It's Al who started! : )) And I'm happy about it : )

While I'm having a wonderful week with my Polish friend Ania (some pictures to come soon), I read your comments to my last post and wanted to respond especially to Al! : ) Of course you WILL receive a postcard from Poland from me! : ) And those of you who would like to receive one (I'm going to PL on Saturday), please write me your address to: joannarubacha@gmail.com

I promise I'll choose the nicest postcard in the whole stand : )

Take care!

Jo.

PS. Do you by any chance happen to know what is going on with another favourite blogger of mine, Sarah from Yosh! ? It's been now 2 weeks since she put a post on her blog and I'm getting worried...

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Microsoft sucks!

Have you heard the newest Microsoft faux pas? The worst is that it puts Poland in negative light! This is the image you can see on the US Microsoft website:

And this one you could see until few weeks ago on the Polish one (now it's the same as in the US):



First of all, look, how bad Photoshop work it is. Do the people look in natural positions to you? I mean this woman's arm seems to be bent in an awkward way, the monitor in front of her is not plugged into anything (maybe it's the Microsoft newest gizmo), the white laptop, doesn't look like a Macbook to you? And what about the black man's (US) and white man's (Poland) heads??!! They look so disproportionate in comparison with the whole body!

The worst is that what the Microsoft did was just to remove the black person's head and put a white one insted! The body and hand (black) remain the same!

One of the bloggers on the Photoshop Disasters website summed up: "Didn't you read about the groundbreaking transplant technology developed in Poland?".

Ok, apart from the funny side of this ad, the problem is quite serious. Yes, I understand that Polish population is quite "regular" as far as the complexion is concerned, we are mostly white. Why on Earth then this strange idea to leave the Asian guy and remove the black one? Maybe because you can spot some of the Chinese people selling T-shirts and shoes on the Polish markets? Did I hit the jackpot?

Anyway, I'm leaving you with this doubt... Let me know if you find any other reasonable explanation.

BTW, tomorrow my Polish friend Ania is coming to visit me! She's going to stay here one week and then, next Saturday we're going to Poland together! : )))

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Medfest 2009

This Saturday was fabulous, we went to Buccheri, a little village in Sicily to see the Medfest, a medieval festival, I just found a good description of this event on this website:

"Each year in August, an enchanted spell is repeated in Buccheri, a small town perched on the Hyblaean plateau in the province of Siracusa: taking a leap back in time, visitors and residents alike find themselves in the Middle Ages.

Indeed, during the third week of August, the town is shaken by two days and two nights of medieval rites and celebrations, to the frenetic rhythm of drums, in a whirling of fireworks, medieval magic, acrobats, musicians, contortionists and dancers.

On both days, the festivities kick off at 6:00 p.m., with a historic procession parading through the entire historic center; the town's three piazzas are thus turned into stages for the many groups of artists, who lead the town in a frenetic party late into the night.

For the two days of celebrations, the public weaves its way through the many food stands lining the streets of this tiny hamlet, serving wine and offering tastings of period cuisine. "

And here are some pics I took during the Saturday night:

At the sunset, heading to the center...



One of the spectacular churches by night...


With the local artists : )



Food (delicious, I had a sandwich with venison and a chocolate cake) and the cooks : )





One of the theatre groups performing:

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Wonderful dinner by Raffi and the Magic Mo...

So yesterday it was a bad day. I lost stamps that I bought for school for the total value of... 130 euros... Yeah, I know... Now, need to re-buy them ("using" my OWN money!) next week.

Apart from that "little" incident, I'm having a wonderful time. First, on Thursday, my bf prepared me THIS dinner... Round of applause, please!

Yeah, I consider myself so lucky! : )

Second of all, I a few days ago, I looked received this :



The Magic MO sent to me by my wondeful Al from Australia : ) Thank you So much for this : )) According to Al, wearing my Mo will transform me completely because:

• I will be 50% sexier
• I will never get a cold again because Mo will keep me warm : )
• It's just plain cool to have a Mo!

I couldn't agree more with that therefore I suggest you all buy and wear Mo everywhere: school, work, in the park when walking your dog, when doing shopping in the supermarket : )

No, I'm a different Jo, you should admit it!

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Update!

I have noticed that during my short holiday some of my best blog friends mentioned me in their posts! : ) Thank you for the tags, awards and thinking of me, girls!

• Sarah gave me this special "Circle of Friends" award. In turn, I should give it to 5 bloggers who have become friends! Well, here you go:

Al, Jordan, Ella, Natalie and Mary Evelyn!

• Jordan has tagged me!

Show Your Heart
"With as much creativity as you can muster, show your heart in: a picture, a poem, a song (or piece of music), a phrase (or quote), an item of clothing, a place, and (just for fun) a Disney princess. if you want to join in, tag 6 more blogs."

1. Picture: this is a picture I took of a white chocolate heart that was waiting for my bf and me int he restaurant in the evening of the last San Valentine's Day. Since I started the blog a few days after (Feb 19), I never had a chance to put it here. The evening was great: the food delicious and the chocolate as sweet as my bf : )


2. A poem. I'm going to put here "Milosc" by a Polish poet, Maria Pawlikowska- Jasnorzewska and then try to trnaslate it so that you at least get the gist of it.

MILOSC

Nie widzialam cie juz od miesiaca.

I nic. Jestem moze bledsza,
troche spiaca, troche bardziej milczaca,
lecz widac mozna zyc bez powietrza!



LOVE


It's been a month since I saw you.
And it's fine. Maybe I'm a bit paler,
a bit sleepy, a bit more silent,
but apparently it's possible to live without the air!

I know, I know in English it's just not the same thing. I have heard this poem when I was like 14 years old read by my favourite Polish teacher and it made sucha huge impact on me, I never really tried to memorise it, it was there, just stuck in my head. Even today.


3. A song (or a piece of music). I'd say my and my bf's song. But here instead of translating the text (it's in Italian), just listen to it! It became our song not because of some corny lyrics (at the time I met my bf I didn't speak Italian at all) or because of some romantic notes (there are none) but because it was a song I heard just before meeting my bf during the most significant and romantic New Year's holidays in my life in Rome.



4. An item of clothing. A baby doll dress. Always : )

(taken from angiehearts.net)

5. Place. Now definitely Milan.

(Image: getty images)

6. Disney Princess. Well, I'm sorry, I'be repetitive... Ariel too.

As for the tag, I'm tagging again: Al, Jordan, Ella, Natalie and Mary Evelyn!

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What was this all last week about.

Helloooo everyone! So I'm back after my short holidays on the south-west coast of Sicily. It was amazing. It was all about lying on the beach, reading (I've just finished the newest book by one of the most popular Italian authors in Italy, Federico Moccia called "Scusa ma ti voglio sposare"), relaxing at the hotel swimming pool, eating fruit (have you ever tried Sicilian grapes or melons??), sleeping and devouring the Sicilian cuisine in fanciful wine bars and restaurants : ) It was perfect. Look at some pics I took:


1. I'll start with showing you the strangest coffee spoon I have ever seen, which was given to me with a coffee I ordered on the day of our departure on holidays:





















2. And then just fun...




3. ... and the amazing views:


4. Then, on Saturday (August 15) there was the Assumption Day, called "Ferragosto" which is the peak day as far as the number of holidaymakers in Italy is concerned. Everyone is on holiday, and I really mean EVERYONE. All shops are closed, the city is literally empty. According to Wikipedia: "In present days, Ferragosto is mainly a short holiday when Italians take brief vacations. Noting that Italy's shift from a rural to urban dominant population is recent and about one-third of Italians live in rural areas, many families with rural origins within the last one or two generations return to their village during Ferragosto".
Therefore you can understand we wanted to escape all the traffic jams on the road and beaches packed up with millions of people on 1 square meter of sand and so we did the opposite, we went for a day hiking tour in the mountains in Pantalica. It was lovely! Not only did we avoid the chaos but also had fun swimming in the cold rivers!














It was great! Tomorrow I'm back at work. Now I'm rushing off to visit and comment on your blogs!!! : )

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Kind of serious...

Hello everyone, it's been more than a week now... Yeah, work. This time though it's just the contrary, meaning lack of work, meaning I have been made redundant. Not from now, of course. I will be unemployed from November 6, I was given 3 month notice. Yeah, I was shocked at the beginning, after all I have dedicated almost 3 years of my quite short life to this school and I really felt very hurt. Unfortunately the crisis didn't omit Italy either... We had very high expectations for Fall '09 and Spring '10 we anticipated high number of students coming here from the US... Unfortunately the premises now look very different and last communications from the States herald very miserable 6 months for us... Therefore my colleague and I (despite having a "permanent" kind of contract with no finish date specified) need to leave the positions we've been holding for such a long time now.

And yes, I've been sad at the beginning. First of all, yeah, it's all about the money, one just doesn't think and appreciate how lucky he/she is, finding a certain sum of money put into their bank account every month and now suddenly it will change (I still need to pay the installments for my Smart for another year..). Secondly, I really cherished this job, damn it! I liked meeting new students every 2-4 months, the new faces, new meetings, new situations, etc. Plus I was really blessed with all the staff I was working with! We were like a family: we had bad times and good times but never forgot about our birthdays, we always remembered to bring a small gift if one of us left somewhere for even short holiday to another city/country... Sounds corny but yeah, I felt good in there.

After the first "phase", it just dawned on me that it's been some time now since I was thinking about doing sth different, maybe only changing the place of work, maybe dedicating myself only to teaching, don't know. It's been several times now that I spoke about it with my bf. And this is what I love so much about him, he always replied: "The most important for me is that you're happy", he never nagged or warned me that there's some risk involved of not finding anything more intresting and regretting this decision later on. He knows me. He knows I love challenges, I love to learn new things and in my school after some time, a slight sensation of mundane routine started to take over the excitement and thrill. So maybe it's my chance to find sth more exciting? Maybe it's my destiny?

So now, I'm looking for a job. My dream is to move to Milan with my bf and he knows that very well. And so we talked about this possibility and he said "You should try and then we'll decide what to do". And so I'm here sending my CVs here in Sicily and there in Milan and we'll see. Time will tell.

Now, since my school is closed for one week of holiday, my bf and I decided we need some relax too and so tomorrow we're heading off to Agrigento to enjoy the warm sea and the same wonderful hotel we were in with my parents some weeks ago : ) I'm coming back on Friday and promise to overwhelm you with some marvelous pictures and amazing stories : )

Please don't pity me, I'm really ok. I'm strong, positive and enthousiastic about the future, after all, you know me, I'm your Jo, Miss Independent in Sicily : )

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