OGGY! OGGY!

OGGY, 6 AUGOSTO 2005!

Weather is ok here. Not so hot, although the sun is out, but the Venetians around have told me that it will get hotter next week or so, till the end of the month. We shall wait and see.

I opened the pavilion today, a felt a bit excited for work. I was armed with the laptop and then my lunch, as well as my tote bag. Got into the pavilion, and swtiched on all the lights, checked the toilets to see if the stocks are still there and *BHAM* a whole horde of German tourists with their guide came into the pavilion. Mind you, I left the pavilion door half opened and they managed pushed their way in. The tour guide saw me and insisted for an explaination of the work. WTF?!

I brought them to the information room; showed them the merlion, showed some gestures and they were like ... ooohhh ... ahhhh. I bet they don't really understand me, but I tried my best and gave time for the guide to translate to them. At least, they were really excited over the toilets and as usual, were amazed. That was about 30 visitors at 10.02am this morning. What a shocker!

The visitors to the pavilion can be quite intimidating and demanding sometimes. On some occasion, they would insist for me to explain to them in Italian. Hello? Where's Nat on the days you need her. Then again, I've learnt enough Italian to give them a gist of the exhibition - directing them to the 3 areas of the pavilion. The French were worst. Die DIE also, they want me to explain to them in French. I must say that my friench has improved, but you know hor, is it just impossible for them to speak to/understand me in English. The whole world doesn't revolve around them whor! You come here; our Singapore pavilion and you people respect us ok? Lidat, how many languagues do we have to learn in order to please them hor? Lidat lor! If I do Singlish to them, lagi best! I bet they'll be very intrigued by the language. I was already accomodating and thank their lucky stars that we're equipped with a 3rd langauge. Speaking of 3rd language, the Chinese will come in sheepishly and walk out without saying anything. So, it wasn't possible to do Mandarin. No Malays/Indons coming in either. Pfftt!!

I went to the Thai Pavilion yesterday. Very Zen buddhist, very tranquil and very good karma and very good use of the site. I could feel the tranquility of the work and the whole Thai culture just felt so apt. They had two artists - one living and another who just passed away recently, paying hommage to him. Me and my khangkeng (thai fisherman pants) and my orachun (thai god) t-shirt, happily went in and greeted the guy in Thai, or whatever Thai that I could remember from the 12 weeks intensive class. He then asked me, if I'm Thai! Heh! I could be, if I want to. Oh well, didn't talk much with him, cos he looks a bit dodgy. Left and headed off to P.le Roma, hoping to get a day trip to Treviso on Tuesday.

Things have been quite slow here in the pavilion. I guess the tourist crowd is dying. Nat and I were hoping for some nice people to chill out with. I met Cecile, an Australian from Sydney who's on a travelling scholarship. She's studying architecture and was cool. I should be flying often to Sydney, so Cecile, here I come.

Other than that, it has been quite routine. We're getting the fans! The money is approved and we're waiting for the money from Paivi. On the otherhand, the NAC laptop is down. Bummer!! There was no light on the adapter. Dang!! I knew it would come sooner or later. Xing was already complaining and warning us about the almost defunct lappy. I was so bored, until Nataliah came over and lent me her lappy, which I am typing this entry right now. I hope NAC will reply soon, for I was already considering of shipping my laptop over from Singapore. The bro is checking on the frieght rates first. I will if it's less than $100? Hmm .. we shall see.

Loads of Venetian Vaporettos
F.Venice