Vuoi Uno Spritz?

A Spritz is a popular drink from the Veneto Region. It is made with either Aperol or Campari, white wine, and sparkling water (acqua frizzante). And it is STRONG!!! Most people drink them as aperitifs before dinner.

Tonight my roommate Gigi and I went out with some of her friends that she met here in Padova last summer while she was travelling. We went to one of the piazzas here in the city and had a spritz while we mingled and met up with everybody. I must say, I didn’t like the spritz at first, but about halfway through, it tasted great!

After about an hour and half we went to Fabio’s house for dinner, out to a bar that is in the city walls, and then to some other place. It was a pretty cool time. Definitely a good crash course for my Italian! But most of the guys spoke English to some degree, and one of them even spoke Spanish because he had been in Spain for a year. Needless to say, I ended up speaking in Spanish most of the night, but I did try to conjure up some of the Italian that has been lying dormant in my brain for the last 6 years.

The 'H' in Heathrow Stands for Hell

Changing planes at Heathrow is quite the experience. Especially when you have only had about 1.5 hours of sleep and are all drugged out on Gravol.




The Little Pink Cow and I started our journey at the new Terminal 1. It looks pretty nice.













We had to take a 7 minute shuttle bus ride to our gate, number 522. Our flight left on time, and was rather uneventful.

LPC got tired early on and slept for most of the way. Lucky her.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. Maybe I was too excited, but I just couldn’t drift off. I finally decided, albeit rather late in the flight, to take some Gravol to make me drowsy. It worked and I slept soundly for about an hour until they turned on the cabin lights and started distributing breakfast.

We landed a short time later, and that is when the chaos ensued.

We got off the plane and took a shuttle bus to the terminal (3).

Let me preempt the next part of this post by saying that the Heathrow Airport appears to have been built for maybe a maximum of 100 passengers traversing through it at any one time, not hundreds of thousands. It is not a spacious place. The hallways are tight, the doors are not wide, and the ceilings are low.

I followed the signs for passengers with connecting flights and lined up in one of the two lines. I had no idea at the time that there was actually a difference between the two lines, but there was. Thankfully I ended up in the correct queue. There were hoards of people in two lines trying to fit through a regular sized door. Once through the door, it was down another narrow hall, down a single flight of stairs (not escalator, but stairs—even though there was an escalator that went to the exact same place), and then on another shuttle bus to get to terminal 1.

Once into terminal 1, we were permitted to go up the escalator a few people at a time, much the way a bouncer lets people into a club. At the top of the escalator there were rows and rows of people waiting to go through security, and this sign:

Apparently they have some irate people in London.

I ambled through the lines in an eye-burning daze since it was about 3:30am for me at this point. Once through security, I made it downstairs to the transit lounge to wait for my next flight. I wandered around, but was too damn tired to appreciate anything. Since they don’t post connecting gate information until 30 minutes before the flight, I stayed in the seating area and fell asleep. I probably slept for about 45 minutes. When I woke up, I got something to eat and then saw that they had posted my gate info, which I had difficulty reading since I was so tired. It took me a few minutes to figure out that it was not 1-B, or 1-8, but 18.

Then it was on to another plane and off to Venice. I slept the entire way, but managed to wake up enough to catch these landing shots.

Once off the plane, I got my luggage (it was all there this time. YAY!!) and met the Air Service guy who had my name on a sign. We waited for a few other people before leaving. On the way into Padova, we passed by an IKEA! Score!

I got dropped off at the school, and then the director took me to my apartment where I have been unpacking my stuff. Even though I would love a little nap, I am going to force myself to stay awake until it is bedtime so that I won’t be totally jet lagged.

In conclusion, if I never have to change planes at Heathrow again, it will be too soon.

All Caked Out

Not to be confused with all “coked” out, which, while possibly producing the same reality-altering affects, is quite a different thing altogether. I happen to be the former: all hopped up on birthday cake.

In the last 24 hours, I have eaten four different birthday cakes, three of which were mine, and three of which were chocolate. Throw a chocolate cupcake in there, and you have me: high on chocolate, icing, candle fumes, sugar, sugar, and more sugar. How I love birthdays!

It all started last night with my surprise birthday cake from my mom and Gordon: Vanilla cake with vanilla icing topped with chocolate. Very good. Then tonight my dad and Dita presented me with a yummy Deep and Delicious chocolate fudge cake. *drool drool* Then a little later on tonight (about 3 hours, to be exact), New Homeowner surprised me with my very own, and very delicious chocolate cake with chocolate frosting at D’s birthday party. D had his own rich chocolate cake, so of course I had to have a piece of each. After the party, I stopped by Jen’s place where she surprised me with a cute little chocolate cupcake with pink frosting from the Cupcake Store, which was also very tasty! It was a lot of cake for one night, but as I have been known to say, “There’s always room for dessert!

me eating straight from my cake

Except now I am a little wired. And full. Maybe eating multiple pieces of frosting-laden cake in one day is not such a good idea, even if it is your birthday.

Could Things Get Any Better?

I know it is one of those 'tempting fate' kind of questions, but I am feeling risky, so I thought I would throw it out there.

Let me explain. Not only am I:

a) leaving on Sunday to go and live in Italy (my dream come true--SQUEE!!!), but

b) I am now teaching second grade instead of first grade.

c) And everything is fitting into my suitcases. *phew*

As if that wasn't enough,

d) I just checked my school's website to see if they had updated the calendar for the 2005-2006 school year. They had. I don't start teaching until September 12th (not September 7th like I previously thought).

And by the looks of things,

e) The first week of school is all half-days, with the first full day of school being on the 19th of September.

SCORE!!!

And as if that isn't enough to put me in a good mood, I came home from the gym and found this on Just Say No's Blog. *shakes head*

All I have to say about that is:

(btw: that is real icing on my cheek)

HA! Beat that!

Oh yeah, and it's my birthday tomorrow!

I Clearly Am Not THAT Panicked

Either that, or I love to procrastinate. Personally, I'd take the procrastination. It goes with the hiding under the pillow thing. Maybe everything will sort and pack itself while I type this post.

7 things I plan to do before I die:
1. Get trained in the Primary Years Program
2. Learn Ukranian and go to Ukraine
3. My Master's in Lingusitics
4. Go to Greece
5. Learn my grandmother's recipes
6. Take a vacation with my friends
7. Stomp on grapes with my feet (at a vineyard people)

7 things I can do:
1. Speak and understand Dominican Spanish
2. Dance merengue like a local
3. Run like the dickens while wearing flip flops
4. Play dominoes
5. Format a computer and partition the hard drives
6. Get a whole group of kids to do what I want them to do
7. Pack using every inch of available space in my suitcase

7 things I cannot do:
1. Get a job with the TDSB (not that I want one now, but still)
2. Drink caffienated beverages and expect to sleep
3. Keep my thoughts or feelings from showing on my face
4. Play euchre or poker
5. Step on a roach to kill it
6. Drive a car (standard or automatic)
7. Calculus or any other advanced math

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1. Eyes
2. Smile
3. Sense if humor
4. Taller than me
5. Older than me
6. Smart
7. Willingness to laugh at himself

7 things that I say most often:
1. What the???
2. Boo-urns
3. Yikes
4. Yay
5. Sigh (yes, I actually say the word)
6. Meh, whatever
7. Riiiiight

7 celebrity crushes:
1. Johnny Depp
2. Owen Wilson
3. Luke Wilson
4. John Mayer
5. Prince/The Artist Formerly Known As Prince
6. Kronk
7. I don't have a 7th. It took me long enough to come up with 6, and I had to resort to animated men!

7 people I want to do this
Most of the people I would choose have already done this, so......

Now to go see how much progress my stuff has made without me.

Is It Time to Panic Yet?

Given that I am leaving in three and a half days, I think it is safe to say "YES!!!"

Panic, panic, panic!!!

I hate these last few days before it is time to leave. They are always so stressful. You usually end up wandering around in a state of shock over how X date snuck up on you while you weren't looking. You know, while you were busy thinking that said date was ages away and that you had plenty of time left? Yeah. Well, phych! While you were busy doing other things, along it came and now it is staring you right in the face, mocking your unprepared-ness.

And no matter how prepared you think you are, and how well you have planned and time-managed, you always feel like you have too much stuff left to do. "I'm running out of time! I'm running out of time! I'm running out of time!" becomes your war cry as you spin around in a tizzy, giving onlookers (and yourself) a bad case of vertigo.

*run-spin-panic-panic-panic, run-spin-panic-panic-panic*

*run, run, run, spin, spin, spin, panic, panic, panic*

*run, run, run, spin, spin, spin, panic, panic, panic*

I've stopped spinning now. I must admit that it wasn't terribly productive. So maybe I will try to collect my whirling thoughts, and come up with a better plan. Packing perhaps? Running last minute errands? Maybe I should make a list and go from there. Or I could just hide my head under my pillow and hope everything will take care of itself. *hope hope hope*

That Didn't Hurt As Much As I Thought It Would

Bump. Bump. Bump.

That was me, falling off the wagon. Not one, not twice, but three times ladies and gentlemen. That's right, I actually drank alcohol tonight. And it was fun.

As a precursor to my birthday brunch which takes place tomorrow, my friends and I went out for a night of booty shaking at a club called Up. I must say, I had a really great time.

For those of you who don't know, I haven't drunk in a really long time. I am tempted to say it has been about 6 or 7 years by now. But tonight I was corrupted. Many thanks to Michelle and Chai for their integral part in helping me step down from the sober mobile.

Anyways, I am pleased to say that my stomach is not the least bit upset, which is the reason why I stopped drinking in the first place. Maybe it has been long enough for me to get over the upset stomach/alcohol thing? Who knows. Now it is off to bed with me. There's just one problem: I can't seem to undo my top. Damn double knots.

YIPPPPEEEEEEE!!!!! Part II

I got my VISA! I got my VISA! I got my VISA! I got my VISA!

That is all.

Yes Santa Claus, There Really Are Children

I decided that since I am sleeping better, I would test my caffiene theory out. You know, that any amount of a caffienated beverage will keep me up at night. I have tested this theory out numerous times already, mind you, but thought it was worth another try since I discovered the other cause of my insomnia. See, if it has been the lights all along and not the caffiene, then I can drink with reckless abandon and not worry about being up all night.

But alas, reckless drinking is not in my future. It seems that caffiene is the other culprit contributing to my insomnia. No more caffiene for me. Not if I drink it early. Not if I drink it late. Not if I workout. Not if I do absolutely nothing. No caffiene. Unless I NEED to stay up all night, that is. Caffiene is also evil. *yawn*

Buyer Beware

Today Jen and I went power shopping (read: ran around like headless chickens all over Toronto). Why? Because GAP has three great things going for it:

1)Three new styles of jeans to fit every body--straight, original, and curvy.

2) Free iTunes download when you try on a pair of jeans.

And quite possibly the best reason yet...

3)All jeans, including the new styles, are on sale for $55!!! Regular $80!!! When we found that out, we got the biggest adrenaline rush ever. Now I can totally justify two pairs.

If those aren't good enough reasons to run around to every GAP store in the GTA, then I don't know what are.

We finally ended up finding perfect fits, after returning to the Bay and Bloor store for Jen, and hoofing it all the way up to the Yorkdale store for me, which is where things got interesting.

Apparently, the Yorkdale store isn't participating in the iTunes promotion thingy. Ok, no big deal. I can live with that. I try on the jeans anyways, and go to pay for them. When the guys rings them up, he announces my total "That's $91.42." My second adrenaline rush for the day. My heart can only take so much excitement you know. I look at him quizzically and say "I thought all jeans were on sale for $55." At that point, my mind started running through scenarios of how to purchase the perfect jeans yet pay only $55 for them, so I kinda tuned out during his response. I only caught the part about "Since you know about the promotion, we will honour it for you." Phew! *sigh of relief*

Jen later filled me in on the details: Apparently the Yorkdale store is a 'control store' so they are not participating in GAP promotions. But if you mention the promotion, then they have to honour it. What the hell? How wrong is that? How many people go in there without realizing that the jeans are on sale? That's $30 extra in GAP's pockets!!! Jen and I were lucky to find out about the deal ourselves. We saw a sign at another GAP, but the price tags on the jeans weren't marked down, so we didn't think the jeans we were looking at were the ones they were advertising. And no one mentioned it to us either. We finally put two and two together and asked a casheir to confirm. Personally, I am shocked that the GAP would have a double standard like that. I think I will call their 1-800 number to complain.

So beware everyone! GAP is seriously trying to rip some people off at Yorkdale! That just further confirms my opinion that Yorkdale is evil. Well, so is the GAP for that matter but I am already sucked in. The best I can do at this point is warn everyone else. Jen and I were tempted to stand out front of the store and tell everyone who went in about the promotion, but we thought we might get hauled away by mall security.

But at least we got the perfect jeans AND we didn't fall vicitm to their evil plot. That's all that really matters in the end, right?

Good Times

I had a very nice weekend. For starters, I finally was able to get some sleep! Yay towels across my window. It's amazing what a little sleep can do for a body.

Saturday I had my garage sale that I have been planning on having for the past 5 years. I finally pulled it off. It went pretty well. I was out there from 8 to 5, and got a lot of traffic. As usual, there were some nice people, and people who tried to rip you off. But in the end, the nice people more than made up for the others. Along with the garage sale signs, I posted a "Help Send Sarah To Europe" sign so people would know where the money was going. Because of this, I had a few people donate items to my garage sale for me to sell, and one lady even gave me $10 without buying anything! How nice! So I was able to make some money towards my airplane ticket.

Then Saturday night Jen and I went out to walk Taste of the Danforth. It was PACKED and not such a good time. If ever there were a time for agoraphobia, that was it. We decided to head further down Bloor Street to see what trouble we could get in, and ended up at The Madison for a bit. It was a pretty good evening, just to get out and people watch. We ended up talking to a few nice people that were there for some kind of wedding celebration. It was a fun evening.

Then Sunday it was Andrew's BBQ. I had a great time. Good food, good company, and LOTS OF LAUGHS! It really was great. I even found a new drink of choice! Sake! Straight from Japan. Yum.

All in all, it was a good weekend.

Still Can't Sleep

Pretty much all summer long, I have been having trouble sleeping when I stay at my mom's place. I think I may have finally figured out what might be causing my insomina. Lights. Bright, orange lights. There is a flood light right outside my bedroom window, and a huge floodlight from the parking lot across the way which shine directly into my bedroom.

After waking up for the third or fourth time, I finally got fed up enough that I decided it was worth the risk to balance myself precariously on my dresser and hang towels across the window. Parhaps this will solve my problem? I hope so, because I am getting really tired of not sleeping. *ha ha ha* Time to go find out. 'Night.

Tired and Confused

Or tired of being confused? Probably both.

Well I am tired. I didn't sleep well last night becuase I had a headache, but I didn't want to take anything because we only had Tylenol, not Advil. Tylenol sucks. Advil rocks. I refuse to take Tylenol because when I do, I still have half a headache, and what's the fun in that?

I went to the gym today and did crazy step class, which always kills me. One girl in there actually used three risers today!!! THREE! I would have keeled over from a heart attack within 10 minutes if I was on three risers! One is enough of a workout for me, thank you very much. Then I did a half an hour of abs. When I got home, I was so out of it that I didn't even notice the HUGE box and TV in the living room as I walked towards the computer. Amazing.

I am also confused to some degree aswell. Time is going so fast. Am I ready to leave in 23 days? I don't know.

People confuse me too. I hate wondering if I should have done or said something that I did or didn't do. I guess you can only do what is you think is best, and the way they take it is up to them, right? If only you could know the outcome of things BEFORE they happen. Now that would be something; kind of like those Choose Your Own Adventure books where you would skip ahead and check out each of the choices before actually making your decision. Too bad life's not like that.

Moving to Europe Ain't Cheap

I have come to the conclusion that moving from one continent to another is not easy on the pocketbook. The list of things I "need" (i.e. want more than need, don't really want but need, both want and need), is never-ending! Just when I think I am whittling down the list, three or four more things pop into my head and make it on the Things I "Need" list.

Let's just re-cap the already purchased necessities:

-plane ticket: Self-explanatory, really.

-new luggage (3 pieces): It's really nice, by the way, and red, red, red--with yellow lining. I got two 29" uprights and a carry on rather than a set, which would only come with one large piece. Necessary because the luggage I took with me to the DR is a) falling apart, and b) too big to manage by myself.

-case for my camera: A must-have either way, since I didn't have one and was using the small bubble-wrap pocket that my camera was shipped in.

-toothbrush heads for my new toothbrush: two packs just because who knows where or when I will find them again.

And the latest:

-plug adaptors: Absolutely necessary for my laptop, camera battery charger and toothbrush, plus anything else that I take with me which requires electricity.

Things I have yet to buy:

-laptop: Do I really need this? I think so. I have justified it seven ways from Sunday, and well, I want one. The biggest perk is that I can travel and work at the same time! Yay lesson plans on the go.

-bigger SD card for my camera: My camera came with a 16MB card, so I will definitely need something larger for when I go away for the weekend and can't empty my camera becauseI didn't take my laptop with me--you know, on that off chance that I may have no work to do. It could happen.

-CD-R's and DVD-R's: for my laptop of course! I can burn some movies to watch, and make picture and music albums on CD's.

-Rough Guide to Italy 7: How will I know where I am going without it?

I think that's it for now. The plug adaptors, toothbrush heads and CD's are the most recent additions to the list. I hope I don't think of anything else or I will be broke!