The Rossi House

For those of you who are curious as to what my relatives' home looks like, here is a lovely slideshow for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Took a pic with the DG!

So here is a photo of a majority of the interns and the Director General Mohammed Elbaradei. Can you spot me?

Update Part 4 of 4: Contemporary Art ESSL Museum, Sturmfest and Lacrosse Team Birthday Bash

Now I am catching you up to last week. There were several events going on and I got a chance to attend them all. Starting with a cool art exhibit at Klosterneuburg's Contemporary Art ESSL Museum. Robbie, Raffy and I wanted to see this exhibit called "Overlapping Voices: Israeli and Palestian Artists." It showcased sculptures, photographs, videos and films. Robbie and I met at Heligenstadt and took the bus to ESSL. There we met up with Raffy and also saw their friend Jacob was there by chance. At the same time, the major newspaper of Vienna Die Presse was hosting an event and having private tours for the people there. They were serving drinks and stuff but we decided to first check out the exhibits.

I saw a lot of interesting bits in the exhibit. I thought the wooden crate drawing made of all ball point colored pens was very cool. Raffy and I agreed that the black and white individual photos of the people in a Kabbahla style Woodstock-ish festival were pretty powerful. I also like the media exhibit of videos of people singing a chant in different languages was pretty cool. There was also a film of people living in this small community in Israel that revere military as a great thing and even take care of army tanks that are decommissioned.

Afterwards, we all got a ride from Jacob back to the house and just chilled for the night.

Photos of the exhibits I saw. These are on the website:









On that Saturday, which was October 11, I went to two events. One was a sturmfestival with my friends Valentino and Heidi with their friends. It was held in this little town called Stammersdorf. If I haven't mentioned it before, sturm is very sweet wine. They take this during the first part of fermentation where there is less alcohol and more sweetness. It was very cheap at the festival, where at most one glass of sturm was 1 Euro 80 cents. We took the tram to the 21st district and walked for about 45 minutes to Stammersdorf. Walking through the festival I passed by so many wine places, food places and heard lots of music. The place was pretty packed when we got there, even though at the time there were many people who were heading home. Heidi's friends Sabine, Kai, Julia and Anita found an ideal spot upstairs, overlooking the street below. Above us was the perfect decoration, grape vines. We got some food to eat and Valentino got white wine, which was ok as we all have had better. Heidi, Valentino and I stayed for a bit and left as Valentino had to get up early to study the next day. We all walked and took the tram together. I even got to get myself some cotton candy for the trip back to Helingenstadt.

Once I arrived at Helingenstadt, I called the boys to see where they were and Robbie told me to meet them at Nachmarkt as they were heading to the lacrosse team birthday bash. Since I knew guys on the team, I said I would meet up with the guys. I met up with Robbie and we went to find Luki and apparently they had girls in the car. Kristina and Vanessa were friends of Robbie and Daniel and were visiting for the weekend. So the boys decided to show them a good time. Luki was designated driver (aww) and so he dropped us off first and went back for Daniel and Raffy (who also had girls with them too.) It took us awhile to find the place which was called Kolar until we called Andy and Andy told us how to get there.

Apparently, the debauchery had started early as people were getting drunk off their butts super fast. Both the girls and guys national teams were celebrating the birthdays. Two on the guys' side and two on the girls' side. I knew Theresa, Andy's girlfriend, was on the girls' team so I looked for her to say hi. Two of my favorite guys, Phillip and Andy were there of course, so I had a fun time talking and hanging out with them. Raffy, Daniel and the two other girls (another Kristina and I forgot the other girl's name). The Kristinas and Vanessa knew a lot about me courtesy of the boys so we were spared the small talk. But, boy can these girls drink! According to Robbie, Kristina and Vanessa came from Oktoberfest which pretty much says that they can take a lot. Since Luki was designated driver, he couldn't really drink much.

Robbie somehow got me to try this alcoholic drink called a Jägermeister, which is basically herbs and liquor. The size he gave me was a 2 ounce sized bottle for shots. It is not that big. Thankfully. Tradition dictates that you have to put the cap on your nose and drink this small bottle hands free while the cap is on your nose. Robbie and I are part Filipino, so we don't have the tall nose to help us out there. I couldn't stop laughing because we looked so funny, but I managed to drink it. It tastes like medicine.

Here is what it looks like, but the one I had is smaller



We stayed until about 3:30AM and managed to fit in Luki's truck. It was Daniel, Kristina, Raffy, Luki, Robbie, Vanessa, Raffy and me in the truck. After we dropped the girls off, we had more room in the back. The boys were so funny, cracking jokes and talking about funny things that happened that night. For example, Raffy thought a table was a stable chair and when he sat on it he fell over. Oh those boys. We had fun though. Raffy, Robbie and I didn't get home until close to 5AM.

So now you are well caught up in my adventures so far. Until next time . . . which will be much sooner than last. :)

Update Part 3 of 4: Lange Nacht der Museen

Every year, ALL of the museums in Vienna are open for one night only called "Lange Nacht der Museen" or in English "Long Night of Museums." You pay one admission and that ticket gets you in ALL the museums in Vienna for the night. It is from 6PM to 1AM in the morning. It is an annual event that the people of Vienna and even foreigners like myself enjoy. It is a local event so there were major things going on like music, lots of vendors selling their stuff and food. They had a bus system set up that you can take to each of the museums. Many of the museums were close together so the people in charge sectioned the museums and assigned them different bus lines. You could also take the Ubahn and trams to get to the museums if you knew how to get to them. Hofburg Palace was the main hub for the buses. The thing is you can't always see the ALL of the museums since there are always lines and there are too many. So my friends and I made a game plan as to where we wanted to go.

I met up with Sanpo, Erin and Carolyn at this really cool cafe called Welt Cafe to chill and set up our game plans. The cafe reminded me of Cafe Roma in Davis (Rest In Peace Cafe Roma) and Infusion Cafe in Sacramento. Couches and chill music. Good coffee and tea. Great service. Unfortunately, I didn't know that I had to get my ticket ahead of time to get a book for planning so I had to get mine once we came to the first museum. I decided to go along with whatever museum they wanted to go to.

First stop, the Natural Museum in the Museumquartier. We were early enough for me to not have to wait in a long line to get my book and ticket. My friends were up front and as I waited for them, there was this obnoxious British guy standing behind us. He kept heckling the guards to let us in even though it wasn't time yet. He even said aloud that my friend Carolyn had an annoying voice so my friend Erin and I looked at Carolyn and kept her talking. He called me New Yorker just because I was from the U.S. Typical.

We finally got through and we started from the top and worked our way to the bottom. We passed through animal exhibits, reptiles, mammals, creatures of the deep, geology, etc. It sort of reminded me of the Natural Museum of History in New York City. Except there wasn't a Rex or an Easter Island DumDum. But I did find Dexter. We had fun looking at all the exhibits and taking funny pictures with the exhibits.

Next, we got a text from Sanpo that the Butterfly House didn't have a long line and so we headed over there to see the butterflies. Apparently we had to really look for the butterflies and birds. It was sooo hot in the house but I loved the butterflies I did find, the flowers and statues. It was pretty huge for a butterfly conservatory. The one in San Francisco was not as big and so I'm glad I'm got to see this one. Maybe it should be "Vannessa House" because my name does mean butterfly in Greek. Just saying . . .

From there, we hopped on a bus to the Technological Museum of Vienna and met up with Sanpo and his girlfriend Fan. I think we spent the most time at there because the Museum was HUGE! When we came in, they were serving food. The Austrian famous dessert Manner. They are wafers and they are famous around the world. It was hazelnut flavored and right next to it was a chocolate fountain. My friend Sanpo got a picture of us by the chocolate fountain.

I definitely have to say we had too much fun with the exhibits at this museum. It basically shows all the technological advancements and stuff that is being used around the world and in Austria. They also showed innovative ways to conserver energy and other ways of transportation. For example, in Vienna, they have city bikes that people can borrow by depositing a Euro or two and when they park it at another bike station, they get their Euro back. We all took so many funny pictures, including one of Sanpo acting like he was pregnant or ones of us in a huge green bubble. By the time we left, we were so hungry.

We went to Stephansplatz for our dinner break. Erin, Carolyn and I had the local favorite, which is Kaisekrainer, or sausage with cheese in it. They are sold by local vendors and are pretty cheap. Sanpo and Fan decided to get McDonalds. It was pretty cool looking at St. Stephan Cathedral at night. Plus, the food helped me warm up because the night got colder.

Our next stop was the Marzipan Museum. I love marzipan and I could even smell it as we were going through the store. Apparently, this place is world famous because celebrities such as Woody Allen and Ronald Regan have visited it. I know I'm used to seeing marzipan in the cute little shapes and cakes but here, they put it into a whole new level. I saw a huge horse made of marzipan and busts of famous people like Bill Clinton made of marzipan. Large Easter eggs and delicate statues. I was really impressed on what these chefs would make with marzipan.

Erin, Carolyn and I decided to go to the show museum and possibly meet up with Sanpo and Fan at the Chocolate Museum. Yes, for all of you chocoholics out there, there is a Chocolate Museum, where you pay 3 Euros to taste EVERYTHING in the store.

In the shoe museum, we got free stuff when we went there, including free drinks. Even though it was small, the shoes were so cool. Different periods and styles. We saw the old school ski shoes and funky designed shoes. I saw a pair of high heels that had the map of Vienna and had minature replicas of Stephansplatz and others. I definitely like the ones that were from the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Those shoes were so cute!

We found out later on that the Chocolate Museum closed before 12:30AM and so Erin and I decided to leave because the UBahn stops working at 12:30AM, so we had to go catch ours while Carolyn went to meet with Fan and Sanpo for drinks. After five museums, I was exhausted and crashed once I got home. But it was still a fun night!

Update Part 2 of 4: ABBA Night

Being ever so popular, my Tita volunteered to help with the Filipino VIC "ABBA Night," which was in the middle of the General Conference, October 1. It was a fundraiser for the victims of the floods over in the Philippines. She was singing in the choir and even doing the end dance number. They were taking the concept for their fundraiser from the Broadway show/movie 'Mama Mia.' Tita and I even went to watch the movie in the theatre before the show so she can get an idea of how the movie goes.

I somehow was roped into being an usherette and greet people as they come in. I even had to dress up in a 70s inspired outfit. The boys and Uncle Roland came and they already secured a table in the back with a bunch of Tita's friends. The food was buffet style and it wasn't bad. Alcohol was served of course. ABBA music wafted through the air as people streamed in and saw old friends. Apparently the night was sold out and lots of people still wanted to get in.

When the show started, Raffy and I were the photographers and we had to take pictures and video of Tita's performance. The end was awesome with her dance routine. She remembered her steps, which is a good thing and made the boys laugh, unfortunately.

Like in all Filipino functions, there had to be dancing. Of course I was sucked into dancing with Uncle Roland, as I tried to help him with "YMCA" and the cha cha. Raffy was pulled into dancing (with beer in hand) with one of his godmothers. I also met the boys' friend Serg who looks so much like my friend Daniel Thorne. I almost said "Hi Daniel" to him. He came in 70s gear too which was pretty cool to see that at least someone else would be willing to go with the theme of the party. Unlike the boys . . . :P

More or less it was a pretty fun time, but by the end of the night I was really exhausted from the GC that day and left early with the boys.

Update Part 1 of 4: General Conference

Ok for all of you who have been following my adventures so far, I apologize for the long delay. October is almost over and the last post was about my capoeira class. So to catch you up I will break the major events that has occurred into four parts.

Starting with part one, the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference 2008 (IAEA GC 2008). This was actually from September 29 to October 4. Basically, delegates from the Member States of the IAEA come to this conference to talk about important stuff dealing with new science technologies and important issues, such as should North Korea be allowed to have nuclear weapons. As part of the Public Information, I more or less had to live in the Vienna International Center (VIC). They even moved my computer to a sectioned off place in the VIC. I was working pretty much side by side with journalists from all over the world and rubbing elbows with delegates from all over the world. I had multiple jobs during the GC. I would get statements, replenish the Bulletin racks, get information from the document people, etc. It was cool going through the security in the G building of UNO city by just flashing my badge. Of course, the staff I worked with made it so much fun! We all would get snacks for each other, had mini-staff parties toward the end of the day and joke about so many random things. I remember when the web editor Rodolfo was having a charity raffle for his charity 50-50, which helps students in the Philippines with school supplies, our photographer Dean sent out an email saying that all the tickets have been sold and there were consolation prizes. One was a date with the web designer Kresimir and another date with me. I was laughing so hard when I read that that tears were streaming down my face.

I'll break down the major events that I got to participate in:

1) Mass for the start of the IAEA GC 2008: So Tita is a part of the Vienna International Center choir and they were asked to perform in the mass that is held every year before the GC starts. The church was so beautiful and they did a good job in singing the major parts in Mass. Yes, I had to dress up in a dress. Afterwards, there was a dinner sponsored by the Vatican in Rome and the food was pretty good. Everything was in hor d'oeuvre style so we just stood around and pick off the food we wanted. There were free drinks and I got myself a mimosa (champagne and orange juice). Oh, funny thing. Tita and I literally chased after the dessert trays because they would go by so fast! But, they were oh so good! So sweet and yummy! :)

2) Reception with the Director General: We all got a fancy invitation and everything to the reception. The staff even had a game plan so we could get a good place. Since my friend Al and I were pretty small, we can get through the crowds easier, which we did and secured a table for the entire staff. Food and drinks came by and also the cameras came out. Candid shots are so fun. Dean and Kresimir also had their cameras and took so many random photos of everyone eating. Another intern, Silin totally cracked Al and me up because he got so star struck with meeting the Director General Mohammad Elbaradei. Silin even got a picture of himself shaking the DG's hand, courtesy of Dean. Apparently the staff knew a lot of the servers, so we got to have extra food for ourselves.

3) Tour of the Hydroisotope Lab in the VIC: Giovanni suggested that I go on a tour with the delegates to this lab to see something that the IAEA does. I agreed and went with my friend Al and his supervisor Kirstie. If you don't like science like I do, then this tour is not for the easily bored. I found the equipment to be interesting and the types of tests that they do to help make healthy water more readily available for developing countries. The head director took us around and explained in detail what each of the experiments do. The fun part was when we went down, literally, into the bunker. A ton of the equipment were made in the 1960s so it felt like I was in the movie 'Blast from the Past' where everything was so . . . retro.

4) Tour of Seibersdorf Lab: Another tour that Giovanni suggested I go on. We left really early in the morning because it takes almost an hour to get to and from Seibersdorf. It is waaaaay out there in the boonies. Hm I wonder why? :P
So again, I was with delegates from all over the world. I hid my badge to blend in as one of the delegates. Slick huh? The tour guide wasn't bad to look at. His name was Axel. Yes, really. Like Axel Rose except it was some long Austrian last name. :P Anway, we even got those comfy tour buses where I felt like I could sleep. I actually did take a nap because it was so comfy. We passed by a lot of cute small towns and places where you felt like that was really old Austria. Finally getting there, we got breakfast with breakfast pastries and drinks. The ladies called me Madam and asked what I would like. I guess hiding my badge worked. The director (who was a woman and she rocks) gave a presentation, which i tried so hard not to fall asleep in, about what basically goes on in Seibersdorf. Then we split into groups and got into the one with Axel. Hee hee. So we got to see a lot of cool places around the lab, which is humongous! They are doing cool experiments with plants so that they can grow in most areas where water cannot always reach and feed the people there. They were doing experiments with insects that destroy crops like fruit flies. A current experiment is to sterilize male fruit flies and so when they mate with female they can't reproduce and thus lessening the population. Boy, did it stink in that area. I think the stench stuck to my clothes for awhile. I was asked by a delegate where I was from and I said the U.S. She was from Angola. I think I should have said Canada. Hmm . . . after all of that walking, which took about 2 hours or so, we got back on the comfy bus to the VIC. Thank goodness for my iPod because I would've gone insane sitting in the bus for so long. :)

My First Capoiera Class

Let me first start off by saying I LOVE CAPOIERA! The beat of the music and the moves are so awesome. Of course I just had one class but that one and a half hour session really made me want to continue. For those of you who do not know what capoiera is, it is a Brazilian type of martial arts. It looks like you are dancing but you are really preparing to fight. Back in the day, slaves in places like Brazil and Haiti were not allowed to train to fight, so they developed their own fighting style that looks like they are dancing and getting into the beat of the music, but they are really training. Here is a video to give you a better idea of capoiera:



Before I came to class, I had to go all the back home to Klosterneuburg because I forgot my stuff at the house. After getting ready and packed some food and stuff, Raffy drove me back to Heligendtadt. He said I was going to be early and I told him I didn't want to get lost. I hopped on the Schnellbahn (S-Bahn) which is more like a light rail to those of you in Sacramento or MUNI for those from the Bay Area. Then I took the tram (like a trolley) to Kreuzgasse 74, where my class is. And true to Raffy's word, I was AN HOUR EARLY. I hate when he's right. Grr. Luckily for me there was a SPAR (a name brand grocery store) where I was able to walk through the aisles until it was time.

The actual instructor was not present so there was a substitute. She was pretty good herself. First rule of capoiera, you have to be barefoot. So by the end of the class, our feet were dirty. But, I digress. We started with basic steps and of course, EVERYTHING WAS IN GERMAN. I was able to pick up by watching the instructor. What was nice was that she repeated every step at least five times so that not only did I get the movements but I was able to memorize the moves.

At one point, she pointed out to me that I was on the wrong foot but I wasn't sure what she was telling me. Luckily for me, my friend Heidi was close by and she pointed out my mistake.

We got into more complicated moves like a kick-cartwheel and back kick twists. Those are not the proper names for it but that's how I describe them. More or less, it was a lot of dance movements and kicks. I REALLY like the music. At the end of class, we got into a circle and chanted in Portuguese (or I think it was) and some people would spar. They were more advanced of course but it was so cool to watch.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hang out with my friends (being it was Friday night) because I had to work at the General Conference again. Early. So I hopped on a tram I saw. Silly me, I got on the wrong one so I had to get off on the next stop and walk myself back to the school. From there, smooth sailing. Except the fact it was raining A LOT. Once I got home, I crashed. I can't wait for next week. Until next time . . . ciao!

Adventures in IKEA

So today was a holiday at the U.N. Being that it IS the U.N., everyone observed Eid, or the end of Ramadan, and so we at the U.N. got a day off. It also means the General Conference was on break for a day.

Thankfully, I got to sleep in, which is always good for me. Today was also Thursday, which means laundry day. Once I got up, I helped my Tita Ruth with some household chores and even assigning my cousins some chores of their own. Well, more like forcing them through necessity. In this case, making them change their own bedsheets by taking their old ones and leaving the new ones on their bed. So if they want to sleep, they're going to have to fix their own bed.

Later that day, my Tita took me IKEA and if you have never been to an IKEA before, believe me when I say that it is an addicting home store. Sometimes when I go to an IKEA I'm like a kid in a candy store because of the ideas I can get for fixing the home or whatnot. In today's case, I definitely was feeling giddy walking through the doors.

Intending to just get a few things, I felt inspired and looked around for a few things that I can use to fix my room a bit. My Tita said I could do it and also changed it into her "Chill Room" when I leave the house. I got into a creative storm brewing in my mind as I perused through the candles and photo frames. Fun times.

We also had dinner there, which was always interesting. Ever had an organic pork chop? Yeah, that's what we had for dinner. Apparently organic means that the pig was fed all-natural stuff. Whatever that means. It was decent though I could've have gone for another slice of carrot cake. Yum!

Funny thing happened while we were paying for our goodies. Apparently one of the items we wanted didn't have a price tag so I had to run back and get one with a price tag. Once I came back, another item also didn't have a tag. Our cashier was really nice and was trying to help us out. She asked the guy next her and he explained it was a set, etc. Then out of the blue, a lady in line lost her temper and basically threw a major tantrum. I was shocked at first but then I had to try so hard not to laugh aloud. Tita got a little scared. The cashier lady said just ignore the woman. All I know is if that impatient woman came at me there was going to be a WWE smackdown in IKEA.

Now with all the new rearranging and removing a lot of the excess stuff in my room, it's now looking like someone lives in the room and not so much like a storage space. Until next time . . . Guten Nacht! :)