RANDOM THOUGHTS, OR, THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ITALY
I’m not sure about the whole of Italy, but there are no sugar maples in Umbria. This is quite obvious during the fall, when the leaves change colors. There are a few trees whose leaves are turning yellow, but that’s it. Maybe there is an odd variety or two with red leaves, but so far, the fall looks a little drab with only green, yellow and brown colors on the landscape. Seems like I recall maple syrup being one of things listed to bring to Italy, so I would guess that the trees don’t grow here.
Last Saturday we “fell back” an hour, just like the US. We got burned one year when someone forgot to tell us about the time change in the spring. That year, the spring was a week or so different from the US. Since this time we were the same as the US, I’m not sure if this changes from year to year. We’ll have to pay attention in the spring!
In Italy you have to pay for the grocery bags you use. Of course you can bring your own, but if you want to use their bags, it will cost you. Small bags are about 3 cents, large ones maybe 5 cents. Finally, after being in Italy for maybe 3 weeks, and shopping EVERY day, I finally remembered to put some bags in the car. We bought one of those new insulated bags that all the stores are selling now, for our refrigerated items, so I was determined to be prepared. We forgot to take the bags into the store with us the first 2 or 3 times. After that, we remembered the bags only as we entered the store, and had to return to the car for them. We are trying to get ourselves into the habit of taking the bags…it’s not so much the 5 cents, it’s the huge collection of plastic bags that is growing in our kitchen closet!
Suddenly my free time has disappeared! School started on Monday, and we don’t get out until 1 o’clock. If we head straight home, we’ll be there by 1:45, but if we need to do any shopping or business, we have to go back out after 3:30. Yesterday, we finished school at 1, but needed to stop by the bank to cash a check. Since the bank closed at 1:20, and we knew we wouldn’t make it in time, we decided to go to the shopping center in Collestrada to pick up some groceries. This was one of the times I had to go back to the car to get the bags that we keep in the trunk. Once we were inside the shopping center, I realized they had a hair salon. The haircut I had before we left the states was getting pretty ragged, so I asked if I needed to make an appointment. I was told no, they could take me immediately! I went to tell Art, and he decided to get his hair cut too. I explained to the girl cutting my hair that I had had a face lift about 8 weeks ago, and was still a little tender. She understood, and said she would wash my hair very gently. She started to show me some pictures of hairstyles, but I told her to do whatever she wanted. I was very pleased with the cut, but instead of holding my hair between her fingers and cutting with scissors, she pulled a comb through my hair and cut it with electric clippers! I didn’t see a pair of scissors in the entire shop! Art’s hair was cut the same way.
After the haircut, we headed to the grocery store, and ran into Wendy and her friend. We chatted for a few minutes, and told Wendy we were going to the bank later. She offered to stop by for us, and since her name is still on our checking account, I just gave her a blank check, and we’ll pick up the money when we see her on Friday.
Once home, and by now it’s after 4, we decide to take apart the old, ugly armoire that is in the guest room, and replace it with the one that is now in the master bedroom. The task was so time-consuming, I thought we were moving in slow motion! Finally, about 7:30 we were finished! Since we had to move all our clothes out of the old armoire, they were now sitting on an old bedspread on the floor. Everything that had been under the bed was moved to the bathroom we don’t use much. The bed frame was taken out, but we just stood the mattress on end, so that was one less thing to move back into the room. We didn’t even eat dinner, just sat for a minute, had something to drink, then went to bed. Oh wait, I forgot, we both had Italian homework to do! THAT was a lot of fun in a state of complete exhaustion!
Today, Thursday, we left school and stopped at home only long enough to eat lunch. We then headed to Terni to pick up our Permesso di Sigiorno. It was supposed to be ready on Monday, but the only afternoon the questura is open is Thursday. Wendy had called for us on Wednesday to make sure that it was really ready. The only problem we had with getting it was waiting for the woman in front of us to resolve her problem. We got a little scared…she too had called to make sure her Permesso was ready, but now the questura couldn’t find it! Luckily, we had no problem with ours! Yeah!
As we were leaving Terni, the phone rang. It was Wendy, who said she had the geometra on the other line, and were we supposed to have an appointment with the electrician? We said not that we knew of…one of the workmen had asked if we were going to be home in the afternoon, but we had told him no, we had to go to Terni. I’m not sure what happened, but we told the geometra we would be there in 30 minutes, and we made it in 40. We went over the placement of the electrical outlets in the kitchen. The electrician, the geometra and Art were huddled over a piece of paper, and I heard the words “change”, then Art saying okay. Uh-Oh! Excuse me, but this is MY kitchen …just what changes are you saying okay to? After much discussion and MANY MANY questions on my part, I finally got to the bottom of the problem. I simply refuse to say okay, or that I understand when I don’t. The electrician spoke a little English and he was telling me that the switch for the oven had to be moved. When I asked why there was an electrical switch for a gas oven, he then told me that the oven was electric. Excuse me again, but I think I know what I want, and what I ordered for my kitchen. After a phone call to Rosella, it was finally straightened out. Yes, the broiler was electric, but somehow the fact that the oven itself was gas had been forgotten, so no line had been run. And Art just said “okay”! Advice to anyone doing renovations…make sure you understand WHAT is being done and WHY. Ask questions! Be persistent! Oh, and don’t let someone else answer for you!
We went through the rest of the house, marking the worksites with a can of blue spray paint! I’ll need to be careful when I light the stove! And finally, we were finished. As Mauro said, “a little English, a little Italian, okay!” It was definitely challenging!
DRIVING LESSONS
On Sunday I had my first driving lesson in 35 years. Although it didn’t end up quite as bad as the first time, it was still very nerve-wracking. When my dad tried to teach me to drive when I was sixteen, he wasn’t very successful. Sure, we practiced in the empty church parking lot, and I guess he thought I was ready for the road, so off we went. While I am not the klutziest person in the world, it does take me a while to get the hang of something new, especially something physical, like dancing, or in this case, shifting gears. In my defense, I do think that learning how to drive, watching traffic, pushing the gas, pushing the clutch, braking, turning, etc, can be quite over-whelming. At least it was for me.
So, there we were in my dad’s VW bug, barreling down Taylorsville Road. So far, so good. Then dad asks me to turn at the next street. The combination of braking, downshifting and turning simultaneously was just too much for me, and I crunched into the car in front of me. That would be the end of my driving career until I was married and we bought an automatic.
Fast forward to now. Here we are in Italy, where the cost of gas is sky-high, and the best mileage is reserved for stick shifts. If it were possible to offset the mileage loss of an automatic with a diesel engine, I would have asked Art to consider it, but unfortunately diesels don’t come with automatic transmissions. So now, here I am, 51 years old, learning how to shift. Driving in circles around a parking lot on a Sunday afternoon. Did I mention how difficult it is to find an empty parking lot? Most business put fences with gates around their lots, and lock them when the stores aren’t open. I’m not sure what the worry is at the local grocery store. Maybe in a mall with underground parking, there could be a valid reason, but for the basic, above-ground and not-even-that-big lot, I just don’t get it. Back to the driving lesson.
We stumbled across an empty lot with a partition down the middle, forcing me to drive in circles. Mostly I practiced just moving the car from a dead stop. I probably stalled the car 40% of the time. Once I was feeling better about starting, I practiced shifting to second. Okay, a couple of misses, but for the most part, that went okay. Now I’m getting nervous, because I know what’s coming next….the dreaded downshifting. I really thought that once I was comfortable driving a car, that shifting would be an easy add-on. Wrong! I guess I really must be much more uncoordinated that I have admitted. Since the going in circles was driving me crazy, and there was no way I was going out on the road, I decided to quit while I was ahead.
I am only learning how to do this so that I can drive in an emergency. I have already told Art there is NO WAY I am ever driving on the E45, much less the A1. These people are crazy, and they are relentless. Were I to get on the E45, it would take me an hour to get to Perugia, because I would be just fine coasting along in third gear behind some little Ape and a couple of huge trucks that can’t go any faster than the Ape. For those who don’t know, an Ape is a three-wheeled vehicle, powered by a small engine…lawn mower size, I would guess. There is usually a pickup bed on the back, but sometimes this is covered. The word Ape is pronounced Ah-pay.
Next week we will pick up our car, and then I’ll have to learn on our clutch! Although I understand everything about a stick shift in theory, it’s the practical application that I am having trouble with!
LANGUAGE SCHOOL
Day One
We started our four week course in Italian this week. Monday was a short day…Art took a test to determine his placement, and I, as an “absolute beginner, was simply given some basic information about the books I would need, various discounts available with our student card, and general Perugia info. We were invited to sign up for a group luncheon, and then a short tour of Perugia that afternoon, but we needed to get back to San Venanzo to see what work was being done.
Art’s test was graded, and he was told that although he still needed practice, he could join the intermediate group. He said there was a BIG jump from the absolute beginner to the level he was placed in, but unfortunately, there is nothing in between. We both have two hours of grammar, starting at nine, then 2 hours of conversation after our break. He was told that he could move to my group for the conversation if he needed to. One of the reasons we picked this school was that we had been told they were so flexible in moving students according to their needs and abilities.
We walked up the street (and I do mean UP!) to the bookstore and bought our books. We were surprised to see that we both had to buy the same book. I’m sure Art’s group will start in the middle, while my group will begin at the beginning!
I am still feeling quite nervous and insecure. Of all the absolute beginners, I am the absolute-est! The others in my class include two other American women. Kris lives in Bergamo/Sante Fe and is a furniture designer. She has been here on and off for several years, I think, so she has picked up bits and pieces along the way. The other Americana has lived in Spain, and her husband is a Spanish language teacher. This makes her way ahead of me too! The others in the class are either German or Swedish, and of course they are already bi-lingual, at the least, because they all speak very good English. So that leaves me, whose command of a second language consists of counting to twenty in Spanish, and the five words my son taught me one year when we were on vacation!
Day Two
Classes began today in earnest. My teacher, Roberta, is patient and helpful. I was afraid that she would refuse to speak any English, but she wasn’t that rigid. We learned the Italian alphabet…if you have to spell something, the letters are pronounced differently, so that’s important. We learned a few basics, then spelled and wrote our names on the board. We read the dialog from the book, and it was pretty basic. Hello. What is your name? My name is… I am from America. I am here to study Italian, and so on. Then it started to get complicated. Verb conjugation was now required, along with a basic knowledge of the words for “I”, “you”,“he/she”, “we”’ “you” as a group, and “they”. THEN you have to learn which verb word goes with which noun!!! By the time the first session as over, I was so stressed out I could barely function!
I walked out into the hallway, and met Art, who was talking with a girl from his class. Her husband is in the more advanced level, and he has been telling her that she should have learned Italian before they moved over, just like Art told me! Art tells me yet again how he kept telling me I should have studied too, and I know that if he tells me this one more time, someone will get hurt! Number one, maybe that’s true, but it’s a little late now, and holding this over my head will definitely not put me in a good mood. Number two, I definitely don’t have the aptitude for languages that he does. I think he got the point. Then I went back to my classroom and tried to breathe deeply but only succeeded in having a mini cry. I’m sure I’ll have a major breakdown before the week is over.
The conversation part of the morning went okay. I managed to get through the things I was asked to say, but I was still worried about the verb conjugation. Art was in my class to see if it would be too easy for him. Although Art did much better than I, I think he did learn a few things. His teacher from the earlier class met him in the hall afterwards and asked him if my class was too easy for him. That was a tough question to answer, since he had nothing to compare it to! She then suggested that he try the more advanced conversation class tomorrow for comparison. I am hopeful that he can hold his own, and if not, that he doesn’t feel embarrassed about moving back down.
I have homework, but Art doesn’t. He tries to help me, but I am just so far behind him, and I feel as if they expect you to already know so much, that I am quite discouraged. I think that Art is right…a lot of it is simply memorization, and I guess I will just have to work harder. The jackhammers are going when we get home, so it’s not exactly conducive to study. Finally, I complete my assignments, and then try to write the verb tenses we have learned…all two of them! And I keep looking up the same words over and over again! It will be a very L…O…N…G four weeks!
Footnote: As I am typing this, they are interviewing people on TV about the unusually cold weather we are having…apparently the entire country is affected. And of course, we are still without heat. We bought our own space-heater, so that we can return Wendy’s. We carry the heater with us from room to room, and keep the doors closed once we are inside!
A BUSY BUT PRODUCTIVE DAY
Saturday, October 25, 2003
We decided to get up early today so that we could try once again to find our way to the language school in Perugia. Based on our map, and talks with Wendy, I don’t see how we could have ever found the school based on the school’s first set of directions! We decide to follow Wendy’s directions this time, but know that traffic will be crazy. This is the closing weekend of the Eurochocolate Festival. Last weekend, we saw police set up at several exits, and eventually the exits were closed. Traffic was backed up for as far as you could see, and I’m sure parking was non-existent. There may be places to park and walk, but we don’t know them, so we are limited to going with what we know, which is very little.
We left San Venanzo about nine, filled up with gas, and were on our way. Although the police were waiting at the exits, nothing was closed and the traffic moved smoothly. Wendy’s directions, accompanied by her map made getting to the school easy. Now all we have to do is find a parking spot on Monday morning! If it weren’t so cold, I would suggest parking close to the school on Sunday night and sleeping in the car!
Once we left the school, we had a much better handle on where we were, and were able to take the Galleria Kennedy, the tunnel, to via Pellini, where we knew we could park. We were hoping that the lot wasn’t full, and we were right. We parked, headed up to the festival, and bought more chocolate. Several years ago, on a trip to Switzerland, we visited the Nestle factory in Broc. This is where the Nestle Callier chocolate is made. What makes the Callier brand so special is that it is made from FRESH milk, as opposed to the other Nestle chocolate which is made with powdered milk. Needless to say it’s so creamy and delicious we just had to have more!
Another reason I wanted to go this weekend was to get another stamp/postmark from the chocolate festival. I had gotten my first stamp and postcard with the official postmark two years ago, and thought it would be nice to add another year to the collection. Where I think this will go on my walls is another story! Once all our boxes arrive, (and where will THEY go?!?), I will have more pictures to hang than the Louvre. We did find the booth that the Italian Post Office had set up, but this year there were only postcards. I had forgotten that the stamps were actually from Switzerland, and were just made for the one year. We bought some postcards and were ready to go.
Wendy was going to be at her office in about an hour, so we agreed to meet there so that we could give her all the documents needed to mail to the shipping company in Naples. You are allowed to import your own goods, duty free, for the first six months you live here, but you must supply your passport information, your codice fiscale, your proof of residency, and an inventory in ITALIAN, signed by you. Unfortunately, Wendy had left the inventory at home, but we will meet with her tomorrow to sign it. Once we had all the documents copied, we left Wendy and headed to lunch.
We wanted to find another shopping area that we had heard about, and thought we would look for lunch on the way. We found our way to the area we wanted, and found a nice looking restaurant. When you are having a two or three hour lunch, a nice setting is always a plus! The shopping area was not what we wanted, or maybe the stores just hadn’t reopened for the afternoon, but we decided to head back home.
Art took the wrong ramp, and we ended up heading in the opposite direction we wanted to go! Suddenly I realized that we still needed to measure the frame for the bed in the guest room, and to check prices on a frame for our mattress. Italian beds don’t have box springs. They just sit on a metal frame, or sometimes a frame with wooden slats. Right now we have two single frames pushed together, and Art says the ridge in the middle is driving him crazy.
We found a frame that we liked at Mercatone Uno, and it will be delivered the same time as the daybed. We then measured the daybed frame and headed over to Marino fa Mercato to look for an armoire for the guest room. We found two that we liked, but then reason prevailed. Where in the world did we think we were going to put MORE furniture? We hope to have everything out of the garage in a week or two, but for now, things are very crowded. When we moved into the guest room yesterday, we had to put the two old single mattresses in the hall. Until the electrical work is completed in our bedroom, things will be cramped.
Now it was time to head back home. We made a quick stop at the furniture store to determine where the fixtures for the wall lamps would go. We bought two bedside lamps that will mount on the wall, thus freeing up valuable space. Our quick stop at the grocery took a little longer than anticipated. Saturday night, and everyone is hanging out at the mall, whether it’s in Louisville or in Marsciano! We picked up a few things, then stopped at the porchetta truck to get two panini’s to take home for dinner. Now we were finally ready to go home. We were expecting a phone call from our grandson, Nicholas between seven and eight.
Once we got back to San Venanzo, it was dark. It will be dark even earlier from now on, as this is the night we “fall back”, same as in the US. A nice treat was waiting for us….we had mail! A letter from Sherry and Dave was so nice to read as we ate our porchetta! They came to Italy with us on our first trip, and fell in love with Italy as much as we did. So, it was a busy but very productive day, and we feel very confident about our ability to find the language school on Monday morning. If all else fails, at least we have more chocolate to eat!
THE WORK STILL CONTINUES!
Mauro stopped by today. Luckily, Wendy was here, so we were able to ask many more questions than we would have without her. The most important question was: when will we have heat? The answer was not good: about twenty days! BRRRRRR!!
The work continues, mostly outside now. A channel was dug in the wall to allow the vent for the stove to connect to the chimney, but I think that was it for the inside. The street outside is completely torn up as they prepare to lay the pipes for the new drains. They continue to jackhammer and dig. I feel sorry for the people who own the other half of this building. It is owned by the brother of the man we bought from, and this brother uses this as a summer home, and occasional retreat. For whatever reason, they are here this weekend. They have to step over a two foot wide and four foot deep trench just to get to their front door. What great circumstances to meet the new neighbors! Maybe we'll just lay low and wait until their next visit to introduce ourselves.
While Mauro was here, we peppered him with questions. We asked about his payments, and how they were to be made. He is in no rush for his money, which is amazing to us. He suggested that we go ahead and put the door to the backyard in now. He said that we wouldn;t have to pay for it until spring. This was one of the many things on our list to him, and it was at his request that we agreed to delay everything but the downstairs work until spring. We aren't sure what changed, but we jumped at the chance to get more work completed! His theory was that by doing all the work upstairs now, all the walls could be prepared for painting, and nothing would have to be redone in the spring.
We also asked him to find us someone who could build a large closet for our bedroom. We showed him where we wanted it, and he told Wendy, "No, the bed should go there." We explained that no, THIS is where we want the bed, and THIS is where we want the closet. Italians have very firm ideas about the way things should be done. We just smiled at him and said "Americani." I'm sure that will explain a lot.
We then discussed the wiring in the bedroom. We had Fausto add some temporary plugs, knowing that the wiring would be buried in the walls in the spring. Had we known Mauro was going to change his mind and do the work now, we would have waited. Oh well. We then reminded Wendy that we had new bedroom furniture on order, and that it would be arriving soon. We would need for the work to be completed before it arrived. So Mauro suggested that we move into the guest room for now. Luckily, we had moved out most of the furniture last weekend, but had left the armadio, or armoire. The only reason we left it was because it is too long to get out the door and into the hall. We joked about just sawing it in half, but after talking with Mauro today, I think that may be the best idea! It's just not worth saving, and it's been taken apart and put back together so many times before, it might not survive anyway!
We spent the afternoon moving clothes, rolling up rugs and moving the bed, dresser and night stands. We stored a lot of the stuff in the white bathroom, since that "wing" of the house can now be closed off. It was a tight fit, but we manage to get everything moved. We were glad we had bought the gold sheers the other day at OBI, as they worked perfectly in the guest bedroom.
Mauro said that we could contact the electric company for the upgrade. We had decided to wait on this, because someone said they might want to inspect our wiring first, and that with our exposed wiring, we wouldn't be allowed to upgrade. So far, we haven't blow any fuses, or circuits, but of course the new kitchen will be more of a drain. The good part is that the water will no longer be heated by electricity, but then, we will be adding a dryer and a new, larger refrigerator. I decided to put in a gas oven, because I have heard too many stories about power outages. Since we are on mains gas, and since I have never had a problem with gas ovens before, this is what we are doing. At least if the power goes out, we can still cook and bake!
As I am typing this, the workers are preparing to install the pipes. Concrete is being mixed, and some sort of concrete sleeve is being put into the trench for the connection. Tomorrow will be quiet...we will probably wake up at 7:15 because it IS so quiet!
MORE KITCHEN PICTURES
Despite what we were told yesterday, the work resumed this morning at 7:15 am!! No complaints from us! Here are some more pictures:
THE PILE OF RUBBLE
THE TRENCH
HUNTERS
On the weekends, it’s not unusual to see groups of car parked alongside the road, at the edge of the woods. These cars belong to the hunters, who are out looking for the cinghiale, or wild boar. Italy is still very much a rural country, and Umbria especially so. When our friend Pino suggested we wander through the woods around S Venanzo in search of porcini, the wild mushrooms, my first thought was “I’m not going into the woods if there might be hunters there too.” I don’t think there’s much chance I could be mistaken for a deer, but if I’m on the ground digging for mushrooms, I could be mistaken for a wild boar!
The other night we kept hearing what we thought were gunshots. We couldn’t figure out what in the world they could be hunting for at night, or how they could possibly see to shoot at it. The mystery was cleared up the next morning when Art talked to the men working on the kitchen. They laughed and said, “No cacciatore” (hunter). Then they explained, as best we could understand, that the noise was caused by the bombola, or LP gas tanks, that were set up to go off every few minutes. This was to keep the cinghiale out of the olive groves, where they could do extensive damage while rooting for the porcini! We aren’t quite sure about how this works, but I will post the question on the SlowTalk message board and see what I can learn.
THE WORK CONTINUES
October 23, 2003
As the work continued today, things got more and more interesting. The trench got deeper and deeper, and eventually went all the way to the front wall. Next they started working on the outside of the house, breaking up the sidewalk, and digging a similar trench which connected with the one from inside. Tonight, I am hoping that no wild creatures seek refuge in our house thru the opening left under the front wall!
The work in the back room, where the laundry and bathroom will be was even more interesting. In order to accommodate the larger shower, the floor was dug out at least an additional two feet deeper. As this work progressed, the pile of rubble in the middle of the kitchen got larger and larger. Later, several other men showed up, and they formed a bucket brigade to haul away the mess. The foreman told us that now there will be two steps instead of one into that area. Art now has plenty of headroom!
Yesterday when we returned home, we weren’t sure if the men had taken a riposa or not. From the looks of it, we didn’t see how they could have taken any time off, much less the standard three hours. Today, we knew for sure. As I posted earlier, the work began this morning at 7:15 am. At nine they took a short break, and then at noon, everyone cleared out for lunch. Then, just one hour later, everyone was back to work! And this was hard work, jack-hammering the floor, shoveling and hauling rock all day. When five o’clock came, most of the men left. We assumed the foreman remained behind to finish up, and that he would leave shortly thereafter. We kept hearing the jack hammer. Then it would stop, and we would think, “Okay, that’s it”, then it would start again. Finally, at 6:30, the foreman knocked on the upstairs door to tell us that they would start a little later tomorrow morning. They are also working on a balcony down the street, and needed to work there first for whatever reason. Whether this long day is typical, we don’t know. Maybe they get paid by the job and want to finish as quickly as possible. Maybe the geometra knows that we have no heat and the temperature is dropping. Whatever the reason, we are glad! After hearing horror stories about workmen who came once, then not again for months, we didn’t know what to expect. So far, we are quite pleased. At least they know how to tear stuff up. Let’s hope they are as good and as quick at putting it all back together again!
A TRIP TO PERUGIA
October 22, 2003
The Eurochocolate Festival is going this week in Perugia, so we needed to make the trip. Although Art was more than happy to accommodate me, the fringe benefit of this trip was a trial run to find the language school. Perugia is a large college town, and trying to find a new place on a Monday morning was not going to be fun. What we didn’t know was that trying to find it on a Wednesday morning wasn’t going to be fun either.
We had a decent map of the city, but what these maps can’t show are the hills, and the size of the streets. Anyone who has ever driven in a medieval city knows what I am talking about. You start down a road, and it gets more and more narrow. You keep thinking “well, that OTHER car came down here, so I guess it’s okay”. That is your second mistake. Your first mistake was turning down a narrow, winding, medieval street to begin with. Or maybe your first mistake was trying to drive in a medieval city at all.
Wendy had given us some oral directions, and the school had emailed us directions, giving us two different routes. The first route they gave us seemed to be the most direct. The second option was the way Wendy had told us. We decided to try the first route, and after c...r...e...e...p...i...n...g along the E45, we finally reached our exit. Once we got off the expressway and began to make our way up the hill, we found ourselves in the same traffic dilemma as before. For whatever reason, traffic was practically at a standstill. After being passed by three police cars, and inching along for 30 minutes, we finally made it to the traffic light. Whether there was an accident, or the light wasn’t working, we don’t know. Whether the police solved the problem, or just used their God-given right to ignore all traffic rules, we don’t know. I can tell you that they did NOT have their lights on. Once we were through the light, traffic moved as usual.
After a missed turn or two, we were well on our way. The school had provided specific directions…”on your right and on your left you will see places to park for free”. We see what is obviously the area they are talking about. Great. We feel confident. Then something happens. The next direction tells us to turn right at the light. It says we will see the three arches on our left. We don’t see the arches, but we see the light, so we turn. That is when we find ourselves on a narrow, winding, uphill medieval street that is very obviously NOT the street we want. Luckily, we are able to find our way out, and back to streets that are a little wider. We even get lucky and find our way back to the light. This is when I realize that this is not a traffic light per se, but rather a device to control traffic through a narrow passageway. The street is too narrow for two-way traffic, so the light indicates who has the right of way.
Now where? We continue straight instead of turning this time. As many of you know, street signs are practically unknown in many European cities, especially medieval ones. If you are lucky, you will see the street name posted on the side of a building. But of course, you also know that the same street can change names five times in as many blocks. So basically, we are just wandering aimlessly, and even if we were to stumble upon the school, we still have no idea how to get there from our original starting point. Luckily, even though we are both confused and frustrated, we don’t get into an argument. For my part, I don’t want to make Art mad and miss the chocolate festival!
While turning around in a gas station, we ask a man for directions. Of course he talks way too fast and uses way too many words. We need directions that are simple, like “go straight, turn left at the third street, then take your first right.” Of course we never get directions like that. What I do manage to catch is the phrase gallery Kennedy. I know that this is in the area of the school. We head in the direction he has pointed, hoping for the best. I see signs for the Galleria Kennedy, but never see it. It won’t be until much later that I will realize that the Galleria Kennedy is a TUNNEL. We circle and circle, each timed taking a different option, yet never finding what we are looking for. We see the name of the street the school is on, but it is not on that section.
I am determined to get us back to the place where the cars park on either side of the road. I know that we were okay at that point. The problem is, we can’t get back to that road. Combine one-way streets with lots of curves, throw in a switch-back or two, a round-about, a couple of tunnels and lots of traffic, and there is no telling where you are. Finally I tell Art, “I give up. I know I’m not much of a navigator, but whatever help I have been, I quit! Let’s just go to the chocolate festival and try this again tomorrow.”
It doesn’t take a lot to convince him. Although we both hate to give up when we know we are so close, we agree that we will do better the next time. We head for the centro, following the signs, and end up driving through the middle of the chocolate festival. This is NOT where we want to be! Luckily we have been in Perugia before. We stayed at a great little hotel just at the bottom of the escalators on via Pellini. I have a pretty good idea how to get there, and we head down the hill, past the bus station, and around the curve. This is when I see the other end of the Galleria Kennedy and realize that it’s the name of the tunnel. We both know where we are, and soon we are at the parking lot that sits across the street from the hotel we know. Although the lot is full, there are cars getting ready to exit, and within two minutes we are parked and on our way to the chocolate festival. Obviously we have been guided from above, and were meant to go to the chocolate festival instead of aimlessly wandering the streets of Perugia.
The chocolate festival is wonderful. Duh. It is amazing how many different companies and how many different countries are represented. Cuba. Holland. Germany. Switzerland. Italy, of course. Probably other countries that I didn’t even realize. We buy a few treats, not too many, really. With Perugina so close now, there is no longer the urgency. What a wonderful feeling, to know that I can have chocolate bananas anytime I want! And just for a change, now I can also have chocolate covered cherries. And the best part is they are both made with heart-healthy dark chocolate!
On the way home, I am still trying to figure out just where we went wrong. For some reason, I am a complete blank about the road in between the free car-parking and the first round-about. Then, it comes to me. Maybe there was another option. Maybe there was a place where we should have gone to the right, to go UNDER the road. Seems as if Wendy mentioned something about that. And as I look on the map, I am almost certain that we were on the right section of the road. We probably drove right by the school, but didn’t see it since we weren’t looking for it, or because we were looking on the other side of the road. I am sure we will find it the next time. Of course, we will still have to find a place to park! That may be another story.
WORK ON THE KITCHEN HAS BEGUN!
Last week when we went with the geometra to pick out the tiles, he said that it was possible he might be able to start work the week of October 20th . On Monday, the 20th, we stopped in his office to ask if the work would be starting that day, but Mauro wasn't there, and no one else knew. We tried to call him on his cell phone, but got no answer. We assumed that he had not yet finished his other job, so we left for the day. While we were getting gas for the car, Wendy called to say that the geometra was waiting for us at the house! We headed back to San Venanzo, and met with Mauro and two of his workers. He showed the workers what needed to be done...all the floor tiles, wall tiles, fireplace, and wood paneling removed. Oh, and the banister will be taken down. We went over a few things and gave the foreman a set of keys. Mauro said that because of rain, work wouldn't start today. There were still several very large pieces of furniture to be moved to the garage. We apologized for not having them moved, but were told it was not a problem. The washer will also be moved, so we have washed everything we can in preparation for being without a washer for a week or so.
On Tuesday, we didn't hear or see anyone. I was anxious, but Art remained calm. We decided that if nothing happened on Wednesday, we would call Mauro.
On Wednesday morning at nine a.m., we heard movement downstairs...the work was beginning! Apparently they had been at the house for awhile, because all the new tiles were stacked in the garage, along with the fixtures for the bathroom. The furniture was being moved, and in a few minutes, all hell would break loose! We remained upstairs, out of the way, until we started to hear the sounds of demolition, then we couldn't control ourselves...we had to see. The noise was that of the fireplace being knocked out of place...first the mantel, then the walls. Progress! We decided to leave for the day when they started to take the tiles out because the noise was quite deafening, even with the doors closed upstairs. We were going to drive into Perugia, to male sure we knew how to get to the language school next Monday, and then to go to the Eurochocolate Festival. The trip to Perugia will be a story all its own!
We returned to the house around 4, and found that work was still going on. The floor was entirely gone, and the walls were bare. The banister had been taken down, as well as all that awful wood paneling. The wood stove that had been in the back room was gone. There were trenches being made in the floor for the various pipes and wires. The walls where tile had once been were being sanded so that we could eventually paint. I was in heaven!
Mauro was there, and he asked us to stay home the next morning, so that the house would be safe. He said that he trusted his workers, but that with the door standing open, it would be possible for someone to come up the stairs and steal things. I was surprised that this would even be a concern in a small town like San Venanzo. He also told us he had spoken with Rosella to coordinate the building of the new fireplace and the installation of the kitchen cabinets. We took some pictures of the work in progress, and went to fix dinner.
We were upstairs when we suddenly noticed that everything had gotten very quiet. It was five o'clock, and work was finished for the day. That night we set our alarm so that we would be up and dressed before the workers arrived the next morning. Also in the back of our minds was the possibility that electricity or water might be shut off at some point.
We needn't have bothered with the alarm. At 7:15 we awoke to the sound of jackhammers. Noisy stuff, to say the least! When we stuck our heads down the stairs, we saw that the trench in the floor had gotten much deeper and now extended all the way to the front of the room. The foreman shows us a sample of the rock that is our floor, and tells us that it is from the volcano. We know about this volcano, the only one in Umbria. We have a volcano museum her in San Venanzo, but we have not yet visited it. I'm sure everything will be in Italian, and it will be difficult to translate the technical terms. We do know that the rock is called venanzite, hence the name of the town. It is much denser than volcanic rock we have seen in Hawaii.
  
FINDING CAR INSURANCE
October 21, 2003
Finding the car was one thing, but finding insurance was quite another. In making our decision about the car, we used several criteria. One was size. One was convenience for future service. And of course, the usual considerations about price. Certain makes were automatically eliminated due to price. We then narrowed the field down to Fiat and Ford. Both are well represented in our area, and we had recommendations for dealerships for each. When we found the car we are now buying, a Ford Fusion, there was no brochure available in English. Some things don’t need translation, like AIRBAGS or ABS, but somewhere along the line we might want to know about the car in more detail. I have written to Ford in Great Britain in the hopes that they will mail us an English language manual.
Being the internet guru that I am (not!), I decided to do a Google search to get more info on this particular model. Size-wise, it is in between the Fiesta and the Focus, but is not manufactured for the US market. Google.com gave me ONE site in English. It was a review from an auto show in Los Angeles in 2002. Apparently the reviewer did not think that Ford had accomplished the “fusion” of small car with SUV as they had intended. But still, no hard data. I found a site in French that offered crash test results, but couldn’t figure out any of the symbols. The majority of the sites were in German. Anyone who has used the translation service on Google knows that the translations are very often wildly incorrect. So I tried Google.co.uk, the British version. I found one review from a newspaper. I then searched the Ford website in Britain, and found a bit more info about the car. Bottom line: it wasn’t easy, and it sure wasn’t comprehensive, but we decided to buy anyway. Now for the insurance part.
In Italy, apparently the size of the engine, and the car itself, has more to do with the cost than the person who is driving. BUT, there are different levels of insurance, and since we have no driving history in Italy, we will be placed in the highest level. We have no idea how many years it will take for the premiums to be lowered to a level reflecting our (hopefully good) driving record. Wendy was going to call two or three insurance companies for us on Monday morning. While at the bank discussing the possibility of a car loan, Corrado told us to check an internet company that he used. He said he had been with them for three years and was very pleased, especially with the prices. He told us he had just been involved in an accident that morning, so he is about to find out just how good their service really is!
The website was genialloyd.it, the internet branch of an existing insurance company, RAS. Once again, we tried to translate the site, this time using Babelfish. Maybe it’s worse when you are working with a site that uses industry-specific words, but for us it was very difficult. It was obvious that many of the words and phrases were not translated correctly, so we tried our best, alternating between the original Italian site and the translated site. After completing the form as best we could, we submitted the information, and came up with three prices for the different levels of coverage. This is what makes everything so difficult for us right now. Of course the fact that we speak so little Italian is definitely a problem, but the fact that we don’t understand how things work is really the biggest hurdle. Just knowing how things normally work, and possible options. I would compare it to trying to buy an apple. They say “you need an apple”, so you say “okay”. What you don’t know is: what kind of apple do you want? Red? Green? Tart? Juicy? Okay, say you get part that. You know an apple costs 10 cents. The other things you may not realize are that maybe you want the apple peeled. Or sliced. So how much more does that cost? Is it worth it? Would you rather have apple juice? How about applesauce? Perhaps you would like to take the applesauce and make a cake with it. Then you have to weigh the various options and costs…easy if you have grown up in the culture and are fluent…not so easy if you are a stranger!
So we are still struggling with the car loan, and the car insurance. The Postal Bank says they will loan us the money to buy a car, but they want us to have Art’s pension check deposited directly into our Postal Bank account. We know we don’t want to do this…it’s way too expensive to do that each month. We would prefer to wire money from the US to Italy twice a year, in larger chunks, or to wire dollars to our dollar account and change it as we need it. The current US administration’s economic policies are really hurting people like us, whose income is generated in the US. This afternoon we will go to the bank and meet with Wendy and Corrado. The branch bank no longer makes car loans. The loans are now handled by the home office in Florence, and Corrado doesn’t think they will speak English. My advice to anyone contemplating a move to a foreign country…learn as much of the language as you can before you leave the US! Next, find someone who has lived here long enough to understand how things work.
Well, the Postal Bank called this afternoon to say that in order to receive the loan, Art’s pension must be directly deposited into our Postal Bank account. That takes care of that! And at Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, we completed the paperwork, and now must wait for an answer from the home office in Florence. They said we will know by Friday. Hopefully we will not have to produce proof of my pension too, since I am not receiving one. If worst comes to worst, we will say the paperwork is still being processed and I will show them my postal retirement information. Hopefully, we won’t need to do that. We had planned to pay cash for the car, but circumstances have delayed some money that we were expecting in December. Now we are forced to apply for a loan.
More bad news. The salesman from Ford called to tell us that the dealership is moving in a few days. He didn’t want us to be alarmed if we came by and they were gone! They are moving to a new location that is just a few minutes from the old one, but the bad news is that they will no longer be across from the chocolate factory! That could be a deal-breaker for me!
IT'S GETTING COOLER!
OCTOBER 19, 2003
Although this is sunny Italy, we are not far enough south to avoid the change of seasons. The nights have gotten cooler, and while the sun feels warm during the day, it’s cool in the shade. It’s even cooler in our house, which at the moment is without central heating. Construction is much different here in Italy. The walls of our house are solid, not frame construction. There is no insulation in the walls, and I’m not sure what is in the attic, or even if there is an attic. The nice thing about having walls two feet think is that you don’t hear any creaking and settling at night, and even the most severe winds go unnoticed. The bad thing about this type of construction is that once the house gets cold, it STAYS cold!
We are hopeful that the work will start tomorrow on the kitchen floor. It will be torn up, new pipes and lines laid, and then the new caldaio will be installed. The caldaio will supply the hot water for our radiators. Since I’ve never lived with radiators before, I’m not sure what to expect.
For now, we have borrowed a portable electric heater from a friend, and are keeping the door to the living room closed while it’s on. I always wondered why houses in Europe had a door to every room. Now I guess I know the answer…it’s to keep the heat where you want it, and to save on heating costs. In the bedroom, we are extremely glad that we bought the heated mattress pad! Without it, someone would have found us frozen in our sleep by now. Our room will definitely be the coolest room in the house, and the radiator is way over by the door, not nearly close enough to the bed for me! We don’t think we can risk having the mattress pad AND the heater on at the same time, but Art has suggested that once we warm up the bed, we move the heater into the bedroom and turn it on low. He says his head, and whatever part of his arm is sticking out of the bed, are freezing. I guess I’m lucky to have a little more hair, and shorter arms!
We expect the climate here to be similar to that of northern Georgia. The summers will still be hot and humid, and we are hoping that we get some nice breezes up on this ridge. As for the winters, we don’t expect the temperature to be as cold for as long as it was in Louisville, and we definitely expect snow to be extremely rare. We may see some snow on the higher mountains, but hope that we don’t experience much of it here!
BUYING A CAR
October 18, 2003
Since we have gotten the receipt for our residency, we are now able to buy a car. We have told everyone we know what we are looking for: 2-3 yrs old, definitely a diesel, five doors, small enough for us every day, but large enough to accommodate 3 people in the back and their luggage.
One friend has sent us to a Fiat dealership near Assisi, saying that they are very honest. Even in Italy, an honest car dealer is hard to find. We look on the lot but don’t see anything that meets all our requirements. We go inside and look at the new cars, just to get an idea of the prices. Art has been admiring the Fiat Stilo, which is a fairly new model, so we don’t know how likely it would be to find a 2 or 3 year old used one. The prices for a new one are definitely more than we can afford.
Another friend highly recommends a Ford dealership. He opens the phone book so that we can see the address, and I know immediately where it is. The address says San Sisto. San Sisto is where the Perugina factory is located! At last, an excuse to stop by and see our friend Corinna! Our friend tells us that yes, the car place is just across the street from Perugina …..perfetto!
We decide to check out the Ford place on Saturday. We only have the rental car reserved for 2 more weeks, and although we can extend the rental at the same daily rate, it’s still expensive. I am told that Italy is one of the most expensive places to rent a car. Why, I don’t know. Maybe because they drive so crazy!
We get to the car lot and take a quick walk through the used cars. We see a couple that might work. We decide to go inside to check out the new car prices. We look at the five door Fiestas and Focus’s. The Fiesta is about the size of a Fiat Punto, and we think the trunk space is a little too small. The Focus looks like it might be just the right size.
By this time a salesman has arrived to help us, and we ask for a brochure for each model, so that we can compare the dimensions. The car must still be able to fit in our garage! The salesman understands completely. We are trying to walk a fine line…getting a car that is small enough to get around in tight spots, yet large enough to have some power. Small enough to be economical to operate, yet large enough for the extra passengers and luggage.
We ask a few more questions about each car, then Art asks if they have any used cars that meet our requirements, and the salesman says, “Venga!” which means “Come!” We walk outside and there sits a demo car, a Ford Fusion. It’s a wagon, but about the same size as the Focus hatchback. The station wagon is just more squared off in the back. This car has everything we want…four airbags, anti-lock brakes, a CD player, and it’s a diesel. This model is a 2003, so I guess it’s the end of the year clearance. It has less than 4000 km, and still has the new car warranty, just like it would in the States. We start to discuss the car, and before you know it, we are signing papers. We aren’t even sure what our options are for financing. The salesman says that it will be easier at our bank, since they already know us. Our biggest hurdle will probably be in insurance.
The salesman asks if we have residency, and we say yes. The car will be in Art’s name, so he fills out multiple forms with his name, the place and date of his birth, and our address in Italy. He asks for Art’s codice fiscale and passport, but we never even have to show the residency receipt. Maybe this will be required by the insurance company, but for right now, it seems as if all you have to do is say “yes”, and the car is yours. We put down a deposit and say goodbye. Never in my life have I bought a car so quickly. I guess ignorance really IS bliss.
And now the best part…we go across the street to visit Corinna! The factory is quite a hub of activity! There are television people there and many visitors, due to the Eurochocolate Festival that is starting today. Corinna tells us that they have made the world’s largest Baci. All the Baci in the world are made at this plant, and now this Baci will be in the Guinness Book of world records. And of course, it’s on display in Perugia. I ask Corinna if there are any new flavors, and unbelievably, there are! One is a chocolate covered Maraschino cherry, with a liqueur –yummm! Also new are Zuppa Inglese, Profiterole, and Tiramisu. And Corinna tells me that I don’t have to worry any more; now there are plenty of chocolate bananas. Thank goodness! As usual, she gives us some samples, and I buy a few chocolate bananas to hold me until I get to the festival. On the way home we see that traffic has come to a standstill as everyone tries to get into Perugia. We will go one day during the week…although there won’t be as many activities, it will be much less crowded, and there will be no shortage of chocolate goodies. What a successful day! A new car and chocolate too! And now, any time the car needs servicing, we can stop by Perugina! And some of you wonder why we like Italy so much!
FINGERPRINTS
FRIDAY, OCT 17
Art was glad to get a day off from shopping. We spent the morning moving clothes and moving furniture out of the guest room and the downstairs room, in preparation for the work next week. Wendy is trying to get a truck so that we can haul all this stuff away, but if need be, we will just store everything in the garage for now. We won’t really need the garage until December when we return to the US for the holidays. We have to clear everything out so that the old floor can be torn up, the pipes laid for the new heating system, and the new floor put in. We went last week with the geometra to pick out the kitchen floor tiles, and the fixtures for the downstairs bathroom. We even managed to get a shower in that bathroom, but alas, no bidet! The new laundry room will also be downstairs, and although I’ll have to go upstairs to hang the clothes up, it shouldn’t be a big problem. I love hanging clothes on the line, always have. Since they don’t have gas dryers in Italy, we will try to limit our use of the electric dryer to very damp days, or maybe just a 5-10 minute fluff for the towels.
By the time we had finished moving all of Art’s clothes out of the guest room, and moving the smaller pieces of furniture, it was time to head to Terni to get finger-printed. We had been given an appointment for the fingerprints when we applied for our Permesso two weeks ago. Although the appointment wasn’t until 5 o’clock, we decided to leave early and hope that we could get finished earlier. We had made a test run down to Terni last Sunday; just to make sure we remembered how to get there. The drive took about 45 minutes, and we arrived in Terni just before 4. We had to show our papers to the guard, and were admitted to the questura. Once we got to the office of the Polizia Scientifica, we saw that there were a few people ahead of us. Luckily, only one of them still needed to be fingerprinted, and we started the process about 15 minutes later.
They had our documents ready, asked us a few more questions, such as our parents names, our height…in centimeters, which we of course didn’t know, but they measured us right there, then asked for our passports. Once the paperwork was completed, they asked us to remove our rings, took a roller and applied black ink, first to our fingertips, then to our fingers, and finally to our entire palm. Each part was transferred to paper, some areas twice. We scrubbed our hands in the sink and we were finished. While we were doing all of this, Art was trying to converse with the three employees in Italian, but they seemed to laugh at his efforts more that he would have liked. We decided it was because they were the police, and they felt superior. They were surprised to find out that we were “en pensione”, and that in the US you could retire after 30 years of work. They told us that in Italy you must work for 40 years, or at least that’s what I THINK they said! Oh well, let them feel superior…. After all, who’s still working and who’s “en pensione”?
We were back in our car by 5 o’clock, and headed towards San Venanzo. We must return to Terni to pick up our final papers on October 27, or at least that’s when they are SUPPOSED to be ready. Since we are starting school that day, Wendy will try to call, and hopefully we can go on Thursday, when they are open in the afternoon. This will allow us to return to the commune in San Venanzo and get our final residency papers. This will give us lower utility and tax rates, as well as let us buy a car. We hate the Opel Corsa they gave us after the Fiat was wrecked, and are hoping we don’t have to extend our car rental beyond the November 1st date we originally set.
Photos of our car after the accident
Rear-Ended in Umbria
It didn’t take long for us to experience our first “incidente” in Italy. Here just under three weeks, and we are waking up stiff and sore this morning. Luckily, our injuries are minor, but we were VERY lucky. Here are the details. (CAUTION!! Contains profanity!)
We were on our way to meet our friend Wendy in Deruta. She had printed out some instruction manuals in English for us. We decided to stop and get gas first, and were waiting to turn left into the gas station. Art had pulled close to the center line, to allow cars to pass us on the right…there was just enough shoulder on the road. We had our lights on, as is now required by Italian law, and also our left turn signal. And of course, the brake light would have been on also. One car passed us on the right, but the van behind it just didn’t see us, due to the fact that he was A) Driving too fast, and B) following too close. These are apparently the things they teach you when you learn to drive in Italy, because this is how everyone drives.
All of a sudden…..WHAM!!!!!! What happened? Oh my God, someone hit us! We are rolling, rolling rolling. Art’s seat has gone back, and he is just slumped over. I know there is no way I can release my seatbelt and put my foot on the brake, so we keep rolling until we go off the road, down a very slight incline, and come to rest in a ditch at the edge of a field. I immediately jump out of the car. People are already coming our way. I start yelling “Doctorre! Doctorre!” and “Polizia!” People are already calling on their cell phones. I rush to Art’s side of the car, and he is starting to respond. He tries to get out of the car, but I urge him to stay sitting down. People are everywhere now, and I see the man who has hit us. I ask him, in a combination of broken Italian and pointing, “didn’t you see us?’ and he says “No”. Great. Now they’re not only driving too fast and too close, they’re blind too!
And of course everyone is telling me to calm down. Right. We have just been rear-ended, our car is totaled, and I don’t know what has happened to my husband…YOU try to calm down under these circumstances! I am just no good in emergency situations, I run, I scream and I cuss like a sailor. This is just how I handle stress. So I am getting the license plate number of the van that hit us, all the while screaming “You rotten mother freaking son of a witch! Where is the freaking world did you learn to drive!” And so on. I realize that I have MY cell phone, and get out the car documents. There are some forms to complete if you have an accident, and one of the things I read says to remain calm if you have an accident, AutoEurope is there to help. Well, AutoEurope may have the best of intentions, but they should make their phone number a little larger and a little more prominent. Finally one of the bystanders offers to help. He tries different numbers, but never seems to be able to get to talk to anyone. I’m not sure what the problem is. I find the number for the office in Perugia, and it is busy!!! I am on the verge of a MAJOR breakdown! I call Wendy and tell her that we have been in an accident. She says she will be there in five minutes. At least she will be able to help us talk to the police and ambulance people.
Another bystander has gone across the street and bought a bottle of water. He must be able to tell that we are Americans, because he buys water with no gas. I am able to offer Art something to drink, but am having a hard time keeping him quiet and sitting down. Of course he says he is fine, but I can’t get the image of him slumped over in his seat out of my head.
About this time, the ambulance FINALLY arrives. They look at Art first, and put him on a stretcher inside the ambulance. They check his blood pressure and ask him where he hurts. The back of his head is raw. We think it must just be a friction burn from the cloth headrest, but it is very tender. Then the paramedic comes to me and asks me how I feel. “Pissed off! Mad as hell!” is what I tell her. No, how do you FEEL? I feel okay. The back of my left ankle is a little sore…I think the bar that moves the seat has hit me there, but it’s no big deal.
About this time Wendy pulls up with her boss, Corrado. She is working, and was just meeting us at the same time and place she was meeting a client. She takes charge, talks to the paramedics, and tells me to get in the ambulance and that she will deal with the police and meet us at the hospital. She asks me who was driving the other car, and I point the man out to her. We then leave for the hospital.
The drive can’t take more than five minutes, and during this time Art tells the paramedic about 30 times that he feels okay except for the back of his head. He asks me several times what happened, what we were doing. I explain patiently every time that we were waiting to turn left into the gas station, and that we were on our way to meet Wendy. Every time he says, “oh yeah”, then asks the question again. I am starting to get worried, but he still remembers enough Italian to carry on a conversation with the paramedic. Maybe he is okay after all.
Once we arrive at the hospital, they take us both into an examining room, but they don’t really do anything. They sit me down in a wheel chair and transfer Art to the examining table. They ask once again where it hurts. When we were born. That’s it. The fact that we are Americans presents a challenge. The paramedic speaks a little English, and combined with my tiny bit of Italian, we manage. They take us both for X-rays, which takes about five minutes each. When was the last time you were in and out of X-ray in the US in five minutes? Especially in the emergency room. Of course we are lucky that no one else is there.
When we get out of X-ray, we are taken back to the examining room, and Donatella from Tecnocasa is there, along with her secretary and the secretary’s sister. Wendy has called her, knowing that the Tecnocasa office is just around the corner from the hospital in Marsciano. I jokingly ask Donatella if she thinks Marco might send us over some pizza. She tells me that she ran into Marco on the way to the hospital and she had told him about our accident. It is reassuring to know that we have been in Italy less than three weeks, yet there are already people who know us and are concerned.
The paramedic then begins to wrap my ankle, first applying a gel that is icy cold. She tells me that I must leave the ankle wrapped for ten days, for insurance purposes! Art’s wrist has begun to hurt, so they wrap him up too. His bandage must stay on for TWENTY days! They apply something to his head, and tell us they must give him a tetanus shot. I’m not really sure why. Isn’t that just when you step on a rusty nail? Why would a friction burn warrant a tetanus shot? All the while, Donatella and friends are there, helping to translate, offering comfort and support.
In a few more minutes, they bring us each a release paper to sign, give us our final instructions, and that’s it, we are free to go. They advised Art to take some pain medicine. Arrivederci! Donatella has spoken with Wendy, who is still dealing with the police at the accident scene. Once she leaves there, she must take her boss back to the office, then return to Marsciano. She tells us that the police will be at the hospital in about thirty minutes.
We walk outside with Donatella. She offers to let us sit in her car, and we gladly accept. After about fifteen minutes, we talk with Wendy again, and she tells us that the police will be delayed because they have to investigate another accident. We urge Donatella to leave...she has an appointment scheduled, and we really don’t need for her to sit and wait with us.
The police show up about fifteen minutes later. The officer was very nice. He asked for our documents, and for Art’s International Drivers License. That is the one document that we have left with Wendy, along with the car rental documents. He is very understanding…he has been talking with Wendy, and says that we should fax the IDL to his office in the morning. He copies the information form Art’s Kentucky driver’s license, my passport numbers, and leaves.
Wendy arrives about ten minutes later, and we offer to buy her dinner at Ternanna…she has never had Marco’s pizza, and the accident has not stopped Art from wanting dinner. A good sign! We eat a great dinner and Wendy takes us home. What a day! Wendy says she will call in the morning to let us know about getting a replacement car. We are sure that we won’t want to go anywhere, at least for a while.
THE DAY AFTER
We don’t feel so bad this morning. Sure, we are bruised and tender, but considering what the car looks like, we think we are very lucky. Wendy calls to say that EuropeCar will have another car for us by noon, and we ride with her to pick it up. Our previous car was a Fiat Punto, with four doors and a hatchback. This new car is an Opel Corsa with two doors and a hatchback. It doesn’t drive as well as the Fiat, so at least we have learned that we don’t want an Opel Corsa when we get ready to buy. Wendy takes us by the lot they have towed the Fiat to and I take a bunch of pictures. It makes me shakey just to see the car. On the way back home we stop at the scene of the accident and take a few pictures of the skid marks. There are spray paint marks where the police noted the length of the skid marks, point of impact, etc. The man at the gas station recognizes us and asks if we are okay. Art seems pretty confident behind the wheel, but I am a nervous wreck.
THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER
Boy, are we sore today! I feel as if someone has beat me to a pulp! My back, shoulders and neck are sore and achy, and I just can’t seem to get comfortable. Glad I brought plenty of Tylenol. We begin shopping for our own car. I am insisting that it be a used car, primarily because I know the car will get dinged, banged, scratched and scraped, and I don’t want to have to cringe every time that happens. Hopefully we will never be in another accident quite this serious, but safety will be high on my priority list.
Buying Furniture in Italy
Buying furniture in Italy takes not only time and patience, but also a lot of gas. This is because Italy is not like the US, with shopping malls and Home Depots around every corner. Furniture stores are strung out all over the place, and not IN the bigger cities. They are usually located in the middle of the country, where I guess someone inherited some property and decided to build a furniture store. And since we don’t even have a phone yet, much less a phone BOOK, I can’t look in the yellow pages….I don’t even know if they HAVE yellow pages in Italy, not that it would do me much good. So we ask, and look as we drive. And of course, not all furniture stores announce themselves as such, especially from the highway, so you have to know some names, like Umbra Salotto or Chateau D’Axe. The word for furniture is mobili, but then there are other words that I don’t know, so it’s been quite an adventure. And then there are the “discount” stores like Mercatone Uno or Marino Mercato. And now the newest, I guess, is the Italian-style Home Depot, Gran Casa. It’s a full day just to wander through these stores and look at all this STUFF! And that’s what we have done, every single day since we have been here…drive and shop, drive and shop.
We started off at a large furniture chain, Mobili Paolo. I thought most of their stuff was pretty pricey, and I still didn’t see anything that knocked my socks off. Art was pretty happy about that! We know that for our bedroom we want a new bed frame, a large chest of drawers, a dresser with mirror, and some sort of chest to sit at the foot of the bed. We think we will just have a closet built in the room instead of trying to buy one of the huge, pre-made armoires. The wall that the closet will be on is slightly angled, so we hope to be able to get more usable space by having something built.
What you need to know is that none of this is urgent. We bought the existing furniture with the house, and we have a new mattress for the bed. But what else am I going to do all day? So now I think I will look for furniture for the guest room. Right now, everything is so crowded in that room; you can’t even open the doors to the armoire. I think that a daybed with a trundle is the perfect solution. We had one in the states, and with the trundle, it became a king-sized bed. Great for company. And since Italy is the home of great design AND great space saving ideas, we have sold our daybed instead of having it shipped.
So now we hunt for a daybed. And hunt. And hunt. We can find daybeds, with trundles, but the trundle doesn’t pop up to the same height as the other mattress, giving you, in effect, two twin beds. And most of them seem to be designed for kids’ rooms, with cheap looking plastic finishes in gaudy colors. And then we find a unit with a trundle that will make one large bed, and it has a storage unit built around it, with places to hang clothes and storage areas above. But of course, it doesn’t work…it’s ten feet long, and just too big for the room. We think about a sleeper sofa, divano letto, as an alternative. Or maybe just buying what we want when we return to the States in December, and having it shipped.
But then I remember that Cristina had suggested IKEA near Florence, so I call her for directions, and we set out for IKEA. If you’re not familiar with IKEA, it’s a Scandinavian company that makes a lot of very basic, utilitarian furniture…tables, shelving, beds, chairs, plus all the household accessories you need. We wander and wander through this huge new store, and finally get to the beds…and every one we look at has the same type of multi-level trundle. I am so disappointed, not to mention surprised. Then a guy comes to help us, and lo and behold! There is ONE bed with a trundle that makes one large sleeping surface. Okay, we’ll take it! Where are the mattresses? Okay, we want two of those, write it up! Oh no, there is one small problem…they are out of it, or at least one of the three parts that make up this bed. So we can’t get it? What about the store in Rome? No, this seems to be a global problem, says the salesman. We should have it in March. Come back then. Now, it’s not that I mind driving two hours again, but how will I know that they have it FOR SURE, before I drive all that way? Well, he says we can check with customer service and get the phone number to call. I hope my Italian improves CONSIDERABLY before March! And did I mention that this bed also has storage underneath the trundle? So it’s really much better that a sleeper sofa, and we really aren’t in a hurry, so we leave with a printout of what we need, and a phone number to call. In March. Next year. Five months from now. This is Italy.
Out for a Sunday drive, we decided to stop by Mobili Paolo in Grutti again, just to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. The store was packed when we got there, and we wandered for a while. We found two area rugs that we liked. Unfortunately, the cheaper, acrylic rug has the design we both REALLY like, but there was another rug made of wool that has possibilities. I still can’t figure out where you buy smaller area rugs…4X6 size, for example. The furniture stores only carry the larger rugs, and the Oriental places don’t have the selection we need.
After checking the carpets, we headed for the bedroom section. The quality varies wildly. You can find everything from laminate to veneer to solid wood and wrought iron. We think we need seven pieces for the master bedroom: a bed, two nightstands, a dresser with a mirror, a large chest of drawers and a chest for the foot of the bed. We find a nice chest for 350 euro. In the US, most of these chests would have a cedar lining, but I haven’t seen any cedar here at all. We find two different bedroom suites we think we like, but neither has all the pieces we want. We settle on one, check out the price, and decide to wait until we can find a chest of drawers that might go with this design.
On the way home we decide to stop by a furniture store near us to see what time they will open on Monday. Lots of stores in Italy are closed on Monday morning. Amazingly, they are open! We head in, and see immediately that they have some really nice stuff. We head for the bedroom section, turn the corner, and fall in love! A great bed with inlaid wood, with matching nightstands and a dresser with a mirror. I tell Art to ask for the price so that we can stop falling in love…it must be WAY too expensive for us! The salesgirl gives us the price, and yes, it is more than what we had looked at before…but we REALLY love this one! We decide to ask about a matching chest of drawers, but this set doesn’t offer one. We begin to look through the books and finally find the right thing…although with our limited Italian it has been something of a challenge! I usually know EXACTLY what I want, and I have to explain, no, one drawer across, not two; just a little taller, just a little wider; no, not that tall. It’s a slow process, but we finally find EXACTLY what we are looking for, and it will go nicely with the suite! But I’m still trying to get over the price!
The one nice thing about Mobili Paolo was that they offered four years with no interest! Although we’re not sure we would qualify for this plan, we were going to ask about it. This new store is much smaller, not a chain, so we probably have two options…pay now and get the furniture, or don’t pay and don’t get the furniture! We take some measurements and decide to go home and sleep on it. Art is a spender, and although he has corrupted me considerably over these past 15 years, I am still hesitant to spend large sums of money. Although we both agree that we want something really nice for our bedroom, I’m really not sure what that means, dollar-wise, or I guess I should say, euro-wise. I’m tempted to take the plunge, but it will take me a while to get my nerve up! At least with this suite, we won’t be getting a chest for the foot of the bed, because it would cover up the beautiful inlaid design. And maybe we CAN make do with that acrylic rug for now…especially since we really do like the design. We return to the store two days later and place the order. The chest of drawers will have to be ordered, so we request that everything be delivered at the same time.
We have stopped at another store to order a bed for the guest room. We have finally found a place that has a trundle bed that will work, and it also has storage, both above and beside the bed. Yes, it is the laminated, kids room furniture we have seen before, but we order it in a wood-tone finish and hope for the best. After all, it IS just a guest room. And we have just ordered a fairly expensive bedroom suite for ourselves. We have to cut corners SOMEWHERE. We order good mattresses to go with it, and buy a runner for the hall. Gosh, before long, our house will look and feel like a home, OUR home!
Meeting with the Geometra
(Previously in our story: Last spring we met with Rosella, our kitchen lady, to design our new kitchen. Over the summer we had refined the plans and were ready to install everything the first or second week in October. We had sent our friend Wendy a list of things we wanted done to the house, so that she could find a geometra and have him ready to start at the same time. Wendy found the perfect geometra for us: not only did he live in San Venanzo, but he had previously worked on our house, so he was already familiar with the layout. Let me backtrack just for a minute to explain what the geometra does. To the best of my knowledge, a geometra is like a general contractor, responsible for coordinating the various jobs, people, and permits. Finding a good one is very important.) Anyway, to continue, we set up a meeting with the geomtra during our first week here, and this is what happened:
We had been operating under the impression that our house had not one, but two water heaters. We thought the one in the blue bathroom supplied the water for upstairs, and that the one in the room off the garden supplied the hot water for the radiators and also the ground floor. One of the first things we wanted to ask the geometra about was the garden water heater, and how to turn on the radiators should we experience a cold snap.
Wendy introduced us to our new geomtra, Mauro Rellini, who spoke no English. He did tell us that he was used to working with foreigners, although I’m not sure if they were Americans, Brits, Germans or some other nationality. He looked at the large rectangular box in the small room in the garden, and after poking around for a while, called the plumber. Once the plumber arrived, things didn’t get much better. He worked on this “thing” for quite a while, all the while explaining that this was only for the radiators, this was the riscaldomente. Apparently it just didn’t work, although we don’t really know why. So now we talk about the new caldio, and everything associated with it. On the ground floor of the house, just behind the kitchen is a small room with a wood burning stove that is an alternate source of heat for the radiators. Although that sounds great, you know as well as I do that we will never use it…you’ve got to get the wood, and store the wood, and cut the wood to fit, then clean up the ashes afterwards…I don’t think so. So now the plan is to remove the stove, and put a small bathroom in that room. Great. And the washer, dryer and water softener will sit in the area just outside the bathroom. Great again. Now the problem. Because of new laws, the pipes must be buried in the floor, and it’s about the same price to put in an entirely new floor as to take up the old tiles carefully so that they could be re-used. Okay, I know we are “rich Americans”, so now we are getting a new floor. I really hated the old floor, so this is just a good excuse. How soon can we do this?
Rosella is ready to go, so are we, but…the geometra says that he can’t begin his work on the floor until October 27th, which also happens to be the same day we are scheduled to start our Italian classes in Perugia. We had planned to stay with a family in Perugia in order to maximize our immersion experience, and just come home on the weekends. Now I am not so sure. I really don’t want to be gone during this major renovation. When we built our house in the States, I was there, at the site, every single day, just looking, watching, planning. I enjoy being a part of it, and I especially don’t want to come home one Friday to discover that the floor is the wrong one, or the cabinets are placed incorrectly. Yes, I know I am a control freak. Tough. It’s my house, my kitchen. We call the school to tell them that we will not be staying with a family.
Most of the other projects will wait until spring. I want the interior of the house painted…in COLORS! We want to upgrade the electric to 4.5, but the electric company might not do that until all of our wires are buried in the walls. We want a large closet built in our bedroom, so we can utilize the space floor to ceiling. We also want to re-arrange the other bathroom upstairs so that we can put in a larger shower. Right now we have one of those opens-at the corners showers that is only big enough to stand in with your arms down at your side. You know the one I mean…what’s with that? God forbid they should eliminate a bidet in order to have a shower big enough to bend over and pick up the soap!
The next week the geometra returns to take measurements and pictures in order to apply for our permits. We discover that his estimate has included the fireplace work that Rosella has already included in her price. That will lower the price a little. And we tell him that we do not want a bidet in the downstairs bathroom. I’m sure he thinks we are filthy pigs. He says it may be possible to start the floor a week sooner than previously thought! We arrange to meet next Tuesday to pick out floor tiles and bathroom fixtures. I have to remember to ask about under-cabinet lighting. And the new wrought iron banister. Things are starting to happen!
A TYPICAL DAY IN UMBRIA
FRIDAY OCTOBER 10
For now, this day is representative of the way we spend our days in our new home.
I wake up first, as usual. It’s about 7 am. We only set the alarm if we need to be somewhere at a specific time. Art usually sleeps later because he has spent half the night dreaming that he is late for work. After 34 years of working two jobs, it’s hard to let go. I wake him up around 8, we have breakfast, which is usually real food for me and just coffee for Art. I start a load of laundry so that it can be drying while we are gone for the day. Although we will eventually have a dryer, for now everything is line dried. We dress and head to the post office…boxes of books are still arriving. We learned after the first two boxes arrived…always take the car to the post office. The hill gets a lot longer and a lot steeper when you are carrying 40 pounds of dead weight.
We’re in luck today…two more boxes of books. We are starting the packing process in reverse. Before we left for Italy, we were surrounded by half-packed suitcases and boxes of stuff waiting to be shipped. Now, since the new kitchen isn’t ready, and the rest of the house is just waiting to be re-done, we have nowhere to put the books that are arriving. Two of the boxes stack up to make a nice end table for a lamp we just bought. If our shipped goods arrive before the kitchen is complete, I’m not sure WHAT we’ll do with 32 large cardboard boxes, two large Rubbermaid tubs and a large box containing the TotalGym. I’m not sure where we’re going to put them even if the kitchen IS done!
After the Post Office, we head down to the newspaper/stationary/gift shop. We buy some envelopes to mail letters back to the US. We don’t have time to stop at the bakery because Wendy is coming at 10 so that we can go to the Commune to apply for Art’s Italian Handicapped parking permit. We were told that all we had to do was take his US issued permit to the local vigile, and an Italian one would be issued in its place.
Once we get back home and unload the books, I hang up the laundry. Wendy is running late, and won’t be here until after 11. Once she arrives we are off and running to the commune. Somebody forgot to tell the guy in San Venanzo about how easy it’s supposed to be to get an Italian handicapped parking permit. He says he can approve it for San Venanzo, but if we were to try to use it in Perugia, for example, they would not recognize it and would issue us a fine. Wendy just gives him lots of long, silent stares, and he finally agrees to make a photocopy of the permit and make some inquiries. He also tells us that Art would have to be certified by a local doctor in Marsciano. I’m glad that Art’s back is getting better, because is he was truly in need of special consideration, he would be out of luck. We are very sweet and thank him profusely for his time and help.
We head down the hall to another office…how people know WHICH office to go into for WHAT service, is an amazement to me. Wendy presents a document she has prepared over the past week. She picked it up during our last visit. It is the application for our RESIDENZA, which is applied for AFTER we receive the Permesso di Sigiorno, not before. Wendy shows them that we have applied for the PdiS, and are scheduled to have the completed documents on October 27. After many long, silent stares (again), they finally agree to complete the paperwork, accept our application, photocopy ALL our documents, and GIVE US A RECEIPT FOR OUR APPLICATION FOR RESIDENCY!!!!! YEAH!!! We think we might be able to buy a car, and we now have all the necessary documents to mail to the moving agency in Naples. Our documents have to be there no later than 5 days after the goods arrive in the port, otherwise we will be assessed storage fees. We need copies of our passport, our codice fiscale, a signed inventory, in Italian, and the ORIGINAL receipt for residency! Yikes!!! In Italy, a receipt is as good as the document itself! I plan to double-check with Cristina or SOMEONE! Okay, think positive! At least the wheels are turning. Maybe we can see about checking out a few cars. After all, we want a car that is one or two years old, so it might take a while. I’ll hold off on changing the date for the AutoEurope return…right now it’s set for November first. We’ll probably have to extend, but who knows?
Okay, now to the bank. We had opened an account at Wendy’s bank in Ponte San Giovanni. We needed a place to send the down payment for our house closing when the company that had been representing us refused to accept the money into their account, saying it would get them in trouble. Wendy, along with the bank manager, allowed us to send the money to the bank and have it parked in a special, “non-account”. It just sat there and waited for us to sign the papers and officially open the account when we arrived for the closing. I wanted to open an account with Banca Dell’ Umbria, but we discover that their small office in San Venanzo is only open three hours a day for three days a week and they don’t have a bancomat, so what’s the point? We decide to look at the other bank in town, Cassa di Risparmio di Orvieto. Turns out they are a sister bank to our bank, Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. Not much point in switching. We can use their bancomat with no fee, we can bank online, and the fees are the same. We just wanted an opportunity to patronize a local business. I know this bank is regional, but it’s still a place where you get to stand in line with your neighbors and let them look over the new Americans who just bought Gino Farnessi’s house. But it’s not worth the trouble for new PIN numbers and changing autopay information.
As we leave the bank, Wendy says, “You know what? I think I want to check out one more place. Let’s go to the Post Office…a lot of people are switching because of the lower fees.” So we go to the Post Office again, and after listening to the services and fees, decide to open an account at the Postal Bank. Of course we tell the manager that we are both retired form the Post Office, and that Art worked 34 years. Art tells him that for the first 15 years he sorted mail, the manager nods and says (in Italian), “That’s where everyone started!” Some things are universal. We thank the manager and leave the Post Office. It’s now nearly two o’ clock, and we want to buy lunch for Wendy, but she has to hurry off to an appointment. We decide to make quick sandwiches with the salami I bought yesterday. We have a long list of places to visit this afternoon, and I am determined to be at Mobili Paolo when they re-open at 3:30.
We almost make it… between the traffic and the construction, the E45 is a mess, and it ALWAYS takes longer that we anticipate. We had been to the larger Mobili Paolo in Grutti, but didn’t see much we liked, and what we did like was very expensive. We are now going to look at the store in Magione. We make a quick tour of the store, and still don’t see anything we fall in love with. We go down the street to Gran Casa and still can’t find anything we like. We look for a television cable, which we find. What we can’t find is a bracket and a rod to add another hanging rod to the armadio in the bedroom.
Next stop, House of Lamps. I have seen it from the expressway, and we find our way to the store quite easily. They have lots and lots of fantastic Murano glass chandeliers, but we are looking for something a little less formal. Maybe some bedside lamps. We end up with two lamps that can be mounted on the wall, freeing up the table space.
On to Ponte San Giovanni for a quick stop at the Bancomat, then we run into the hardware store, la ferramenta, to have some keys made and look for some new brackets for the clothesline. No luck with the brackets. Wendy thinks they may be difficult to find…so far, she is right. Of course, we’re not entirely sure that we are asking for the right thing!
Our next stop is an antiques place that we have been driving by every day. After we saw the prices at Mobili Paolo, Art says he would rather look at some antiques. When we see the prices on some of the pieces, we know that what we are looking for is “used furniture”, not antiques! Six thousand euro for a chest of drawers is not in the budget.
We drive down the street to another furniture store, Chateau D’ax, to see how our bedspread will look with a couple of carpets we saw the day before. We really like one of them, and would like to get a larger one for the foot of the bed and 2 smaller ones for beside the bed. Unfortunately, they only have the one size. After some discussion, we decide to go ahead and get the larger one, and later we will look for solid color rugs to coordinate. Since this is only the third check I have written, the saleswoman helps me to complete the check. I have mastered the month and day being reversed, but using commas instead of periods and periods instead of commas for the numbers is still confusing. $9,000.00 is written in Italy as 9.000,00, with the euro symbol in front, of course. My laptop won’t allow me to make the euro symbol!
Since we are in the neighborhood, we decide to check on the leather sofa we have ordered. We put a deposit down on Monday, and they said it would be about four days. Art squeezes into a narrow parking spot and goes into the store by himself to check. When he returns, he is shaking his head and muttering. He thought they said FOUR days. What they really said was FORTY days, which makes a lot more sense. You really have to listen HARD, and think about every word that is spoken. Our language classes will be time and money well spent.
We are finally ready to head back towards Marsciano! The traffic is heavy, partly because it is eight o’clock on Friday evening, and also because of the construction on the E45. When we finally arrive, finding a parking space is a real challenge. Since we got our first parking ticket just 2 days ago, we are determined to be more careful. Finally we find a spot in front of the hardware store, and look once again for the clothesline bracket, but still no luck. We also are having no luck in finding some nicer handles for the bathroom cabinets we bought. Maybe we’ll have to bring the ugly ones back to the US with us and head for Home Depot.
Our next stop is a daily one…to Pizzeria Ternanna for dinner. We stumbled upon this great family-run place last Sunday during the power outage, and have been regulars ever since. Since we are usually out late shopping, it’s easier to grab a quick pizza from here than to have to fix dinner once we get home. Ternanna is run by a great family, mom and dad, son Marco and his wife. They have pizza by the slice, or will make you one in the wood-burning oven. We found out from our friend Donatella (who admitted that she ate dinner there every night for TWO YEARS) that Marco placed second in a nationwide pizza competition. We believe it! His pizza is fantastic! Tonight we have roasted chicken, eggplant Parmigiano, mushrooms and a small carafe of red wine. Total cost? About $14.
In keeping with our routine, we head next door to the internet café. I find the internet instructions that Cristina has emailed to me. We check our mail, look at the news, check SlowTalk and then head for San Venanzo. Once we are home, we unload the car and I head for the back yard to take the clothes down from the line. They aren’t quite dry, since we don’t get much direct sun, so I hang them up inside to dry overnight. Art hooks up the new cable to the television that Wendy has loaned us. It works, but we only get one channel! Art watches soccer while I play on the computer. We finally head to bed around eleven, which is really late for us. Art has turned on the heated mattress pad, so the bed is nice and toasty! And tomorrow, we’ll do more of the same! Wendy has offered to lend me her printer, so that I can print out instructions in English for the washer and phone/answering machine. I can’t go online yet because I didn’t bring any phone cords! I thought they would be different in Italy, but now I find that I need the same type of cord to connect my modem. Looks like a stop at MediaWorld will be on the list for tomorrow!
UPDATE!
Cristina has just told me about a great mall (I Gli) located near Florence, with a store called Leroy Merlin. She says it is a Home Depot clone…that they have PAINT, and ready made curtains, and everything you could ever want for the house, all at reasonable prices! We are going to check it out next week, and I will take every measurement of every room in my house with me. Watch this space for the report!
Here we are!
I wrote this after our frirst week here, but couldn't post it because we weren't online yet. I thought it might be of interest.
We are home! It feels like home, and even though we don’t “get” a lot of things, we are here, in Italy, bella Italia! Art is still having a hard time getting used to being retired. After working 2 jobs for more than 30 years, it takes a while to decompress. The adjustment was much easier for me, for several reasons. First of all, even when I was working, I only worked part-time. And I hadn’t worked at all this summer…my last day was in early May, when my mom went into the hospital, and then I never went back. And then there is the fact that I have a hard time putting forth my best effort for someone else. If it is a project I am interested in, like renovating a house or even better, a garden, I can and will work from sun-up til sundown. And then of course, while working for the post office, there was that thing about getting up at 4 am…ugh!
Our sleep is still rather erratic at this point…we even over |
