Italy, Norway and Claire!

Very nice long weekend in Italy for Christmas holidays meeting old friends, family and a long time (3 years) Taiwanese pen friend that just moved to Italy for (at least) one year studying at the Domus Academy in Milan: Claire, a lovely new/old friend!

I had a chance to show Claire around in Biella, and we both share a great interest in photography, even if my focus and her focus were on slightly different subjects! 🙂

It’s true I have already taken many pictures of Biella, and I did also took some this time, especially for my new HDR attempts!

On the other hand, I had a chance to visit again after ages the Ricetto di Candelo, a middle age fortified structure that is still preserved in a very good condition! And the pictures, even close to the evening, were quite satisfying!

It was great to see so much snow in Italy as well.. and I was extremely lucky with the choice of traveling days, landing barely one day after a 3 days of pure nightmare for airports, roads and trains because of ice and snow in Italy as in the rest of Europe.

So a trip started nicely and ended nicely.. Very good time at home, with tons of good food and drinks.. Too much? 😉

And the good time continues in Norway, when Claire came up here for the first time and I had a chance to show her Stavanger, Trondheim, Røros and Oslo, with a great new year eve party in a cabin up in the mountains close to Meråker, together with many close friends!

2010 predictions

Starting as the last few years, random order (bold for new 2010 predictions):

• 60% of resolutions will become true.. and this year I want to be more optimist than before 😉
• the world will not be a better place, it won’t be cleaner, it won’t have less wars, it won’t give more profound values to the new generations
• Italian politics will still suck
• I will see more of China!
• catholic church will still not recognize unmarried couples, not approve use of condoms for limiting AIDS (only celibacy) and not try to take a step in modern times
• I will not lose my pessimistic/realistic nature
• I will meet new interesting people
• I will love, again..
• I will suffer because of love, again..
• I will forget her..
• I will learn more Chinese 😉
• I will experience so many new things, foods, people that I wonder if I’ll manage to keep my head on my shoulders 😉
• I will practice again with Endo sensei in Shanghai
• I will practice much less Aikido but maybe I’ll start new Chinese martial arts..
• I’ll learn more about Chinese culture

2010 resolutions

Yeah.. let’s see which kind of promises I can make and break:

• forget her completely!
• face this new challenge with courage, realism and.. madness!
• do not be afraid to admit I made a [several] mistake[s]
• (always) keep my weight under control..
• improve my Chinese (!)
• do not be afraid to love again.. and suffer for love again!
• take care of the injures I have started the year with: lower back (31st May 2009 – Endo sensei seminar @ Berlin), knees (31st July 2009, on the way to Mathias’ wedding in France), elbow (25th September 2009 – Orban sensei seminar @Oslo)
• do not be afraid to ask for help!
• keep my new house better than the last one.. less messy!
• achieve good results in the new job!
• travel more in China!
• get to know Hefei!
• make new memories of lovely Beijing!