I have translated the Italian lyrics into English after the jump.

(Play, Watch &/or Scroll to Read…) Enjoy!

Time To Say Goodbye:

Soprano:
Quando sono sola sogno all’orizzonte e mancan le parole,
When I’m alone I dream of the horizon and words fail me.
Si lo so che non c’è luce in una stanza quando manca il sole,
Yes I know there is no light in a room when there is no sun
se non ci sei tu con me, con me.
and there is none if you’re not here with me, with me.
Su le finestre mostra a tutti il mio cuore che hai accesso,
Every window reveals to all my heart you lit up,
Chiudi dentro me la luce che hai incontrato per strada.
Locked inside me is the light you found by the side of the road.

Time to say goodbye (Con te partirò).
Time to say goodbye.
Paesi che non ho mai veduto e vissuto con te, adesso sì li vivrò.
Countries I’ve never seen or experienced with you, now I shall.
Con te partirò su navi per mari che,
With you I will leave upon ships across seas that,
Io lo so, no, no, non esistono più, it’s time to say goodbye.
I know, don’t, don’t, don’t exist anymore, it’s time to say goodbye.

Tenor:
Quando sei lontana sogno all’orizzonte e mancan le parole,
When you’re far away I dream of the horizon and words fail me.
E io si lo so che sei con me, con me,
And yes I know that you’re with me, with me.
Tu, mia luna, tu sei qui con me,
You, my moon, you are here with me.*
Mio sole tu sei qui con me, con me, con me, con me.
My sun, you are here with me with me, with me, with me.**

Time to say goodbye (Con te partirò).
Time to say goodbye.
Paesi che non ho mai veduto e vissuto con te, adesso sì li vivrò.
Countries I’ve never seen or experienced with you, now I shall.
Con te partirò su navi per mari che,
With you I will leave upon ships across seas that,
Io lo so, no, no, non esistono più.
I know, don’t, don’t, don’t exist anymore.

Both:
Con te io li rivivrò.
With you I’ll revive them.
Con te partirò su navi per mari che,
With you I’ll leave upon ships across seas that,
io lo so, no, no, non esistono più, con te io li rivivrò.
I know, don’t, don’t, don’t exist anymore, with you I’ll revive them.
Con te partirò, Io con te.
With you I will leave, me and you.

*”Moon” is an affectionate pet name however more so for women since women are thought to be mysterious like the moon. (The term lunatic derives from the Latin word luna for moon and once referred to the emotion displayed by women once a month. Interestingly a woman’s cycle concides exactly with the 28 day phase of the moon and before nightlighting was available it is thought women were in rhythm with Nature ~ ovulating during the Full Moon and menstruating with the New Moon). Can imagine how women were unfortunately feared during those times and misunderstood if so intune with Mother Earth!
**Affectionate term in Italian: “sun”, “my little sun” etc – because the sun is very important in the Mediterranean (is a warm heat not a dry one) and brightens up/ warms one’s life.

Translation: Carmen Forward 2009

Everyone you wrote about (particularly central characters) you essentially ended up immortalising by depicting them in your book. How did these people such as your friends Tim, Johnnie and family react to this? Unsurprisingly, my best gay pal, Tim, who came to my rescue in ‘To Hellas & Back’, adores having been immortalised in print. (His latest obsession is for us to write and star in a sitcom together, only by ‘us’, I think he means I write it and he stars in it!) Johnnie the Greek American rocker pretends he doesn’t care about his literary immortalisation because he’s too cool for school, but he secretly loves it too. Dion has been extremely supportive. And my family are very down to earth and don’t think too much about it. They’re just proud and happy that I now float amongst them.

What about Katerina? As your well meaning but intense mother-in-law the dynamics of this relationship would have struck chords with many. Do you know if she read your book and how she felt about your portrayal of her? I felt that it was essential to include my relationship with Katerina because an underlying sense of disapproval in daughter/mother-in-law relations isn’t uncommon, and not only in certain cultures but across the board. I ran all aspects of the book past Dion prior to publication to ensure I wouldn’t cause offence. He understood how it important it was for me to express myself, having been ‘silent’ for such a long period, and that this relationship was a part of our story. It all met with his approval.

Were you known as quite the storyteller amongst friends and family or did this come as a complete surprise? How long did the writing process take? If by ‘storyteller’ you mean sitting around a campfire with a torch beneath my chin, I’m probably not the best at sharing ripping yarns; I never got around to kissing the Blarney Stone because I found it unhygienic! But I’ve always loved writing, and although creating books is a hard process (for me, anyway), it’s also incredibly liberating. My writing before was mostly limited to music-related subjects which isn’t the same as crafting ridiculous sentences rife with idiocy.

It’s hard to put a time frame on how long it took to write ‘To Hellas & Back’. I unwittingly started it in 2000 and it got published in 2007 but if I had to figure out the hours I put into it, I’d say it took around three years.

Do you have any explanation as to why it seems to be women predominantly who move for their men? I think women relocate for men because women are naturally supportive and big believers in love. We can never predict what lies ahead and many are more than pleased with their decision to live abroad … unless they happen to be me.

Do you feel extra compassion for immigrants or non English speakers when you encounter them at say the supermarket for example or do you believe they have it “easier” in Australia then you did in Greece? I absolutely have compassion for immigrants and I’ve been ashamed of what’s been demonstrated in this country of late by a small percentage of yobs quaking with ignorance. People who think that immigrants have it ‘easier’ because they’re in Australia are out of their minds. It only appears easier to those who are accustomed to the country and culture in question.

What about housewives? Do you now have an extra special affinity with women who stay at home particularly those who made that transition from a career? It’s funny you should mention women who transition from career to stay-at-home mothers because when I was writing ‘To Hellas & Back’ I had a hunch they would relate to my saga and, from reader feedback, I was right. Well spotted, you.

Loneliness and your attempts to ward it off is a recurring theme… did you ever experience it prior to going to Athens? Have you experienced it post book or has your popularity soared? Being separated from friends, family, career and a social structure with which I was familiar, the loneliness I experienced in Greece was like nothing I’ve experienced before or after. I’ve had flashes of loneliness since – in some ways it has stayed with me but owing to different circumstances. I’m mostly in Australia these days, so I’ve got friends and family surrounding me. In that regard, my popularity has definitely soared!

After opening yourself up and being so honest is it a bizarre sensation when perfect strangers act like they know you? When I write, it’s a very personal experience, and when I was writing ‘To Hellas & Back’, it was virtually my only means of expression and a very cathartic, therapeutic exercise. I dreamt of being published, but I didn’t know if that would eventuate, so in many ways, my book was like my diary. When people come up to me and talk about intimate details of my life, I think to myself, “How the hell do you know that? … Oh, that’s right. I wrote an 80,000 word book that’s been read by thousands.” To have people know so much about me is genuinely freaky.

Do you think it was your destiny to be a writer with a name like Penrose? Ha! You know I do!

Has Greece influenced your style of fashion? When you alternate between Greece and Australia do you find that you end up trying to people please and dress to impress in Athens but go out of your way to relax Aussie style when in Sydney? Greece has influenced my fashion style, as has London. I really wear whatever I want, wherever I am, but with an understanding of the ‘dress code’. I can’t tell you how liberating it’s been to run around my area of Sydney like Amy Winehouse with mismatching clothes and no shoes. You can totally get away with that in Australia and I like it. But I also like to dress up occasionally. We don’t have many places or occasions where you get to do that here. It’s funny, isn’t it?

I felt as if I were with you every step you made in those 4 years and frankly I was exhausted by the end! How were you able to cast your mind back and relieve every detail so well? Was it all fact or was there any fabrication involved? I was able to relive and include so much detail in ‘To Hellas & Back’ because I was writing everything down as it happened. A strange event would occur, it would blow my mind, and I’d race home to bash away at my keyboard in order to make sense/light of it. So I’m sad to say that none of the events in the book are fabricated, although certain names and places have been changed to protect the innocent.

Cats are often used in your imagery and you even managed to imagine the existence of not one but two cats and have them appear in your universe. (Very true ~ it’s all in the book!) Is Greece as remarkably full of cats as your pages are? Athens is cat and dog city. They’re everywhere. I was even bitten last time I was there and had to have an injection. I’m not entirely sure it was effective, though. I still feel slightly rabid.

They’re not much into de-sexing animals in that part of the world, hence the semi-domesticated animal safari.

Now that you have gotten over your severe culture shock do the same things still annoy you about Greece? Can you share some pros and cons? There are certain things that occur in Greece that no mere mortal can hope to understand unless they hail from there. Bureaucracy is particularly confusing and to my mind, many things play out in a most illogical way. However, after a time, your head does a mind wobble and things suddenly make more sense, or at least they become accepted. When I was there in 2007, for example, I noticed I was seeing almost identical scenarios to when I arrived – old men screaming in post offices, gypsies hating me and the like. These things had once driven me mad but now that I knew they were ‘normal’, they didn’t bother me. In fact I found them hilarious. By God, it was so much easier to focus on Greece’s beauty than on toothless tissue hawkers.

Each time you land in Sydney what are you grateful for? Bothered by? I’m grateful for practically everything in Sydney. I find blind nationalism frightening, but Australia is magnificent in so many ways including aesthetically and structurally. But what I’m always most grateful for when I land in my home country is the sense of belonging and familiarity, the comprehensibility of everything and being amongst friends and family. On the flipside, I’m bothered by intolerance, violence, ignorance and greed. I’ve been outside the country for the better part of a decade, and I’ve noticed these things becoming more and more prevalent.

Music has played a big part of your life from working at MTV to being a PA for Darren Hayes (Savage Garden). What is it like now as an author? Can you describe a typical day for us? A typical day as a writer goes a little something like this: roll out of bed, do three token salutes to the sun to a song of choice on an iPod (anyone from Kate Bush to Def Leppard), eat, check emails, then sit at a keyboard for eight hours straight rearranging sentences. Go to bed, think of something you forgot to write, turn light on, scrabble for a scrap of paper, scribble down a note, and arise the following morning to find you are unable to decipher what you’ve written. Repeat process over.

I love being an author. I owe Greece a great debt, because in a roundabout way it presented me with this opportunity. Living there for four years taught me the discipline needed to spend an eternity in my own company, dedicated to my work.

The ending to your book was quite ambiguous are you able to share more detail as to what happened between you & Dion or do we have to wait for the sequel? Do you continue to visit Athens for him or for friends? You’ll have to wait for the sequel to find out what happens next! The next book is entitled ‘Kickstart My Heart’. If you thought ‘To Hellas & Back’ was borderline, ‘Kickstart My Heart’ is entirely schizophrenic.

How is your Greek? Have you progressed from Beginners B yet? My Greek skills are as rudimentary as ever, although this week I started writing my shopping list in that language and found I could remember quite a few things, excluding toilet paper. Translated I’d written: “paper card of the toilet”.

My favourite part has to be when you shaved your eyebrows off. What was the most embarrassing aspect of your life you shared that makes you cringe the most? Tweezing my leg hair and keeping an ablutions tally are up there. Trying to get people to join in on a rendition of ‘Eternal Flame’ at a Greek Easter celebration is also rather embarrassing. Actually, the more I think about it, practically my entire journey makes me cringe.

Interview by Carmen Forward ⓒ 2009

I am extremely honoured to share with you an intimate interview with Mireille Guiliano whose book “French Women Don’t Get Fat” topped the New York Times best-seller list and was translated in more than 40 languages. Her book is now being adapted for the big screen. Read on as this famous francaise shares her views from her favourite wine to what it was like to meet Oprah!

What was it that made you want to unlock the age old French paradox (that despite all the bread, chocolate, cheese, wine, dessert and more the French feast on they remain slim)? So many women I’d met through my years at Clicquot, Inc.–whether staff, colleagues, consumers, other people and guests I met at events and in restaurants and, of course, friends I made through work and life–were desperate for tips on how to lose weight (and keep it off). I realized that if I could help only just a few of them, I should. Plus by trial and error I had an approach that worked.

I remember reading that one of your French friends questioned you writing French Women Don’t Get Fat. Are you often met with disapproval from French friends because of the cultural secrets you shared? Do you consider yourself a very sharing person in general? A few of my friends did ask me why I was sharing all our secrets with America. There are always selfish people. For others, it was in good fun. I never planned on writing a book, but the opportunity came along and it felt right. In general, French people are pretty reserved about personal nutrition, diet and lifestyle habits, but with globalization, television and “diet” commerce, all this is changing and now even young French girls seem to be benefitting from my tips and secrets. Just this past week, I received a touching letter from a young girl who it turns out lives not far from us in Provence. Also, France is now like America, a melting pot, and with women coming from different cultures, you see more and more overweight people not born in France in addition to the locals who are falling off balance buying supermarket food.

Do you believe cultures based on Puritanical beliefs have a problem with obesity in direct relation to their lack of cultural appreciation and acceptance of the pleasure food gives? I have written that French women think about good things to eat while American women typically worry about bad things to eat. I see and believe that. If that is reflective of a culture(s) with Puritanical beliefs, then it speaks to cultures that miss out on the great pleasures food in moderation brings. But I think it is more important to point out that the trend toward obesity comes more from the accessibility of junk food, fast food, prepared food and all the chemicals in food for its shelf life and the ingredients in much of the food that we see today than in. High fructose corn syrup, packages labeled fat-free and sugar free, sugar substitutes and preservatives dull our taste buds, which causes us to eat more. Unfortunately, our 21^st-century world removes us more and more of little pleasures and for too many people food is just gulping down. If you don’t cook or go to the market you have little connection to real food and so it’s almost a robotic act totally deprived of pleasure. And all that stuff makes you fat eventually.

Your name “Mireille” means “to admire”. Which is what women the world over indeed do. Could you have ever expected the worldwide praise you have received? “To admire” is a dictionary definition, a denotation. Certainly my friends and family admire my accomplishments, and my audience admire that my lifestyle philosophy helped them in small and/or big ways. I grew up being told my name meant “sun ray,” but I’ll take either definition if they relate to balance, “bien dans sa peau” and joie de vivre, which is what I hope reflect my life. Hopefully I walk the walk and people can tell. I certainly had no idea I’d be able to reach so many women all over the world, and wonderful letters keep coming in daily– which considering that the first book was published over four years ago—is pretty remarkable and certainly gratifying on a daily basis, for which I am thankful.

Your voice throughout your writing is unique, engaging and full of anecdotes. It always feels like you are having a very intimate conversation with the reader. Does your pattern of speech follow the same style so do you simply write as if holding a conversation or does it take a lot of editing to write the way you do? I do write the way I speak but then edit and edit again. I prefer to have a conversation with my readers, it’s just my style. I wanted my books to read as a narrative, not a stop and start book of weight control facts. I prefer colorful anecdotes that deliver a message and true –to-life stories over bare facts any day. I write what I know about and what I have experienced. Of course, good writing is also about rewriting and rewriting, and polishing, something I am still learning to do, but I am fortunate to write fluidly and to a degree prolifically, so I have plenty to work with. I don’t agonize at first on the choice of a word as a great novelist or a poet would (and I wouldn’t have that talent, alas). In the end, I am what I eat, drink, dress and write.

You advise women to eat and enjoy as they please albeit chocolate, cream puffs or croissants and stop counting calories! You say it is possible so long as they are mindful when to “be good”. Say a weekend of feasting and Monday soup for lunch. Could this be likened to somebody who tallys calories on a weekly basis instead of daily? French women do not count calories but we do pay attention to what we’re putting into our bodies. When you are mindful of what you eat, you eliminate the need for calorie counting. I’ll concede this much, most people don’t know what’s fattening or the calorie count of a great number of classic offenders—from muffins to bagels to pastel-colored cocktails. When you learn to eat slowly, you eat less. When you eat fresh ingredients, you savor and again won’t need tons to satisfy your appetite. It’s all about balance. Now, I never said “enjoy as they please” as this can be dangerous. You can’t eat croissants and cream puffs daily and not get fat. You need to pick your indulgences and when you do indulge, cut back the next meal or the next day. Feel your equilibrium, do not measure it. We use the zipper as a reference point. This is a circuitous route to answering, yes, think perhaps on a three-day basis rather than a daily calorie counting plan.

You tell women to slowly remove processed foods from their life only allowing occasional indulgences once it is no longer a habit. Are you impartial to any junk food yourself? Not good quality dark chocolate (we know you love that) but anything at all with artificial flavoring, colouring, reconstituted, over processed junk? No, perhaps it is long-term conditioning but I really don’t partake in anything artificial nor do I snack. I have my indulgences: bread, chocolate, ice cream, pastry and cakes, pasta, pizza, like most people. But I always opt for the real thing sans corn syrup, artificial flavor and coloring or anything chemical. Junk food does not tempt me: I’d rather have a piece of bread and a glass of water. If you’ve been living on junk food (and its high sugar and salt content) like so many people I meet, I recommend not cutting it off brutally but learn to eliminate it little by little and once in a while do 2-3 days without it and see how you feel. That alone will make you want to give them up.

Besides entertaining friends in Paris and New York and attending functions (read feasts) do you ever order take away? If so what? If I’m going to order from a restaurant, I usually just go out. I also prefer to go out less but go to a good place where I know the ingredients are fresh and the preparation “balanced” and not tortured with too much seasoning or presented in odd “original” interpretations. I find take-out overpriced, and you have little idea what’s in it; usually it’s too salty, greasy or sweet. Occasionally (like a few times a year), I order sushi and sashimi from a Japanese restaurant or a roasted chicken from a reputable takeout. That’s about it.

As well as your guide for women in business due out 2009, I am particularly looking forward to your book of recipes coming out in 2010; will it include lots of leek recipes?! Can you leave us any tantalizing bits you will be including in your next two books? My cookbook will be more than just a book with recipes but will feature simple, healthy dishes with quality ingredients for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don’t look for cup cake or lemon meringue pie recipes. It will include lots of recipes on vegetables, leeks included, for the many readers who love or discovered them through my books and understand the benefits of eating leeks. There will generally be only easy recipes, including some 21^st- century versions of some classics. Today the modern French woman who cooks does not cook the way you see French food on television with sticks of butter and cups of sugar, huge portions and unbalanced meals. Today’s French women who care eat fresh, simple and small portions which does not mean no butter or oil, just slivers to give taste and texture. I believe this type of eating works with our sedentary life where less is more as far as food portions are concerned.

You have aimed your message at women ~ can men also benefit from your tips? Pourquoi pas? I receive lots of emails and hear from many men who tell me they’ve lost weight after reading my books and applying some principles. Some have even reclaimed their university weight! Plus, women constantly tell me that their marriages have been helped by rediscovering home cooked family dinners (and their husbands have lost weight with them along the way).

You love wine, drink it daily and worked as CEO of Veuve Clicquot for over 20 years. What is your favourite wine and why? Champagne and red Burgundy, especially Volnay & Chambolle Musigny. My husband says it’s an acquired taste…a somewhat rarified sensibility (I have a lot of frugal tastes although not when it comes to wine), but let me tell you it is easy to be seduced by these wines. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the noble grapes of Champagne and Burgundy (and, of course, now grown in many other countries) and they go well with what I like to eat. I also love Southern Rhône wines when a meal calls for a big wine. With age, I drink less and try to limit to a glass a day when I can, which is increasingly possible since I no longer have to entertain with Champagne once or twice a day. So today if I have some wine with a full lunch, dinner will perhaps be a soup sans vin. Sometimes, now, I won’t drink any for a few days…a bit like controlling my indulgences and purging my body. C’est la vie.

How much of the French adage etre bien dans sa peau is pure attitude and how much can be learnt through for example what you share with us? Which comes first? You are correct, bien dans sa peau is an attitude. You need confidence and you need to know yourself to get there. French women cultivate it at a young age, but you can learn it at any point in your life. It is never too late. You don’t have to be French or live in France to be comfortable in your skin. The tips I give in my books give the tools to help you adopt this attitude. There is not one prescription; it is different for every woman. We always have the ability to adapt and change to feel good at the various stages of life.

Apart from helping women through your books you also have a weight loss website. How does it work? Frenchwomendontgetfat.com was designed to complement my books, offering daily meal plan options, additional recipes, a community of like-minded French women, and a registered nutritionist to answer questions. I will be making some changes to the site over the next few months, but it will still be a place for questions, support and inspiration on the French lifestyle. The new site will be updated in Spring 2009.

How do you feel about the possibility of Hilary Swank playing you in the upcoming romantic comedy based on your first book? Do you feel there is a physical resemblance between Hilary and your 1984 CEO of Veuve Clicquot self she will be portraying? It is not sure Hilary will act in the film, but if she does it will not be playing me but a younger woman who works for me and who needs some mentoring along the lines of my two French women books.

What was it like to meet Oprah? Can you share any backstage stories with us? It was a lark. I admire her and what she has accomplished. You know, I turned down my first invitation to be on the show. I was so caught up in my corporate life, I couldn’t drop everything and hop a plane to Chicago. My publisher almost had a collective heart attack. I am glad I eventually was able to appear. On TV or in person, it’s clear she is bright, energetic and caring. I was flattered that she came to chat with me in the green room and told me how much she liked my book. She mentioned her weight challenge (she was already a bit overweight, and I felt sorry for her as I knew I could help). I offered that the next time she came to France I’d show her how French women who don’t get fat live, and she said she might take me up on it. She never did. She didn’t strike me as someone “bien dans sa peau,” and must have so much stress and pressures. The fact that she has a cook, nutritionist, trainer, doctors and that they let her get to the stage she is in now makes me want to cry. None of these people, with all due respect for their expertise, have any clue what women feel and what emotional eating is. There are so many small and simple things they are missing that make all the difference. It’s not that hard to eat healthy. She needs to surround herself with the right people. I wish she’d take care of herself and realize that her age requires some serious reinventing and fine tuning if she wants to live a healthy and happy life. She should take more time to smell the roses.

If you could sum up your most important tips for women in one sentence how would it go? Be mindful, eat and live healthy, move daily, enjoy the small daily pleasures, laugh (including at yourself) and love a lot (including yourself) and take your daily “plage de temps” and you will not have to worry about getting fat.

Merci Beaucoup!

Interview by Carmen Forward ⓒ 2009

*Oprah image from here

Merry Christmas dear readers!

Thanks so much for coming into my world it’s been a magical ride so far… Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and end of year…

Whether you celebrate on the beach, snowed in or at KFC with Mandarins like the Japanese have a great break wherever you are!

All the best  ♥ ♥ xxx Carm

Image from here

Since leaving Milan this is what I have been loving and appreciating with newfound zest…

• Sheer Space ~ Flying over Sydney, for me,  there is always a thrilling moment before landing. I normally feel content but this time I felt especially blissful and appreciative. Gorgeous aqua water teamed with a dazzling white coastline! We really are blessed. The rooftops also struck me as particularly large compared to the apartments of Milan and Hong Kong!

• Clean Wide Streets ~ As adorable and quaint as the medieval streets of Italy are they often come with medieval standards of hygiene. Dog poop and urine are all over the narrow streets and is a repulsive and perplexing aspect of life there considering Italians are such clean freaks within their own homes.
• Lovely Water ~ In Milan every time I went to boil the kettle limestone would build up literally after one go. It would also leave watermarks and stain everything and it was necessary to use “anti- calcare” wherever you use water such as on dishes or clothing. It was awful. I’m so pleased I can drink tea or make rice without worrying now!

• Café breakfasts ~ Going out for breakfast in Sydney is the best. It was fabulous to get a traditional brekky with bacon & eggs. In Italy breakfast is not enthused about the way lunch and dinner is and is usually just something plain & sweet like a pastry with black coffee. I’m happy to be back in a land where breakfast is hailed as the most important meal of the day and an abundance of cereal, fruit, yoghurt, hot English style brekky, pancakes etc are available. Yes I would say breakfast is my favourite meal that or dessert!

• Good Customer Service ~ It is terribly satisfying to be back in a country where the “customer is always right” mentality reigns. Where between the hours of 9-5 Monday to Friday a fake smile (if a real one can’t be found) has it’s place. This is a good thing and something that Italy should take note from. I found it appalling how employees (of supermarkets or shopping centres) would stand around gossiping with colleagues rather than serve customers or when they did treated people with contempt and hostility as if the customer was doing them a disservice. Simply because they don’t feel like smiling they won’t. Being “genuine” meaning behaving as they feel rather then how they ought to seems to be more important there, even at work & even to customers.I’ve witnessed situations where 5 staff members thought their conversation more important then the queues of people waiting. However this is a reverse scenario when it comes to designer shopping. In Sydney most people would find it intimidating entering into Gucci, Prada, Armani etc because the staff act in a judgemental manner towards the public; rather like the famous Pretty Woman scene. In Milan not so. Tourists wearing sneakers are welcomed with beaming smiles. They simply can’t tell who will buy or not and so are “nice” to everyone. This I believe is how it should be.
• Multicultural Mix ~ Oh Sydney is such a cosmopolitan city! What does it mean? For one a fantastic variety of ethnic dining. Thai, Japanese, Indian… we have a lot of different flavours of the world on our doorstep which is lovely coming from a country which is certainly food orientated and does have a lot of to choose from but not much outside an Italian menu. Another good point of multiculturalism is it’s so nice to go out and about and see a diverse mix of beauty. It’s also fantastic that random strangers no longer stare and attempt to talk gibberish Mandarin to me as if I’m the new animal at the zoo. Horrid. Sydney on the otherhand is accepting of part Asians and mixes of all kinds! Now in the fashion capital that is Milan pale models do float around and about of course but it’s simply not the same as down under and I think it may have something to do with my next point…
• Atmosphere ~ People are a lot more reserved in Milan then their Australian counterparts! In Sydney you can feel the vibes in the air as soon as work knocks off… It’s fun to go out and party here and there are quite a few new clubs since I left too! Certainly the parties in Milan are impressive and I’ve mentioned a couple here on this blog but the atmosphere is not as wild as Sydney.
• Instant Noodles ~ Honestly I missed them! There is a selection in Italy but really the market is not deemed important enough since Italians only eat good quality fresh produce. Not exactly something noodles are And they are ridiculously overpriced too! I have seen one single packet of noodles (and not a reputable brand either) on sale for 2€10c! I’m not joking! Here they can go for 40c and certainly in Asia the difference is more remarkable.
• Delicious Healthy Convenient Food ~ We have a culture which in the last 10 years has made healthy food a lot more accessible. Salads, soups, sandwiches, sushi, fruits, smoothies, juice, museli bars… delectable healthy goodness is ready and waiting everywhere you look. You don’t need to search far. In Italy juices haven’t kicked off the way they have here and sushi (as I’ve mentioned before in some of my party posts) has only just arrived and is newly fashionable. Top parties provide it and Georgio Armani even has his own bar which serves sushi as aperitivo! In a regular day you will need to fork out for this status symbol. A mini lunchbox containing assorted pieces sells for 10 € in Milan!
• Weather ~ Certainly the balmy days, palm trees, waterdragons & lizards, freshly mown grass, grass!, watering the lawn, the beach… I can’t tell you how happy I am to be spending Christmas according to our usual way which entails swimming in the pool before  breakfast, tropical fruits, seafood platter, mango pancakes, cherries… Despite what they say about the tradition of a White Christmas I’ve yet to experience the beauty of one of those, last year it was just cold. Period!
• Safety ~ It’s fabulous to be out at night and feel secure. To take public transport or be in a public space without worrying about pickpockets. And to know that this is my country, I am a citizen and should anything happen that I matter and would be taken care of. We really are very lucky in Australia.

So far these are the little gems that have been making me smile since I’ve been back. It’s good to be home.

Images from here, here, here, here, here & here.

What could it mean?

The numbers 5, 2, & 6 correspond to Chinese words just like 2(two) =to or 4(four) =for in English.

In Mandarin:
5 wǔ 五 sounds like wǒ (I)
2 èr 二 sounds like ài (love)
6 liù 六 sounds like nǐ (you)

BB = stands for Bibi = Chinese for “Baby”

Baby I love you!

Awwwww… how cute is that?!

Image from here

Note: In fact 520 is the “official” code for “I love you” “0″ ling is closer sounding to nǐ (you) and but 526 still sounds similar enough to work. Thanks to Stephiie for pointing that out!

How would you describe your first novel Who by Fire? Who By Fire is a family story set in Israel in 2002 that explores what happens when we try to rescue the people we love.

Could you explain the mystery behind the title and the use of the back view of a girl’s hair pulled back into a ponytail for your cover? People keep asking me if the title is an homage to the Leonard Cohen song, Who By Fire, but in fact, it seems that Leonard Cohen and I had the same inspiration. The words come from a prayer. In fact, the words are part of a litany of modes of death: Who will die by fire and who by water, who by sword, who by beast, etc. It’s a very cheerful prayer that Jews recite on the High Holidays. As for the cover, I’m not sure which character the girl is meant to represent. There are several elusive female characters in the novel. I suppose she could be any of them. My grandfather thought it was me. He said, “Why did you let them take a picture of the back of your head? Why didn’t you turn around?”

In regards to content where did you draw inspiration from? Travel. People. Nights when my phone didn’t ring. Nights when my phone rang too many times. Human folly. Disappointment. My family. Other people’s families. The families people wish they had. Religion. Atheism. Inner demons. My own self-consciousness. My own bravado. The times I’ve tried to rescue people who didn’t want to be rescued.

What about when you went to Israel for research purposes ~ how long did you spend there? Did ever feel concerned for your safety? Bus bombs etc Any interesting stories or tips to share? I spent a summer in Israel during high school, a semester there during college, and ten days there when I was working on Who By Fire. Mostly, I don’t feel nervous in Israel. I feel nostalgic. I feel elated and sad. I feel like I want to touch the Jerusalem stone with two flat palms, like I want to buy souvenirs, like I want to watch the sun rise and fall. Of course, I had occasional moments of paranoia. I remember shopping one afternoon at Mahane Yehuda (an outdoor market) and thinking, There have been bombs here. There could be a bomb right now. It would be impossible not to have bad thoughts like that as a tourist in Israel, considering the way international media portrays life there.

How long did the process from conception to publishing take? Bits and Ash, the brother and sister protagonists, introduced themselves to me in the spring of 2003. The novel hit the shelves in September, 2008.

How many brothers and sisters do you have? What is your ranking in the family? I would rank myself first place and give myself a blue ribbon, but in fact, I’m a middle child. I have an older sister and a younger brother.

I understand your younger brother went to Israel to become an Orthodox Jew. However this occurred after you created this fictional event in your novel. Do you feel you somehow contributed? If I had to guess, I would say I must have had some clue that he was headed in that direction. My sense was definitely unconscious, but he must have been exhibiting signs of making a transformation. It was still eerie, though. Coincidences are eerie. They make people have crazy thoughts. They make people say, “It must be divine!” They make people say, “I think I’m psychic.” I don’t really think I’m psychic. Unfortunately, I don’t think I have any super powers. But if I could have one, I’d probably choose to fly, not to see the future.

Were your feelings (about your brother’s decision) similar to your character “Bits’” feelings? Not really. My relationship with my brother is very different from Bits’ relationship with Ash. My brother and I are really close. We were buddies when he was doing his spiritual searching, we were buddies before, and we’re buddies now.

Did this make you even closer to your characters? In some ways, yes, having my book come to life helped me write my book. In other ways, it was confusing. I had to remind myself that I was not Bits and my brother was not Ash. That always happens to me when I’m writing fiction. I get confused. It’s a sign that I’m really into the work, so it’s a good thing. For example, right now I’m working on a character whom I’ve based on a friend. Whenever I talk to the friend now, I keep almost calling him by my character’s name. One of these days, I’m going to slip. It’s going to be embarrassing.

I read that you presently wait tables at an Israeli restaurant in New York which means you overhear Hebrew quite a bit. Despite describing this as a “dumb job” was this an intentional move on your behalf to aid in your book research? It was. I don’t work there anymore. I quit about two years ago because I was almost done with my book and also because the managers started making us pool tips. I hate pooling tips. Now I work in a tequila bar.

You say real living in New York involves dining with mice and living in a closet. Does the Big Apple make up for that by indeed making dreams come true? Can you describe the “vibe”, the atmosphere of New York? I live in the East Village in a studio that’s smaller than a dorm room. My bed is lofted. If I leave a shirt on the floor, it’s like having a roommate. But once I step outside, I’m on a block with four bars, several restaurants, a few boutiques, a consignment store, a coffee shop, and a shoe repairman. And that’s just my one little block. New York is stuffed with people and places and things to do. It’s crowded and crazy and expensive, but it is also the New York you know from movies. It’s fun as hell.

I noticed you have gorgeous dark curly hair and that is enough to make me ask (let alone where your brother moved to!) do you have Jewish origins yourself? You’re awesome! I hate my hair! Yes, I’m Jewish. And my brother looks just like me (in a boy way) and lives in Austin, Texas.

Your next upcoming novel is about the emotional journey of weight loss… Is this based on personal struggles with weight or from your experience working at weight loss camps? When I decided to write my second novel about weight issues, I spent ten weeks working at a weight-loss camp. I’ve never been overweight, but I am female. In other words, I worry about my body. Don’t we all?

If your readers could take just one thing away from reading Who by Fire what do you hope that is? My two favorite compliments have been, “I stayed up all night because I couldn’t put your book down,” and, “Your book made me want to go to Israel.” Okay, that’s two. Sorry.

To purchase Who by Fire through Amazon go here

NYC image from here

[Source]

“The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, the second half by our children.”
~ US Defense Lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)

How does that make you feel? Do you agree in jest or in all seriousness?

And to think this is the circle of life…

Image from here