Distant Friendship

這兩天Internet大塞，不知是否過去兩個多月已習慣了沒有Internet的日子，今次並沒有不習慣的感覺。不過在這非常時期不能連上一些重要的外國網頁，真的有點阻滯~~ 幸好不消兩天，大部份的網頁也accessible了，有關工作人員做事效率真快呢 (我常幻想他們是否滿身潛水裝備潛到海底修補電纜......哈哈)！

我本人對Internet又愛又限：愛它方便得不得了，卻恨它令人養成了庸懶的習慣；愛它能一時間聯絡各方好友，卻恨它令人忽視親力親為的關心；愛它造就了省時省力的生活，卻恨它令人把時間都白花了也不知 (尤其玩MSN時......) ; 愛它可讓我抒發個人感受，卻恨它反令我收埋自己...... 說到底，我深信「物極必反」，這兩天因為這而喊悶的朋友，小心不要上癮了啊！學會「慢活」吧～

說到「親力親為的關心」，今年聖誕節在意料之外在香港渡過，我真的感到香港越來越「冷」和「懶」。香港有很多親朋好友，但居然沒有收過一隻手寫的字（我自己也不是寫了很多），頂多收到Digital的「Merry Christmas」，但反而收到從遠遠的法國寄來的聖誕祝福！在27號收到了在Toulon認識的台灣同學Yi-Hsui怡琇、Yu-Ching玉菁和約旦同學Ammar的聖誕咭+CD-Rom，十分十分感動啊~!!!

那種心情真的不能言喻，尤其當我想到，不是很多機會可以3個人同時碰面、而且忙得有一段時間每天只以果醬塗麵包裹腹的他們，卻可以在兩個星期前把聖誕咭預備及寄出時...... 還有記得和Yi-Hsui同遊羅馬時，她很堅持要到郵局買郵票寄Postcards給朋友，而且還要分別買在羅馬和梵蒂岡的郵票，在不同郵箱寄呢（註：梵蒂岡位於羅馬裏面）！在Toulon想買郵票更加難，你說英文沒人會理會你，所以當我想像不懂法文的Yi-Hsui在郵局指手劃腳地買郵票的情景時，就更加感動！......還有！我不知那張聖誕咭他們是從哪裏弄來的，因為學校附近沒有文具店，我在Toulon時只見過downtown有一間，而且從宿舍到downtown要等一小時以上的巴士呢！(想起也可佈）

這份友誼，真的令我想哭！謝謝你們！

Shake Shake Shake

地震呀~~
剛剛check email時，感到張椅輕微地搖，之後見到書桌燈在震， 維持了約十多秒。
第一次感受到大自然的「力量」......
原來南亞海潚也正正是04年的這天，不知不覺已兩週年了......
世界何時末日呢？

btw, 如果真的地震，應該立即落樓，抑或躲在桌下？

Witness of Love

It's my 2nd time to attend classmates' wedding ceremony.

Congratulations to Sam and Carmen! Such a pair of 金童玉女, determines to say goodbye to their 10-yr-3-mth-2-day long road and start a new relationship in marriage.

It's so nice to love each other in God's love, forever.

Nice dinner

Met my primary classmate, Fion, tonight.
We went to a western restaurant in "women's street"~ good friend, good enviornment, good food, happy chat!

Hope we both can get married before 30! Cheers! wahahhaha~~~

Diarrhea, no more please!

Suffered from serious diarrhea for the last 3 days, I went to toilet for about 20 times in 2 days, so frequent that I dare not count anymore... so horrible...
Spent a several hundreds on seeing western and chinese doctors, $$$$$$
Cancelled all meeting with old friends and colleagues...-_- sorry... I really wanna meet you all.

Asking me to 戒口 is torture to me. Yesterday I asked my chinese doctor whether I needed to avoid eating something. "Just avoid to eat food which is oily or difficult to digest" She answered. Therefore, as soon as I left the clinic, I went to have 4 scoops of gelato (neither oily nor difficult to digest...hehe) yesterday... haha! I miss Italy crazily.

Met 2 死黨 yesterday, happy~~

真正的孤單

在外國，一個人，只覺苦悶，但不會感到孤單。
因為知道相隔兩地、聯絡困難，感覺遙遠是理所當然的。
接觸雖少，仍黙黙地相信有人在另一邊記掛著你。

在香港，一個人，不但苦悶，更感到無限孤單。
因為明知近在咫尺、聯絡極易，卻諷刺地感到空虛失落。
接觸多了，卻發現原來一切都只是自己自作多情。


不過，
其實我常常口不對心，眼腫腫睡醒後又滿懷希望。
可以證明給我看我是錯嗎?

我想有人錫

When I was in Toulon, I had nothing to do in my bedroom every night as there was no Internet, no TV, nobody talked to me... I listened to Leo Koo's songs again and again. Undoubtedly 《愛與夢飛行》is my favourite song, another is 《嗜好》。I'd never listened to this song until Mr.B gave this to me 6 years ago. (Thanks, Mr.B) I love the lyrics very much...


嗜好

晚上想去山頂數星星
還是想要趕場電影
懶得動沒有勁 寧可賴在家裏
只要你高興什麼都行

你說公司最近不景氣
我說你失業我養你
你抱我好用力 差點不能呼吸
在愛裏被需要是種最美的甜蜜

我的嗜好就是看你撒嬌
你想要的我都盡量做得到
有多費力勞心都不重要
心裏全都是幸福的味道
嗜好就是將你擁抱
要做你最暖和的依靠
總是想替你煩惱 想代替你感冒
捨不得你失去微笑


When will I meet this man?

Back to the starting point

I've been back for 6 days, too much to tell that I don't know how to start...

I really think that I've experienced many miracles and blessings from God in the last 72 days... I must write down what I experienced or I will forget... Give me some times...

And I have about 5 GB photos... I wanna share the essence with you all... wait for me...

I am trying to be in tune with life in H.K. now... Pace, Weather, People, Transports, Informations.... In fact most of the things keep unchanged despite something in my home... Luckily the weather is much warmer than that of European countries, I love this weather in H.K... Autumn...

I slept till late afternoon for the first few days.. horribly exhausted...my health seems getting worse... "my friend" hasn't visited me for over 2 months... oh no, I am still far away from 更年期, ain't I?

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Sometimes even though I have zero regret for my decision to give up, I feel like I am 半途而廢 after coming back... thanks Joe Yiu's encourangement: 「你好勇呀，真的，我覺得你很勇敢，夠膽嘗試，一個女仔去到咁遠。你放棄個度既生活，但係無放棄自己，無放棄跟隨神，神亦無放棄你。唔試點知喎，後生應該試多D，試左都吸收左一次寶貴經驗。如果响果邊發覺唔適合自己仲堅持留响果邊我覺得好固執同浪費時間 , 所以我一萬個支持~!」

My bed, I am coming back!

For the last 70 nights of France-Italy-London journey,

I've slept on 12 different beds...

Tomorrow night I will be in my bed in ParkIsland!! Wow bed, I miss you!!!

Next stop

Just come back from my "Holiday in Rome"

Next schedule: Will start my trip alone again, frist I will take a 12-hr night train to Paris, then eurostar on the next day to London.

Due to limited budget, I've booked a 4-bed mixed dorm again... hope everything is going well...espeically for the weather... cold cold cold...

Come back after 5 days... see you guys.

Update

There are always things happened unexpectedly, and I always meet nice people during my trip. Angel (a friend of Yi-Hsui) asked me to stay with her 2 days earlier before Yi-Hsui arrives. So I can check out 2 days earlier... so great! And, Yi-Hsui could finally join me to Rome... what a good news!

The owner of hostel told me to pay for one more day as I left earlier (in fact I informed her of it 22 hours before!). Thanks God, finally it was resolved and I'd lost nothing.

I had a private cooking lesson with Andrea in this morning, he said he would be in Hong Kong for a couple of days during Christmas for conducting a training session in Sabatini! Wow, it's the Italian restaurant I've longed to visit since long ago (but still haven't had a try there). What a wonderful experience for me to cook and have lunch with such a professional chef in Firenze!

Bored

I walked to a place which is almost out of the map of downtown of Firenze ─ Cavini. For what? Gelato again! It had tons of choices of favours... yummy!

Then I went to Uffizi Gallery. It was quite disappointing since it wasn't worth 9.5 euros for me... even though it was quite fun to see various version of Jesus and Santa Maria. I just remember "The birth of Venus" which is the picture of Adobe Illustrator... haha... But luckily there was a temporary exposition holding at the same time, "The mind of Leonardo". I was excited by the original sketches of Leonardo da Vinci when he did the lost painting of "The Battle of Anghiari", he really did a lot of detailed research and anatomical study about how a piece of muscle contracted and relaxed!

After the visit, it still kept raining and I felt very cold, I couldn't help having a cup of hot chocolate in Rivoire which is famous for its semi-sweet chocolates. It was tasty and just costed 2.3 euros!

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Now a man is fixing the lock of my bedroom's door... it's only been repaired after one week!...

Daniel just left in this morning, I don't know who will come next...
Honestly, it's quite uneasy to stay with a strange man in the same bedroom for 5 nights... but if no one cares, who cares?

I've stayed for one week in Firenze already... I start to feel bored... Florence is so small that I think at most 4 days is enough here... but I have to stay one more week...waiting Yi-Hsui to come...

Pizza in Pisa

Today I went to Pisa with my roomate, Daniel. It just took 1 hour from Florence by train.

It was pissing down sometimes, but it was happy to have someone be my companion in this trip. Absolutely, all people would do the same posture beside the Leaning Tower of Pisa - Torre Pendente, including me! haha... ( I kicked it for another photo)

We had pizzas in a restaurant, but it seems that western people seldom share pizza together... so I have a whole big pizza alone... I had stomachache after the lunch even though I couldn't finish it!

Daniel went to Empoli to watch a ball game and I went back to hostel alone. I listened to songs of Leo Koo and suddenly I felt very upset... tears dropped from my face... last time I cried was the 1st day of arrival on Toulon... I discover that I've already been in Europe alone for 54 days...

See the photos

I love gelato!

Colorful combination from Vivoli- one of the best gelateria in Florence.

Found it on Via Isola delle Stinche7r

Shopping Day

Today is my shopping day! I went to the Central Market to buy some fruits and tomatoes, only 1 euro/kg of tomatoes on a vine! Crazily cheap! As I remember, 胡杏仁also went there to buy a huge steak with a chef in the TV programme of 《從世界出發》, haha...

I bought a flattening pastry there for lunch... quiche Lorraine, a quiche made with cheese and pieces of bacon, with 48g fat content for one piece! I hope I won't be suffered from heart disease! For the taste... oh...very salty... it seemed that I was having a bite on a hard salty cheese! Italian people must get used to eating salty food.

Then I went to the seem-to-be largest supermarket, Esselurga, 45 mins away from my hostel to buy foodstuff and shampoo, toothpaste...etc. Cereal is crazily cheap... a box of Kellogg's Special K only costs 1.6 euros...! (It's $39 in H.K.)

It was fully dark when I came out of the supermarket at 5:15p.m... I think I am rather like a local than a tourist here (that's why it's not dangerous for me to stay here...) ... holding 2 large shopping bags, dressing causally with messy hair... :P

Shot a picture at the river (Fiume Arno).

Florence seems to be very small.


See what I've bought! One-week stock!

Pasta Day

I attended 2 Italian cooking classes in a culinary school today. I had tried 4 different kinds of pasta with heavy sauces and 2 fattening desserts made with chestnuts for lunch and dinner. I felt very full but it's good to gain my weight back, haha... since I've lost some pounds after coming to Europe. I think it's easy to achieve this goal, at least you can find gelateria everywhere, like 7-11 in Hong Kong. Every cafe has its own gelato corner as well...wow, I love it.

I wanna try pizza here, but it's not fun to have pizza alone. For me, pizza is something that you have to share with friends...

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Met Mariaka from Australia and Hanna from Korea in the hostel. They stayed for 2 nights only and left already. Last night I had a non-stop chat with Hanna for over 1 hour...both of us are talkative :P... it's my first time to meet Korean girl, I think their english is much better than Japanese's! Today comes Daniel, a journalist from Brazil, he will stay for 5 nights. It's so weird to stay in the same room with another man but luckily, he is very nice. However, I couldn't hang up my underwear in the room :P

ALWAYS get bad news!!

Bad news always come to me...

Yi-Hsui said she may have to change 10-day trip to 4-day trip in Italy...

I have to stay here for 12 days waiting for her, and I don't wanna be alone for one more week in Italy after she leaves... but I couldn't change the schedule of train ticket to Paris...

I will be alone for 5 days in London later, too. I've already booked the air ticket from London to HK... can't changed the schedule at such a low price... (HKD 2009 for OASIS HK airline)

:'(

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God's word is my only source of strength

I used to read Our Daily Bread everyday when I was in secondary school. Now I love to read its online version. I find it more inspiring to read english version, and It even has MP3 that you can listen to.

Exhausted journey

Ended 3-week stay in Paris, took the night train to Florence by 12 hours... Luckily I was the only one in the 4-bed compartment, but it was too noisy and I couldn't sleep on the shaking bed in the compartment... oops, my panda eyes are getting more serious now...

Travelling from Paris to Italy was like having a battle... I had climbed upstairs and downstairs with my heavy lugguage for over 10 times... coz there was no elevator for the metro and train stations in both Paris and Italy!!! My legs are full of bruises again...

Staying in a 3-bed shared dorm in Florence now... only 16 euros per night... just had a chat with a girl from Australia... luckily there is ADSL connection... but no kitchen... I want to have a cup of hot water...

Too tired to write what I've done in Paris...maybe do it later...

Very very tired and sleepy...

Update

Moved out from auntie's home... Thanks for Mish's lovely sofa, I could stay in Paris for 5 more nights.

Planning to move to my dream place, Florence, by night train in this weekend. Before joining Yi-Hsui, I will have 12 days alone in Florence, may God bless me.

No shipping service in France, incredible...
I will take my 40kg luggage to London for shipping...x_x

Miss me or not

Do you?

I have been falling in love with Le Jardin des Tuileries,
Being surrounded by orange color of the falling leaves,
I was moved, in such a Jimmy-styled picture...

but I felt unreasonably cold in such a warm color...