Making (re)Connections

I still cannot believe it: after the initial not-so-positive karma, I have just been cleared by the Israeli Ministry of Health (MOH) , with first an Hebrew SMS and then and official "Hebrew" letter, that confirmed that my quarantine ended today July 9th. Translation below: For privacy reasons, I don't add the remaining documentation. So eventually, it worked out, and I have been amazed by the Israeli IT system. Well, I've come to realization the Italians and Israelis have a lot in common: the only core different is that IL (= Israel/i) is a way more technologically advanced - not as US though - while IT sucks anyhow. An additional thing I didn't specify is that to sign-up to all the forms/links requested by the Israeli MOH, you had to have an Israeli phone number. Thankfully I was able to rely on Zadarma , paying only 10 USD, to get a working IL number a couple of days before reaching the Holy Land. It was a manna from heaven, as without an IL phone number I woul...

I landed on time. It was a relatively short flight (about 4h). Traveling with Dutch and Israelis made me feel home. No one , as Italians, would follow any rules on that plane : people changing seats, people standing while take-off and landing, people walking in the cabin when the belt sign was on. I didn't sleep during that flight, I just caught up with the Archaeological Dig documentation (still no internet on the plan, but I had printed some materials) and ready pretty much the entire Lonely Planet of Israel and Palestinian territories .   An Israeli friend of mine - that I don't quote - told me when I asked to provide some advice on Israel culture: It’s very similar to Italian, very direct and heated up, remove all the bad habits/fakeness/hypocrisy you had to adopt somewhere else and you should be fine No description was more accurate than this! :D Let's put it that way: it took me  3h to reach the University Dormitory  after landing at 2:35AM in the morning of Jul...

Amsterdam pit-stop Eventually they allowed me into the city, so I didn't have to spend 8 hours in the airport. I tried to call the closest friends there, but got unlucky : Roberta was actually in Italy and is coming back next week Floris responded late, as he was working and actually was going on vacation the day after And my best friend did not respond, as he really does not want to see me anymore. Even my gesture of dropping by and saying Hello , was interpreted as an act of ego of myself. Unfortunately it's not like this: I've young but also old enough to understand that keeping grudge towards other people won't make you a better person. I just wanted to Say Hi and probably Apologize in person and to meet his kid. Becoming a mom/dad is one of the beauties of this life, and unfortunately I was not there to support him and cheer for him. But again, relying on my motto, #takelifeasitcomes : I fucked up, but I cannot kill myself, neither I can go back to change my past, ...

It’s July 7th 7:27PM Ecuador time. Flying crew is passing the food. I decided to savor things on the moment, without thinking too much ahead or too much backwards, but I would like to spend a few more lines wrapping up Ecuador. Discoveries: Age is overrated , I still have time to enjoy life and age is just a society’s construct Balance , it takes a lot and it may be shaky again Best talks are the ones in front of a beer or a cigarette , no matter the size of the group. Learnings : It’s just water : I need to face my fears (I can still die, while doing KiteSurfing in Fuerteventura, and if this is the case many of you know who to reach out to :D) It’s just water, but dry your clothes immediately after otherwise you’ll damage them  Pay attention to your belongings. I believe I will be missing my Ecuador crew: such great people. It was one week, but intense. Life gets us closer and far away, what’s the likelihood I will meet some of them again in the future? Probably close to zero, b...

It’s 5:53 of July 7th. I still don’t know why I decided to do this, but as of know – not even within the first 10 days of my leave, I am super happy . It takes a while to update my thoughts here, though, due to the poor connection, so I write offline and refine my thoughts once I have a stable internet connection. I came to Ecuador almost by chance, it was not supposed to be part of my original itinerary – all started with the Archaeological dig and then expanded. It was a short time , which is the only regret I can have. I met wonderful local and international people, I created connection, that connection that usually we tend to lose in our day-to-day lives. I felt connected to people, I felt connected to the nature, which is a big deal as today we do not have time for connections: we have time to accrue wealth and to show off such wealth to the world, that’s it. The beauty of connections , as said earlier, is that they come and go. Most likely none of the people met here will beco...

5th Day! Tuesday: my full last day Another day of work in the morning. We went taking care of the infesting plants in the morning. Blackberry can be pretty nasty as a matter of fact; they are responsible of suffocating all other plans: you little mother*****rs.  We cleaned up a good bunch. After lunch we went to town to watch Spain-Italy match – and to try to understand the postcards situation. With some other Italian volunteers we cheered at Italy's goal, while all Ecuadorians and other foreings were rooting for Spain. The Project Galapagos crew picked us up there at 2:30 (right after Morata scored the 1-1 goal) to go to Lobería , a beach South of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to clean-up the beach. We saw ugly black iguanas here as well as dead one, which seems kinda fake, but it was real   Judith had internet connection and we were able to cheer to Italy winning 4-2 at penalty scores. Once back I tried my last attempts for postcards / souvenirs. So there is no way to send postca...

3rd Day | Sunday: the beauty of San Cristóbal This day represented what Galapagos was in my mind. We woke up pretty early in the morning and we spent all day doing a 360° tour of San Cristóbal island . Words cannot express what I really felt, but some key points: I was able to do snorkeling indeed, with an instructor this time (woohooo!) (and I didn't feel ashamed of my body in the above pic either!) I saw many things but the most beautiful one was a sea turtle swimming a few feet in front of me. We also saw sharks, dolphins, manta rays and many other things. We had lunch on the boat looking at the shore. We went snorkeling again after lunch and this is when I saw the beauty: Her Majesty Sea Turtle. And sea lions were so happy to see us tambièn and play with us. The nature of some spots – only reachable by authorized boat – was unbelievable : The way back was really bumpy as waves were pretty intense for our small boat. I didn’t think about dying, but it was freaking crazy: I be...

Galapagos was really a pretty late booking, added to my itinerary. I planned on a few activities relying on Viator mostly + booked locally.

The most amazing thing that happened in Ecuador is the feeling of being younger. I’ve been pretty solid and honest about my age, despite the fact the time has been passing by and beyond a great job and some great friends, I may not have much else in my life. But I don't have  fear of getting old - yet. And some white hair has started to appear :) Many people thought I was 25...they said it and then I started a game: after connecting with people showing my new and updated self (the one I've been working on over the last year and a half), I asked them how old they think I was. The range was always between 25-28 not more, not less. I’ve really come to the realization that feeling young inside, and show it to people, makes you feeling better, more energetic, more connected. Other volunteers that joined my project and arrived here are literally teenagers: I can technically be their dad…let's say it again:  I can technically be their dad… We stayed at a place we called " L...

And here we are at the second stop of my sabbatical. I woke up relatively early and had a 18USD worth it breakfast. Printed the Covid test to make sure officers can believe me and I spent 2 hours in trying to book a serologic test for Israel (STOP #3): we should discuss about Israel COVID procedures probably in a separate blog as the story has not ended yet. The first day was about traveling, after getting my Galapagos permit at the airport:  a child’s dream coming true. I have always been inspired by Charles Darwin and his theories developed by traveling through Galapagos. I landed in San Cristóbal and thanks to the Volunteering project I am doing, I didn't pay the 110 USD fee for the National Parks. We got the induction about the project and our activities: we will be doing 2-3 activities per day , including feeding turtlers, cleaning ponds, collecting food for animals, cleaning beaches and so on and so forth. We will be wearing volunteering vests to be recognized by...

Many people looked at me with eyes wide open when heard about me going to Philly as the first stop of my sabbatical. I would never stressed too much how happy I was before and I am now after the Philly's stop. What can you do in Philly with 36° C (97°F)? Well, beyond conceiving the motto of my sabbatical, it was 5 days full of amusement and amazingness, and wine, and beers, and smiles and laughs, and cultural exchanges. I had not planned anything really in advance, but life surprised me with a lot of things.

Using the word “ sabbatical ” may be misleading: some people link it to schools, to gap years, to 1 full year of break. I intend it as 3 months of pause from my daily duty. I met Olga in Costa Rica. Despite me being a social protagonist of that Intrepid trip with a lot of positive vibes shared towards others – people who know me will not believe it – I usually may not create solid long-lasting connections with other people. With Olga, it was different, probably because both of us are crazy under different aspects. We stayed in touch since January 2021, we tried to organize some vacations in the past, but our schedules were completely differently. Almost as a joke, while talking about my “sabbatical” she suggested I could drop by Philly. I had never been to “Philly”: I only remember the city for 2 reasons: The Mondelez cream cheese The NYC-Philly car trips from the protagonists of How-I-Met-Your-Mother I fell in love: I fell in love with the City, a walkable mid-size city on the US Eas...

I screwed up a couple of things in my life, emotionally, as many of us do; I didn't necessarily damage things or physically harm people, but I did hurt some close friends profoundly : and souls scars are the ones that take longer to heal, if at all. Tongue (my tongue) can be more harmful than a fist. Additionally, I’ve worked 24/7 for about 8years of my life and no, I didn’t get paid more for this, at all 😅. As of now, I know why all of above happened and I feel ashamed every single second. Unfortunately, as I often say: “we cannot change the past, but I can only work for a better future” , building on the Lion King's scene of Rafiki , and this is what I started doing 1.5year ago: I started focusing on myself, on my emotions, my feelings, my balance with work, my life, my connections, my relationships. Among the many things, I’ve learnt in this journey: ikigai : a reason for being the opposite of depression is connection finding purpose in life may require efforts and inten...