Carpe diem

2011 seemed to have creeped up on me, quietly, without fanfare. Maybe it’s because I missed all the action of a New Year countdown since I was waiting, a little despondently, at the boarding gate at Changi airport for my flight to Milan just past midnight.

The almost-a-month’s time that I spent back home in Dec was a breath of fresh air, a much-needed recharge (a little strange when I think about it because I haven’t really done anything since). A good friend of mine in Genova just told me yesterday while catching up over dinner that when she first met me, I was a happy person, but towards the end of Nov, I seemed really miserable and unhappy. So, she’s glad to have the happy me back now. I think, the long time (at least to me) of doing nothing of much consequence made me feel really useless, hence the misery. Guess even my love for cooking and the Italian classes didn’t manage to get me out of the rut I’d started to fall into. I spent most of my time at home, helping my mum out with housework, because her shoulder was dislocated in an accident in September which she didn’t let me know about because she didn’t want to worry me while I was away. In the recent years, either it’s because she considers me an adult now or it’s because I’m away from home, my mum has opened up to me and it was so nice just spending time with her, chatting while we worked, cooked, shopped, or watched her fave evening soap on tv. This plus some time with my sis, dad and some friends really brought my spirits up. I find, with the wisdom of age, I’ve learnt to cherish my family and the time I have with them a lot more.

Today’s my 2nd day at work, nothing much has happened yet except that I received my work laptop (a brand-new Toshiba in a rather nice laptop bag with the institute logo) and the security pass on my first day!!! I was so amazed, that’s super efficient by Italian standards! I was only stranded without a computer for half a day! (Steffen didn’t get his work laptop until after 2 months of working, and that’s the usual Italian ‘efficiency’.) Though I only got the security pass because I went to the secretary yesterday afternoon to ask for help with paperwork stuff (yup, I’ve not seen the end of the red tape yet…) and there the pass was, sitting in a folder on her desk. I’ll bet she wouldn’t have bothered to come and give it to me if I’d not come to her.

In any case, I am just happy to be able to finally start work, though I have nothing to do this week because my supervisor doesn’t start till next week. So, I occupy myself reading papers and trying not to fall asleep while doing it, interjected with the occasional surfing on the www and right now, catching up on my blog. Oh ya, and on first impressions, my colleagues seem friendly and helpful; so far a few of the Italian colleagues have come by my desk to help get some of the various administrative things straightened out. :)

Because I couldn’t keep my eyes open an hour ago, I went to level 2 to say hi to Hanako, a Japanese girl I met in the English church here in Genova who grew up in Singapore. She’s a really nice girl and we had a coffee together and she’s invited me to a cheese fondue dinner at hers/her Swiss boyfriend’s place this Thurs! :) I’m looking forward to it! It’s so nice to have company in the evenings so I’m not just sitting alone at home since Steffen’s gone back to Germany for work for a couple of months (Lucky him, his turn to go home).

So, even though the second half of my 2010 wasn’t the most ideal (though I must add that I am blessed with some really sweet friends – you know who you are – who gave me some really nice Christmas presents ;D), I think 2011’s started out well. In the coming years, I will work to learn and improve, in various aspects of life, strive to do my very best on my project (so I can finish on time and come home!), and hope for some good results along the way. Fingers crossed. ^_^