Archives for: 2009
PAOLA FORNARI C.V.
Writer, EFL teacher, trainer, and translator, I was born in Tanzania, have lived in a dozen countries over three continents, and describe myself as an ‘expatriate sin patria’. Wherever I go I make it my business to learn the language, get to know the local people and customs, and discover the country’s remotest corners. I became interested in writing in mid-2006, did a short Open University creative writing course and a Writers’ Bureau course, and began getting articles published in 2007.
Sweeney Departing
Sweeney Suspected
20 June 2009
The day before yesterday, at about 4.30 p.m., while I was sitting at my desk trying to find my way round the new Writelink site, I heard a fairly loud sound, like a banging door,
A Swedish Saturday
Emilia's doing a triathlon!
Cambridge Book of the Month: English for Job-Hunting
Colm Downes, author of this book, was one of our team of three on the Ankara training course in April. I have bought the book, to use with my students, and can highly recommend it - check it out!
Book: http://peo.cambridge.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=9 .
Maybe some of you have kids who are at the job-hunting stage - this book and Colm's article may be just what they need.
Article: http://peo.cambridge.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=9
Brussels 20 k
The 30th annual Brussels 20-kilometre road race takes place today. The 25,000 available places were snapped up very quickly after registration opened. This year participants, including renowned international athletes, will have come specially to Belgium from 43 countries. Seventy-six nationalities will be represented. It's a gorgeous day. If you click here you'll see a map: http://www.20kmdebruxelles.be/20km/set_en.htm I live just where the guy is running on the bottom of the circle drinking from a can.
Jessie goes to Sardinia (or Pru's Packing Palaver)
‘Nine point two kilos!’ Pru called from the hallway, zipping up her new case. ‘I’ve done it at last!’
‘Great, well done.’
Why Sardinia?
‘Doesn’t look like we’re going to get the Irish holiday this year. Let’s go away soon, instead.’
This was late April.
‘Okay,’ my husband said, getting out his diary. ‘When are we both free?’
We found a slot between 10 and 18 May.
‘Where shall we go?’
‘Somewhere south, cheap, a short flight, and where we’ve never been before,’ was my suggestion.
Going on holiday? Take a kanga!
Traditionally, in East Africa, women wear kangas. A kanga is a rectangular piece of fine cotton cloth, which has a border all round it.
Sardinia - Chausiku's latest adventure(s)
So you're back from a week's holiday to a place you'd never been to before, the photos are down- and uploaded (see a selection on http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121704&id=664241054&ref=nf), your notebook is full, but what story do you start with?
Well, what do people want to read?
Over to you - will it be:
Scary Saturday
Yesterday, there wasn't a bird to bee seen on the Grand'Place. Usually there are a few pigeons around, but they had flown away, terrified. Why?
The Curtain Lady
So today I went to order curtains for the living-room. My friend Murielle advised me where to go for them: she is an expert at shopping – she knows where to get 400 Euro bathing suits and 5 Euro bras (‘people get to see the bathing suits, not the bras’ she explained). I said that the curtains weren’t being bought to be seen, but to stop me seeing out, on my husband’s instructions (see Sweeney post below).
Bluebells
‘See you at Friskis!’ Kris said.
Some of you have heard about my fitness group, Friskis and Svettis. Today, I simply didn’t feel like going, but how could I let my buddy down?
Ankara Adventure photos
To see some photos of my time in Ankara, click here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115252&id=664241054&l=7e08daf47c
I would love to spend another three weeks in Turkey - not working!
An Ankara Adventure
Yesterday, after work, I was asked by a Turkish calligrapher to do a voiceover for his next exhibition. I'd never done a voiceover before in my life, but the text was so beautiful I couldn't refuse. Here it is:
No one knows dancing like him. Swirl, lift, dip. The routine continues. Swirl, lift, dip.
This is what Osman Sahin does to relax. Dance. But he is no choreographer, he is a calligrapher—one who has mastered the art of Classical Turkish-Islamic calligraphy for over twenty-five years. He calls his calligraphy style “the dancing of the pen.”
His eyes, eagerly glued to the paper, anticipate his next move. His hands lift with each pen stroke, gliding to the rhythm of his breath, rising with every new thought and slowing to the pace of his heartbeat.
Imelda Staunton’s Voice in British Drama on Uruguayan Stage
The Graf Spee leaps out of the water and onto the stage from today (Tickets sold out for Thursday and Friday)
Gala Opening: ‘The Drama of the River Plate’ with British actors and famous voices
(from the Uruguayan national newspaper El País, 26/03/09) By Matias Castro (Translation by Paola Fornari)
‘The Drama of the River Plate’ which opens today at the Anglo Theatre, is the first step of a more ambitious project. Written and produced by an ex-diplomat, the play is performed in English by British actors, and will only be staged for three days.
Online linkup between London and Katine (Uganda) schools
Check this out - it's lovely!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/katineblog/2009/mar/19/primary-schools-online-chat
MY village
By some strange quirk of fate, I have voting rights in Abbateggio. I only discovered this recently, and I’m delighted, as I’ve never been able to vote anywhere else in my life.
Some of you will have read about Abbateggio in my ‘Family History’: it’s a pretty village, with 450 inhabitants, on the barren, rocky hillside near Mount Maiella in Abruzzo, a couple of hundred kilometers east of Rome. I have never lived there, and none of my family is from there.
Five go off to Abruzzo
Pope Celestine V didn’t much like the glitz and glamour of the Papacy. In 1294 he issued a decree allowing Popes to abdicate, and after only five months ‘the desire for humility, for a purer life’ pushed him to return to his hermit’s life on the rugged Mount Maiella in Abruzzo.
Not a bad spot to find tranquility, especially in November.
Chance Encounter
I’m sitting at the tram stop. An elderly lady, well-dressed, tall and strong-looking, sits down beside me.
‘Let's enjoy the last few rays of sunshine,’ I say to her.
Le Bois du Cazier
On the morning of August 8, 1956, 274 people were working in the Bois du Cazier colliery near Charleroi, in the Hainaut province of Belgium.
Only twelve came out alive.
A family history (10) London: learning about little beasties
We went to London in October 1957, when my father started his six-month course for his Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the University of London. An English friend in Tanganyika found us a house in Bromley: it was a sort of exchange – the doctor owner was away studying in America. She also left her car with us: my parents say it was like a London cab.
Paola's latest invention: DELICIOUS Savoury Pancakes
My goodness, it's Shrove Tuesday! But I haven't made pancakes in nine years! They just wouldn't have been right in Tanzania or Uruguay...open the fridge - I have eggs and milk. Open the cupboard - I have flour and a pinch of salt...so there's no excuse. But pancakes? When do you have pancakes? I forgot at breakfast time. And I had yesterday's leftovers for lunch. Husband gets home at 7, so it's a bit late to have them with a cup of tea...I suppose we could do pancakes with honey or jam or lemon and sugar for dessert...but I was planning pasta for the main course - with courgette and mushroom...that would be way too heavy a meal if we have pasta AND pancakes.
Brainwave...
Friends Reunite: Paola meets her artist friend
Over twenty-five years ago, when I first came to live in Belgium, I met Chantal at Dutch classes at my local commune. I was busy with my two, then three, young children, and Chantal followed art classes locally. We met occasionally, but when, a couple of years later, it was time for my family to pack up and move on, we lost touch.
Then recently, Chantal found me on Facebook.
Chausiku's Cholesterol Challenge (3)
Half way through my month's no-to-low cholesterol diet, I have lost 3 pounds and am feeling great. I'm not really missing anything. I even managed to buy tarts and biscuits yesterday because a bunch of kids were coming to tea, and I was quite content to just sip my herbal tea and eat nothing.
I thought I would share with you a couple of dishes I have made, one pasta and one salad:
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
This means 'Spaghetti as a whore would make it',
A Family History (9) Siku Zimefika: The Day has Come
My dad came across this newspaper article about the opening of a clinic in Musoma in 1957. He translated it from Swahili into Italian for me, and this is my translation into English. It's not seat-grippingly exciting, and sometimes perhaps not totally politically correct, but it's an interesting slice of information for my family history. It would be interesting to know what became of the Ikizu clinic: at least this was on the mainland. It was heart-wrenching when we went back to Ukerewe Island and saw the 100-bed hospital my dad had built virtually abandoned, with only 20 beds left and no mattresses, still with no water or electricity...
‘The day has come to eradicate witchcraft and bad habits,’
Poetry Competition
Poetry Competition begins February 1, 2009
This looks like fun:
THE STIRRED POeT competition will run for six rounds, beginning February 1. There is a $50 CDN (£30 or $50 US) prize for the poet who receives the most votes over six weeks. In the case of a tie, winners will split the prize money.
Moby Click Reincarnated, or Willabelle, locks, phones, and fashion
My new bike, Willabelle, is actively participating in my cholesterol reduction regime. I've decided that she, rather than the car, should accompany me for small errands. Our first outing was two days ago, and it was too embarrassing to relate. Oh well, if you insist...
Chausiku's Cholesterol Challenge (2)
So far so good. This is a cholesterol-reducing rather than a weight-reducing challenge, however, I'd better mention that my starting weight (two days ago) was 59.5 kilos, two and a half over that ideal jockey weight...
Vegetable cous cous
Chausiku's Cholesterol Challenge
The reading for the bad stuff was 274. It was meant to be 190. I was so horrified I didn’t even take in the other numbers. So last night I started a low cholesterol diet which will last a month, after which we’ll measure again, and if the level is down, great, if not, pills. I thought I’d share my diet with you (perhaps not daily!) as an extra motivator. So here goes.
Dinner: Chilli sin Carne (vegetarian chili): see http://www.writelink.co.uk/blogs/chausiku/2007/07/14/p543#more543 for the recipe – it’s quite delicious – served with plain rice. A glass of wine. Dessert: two clementines and an orange.
Getting Old Gracelessly (or Disgracefully?)
When did I start feeling old? Perhaps it was when a twelve-year-old boy who had a crush on me gave me two Enid Blyton books for my eleventh birthday. But that was a smug ‘Enid-Blyton-at-eleven-duh-what-do-you-take-me-for’ sort of feeling. I bristled, but thanked him politely, looked down my nose at him, and it was over between us. For ever.
Robin in Spa
Willabelle
I set off this morning for a meeting, after which I got a bit carried away at the sales (who can resist -70% in an excellent shop?), and then on impulse decided to go and see if my bike was ready to be collected (I’d been told they’d call me after 15 January – these are very good bikes that the shops rents out for a year then sells off relatively cheaply). Indeed, the bike was there and ready, but there I was in my posh meeting clothes with no helmet…and it was pelting with rain.
Arrival in Abbateggio: Teta's Letter Home
Some of you have been following my family history: my father has uncovered some amazing documents which I would like to share with you. You may remember he arrived in Abbateggio in 1947 with his younger sister Teta (see http://www.writelink.co.uk/blogs/chausiku/2008/11/25/p5711#more5711 ). I have translated the only remaining letter from her to the family back in Rome, written on their second day there. I find the tone delightful, and the details fascinating. Here it is:
Abbateggio, October 31, 1947
Dear family,
We’re coming to the end of our second day in this famous district. All well. There has been so much work, and so many people coming to meet ‘’u ‘gnor dottò’ [Mr Doctor Sir], that we haven’t had a moment to look around. Poor Ugo! He must have examined and treated twenty people, between those in the village and those outside. Now he’s removing an upper molar of a man who’s sitting in the middle of the empty room;
A Family History (8): Musoma
So the young family returned to Italy on leave. Imagine the changes in the three years since the young couple had left Abruzzo. The island had a new hospital, which functioned well. Ugo had encountered diseases he had never met in his previous posting. Through his experience, being the sole doctor for a population of 100,000, he had become a specialist in every field: gynaecology, surgery, tropical diseases. The whole family had been exposed to Swahili and English. Maria had undergone major surgery. And, almost miraculously, considering the cysts which had invaded her ovaries, she had a new baby.
Strangely, no-one remembers much about that first six-month family holiday,
Yahoo Widgets
Do any of you have the five-day weather forecast for your home town from Yahoo Widgets on your desktop?
Brussels Buddies
Six weeks ago I crossed Brussels to collect my new car from the garage. I had bought it two months earlier, but red tape here is long and tangly, and it took a while for the right authority to send me the required number-plate. It was a stressful journey: I got off the train at the wrong stop, took forever to find a connecting bus, and when an hour and a half after leaving home I reached my destination, I realized I’d left the number-plate in my hallway. I was debating whether to start a new three-hour round trip or take an expensive taxi when the sales lady, seeing my sorry state, took pity on me.
‘We’ll make you a temporary false one,’ she said. ‘Just change it once you get home.’
Great, but where was home?