Roma: The finale’

On the final day of the tour in Roma, managed to get into the Colossea within minutes of closing. Apparently there was some sort of exhibition later in the evening, which resulted in the early closing. Even though there was a queue for the ticket, the wait was worth it. It’s just simply amazing. The Colossea is huge. The same familiar feeling sets in when you imagine how it would’ve been like when there were tens of thousands of people cheering for the gladiators having a duel with the lions (Note: I’m just taking reference from the movie ‘Gladiator’ since we didn’t have time to listen for the audio guide). It appears that the ground of the arena had already gone which exposes a maze of walls and chambers underneath it. We later found out that the chambers were where they kept the lions in cages.

The final stop of the Roma tour was Fontane di Trevi (Trevi fountain). It was a beautiful and relaxing area. There were big and impressive sculptures with a large fountain in the middle. They say if you drop and coin and make a wish, you’ll have a good chance of coming back to Rome. Banar kah tu? Anyways, just for fun, did it anyway tapi pakai coin pence. Hope the legend doesn’t care for currency ☺ There were loads of people taking pictures around the fountain.

Since we had lots of time left, even managed to look for what is supposedly one of the best gelato in town. The name is gelato di crispino. Finally found it after some effort. I must say the gelato is different from the rest. It was creamier and had a more ‘traditional’ taste to it. Heheh, macam expert gelato saja udah.

Also had seafood spaghetti nearby Fontane di Trevi, which was quite good.

Anyways, this will be the final post from Roma. I must say it’s gonna be quite sad to leave this historic place. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the posts and I wish you’ll make it to Rome one day. Insya-Allah.

Ciao!

PS - Let's end the Rome stories with this:

Roma: Day 2 review

Buona sera!

Started the day missing breakfast and instead had lunch in what has become the favourite pizza place of the trip. Today, lunch was prawn salad pizza coupled with sautéed mushrooms. Even tejumpa Beard Papa lookalike in a nearby bakery but have to say it’s not the real deal.

The plan for the day was a visit to the infamous Vatican city. Took the Metro (subway) for the first time and must say it’s quite convenient. When we arrived at the Ottaviano stop, it started to rain heavily. Inda lagi membawa payung or raincoat. Sekalinya, out of the blue came an Indian guy offering to sell umbrellas for 5 Euro each. Pandai dorang ani bedagang. Haha. Being bruneians, menawar lagi tu. Mau jua kurang ☺ And then, one thing masa hujan atu tambus lagi tu aying. Heheh. Payung murah tah banar.

Then we started to queue in a long line just outside the Vatican city walls. Another Indian guy (ramai dorang ani sini) offered to join an English speaking tour for 25 Euro with 14 Euro entrance fee. Katanya no need to wait in line and we decided to go for it. He bought us to a café where there was an English lady gathering other tourists for the tour. Then, she led us back to the queue! Kena kelakari rupanya. (Side note: During the queue, overheard another classic American conversation. There was a guy who asked the tour guide whether it’s worth to visit the Trevi fountain. She replied in a mock shock “of course! how blasphemous to think otherwise!” Sekali reply the guy which was classic “hey! a fountain’s a fountain!” Heheh, another one for the books.)

Anyway, when we finally reached the entrance, there were security checks and we got our hearing aids for the tour. Suffice to say, the tour turned out to be good and informative and the museums were very impressive. There were magnificent sculptures, mosaic paintings and golden arches. But the highlight was the Sistine Chapel where no cameras no allowed at all. We were told that it took Michelangelo 4 years to complete the beautiful painting on the ceiling which turned him half blind by the end of it since he was painting it upside down. He wasn’t paid by money at the end of it but was given a bag of gold coins. He was called back later on to paint ‘The Last Judgement’.

Another impressive place in the Vatican city was a big church hall called San Pietro. As expected, the design of the interior was beautiful. Just outside it was the large and infamous St. Peter’s Square.

The last stop was Piazza di Spagna with all the high street shopping. You name all the major fashion brands in the world and they can be found here. The Spanish steps (finally the correct steps!) can also be found in Spagna.

Had salmon pizza and another round of calamari for la cena (dinner). Oh, of course the day would not be complete without another gelato. It was caramel for me today with a side combo of crepe with nutella. Yummy.

That’s a wrap for Day 2. One more Roman day to go. Bye for now.

Roma

Buon giorno!

Greetings from Roma, Italio.

Am writing this on Day 1 of the tour in Roma. This is my first visit to Italy and I must say it’s been an exciting first day. After arriving in Fiumincino Airport from Manchester and taking the Leonardo express (not “Olympic”!) to Termini station in Rome, walked a good 20 over minutes to via Venezia to Picasso Hotel. Yeah, grand name isn’t it? The hotel ain’t bad actually. I dare say it’s better than the B&B’s that you pay more in central London.

After settling in, went to search for some authentic Italian food. Found a nice place close to the hotel and had a first taste of real Italian pizza! The pizza was thin and crispy with mushrooms and spinach. The “killer” was the generous mozzarella cheese. The taste? Inda lagi nampak telinga bah…. heheh. Seriously, it was that good.

The first tourist spot we hit was called Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II which is next to Foro Traiano. One word to describe the place is Majestic. Not really sure of the history behind it but you have the impression of how much power the Roman empire had just by looking at the sheer size of the place. There were tall columns with huge statues atop. In the centre was a big statue of Roman figure on a horse. I was being amazed by the statue when one American tourist shouted macam inda impressed arah kawannya “it’s a big freakin’ horse”. Found it really funny. Here, there were hundreds of people appreciating the art and then hearing that. Hahah.

Next we went to a beautiful historic area called Arco di Tito and Palatino. It was really a sight to behold. Basically there were remnants of ruins and columns of what must’ve been a vast building landscape. Have to admit, did not really got into the history by getting a proper guide but was really amazed nonetheless.

The infamous Colosseo was next but since the last ticket was sold at 430 pm, did not manage to get in. You’ve seen the pics before but in the flesh, it was more impressive. Will try to write more if I do get in nanti. Insya-Allah.

For dinner, had another pizza, small penne pasta with salmon sauce and fried calamari. Noyce!

One delicacy that is real famous here is the gelato. Yezza. Had 2 helpings so far (nutella and vanilla) and looking forward to more heheh. Check out the flavours from the pics.

Okay, that’s a wrap for Day 1 folks. See you in Day 2. Insya Allah.

PS- Still haven’t found the infamous Spanish steps. So far, have seen 3 different steps but don’t think any of them were Spanish!

Badminton Tourney #1

Now the story.

The People's Society badminton tourney was great. Exciting to see the highly skilled players in action. To be honest, we had no expectations when joining the tourney. Was even nervous, haha. Mana inda, meliat orang pandai and melatup-latup smash dorang, one can get easily nervous indeed! The format was round robin with 4 teams in one group. So, we played 3 games in total.

The first one was more about battling nerves. Lost to a team with equal level I would say. 16-21 was the score. The next game was more exciting. Our opponents were high on confidence and it showed. Pikirnya kami ani would easily roll over. Sekalinya tekajut dorang when we won 21-19.
Yeehaa! That was cool. The victory was even sweeter when we learned that one of them played for the university team! heheh. The last game was against the favourite of our group who ended up going to the semi finals. We just did our best and got a respectable 15-21 against them.

The final was a really good and exciting game between two superb teams. Each team has one player who is very highly skilled. Great smashes, killer dropshots and great defence. One was an Indonesian player who joined some sort of junior scheme.

There's a clip of the final. Will try to post it later. Insha Allah.

On a side note, was even "appointed" as a last minute umpire in one of the matches. Kononnya kan jadi umpire professional lah ni and even announced the scores loudly. Sekalinya, subconsciously, rupanya said "nice shot!" while umpiring! Hahaha umpire bias jadinya.

Pic of the day:


Apparently, the coach for this team is Mr. M. David Shine who taught them this "Cek Mek Molek" trickshot! Team lain pun inda tedapat ni this shot! haha

Notice any similarity? ;-D

Tennis, anyone?

The sports theme continues....

For the first time, managed to have a game of tennis in the indoor courts here in Manchester. Been meaning to experience playing tennis indoors for a while now. Wished there was one in Brunei. Every time it rains (which is a lot), play has to be suspended. Mana lagi dengan menyiut aying di court atu. Haha, those were the good ole days. (G, if you're reading this, you know what I mean).

Anyway, the venue here is really nice. Right next to the Man City stadium. There are 6 courts in total (if I remember correctly). With us was one of the Bruneian juniors who happens to be playing in the university team. He also brought a friend. So, we were definitely in good company. After not having played in quite some time, it took a while to get used to the game again. But it was definitely fun. Real good fun.

As usual, some pics to complete the story:

Weekend in review (part 2)

On Sunday, we took a day trip to Liverpool. Supposed to play badminton for 2 hours and ended up with only one. The rest of the day was spent doing what we do best. Eating. I counted a total of 4, yes that's FOUR times of having something to eat. The first one was cucur pisang, then Lamb Qouzy in quite an interesting venue (in less than one hour before badminton starts!), then a big meal in Master Chef indian restaurant (after badminton!) where the waiter insists that we take the main course instead of just having starters and to round things off, having samosa, sausages and chips in kak nurul's house. Wow, writing that down already sounds crazy but makan we did. Yang klasiknya, there's even a blood pressure measurement session after all the food. Resultnya tau2 sendiri saja lah. Haha.

Thanks to all the hosts from Liverpool: physicsbatu, fiz, ayub, zorro, the seniors, and kak nurul and family. Insya-Allah, nanti return leg di Manchester lagi. We'll try to make a better schedule this time, with equal amounts of sports and food ;-)

Weekend in review (part 1)

Just a (very) late review of last weekend.

It was Game 2 for me in Old Trafford. Spent the Saturday watching Man Utd against Portsmouth. Unfortunately after a LOT of chances, the red devils just couldn't put the ball to the back of the net. And in one of the few attacks from Portsmouth, they managed to convert a penalty. Got to see something unusual tho, which was Rio as the goalie. Never mind, this was the FA cup. There are bigger prizes to go for. As a consolation, none of the bigger clubs made it to the semis either. After the game, we waited in the cold rain for the players to come out of the stadium. Got to see some killer rides! I guess that's what you'll drive if you're a millionaire. Edwin van der Sar was also kind enough to sign some autographs. I got my Man Utd scarf signed which made the waiting worth it. A friend from Manchester got his jersey signed and said he won't wash it to preserve the autograph (eww...)

Here's the pics:

Fans from Brunei showing the newly-purchased scarves




This continued inside....




Some shots of the game





The disappointment of the result was too much for some....




The players coming out of the stadium to their wicked cars.




Here's how close van der Sar was to where we were




The souvenirs




I'll end the post with these pics.
Just guess who they belong to. One is an Aston Martin and the other is a Bentley.
Pls put your answers in the poll. Cheers!

Presentations

As I'm preparing some slides for an upcoming presentation, I thought I'd share with you some things that I've learned regarding presentations in general. This is by no means an extensive list and it's purely based on my own observations:

• No matter who you are or which level in the organisation you belong to, giving presentations is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced. Supervisors and managers do not necessarily give better presentations.

• If you're giving a presentation, keep things simple. Aim to give the main key messages only. Nobody is interested in the details. If they are, they'll ask.

• Have a presentation outline so that your audience knows what to expect.

• Flow is important. Make sure your slides are in a logical order.

• Keep your slides simple. Avoid too many words and small font sizes.

• Practice your presentations. Good to have a small audience, kalau nada, just get some unlucky people around you to be "dummy" audience. If all else fail, practice saja dapan ceramin. :-P

• Nerves will always be there. But the more you practice, the more it goes away.

• Speak in a clear voice. Keep your speed in check. Not too fast and not too slow either.

• Never read from the slides sebigi-sebigi. The audience can do that too. You're there to give a presentation, not narrate the slides. Focus on getting the key points across.

• Have enthusiasm. Baru orang mendangar pun bersemangat. Jangan saja over la.

Okay, that's it. There's more but inda ku ingat lagi. I'm sure there's loads more from all of you based on your own experiences in giving or listening to other people's presentations. Kalau ada, please feel free to share in the comments or the chatbox.

Cheers and all the best in your presentations.

In the thick of things...

Thought it was time for an update.

To say that things have been hectic would be an understatement. Just finished one design project and handed in the report today. It was a group design project. For those familiar with working in a group project would understand the challenges that it presents. My advice: just keep your cool in check and focus on the goal. Insya-Allah, things will be alright.

Looking forward to the badminton-themed weekend. Liverpool, here we come.

PS- Sampat jua jadi apple technician wannabe over the weekend. hahaha.