Elementary Portuguese Course - Started!!

Finally.... the course that I have signed up three times in the last nine months or so is finally offered by an institution here in Hong Kong. Amazing.

Portuguese is not as popular as other languages like Japanese, Korean, French or Spanish in Hong Kong, and it's for this reason that there are very few courses on Portuguese being offered here. Even some organisations wanted to offer such courses, they're bound to be cancelled because of lack of sufficient enrollment number.

I once considered going to Macau to study Portuguese, but then I quit this idea because it's simply too expensive to do it this way. Macau is close to Hong Kong, but the only way of transportation is only hydrofoil and the fare is not cheap. And it's too tiring traveling between the two places every week, even though if it would be only once a week.

I had the first lesson today.  It's Elementary Portuguese.  To my amazement, our teacher is a Brazilian.   Considering the tuition fee of the course (it's really good price, lol), that's much worth the money having some native Portuguese person as our teacher!  That's fantastic.

I have already had some basic knowledge of Portuguese prior to the course so hopefully I can manage it with ease.  Let's see how the course will go. I hope to be able to catch proper pronunciations of words & learn many new words/phrases/cultural elements from the teacher and also see if I can get to know from him some ways/opportunities of continuing learning the language with some native Portuguese speakers in Hong Kong. Ha!

I can't wait to have the second lesson! Haha.

Juventus anthem - Storia di un Grande Amore!!

It is such a big excitement to see my favourite football team Juventus has started the new season with a really great victory - 4:1 at home against Parma this evening (well, in Hong Kong time, lol)!  And it's the first match they played at the new stadium - the Juventus Stadium.

Simili a degli eroi
Abbiamo il cuore a strisce
portaci dove vuoi
verso le tue conquiste
dove tu arriverai
sarà la storia di tutti noi
solo chi corre può
fare di te la squadra che sei


Juve, storia di un grande amore
bianco che abbraccia il nero
coro che si alza davvero per te

Portaci dove vuoi
siamo una curva in festa
come un abbraccio noi
e ancora non ci basta
ogni pagina nuova sai
sarà ancora la storia di tutti noi
solo chi corre può
fare di te quello che sei

Juve, storia di un grande amore
bianco che abbraccia il nero
coro che si alza davvero solo per te
è la Juve storia di quel che sarò
quando fischia l’inizio
l’inizio è quel sogno che sei

Juve, storia di un grande amore
bianco che abbraccia il nero
coro che si alza davvero
Juve per sempre sarà

Juve, storia di un grande amore
bianco che abbraccia il nero
coro che si alza davvero
Juve per sempre sarà
Juve… Juve per sempre sarà
Juve… Juve per sempre sarà.

意大利 Amalfi Coast 四圍行 (3) - 絕美 Amalfi (town)

繼續美麗嘅意大利 Amalfi Coast一日遊。

先坐巴士: Sorrento --> Amalfi (小鎮) , 參觀過後,
坐船: Amalfi --> Positano (小鎮), 參觀過後, 最後,
坐巴士: Positano --> 返回 Sorrento

上回講到, 今日先坐巴士由我根據地 Sorrento, 去 Amalfi小鎮。 呢個小鎮係呢條巴士線嘅總站, 搭車搭左都有成差不多2個鐘。

Amalfi 呢個依山而建嘅小鎮, 每日都有唔少遊客慕名而來。Amalfi 吸引人之處, 除左有優美嘅海濱、藍天碧海以外, 比較特別係小鎮內, 有好多細小縱橫穿插嘅窄巷, 售賣不同種類充滿當地特色嘅紀念品、水果, 甚至平價衣服鞋襪嘅商舖。 

來到 Amalfi, 又豈能錯過參觀 The Duomo (The Cathedral) 呢!! 上 Duomo需要行上一條頗斜頗長嘅石級, 但只要肯負出少少代價, 接著下來就會覺得絕對值得 !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

參觀完 Duomo, 就隨便於鎮內小巷周圍亂走亂逛, 叫做不璜來過 Amalfi 嘛! 哈哈! 紀念品造得很精美亦色彩鮮豔繽紛, 但無奈我嘅背包容量有限, 我唔想再背咁多東西旅遊, 所以....放棄購物。

 

又係時候要同 Amalfi 講再見了, 因為今日呢個一日遊, 我仲有另一個 town要去, 就係 Positano 喇! Amalfi 呢個小鎮給我好舒服、寫意嘅感覺。如果行李好輕便的話, 都不妨可以考慮來呢個鎮住一兩日, 再從呢度搭巴士或自己揸車去再遠少少嘅 Amalfi Coast towns, 例如 Ravello & Salerno遊覽。

接著, 我要從 Amalfi 嘅岸邊, 搭快船過去 Positano, 繼續 1-day Amalfi Coast 之旅!! Hurray!

 

下集繼續 意大利 Amalfi Coast 之旅!!

意大利 Amalfi Coast 四圍行 (2) - 絕美 coastal views

在 Sorrento嘅酒店 check-in 過後, 就搭巴士去 Amalfi Coast沿海幾個小鎮遊逛。先去 Information Center攞左巴士、船等時間表, 就行番去火車站出面搭巴士了。

之前研究行程時, 參考兩本旅遊書嘅資料, 再綜合作者嘅建議, 最後決定:
先坐巴士: Sorrento --> Amalfi (小鎮) , 參觀過後,
坐船: Amalfi --> Positano (小鎮), 參觀過後, 最後,
坐巴士: Positano --> 返回 Sorrento

巴士從Sorrento出發, 沿途景色簡直美不勝收 !! 真係要佩服意大利人開山闢路嘅鬼斧神工, 同埋巴士司機嘅高超而穩定嘅駕駛技術!!

本人小小經驗之談: 要先在火車站出口那間 tabacchi (= newstand)買車票, 先可以上巴士。上車後記住要坐右手邊座位, 咁就可以更好欣賞超靚嘅山景 & 海景。由於Sorrento係最熱門嘅住宿之地, 所以每日由呢度出發去各 Amalfi Coast小鎮嘅巴士都好多乘客, 因此可以的話, 盡早出發, 如果唔係隨時要企位!

以下幾張照片係我在 Sorrento 坐巴士往 Amalfi 小鎮途中所拍下。

 

 

 

 

 

 

以下Rick Steves呢個 video clip, 就完全表達到我想講嘅Amalfi Coast景色係如何絕美喇!!

下集繼續 意大利 Am alfi Coast 之旅!!

穿梭葡萄牙 / 意大利之旅 2011! 待續!