Welcome to your home

"This is your home" is what Wang Qi Jun, my host father, told me when I entered his house.
And in that moment I actually felt home.
The end of the longest trip I have ever (left home - landend in London - stayed there for 23 hours just to meet my cousin - 1 hour and a half delay - 10 hours flight) did not start really well: I was supposed to meet Phoenix at the airport, so I was expecting to see my name written on a piece of paper. But it wasn't there. Besides the fact that I didn't have his phone number, I started cursing because my Shanghai SIM card (less than one year old) was not working anymore, and you need a chinese sim card to access most of the public wifis. So I was about to buy a SIM card and waste a lot of money to get online, hope to find William or Ransler on Skype and get Phoenix's number. I admit that for a moment I have also thought "Fuck, I knew it"... then I saw a man that reminded me of the man that I stalked after he had interviewed me on QQ... he was holding a camera and looking for someone. So what the hell, I just went there and asked "are you from CiMEC?" and thank God he was! Sooooooooo: CHINESE PEOPLE DO NOT LOOK ALL THE SAME!! He was more surprised than I was, that I managed to recognize him among hundreds of people, after only one skype interview. You know, it's the social network effect: how many times have you happened to see someone on the street that you thought you knew but you actually only saw on Facebook because he is a friend of a friend???

Anyway (FOCUS!) he was there with my host family! First thing I noticed: well dressed and quite people. No rush, no yells, no staring. I liked them immediately.

At home Lu Wei (my host mum) introduced me to Xiao Yun ("little cloud"), the young nanny (19 years old) who lives with them, and Dou Dou, the cutest little girl that I have ever seen! At first she was shy but she wanted to test and observe me, so she started jumping, running and climbing everything. I had a first hint of what "little emperor" really means.

Next day I met Bryce, my american tongshi. Also a cultural ambassador, also working at gymangel (unfortunately in a different branch), also staying here until september. I really liked him, easy going, relaxed, perfect pronunciation (and with that I mean that I can perfectly understand him!)... I hope we'll get good friends.

When I finally got a SIM card I felt connected to the world. It was good to be disconnected from the world for a couple of days. Reeeally good. But it felt just as good to be back online.

Today I had my first "free night": Lu Wei and Wang Wi Jun went for dinner with friends so I called Vale, my latest huge coincidence. Have I mentioned her already? Anyway, in short: she texted me because she saw that we were arriving in BJ on the exact same day. We were classmates in Venice. She is doing the intership I gave up at Csoft.
Well, it's amazing how meeting someone that you actually didn't know on the other side of the world makes you feel at home just because you share something. I felt immediately relaxed, like I have someone I can rely on. I know I can also rely on my chinese family and Cimes guys, but this is different. I have tried to explain in already in some past post (ahah)...: you just feel like family. But real family, not the biological one. Talking about that, today I texted two of my cousing to ask for a really little favour. It was the first time in 26 years. Result: they didn't reply. So, I just wanted to say: FUCK YOU! Wholeheartedly. And I am just sorry that you are not going to read this. On the other hand, thanks to another cousin that answered me and fixed the problem in a matter of minutes. Sorry, little outburst.. just to prove once again that sometimes the family you build from friends is way better than that you were born in.

Well, now I am goig to bed with my nostrils filled with that sweet and sour Spring Scent in that you can smell only in China: a fabulous mix of spring, dust and smog. Yay!

Back to China

Flight booked.

10th March 2014 Venice-London 16.10-17.15 - London Party!
11th March 2014 London-Beijing 16.40-10.15 (+1).

I'm ready for a fresh start, with new people, new goals and new feelings.
Of course I'm not going to forget my past - my present - and my people. Indeed, I will miss you all.
But it's time for me for a change!

NEW ADVENTURE MODE: ON

Don't date a girl who travels

Not mine, but I felt like reding my own story.
Thank to http://www.lovethesearch.com/2013/05/dont-date-girl-who-travels.html
(VERSIONE ITALIANA A FINE POST)

Don't date a girl who travels

She’s the one with the messy unkempt hair colored by the sun. Her skin is now far from fair like it once was. Not even sun kissed. It’s burnt with multiple tan lines, wounds and bites here and there.  But for every flaw on her skin, she has an interesting story to tell.

Don't date a girl who travels. She is hard to please. The usual dinner-movie date at the mall will suck the life out of her. Her soul craves for new experiences and adventures. She will be unimpressed with your new car and your expensive watch. She would rather climb a rock or jump out of an airplane than hear you brag about it.

Don’t date a girl who travels because she will bug you to book a flight every time there’s an airline seat sale. She wont party at Republiq. And she will never pay over $100 for Avicii because she knows that one weekend of clubbing is equivalent to one week somewhere far more exciting.

Chances are, she can't hold a steady job. Or she’s probably daydreaming about quitting. She doesn’t want to keep working her ass off for someone else’s dream. She has her own and is working towards it. She is a freelancer. She makes money from designing, writing, photography or something that requires creativity and imagination. Don't waste her time complaining about your boring job. 

Don't date a girl who travels. She might have wasted her college degree and switched careers entirely. She is now a dive instructor or a yoga teacher. She’s not sure when the next paycheck is coming. But she doesn’t work like a robot all day, she goes out and takes what life has to offer andchallenges you to do the same.

Don’t date a girl who travels for she has chosen a life of uncertainty.  She doesn’t have a plan or a permanent address. She goes with the flow and follows her heart. She dances to the beat of her own drum. She doesn’t wear a watch. Her days are ruled by the sun and the moon. When the waves are calling, life stops and she will be oblivious to everything else for a moment. But she has learned that the most important thing in life isn’t surfing.

Don’t date a girl who travels as she tends to speak her mind. She will never try to impress your parents or friends. She knows respect, but isn’t afraid to hold a debate about global issues or social responsibility.

She will never need you. She knows how to pitch a tent and screw her own fins without your help. She cooks well and doesn’t need you to pay for her meals. She is too independent and wont care whether you travel with her or not. She will forget to check in with you when she arrives at her destination. She’s busy living in the present. She talks to strangers. She will meet many interesting, like-minded people from around the world who share her passion and dreams. She will be bored with you.

So never date a girl who travels unless you can keep up with her. And if you unintentionally fall in love with one, don’t you dare keep her. Let her go.

Non uscire con una ragazza che viaggia

Lei è quella coi capelli scompigliati, trascurati e stinti dal sole. La sua pelle è molto diversa da com’era prima. Non esattamente baciata dal sole. E’ bruciata e con i segni dell’abbronzatura, cicatrici e punture qui e lì. Ma per ogni segno sulla sua pelle ha un’avvincente storia da raccontare.

Non uscire con una ragazza che viaggia. E’ difficile da compiacere. Il solito appuntamento cena-film al centro commerciale l’annoierà a morte. La sua anima brama nuove esperienze ed avventure. Non sarà affatto scioccata dalla tua nuova macchina o dal tuo orologio. Preferirebbe scalare una montagna o lanciarsi da un aereo piuttosto che sentirti parlare di questo.

Non uscire con una ragazza che viaggia perché insisterà per farti prenotare un volo ogni volta che una compagnia aerea mette i saldi. Non andrà mai a ballare al Republiq. E non pagherà mai 100 euro per Avicii perché sa che un weekend di festa sarà equivalente più o meno ad una settimana di viaggio in un molto più entusiasmante posto lontano.

Molto probabilmente non ha un lavoro stabile oppure sta sognando di lasciarlo. Non vuole certo farsi un didietro così per il sogno di un altro. Lei ha il suo sogno e ci sta lavorando. E’ una freelancer. Fa soldi disegnando, scrivendo, facendo foto o qualcosa per cui c’è bisogno di creatività ed immaginazione. Non le far perdere tempo parlandole del tuonoioso lavoro.

Non uscire con una ragazza che viaggia. Potrebbe aver sprecato la sua laurea e cambiato completamente carriera. Adesso è un’istruttrice di  immersioni o un’insegnante di yoga. Non sa quando avrà la prossima paga, ma non lavora tutto il giorno come un robot, esce e prende quello che la vita le offre, e ti sfida a fare lo stesso.

Non uscire con una ragazza che viaggia perché lei ha sceltouna vita di incertezza. Non ha un programma né un indirizzo fisso. Segue la corrente e va dove la porta il cuore. Balla al ritmo del suo stesso tamburo. Non ha un orologio. I suoi giorni sono scanditi dal sole e dalla luna. Quando sentirà il richiamo delle onde, la vita si fermerà e ignorerà tutto e tutti per un momento. Ma allo stesso tempo,  ha imparato che fare surf non è la cosa più importante nella vita.

Non uscire con una ragazza che viaggia perché lei tende aparlare sinceramente. Non cercherà mai di fare una buona impressione sui tuoi genitori o i tuoi amici. E’ rispettosa ma non le fa affatto paura intavolare una discussione su problemi globali e responsabilità sociali.

Lei non avrà mai bisogno di te. Sa come montare una tenda e avvitarne le alette senza il tuo aiuto. Cucina bene e non avrà mai bisogno che le paghi un pasto. E’ autonoma, e non le importerà se viaggi con lei o meno. Si dimenticherà di farti sapere quando è arrivata a destinazione. E’ troppo impegnata a vivere il presente. Parla agli sconosciuti. Conoscerà tante persone interessanti che la pensano come lei da tutto il mondo e che condividono le sue stesse passioni e i suoi stessi sogni. Con te si annoierà.

Quindi non uscire con una ragazza che viaggi a meno che tu non riesca a tenere il suo passo. E se senza volerlo te ne innamori, non ti azzardare a trattenerla.  Lasciala andare.

Few lines on sport

Today I want to talk about the oly thing I am going to miss when I will go to China: SPORTS.
I will miss it because no matter what I wrote in my thesis, China is not a place for sport. Not for private sport for normal people, at least.

Anyway...
Yesterday I made an indoor Pentathlon competition.
This means: 60 hs, high jump, shot put, long jump, 800m.
All in one day, all in 7 hours.

I have always loved it, but the last time I took part in Combined track and field events I was 17. And both of my knees were still intact.
Plus, after I broke my second knee, 2 years ago, I basicly stopped jumping hurdles (it's funny to notice that in italian you don't say JUMP... on the contrary, the first thing you teach to an athlets is that hurdles are not to be jumped, but "passed").
Neither have I run for long distances, because it's too painful for my tendons.

But last tuesday I decided I would have signed up for the competition. At first I tought about failing the first competition, faking to fall on the first hurdle or to stop before it, and then ignoring the 800m. I would have just jumped and thrown. For fun.

The, on friday, I tried the starting blocks and the first two hurdles. And against all expectations, I wasn't scared. I started, I jumped the first one, and the the second one. And no matter how slow I was and how uncohordinated I looked like jumping the second hurdle with my "wrong" leg, I felt the fast and strong. I could make it! I was incredibly surprise of my own courage. Expertise 1 - injuries and fear 0.

That night I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about that competition, at 10.30 am next morning.

On saturtday morning I entered the stadium trying to gather all my energies, my courage and trying not to think about the painkillers I had to take because of my knee.
I was scared, I didn't want to fail.
But my friends where there. My mates, the pole vaulters. And they were encouraging me. So I started thinking I could male it.

When I was preparing my blocks, the anxiety reached its highest level. Bt when I was there, with my hands behing the starting line and the hurdles in front of me, I wasn't scared anymore. I was just determined. And when the judge shot and I jumped the first hurdle, I knew I would have made it.

11 seconds and 23 tenths later I was the happiest person in the world. I made it! I felt stronger thany any hurdles I could have found in my life from that moment on! And hearing my friend shouting and cheering was the best prize I could ever wish. I had already won my competition, now the fun could start!

After 7 hours, it was time for running... or better, for dying!
At the beginning I said I wouldn't run... I haven't run all winter because because of the pain, so I wasn't trained at all! And I know how hard that distance was going to be!
But I was there, I had already done 4 competitions... I couldn't give up! At least I would have started...

What made me actually start was the fact that I was in the same heat of Elisa... and I knew how fast she was going to run. So I thought that I would have just followed her and stopped if I couldn't make it to the end.

But then we started. final heat, final competition, final effort.
Elisa tried to reach the leading group, but I kept my (slow) pace. After 2 round out of 4 I wanted to quit. I didn't think that even my arm could feel so tired after only 400m! Everything was hearting, my heart was going to explode and my lungs to collapse. But for all those longest 3 minutes and 24 seconds of my entire life, I could hear people shouting my neame from all over the track. Friends, mates, people that I barely know where supporting me to reach the end, to not give up. Then, Elisa started slowing down and I felt that no matter how hard was the pain, I could reach her. For a moment I hated all these people because if there hadn't been there, I could have stopped. But the athlete pride won and with that new strenght, grabbed from other people's voices, I made it. I reached Elisa and I reached the arrival just a couple of meters behind her.

I knew it was going to be hard, but I couldn't imagine it would have been SO hard. When I finally arrived my lungs were aching and I wanted to vomit. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. It took me a while to realize that I had made it. A while, the help of a judge to rise and the hug of my friends to avoid falling again.

But when the oxygen started flowing through my brain again, I can't describe my feeling. Once again, I did it. And I didn't even get to the last position!

Expertise 2 - injuries and fear 0.

I owned the world, I owned my life.
Athletics really is a gym for life.

Yesterday I understood that nothing can stop me. And that when you feel like quitting, your friends will be there for you. And if they're there for you, you can't betray them. They are your strenght.

Thanks.

It's been so long..!

I am dying to be back on a travel, with my backpack on my shoulders and my thoughts in my head.
I miss it so much that I feel like dying, with my heart heavy and my feet itchy!
I want to leave, to go, to meet, to do, to know, to dance, to discover, to LIVE.

Because travelling is living. Living experiences, living cultures, living hardship, living happiness. LIVING. and LEAVING. Again and again. Knowing that you'll always find a friend, in every corner of the world. Old ones, or new ones, it doesn't matter. When you travel, time is different. Especially when you far from home, far from everything that is like you, or similar to you. May be this is the main reason why I love Asia. Because every connection you make there is special. You are alone. But at the same time you meet family in every new "foreigner" you meet. A day with him/her and it's like knowing each other forever. One ad
venture together and it's like... I don't know how to describe.

It's so easy to fall in love when you're travelling. With people, with places, with sounds, with smells.
These love stories are short-term, but something remains stuck in your heart, and it will keep trace of it forever.

But sometimes it also happens the contrary. That your heart gets stuck in what or who you've fallen in love with.
And that's a mess. A real mess! You feel like your heart is literally pulling to what it's longing for.
It's funny how strong a little organ can be, isn't it?
It's a real mess because you are not able to focus on things anymore. Of course you can, but your mind will neer be completely free anymore. It will always keep a space for that something or someone. Because of course heart and mind cooperate. Not always, but in this case they do! Thank you guys...!

So what you can do is saying OK, OK, I GOT IT.
And then you find yourself packing your stuff in a bag, booking a flight ticket and closing the door behind your back with a huge smile on your face.

Wait for me.
It might take a couple of months, but I'll be there.
I promise.

A city of people

Some cities about things, some others about people. Shanghai is definitely about people. A couple of days ago a friend was asked “what are you doing in Shanghai?” and the answer was “eating and drinking!”. And that’s basicly my same answer. Plus, I meet people. Like I said recently, not all of these people are worth being called “friends”, nor I would really like them to become so. They just “Shanghai-people”, someone is fun to hang around with for one night. Some others are worth struggling for keeping in touch, after Shanghai time is over. Still, people make the largest memory about this city. Jose, for example. He was here when I was here two years ago, and yet I met him two days ago. When I think about Shanghai I think about the Bund and I think about the amazing night we spent there with Marta.

Just think about the kind of people you meet… it’s funny. You can easily classify them. Let’s talk about German people, for example. Have you ever met a German guy in China? Be sure that one of the first words you will hear from him will be COMPANY. Or better, KOMPANY. GERMAN KOMPANY, most of the time.

Then I met some Kazak people. Except for Juliana, the other two guys are both studying architecture. I know “two” is not enough to make statistics… but 2 out of the only 3 I know… it’s a lot!

Italian people… actually I haven’t met so many.

Chinese people is too large a group here, to talk about! And usually you don’t go out with them so often… why? They’re way too different. Most of them are really, really nice people… TOO nice. And you not, I’m not the nicest person in the world… I mean, I like teasing, and mocking… that’s the way I act with my friends! But with Chinese people you can’t… they would not understand. So after a while I get bored.

Hong Kong people are different! I have met a couple and they are completely different! They are… western! You don’t feel the same cultural gap you can feel with the mainland Chinese. Plus, they are usually sooo funny and into parties and nightlife.

Well, I think this is enough.

That’s what I will really, really miss about China. The Melting Pot. People. Stories. Walan.

Let's blog

Tutti quelli che vanno in Cina sembrava provare il bisogno di scrivere un blog. È una cosa che ci accomuna, un bisogno di raccontare, di mostrare e far scoprire un mondo così nuovo e diverso. Più leggo le parole dei miei compagni di studi, più mi ci ritrovo, mi sento parte dei loro racconti e vedo le loro parole prendere forma davanti a me, mentre mi ritrovo ad annuire davanti allo schermo. Guardiamo la Cina con gli stessi occhi, critici, ma che non giudicano. Capiscono, percepiscono, spesso non condividono, ma cercano di non hanno pregiudizi. Cercando di trovare un perché a quello che vedono. Purtroppo spesso questo perché non c’è. Non c’è una spiegazione alla povertà infinita che si vede per le strade della Cina. O meglio, il perché c’è, ma la soluzione no. Non ancora, per lo meno. Gli anni passati a studiare e ristudiare la storia e lo strepitoso, velocissimo sviluppo economico di questo Paese ci permettono di vedere quello che succede con i loro stessi occhi. È facile criticare, ma non è altrettanto facile trovare una soluzione concreta. L’unica cosa di cui la Cina ha bisogno (ok, non l’unica…) è il tempo. Hanno saltato troppi step per poter avere una società di un certo tipo. Ora devono recuperare il tempo perduto e mi auguro per loro che questo accada il più presto possibile.

Nel frattempo, come gli altri, io continuo a scrivere il mio, di blog.

Anche se il mio tempo qui è sempre più corto e i pochi giorni che mi rimangono nel Paese di Mezzo passano sempre più velocemente.

Gli eventi si susseguono, si sommano, le cose che mi trattengono qui sembrano essere sempre di più e quelle che mi riportano a Padova sempre di meno.

Tic tac

Tic tac