Trastevere

Ok, so last Sunday we went to Trastevere, to experience the Porta Portese and go on from there.

It was quite interesting, mostly because some of the people at work had said that it was soooo crowded… But when I got there I didn’t think it was that bad, it reminded me of Koninginnedag or ‘braderie’ which is like a street sale. It also reminds me of De Haagse Markt, but it was less crowded than that because there was more space. There were some sales people who sat or stood up on the tables, shouting out bargains:

Then after we went there, we were just so tired, but we went on!

We wanted to see La piazza della Santa Maria di Trastevere.
Where the chiesa della Santa Maria di Trastevere is situated, obviously…

Anyway, we took a random bus, which got us completely lost. But we managed to get out at Trastevere station. Here, seemed unfriendly and just not interested in conversing. But we managed to get a woman to point somewhere, while mumbling some random Italian words. From that we derived the fact that we should go that way. Which we did.

If we had walked on, that would’ve been the end.

We ran into a tram stop though, it had a little map and showed us that we should wait for the tram to come and be on it before it left again. So we went on the tram, and my excellent map skills got us off at the right stop.

Then I saw a little tourist booth and knew we should take that street.

By this time we were both fairly hungry, so we decided to look for food. This street was full of little restaurants, but those were completely crowded.

Then we came to this sign:

It was intrigueing and the prices were right. So we walked the 20 metres and were surprised by a lovely little restaurant. The inside was interesting, it was obvious that the owners wanted it to remain like it was, but with the benefits of modern technology. So they had the original, very cute, brick oven but it was connected to a lot of metal pipes and things. The waitress was amiable, but not intrusive, which I find to be the perfect mix. The pizza was just delicious. I was shocked by the mere taste of it. I would like to eat that every single day of my life.

This is the place it was at:

So yes, go there and rejoice. (Oh, I almost forgot, it cost us less than 20 euros for two pizzas, a bottle of water, a coffee and a bruschetta)

So after wonderful, wonderful pizza.. We went to see the chiesa della Santa Maria di Trastevere.

I didn’t realise I had been there before until we went in.. but yes it’s quite a wonderfully overly decorated and way too shiny church. Interestingly commercial too. The altar at the end is wonderful, but it’s only lit when you put money in the little box next to it, hehe, behold:

At some point it seemed like mass was going to start, and the signs had politely asked us to leave during mass, so we did.

Then we almost bought stamps, but the woman was out of international stamps, meh..

We walked around a little and wanted ice cream, so we found this gelatteria, which, for a change, wasn’t called blue or red ice… The chocolate ice cream was just delicious, but crema… I will never have that flavour again.. :S So this shop was run by a funny Asian man, and I got his picture.

I asked him to smile, and he tried…

Do the monkey with me!

Johny Bravo theme

So, the other day there was this man in the metro.

He had a bag in a bag, he took the bag out of his bag and put it into his bag.

I had to share that.

Yesterday I had my first ever lesson in sign language. It was the better part of awesome.

I learned how to ask someone for their name or someone elses name, als I was granted my own sign, everyone in the class got their own sign, somewhat like a name, but based on a physical mark or some had their last names translated into something. It was good fun.

I hope I get to do more lessons.

Attention all readers!

Since we’ve come to Rome we have been pestered by empty walls in our room!

I put up my first poster 2 days ago, but the walls scream for more.

So, no more will we take this horror! If you understand the pains we go through please pick up a copy of your favorite poster now and send it our way!

Send it to:

C.M. Tjhie
Circonvallazione Nomentana 251
Scala A, Interno 2
00162 Rome, Italy

LET US ALL UNITE TO UNDO THIS WRONG!

The skies of Rome cry loud and bitter tears

“Bellissimo!” Cries a halfdrunk Roman when the sky breaks into pieces and all but our two tables run inside for shelters. “6 Mesi! 6 Mesi!” Yes, six months, he tells us, it’s been six months since it last rained like this. He is very happy and his friend who’s taking shelter is summoned to come sit with us.

They talk to us like we’re native Italians, I’m just as happy, not one person here apart from Cristina speaks actual Italian to me.. No, I lie, there is one more.

Today, Gaby came to my work so we could go out for lunch. We went to the little bar across the street, I drink my coffee there every morning and have lunch there as often as not. So we eat our panini, and sip our acqua. Gaby had herself uno panino al tonno e pomodori, and me, I’m not sure, but I think it was uno panino caldo  al prosciutto e mozzarella, yes, it was quite good, a little bun with mozzarella and some kind of smoked ham which was then toasted for my eating pleasure. After the meal I had a caffè, since that’s just awesome here.

So, after you eat/drink you have to go to the cassa to pay.

It’s quite an ordeal for me, usually, because frankly, I’m scared to speak up.

Today however I went: Due panini, un….caffè, e uhm… due acque…liscia (not sure if that’s correct but whatever).

And this woman, who is there everyday, seeing me stumble, brightens up, laughs and shouts: “BRAVA!”

So that was definitely one of the greatest moments this week

And yay it rains! The two guys who joined us were both kind of drunk, and were very happy with the fact that we were Dutch but could understand Italian. Oh and one of them had a dog, called Breadcrumb, so awesome.

Anyway, so they’re talking about politics and Amsterdam and crap like that and I just sit there and nod and so does Gaby mostly, and then out of nowhere, this Italian guy who has never met me before starts badmouthing the Pope!

Well I’ve never..! But really though, what the hell?! He’s talking about how bad it is to have a German Pope, and that the former Pope was so much better and really quite like a superhero. Then he says the weirdest thing… He says something about him touching small children… I was just sitting there like: ‘o_o

I mean geez, I thought Italians were like the uber-Catholics, purebred and stuff! So yes, after that we decided to somewhat exit stage right.

So I went: “Mi dispiace molto, ma dobbiamo andare.” I shake his hand and go “Piacere. Ciao!” So yay, I kind of did some Italian right, I think, I’m not sure, at least he understood…

Finally…

So, we finally got a picture of Christina, only I found out it’s Cristina, without an ‘h’. Or so her website states. Without further ado:

So yes, it is quite awesome, she is doing this project:
http://digilander.libero.it/lowcoins/our_project.htm

One of the boys in the team is her boyfriend, his name is Paolo.

So, yes. That’s it, shoo!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy..

 

So, I started my internship on Monday, as did Gaby her school.

I basically work from 9 till 5 on my project, which is fine really, because it’s a lot of work that needs to be done. There’s this whole Italian athmosphere of taking things slow and easy that just doesn’t seem right to me though.. I can’t quite put my finger on it.. I’m pretty sure 9 to 5 means 9:30 to 5 here though…

Anyway, to get into the more technical part of what I’m doing *WARNING: BORING*
I’ve been looking into some way of directing people through a closed space by object. Now I’ve looked into several ways of actually giong about doing that.

Basically, there’s gps, which is really just made for outdoor use, but with a lot of hassle and receivers and amplifiers and that kind of crap you could probably find a way to apply it. Which brings me to the fact that if it could be done, which I’m doubting due to the nature of museums. It wouldn’t nearly be accurate enough to actually be able to pinpoint the exact location of an object you are bumping into and simultaneously informing you about it. Furthermore, it would take a great deal of bullshit to actually get it installed. I don’t like messing around with that…

Then there’s infrared, which works, but due to battery life and range isn’t really that effective. Plus, it’s somewhat like using your Wii, it just beeps your location all the time, it just doesn’t seem useful in terms of information sharing..

There’s node mapping, using the SVG mapping technology that is used in gameplay, which is based on nodes leading to different nodes leading to nodes.. and stuff. Which is interesting, but really hard to make, for me at least, and not that easy to apply for someone with limited compy savvy..

 

Node mapping..

And there’s some more ways I forgot, but anyway, I chose RFID chips.

Which, in terms of navigation in general might not be the easiest/most profitable choice. But.. in terms of navigating through a museum, based on objects, not on route or whichever, it is quite interesting. It doesn’t actually lead you in a specified direction, it’s more like a handy information sharer/tracker of where you are. Basically, you have these RFID tags, which carry an ID#, they are passive and do nothing but contain this number. Very cost effective, I’ve seen them for about 40 cents each on the net. Then you get to the part where you’re gonna want to read the tag numbers to actually make use of them. There are readers to do this.

My actual plan in terms of applying this to my project is simple. You tag every object in the museum, which is inadvertently a very good way to map the museum and make an online catalogue. Plus if the objects are moved, they already have their tag applied.

You then apply readers to several PDA’s. When someone carrying a PDA steps in range of a tag, the tag ID# will be sent to the reader, which will enter the number into a php page, which in turn will be opened in the PDA browser. Because all tags are unique, every tag ID# has their own little space in the database, which contains, say: the name, location, description and a picture of the object the tag is connected to. The page that opens is a generic page that has a layout in which it projects all the fields connected to the tag ID#.

This way, to add new objects would be as easy as to add some information into a database.

Another benefit from doing this through a database is the fact that this is basically an online catalogue of everything the museum has to offer. Which could be used for a website or for archiving.

One thing I’m still working on is how to actually write the source code, and, how to apply some sort of sign language into this, by means of a videoguide or something:

Ok, so I’m still working no the removing of blue screen… I just started working with video programmes today… (not including windows movie maker). Also, I would like to have subtitles in it, I have made an easy to understand paint image to make you understand:

So yes, that would be awesome..

So that’s as far as I’ll go today.

*BORING ENDED*

So yesterday we went out to dinner with Inge and her friend whose name I just keep forgetting… Sorry!
It was fun, a nice little restaurant with an old man reciting the menu at your table so you couldn’t order anything that was on the menu but not in the kitchen. I understood about half of what he was saying and he understood about nothing I was saying, well, he understood pera… but not my funghi e prosciuto, which is indeed hard to comprehend, although Gaby understood me..

What else, oh yes, we talked about all kinds of things, including, somehow, me being lazy and accustomed to a luxury lifestyle. Which, I have to agree to, since I do like an easy life with easy going people doing easy things. Preferably none at all. Still, I think in my defense, I do at times try to work and earn money and clean and stuff… Not like some people who moved to Italy with me…

Anyway, we also talked about some poets and Inge was fascinated by the old man and his wife in the kitchen, and uhm we had some caffè so yeah, it was all good.

Uhm.. oh, today Christina will help us pick out the best anti-musquito deathray. Which I’m really looking forward to, since I have developped quite the allergy to this specific type of mosquito, photos will be shared shortly.

Well, I’ll keep it at that for now, I will write some more about the workings of Final Cut Pro later…

Some more..

Ok, so we did our first batch of laundry today, it’s official, we live here.

Some of you might remember pink bunny from my previous trip to Rome,
he was by my side through everything, he even sat on the old Pope’s grave to pay his respects to the man.

Well, we brought him again, because he really just wanted to see Rome again.
Gaby doesn’t like him but I think he’s adorable.

Gaby hates pink bunny…

 

 

 

Breakfast with pink bunny.

So this is our kitchen. We share it with the other roommates.

 

Hallway..

So, we went to the Galleria Borghese yesterday. It was pretty friggin’ awesome, thought, with this heat things can only be awesome for so long. When we were about halfway through the exhibitions we had had enough of moving. Anyway, though everything was interesting, some things stood out. I thought the ceilings of the building were quite exceptional. Which really had me going were some smaller paintings by Jacopo Zucchi, I had never heard of him before, but wow, they were just awesome. Also, the exhibition of the work of Antonio  da Corregio was impressive, but somewhat repetitive on the subject of Madonna and child. I did however very much like his paintings on Ovid’s works. Also, there were some unique sculptures throughout the entire museum that were just wonderful.

There were two I’d like to comment on but I’ll have to draw them for you to understand the awesomeness.

Oh and…

WHY THE HELL DO THEY SELL SALT IN 1KG PACKS?!?!?!?!

Settlers of Rome

Don’t laugh, we are, we will teach the world Italians how to speak English and then they will be able to accomodate our needs. Nah, just kidding, it’s all good, we set out today to find:

1. A Fan, omg it’s friggin’ hot in here..
2. Outlet converters so we could use our laptops
3. A phone for me
4. Groceries
5. A charger for my videocamera

We came back with numbers 1 to 4 plus an extra Guitar and a map of all public transportation. Sadly I didn’t quite understand why I couldn’t get a charger for my camera because the sales man’s Italian was faster than a speeding train.

Anyway, I’d say we did good, provided that we didn’t know where the hell we could find any stores apart from souvenir/drink/eat and clothing stores/booths..

So yes we also tried to cook, which was pretty good, but Gaby thought it wasn’t good at all, probably because she doesn’t like garlic and was limited to mere salt and pepper, which is fine, but apparently not as good as the former with a little garlic added.

I made some nice pics with my camera but found out I didn’t bring anything to upload pics from my camera to my laptop, so that’s on hold for now…

What else, what else. Oh, yeah so I have a nice shiny new Italian phone number, which I’m not gonna post here, but you can ask me for it through e-mail or msn or whatever means possible for you.

Oh and Google has a webbrowser, HUZZAH!

Arrivata a Roma

So, we’re in Rome, yay for us.

The room is humonguous very big, he said two wardrobes, I suppose he’s right:

2 wardrobes…

And uhm yeah, our new friend Maria-Christina led us around the neighbourhood and took us shopping for breakfast and some sheets for the bed. She lives in the room next to us and studies Aerospace engineering something something, ruimtevaarttechniek dus.. Which is cool because I need some of her expertise for my own project

So, I’ll finish with: Shit.. We didn’t actually bring outlet converters so my laptop’s battery is already dying.

And some more pics:

2 wardrobes…