There is something particular about Pisa. I don’t think it’s even an Italian thing, just something particular about this city.

When it rains people use umbrellas on their bicycles. They’re driving around, guiding the bike with one hand and holding the umbrella in the other. Of course it doesn’t get very fast that way, but it seems to be an accepted way of moving around…

Auch von hier unten verfolge ich noch manchmal was in Germanenrepublik von sich geht. Nicht das es hier uninteressant wäre. Aber aus der Nähe ist es weniger lustig mit dem Silvio als von der anderen Seite der Alpen aussieht. Das hebe ich mir für ein andermal auf.

Aber immerhin: In Deutschland gibt es auch lustige Leute. Den Herrn Ackermann von der Deutschen Bank zum Beispiel – der ist gerade an allem schuld. Er kann einem fast ein bisschen leid tun. Verzichtet er auf seinen Bonus, ist es nicht recht – verdient hat er den ja sowieso nicht. Behalten wäre natürlich auch nicht so gut angkommen. Auf jeden Fall stehen die Tatort-Komissare Schlange um ihn zu verhaften. Wahrscheinlich könnte er sogar ins Kloster nach Tibet gehen, es würde nichts helfen.

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Today I learned something new about the Italian tax system: You can actually decide where a (very, very small) part of your taxes actually goes. There’s 0,8% that goes to a church of your choice, or optionally to the state (for public welfare or something).

And 0,5% goes to an organisation of your choice (welfare, emergency relief, this type of thing).

Done.

So, it’s a while since I posted something here and it’s about time for the first news in this year…

I finally got to sort my digital photo collection and actually put some new ones into the gallery. Now I have to check for a digital print service here in Pisa, to get some on the walls too.

My DSL adventure actually went into a second round as the line deteriorated after a few weeks. It took some phoning with the customer service, and they had to change the lines, but everything seems fine now. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Otherwise, work is going on and I’m still changing between Trento and Pisa. Christmas was a major travelfest, but now things should get a bit quieter until, let’s say, Easter

The Italian is slowly improving, but I hope I can have another course in order to get to the finer points.

This weekend I went to the movies for the first time in Italy. I was actually quite surprised: Even though I didn’t get the more involved dialogues, I was able to follow the plot, more or less…