Disaster...

I think on Wednesday 26, I got into some really bad trouble. To view this event fairly, it all started the day before. We missed the bus to Andorra twice. On Monday 24, Yifu paid the bus ride to Andorra, and we both "missed" the bus ride. Looking back at it I'm not so sure know. So we changed the bus ride to 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning under Yifu's suggestion. (Not saying that it is Yifu's fault for suggesting the time, since I agreed to it as well.)
    So the next day, we leave for the bus station, but we mistimed our wake-up time and our getting ready time, so we missed the bus by 10 to 20 minutes or so. So we pay some more money to change the time to around 7:00am. And so we then go to Andorra successfully.
     We leave at 5ish, and get back at 9ish. We go to the hostel and I realize I left my cell phone at the bus station. So we quickly pack and return and I find my phone at the bus station office which is a few streets away from the bus station. So now it is 11'ish. Around 30 minutes from the bus ride to Madrid. I say we should just go to Madrid without eating anything so that we can be 100% positive that we will catch the bus without any complications. But Yifu says that he will eat even if I don't. So I though I might as well go. Looking around for a bit we find a decent Pakistani "fast food" restaurant a couple minutes walk from the bus station around 11:20pm, the bus leaves at 11:30. I order a lamb biryani and Yifu orders a chicken biryani and a few samosa. We have around ten minutes left and our food arrives. I leave early to figure out where our bus stop in the station is and tell Yifu to take my food to go. I find the bus station and wait for Yifu. Three minutes till the departure time and finally Yifu arrives. I tell him to leave his things at my feet, so that he can put his big in-frame ¨camping¨ bag in the bus storage compartment. He unhesitatingly takes off his bags and puts them at my feet, which meant he trusted me to leave his bag with his I-Phone, green card, meal plan tickets, credit cards, wallet, debit cards, Italian cell phone, and passport with his Italian and US Visas on the ground in the #1 City of Pick-Pockets in the world. I didn't know he had all of those things in that one bag. He comes back after a few minutes (he was taking his headphones off). At 9:30, the time the bus leaves, Yifu goes to wash his hands in the bathroom. Before he goes I tell him the bus is leaving now and we need to get on the bus. But he says that there is enough time because there are 3 or 4 people still in line getting their tickets checked.
     I was so anxious and worried that we will miss our bus again and have to repay another but time change fee that my mind is unable to focus. I was also wondering why Yifu had to go wash his hands right at the time the bus leaves. Sure there are 4 or 5 people waiting in line, but it doesn't take that much time for your ticket to be checked and get on the bus. Additionally, I told Yifu to drop his bags on the ground, so that he can put his big back in storage, so that we can then get on the bus. All of these factors made me completely forget about paying attention to Yifu´s bags on the ground. So I turned around from them to look at the entrance to the bus to make sure that the bus doesn't leave without us.
    All of a sudden I feel a presence or a sense behind me. I turn around and find Yifu´s jacket torn off of the bags and one of his bags stolen. My heart thumps sporadically and I ask two gypsies nearby if they seen who stole the bag in sign language a.k.a. pointing in the direction outside of the station. I look outside and debate whether to run and look. I decide not to because his other bags are here and the bus can leave at any moment. I hope for the best, that Yifu had his bag and maybe I´m just imagining things. Yifu comes out and asks ¨Where´s my bag?!?¨ I have no f***ing idea on how to answer that question and I dread the worst, so I just say, ¨Didn´t you have it?¨ He didn´t. So we tell the bus driver to stop and he yells at us ¨Vamos! Vamos! Vamos!¨ So we get in the bus and then we get back out a few seconds later because we can´t leave with the passport.
    So we go to the police station to file a report and they don´t help much. They just give us the copy of the report and a document that allows us to travel within Spain. So the next day we go to the Chinese Consulate and we get a traveling document for Yifu, for free due to our plight.

     So later I find out, Yifu left to wash his hands because his hands were greasy from eating his Chicken Biryani. He also figured he had enough time to go the bathroom since it was a few minutes away.

    So why am I writing this? I think it is so that anyone who hears about my situation can get the real unadulterated story, at least from my point of view. I have told this event in the most unbiased way possible. I want whoever hears what happened to form their own opinions based on facts and what really happened, including thoughts. After all, the difference between success and failure is a thin red line.

    Thankfully the thief did not steal his camera bag which had a Nikon D7000 and a 10-20mm lens in it. Reminds me of a time when my brother got his laptop stolen which had my $149 AKG semi-open headphones attached to it. The laptop was gone, but the headphone was still mysteriously there.
    Anyways, what was the most ridiculous part of all this is that the City of Barcelona only charges a 100 euro fine to any pick-pocket thief that is caught. WTF!?! How is this justice? This would just still allow even more thefts because the gain is so much higher than loss... unless you plain stink at pick-pocketing.

Random Pictures of an Excursion

 Sept 05

Looking outside of my apartment window I check the weather. (day before) I go to my first Italian class which is just a short tour of Firenze. We stop by the outdoor (indoor) Mercato di San Lorenzo.

                          Mercato di San Lorenzo

 

The train station - Firenze Santa Maria Novella. The station is part inside and part outside. 

  

Afterwards I go by my notebook. All of the notebooks are either good quality or bad. The good one are around 3 or 4 euros = 7USD. So obviously I took the lower quality notebook.

After buying the notebook I wandered into the Scuola del Cuoio or the Leather School of Florence, apparently it is the best leather school in Florence or perhaps in the Tuscan area.

These are some of the older machines they had on display.

Many of their windows were made out of these thin slats of wood. The way they are designed is ingenious though. They work the same way as normal shades where you pull a thin rope and the shades collapse up.

 

This is the courtyard of the school. Strangely I didn't take any pictures of leather.

                             

                                  A stone sink.

           The church? right next to the school. The first photo is the most authentic to reality. I was just playing around different feelings with the other two.

 

A closer view of the church.

 

Some gates.

 

After checking out the leather school I went for a stroll alongside the Arno River.

 

On the way back, the side of Santa Croce, towards the piazza.

                      

                                Then I came home and made a mess of my dinner.

Third Day in Florence, Technically a month and a half in

 So I wake up every morning to face this print of a picture of a woman, motioning me to be quiet so as to not wake up my roommate. (was hanging on the wall when I got here)

 

After leaving the apartment, a short ten minutes walk leads me to this awesome view of the Holy Maria of Flower.

 

Feeling pretty hungry I stopped by a small restaurant near the duomo. The food was pretty bad for 7 euros. The seafood was sour and afterwards I got diarrhea, not sure if it was from this though. And the waiter tried to give us a quart of water for 2 euros, which I promptly refused.

 

Heading back towards the apartment, I pass Santa Croce which is only 5 minutes walk away from the apartment.

        The statue is Dante Alighieri, the author of the famous "Divine Comedy".

Nature and Rome

So this weekend I was in Roma, pictures to come soon. It turned incredibly cold from Thursday to Sunday. I don't know if it's the weather changing from summer to winter or just a pressure change or something. Now it is 57 degrees Fahrenheit here in Firenze (11:30) compared to 80 degrees before.
I also noticed that the moon is very, very small here in Italy. Maybe because it's the fall season?
I also noticed that the clouds are very, very low appearing compared to the US, despite having a lower altitude. Which makes the clouds look a lot cooler and more beautiful in the evening azure or sunset or when the puffy clouds cover the sun.

Ganzo Dinner

 Last Friday I went to Ganzo with a friend.

"Ganzo is a non-profit cultural association created for and run by the students of Florence University of the Arts. It is a project meant to promote integration in Florence, and to encourage and facilitate the communication between students and the city. Ganzo's mission seeks to also share Italy's culinary traditions. The dishes on the menu are chosen and prepared by the students under the supervision of the culinary professors." (ganzoflorence.it)

All students are given three ticket vouchers with 10 stubs each. They can go eat at Ganzo whenever. Dinner costs two stubs though, compared to the one for lunch, but you get two dishes.
(9/23)
Ganzo
 Outdoor Area

 Menu

 Antipasti
Tartare di Salmone e Avocado, Panna Acida e Crostino di Pane Dorato
Salmon and Avocado Tartar with sour cream and Toasted Brioche

 I ate this one, tasted like cheese and bread.
 Piccola Fonduta di Pecorino di grotta con bigne al pepe nero
Aged cave pecorino fondue with black pepper bigne (sheep milk cheese with black pepper bigne)

 


 Secondi
This is what I got, the tomato was sweet, and when everything was eaten on the same fork it would taste insanely awesome.
Maialino da latte laccato al miele con rape e pomodoro confit
Milk pig rack served with broccoli rabe and confit tomatoes (tomato) (and mashed potatoes)

 

Filetto di sgombro all' isolana
Mackerel fillet with potatoes, tomatoes and olives

Dessert
 Zuccotto Toscano
Tuscan Ricotta and Sponge Cake

I ordered this treat. Thought the rasberry on top was a gummy, apparently it wasn't.
Bavarese di Vaniglia e Lampone
Vanilla and Rasberry Bavarese

Sandwiches: Donkey and Lampredotto

I got a donkey sandwich for $4.50 at Semel which is located at the Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti and a lampredotto sandwich at the stand which is located at the Piazza S. Ambrogio just down the street from where I live for $3. "Lampredotto is a typical Florentine peasant dish, made from the fourth and final stomach of a cow, the abomasum." (wikipedia.com)

9/15

 The donkey sandwich tastes pretty much like beef.

 Lampredotto

Basil Sauce (oily basil flavor)
Chili Sauce (salty spicy flavor)
Chili Powder? (to make more spicy)
The lampredotto actually tastes pretty bland, to describe it though, I guess it tastes like lampredotto which is why you're supposed to cook it with other ingredients, but this was all they had at the time.

Ethnographic Study

So this is to justify my previous post. As a sociology major I am going to do an ethnographic study.

So, the USD is crap compared to the Euro which sucks for those of us who have been brainwashed into thinking that US is the hegemon of the world. Because now things aren't so affordable and you have to try cooking with LIMITED ingredients. And guess what, you end up with a natural disaster like this:

Looks GROSS, right? Because it is, in taste, smell, and looks, even feel and hearing as it sputters.

Which leads us to the occasionally weird smells in Florence which makes me have to use a good-smelling candle: 

This one smells like vanillaish.

This actually brings me to the fact that there are no smoke detectors at all in the apartments. When the adjoining apartments smoke, some of the smoke enters my apartment and it smells like smog, which the candle is for. An ashtray:

Ignore what's in it.

The windows here don't have screens which makes it really annoying when the mosquitoes come strolling by. Six to ten mosquito bites per night is not a good night. So yesterday night I used a mosquito repellent and whaddya know, no more mosquitoes. The leftovers of the mosquito repellent:

The Screenless Window

The last post about the apartment. Florence is an old city with old buildings and apparently a city of old keys too. They cost around 50 euros to replace, which is currently around 75USD.

Awesome, huh?

Since Florence is the capital of Italian culture, it is also the wine capital of Italy. I think... wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, everywhere.

This isn't wine by the way. lol

Regarding liquids there are several different types of milk which is confusing, like alto qualita, parlizamente scrimato, etc.

Staying on the topic of food, I ordered from a Chinese take-out place yesterday. What is so amazing is the price which was 2,50 euros, and the quality of the food. They actually used white rice, not the yellow rice found in the USA. It was less greasy too.

The candy strip thing in the back came with it too. Apparently the place, Jian Jian is so cheap because it was established 20 years ago and the customers are just as old too, so to change the price would be to lose the customers.

What was also cool about Florence is that there are a few Farmer's Market thing that goes up almost every day. The food is a lot cheaper and more fresh than most other places in Florence.

A sample of vegetables, they also sell meat, nuts, fruits, and etc.

For the last study, the train station. The Florence train station is moderately sized. But the cool thing is that it's not all indoors, there are parts of the station that is outdoors too, such as where the actual trains are on standby. 

That's all of the ethnographic studies for now. More to come later. Possibly...