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!

意大利 (Italy) Amalfi Coast 四圍行 (1) - 絕美 Sorrento

今日朝早有少少懶洋洋, 嘻嘻, 本來應該早些起床, 不過呢個旅程已經行左好多日了, 來到 Napoli, 應該學似當地人咁, 休閒一下, 唔想做旅行奴隸   ! D景點去到就去, 去唔到就下次返來再繼續啦! 哈哈!

每次返意大利, 都有種返鄉下嘅感覺, 因為感覺好親切, 但係......要視乎係去意大利邊個城市。若然係 Torino (都靈), 咁當然係我繼 HK之後第一家鄉啦, 至於跟著要講嘅目的地, 若果有錢的話, 絕對係我肯在此留一世都願嘅地方 --- Amalfi Coast!

呢兩晚嘅根據地係 Amalfi Coast其中一個小鎮 Sorrento。由 Napoli ---> Sorrento, 最經常選用嘅方法係搭 Circumvesuviana train line, 由 Napoli 直坐到最後一站 Sorrento。

Sorrento與 Napoli, 講真, 真係幾似兩個世界! 到達 Sorrento, 氣氛同我在 Napoli時有大分別: 在 Sorrento呢度, 9成人都係遊客, 個個都 hea 下 hea 下, 治安亦當然好很多, 應該唔駛驚搶劫呢種事情, 感覺安全自在。

Sorrento 街景 ----> oh, 點解我在 Sorrento 只係影左兩張相咁少??!!  下次再去影多幾張補番數先得, 嘻嘻嘻。

 

反而, 我就猛咁影左好多張我間 hotel 嘅相! 呢間 hotel 真係好型, 係我嘅豪花之作 !  如果會去 Sorrento, 而又唔太計較駛費的話, 住在呢度最少一兩晚就最理想!! 除左地理位置極好, 在市中心之外, 我住呢間房好正架!!! 各位 睇睇相...

張床夠晒大! 全間 Hotel 有wi-fi, 好方便。留意一下我個房個百葉門。

洗手間: 乾淨衛生!

原來推開對百葉門, 係出去自己個 balcony!!

唔該, 呢度係食早餐嘅地方.... 早餐係送到埋來, 唔駛自己去攞的!! 哈哈哈! 咁優美嘅環境食早餐真係開心爆。

 

實情告訴大家, 我係無意中被 "安排" 來左呢度住, 但故事太長, 費時長篇大論在此講了!  特別強調, 一定要提嘅係, 呢間酒店嘅負責人.... 好型好靚仔好友善好溫文 !!!

真係....在意大利搵個又型又靚仔嘅男人真係好容易!!! 雖然, 靚仔唔代表一切 。

下集繼續 意大利 Amalfi Coast 之旅!!

穿梭葡萄牙 / 意大利之旅 2011! 待續!

My Book: 50 Ways to Improve Your Portuguese

It's been some time since I started learning Portuguese by myself. It's not easy to do it by myself (i.e. without any help of a teacher/tutor at class).

Needless to say, studying a language by oneself needs extra motivation of learning and determination, because without any push from a teacher/tutor, it's so easy to become lazy, lol. I have been trying to make a study schedule for myself, however, I have never been able to do so, lol. 

I have a number of textbooks and grammar exercise books with me. I have been reading the textbooks, listening to CDs and doing exercises.  The best thing would definitely be the chances to practise what I have learned in real life.  How much I wish I were living and working in Macau so at least there would be the learning environment.

How excited I was when I saw this book "50 Ways to Improve Your Portuguese" on the shelf in a bookstore yesterday.  I quickly snapped it, lol. This is a book written by one of the best known Portuguese language writers called Manuela Cook. I have been following her another book called "Complete Portuguese".  She writes in a very systematic way and I have learned quite a lot so far. 

Well... I'm planning to read one chapter (= one way) each day to improve my Portuguese.  So hopefully within 2 months (less than 60 days) I should have improved much of my Portuguese! Ha!




Image from: Amazon.co.uk

意大利 拿玻里 Napoli 四圍行 (3) - Under City Tour

在拿玻里 Napoli 嘅時間話少唔少, 但亦唔係咁長, 今日有一整日時間, 所以要把握每分每秒呀!! 早上跟 B&B嘅 超好人 host在 Napoli 市中心行左一個圈, 佢話我有時間一定要去參觀地下城, 咁當地人都咁大力推薦, 冇理由唔去的!

Napoli Sotterranea (Under City)係 Napoli 其中一個最重要嘅旅遊景點, 不過幾奇怪嘅係, 問過好多去 Napoli 玩嘅人, 好似唔係太多人知有呢個參觀地方, 唔知係宣傳不足, 定係大家對呢個地下城興趣不大呢。

參觀 Napoli Sotterranea 係一定要跟導遊走, 所以我參加左一團英文團, 導遊係拿玻里人, 講很好嘅英文。

個團分兩部份的:
1st part: 去一個地下 Roman Theater! 之所以係地下, 因為在大約40年前無意中發現出來的! 入呢個 Roman Theater, 要先入一間屋, 再由導遊打開暗格, 落下面參觀, 過程好得意架!!

 

 

 

2nd part: 呢 part夠晒甘喇, 因為要落121級樓梯, 行好窄嘅秘道、睇地下水道 (aquaduct)、地下溫室 (greenhouse)、2次大戰 (WW2) 時嘅防空洞 (bomb shelter)、大水塘, 非常特別嘅地方, 好值得參觀呀!!   

圖右: 有一段好窄嘅路, 我地要點著蠟燭行, 過程刺激又好鬼得意! 勁正呀!  

 

 

 

呢個導遊團大約 90 minutes, 導遊一路同我地行, 一路詳細講解歷史, 簡直好似上左一堂歷史堂
咁呀, 睇書都未必搵到呢D咁豐富嘅資料, 長氣尋氣都要講多次, 呢個地下城真係好好好值得參觀呀!!!!!!! 

明日我就要坐火車過 Sorrento玩兩日喇! 

下集繼續 意大利南部 (Amalfi Coast) 之旅!!

穿梭葡萄牙 / 意大利之旅 2011! 待續!