Thursday, October 28, 2010

l'Elisir d'Amore at the Teatro alla Scala

My first opera in Italy!
L'elisir D'amore (The Elixir of Love) was a wonderful comedy romance!

イタリアでの初オペラ!
L'elisir D'amore (愛の妙薬)は楽しいロマンティックコメディー!

Love the chandelier and the lamps
美しいシャンデリアとランプ

Next time: V.I.P seats!!!
vip席はまた今度!!

Orehestra getting ready
オーケストラ準備中


I fell in love with the cieling
天井に恋したの

Everyone waiting for the great show!
最高のショーを待っているみなさん


Oh no shes gonna get married!!
彼女が結婚してしまう!

Standing ovation
盛大な拍手!
 
My beautiful Estonian friend
キレイなエストニアからのお友達
After the opera
オペラの後


I went home and researched for hours on the l'Elisir d'Amore and the Teatro alla Scala.
I felt so grateful to see such a tradtional opera show surrounded by historical architecture.
Next is Carmen!! Must go see!!

家へ帰って l'Elisir d'Amore と Teatro alla Scala についてリサーチした。
伝統的なオペラショーを何百年ものの歴史が詰まってる建築に包まれて観れたことに感謝。
次はカルメン!!絶対見に行く!

Monday, October 25, 2010

oh.so.milano

Milan changes its expressions depending on the sky.
Sunny day, rainy day, cloudy day, snowy day, at night...etc
You notice different things everytime you look at it.
ミラノは空によって表情が変わる。
晴れの日、雨の日、くもり日、雪の日、夜…
見るたび違うものに気づく。

Sunny day. Duomo
晴れの日のドゥオモ

Inside Galleria
galleriaの中

Look up
見上げて

Corduso

Galleria

At night. Same place looks different.


Navigli


Outside Dolce and Gabbana Spiga 2 balcony

Courtyard view from out kitchen.
You can see how the families live from their window like a story book.
キッチンのベランダから中庭が
一つ一つの窓が家族の絵本

Inside elevator. Non-automatic door! You open and you close.
手動ドアエレベーター!始め来たときびっくり。

Friday, October 22, 2010

Roaming around VINTAGE SHOPS in Milano

Vimtage men's wear shop.... LOVE

Leather bags

Hanger Suitcase for VESTS! how clever!

Vintage Drawers

I want to travel around with this... except I'm not strong enough...

Neckties??

More vintage collared shirts

Mini fridge and sink sitting on a counter!!

I tried to take the vintage haute dress inside but its very tiny. Yet you can see me and my friend on the other side of the street clearly reflecting off the window. My personal fave photo <3

I like the soles of shoes too...

  Close up

CUT Leather jacket store! looove them all

Fell in love with the gas mask inside Vintage Army store on Navigli

ITALIA

Eye protection

Vintage jackets for tough men. Only if I can fit in them... </3

This is very hardcore

Yessir!


Too cute.

Ring Ring Ring! Sit on the chair and put your shoes on

Buckle up!

Cork Screw that's too cute for screwing a cork.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Thank you Dolce and Gabbana

I went to the Tea party held at Spiga 2, Dolce and Gabbana store. I saw amazing pieces and what Stefano and Domenico did for the young designers are truly amazing.

Dolce and Gabbanaスピガ2ミラノ店でティーパーティー!ステファノとドメニコが新人デザイナー達に与えたことは本当に素晴らしい。最高な商品も数々ありました!



ipad to look through collections
コレクションを見るためのipad

スワイドマガジンユーザーがもらったステファノとドメニコからのメール:
e-mail from Stefano and Domenico to Swide reders:


Dear Swide readers,
The opening of the Spiga2 store in Milan is for us a matter of great pride. In this store, together with the Dolce&Gabbana accessories, you will find pieces from the collections of young emerging designers from around the world. We believe this is a huge novelty, and perhaps strange to some. A brand bringing other designers’ pieces into its store is something that has never been done before.
We chose these designers by looking at their website, and then a buyer decided which pieces of their collection to get, but not just that. We wanted to give the young talents the opportunity to contribute in the selection.
This is because we know how hard it is for a younger designer, at the beginning of his career, to sell innovative pieces that represent their vision of fashion and the style of the moment. We remember how hard it was for us to convince buyers to invest in Dolce&Gabbana because our designs were considered a bit daring for that time.
When we think back on our career, we realize how hard it is to get heard, to get an opportunity, find your own space. This is why we are proud of Spiga2. We don’t mean to be patrons of fashion, definitely not, but to create visibility for them and some profit. When we say profit, we would like to underline the importance of it at the beginning of a designer’s career. This is why we bought their collection. We want to sell them and let customers know them. It’s not charity, it’s a real opportunity. Some of them, when we called to explain our idea almost couldn’t believe it. They thought it was a joke.
We are not as young as they are, but we have been there and know how frantic the beginnings can be. But we still understand today’s fashion world. The market needs to be shaken up with new names. It’s very important for us as well. If there is a new talented designer around, you also feel stimulated to do something, this is important. We like to imagine our accessories mixed with other brands’ collections, which is something people do anyway. We like to think that today we are still as we were at the beginning of our career: in tune with reality. To all of the designers we picked for Spiga2, but not only, to all creative people who want to work in fashion we would like to say to never stop doing what they do and always challenge themselves.

Domenico & Stefano

via “We want to give an opportunity to young designers”


The tea and the cupcakes were very pleasant. Their warm welcoming surely touched people's hearts.
紅茶とカップケーキはとても幸いな気分にさせてくれました。暖かい歓迎をどうもあいがとう。

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Went to an orchestra here in Milano



Thank you musicians on playing your own role which made a magical harmony.

Thank you ears for being able to enjoy music.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

SPITZ in NAVIGLI

2 words: HAPPY HOUR!
Yesterday night I went to SPITZ on Navigli during happy hour time. Usually on the weekend nights it has a long line up. But yesterday we only waited for 15 min!
Oh yes, and since it was so full we had to share a table with this 3 blonde Italian girls. "Carino this Carino that"(Carino = Cute guy) That's all. they. said.
Anyways for 8 Euros you get to eat all you want with a drink. You get full with GOOD FOOD such as pizzas, pasta, cheese, sliced meat, veggies, potatoes, rice etc etc lots of selection here at SPITZ! No wonder it's such a long line up during weekends!

SUCCESS

Today, I finally got the PERMESSO DI SOGGIORNO from the immigration office (after the third trip there) and the CODICE FISCALE from the Agenzia delle Entrate (which was easier to get than I thought it would)! YAY!

So for those of you who wants to get the Permesso di Soggiorno for working holiday, you want to get it within the 8 days you land in Italy. Make an early trip at like 7am (cuz the lines ups are OhSoLong) and don't plan anything to do in the early after noon. Oh yes. It took me about 4 hours to get it and 90% of the time was wasted because of the wait! You will need: a form (which you can get at the entrance with a waiting number),documents from your embassy, 4 passport quality photos of yourself (which you can take in a photo booth in stations and in the immigration office), photocopies of your passport (the pages with your picture and the visa printed), also you will need to go to a TABACCHINO to buy a Marca da Bollo da 14,62EURO (this is a stamp which you will need to seal on the form). If you finish applying the form after a very long wait (I waited at least 1.5 hour), you will get your fingers scanned after another LONG wait (Owh, I probably waited for at least 2 hours).  Again, this is the procedure of getting the Permesso di Soggiorno for WORKING HOLIDAY. So there are many different types of visas so don't know how about the other ones. Oh and make suuure you go back the window where you have applied and get the official form with your info and your photo sealed and signed. I did this in Milano close to Turati (Yellow Metroline 3) Station, so if anyone has questions about how to do it there, I guess I can help you.

Also for the Codice Fiscale. I went to Milano's Agenzia Delle Entrate also near Turati (Yellow Metroline 3) Station and there I just lined up, told the guy what I needed and took me to an agent and got it done in like 5 min. You will need this Numero di Codice Fiscale for opening banks and such. I brought my Permesso di Soggiorno so I guess it made the whole process easy!

Anyways, I had many friends foreigner friends in Japan trying to make it out in the crammed country of chaotic confusion. At least, some Italians do know English! Phew! Or some Italian words are similar to English. But thinking about doing it all in Japan where nooobody speaks English?? I can't even imagine. Well... I guess I can since these two Chinese girls were asking me to help them. But they were speaking in Chinese to me... :( But I don't understand Chinese! and they had electornic dictionary in one hand trying to explain things to me in English but they made no sense! Plus I had to run downstairs to go get my fingerprints done...so I couldn't help them. Sorry Chinese girls! I hope you guys made it out okay! Anyways I give respect to the foreigners in a foreign country who went through it all! People told me how hard it was but now I feel you!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Horacio Ferrer PRESENTA IL SUO LIBRO LOCA ELLA LOCO YO

In Milano, Italia now...
Second night I spent here I went to a library 10 minutes away from the Duomo. There, they held an event for the poet Haracio Ferrer. They harmonized his poetry with a small orchestra of violin, cello and piano.


I entered the room and the hall was surrounded by these four walls with a beautiful baroque painting. It was extremely huge that I doubted at first that one man did the painting all by himself. They had a long explanation about the painting but I was only able to pick up parts of it due to my lack of comprehending Italian. There was a man playing a viola in the nature and all the animals came out to listen and to sing with his melody. There were many many different kinds of animals and especially lots of birds! They said that they discovered the American land at that time and painted the different kinds of birds that they saw in South America.

ハラチオ・フェレール、詩人とのオーケストラのショーを見に行った。場所はドゥオモから徒歩10分でいける図書館。その中のステージの部屋へ入った時は私の息を一瞬止めた。 バロック時代に描かれた絵。ヴィオラを弾いてる男性を聞きに来ている動物達。ちょうどこの時代南アメリカを発見したときで珍しい鳥がたくさん描かれていた。




Listening to the poet was all in Italian. And I don't speak the language. yet... If someone else was to be in my position, he or she would think it was just bunch of gibberish. But the whole time, I could not bore myself. I was only inspired. Haracio Ferrer's voice reading his lovely poem was like a song to me. The musicians talking to each other to the audience was like a harmony to me. Then I noticed. If I were to understand Italiano, I would be listening to them talk as words. And words have meanings. But this time I was able to listen and hear Italiano as its sounds - rythmical intonation. No wonder opera sounds so beautiful in Italiano because the language itself is a melody. I know a Japanese opera singer and she told me once. It is extremely difficult to translate the opera lyrics to Japanese and sing it. It looses its beauty because the language is not so melody-like as the Italiano language.

ハラチオさんはずーっと私の分からない言語で詩を読んでくれた。けど一度も無知の空間の中で退屈は感じなかった。音楽として聞いてたからかもしれない。そして私はふっと感じた。もしイタリア語を知っていたら言葉として捕らえている。だが今回はイタリア語を音(オン)としてきいてた―イタリア語のリズミカルなイントネーション。 オペラはイタリア語だと美しいのはこういう理由だからかもしれない。また日本語にはない別の魅力だ。

Never seen a man so colour coordinated: brown suit, red stripes, vivid red shirt (with initials embrided on the left lower chest which means custom made), grey-green chiffon bow, dull red flower
Wish you can see his cufflinks here!  VERY styling. Representing Milanese men.

これほど色使いのうまい男性みたの始めて:茶に赤ストライプ・かんぬき、ヴィヴィッドレッドのシャツ(イニシャルが右胸下に刺繍=オーダーメイド)、くすんだ緑のシフォンリボン、くすんだ色々の赤が混じった花
カフスリンクが見えないのが残念!とてもお洒落!ミラノ男性代表!


I was once told 4 years ago when I was in Milan by an Italian woman. She was talking to my friend in Italiano. Then she looked to me and asked a question. Ofcourse I was only able to say. "non parlo Italiano..." and she was surprised. The whole time she was talking with my friend, she thought I understood because of my expressions. Well they are so expressive with the hand motions and maybe because I'm so intrigued by the sound that it comes to me like music. And music has no borders.

四年前ミラノにいた時ある女性に言われた。彼女は私の友達とイタリア語で話していた。そして私を見て質問を聞いた。もちろん「イタリア語喋れません...」としか返答できなかった...けど彼女は少し驚いていた。彼女が私の友達と話していたとき私はずっと会話を理解していると思っていた―私の表情がそういっていたのだ。 イタリア人は腕や手を使いながらとても表現力強く話すから私には音楽の用に聞こえたのだ。 音楽には国境はないから...だから理解した用に見えたのかも?