About Me? Awww Shucks!

At the end of last week a friend of mine in Milan who is Russian, asked if she could write about me on her own blog. She wanted to ask me a few questions about my time living in Italy, and what I miss about it now and what in turn that I missed about Australia whilst living in Italy for five years.

Here is the link to Anna's blog and her story about me: http://emigranti-inc.livejournal.com/2996.html

Now, yes its all in Russian, and for those of us who don't understand the language, here is the questions and answers in English:

My name is: Debra
I am: 38 years old
My hometown is: Sydney, Australia
I was in Italy for: Just over five years. I started off in Bologna for 4 months, and then spent the rest of the time living in Milano. I did a 3 month Italian course in Bologna and then when I decided that I wanted to try living and working in Italy, I found a job in Milano and that is when I moved there.
I started working for 77Agency in: June 2007
Italian Jobs: My first job was with a small head-hunting company where I worked for 9 months, and then I started work with 77, as an Account Manager.
Why Italy: I originally traveled to Italy to learn the language and in fact said that I would likely return to Australia after 3-6 months, and in the end I returned after just over five years! I was really enjoying the cultural experiences I was having and before I knew it the time had passed. I will never regret my time in Italy.

1) Top 3 Things about Italy:

• Food: I am missing proper Italian pizza and gelato especially. I am yet to eat an authentic Italian pizza since I got back to Australia.
• Italian scenery: Italy is such a diverse country with regards to the scenery which changes from the Lakes and mountains in the north to the beautiful coastline in the south. Australia does have beautiful places and nature as well, however Italy is a bit different and the beautiful old villages amongst rolling hills or with spectacular views across the ocean are incredible.
• Shopping: I think that the stores, clothes and shoes available in Milano are beautiful, well priced and the stores are always so nice to take a walk through, from the every day stores like Zara and H&M right through to the luxury high-end like Gucci or Prada.
  

2) Three Things I don't like about Italy:

• Berlusconi: He is running the country solely with his own interests at heart, and really just needs to resign, be found guilty of all the crimes he has committed and never be seen again. I know that this is really harsh, but his behaviour would not be accepted in any other country in the world.
  
• Bureaucracy: If you have ever needed to do any thing like organise a Visa or Residency in Italy you know that the systems are very old-fashioned and that arriving at the official office at 6am in the morning is normal. These systems are very frustrating for anyone coming from a country used to things being organised quickly and efficiently.
• Space: In Italy wherever you are there is always a house, village, car, person nearby. Its understandable when there is 60 million people living in the country, but I think that for me this took a while to get used to when you come from a country such as Australia which is so huge and its very easy to go for a drive in the Australian countryside and not see anyone else for hours.

3) Three Things about Australia that I missed in Italy:

• My family: How can you not miss your family? We are close and it was always hard when there was an important event to be across the other side of the world. I am loving spending lots of time again with them now, especially my two nieces who just make me smile constantly.
• International Cuisine: In Australia it is possible to eat food and go to restaurants from just about every country in the world, so I did miss the food choices in Italy, and for example Thai food which I just love! Every time I traveled to London for work I made sure to go to a restaurant offering the food I was really craving.
  
• Beach: I am from Sydney which is a city situated right on the beach and I am also a real summer and water person. There are so many beaches right in Sydney which you can travel to depending on where you live in the city or otherwise a huge harbour as well. Whenever it was stinking hot in Milan during summer I would dream about going to my favourite beaches in Sydney for a swim. I'm therefore really enjoying the fact that we are in spring over here now and I'm looking forward to spending lazy days on the beach again very soon.

Thanks Anna for this experience and asking me to be part of your blog! 

Strangely Odd!

This is going to be a quick post, but its something that has been stuck in my head all morning.

Today I got up and went for a run before work, and whilst jogging along the streets of downtown Neutral Bay here in Sydney, I saw something that made me not only raise my eyebrows, but shake my head and just plain old wonder.

I was running along and in front of me were two middle aged ladies going for a morning walk. Nothing odd with this sight you think, however the thing which made me raise my eyebrows was that these two ladies were twins with the same body shape, and dressed in exactly the same clothes with the same haircut and I think the same glasses as well.

So this image of these two ladies walking along looking exactly the same just rushed back into my head. Yes, I know its a random thing to write about, however it really struck me as odd. Why are these two women still wearing the same clothes? Was it just an odd coincidence or is this something that they do every day? I have friends who are twins around the same age as me, and they definitely don't do this although I am sure when they were kids at one time or another their parents did dress them in the same clothes, but that was then and this is now.

Strange one indeed I think....but that I guess is what makes the world go round...we all have our own personality quirks which raise someone's eyebrows.

Running On...

Since moving back to Sydney, I have been trying to get fitter and healthier overall, and one of the things I have been doing to get stronger has been running. I started running whilst I was living in Milan, and prior to that I had always said that I couldn't run. A colleague of mine in Milan is a big running enthusiast including doing marathons and I think that I was spurred on originally by her and so I decided to try. Starting off I did running, walking, running again, and I still remember the day I did a full lap running non-stop of the park I used to jog around and the pride I felt at having accomplished that small feat. So since then I have continued to run and in Milan that generally entailed me starting in spring and by the end of autumn I was slowing down as the thought of getting up when it was cold, dark and at times snowy wasn't super appealing! I'm definitely not going to break any world records, but I have definitely started to enjoy this sport.

I joined a gym here in Sydney for a month, (special deal!), and so re-started my running training. During the first few weeks of being back and living here again my head was a bit all over the place, and I kept telling myself to get out and do something but I think in the end it took me almost a month to get myself motivated and going to the gym plus running again outside. I actually am someone who prefers exercising outside as opposed to gym's (apart from something like yoga), and since my one month gym membership expired I am jogging usually in the mornings for around 30 minutes a few times a week and for the past couple of weeks I have also started doing a personal training session once a week. During my gym membership I heard about the Blackmores Running Festival taking place on Sunday 18th September, and I started thinking about taking part. There was four different runs ranging from a marathon, half marathon, 9km Bridge run and 4km Family fun run. I have never actually known how far I run because I have always just run by time; that is I run 30 minutes and that is my goal as opposed to running 5kms and seeing how long it takes to do it.

In addition to starting to run more lately I have also been motivated by a few specific friends who were doing the race and supporting me to give it a go. So after much deliberation I registered for the 9km run. I wasn't sure how long it would take me but I ran once for 60 minutes and another time for 50 minutes in order to give me some experience at running non-stop for that length of time. From my time at the gym I knew that I had run 6 kms in 42 minutes so I thought that I should target around 60-65 minutes to try to achieve, and also I just wanted to run the race non-stop as well.

The 9 km Bridge Run was the last one to start yesterday morning, at 9am, and it was due to reach about 28 degrees, so at least it wasn't going to rain, but that temperature in September here in Sydney is quite warm and random. One friend was getting going at 6.20am to do the half marathon and another was doing the marathon which started around 7.30am. I caught the bus to where the race started, and there were many people taking part also on the same bus as me. I had lots of butterflies flying around my tummy already and I glanced around at the people on the bus and noticed that their race bib's were all a bit different to mine. My bib had "Family Fun Run" written on it and they all had "Bridge Run". So I started getting a little bit more nervous and stressed as I realised I had registered for the wrong race! I was seemingly registered to run the 4km instead. I got off the bus at North Sydney and walked quickly down to the starting point at Milsons Point, and to find someone to ask about this little problem of mine. I asked a lady at the Information tent and she said to me that the race was full and that I couldn't run, plus that if I did run I could be made to stop by any official who saw me. A multitude of thoughts ran through my head thinking about the past week where I had been thinking of this race non-stop and also the many people who had wished me well. I walked away from the Information tent and thought to myself, no way, I'm going to do it. I was psyched to run this 9km and I wanted to give it a go.

I carefully maneuvered myself within the big group of people at the start, hoping to be as inconspicuous as possible trying to look like I was right where I should be. Then we were off, and I was immediately caught by the race and started running at my speed and not trying to run too fast. After I think only about 500 metres my mouth was dry and I was super thirsty. That feeling continued for the whole race and we had two drink stops where I quickly gulped down a glass of water. The race itself is extremely picturesque as we ran firstly across the Harbour Bridge and then down the Cahill Expressway with a beautiful view towards the Opera House and Sydney harbour before running up Macquarie street in the City, past the NSW Art Gallery to Mrs Macquaries Chair then double-backed and all the way down Macquarie street again finishing at the Opera House. I ran the whole way which I was thrilled about and I think finished with a time between 62-63 minutes. I don't know my actual time because the text message I received with my "official" time was 2 hours 11 minutes...ooops! For four km's!! Funny! I had to laugh. I received my medal for finishing which I later gave to my niece.

After finishing I caught up with my friends, and heard their stories from the half and full marathon. We watched at the finish line as the many marathon runners arrived and I have to say its the most impressive thing to see people who have just run 42kms straight and they can still laugh let alone stand up. The temperature definitely affected most people but I think most of all you could tell everyone was genuinely proud of themselves and the race they had run. I know I was pretty happy with my effort!

Speeding Up

On Wednesday evening I went to a Speed Networking evening. Now I’ve only been Speed Dating once in my life, and therefore Speed Networking was an entirely new thing for me. A complete rooky I was. But I wanted to try it out and experience speaking non-stop for two hours about me and what I do.

I arrived to a full room of people and our host explaining the evening and what to expect. I scanned the room and saw people from seemingly all walks of life like me wanting to meet some potential new business contacts, and as the host explained perhaps get some contracts signed and credit cards out ready to make that huge purchase.

There was approximately 100 people who attended the evening and we started by having five minutes per session with one other person each given half that time to talk about themselves and their business. Similar to the Speed Dating concept five minutes with some people fly’s by and with others you feel like walking up Mt Everest would be quicker.

First up I spoke to an Accountant then followed with fellow Web marketers, someone ready to help me find true meaning in my life, recruitment specialists, a Russian pyscho-analyst (& yes I did feel like I was being analysed – he was looking very deeply into my eyes!), and another urging me to join the Compassion Project. There were people from many different business sectors, with Entrepreneurs, business development managers and even one who said she wasn’t there to push her business she instead just wanted to simply meet people.

After our five minute sessions, we then did Super Speed Networking, with 15 second personal introductions, and that had us moving quickly from seat to seat. I learnt that it is possible to detail in 15 seconds what I do professionally. As was discussed, such a short amount of time is roughly what we get to introduce ourselves when we meet a stranger in for example an elevator. True I thought, and that is what a first impression is all about.  

At the end of the two hours (which flew by the way) I did have pretty much no voice left and it was still a bit squeaky yesterday, however I felt that the event for me had been a success. Not only did I meet some interesting people and potential business contacts, but I also was taught some new skills about how to express and introduce myself. Now on to sewing those seeds…

Mind Games?

Oopsss...I have neglected my blog of late. There is perhaps a reason for this. I think I like to write posts when I believe I have been doing a lot or traveling or visiting somewhere, or just generally getting out and about. I haven't been on a plane since the end of June, and that feels weird. When I lived in Italy, I would at the very least go to London once a month for a work trip, so it is a strange feeling to have not gone anywhere in the past couple of months, and for some reason that equates in my mind to not doing anything important enough to write about.

But I actually am doing things, and am out visiting friends, family and old Sydney haunts. I'm working hard at establishing 77 here in Sydney, and have had a couple of wins, plus am constantly meeting people to introduce the business and find any potential business opportunities. Then in terms of health and well being I've been gyming and started running again which I am enjoying, plus am dieting, but with the intention to lose weight properly and then to keep it off. Oh how nice that would be! Personally, I'm still re-connecting with old friends and also making new friends and that is really good too. I have little moments of feeling lost, and kind of feeling stuck between two worlds, but I'm trying to just march through those moments and enjoy all the happy times I am having here. It's definitely not a "walk in the park" moving countries, and especially moving back to your home country, and this I had been telling myself for months before returning; being that the transition wasn't going to be easy. But more and more I realise that I am genuinely happy to be here in Sydney, and that is truly a good feeling.

What I am craving more than anything is spring and then summer. Even if the winter in Sydney is extremely mild (and lately we have had gorgeous weather) and short as well, I still just want to feel the warm sun on my back and be able to jump into the ocean. It's coming though...tomorrow is the last day of August, and that means its the last official day of winter...hip hooray!

Double Comfort Zone

Since returning from Milano to Sydney one thing I have been saying to people is that I feel like I've spent five years living in Italy, and that by moving I've left my comfort zone and life there to move back to my hometown. Meaning that I was feeling more comfortable in my life in Milan than in Sydney. Although I am not Italian, nor do I speak Italian fluently (it's pretty good, but I raise a high bar for when it comes to saying I speak a language fluently), and I'd never lived in Italy prior to 2006, I had established a life I was enjoying, great friends, home, job etc and was therefore comfortable with. However I realised a while ago that for a few different reasons I was ready to move back to Australia, and now I'm back.

Whilst I was still in Milan I'd had a few conversations with different people about the fact that without a doubt it was going to take me quite a few months to re-adjust and start my life here in Sydney again, and quite likely more than six months. So I've been pacing myself and not running around expecting friends and family to be as they were five years ago. It's hard actually to explain how good it feels to be spending time again with people I've known for so long, and have a history with. It's so easy to just sit down and start talking. I'm missing all my buddies in Milan though and have been imagining each of them with me as I catch up with my friends over here and thinking it would be great to have them all together. Wouldn't that be the perfect situation! I'll keep hoping that happens one day soon.

So back to my comfort zone, and yes, I'm still getting my Sydney head switched on again, but there are a few things starting to creep back which make me realise that I am in fact really home. A small thing like walking into a supermarket and knowing exactly where to find different certain products or knowing about Sydney radio stations and what types of music they play. So yes those pieces of knowledge are a nice assurance for me and great, because I've realised that I missed that feeling whilst living in Italy. It's the little things that we all know about the country where we grew up. That we don't have to think twice about.

I'm not disconnecting completely with Italy though. I joined the social network Meet Up and they have an Italian conversation class, which I attended once and there I met a couple of sisters who grew up speaking Italian at home with their parents. They also work in the same suburb that I do, so we had lunch together last week. Whilst lunching and speaking in Italian, a guy approached us also speaking Italian saying that he had overheard our conversation. Small world indeed! Last night I also met a couple of people, one Italian and the other Venezuelan who also live / lived in Milan, so out came the Italian and then of course at the restaurant we went to for dinner our waiter was Italian! So I'm definitely not losing the Italian lingo!

So all in all I think things are going quite well. After six weeks I am feeling less like being in the "land of limbo" and although I know I still want to achieve a lot more I not trying to rush things, rather to take everything day by day.

Party Time! With some sobering moments...

Tomorrow is my one niece's 3rd birthday, and last Saturday was her party. It was a great day, and actually the first time that I've been in Sydney to celebrate with her. For me that was a very special thing, and definitely brought home to me that I was here and back in Sydney, and that there wasn't anywhere else on this planet that I would rather be. The party went off without a hitch, and the birthday girl remained excited and enthralled throughout the day. For the kids, I think their two most memorable moments were the Fairy who performed for them and painted their faces, plus the swimming pool cake!

For me the last week has been one of quite positive moments with regards to my job. I've met quite a number of people and they have all been receptive to what I'm offering and selling into the Australian market; Facebook and all that is possible with regards to advertising, building a brand and the tools to make it happen. At the same time I know that I have a long way to go, and most of all I need to win some business. That is the most important thing that I am after right now so I need to meet lots more people and discuss, inspire, be passionate and market the business in the right and best direction.

I've now been back in Sydney for about a month and I have to say that one thing that I am shaking my head about almost every day is how expensive it is for certain things here. I pay $9 for a salad sandwich and a bottle of water, or I was told that a daily train/ferry/bus ticket was $20; "but that gets you all the way to the Blue Mountains" (2 hours from the city centre)...which wasn't so helpful when all I'm doing is traveling between the eastern suburbs, City and North Sydney and I also paid $9 for a Corona at a bar in the City. What the?!?!? Milan is cheaper for these things. Hence my head shaking, but also wondering and wanting to challenge myself to find cheaper alternatives. So I'm taking a wander every lunch time to see if I can find a less expensive yet still healthy alternative to that $9 sandwich...stay tuned.

On Saturday morning I woke up to read and hear about the awful massacre and bombing that took place in Oslo on Friday. I still don't understand how one person could have so much hate, anger and be so calculated to plan the day and the whole act for years. I've never been to Norway, but the first thoughts that come into my mind about this country are: peace, nature, happy people and eternal summer sunshine. However this is also what I think about all of Scandinavia. Perhaps I'm naive in these thoughts, but almost every article and Tweet that I've read have all remarked about Norway being a peaceful nation. So I'm not alone in thinking that. I have been impressed with the reaction of the Norwegian Prime Minister. He hasn't talked about hate nor of revenge, but rather of humanity and love, and that is not only honest and inspiring but also politically astute. I'm sure that all Norwegians are feeling an extreme shock at the moment, and I sincerely hope that they can help each other to heal and hope once again.

It was also sad to hear about the passing of Amy Winehouse. Such a beautiful voice, and such a shame that she couldn't find her own internal peace. She will be remembered and hopefully always for her music rather than some of her life actions.

Finally, Australia has a Tour de France winner! Good on you Cadel Evans! Australia is super proud and this has warmed our sporting hearts and also been deemed as one of the very best victories by an Australian sports person ever. Although there are some debating that fact, I will say that I was watching eagerly late Saturday night, and shed a little tear once he had officially finished the time trial and there was no way he could lose. I was thinking about how long and hard he has trained, and also for the over 3,500 km's that he had cycled for that winning moment. It was also fantastic to see the massive number of Aussie's lining the Champs Elysees cheering and celebrating Evans' win - for me that just shows the Australian spirit and that makes me feel proud to be from this beautiful country.

Here are some yummy cupcakes from my niece's Birthday party!