soul…

(Ps: I took a couple of clips of the concert, but unfortunately didn’t manage to download them on Youtube. If you wish to familiarize yourself with this group, have a look at these two videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvagiSClgY, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbh-jn8V54c)

Les M&M's hostal officially opened

We have always enjoyed having guests at home, the intimacy and the complicity that is created by sharing for a couple of days the same space and the same time. Conversations flow without breaks; routine activities - such as doing the grocery or cooking - suddenly become pleasant and entertaining.

When we moved to Rome, we invited our friends to take advantage of our hospitality and to come and visit us. But although - it’s true - we have received a few visits in the past months, our guests have come so far when either Mathilde or I were travelling.

This week-end we finally managed to be in Rome at the same time to receive our visitors, thus officially opening 'les M&M's hostal'. And the first, lucky, guests were Sara & Tommaso, who you have met already a few times in our Blog.

Sara & Tommaso spent the week-end experimenting with our hosting capacity. And while waiting for their feedback on whether our hostal met the minimum hospitality requirements, our booking list is quickly filling up: Patricia, Ingrid, Mathilde and Raphael, Mathilde’s mum, perhaps Silvia & family will be visiting us in the coming weeks.

So, if you have not yet booked your slot, hurry up - before Baby takes possession of the guest room…

Domenica - A spasso per i Fori...

Matteo, week 26th

Mathilde, week 26th

Will you send your baby here???

Baby is not yet born and, just to make clear to everyone who will be in command from now onwards, he/she is already turning our well-established habits upside-down.

For those who know me well, you know how difficult is to plan in advance for me. I hardly know what I am going to do tonight - let alone planning the week-end or our summer vacation. Booking a plane ticket earlier than one week before the departure was for me unconceivable.

However, baby is not yet born, and, despite all my resistances and mental blocks, I had to finally accept we had to start looking for a nursery. And not for August 2011: for January 2012!!! And we were even told that we were late!!!

Anyway, accepted the unavoidable, we rolled-up our sleeves and we began the search. We surfed internet from A to Z, and we found ‘Baby Garden Aventino’: good reviews, five minutes walking distance from home. Apparently perfect.

But… will you send your baby to a nursery whose logo is this one???

Our terrace (2)

Sunset

Our terrace...

Our view (Gianicolo on the left, Aventino on the right)

Brunch

Piergiorgio’s Koan (3)

About a month ago we posted the following Koan, whose meaning though was obscure to us, and asked for your help to interpret it.

In the absence of valid interpretations, we asked the author himself to unravel the mystery. And although, as he rightly pointed out, koans should not be explained, he made an exception for us, and here it is ‘exegesis’:

Life ain’t but ropes and balls: the tools of the trade and the potential falls are pretty much the same for everyone. Yet you can be borne - or perhaps choose to be - an equilibrist, a poor guy or a wise fella.

The first one resolves his inner self into action: he masters the art and just does his stuff, without much in the way of reflection. The poor fellow does reflect, but his reflection is tainted by fear and indecision and, inevitably, so are his actions: he is likely to drop the balls. The wise chap can walk and juggle all right, but his eyes are set, beyond balls and ropes, on the moon - all that is beautiful, light, and transcendent of our daily toil. He thus sails on happily. He might even have the impression that “things happen almost by chance”... and end up wondering what all the fuss is about.

Thanks to our personal Zen Master…

Vinicio Capossela al Regio di Parma

Never managed to see De André live (unfortunately). Never managed to see Paolo Conte live (yet). But finally managed to see Vincio Capossela live, yesterday, in the beautiful setting of the Regio Theatre in Parma.

Companion of this evening: Xavier, a Belgian friend of us who moved to Parma, with his wife Agnes, about one year ago - and that you already met a few posts ago.

And the concert has been a full show: music, of course, rich and original. Instruments, many and often original. But also scenographies, costumes, settings, monologues, quips…

The first part of the concert, more measured and lyrical, focused on Capossela’s new album, ‘Marinai, Profeti e Balene’, and recreated the atmospheres of the sea and of the characters that plough it: seamen and whale-boats, jagged coastlines and Mediterranean islands, tempests and ‘bonaccie’, sirens, white whales, and abyss’ creatures - all in a journey towards the unknown*…

The second part, more ‘tarantellata’, brought in his greatest hits, from ‘Con un Rosa’ to ‘Che cossè l’Amor’ to ‘Il Ballo di San Vito’ - heating up the public of Parma…

And now waiting for Paolo Conte to pass by Rome (sooner or later…)

(*) Click here to listen to 'Polpo d’Amor'.

The Marchisio Brothers go to work

Silvia’s blitz in Rome. And after a (almost) white night, the Marchisio Brothers go to work. Fresh as daisies. 'Sbarbagallo' haircut.

Round is beautiful

Mathilde, week 25th

I have to say that fatherhood has been a rather abstract concept for me so far.

Don’t get me wrong: I am happy to become a father. But the idea that a baby was actually growing in Mathilde’s belly was something that I had to somehow rationally accept - but haven't managed yet to fully interiorize it or to be fully emotionally involved in it. In short, it was something that I know it was happening, but it was as if it was happening to someone else, as if I was reading it in a book or observing it in a documentary.

But when I saw Mathilde after almost six weeks we have been apart, oh gosh, I suddenly realized this is going to happen. And this is going to happen to me!

And running the risk of sounding trivial, I have to say that I rarely saw Mathilde so beautiful. It is true: round is beautiful!

Les M&M's are off for Easter

Les M&M's are off for Easter. Destination: Argentario. And beyond. Stories and pictures at our return. Ciao ciao...

Tra le linee nemiche…

19 Aprile 2011. Stadio Olimpico. Roma-Inter. Curva Sud: il settore degli Ultras della Roma…

…trovate l'intruso!* **

(*) Sullo sfondo: un tipico Ultrá romanista...

(**) Within the enemy lines. April 19th, 2011. Olympic Stadium. AS Rome-Inter Milan. ‘Curva Sud’: the stands where the Rome hooligans sit… find the intruder! (On the background: a typical Rome hooligan...)

Back home!

The incomparable feeling of being back home after several weeks away…

Lahore (2)

The Badshahi Mosque

Lahore

After ten intensive days of work, I allowed myself an afternoon off, and visited Lahore, Punjab, unanimously considered the cultural and artistic capital of Pakistan.

And have to confirm that Lahore did not disappoint me: an interesting mix of Mughal monuments and Victorian buildings (legacy of the British) coloured by an unmistakable ‘sub-continental’ touch.

Lahore would have certainly deserved more time, but for the time being we got satisfied with the Shahi Qila (the Fort) and the Badshahi Mosque - until recently, and for over three centuries, the largest mosque in the world.

Looking forward to the next mission here, to have another afternoon off to discover the rest of the city...

Ou est Mathilde?

While Matteo is solving the problem of rural poverty in Pakistan, Mathilde has just come back from the White Oak Conservation Center, Florida, where she was selected to participate to the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders Programme, a training program for young leaders in the field of wildlife conservation.

And, in this globalized world… who said you need to go to Africa to see giraffes and cheetahs?!?

Piergiorgio's Koan (2)

Piergiorgio’s Koan

To Piergiorgio who congratulated me on successfully managing to plan my life (marriage, Rome, baby…), I responded that I often feel as things happen almost by chance to me - and that, on the contrary, I often feel like a tightrope walker at ten metres above the ground without safety-net juggling with three balls, with someone that from time to time throws an additional one at him, while he desperately tries not to have them falling - and not to fall himself…

Stimulated by my response, Piergiorgio coined the following koan:

L’equilibrista gioca con tre palline su una fune. Il povero teme la fune e dimentica le palline. Il saggio contempla la luna aldilà delle palline. Fune e palline non fanno l’equilibrista, né il povero, né il saggio.*

Whose meaning though still remains obscure to us…

Do help us to solve the koan: tell us how you would interpret it!

(*) The equilibrist juggles with three balls on a tightrope. The poor man fears the tightrope and forgets the balls. The wise man contemplates the moon beyond the balls. Tightrope and balls do not make the equilibrist, or the poor man, or the wise man.

In partenza (again)

This time to Pakistan only.

See you at my return, in a couple of weeks…

Baby and his/her friends

This week we got to know that three couples of good friends of us who live here in Rome will have a baby between June and September.

Baby is not yet born and he/she has already plenty of new friends!

10 UN staff murdered in Afghanistan* **

They are not the first, and they won’t be the last. And the number of people daily killed in the numerous conflicts around the world has probably made us a bit deaf or indifferent to this kind of news. Myself included.

But my blood literally froze when I read that ten, or probably more, UN staff members were killed today after protesters assaulted a UN compound in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, in the North of Afghanistan. Two of the victims were cut their head off.

Several thoughts run through my mind: that these people most likely went there willing to help. That these people left their wives, sisters, parents home reassuring them that if there was any significant risk the UN would have not placed them there. That these people were probably thinking that being UN staff would have not made them targets.

That probably there is not much difference between them today and me one week ago…

(*) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12940014

(**) http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/mondo/2011/04/01/visualizza_new.html_1528410489.html