Season's greetings!

Cheers!
Rossella

Tasse sui biglietti aerei....curiosità.

Visto che oggi pomeriggio non ho molto da fare, faccio finalmente il biglietto di ritorno da Parigi.
Pagato il biglietto su Internet di un volo Meridiana, controllo per filo e per segno che tipo di tasse pago :P. E noto che :

tariffa(il prezzo indicato è comprensivo di IVA 10%)		116.00 EUR
Tasse e supplementi	QX - Controllo passeggeri	8.91 EUR
	FR - Tassa locale francia	13.55 EUR
	IZ - Tassa di solidarietà	1.00 EUR
	YQ - Crisis surcharge	6.00 EUR
Prezzo		145.46 EUR

Diritti amministrativi e di emissione(inclusa IVA 20%)	3.00 EUR
Totale pagato	148.46 EUR

Lo sapevate l'unione europea ha lanciato la tassa di solidarietà? "Una tassa dell' Ue sui voli, per finanziare gli aiuti ai Paesi più poveri colpiti dall' Aids".
Grazie al mio biglietto allora l'AIDS viene combattuto ... voglio crederci...

Interessante anche la tassa "Crisis surcharge" : "È un supplemento che copre i costi dei maggiori controlli di sicurezza ritenuti necessari dopo gli attentati dell'11 settembre 2001 negli Stati Uniti." Quindi quelle file interminabili e i controlli di sicurezza che io eviterei perchè mi sembrano assurdi, hanno costi coperti dal mio biglietto!


E chi lo sapeva..da oggi avrò un atteggiamento diverso quando decido di fare un viaggio :D!

Ross

... e l'Italia è tecnicamente in recessione!

Bene .... sembra ufficiale : qui!
Se si tira troppo la corda ... prima o poi si spezza, si sa. E così dopo che per strada e per anni si sente parlare di prezzi che aumentano senza alcun controllo e di stipendi che rimangono fermi..adesso tutti i media si svegliano e dicono ciò che per molti è ovvio. Una buonissima parte degli italiani non arriva a fine mese, vendite in calo in tutto il paese perfino per pasta e pane! E certo, la gente è indebitata fino al collo!
E ora? Cosa si fa? Staremo a vedere!Sembra che ancora si stia parlando della scoperta dell'acqua calda,vediamo quando si passerà ai fatti, quelli veri!
Io intanto penso bene di emigrare, per adesso l'Italia e soprattutto Catania non mi offrono nulla di positivo!

Ross

Facebook .. and privacy

The fact that Facebook is the antithesis of PRIVACY is well known, as the purpose is to share the personal information, like pictures, profiles, and what else with own "friends".
Then, it is also true that you can decide what to share and who to share with.

I 'm proud and sorry to say that I found that it is FALSE! In fact, it is possible to view any picture you have uploaded even if the user is not a Facebook's subscriber.

I 'm in doubt if it is a good idea to explain to you all, but you 'll find how if you are interested ;).

That's why I think Facebook is the worst product I 've ever seen in terms of user experience and implementation!!! Then its use and target is debatable.

Ross

Zurich ... Opernhaus and lake

Hi
still living in Zurich..and I 'm starting appreciating some Swiss habits.
Moreover, I was at the Opernhaus. It is really nice, and to have a walk along the lake into the park, I like it a lot, together with bicycle ;).

Human beings ...

Uhm, recently I 've met a lot of persons. Different cultures, different ages, a lot of human various beings.
And I 'm learning, at least thinking about world..too big maybe!..about people and public relations is much easier.
Maybe one of mine most common errors is creating an idea in my mind of the person I 'm talking with after few times I 've met him/her. This is called "prejudice" most probably. And this prevents me to understand and live that person.
I 'm learning day by day do not care about people behavior in some specific situations but only live the public relations and learn when some situations give the opportunity to learn, and forget if it doesn't.
I remember when I wrote this post about treasures of life, and now I 'm back to think about people, how much complex they are .. and how much beautiful they are.

Sorry for this maybe stupid but just a personal thought ;).

Rossella

Zurich ... tram city.

Hi
after a month in Zurich still not breathing Swiss air, but experiencing a multicultural and anonymous city.
As a friend suggested yesterday evening, I have to live the Swiss Zurich joining Swiss locals and Swiss life. I agree it is the best way to be in touch with a city, living as a citizen not as a tourist.
Anyway until now, what I 'll remind thinking on Zurich is the dense network of trams. Efficient and characteristic trams. You can reach all the city areas jumping from one tram to another. If it still not enough, add a bus or a regional train as well :). A lot of possibilities to get a destination. Wonderful, no stress, just a little bit cold waiting at the stations. But trams and buses are well warmed.

Pillole di saggezza

"La vostra preoccupazione per ciò che gli altri pensano di voi scompare una volta che capite quanto di rado pensano a voi."

"Don't care about people's opinion on you as they think about you so rarely".

David Foster Wallace

Zurich

Hi
a lot of time far from the blog!!Now it's time to be back ;).
I spent a week in Zurich, it was my third time there. Is it enough to talk about it? Uhm, let's put my first impression here. It is funny for me to be back through my old posts and remind my feelings :).
I can say I 'm lucky, it was a terrific sunny week. I had a lot of work but the week end was beautiful, mostly because I did the thing I love above all : GO AROUND with the BICYCLE! This time the scenario was the Zurich lake, gardens and the city as well. I adore sightseeing a city by bicycle!
Of course my trip there encountered other opportunities, as visit a museum (Museum Fur Gestaltung = museo del design ) , visit the sorroundings ( well known to me but interesting for comparing city to the rest ), have a special evening at the Langstrassenfest ( it seemed to be in London ) , a dinner with guys of different countries and a nice dinner with a special guest ;).
So, my first impression about Zurich is a multicultural city. In these terms it is similar to London, but not so chaotic, the density of the population seems to be lower than London's. There is an efficient transportation system, trams and buses. They are a lot and of course Swiss-ly on time ;). You don't need a car.
Then I learned something more about Swiss language. It seems to be a merge among different languages, i.e. Italian, French and German of course. German is a little bit different and becomes a dialect. The language changes while moving through the Switzerland, with more French influence while moving towards West for example. So there is no a precise and well defined language to learn, it depends mostly on the place where you stay or live.
Next time I 'll be there I want to find out something that makes my feeling of a soulless Zurich overturned! There should be something that shows the original Zurich, it is not visible at first, it should be discovered.
The picture in the right is a nice ice cream at Sprungli 's bar :).

Travelling a lot ...

Hi
I couldn't find time to update my blog, I 've traveled a lot in the last 2 months.
I went to Madrid, Warsaw, Zurich and I had a tour of the western sicily... WOW!

I 'll try to post something in the next days!

Picture was taken close to Trapani (sicily). It is funny, isn't it?

Ross

Bern

Hi guys
in the last months I had the possibility to visit Switzerland.
Some days ago I was in Bern, where I spent 2 days. Here some pictures :).
I sightsaw the city by bicycle, I love to do it :). Weather was beautiful and people as well.
The city was full of football fans, even if Bern only hosted the so called "Fanzone"s, i.e. squares provided with enormous screens and closed, creating protected and safe areas. A lot of policemen were at the entry of the zones and all over the city.
The city is nice and small.
I found Einstein Museum and the Museum of the communication really interesting. I loved Einstein Museum because of the structure, it is well organized in periods. Each period is well organized by using a description of the society, economical situation in which Einstein lived. It was like living with him, looking at any aspects that influenced his life.
I also learned the Relativity Theory ;).
Moreover I appreciated the videos of the postwar. A section in the museum was dedicated to the second world war. Among the others, there were two monitors, one projecting life in Switzerland after the second world war, and the other life in Europe in the same period. It is incredible how they differed! Ski holidays, life and prosperity in Switzerland; corpses, ruins, sadness in Europe.
The Museum of the communication is an "interactive" museum and I like these kind of museums :).

Italian life style ... pessimistic point of view.

Sometimes I think that living in Italy is like playing a tennis match continuously.

Everything concerns with your life, social life, job life and so on, seems to be a well-defined template. Public services, private services are so bad-managed that the end-user is never the first target of the public/private company. Sometimes he is the last. Revenue is the first really important target....personal revenue is the most targeted :P.

Politicians as well are totally focused on businesses that are in some way useful for their personal profit, this is true all over the world I know, but it is sad as well.

So, if you need to have a new ID, then sometimes you need to ask "PLEASE, do it". If you need to travel with Alitalia, as it has the monopoly of the major part of the European paths, you need to wait and sometimes to accept cancellation with no rights to complain. If you need a telecom assistance for your fixed line, you need to wait until they can do it, and not ask for any reimbursement.

Then you start creating your own shield, your way of living in order to make life better and less stressing. So when you need a new ID, you'll ask "PLEASE, do it". If you want to fly and be on time, you need to ask for a low-cost airline, maybe is more reliable. If you need a telecom assistance, you'll use your own mobile phone, it is faster.

Quality goes DOWN!

I think all this is really sad, because people don't want to live better and do their best. They want to receive only, never give! That's impossible and I 'm really tired.


Ross

Contraddizioni del governo italiano...

... del tipo :

Berlusconi propone l'emendamento "salva-premier", approvato dalla Camera (ovviamente) per cui vi sarà (forse)l'immunità e la sospensione di ogni iniziativa giudiziaria per i vertici dello Stato.

Poi arriva il ministro alla pubblica amministrazione Brunetta : "Lotta ai fannulloni" ... "Sì ai licenziamenti per scarso rendimento, per la falsificazione di attestati di presenza,..." ... "Licenziamento per chi è sottoposto a procedimento penale, anche prima della condanna. "

Viva la democrazia!! Meditate gente meditate!

Ross

All of me

Italians in Switzerland

Hi fellows,

I 'd like to collect another feeling I experienced yesterday.
As you MOST PROBABLY know, European championship is running in Switzerland/Austria, and yesterday Italy (FORZA AZZURRI!!! :P) beat France (Zidane was not the cause this time :P).
The match looked like a box match instead of football, but I 'm not either expert or fan of football, so never mind!
At the end of the match we spent some more time in the center of a small Swiss village, drinking beer. We spent half an hour maybe. That was enough to see a crowd coming into the center... a crowd of Italians, celebrating the winners! A plenty of Italians, I couldn't imagine how many!
Swiss friends explained that young people we saw in the crowd constitutes the second generation of Italians here in Switzerland, that means that parents established in Switzerland and their sons still live here. Swiss uses to call each young "secondo".
I was wondering of the patriotic spirit they spread in celebrating the winners! That young people, although grown in Switzerland, still has an Italian heart! And this is wonderful!

Actually Swiss people consider Italian as friends, and they celebrated as well :).

Italians! Be proud of being Italians and do not damage Italia image! Abroad we are still loved ... hopefully for long yet!

Rossy

Sorge, Fidone, Rubino at Enola club

Nice evening: from the left Paolo Sorge, Alberto Fidone and Dino Rubino.
Enola Club Catania ... Marvellous Jazz music!

Nazionalismo tedesco in Italia...

Questo invece mi sembra un esempio di nazionalismo tedesco ... l'anticamera del nazismo:

Leggi.

Credo che in Italia stiamo indietreggiando di 60 anni circa, e stiamo buttando via il sacrificio di tanti Italiani che sono morti per la libertà di questo Paese.

Che tristezza.

Rossella

"Signor presidente, dall'estero non riconosco più la mia Italia"

Ciao,
quella che trascrivo qui è una lettera molto bella e profonda; voglio assolutamente che rimanga in questo blog. E' una lettera rivolta al Presidente Napolitano.

"Carissimo Presidente,
sono un'italiana residente all'estero ormai da diversi anni, ma nonostante questo sono sempre stata attaccata alla mia cara Italia. I suoi colori, la creatività, la vivacità, genuinità e ospitalità della nostra gente sono tutte cose che fino a pochi giorni fa venivano decantate all'estero come marchio dell'essere italiano e che tanto mi rendevano orgogliosa.

Come può ben immaginare, continuo a seguire tutti i fatti di attualità, di politica, di cronaca che riguardano il nostro Paese, e mi creda, mi rattrista dover confessare a Lei e prima ancora a me stessa che mi vergogno dell'Italia ritratta in questi giorni su tutte le prime pagine dei giornali nazionali e internazionali.

Signor Presidente ma che succede? Dove è finita la succitata "ospitalità" degli italiani? E' davvero possibile che il sentimento più forte che emerge nella popolazione sia ormai la paura dello straniero, del migrante, dell'immigrato?

La sicurezza è certamente un problema serio, ma non penso che il modo giusto di risolverlo sia quello di alimentare la paura e l'intolleranza nei confronti di persone comunitarie ed extracomunitarie. Piuttosto penso che una più attenta politica di integrazione sociale sia la soluzione al problema dell'Immigrazione che a mio avviso, non coincide (come il governo vuole far credere) con il problema della Sicurezza.

Siamo in EUROPA e credo sia assurdo leggere ancora sui giornali, titoli come "ragazza italiana violentata da un romeno". Con questo non voglio sminuire affatto la bruttura del reato, mi auguro soltanto che la giustizia faccia il suo corso indipendentemente da chi lo ha commesso. Quindi mi chiedo quale sia il bisogno di sottolineare la diversa nazionalità?

Sono una ricercatrice e il mio lavoro mi ha dato la possibilità di uscire fuori dai "nostri confini" e mi creda non ho mai trovato tanta intolleranza come quella che sta nascendo e che si sta alimentando negli ultimi tempi in Italia.

Adesso sono in Inghilterra e come lei sa qui di immigrati (comunitari ed extra comunitari) ce ne sono tanti, ma così tanti che non si può più fare una distinzione. Per farle solo un esempio, a Pasqua ero ad Oxford e in Chiesa ho assistito ad uno spettacolo meraviglioso: c'era tutto il mondo rappresentato in quella piccola Chiesa Cattolica. Mi colpì e mi commosse la diversità dei colori della pelle, dei costumi, ma al tempo stesso l'omogeneità e la coralità di tutte quelle persone.

Mi chiedo quando in Italia sarà possibile respirare quella stessa atmosfera di integrazione che si trova ormai nel resto d'Europa?

Signor Presidente spero tanto che Lei non permetterà al presente governo di inasprire i rapporti tra gli italiani e gli immigrati, spero che Lei alzi la voce davanti a ministri che giustificano e incitano alla pulizia dei campi rom, spero che Lei faccia tutto quello che è in suo potere per rendersi portavoce della necessità di migliorare la politica di integrazione sociale di cui l'Italia ha oggi bisogno per confrontarsi alla pari con il resto del mondo e d'Europa.

Fiduciosa nella sua persona e nell'importante carica istituzionale che lei ricopre, la ringrazio per la sua attenzione e le auguro buon lavoro.
Cordiali saluti,

Maria Vinci

(Pugliese, 34 anni, da 5 o 6 si dedica alla ricerca sul cancro. Ha studiato e lavorato a Milano (Ifom) e a Heidelberg in Germania. Ora si trova in Inghilterra)
"
(pubblicata da "Repubblica", 03 Giugno 2008)

My first canyoning adventure :)

Hi fellows
I would like to share with you my memories about the terrific adventure I had some days ago.
I joined a great team to share a really fun adventure: canyoning at Gole dell'Alcantara, Sicily!
Look at the fantastic team ready to start!

Hopefully I 'll receive the picture of the team after the canyoning.. I 'm eager to see the faces :D.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures about the canyoning itself as we didn't have any cameras with us..what a shame!
We went through cascades (small :P), streams and along rock walls to get to the furthest point possible. Then we went back by simply sliding on the water, the stream guided us towards the ravine (where the river completes its path, and where we started climbing).
We took 2 hours to get to the furthest point fighting against the stream , and 5 minutes to get back :D because of the stream.

Great! I suggest all of you going in Sicily to try it, it is fantastic!

Ross

La seconda onda...

Ciao
questo è un link che mi ha suggerito un amica... molto bello, intenso e credo molto vicino alla vita di ciascuno.
Mi piace linkarlo e condividerlo con tutti : waves.

Grazie Ga!

Ross

Elezioni 2008 : sarà storia

Qui

Elezioni ... tiriamo le somme!

Ciao sinistroidi e non,
allora se ho ben capito :

Regione Siciliana : Lombardo (quasi scontato, adesso voglio trovare un solo catanese che si lamenta di Catania ... dopo la luce dalle strade toglieranno anche qualcos'altro, diamogli tempo. Grazie a Lombardo, Scapagnini è riuscito a far retrocedere Catania di almeno 10 anni).

Senato : Cuffaro ( è stato GIUSTAMENTE promosso dopo essere stato condannato ).

Governo : Berlusconi (ci vuole uno coi soldi per manovrare tutto no?). Bene voglio vedere quanti giovani precari vorranno sposare suo figlio...dovrà preparare una graduatoria.

Però tutto sommato sono spariti i fasciti e i comunisti dal governo e Ferrara non ha ottenuto un minimo di voti per essere considerato (che non è male visto il suo slogan assolutamente impronunciabile!)

Bene non mi resta che scegliere....Grecia,Svizzera,Polinesia ... vi faccio sapere vi mando una cartolina.:DDDDDDDDDD


Rossella

Disappointment and sorrow ..

What a sorrow! Listening to people talking about disabled persons as a small part of the humanity, and for this reason, not relevant in many decisions in the world ...

What a sorrow! Listening to the reasons for which "my house" should not have access for disabled persons because for "me" is not important, because I 'm "normal".... now! I 'd add ...

What a sorrow! Listening that it 's totally up to me providing access to my house for disabled persons ...

What a sorrow! Understanding that altruism is not a value anymore because life makes everyone egoist in front of personal situations ...

What a shame! Realizing that you don't have a disabled person as a friend or relative ... I have ...



Rossella

Her face and her eyes this morning.

Good morning...strange and sad morning. At least for her.
She woke up and called him, as usual since 62 years. But he wasn't there, and I run, arrived in the bedroom where we had slept together and I looked into her eyes, asking what was happened.
I saw two small, brown, tearing eyes and she said me: " I called him, I forgot!". Her face was so small,sweet, as a scared baby, it was a bad awakening for her, she was probably dreaming him, and her first thought was to call him in the morning.
I won't forget her face, the feeling she expressed, sadness, melancholy, disappointment.
She is a baby to take care of.

The House of my Dreams!

Here it is!
cheap! Only Euros 48.000, 3 main rooms, on sale in Acicastello WOW!, customizable windows and doors, big kitchen, turnkey .. what I should dream more!

Thanks Italia! That is the house that perfectly fit my economical possibilities!

...and I can move it wherever I want :D.



Eccola!!!
economica! pensa solo 48000 euro , 3 vani! , in vendita ad Acicastello, rifiniture personalizzate, cucina abitabile ... chiavi in mano.. che potrei desiderare di più!

E' lei .. la casa che mi posso permettere !

E la posso anche spostare dove mi pare e piace!

Grazie Italia!

:))))

Abbandoniamo la nave!

E' ora di abbandonare la nave! Bella ma sempre maledetta Sicilia... :((.
Dalla padella (Cuffaro) alla brace (Lombardo) ...
Al peggio non c'è mai fine ...
...

Ecco perchè ...


...Addio.

Italia .. Italians .. Sicilians..

When I 'm furious, I like to use my blog to shout my indignation. Now I 'm furious.

I would like to tell you what happened yesterday because I want, I really want, to publish an example of Italian way of living, mentality and respect towards people.
Let's start.
As usual, yesterday I went home and I arrived at about 7 p.m. (this is more or less the best time I can get home from office in the evening) . AS USUAL, a car parked prevented the access to MY box. AS USUAL, I started to use klaxon. I had just started to shout when I saw a little note on the Mercedes' dashboard (this happens in very few cases) . Then I thought, Ok! Let 's start AGAIN to look for that address and that name around the place. But....SURPRISE! It was not an address or a name...but ... A MOBILE PHONE NUMBER! I 'm very lucky I thought :|.
The note seemed to say : "Please call me if you want to access YOUR box. If I 'm not too far I 'll be there in few minutes" .... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Unfortunately I couldn't take a picture! Just as a souvenir!

Those are ITALIANS and in particular SICILIANS!