Anzio - Nettuno

Nettuno is a coast village located in the South of Rome. It was my first bath of the year and it was pleasant! Easy to reach by train (exactly 1h from Roma-Termini), quiet and traditional it is a nice alternative to Ostia/i cancelli.

Ponte Sisto

Sunset in Rome

A world away from the cup: The burgeoning famine that should be the biggest story in Africa this summer

in Daily Mail (original article from below FR post)

Crossing the High Atlas mountains of Morocco you may come upon a village impossibly remote, set high on the edge of a gorge. After a sti ff climb you reach it, thinking that it must be the very last village.

But no, there's a track leading upwards, and as you round a bend in the gorge, you see another village seeming to rise from the Earth itself, but way, way above you. So you head for this village, thinking there can't possibly be another... and yet there is, and another and yet another still, until you give up, realising you'll never reach the very highest village.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1287125/A-world-away-cup-The-burgeoning-famine-biggest-story-Africa-summer.html#ixzz0tsEOaPar

Niger. La famine fait à nouveau parler d’elle

in Courrier International

Nous quittons la ville de Téra et commençons à traverser une savane poussiéreuse dont la monotonie est parfois rompue par les huttes traditionnelles des villages. Le sable, la poussière blanche balayée par le vent et une végétation en quelque sorte momifiée par la sécheresse composent le paysage que nous traversons. Cette province située à environ quatre heures au nord-ouest de Niamey, la capitale du Niger, est l’une des régions les plus démunies de ce pays déjà très pauvre. En 2009, la saison des pluies n’a pas été suffisante. A Tillabéri, la pluie n’est pas venue du tout. Les gens d’ici n’ont rien à manger.

la suite: http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/2010/06/30/la-famine-fait-a-nouveau-parler-d-elle

WFP Niger

official link to the WFP Niger website: http://www.wfp.org/countries/niger

Wedding in Centocelle

One Saturday this spring I was sleeping waiting an sms to wake me up. It was too early for a Saturday morning and missed the sms. It would have been a good idea to ignore totally that invitation, but I didn't know at that time! So on this rainy rainy day I met this friend and 3 hours before the wedding he was supposed to attend I decided to take the chance to assist to an italian wedding once in my life :)

As I said it was raining. My friend is a milanese lawyer and was wearing a lawyer black suit... I put my high heels on and a light colored trousers and the journey started... The wedding was in Centocelle. It is a poor and popular era of Rome far behind the Termini station and I had never been there. Our mission was to reach the church with public transport. ^^ We finally managed to find the connecting bus line but had no idea were our bus stop was as this street (via casilina) is several kilometer long. Remember my friend the lawyer with his milanese accent and myself looking like a lost displaced english girl in a crowded misty bus with a higher than average percentage of immigrants. I would have asked someone on the bus were the bus stop was, but no! my friend said "don't worry! I have the GPS" he took the GPS out of his pocket and started to programme it. The other passengers were glimpsing towards us. A man offered his help. "no, no, it's ok I have the GPS" he answered. Then my friend tried to follow the way while I was trying to read the bus stop names. ...... It was so out of place that I started to laugh... But he was so proud and convinced that I couldn't stop laughing thinking how stupid we looked. :D

Shame doesn't kill!!! and new experiences either ;)

After that the wedding was interesting.

Security

There is no security on earth. Security is "the state of being free from danger or threat" and no, you cannot protect yourself against danger or threat... You can try. You can try to minimize the event's occurrence probability (not travelling to Africa or Asia if you want to minimize the risk of getting the malaria) or to minimize the event's impact if it happens (that's the insurance mechanism).

We all want to believe to be safe, but hard reality is that you can loose everything at any moment... just think about a car accident or an earthquake. I know it's not really cheerful :S


I faced again this long known evidence a few days ago. In 48h:

• my integrity was attacked through an email account violation
• my friend got his car almost stolen overnight
• another friend was assaulted at the station and lost everything from credit card to passport, music player, phone... as she was supposed to leave for Afghanistan only a few days later
• malicious neighbours are life threating family members and taking pictures of them in their car, and one second you imagine the worse... yes, just like in mafia films...
  

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Mat 6,19 -21

ABC

I got angry this week-end...

Sunday morning, alarm clock rings at 8am. I'm all on time. But the train is slower than usual and I have to wait 20 mins under the sun without the chance of seeing ANY bus at Acilia. But where are they? at the beach? 10:00 the Sunday service is starting and I'm still blocked there, 10:15, finally I get on the first bus passing by, knowing that I'll have to walk 15 more minutes to get into Dragona. I'm quite upset...

I got creative this week-end...

Sorry guys (to the italians), but I became so bored of italian food that I had to get some inspiration from marmiton.org. Tomato lassi is so easy and so good!!!!!! (peel tomatoes, mix them with yogurt, add basilic and put everything in the fridge) Then I went for a cake, such a long time I haven't dared... :) burnt chocolate & almonds along with homemade lemonade (camomilla-lime teabags + 1 lemon juice + sugar) just feels like being home.

I became efficient this week-end...

One application, bank stuff, OM presentation, ironing with 28°c: I finally did it! Even though I still have a few bullet points on my post-it. I also felt inspiring others, for once, let's see the result in a few weeks...

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