Regata di Brindisi December 19, 2010

Some photos from today. I was looking for Christmas photos but found this race instead.

Day 1...This is easy!

The photo today is from last night. This is one I took of CatsnJoe before they started playing at Mr Browns. They were dressed up for Halloween as well as the staff and some people watching. CatsNJoe (this is a link to their MySpace) are hard rocking garage band good for a party night like Halloween. Below is a photo to show a little more how the whole stage area was done up for Halloween. Silvia (the lead singer and fidizanta of Luca) is very animated when she sings. She's like a boxer that's nice a friendly outside of the ring but once the bell sounds. Look out.


Day 1 is easy because of the Ognissanti holiday. Most businesses are closed so there isn't much to do. All the Italians are going to the cemetery to pay they respects to relatives that have passed away. I thought about going over there as I'm sure that would be some good photos with all the flowers but I woke up to thunder and lightening so going over just to see what's going on doesn't seem like a good idea. Although as I write this it's being to lighten up so maybe I will take a stroll around town.

My Birthday is done and over!

Yes, it was my birthday yesterday and it went well in so many ways. It started out almost like in the US, except I went to work with cornetti instead of doughnuts. In the US I was always one to harass people for doughnuts on their birthday so I understand completely the concept of cornetti for coworkers. Back in Indianapolis we even had two approved sources for doughnuts. The preferred place was Long’s Doughnuts in Speedway. Krispy Crème was the second and accepted as not everyone could get to Long’s before work. I remember once we managed to guilt Michael Mann into bringing in doughnuts to celebrate his new shoes. Hey, they were very nice shoes!
At work I took a break to go to the Questura to get the best present of all. My brand new permesso di soggiorno. This is THE all-important permit to live in Italy. Renewal isn’t usually a problem but they’ve gone to a new system in Brindisi. Instead of boring piece of paper I have fancy laminated credit card. It has holograms and chips in it, so I held my breath as they tested it make sure it worked. They put the card in one end of a machine. I put a finger on the little fingerprint scanner on the other end and machine gave me the green light. Very high tech! The permit is for two years, which is the remaining time on my contract here, so now I can legally stay here until the end with no more visits to the Questura to harass my friend there, knock on wood. I guess I’ll have to marry a beautiful Italian woman to stay longer!
Then I learned at work that we were playing calcio (soccer) on Monday night instead of Thursday. This threw a wrench in my plans but it worked out after all. The match turned into the second best present of the day as we won in good form. After a loss and a tie we were getting little “on each others’ nerves”. Nothing like a good win to make everyone happy again.
After the game I rushed home for the big Juventus vs Napoli match on TV. People filtered in and we had focaccia, cake, and salumi from Norcia to celebrate my birthday and watch the game. I appreciate everyone who was there last night and it was funny as it was almost like the World Cup again. We had a big match on the TV, the food, the cats in a state of panic, and then some of us looking at photos of the past parties on the computer.
It’s a birthday I won’t forget and that’s saying something because there are getting harder to remember!!!! I think I’ve forgotten 31-34. I remember 30 well because Emily put 30 plastic flamingos and a big sign in my front yard. That seems like ages ago!!!!