It's not a matter of luck

I've just received my first Xmas card in my new home here in Saint Petersburg!!!!

Thank you, biancoloto , the pictures are just amazing!

And finally, with also all the decorations around the city, it starts to feel more like Christmas even here! We are just missing the snow, but I'm confident we'll get even that in a short time!

 So, elections are over, results are final.

Really, I find SO HARD to understand how people still believe in that thing we have as PM.

I'm starting to feel hopeless for my poor country. And, every time, I say I don't want to discuss/getting involved in politics and here I am again. 

Better going back to work!

It's hard, SO HARD to be here, while this is happening at home.

     
I don't even know if any of my friends was there, like on a vacation trip or something. And I dearly hope it's not the case.
So, if any of you read this and can reassure me about everybody health, that would be a huge thing for me.

I wish I can do something more, but I can only wait and hope for everything to be solved and everyone to be rescued.

ETA: For whoever from my Italian friends interested, those are the numbers to contact if you want to help. Per volontari addestrati: 3270499293.
Per viveri, coperte, medicinale o altro: 800.860.146 oppure 06.68208.
Chiunque avesse una struttura alberghiera in Abruzzo in grado di ospitare: 0854308309.
Copiare e incollare, grazie.

I woke up this morning and... there's A MY FIRST SUNNY DAY WAITING FOR ME OUTSIDE!!!!!

As soon as I'm over with the bloody cleaning, I'm off to enjoy a wonderful day around the frozen SUNNY city!

Keep your fingers crosse for me, I hope the good weather will last for all the day long!

Since tomorrow for me it will be another working day (but I'm going to have a whole week of holiday at the beginning of January, so LUCKY ME!) and tomorrow night I'll be at the opera, I'm going to wish you all guys the merriest, happiest, sweetest, addeverythingendingwithesthere MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family.

I love you guys... and for the first time in years, I'm going to have a proper SNOWY christmas. I guess this is one of the best gifts for this year.

*hugs*

BUON NATALE!

So, I left the hotel and now I'm living in a awesome flat near Nevsky Pr.

Unfortunately, it's only a temporary solution, since I'm in someone else's house, thanking the fact this co-worker of mine left for Christmas holidays (btw, it's already Xmas?! Well, I'll work that day, so it won't make any difference for me).

But, still it's a awesome news because now I'll be able to actually seeing something of the city (I'm going to walk around in some minutes) and I'll be able to actually LIVE here.

Still, I have huge communication problems... at work with my English (and don't start saying I'm wrong and that my Eng is perfectly fine... I'm really having troubles understanding people!) and around the city with Russian that I can still barely read.

But I'll figure out something, I'm sure of it.

A better update soon, now I have to take chance of the small light outside still available.

Okay, people, I'm in SPB.

I actually haven't seen anything besides my working place and the hotel, by I guess I firstly need to find my own place, hopefully nearer the city centre.

This is just to let you all know I'm safe and sound (and with the slowest internet connection ever, I can't even open the gmail page!!!)

Ttyl!

AND I HAVE TO BUY A MOBILE PHONE CARD HERE.... MY ITALIAN PROVIDER IS LITERALLY STOLING MONEY FROM ME!!!!!!!!! *desperate sigh* Unfortunately, no shops around my hotel *sighs again*

So, it's been a while after my last post, but lately I was completely absorbed by all the things I have to do before leaving.

Because, yes, last Friday I finally got all the papers for my visa request and by next Monday i'm going to leave for Saint Petersburg! I don't know if I'm more excited or freaked aout about the whole ordeal XD.

Actually, I was starting to think I would be able to spend Christmas at home... but I should have seen this coming, since Russian's Xmas is the 7th of January. Well, maybe the office will be closed the first week of January (which would be amazing, since my parents are coming to SPB for the end of December... lol, my parents are going to visit me there and instead it seems that most of my friends over here don't care at all about me leaving for good *snorts*. Well, that teaches you all how family closeness is important), but nothing is sure. Well, I had a full month of rest behind me, so I should be more than satisfied right now.

Anyway, since I have still some days to get ready, do you have any kind of advice for me about what I should take with me, what I should know about living there, whatever?

And, a direct question to biancoloto : there is a mobile company you suggest me? I'm planning of getting a Russian phone card when I'll be there, but I can't find out any useful information! How do you recharge it (in Italy I can buy cards to put money on my mobile but I don't know if over there is the same)?
And, in general, you have any further advice about living around the city, if you know SPB well enough of course?

So, today I spent other money for my clothing...  after a long search, since it's hard to find my shoes size *sighs*, I I finally bought a lovely pair of boots (but brown and not black) that surely will help me keeping both my feet and legs warm in the extremely cold SPB without losing at elegance.
I don't want to think how much I spent over them, but since they have a nice cut and will be good not only for this fashion season (well, a girl has to find a way to make her money last long in time!), I think I've made a good deal.

Moreover, I finally moved my lazy self and even took my winter leather bag and shoes to get repaire, after postponing it since last winter. Well, I'm going to need them both very soon, so there wasn't any good reason to running around and neglecting them.

Then, I called HP customer care service.
You all know my dvd burner on this stupid laptop hasn't been working for a while.
Well, to solve this, I've mailed HP and they, very helpfully, went through a lot of suggestion about what to do. No, I'm not sarcastic, really! I wrote them in full rant mode and instead they were all nice and helpful. Even if I'm still pissed off at hearing that I have to format my laptop, because this was the only true solution according to them - but I don't want to go further into this right now, you won't be able to stand me ranting about this XD.

But, what actually knocked me out was finding out that neither formatting the stupid thing I solved my problem.
So, I was right from the very beginning and the stupid dvd burner fried.
And since my warranty period (A YEAR?! ONLY A BLOODY YEAR?! WTF?!) has expired, I have to pay for the new optical unit by myself. Of course, I'll be refund by my insurance, but this is not the point...
No, the point is that it would cost me € 440,40!
FOR A CD/DVD PLAYER?!
ARE YOU INSANE PEOPLE?!
And, moreover, they would take away my laptop for 10-12 working days, after I've signed the contract and PRE-PAID for the repairing. Without actually being sure that they would be able to repair the thing, since my laptop is out of production.

The whole thing would take around a full month and probably I'll be in Russia before I'll be able to get back my laptop.
Which can't surely happen, or I'll be completely isolated from my family and friends.

HONESTLY!

I even asked if I could do anything to make things faster (even if, with all the money I would pay, they should repair my laptop IMMEDIATELY), but without any luck.
So, I guess I'm going to buy an external unit and that's all.
And, until that moment, I have a formatted pc, without any program on it because all my stuff is burned on dvd/cd and so I don't have word, photoshop, autocad, etc etc.

GEEZ, I'M SO MAD!

On a happier hand, through my photoblog I was able to see a lot of inspiring works. Actually, today a very talented guy even showed me a building made by a friend of his that I've already seen on magazines and that I liked a lot!
Unbelievable how the world is more and more like a small town!

Today, while I was recovering from a VERY bad headaches - and I'm still feeling a bit weird - I played around with some of my pictures. Actually, I'm mostly annoyed with my stupid laptop, since it still has problems reading cd, so I was able to work only on images that were already on my HD, but I managed to keep me occupied for most of the afternoon.

As probably some of you already know, I've always loved to take pictures. Mostly landscapes and buildings, probably because I have this inner feeling that pictures with people inside are mostly faked moment... and taking pics to unaware people seems a bit unpolite, so I stuck with what I know and love best (as azianwolfdoll knows too well).
Lately, unfortunately, I had to give up on this passion, mostly for lack of time than anything else. And because I was able to buy my own camera only last July (and I still don't know how to use it properly XD!).
But, I hope I'll be able to recover both the lost time and my creative eyes... anyway, if you want to see some of the pics I've posted, you can have a look here.

And, btw, the link is already posted in the list on your right.

Now... I'll start a Bones marathon with my little sister, that missed most of the new season!