Something in the Water

If there's something in the water, I want what she's drinking...

The other night my sister and I were online swapping music, something that happens about once every other month or so. One of the songs she sent me really clicked with me. Blame it on the weather getting warmer here; blame it on the fact that this song reminds me I leave for an island vacation in less than a week; blame it on my love for Caribbean women. But any way you cut it, V.V. Brown is awesome.

Her debut CD, Traveling Like the Light, came out last June. Don't ask me how I missed it. But the best part about the CD? It's $5.99 on iTunes right now. For 12 songs. If you don't buy this CD right now, you're crazy. Listening to it just makes you happy. It's as simple as that. I could go on and on about how brilliant her personal story is - turning down a spot at Oxford to pursue music, turning down P. Diddy and Bad Boy Records for a legit record label, having a sold out tour and songs featured on several American TV shows - but at the end of the day, all you care about is how phenomenal the music is. If it doesn't make you tap your toe or jump up dancing, you're not human.

Ciao Bella

Matteo "Shark in the Water" Yazge

Why is everyone obsessed with older men?!

Very different movies... that were almost the same.

When Hollywood finds a theme it likes, it doesn't tend to stray too far away from it. Apparently this year is all about the shattered romance, especially that with an older man. Oh, and great soundtracks. They love great soundtracks.

Yesterday I saw An Education and A Single Man. Both were really good, and there were a lot of common threads. Both main characters are searching for purpose, oddly enough both are British, and both are/were in relationships that had a 10 year+ age difference. And even though one is a school girl and the other is a grieving, suicidal professor in his 50's, I couldn't help but feel that the two would have a lot to talk about if they ever met.

As far as direction and the movies themselves, they were very well done. I think it may be because I'm huge into the 50's/60's era, but I'm was a huge fan of the setting/music/aesthetic. The costuming was great, but again I would be fine wearing postwar attire. Skinny ties and huge Raybans just seem to fit me so well. The cinematography was great, moreso in A Single Man though. They did a lot with color, which was fascinating. Beautifully done.

Last but not least, I would like to note that Colin Firth's student in A Single Man is played by the guy that was the awkward kid in About A Boy. He's all grown up now and hitting on his professors. See what you can aspire to kids?

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "A single man getting an education" Yazge

La fine della Londra

Last bits of London: The National Theater; Liz Me and Big Ben; a church and cool statue; me being "The South Bank Lion"

I'm not really sure what much I have left to say about London, but I still had some fun pictures that I felt I needed to share. As soon as Facebook is done being stupid, I'll upload all the rest of my pictures there so you can peruse at your own leisure.

The only thing I feel I still need to talk about is the play I went to see one night at the National Theater. It was called "Mother Courage", the most recent incarnation of the Brecht play. It was really good, and the cast included the woman who played Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter movies (she was Mother Courage) and the guy who plays Dudley (who was her son again in the play!) It was really good, and even though the play is set during the Wars of Religion between Poland and Sweeden, there were a lot of really cool anachronisms that made it more relevant (and probably alluding to the war in Iraq). It's all about a woman, Mother Courage, who is torn between her love for her children and her love for making money off of war profiteering. The latter wins out.

But enough about London. I went to Modena today with a trip arranged through NYU. We got to have a real Balsamic Vinegar tasting, because apparently the stuff they sell in the stores is just a crappy reduction of the real thing. The stuff we saw today was over a hundred years old, and is passed down through families. They have a system of making it in barrels in their attic, and it takes 12 years from start to finish to make a decent batch. It's a lot thicker and has a MUCH stronger taste. You use drops, and sparingly too. This all happened at the house of an 83-year-old woman. She was spry and hilarious, and loved talking to us in Italian. She didn't speak a word of English. I really wanted to buy some to bring back to the family, but it's $60 for about 12 ounces. Sorry folks, but we'll make due with the store bought kind. Or start fermenting it in the basement. Your choice!

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "Balsamafied" Yazge

Il Cibo Inglese

Food (from top, down): sign for "Eat" restaurant... they know what they're talking about; my fish and chips; I LOVE ICE CREAM! ; lots of mushrooms; this weird vegetable that is really cool, but I don't know what it is.

I don't know why people think England has horrible food. I liked it. I could eat fish and chips every day of the week. It's fantastic. And jams and clotted creme? I know I already talked about that, but it's worth repeating. I found a recipe for clotted creme, and I'm definitely going to try it when I get home.

Oh, and Ice Cream Truck ice cream? It's custardy. Thick. Heaven. And when you get it in a chocolate covered cone, you've officially made the best decision of your life. Hands down. Just look at my face. It's as if I'm 10 years old again. Probably why I was a very large child...

Also, the markets (for the most part) are awesome. There's a billion different types of vegetables, so many that I didn't even know what some of them are. Like the weird spirally green thing above? BUT! Be forewarned! You will get robbed blind. Literally. Someone stole my Flip video camera while I was buying salmon. I knew I smelled something fishy... Yup. I went there. But the joke is on the idiot that thought he was getting a fully functioning camera. The battery on that camera was crap. So there!

As a result of losing that camera, I've lost all video footage of Paris and most of London. I took some more on my normal camera, but it's not the same. I'll still work on piecing something together, but it's not going to be Wafflefest quality. Sorry! Oh, and I'm shaving tomorrow morning. I still feel like I have one more London post in me, but I don't have it in me to keep this much scruff.

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "Soon-to-be-Scruff-Shavin'" Yazge

La Torre di Londra

Lots of things at the Tower of London (from top down): White Tower, Tower Bridge, awesome sign, contemporary guard, old-timey guard.

Oh the Tower of London. It's such a peaceful place... now. I got there right as the tower opened, and there weren't many people around. It was nice to walk around and learn about torture and executions, and top it all off with a nice treacle tart.

I would have taken pictures of the Crown Jewels, but they wouldn't let me. Sad day. I don't understand why not. It's not like I'm going to go home and use my own world's largest diamond to make an even better one... although, you know, I just might. To prove how stupid it is that you can't take pictures. I also wasn't allowed to take pictures in the White Tower (which is the building that you think of when you hear "The Tower of London", the tower 'proper'). That was almost more upsetting. There was an exhibit on called "Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill". Perfect name. I was never convinced that we ditched the wives because they didn't give him viable sons. I was convinced it was because he didn't find the right... *cough*man*cough*.... woman. Why else would he be dressed to kill? Because he's FAB-U-LOUUUS! But really the exhibit was all about his suits of armor, which was really cool. It was put together by the History Channel. Though I was upset to find that not a single actor from the Showtime series The Tudors were on display. Foul move.

My Breakfast

When I got tired of looking at things, I decided I was ready to start eating things. So convenient that they have a little cafe in the Tower. Where else would the prisoners have high tea? I tried my first treacle tart, which is now by far my favorite type of tart. I also got a scone with clotted cream and jam. You just have to. I'm pretty sure it's British Law. I didn't want to get thrown into the tower. It's fun for a while, but I'm pretty sure it'd get a bit gloomy after a while...

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "Treacle Tart" Yazge

I Musei Britanici

Me in front of the Rosetta Stone... replica.

British Museum: lobby; Buddhist statue

Museum of Natural History: big-o-saur

So I did lots of museuming while I was in England (and yes, museuming is now a verb. I museum, you museum, she museums, etc.) Since Liz had class every morning, I was left to my own devices. So naturally, I took myself out on little morning-dates, all of which included Starbucks. I know it's gross, but they don't make portable, sip-able coffee in Italy. And also, because I'm both a cheap date and just cheap in general, I took myself to the free museums.

The first one was the British Museum, which was HUGE. It's probably around the same size as the Met, and definitely smaller than the Louvre, but I wasn't at all familiar with it. Perhaps that's why it felt bigger. There was a really odd mix of art too. Eastern religious art, Greek ruins, Mummies, Mexican prints, Islamic art, Ancient Mayan sculptures, and a room full of clocks. Just want to throw it out there that Mummies are creepy. I'm not afraid that they're going to come to life. I'm afraid that some day someone will think it's appropriate to put my dead body on display. I don't know. I just don't find it appropriate. Call me old fashioned, but I believe the dead should stay 6 feet under.

I also went to the Museum of Natural History. If there had been a museum like that near me when I was a kid, I would have been there every day. My inner child decided to play for an hour in the dinosaur exhibit. They even had a robotic T-Rex! The architecture was really cool too. Very Harry Potter. I just wanted to steal it. Oh, and they had this weird "the history of the earth" type exhibit (lofty no? trying to tell the entire history of earth?) And there was a statue that I believe she be retitled "Momma Yazge sans Her Morning Coffee". See below:

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "Museuming" Yazge

Adesso, Inghilterra

Above: my wonderful hostesses... with the mostestes?

Below: my wonderful reaction to the Middle Eastern baked goods.

So I'm finally doing it. I'm going to talk about London. I've taken some time, reflected on it, talked about it with my therapist, and I think it's finally the right time to start sharing my experience with others. It's the last of the 12 steps to tourist recovery.

The day I got in, I split with my travel companions and headed off to Liz's apartment by Hyde Park. I was hungry, but Liz wasn't so much. To compromise, we went to high tea since it was around 4:00 anyway. For the record, I'm kind of upset no one has ever dragged me to high tea before. There's lots of tea, finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream (oh, I'll get there), and tiramisu with other delicious chocolate desserts. What's not to love?! And it was only 12 pounds. Like, British Pounds... not American weight units. You get what I mean. But on to the clotted cream (I promised). Apparently it's made by condensing normal creme, and we all know how much I love normal creme. It gives butter a run for it's money.

That night Liz and her friend Sam had to go see a show, which was sold out. We grabbed some awesome Middle Eastern pastries (see photos above) and split ways. The girls went to their show, and I went to the pub across the street to watch the soccer match that was on instead. It was awesome. Think about what you imagine a London pub to be like during a soccer match, and then put me in the middle of it with a Guinness and a smile. That's exactly what it was like. AND I made a friend! We talked all about soccer, and what I should do while I was in London, and other places we both should travel. When we were talking about the US, he said he'd been to two places: Miami and.... wait for it... CINCINNATI. I was very confused, until he explained that he had friends that lived there. I mean, who doesn't love Cincinnati? It's like the Atlanta of Ohio, plus they have the Bengals - a football team that you can only feel pity for. But not exactly a tourist destination.

All in all, I was very happy with my first night in Londontown. Very swinging. Oh, and just so you all know, I haven't shaved in almost a week. I'm not going to shave until I've finished talking about London. I was inspired by my mountain man experience in Cinque Terre. Plus it'll really light a fire under me to finish writing about my fall break. This much scruff isn't a good look on me.

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "Mountain-faced" Yazge

Mi ha derubato

Ugh... I'm so ANGRY!

Seriously?! SERIOUSLY!? I got pick pocketed... In a FARMER'S MARKET! I know I wasn't going to blog while I was on break, but this warrants it. I was walking through the green market here in London, trying to find things for Liz and I to make dinner with. And I got pick pocketed.

I've laughed at all the people from NYU Florence that have gotten pick pocketed, mainly because most of them were drunk when it happened. Of COURSE you're going to get pick pocketed. DUH. But I don't have an excuse. I just got robbed. Blind. They took my Flip Camera. So angry right now. I wasn't even dancing around like a drunken fool asking to be robbed. I was buying salmon. SALMON. I knew something smelled fishy...

So, this means that videos from both Paris and London are lost. But the good news is I still have my Nikon camera - which also takes video! So we'll just have to reenact the scenes from Paris and London. I'm working on it. I'm just too busy being angry. But I think God is trying to teach me a lesson in humility, because shortly after I got pick pocketed, I saw a man with no legs. I really didn't have much room to complain after that.

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "Furioso" Yazge

La Chiese Russa di nuovo

It looks less ominous the second time around.

So I figure everyone deserves a second chance. Even rude priests. I went back to the Russian Church today, and it wasn't that bad. Partially because I showed up "late". The website says that they start Liturgy at 9:30. False. They start thinking about doing the pre-liturgical readings around 9:30. The service doesn't actually start until 10:15 or later. So when I showed up at 9:45, I still had to wait a good half an hour until Liturgy actually began. Instead of moaning like a bum like I did last time, I had private prayer time. All things considered, it was probably good for me.

I sang along to whatever hymns I knew, which was interesting because I knew the music, but clearly not the words. Slavonic isn't my forte. But apparently I was convincing enough that the woman standing in front of me offered to share the music she was holding - music that was written out in cyrillic. I just shrugged and said "Inglese". We both smiled and she turned around.

I may end up going back again, but as I'm spending most of my weekends out of town for the rest of the semester, I don't know when I'll be back next. I'm going to try to find an Orthodox Church in Paris and London. I feel those would both be fun experiences, one because it will be in French (hopefully) and the other because I'll actually understand what they're saying. Anyone been abroad and to an Orthodox Church they particularly enjoyed?

Ciao Bella!

Matteo "Post Liturgical Nap-time" Yazge