The 1st Meeting of Indonesian Community in Florence

It was Wednesday, December 19^th, 2012. Finally I met Yawa, it was also the second time I met Erna again.  Erna's husband, Joni, was contacted by Yawa through InterNations in Florence, a global community of expatriates.  From Joni, Yawa who was seeking for other Indonesian fellows in Florence, was informed about me and finally got in touch with me through Facebook. She has been living in Florence for more than a year with her husband, Cyril, when we met for the first time. We decided to have lunch together at Mario an Italian restaurant near Mercato Centrale.

I got there at 11.35 by bike. I saw both of them chat in front of Mario’s, I hurried to lock-up my bike to a pole nearby. Waved at one of them but they didn’t seem to notice. I walked toward them and greeted them. Erna, who I met about two months earlier greeted me first then I introduced myself to Yawa who was standing next to her.

Annual German Christmas Market

The Florence Christmas Markets are very popular, especially the German Christmas Market or Heidelberger Weihnachtsmarkt (a little bit of a mouthful!) which takes place on the Piazza Santa Croce, in front of the stunning Santa Croce Basilica. Christmas markets are a very popular tradition in Germany and the idea originated in Northern Europe. Luckily for us here in Florence, the organisers of the Heidelberger market decided to bring the market here in 2003 and they have been coming ever since! 

Komunitas Indonesia di Florence

Apakah anda orang Indonesia yang sedang studi, bekerja, dan tinggal di Florence?

Apakah anda ingin dapat berkomunikasi, bercanda, berdiskusi, berinteraksi atau sekedar rumpi dengan sesama orang Indonesia dan dalam bahasa Indonesia di Florence?

Apakah anda tertantang untuk memperluas jaringan pertemanan anda dengan sesama orang Indonesia di Florence?

Apakah anda rindu berbagi pengalaman dengan, dan mendapat masukan-masukan dari sesama warga Indonesia di Florence?

Apakah anda tertarik untuk membangun sebuah komunitas orang Indonesia di Florence?

Jika anda menjawab ya atas seluruh pertanyaan diatas, anda orang yang tepat!

Angels Are Around; Angel #3

Introducing angel #3 - David

I had to go to uffizi Anagrafe at Piazza della Liberta that day to get the Stato di Familia form, it's one of a step to make before applying the stay permitt from de Commune. I had a piece of paper with all steps I had to follow to get to the Piazza della Liberta and to find the uffizi. I had the address and it stated that the building is round and red. 

I checked my map and bus route to finally hopped into bus no 12 to get to the Liberta. I stopped at fermata Leonardo da Vinci #3 which was too far from where I should. I could have just stopped at Liberta but was so stuck to the route explanation that said I could stop at another bus stop which much closer to the uffici than Leonardo da Vinci#3. Anyway, I stopped and had to walk back to get to the piazza Liberta. 

I searched and looked around to find the red round building to find that all buildings at Liberta are square. I finally asked a magazine seller and he pointed to a road on the right side of the piazza, and it was not Liberta, it was a different road. I crossed the road and got there still puzzled of where the uffizi located exactly. When I turn on that road appointed by the magazine seller, I finally saw this round building and entered the yard. 

Our First Trip to Lucca - Lucca Comic 2012 Event

We decided to buy 2 tickets to Lucca on that rainy afternoon at Stazione Firenze S.M.N. The next day would be our first trip to explore another medieval town in Tuscany, Lucca.

That next morning of November 1st, 2012 we arrived at the station by bus and bumped into some Chinese tourists with their bulky cameras, a notebook sized of i-Pads and camera phones. Near them were two Italian girls, one of them dressed up in devilish Halloween costume; one of the Chinese man, laughed and tapped the girl with the costume on her shoulder, asked if he could take photos with her. The girl laughed and let all those Chinese tourists surrounded her, posed for them and enjoyed her moment being "a star" with “fans”.

We laughed and quickly ran to the platform to check the announcement board with all itinerary schedules. We finally got on the right train, only amazed to find the train was so full with young people, not only that, some of them looked extremely strange as they dressed up in Halloween costumes. Some even painted their faces into skeleton look. We thought, of course it’s Halloween and apparently it’s a big event in Italy. Young people proudly walked around in their weird devilish costumes celebrating Halloween, schools had some special events to celebrate it and encouraged their students to actively participate.