Precipitevollissmevolmante

In case you are not Italian, it means in a hurry.

Yesterday I went to my classmate house that he rents in a hill just outside Siena. That is where I got introduced to the longest word in Italian language.

I can’t help but think whether any Italian in hurry (or someone else watching him/her) have sufficient time to finish the word before the ordeal is finish.

Maybe the word will have its needed instance since time goes so slow here. Or maybe the word intentionally invented to be very long so that any Italian in a hurry and think about his condition is force to pause for a while (just try to pronounce it yourself) and be less hurry.

But why would anyone be in a hurry here? The weather is exceptionally good most of the time, basic necessities are available at reasonable price and the magnificent Gothic architecture claimed your glance anytime you pass through.

Back to my friend’s house on a hill now… It has a breathtaking view of the green and lush valley between the hills and a just-a-bit-misty sight of Siena city on top of the hill, just enough to exhibit the tower of Palazzo Publico and Duomo meeting the skyline.

As I was sitting there, on a homely atmosphere, embraced by earthy smell and warm ray of Tuscany sun, I was engulfed by a sense of completeness and serenity. As if very little more can be seek from the marrow of life.

The feeling remind me of a Star Trek novel when Enterprise come across a planet where the people are in a state of complete happiness and contentment all the time. No sadness, no ambition and no conflict. But as consequences there are also no innovation and no progress.

Maybe human being is not meant to be content for too long since we suppose to seek out new solution for life’s problem.

If only contentment is what I found in Italy’s official matter. All the unclear steps about what to do to settle here and the time it took to explain what I need to do to the official handling ‘stranieri’ (mean foreigner) but rarely speak English (I must also take space to complain the high cost of banking services here). Good things most of time classmate or a friendly stranger or my ‘piccolo’ Italian (plus many hand gesture) turn out for the rescue.

This peculiar combination of personal warmth/helpfulness and official stiffness really remind me of my own country. Why this has to be the case?

Maybe its time for the Italian language authority to invent a shorter word for “in a hurry” to be use only in official and business matter.

The Unreal World under the Tuscan Sun

It has been more than a week

I am away from home again

Far from family and love ones

In pursuit of knowledge and dreams

But it’s different than before

No longer in the banal city of Amsterdam

The city that I know and known me

Full with fond memories and dear friends

No longer strong winds and burst of weather

Caught me in their paced dynamics

No longer organisational activities & Indonesian food

Filled my non-academic moments

Now I am in a city of tranquillity

Where not many bricks move in 400 years

Where university students have come and go for 760 years

Where Tuscan sun shed her light

It’s an unreal feeling to see my self

As a wanderer in a quest

Searching for contemporary knowledge and ancient wisdom

In a an enlightened medieval city

This is an unreal world

Where my lavish (and online) room cleaned weekly

Where delicious Italian dinner served daily

Where money is not a problem

This is definitely not reality

‘cause everyone greets each other kindly

‘ cause streets are safe and the timeless feeling

‘ cause mathematics is not that difficult

It is not Dante’s Paradiso yet

Bureaucracy is still a hindrance

English would not get you far

A PhD degree is still 4 years away

If only in this unreal world, incessantly

Goods prevails and the wicked avenged

No hunger existed and peace reign

And success for those who work hard

Then why return to the real world

Maybe we could turn the real into unreal

Reality is not something that we should assent

If enough people and effort are put

Maybe it is possible

For everyone to live in an unreal world

Siena, 25 October 2005

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