Saturday, September 29, 2012

Arcangelo Michele

English

Today is the day of Saint Michael, the Archangel. In fact, he is the patron saint of Coldigioco and therefore, it's a tradition in Coldigioco to celebrate its patron saint day with the Mass at a small chapel in Coldigioco.

It was simple but very meaningful! I enjoyed the Mass which was celebrated in both Italian and English plus the refreshment afterwards.

Earlier in the morning, we also started our new short project for this week which will also help us with our Croatia fieldtrip project (4th - 9th of October). The short project is titled "Soil, Terroir and Mediterranean Colonization." From the introduction we had today, basically this project will help us to understand how wine taste different among different places in Italy. It has to do with the soils formation which are greatly contributed by three major factors such as life, rocks and water.
Life has to do with small organic living things that die, decay and reach a point of stability. This product also known as humus and has an important role in improving soil structures.
Rocks, also referred to as parent material within the context of soil formation, are one of major contributors to soil development including especially the chemical contents within them.
Lastly, water has its role in chemically and physically breaking the rocks, carrying them down slope and hence depositing them, making it possible for the formation of the soils.
For this project, I am working with Ellen (Luther'14, Bio major). We will collect a bag of soil, dry it and will later analyse different materials found in it.  We will ll then construct a power point, at the end of this project, to present our findings about how soil affects the growing of grapes which in turn will be expressed in different tastes of wine.
Sparapani vineyard at Jesi terroir

Friday, September 28, 2012

Se outros calam, cantemos nós!

If others silent, we sing!
Musica husi Luis Repsesas ho titulo "TIMOR" interpreta husi grupo Tuna Universitaria do Porto!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Coimbra: sidade estudante sira nian!

01. (TETUM)
Scroll down for English version

Segunda kalan, 17 Setembro 2012

A) Neto, Au, mana Dai (liman karuk) ho bolseiru nain haat (liman los).
Wainhira hau haris hotu iha kalan ne'e, Amaro (Caisiva) mos hahu tein kalan nian! Menu ba kalan ida ne'e mak manu lalar, pepinu no etu (tein ho azeite no lis mean). Han kalan ida ne'e mesak reseita Caisiva nian deit. Hau mos hakfodak tiha tamba uluk sei SMP, Caisiva mos termasuk nakar no hau fiar nia mos anak mami ida, hehehehe! Se mak hatene anak mami ida ne'e mos agora boot ona no tein perigu! 

Han tiha manu lalar ho etu azeiti ne'e, Izaura (hau nia kolega SD) mos hahu telefone Amaro. Izaura (aka Fred iha Coimbra) mos bolseira Timor ona ne'ebe eskola iha Universidade de Coimbra (UC), fakuldade de Ekonomia (se la sala). Nia kontaktu mai Caisiva tamba bolseiru foun Timor oan sira ne'ebe mak atu hahu eskola tinan ida ne'e iha Coimbra, hetan desafiu balun kona ba sira nia inskrisaun no residensia nian. Sira foin mai husi Aveiro no laiha fatin ba sira iha kalan ne'e atu toba hodi nune'e sira bele hahu inskrisaun iha loron tuir mai (Tersa, 18 Set 2012). Alin bolseiru ne'ebe atu hahu eskola tinan ida ne'e hamutuk nain 9. Se la sala numeru total estudante hamutuk 90 maibe nain 9 mak sei eskola iha UC no sira restu esplaha iha universidade seluk iha Portugal laran. 

Hau ladun lembra didiak, maibe ami rua Caisiva ba iha Mana Dai (?) ho nia kaben nia uma. Alin bolseiru sira reuni hamutuk hotu iha ne'eba. Diskuti naruk boot ida no ikus mai sira Fred no kolega sira hotu konsegues kontaktu maluk Timor oan iha Coimbra atu lori alin balun ba deskansa lai kalan ida ne'e iha sira nia apartementu tamba Mana Dai nia apartementu labele tampung hotu sira nain 9. Ho nune'e, hau ho Amaro lori  alin bolseiru nain rua. 

Antes de ami fila ba uma, hau, Amaro, Fred, ho alin bolseiru nain rua ne'e ba iha diskoteka ho naran GULA (haree imajen iha okos ne'e). To iha ne'eba, diskoteka nakonu. Book an ituan, hau mos desidi atu hola serveja ida lai atu hamanas isin lai. Fred sujere atu halo shot maibe hau viajem kuaze loron tomak no hau lakohi ulun moras istika fali hau iha loron tuir mai. Hehehehe :P 


B) Diskoteka Gula, Coimbra (Besik iha Praca da Republica)

Kuaze uma hora madrugada, ami mos desidi fila. Iha dalan ami hahu telefone ba Au. Nia simu duni telefone maibe nia dukur los tena no lian mos todan los. Ami nia hanoin atu ba visita nia iha madrugada ne'e maibe tan nia dukur tena, entaun ami mos desidi fila ba uma.

To iha uma, ami fahe fatin atu toba. Alin bolseiru rua toba iha kolsaun anin, Amaro toba iha Rai, no hau mak toba iha kama leten tamba hau mak bainaka foun! Hehehehe, diak nian, bainaka hetan tratamentu espesial! :P 

Sei kontinua fali.....

From left to right: Caisiva, Au and I


Bacalhau lunch, super delicious!


Au and I at a restaurant in Baixo (aka Downtown) 


02. (ENGLISH)

Monday, Sept 17th 2012

It was around 8pm when I got to Amaro's apartment. Actually, let me first introduce who is Amaro (aka Caisiva). First of all, even back before I even exist, my father  has known Caisiva's mom and dad. And so, when I was in middle school, I then came to know Caisiva as we were in the same class. In other words, he was my middle school classmate for 3 years at Canossa High School back in East Timor 9 years ago. Indeed, It has been a long time. 

Besides Caisiva, I would also meet up with Aurisio (aka Au) and Izaura (aka Fred). Au and I went to Canossa high school together and again he was my classmate. Fred, on the other hand, was my primary school classmate. God, I can't believe I met all of them in one city and abroad! I think it's pretty amazing and unexpected! Anyway, I was super stoked to meet them indeed!

Ok, now let's get back to the apartment's part. So, once I got there, I took shower while Caisiva was preparing the dinner. Once I finished shower, I then helped him with dinner prep. The menu for the night were chicken bbq Timorese style, rice cooked with olive oil and red onion and cucumber salad. To be honest, the dinner was so delicious especially the rice and the bbq chicken. The cucumber salad was not as good as the chicken and rice because maybe I made it. :p

So, once we finished the dinner, we then went to meet up with Fred. She was actually busy figuring out places for new Timorese students to stay for the night. These new students are actually starting their first year at Coimbra University (UC). They just got to Coimbra from Aveiro where they had an intense 4 months preparatory course from June till August 2012. Anyway, a little about UC. This University is one of the oldest university that is still operating and it was built by Dom Dinis, king of Portugal, at around 1200. Man, I am just super excited that I have couple classmates studying at this University.

After meeting with Fred, we then headed to club. The club is called GULA (see picture B above)The club is located very close to Praca da Republica, in Coimbra. One fun fact about the club is that there is no entrance fee and so it's almost crowded for the fact that it offers good drinks with great prices + awesome Portuguese/English music. The party night time in Coimbra is on every Tuesday and Thursday nights. So, if you wanna have fun, go on these two nights.

After partying and having fun with my friends, we then decided to visit Au. It was 1am and Fred tried to call him. Unfortunately, he was already asleep. Fred said that from his heavy/tired voice, it was very obvious that he was already falling asleep for quite sometimes. Anyway, we then headed home and I had my first night sleep in Portugal. Hehehehe, it was a great sleep!

To be continued....

Additional gallery of a video and some pictures!
Orientation activity for Caloiros or freshman students at the University of Coimbra

Aurisio & Caisiva em Forum

Na Praça da República 




Monday, September 24, 2012

Visita Portugal (Parte I)

Tetum

Porto, Coimbra no Fátima

Desde ki'ik kedas, hau hakarak tebes visita Portugal. Parese tamba hau nia familia tomak mesak pro Portugal , liuliu hau nia maternal avo mae, Auria, no (sdso) pai Canelas. Alem de sira nain rua, hau nia maun ida no tiu rua mos uluk ami sei ki'ik, konsegue halo 'suaka politik' ba Portugal. Tan ne'e, Portugal sempre mosu dalabarak iha hau nia familia nia konversa hahu husi kona ba tempu kolonizasaun, hahan to ekipa nasional futebol Portugal nian.

Ho esperensia sira ne'ebe hau hasoru durante ki'ik lori hau mai to iha hau nia desijaun atu visita Portugal iha hau nia intercâmbio iha Italia ne'e. Hau halo plano desde sedu kedas, wainhira hau to iha Italia primera vez. Hau konsegue hola bilhete husi aviaun Ryanair, viajem ba-mai, ho total 95 euros. Baratu tebes!

Segunda, 17 Augusto 2012

Wainhira hau sai husi aeroporto Ciampino, Roma, hau tu'ur ho senhor ida ho nia inan, sidadaun Portugal. Ami hahu konversa no wainhira hau dehan hau husi Timor, sira mos kontenti tebes no husu hau kona ba buat barak hahu husi hau nia objetivu ba visita Portugal, hau nia estudo to situasaun iha Timor-Leste. Konversa interesante tebes. Hau senti diferente ituan atu pratika koalia hau nia portugues ho ema husi nasaun Portugal maibe esperensia ne'e lao ho diak tamba hau kuaze bele komprende sira nia portugues inkluindu saida mak kapitaun no aeromosa sira koalia no halo avisu iha aviaun nia laran.

Viajem han kauze oras 2 ho minuto 40. Aviaun finalmente aterrajem  iha aeroporto Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Porto/Portugal. Ema hotu iha aviaun laran hahu haklalak no basa liman halo hau mos hakfodak tiha. Parese, husi esperensia hau pessoal, maioria wainhira semo ho aviaun Indonesia nian ou ba Hong Kong, ema kauze nunka basa liman wanhira aviaun tun. Esperensia ida ne'e dala tolu ona. Wainhira hau semo husi Tokyo, Japaun ba Chicago, USA no husi Chicago mai Roma Italia mos ema basa liman no haklalak wainhira aviaun aterrajem.

São Bento to Rua dos Combatentes

To iha Porto, hau sae Metro husi aeroporto mai iha estasaun Trindade, no husi estasaun ne'e, troka fali komboiu hodi mai to iha estasaun São Bento. Madre Isa no maun Valenti mak mai hein hau. Sira hein desde kedas tuku 1 loraik no hau to iha tuku 3 loraik. Depois ami nain tolu hahu lao fali kuaze minuto 10 ba iha Madre Canossiana sira nia uma fatin iha Porto ne'e. Uma Conossa ne'e mos loke eskola ba labarik hahu husi bebe to iha quarto ou quinto ano karik, se la sala.

Madre Isa servi ami sumo malirin ho croissant. Ami mos hahu konversa ituan ate kolega Gabriel (bolseiru Timor oan ne'ebe halo hela nia mastrado iha Porto) mos mai hamutuk tan. Kuaze tuku 4.30 loraik, hau koko tenta ba Amaro (alias Caisiva), hau nia kolega SMP Canossa. Nia mos halimar hela iha Porto no atu fila ba Coimbra iha Segunda (17 Aug) ne'e. Entaun, ami rua kombina no konkorda atu viajem hamutuk ba iha Coimbra iha loron ne'e kedas. Ami rua sae komboiu ALFA ne'ebe ho bilhete nia folin kauze 17 euros. Karun maibe komboiu ne'e extravagante tebes! Iha komboiu ne'e, ami rua mos hasoru maun Afiku, Timor oan ne'ebe agora servisu iha UK maibe uluk hela kleur iha Portugal mos. 

Viajem kuaze oras ida ami to duni iha Coimbra! Husi estasaun komboiu, ami sai mai hein bis numero 5 atu ba iha Amaro nia apartamentu iha Rua dos Combatentes. Antes de to iha fatin destinu, kareta ida mai kose los bis ida ami sae ne'e halo kondutor bis nian saitaiadu. Sira hahu koalia no telefone ba polisia, ami mos hahu tun ona tamba parese sei han tempu naruk atu resolve asidente ida ne'e. 

Ami lao kuaze minuto 20 nia laran no ikus mai to iha apartementu no maun ida naran Alo mak loke odamatan mai ami. Isin kole los maibe hau desidi ba liu haris atu refreska an. 

To'o iha ne'e lai depois mak hau sei hakerek tan kona ba hau nia visita ba Portugal.
Video iha karaik ne'e hau hasai husi janela apartementu Amaro nian. Nota katak iha liman los ne'e maka Igreja Sao Jose ho estadio EFAPEL sidade Coimbra nian. 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Back in Rome

English


Yes, I'm back in Rome! Took TrenItalia from Castelplanio-Cupramontana to Rome Termini with Josh, Anderson and Phil. We arrived in Rome around noon. Phil went off to get his ticket to his next destination, Josh and Anderson went for apartment hunting where their friends are staying. Whereas, I went to check where in termini the Terravision bus park. I am taking this bus tomorrow from termini to Ciampino Airport. It's the easiest and cheapest way to travel to both airports in Rome from termini.

Anyway, since I'm in Rome for a day, I too booked a hostel. In my previous visits to Rome, I usually stayed in Alessandro Downtown Hostel. Since I tried to book a night before my departure to Rome, Alessandro was full. So I booked Freedom Travelers Hostel instead. I guess both are almost the same except FT offers a light snack in the morning for free (who does not want a free cappuccino in the morning? hehehe).
Once I checked-in into the hostel, I then decide to take a walk around Rome, 'la città del romanticismo.'

My first destination was the Fontana del Tritone. It's located in the Barberini Square (Piazza Barberini). And fyi, the Embassy of the US to Italy in Rome is located very nearby. Anyway, I don't know much about this fountain but the FT hostel suggested I should visit the place. :p
Fontana del Tritone

My second destination was the Trinità dei Monti (aka The Spanish Steps). It is known as the widest staircase in Europe and has a total of 138 steps. Below the Spanish steps, there is a famous water fountain in the shape of an old boat aka Fontana della Barcaccia. These two spots are usually crowded with people. You can see couples sitting on the stairs, having good times; groups of people chatting and laughing everywhere; a crowd encircled the fountain where some were trying to take picture while some other were trying to fill their water bottles with the water from the fountain.
The Spanish Steps

The third destination was the Piazza del Popolo or People's Square. What interest me most about this square is because it used to be the starting point of the Via Flaminia. Via Flaminia is basically an ancient road (built around 200 BC) that connects Rome to the Adriatic sea cutting across the Northeast Apennines. Since I spent almost the first two weeks studying the geological formation of the Apennines in that region, I particularly have seen some of the ruins, such as the road and bridge of the Via Flaminia while in fields. So, I thought it's worth to visit and share a little bit about this famous ancient road that has played important roles in the development of the city of Rome.

Continuiamo! From the piazza, I then decided to walk back. Since I was very close to the Tevere river, I felt like walk across the Margherita bridge, took the stairs down and walked along the river. Felt like I was in East Timor, walking along the Malao river. Anyway, before reaching the hostel, I stop at another two more tourist attraction spots. They were the Piazza Colona and Fontana di Trevi. Again ,crowded with people. In fact, it was really hard to move around in the Piazza di Trevi.
From what I know, Fontana (Piazza) di Trevi (see video below) is one of famous fountain in the world and people believe that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you'll definitely come back to visit Rome again! Well, I guess I just missed my chance to come back to room cos I didn't have coin while I was there.Too bad!

So, I concluded my exploration of the city with Sunday Mass celebration at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. The Mass was celebrated in Spanish, and it was my first time to participate a mass in Spanish.

Guess that's it for now. Im so exhausted right now, gotta go to bed cos I'm leaving to Portugal tomorrow. :D
Ate depois!




Friday, September 14, 2012

Fall Break


English

Super excited for my fall break that will start in two days (September 16th). The reason is because I will first enjoy Rome again. Them my next destination will be Portugal. The places or cities I am planning to visit are Porto, Coimbra, Fatima and hopefully Lisbon too. In Porto, I will meet up with Madres Canossianas from East Timor including Madre Isa. I will stay with two Timorese students who curretnly studying in Porto (Gabriel and Valente).

From Porto, I will hopefully take Rede Expresso to Coimbra, The third biggest city in Portugal. It's one and a half hour down south from Porto (and North of Lisbon). In Coimbra, I will meet up with Amaro and Aurisio, my high school classmates. Then, while in Coimbra I am hoping to visit Santuário de Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Fátima, Portugal.
Anyway, That's my plan and hopefully things will work out as I am hoping!

Ciao! 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

¡Desde Dolomitas!


Español


Agri Alm restaurante en Passo Sella.

Bueno, no he escrito en español en mucho tiempo. Por eso, siento que es necesario escribir en español como un medio de practicarlo.Como usual en esta semana, aquí en Dolomitas, empezamos nuestras actividades con el desayuno. No sé cómo expresarlo bien pero, como los estadounidenses dicen, “muy pesado”, verdaderamente fue un desayuno muy pesado. 
Personalmente, la parte principal en el desayuno es el capuchino. El capuchino de Italia es increíble. Totalmente necesito una cafeína para refrescar mi cuerpo antes empezar mi actividad intensiva. 

Por lo tanto, fuimos a hacer senderismo a un rio en Posso Sella con el objetivo de identificar un roca de fondo particular, llamada “La Valle”, y como se formó. Para resumir, aprendí que “turbidite” fue responsable a formar esta roca de fondo. El turbidite es una corriente fuerte de agua que trajo materiales al fondo del mar e después, con los otros mecanismos geología, transformaron los materiales a este roca de fondo.  

Después de todas las complicaciones en identificar “la valle”, fuimos a almuerzo en un restaurante cerca del rio. El restaurante se llama Agri Alm. Pedimos Polenta con setas y salchichas. Honestamente, la comida fue muy deliciosa y rica. 
Eso es, chao.

y este es mi plato, polenta con setas y carne de vaca

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Un sacco in september

(ENGLISH)

9/11

Marmolada of the Dolomites, Trentino/Italy
Indeed, today we remember the terrorist attack occurred 11 years ago that devastated the World Trade Center and killed many people. In fact, today is the day where I hiked to Marmolada, the highest mountain of the Dolomites (10,968ft). It is located east of Trentino, an autonomous region in Northern Italy. One of the interesting thing about the region is that people here do not only speak Italian, but German and Ladin too. When travelling around, we can see that most of the signs are in Italian, German and Ladin. Looking from the buildings in towns around the Dolomites, I personally feel like I am in either Norway or Switzerland. I haven't been to either of these countries but of course TV and Internet nowadays contribute a lot to my mental pictures of the countries. The green grasses, cows that wear bells on their necks and the buildings make these tourist towns to be very different than those in Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and Marche. 

Anyway, I don't know how many Timorese have hiked this mountain (if ever) but I was very happy to be on top of Marmolada. Even though I didn't bring the Timor-Leste Flag, I actually did write a note to Timor-Leste on top of Marmolada. Check out the picture below!
@ Marmolada, the highest peak of the Dolomites.
Overall, I am learning a lot about the formation of the Dolomites but to summarize it, the supercontinent cycle initiates the unique formation of the Dolomites; the ice age cycle, especially the last ice age is the innovator that has changed the look of the Dolomites; and human together with the global climate change have their own interest that further alters the outlook of the Dolomites.

(TETUM)

9 de Setembro

Tebes, tinan sanulu resin ida liu ba iha loron ida ne'e, terorista ataka, resulta oho ema no estraga sasan iha Nova Yorke, EUA. Iha loron ida ohin mos hau ho primera vez sae ba foho ida ne'ebe as liu foho dolomites sira seluk iha Italia. Foho ne'e naran Marmolada no lokaliza iha Rejiuan Trentino (Norte Italia, fronteira ho Austria). Nia as maka metru 3.343, se halo komparasaun, Ramelau nia as maka metru 2.986.

Hau la hatene los Timor oan nain hira mak sae ona ba foho tutun ne'e, maibe hau pessoalmente kontenti tebes sae to iha foho Marmolada ne'e. Maske hau la lori Bandera Timor-Leste nian, hau konsegue halo nota ida ba Timor iha foho Marmolada ne'e. Hein deit, depois mak hau update foto ne'ebe hau hasai iha foho ne'e. Ema husi nasaun barak mai sae ba foho tutun ne'e hanesan husi EUA, Alemanha, Austria, Switzerland, Japaun, etc. Ida ne'e halo hau senti orgulho liu tan atu halo estudu iha foho ne'e liliu bele representa Rai Timor iha foho ne'e. 
"9/11-2012
Husi
Marmolada, Dolomites,
ho Domin ba Timor-Leste
F. Neto"

Em jeral, hau aprende buat barak, geolojikamente, durante hau nia tempo iha foho Dolomites ne'e. Maibe iha mos situasaun no notisia sira ne'ebe halo hau nia laran taridu. Situsaun ida uluk mak hau labele skype ho Pai no Mae iha Timor tamba tempu fahe iha hau nia programa ida ne'e halo hau okupadu liu. Lor-loron, husi tuku 8 dader to tuku 5 loraik, hau passa tempu iha lapangan halo analiza geolojikamente ba formasaun fatuk no foho. Fila mai kemping fatin, isin kole par mate no dalaruma internet mos error tiha. 

Iha parte notisia, hau rona husi hau nia kolega besik balun kona ba desafius ne'ebe sira hasoru. Hau nia kolega Indonesia ida agora dadauk iha dalan atu fila ba Lombok husi Connecticut tamba nia maun moras todan. Kolega seluk iha problema ho saude no universidade. Hau, husi parte seluk, iha mos desafius ituan atu adapta ho enviromentu ema no natureza nian. Maibe ida ne'e buat ida ne'ebe mak hau fiar hau sei bele domina ho tempu. 

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Update: Trip to Tuscany

English

Pentecosi Lake, Garfagnana Tuscany
Photo by C. Roe

The purpose of my trip to Tuscany was part of the geology program I am doing for this semester, here in Italy. It is divided into two parts. The first one is to learn about other geology features found in Italy ranging from fossils to natural resources. The second part takes a big part of the trip where we continue to explore more on the formation of the Apennines from a fraction of the northern Apennines in Garfagnana (Garfañana) valley in the Tuscany Region.

Just to clarify, I actually did not update my first week of this program and so let me try to summarize it as best as I can. So what we did for the first week was the San Vittore Mapping Project. We had a four-day fieldtrips in San Vittore, which is a fraction of the larger town of Genga in Marche Region. A final geologic map of the location with its cross-section was produced. The geologic map of San Vittore is neatly colored to represent the difference formation of bedrock found in the Northwest part of the Apennines. Different spots within the location were colored based on the observations of the outcrops but some Swiss-styled mapping was also useful to clear up some fuzzy spots. Strikes and dips of bedrocks were measured and recorded to help us reconstruct a vertical view (cross-section) of the overall geologic setting of the area.

We left Coldigioco on Thursday, Aug 30th at around 8.30am. The normal drive hours from our place to Garfagnana, Tuscany, takes about about 5 hours. Since we also did some geotourism along the way, it took us almost 2 days to get to Garfagnana. We visited some protected areas, museums and small towns. Don't worry, we did sleep within the two days of travel.

At around 12 midday, we did our first stop at Centro di Paleontologia Vegetale della Foresta Fossile in Dunarobba, Umbria. Basically this Paleontology center has a museum and an open forest fossil contain 1 – 3 meters trunks of ancient trees. I am not really sure what chemicals responsible to keep these trees from decay but according to our guide, it was a type of mud that flooded and covered this region back in time and hence acted like a casing, preventing the decomposition of these trees. See the picture below.




We spent roughly two hours in Dunarroba, including lunch right at a small cafetaria belongs to the Paleontology Center. We then continued drive for about three hours until we reached a small town called Pitigliano. We spent about 30 – 45 minutes in this town, walking around taking pictures, having some gelato, etc.

From pitigliano, we then drove to an Archeological park called Citta del Tufo (the City of Tufo) in Sorano, Tuscany. This archeological site presents an ancient city of different buildings and tombs built by the Etruscan back before the Roman time in Italy (~700 BC). What they did was basically carve out their buildings and tombs out from the rock on the mountain side and built up this city right on it. It all thanks to the tufo rock (tuff: consolidated volcanic ash). Besides seeing the ruins of the city and tombs of the Etruscan, there are also information board ins each ruins where it provides digital construction of how the city and/or the tombs  look like in the past. You can see the picture below.

From Pitigliano, we drove for about one and a half hour to a hotel in a very small town. The hotel we stayed called Laconda Laudomia. I think we arrived at the hotel around 7.15pm. We checked-in, took showers and went down for supper. This is the best part after a long drive from Coldigioco. Obviously, as usual, we have Italian-style dinner. We started with slices of salted bread with cheese, olive oil and salt, plus fizzy water. Then we had our primi piatti or first dish (with white wine, of course), followed by secondi piatti and finally dolce or sweetness. I was contented and went to bed around 9.30pm.

On Friday morning, Aug 31st, we woke up around 7am, packed, took our bags to the car and had breakfast at the hotel. We left around 8.30am and our first stop for the day was the hot spring. I don’t remember how long we drove but I think it is pretty close to the small town we stayed. The spring has a turquoise color and is very appealing to see from far. In fact, it looks like the water in the Disney World. Once we arrived, almost everybody went in and enjoy the hot spring with its strong smell (due to the presence of sulfur). Sandro (our instructor), Laura (my geology prof from Luther), Carli, Rachel, Jordan and myself did not go into the hot spring. I personally did not want to go into the water because of its smell. Besides, it was very cloudy too. Just as they went in, it started to rain so heavily for about 15 minutes and there was no shade nearby except a small restaurant nearby. I just don’t want to be wet or have my clothes wet while traveling. It is very inconvenient to me, especially when I haven’t reached my final destination.
Thermal Spring in Saturnia, Tuscany

From the hot spring, our next destination was the Geothermal Museum in a town called Larderello. Basically this town is named after a French entrepreneur, Francois De Lardell who first built a factory to exploit the geothermal water to produce boric acid. Not until 1904 that Prince Ginori-Conti harnessed the geothermal steam to produce electricity. From that point up to this present time, the steam from this geothermal has been using to produce electricity. Actually, the company used to use the steam directly to turn the turbine but it actually caused corrosion to any metal parts of the turbine and therefore, at present, it uses the steam to heat water, and the steam from the hot water is then used to run the turbine and hence producing electricity. Below you can see the video I recorded using my phone (pretty bad quality tho) to show you how strong the natural steam that comes from 5000 meters underground.

The tour to see the natural steam concluded our visit in Larderello. We continued driving for about 4 hours and finally arrived in Garfaganana. It was around 7.30pm when we got there. After dropped out stuffs in dorms, as usual, we had our dinner in Italian style and rest before we start another interesting geology adventure the next day.

Update: Visita ba Tuscany


Tetum

Iha foho tutun hateke tun ba Garfagnana


Objetivu husi hau nia viajem ba Tuscany fahe ba parte rua. Objetivu primeru maka atu visita museu no parke nasional iha rejiuan Umbria no Tuscany ninian ne’ebe iha relasaun ho geolojia. Objetivu segundu maka atu kontinua estuda kona ba formasaun foho boot Apennines iha Italia. Foho ne’e kobre kuaze parte norte tomak rai Italia nian. Atu klarifika deit, hau la hakerek kona ba hau nia estudu semana primeru wainhira iha Italia. No atu halo resumu deit, basikamente iha semana primeru, ami halao estudu intensivu liu husi observasaun no uja tekniku geolojia balun iha area sidade Gubbio nian iha Rejiaun Marche. Objetivu prinsipal husi estudu ne’e maka oinsa ami bele komprende formasaun foho Apennines. Tamba ne’e, visita ba Tuscany ne’e hanesan parte ida atu haklean liu tan imagen kona ba formasaun foho Apennines geolojikamente.

Ami sai husi Coldigioco iha loron Kinta feira, dia 30 Agustu 2012, iha dader tuku 8.30. Normalmente, viajem husi ami nia fatin ba Garfagnana (Garfañana), Tuscany han tempu oras 8 nia laran ho kareta. Maibe tamba ami mos halo visita ba Parke Nasional no Meseu barak, ami nia viajem ne’e han tempu kuaze loron rua tomak antes to iha Garfagnana, fatin ne’ebe ami halao ami nia estudu kona ba formasaun foho Apennines ne’e.  

Entaun, iha loron ne’e duni, iha tuku 12 meuidia, ami halao visita primeru ba Centro di Paleontologia Vegetale della Foresta Fossile di Dunarobba (iha Rejiuan Umbria). Fatin ne’e iha Parke ida no museu ida ne’ebe tau matan ba fosil ai maran ne’ebe moris kuaze iha tinan atus ba atus liu ba iha tempu pasadu. Ai fosil sira ne’e la hetan estraga tamba tahu mak falun sira. Tahu ne’e iha materia kimika balun ne’ebe prevene ai ne’e atu sai dodok/rai ten. Ema deskobre ai sira ne’e wainhira kompanhia konstruksaun ida iha Italia sosa rai ne’e atu loke loja hodi faan sasan konstruksaun nian. Wainhira sira ke’e rai ne’e, sira hetan fali ai fosil sira ne’e. Sira halo kontaktu ba geologista Italianu sira no liu husi resulatadu estudu nian indika katak ai ne’e diferente ho ai hotu ne’ebe moris iha Italia ou iha mundu iha tempo presenti ida ne’e. Wainhira rona koba ba resultadu ne’e, Governu lokal toma medida hodi proteje rai ne’e husi kompanhia rai nain. Parte balu kala senti la satisfaz ho medida ne’ebe governu foti, entaun koko atu estraga ai sira ne’e subar-subar. Iha ami nia visita iha Parke laran, ami hare ai fossil sira ne’e sei tomak no toos. Iha mos ai fossil balun mak hetan estraga ituan liu husi atentu ne’ebe halo husi ema deskonhesidu balu.
Fossil ai husi tempu pasadu (tinan milhões liu ba) ne'ebe preserva metin to tempu presenti ida ne'e

Fossil ai husi tempu pasadu

Depois de visita ba Sentru ida ne’e. Ami kontinua ami nia viajem kuaze oras rua nia laran no finalmente to iha sidade furak ida ne’ebe besik los ba be lihun (danau). Sidade ne’e naran Bolsena iha rejiaun Lazio. Amo ladun pasa tempu kleur iha sidade ne’e. Be lihun ne’e forma tamba area ne’e uluk cráter ida (rai ne’ebe iha forma hanesan manko tamba afeto volcanismu nian).

Depois de sidade ne’e, ami kontinua fali ami nia visita kuaze oras ida ba iha sidade kiik ida naran Pitigliano, Rejiaun Tuscany. Ami para lao halimar iha sidade laran hasai foto no han gelato (jeladu, es krim). Bele haree mos foto sidade Pitigliano nian iha okos ne’e.
Husi sidade Pitigliano, ami kontinua ami nia visita ba iha Parku Arkeolojiku ho naran Citta del Tufo (sidade husi fatuk tufo) ne’ebe lokaliza iha Sorano, Tuscany. Sidade ne’e harii husi grupu etniku ida naran Etruscan ne’ebe moris tempu barak antes tempo Romanu nian iha Italia. Buat ne’ebe mak interesante husi sidade ida ne’e maka oinsa sira harii sira nia uma no rate husi fatuk iha foho lolon. Tamba fatuk sira ne’e mamar, entaun sira kee fatuk sira ne’e sai uma boot mesak furak deit. Maske agora so hela deit ruinas husi uma sira ne’e, maibe iha fatin parke nia laran, ema tau mos imajen ne’ebe produz husi computador atu representa sidade ou uma sira ne’e iha tempu pasadu. Haree imajen iha kraik.
Konstrusaun komputador (karuk) no ruina (Los) ne'ebe sei hamriik iha tempu presenti

Haree ba katak kuaze tuku neen ona, ami kontinua ami nia viajem ba hotel. Hotel ne’e situada iha vila ki’ik oan ida. Hotel ne’e naran Laconda Laudomia. Ami to iha hotel ne’e iha tuku 7 kalan no prepara aan, haris no deskansa ituan antes jantar kalan iha tuku 8. Jantar iha Italia iha nia estilu rasik. Jeralmente, hahan fahe ba parte tolu to haat. Depende situasaun deit. Sira serve uluk maka paun maran, keju, masin, ajeiti ho be . Kombinasaun interesante tebes. Hau gosta paun ne’e tamba hanesan ho ita nia paun masin, maibe ema nian ne’e halo ho medida boot. Buat ida ne’ebe interesante kona ba be hemu iha Italia mak sira gosta liu hemu be carbonato (sira bolu acqua frizzado). Basikamente, sira tau gas iha be ne’e halo be ne’e nafurin hanesan coca-cola ou sprite. Kuaze iha ami nia viajem laran tomak, ami han iha restaurante ou hotel, ema sempre serve be carbonato ne’e. Ok, kontinua ho hahan. Depois de minutu lima hanesan ne’e, sira hahu serve fali “prima piatti” (bikan primeru) ho vinho (sampanye) ou tinto. Prima piatti ne’e jeralmente pasta ou sopa. Depois ita kontinua ho “secondo piatti” hanesan naan salsisa, manu, fahi ou karau. Dala ruma ita hetan salada ou keju isin atu akompanha ho naan sira ne’e. Depois de ne’e, ita kontinua ho “dolce” ne’ebe mak atu hanesan ho sobre mesa iha ita nia kultura. Dolce famosu ne’ebe sira serve iha restaurante no hotel maka Biscotti (Biskuit) no Vino Santo (sampanye ne’ebe midar los).


Iha kalan ne’e hau han barak los. Hare ba katak tuku 9.30 ona, hau mos desidi atu ba toba tamba isin kole no sampanye mos komesa servisu halo hau nia matan todan tan deit.  Iha dader dia 31 Agustu 2012. Matabisu tiha iha hotel, ami kontinua ami nia viajem. Fatin primeru ami visita iha loron ne’e maka mota be manas. Mota ne’e kor azul lalehan (efeitu husi sulfur) no ema barak tebes mai haris iha ne’e. Hau ho kolega rua seluk desidi la haris tamba sulfur ne’e mos halo be ne’e iss makaas tebes. Kolega sira hotu ba haris be manas kuaze oras ida i depois ami kontinua ami nia viajem.

Mota be manas

Housi be manas, ami viajem kuaze oras haat no to iha Museo Geotermal iha sidade naran Larderello (geotermal signifika be ou gas manas natural ne’ebe sai husi rai kidun). Iha museu ne’e ami aprende oituan kona ba funsaun geotermal ida ne’e ba sidade Larderello no Italia em jeral. Sidade Larderello ida ne’e mos hetan nia naran husi ema Francesa ida ho naran Francois De Larderel. Nia mak hahu industria primeru atu produs boric acid husi be manas ne’ebe sai husi rai kidun ne’e. Iha tinan barak ikus mai hahu husi 1904, ema komesa uja be no gas manas ne’e atu hamoris turbin (jenerator) hodi produs eletrisidade. Ba dala uluk, sira uja diretamente gas manas ne’ebe sai husi rai kidun ne’e atu hamoris jenerator. Maibe gas manas ne’e mos halo makina no besi sira sai frujin lalais. Entaun iha tempu presenti, sira uja gas ne’e atu nono fali bee no gas ida ne’ebe produs husi be manas ne’e mak sira uja hodi hamoris jenerator. Gas manas ne’ebe sai husi rai kidun ne’e iha presaun bo’ot tebes. Iha okos ne’e imi bele hare video wainhira sira loke kanal ida husi gas ne’ebe sai diretamente husi rai kidun.  

Ikus mai, ami husik hela sidade Larderello no kontinua ba Garfagnana. Ami to iha ami nia hotel kuaze tuku 7 kalan. Hotu-hotu kolen maibe ansi mos atu ba han jantar iha tuku 8 kalan. Hanesan bai-bain, ami han ituan iha matabisu no almosu, so jantar mak ami deskonta han halo barak tamba ema sempre serve hahan barak iha jantar.