Introductions

I agree with Umbra, your post is really amazing!
Thank you for such interesting things you wrote down, I'm really curious abot Australia (and I'd love to come there, but for now it is really too far! )
Anyway, I'm from Florence, where I live, in Tuscany. I don't know, probably you already heard about my city

(28-12-2010, 11:39)Umbra Ha scritto:  my nick is the italian version of Chade (Umbra).

I love that, Umbra - what a fantastic idea!

(29-12-2010, 03:17)Wintrow Ha scritto:  P.S.: I'm sorry for my bad english!

You are doing so brilliantly, Wintrow...honest! I think you are all amazing, not just because you are doing so well with your English but that you can speak/write another language at all! I feel very unintelligent in your multilingual presences!

(29-12-2010, 04:46)The Fool Ha scritto:  Since I was a child I have been intrigued by the immense and wild and beautiful lands of Australia, so much so that I spontaneously wrote a 150-pages essay on your country when I was 13 :-)

You wrote one hundred and fifty pages?! WOW! I would have loved to have read that, The Fool! Was there anything in particular that made you become so interested in Australia at such a young age?

(29-12-2010, 04:46)The Fool Ha scritto:  Distances between our villages are not big as yours, but in Southern Italy road links are so much bad that sometimes distance learning would be really welcome!

Yes, I think there would be many different advantages if distance learning were available to all. Often it is not only the distances but also the wet weather and problems with roads that isolate us. This is especially true in the wet season as most roads into town are only dirt roads, as ours are, and so are not passable when it rains. There are also many creeks and rivers that flow across the roads that then make them impassable for quite long periods of time. In fact, there are many record floods happening here in Queensland right now, with many people being evacuated from their homes. We have had a lot of rain so my family and I cannot go anywhere at the moment but at least we are far enough away from our closest creeks and rivers that flooding cannot ever bother us.

We always have extra food and things on hand, especially when we prepare for the wet season, as we know we will not be able to get to a town for many weeks and even months. We also try to be as self-sufficient as we can eg we grow a lot of our own vegetables, eat beef from our own cattle, have chickens for eggs and cows for fresh milk etc.

Other than isolation and impassable roads etc, children who have medical problems or who travel around Australia with their parents for work can also do their schooling via a school of distance education.

(29-12-2010, 04:46)The Fool Ha scritto:  I was born in Southern Italy, indeed, and exactly in Calabria on the Ionian Sea, but I had to move to a northern city, Bologna, to attend the university and I still live there.

I will never be able to eat another red onion without thinking of you! I was also interested to discover that the “University of Bologna is the oldest existing university in Europe”. What did you study?

My two eldest sons had to go to a boarding school for a number of years to complete their secondary schooling and will also need to live very far away from home to attend university. My eldest son finished school in November but will have a year off before he begins his degree.

(29-12-2010, 04:46)The Fool Ha scritto:  It's a pity that you won't visit Italy next year! Where will you go, instead?

I would love to visit Italy one day! For the trip next year, I am going as a supervisor of a school tour and we will be visiting parts of France, Belgium and Turkey.

(29-12-2010, 04:46)The Fool Ha scritto:  If you like to watch some videos and photos of the book tour, you can click on "Album" in the upper grey bar

Thank you! I took a look and it was lots of fun matching your names to your faces...what a gorgeous bunch of people you all are here on Blood Memories!!! I will try and post a photo of myself so you can all see what I look like. Maybe I can also post some photos of my life here.

Looking at the dates, I think I will possibly try to get to Belgium to meet Robin, if I can. It would definitely be worth the extra effort to get there. How funny (and AMAZING) it would be...an Australian reader meeting an American author in Belgium!

I have more of your posts to reply to so I will try and get back to write some more soon, I promise! Thank you all once again for such a special welcome.

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  We always have extra food and things on hand, especially when we prepare for the wet season, as we know we will not be able to get to a town for many weeks and even months. We also try to be as self-sufficient as we can eg we grow a lot of our own vegetables, eat beef from our own cattle, have chickens for eggs and cows for fresh milk etc.

After this, I can't think how many supermarket and very large shopping center we have here

Citazione:Maybe I can also post some photos of my life here.

Thank you, I'm very curious about that (and probably all Blood Memories, too)

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  Yes, I think there would be many different advantages if distance learning were available to all. Often it is not only the distances but also the wet weather and problems with roads that isolate us. This is especially true in the wet season as most roads into town are only dirt roads, as ours are, and so are not passable when it rains. There are also many creeks and rivers that flow across the roads that then make them impassable for quite long periods of time. In fact, there are many record floods happening here in Queensland right now, with many people being evacuated from their homes. We have had a lot of rain so my family and I cannot go anywhere at the moment but at least we are far enough away from our closest creeks and rivers that flooding cannot ever bother us.

We always have extra food and things on hand, especially when we prepare for the wet season, as we know we will not be able to get to a town for many weeks and even months. We also try to be as self-sufficient as we can eg we grow a lot of our own vegetables, eat beef from our own cattle, have chickens for eggs and cows for fresh milk etc.

Other than isolation and impassable roads etc, children who have medical problems or who travel around Australia with their parents for work can also do their schooling via a school of distance education.

That's such an amazing thing for us When in Italy something like such a thing happens, it is felt like a disaster! For example, 2 weeks ago here in Florence snow totally invaded the city (it has never been like this from 70s years!), and the city became CRAZY: no possibility to move, by car, by train, by plane, and also no possibility to communicate 'cause mobile phones didn't work! And this just for 4 hours of snow!
So for me it's really difficult to imagine your (really fascinating!) kind of life!

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  I will never be able to eat another red onion without thinking of you!

FANTASTIC!

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  I will try and post a photo of myself so you can all see what I look like. Maybe I can also post some photos of my life here.

Oh yeas! Please! I'm so curious to see where you live!!!

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  Looking at the dates, I think I will possibly try to get to Belgium to meet Robin, if I can. It would definitely be worth the extra effort to get there. How funny (and AMAZING) it would be...an Australian reader meeting an American author in Belgium!

I hope you'll be able to meet Robin, it is really an amazing experience! For us it has been just like a dream, and I think it would be really nice for you too

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  

(28-12-2010, 11:39)Umbra Ha scritto:  my nick is the italian version of Chade (Umbra).

I love that, Umbra - what a fantastic idea!

This idea isn't mine, but it's a nice solution found by Paola Cartoceti, the italian translator of the trilogies Farseer, Liveship Traders and Twany Man (she is also a BM user: her nick is Folgore, the italian world fot Bolt). She was very clever with Chade: Ombra is Shade in italian, so she changed Chade in Umbra

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  what a gorgeous bunch of people you all are here on Blood Memories!!! I will try and post a photo of myself so you can all see what I look like. Maybe I can also post some photos of my life here.

I'm looking forward to them

(30-12-2010, 16:30)Assassin Ha scritto:  I hope you'll be able to meet Robin, it is really an amazing experience! For us it has been just like a dream, and I think it would be really nice for you too

Robin is a fantastic person, I can swear it! Some of us had a lunch in Rome during wich I annoyed her for two hours with my questions (I'm a real stalker!). She was very kind with each of us, and I'll never forgot that day.

I really hope you could meet her, Annette!




marco

I'm so happy to welcome you on our ship, Farseer!
I'm the Dragon-on-board (of course).
Now I live with my mate in Sanremo, Liguria, near to the French border, but I hatched in the enchanting island of Sardinia.

I'm owned by some fascinating cats (the only animals that stand above dragons) and two dogs, when I return in my homeland.

In really enjoy reading you, and hope you'll enjoy reading us.

(29-12-2010, 13:23)Kamaji Ha scritto:  I have born and live in Palermo, Sicily

Palermo looks like a huge city to me but, wow, it also looks like a wondrous treasure trove of architecture and history (as does all of Italy!). The photos I have seen from doing internet searches are simply awe-inspiring!!

(29-12-2010, 13:23)Kamaji Ha scritto:  My mother have been three times in Australia and she always talk about the places she visited as the most amazing naturalistic places where she have gone.

That’s terrific that your mother has been here three times! Do you know where in Australia she has visited, Kamaji? Do you have family who live here or does your mother just like to come to Australia as a favourite holiday destination?

(29-12-2010, 13:23)Kamaji Ha scritto:  I'm vary happy to know someone living so far sharing our same passion for Hobb's books.

I am very happy to know you and I am glad to be sharing this Hobb passion with you as well!!

Did you know that Robin apparently used aspects of Australia’s history (the First Fleet/convicts being transported to Australia via ships from England) as inspiration for the Pirate Isles, slave ships and the settlement of the Rain Wilds? I was very excited to learn of this possible Hobb connection to my country! Robin, if you swing by Blood Memories again one day, I would be very interested to hear if this is truly the case.

(29-12-2010, 13:43)Umbra Ha scritto:  I'm sure your lifestyle is very different from mine, less spoiled by pollution and technology.

Yes, Umbra, I am sure our lifestyles are very different in many ways. Pollution-wise the air is very clean here, particularly where I am on our property, but possibly we are not so very far behind technology-wise? The world is a far smaller place these days (I even have Hobb friends I can talk to who live as far away as Italy!!! ) and technology, while it is cumbersome and stressful at times, has certainly helped to make our isolation here less “isolated”. For me, it is wonderful to be able to go online to order a book or clothing and have it arrive here in the mail rather than have to drive six hundred kilometres to buy it all!

While there is hard work to be done here, there is definitely far less everyday stress to have to deal with than what I have experienced with city living. Of course, I have always lived in the country so it is what I am used to. Someone from the city may find my way of life rather slow-paced, lonely and boring!

Hmm...we may be lagging behind in the area of technology with mobile phones though, but this is more to do with distance than "technology" itself (I think). While mobiles are used throughout Australia, I cannot use one out here because I am too isolated and far away from a town. At home here, I can only use an everyday, landline phone or, for short-range communication, a two-way UHF radio. This may sound awful but it is sometimes a blessing not being contactable 24 hours a day!!

(29-12-2010, 13:43)Umbra Ha scritto:  I'm from Sicily too, but my city is Messina. It isn't a small city (it has a population of about 245,000 inhabitants) and I live in front of the sea.

This may be a silly question but, living near the sea, have you ever had to deal with such things as tidal waves and hurricanes, or is all of Italy quite geographically protected in this regard?

You’re right...245,000 people in Messina is a LOT of people to have to live in close proximity with!! I am not sure I could do it so I am constantly amazed by those, like you, who can!

(29-12-2010, 13:43)Umbra Ha scritto:  I've many friends who visited Australia (near Messina there are some islands, Eolian Islands, from where many workers had left to Australia in the past - so they have cousins and other relatives in your country) and I hope to visit it in the future.

Except for all of you, I have to admit that I don’t know anyone, and I have never met anyone, with an Italian connection before.

(29-12-2010, 16:05)Ambra Ha scritto:  I'm native Italian too, I was born and still live in Rimini, a town in the Center-North of Italy, on the East Coast. So I live near the sea but anything like the beautiful beaches in Australia

I found a map and photos of Rimini, Ambra, and it looks so charming. Each city I have read about seems to have such incredible stories woven into their histories! Rimini is a little less populated than Townsville (my closest city) but the buildings have so much more character, beauty and presence.

You may be interested to learn that, because I grew up and have always lived in the country, I had never even been to a beach until I was seventeen years old and had left school. While it was beautiful there, I was so terrified at being at the beach for the first time that I found it difficult to enjoy. I spent the entire time thinking I was going to be eaten by a shark (I had seen the movie ‘Jaws’ a lot before that!) and caught in a cyclone (it was the middle of the cyclone season and I had grown up watching terrifying cyclone alerts on the television!). I have visited many different beaches since that first experience, and so it is funny to look back on my terror now, but I was truly worried at the time!

(29-12-2010, 18:57)Assassin Ha scritto:  Anyway, I'm from Florence, where I live, in Tuscany. I don't know, probably you already heard about my city

Yes, I have heard of Florence before, Assassin, and I would love to visit it one day. I am very much a country person who often feels quite out of place within town or city limits but I think I would enjoy visiting cities such as the ones where you all live, even if only for a short time. There would be so much to look at! Australia is only a young country and so we have far fewer historically-significant buildings and sites in comparison to those you have in Italy.

It has been wonderful hearing about the different locations where you all live – thank you for sharing them with me!

(03-01-2011, 14:20)Farseer Ha scritto:  

(29-12-2010, 13:43)Umbra Ha scritto:  I'm from Sicily too, but my city is Messina. It isn't a small city (it has a population of about 245,000 inhabitants) and I live in front of the sea.

This may be a silly question but, living near the sea, have you ever had to deal with such things as tidal waves and hurricanes, or is all of Italy quite geographically protected in this regard?

You’re right...245,000 people in Messina is a LOT of people to have to live in close proximity with!! I am not sure I could do it so I am constantly amazed by those, like you, who can!

Good question!

Messina is a city with a terrible history: in 1908 it was totally destroyed by an earthquake (that origins also a tsunami). The whole area actually is in danger with phenomena like this: we’re not far from Etna Volcano (the biggest volcano in Europe) and the Eolian Islands I’ve spoken about have volcanic origins (one of them is a proper volcano, Stromboli). Indeed, I can remember very light quakes.
This is the situation of Messina and the surrounding areas. Nonetheless, I don’t fear such things, because they are very rare and I can’t do anything against them; I can only trust on our buildings, that should be very safe.

Speaking of Nature's strenght, how is the situation in your area? I've recently read of some stormies in Queensland


marco

Thanks for the welcome, Tintaglia! I was very interested to read that the Sanremo Music Festival inspired the Eurovision Song Contest (which I love to watch!).

(07-01-2011, 16:49)Umbra Ha scritto:  Messina is a city with a terrible history: in 1908 it was totally destroyed by an earthquake (that origins also a tsunami). The whole area actually is in danger with phenomena like this: we’re not far from Etna Volcano (the biggest volcano in Europe) and the Eolian Islands I’ve spoken about have volcanic origins (one of them is a proper volcano, Stromboli). Indeed, I can remember very light quakes.

Thank you for sharing that, Umbra - it made riveting reading, and I am so glad I asked! I am sure that the history of *a sort-of Realm of the Elderlings spoiler*

Spoiler [leggi]

the Rain Wilds, and all else that has happened to the rest of the Elderling realm due to ongoing earthquake/volcanic activity, is more meaningful to someone such as yourself, who shares these geographical/historical similarities!

For myself, I have never experienced such activity (anywhere!) and, besides drought and storms, am quite protected where I live. We are six hundred kilometres from the coast so, while we receive lots of the beneficial rain from them, we are not often troubled by the destruction of nearby cyclones either.

(07-01-2011, 16:49)Umbra Ha scritto:  Speaking of Nature's strenght, how is the situation in your area? I've recently read of some stormies in Queensland

Although we are currently experiencing heavy rainfalls due to storms here, and we are cut off from everyone and everything, this is a normal thing for us at this time of year.

I have not been affected by the storms, flooding and flash flooding that you would have seen in the news recently. Though my son is on the Sunshine Coast and quite near to the most recent events in Brisbane, he is safe and away from the areas that have flooded (and is in a house on a hill ). He is attending a flying school there and I actually had to drive with him through the flooded regions of Central Queensland to get him there on time. We were very fortunate to get through, and thankfully I was able to return home immediately on a flight from Brisbane just before the major storms and flash flooding occurred!

I do also have many other friends and family members who have been directly in the vicinity of the flooding throughout the state but they are all alive and safe, despite having property and possessions affected.

(30-12-2010, 14:34)Farseer Ha scritto:  How funny (and AMAZING) it would be...an Australian reader meeting an American author in Belgium!

Maybe not! Take a look at the newsgroup:

Citazione:There is a good chance I will be visiting Australia in early April. Brisbane and Melbourne. When it is confirmed, I will post details here. Right now it can be regarded as a very strong rumor.