Paying bills here is not as awesome as you would think. You can pay online but it is not the normal practice and by the time our first bill came we didn't have time to set up the online account (no it doesn't just take 2 minutes).
That meant we needed to pay our cable and internet bill at the tabbachio. What is a tabbachio you might ask? It is exactly what it sounds like. A tobacco store, that usually also sells some drinks, snacks and maybe coffee. They have these on every corner. They also have little machines where you can go in and pay your bills, parking passes and a few other administrative things that you might need. I don't know why but this seems crazy to me, I really can't seem to get over it. Also, you don't get bills on a regular monthly basis. You might get an electricity bill for a 3 month or 2 month period. Basically you get a bill for however long it has been since the guy came out and checked your meter.
We pay some of our bills online now, but still have a pay a few at the tabbaccio.
The first time we had to do it was one day when we realized our internet had been cut off. Bear in mind that we weren't being neglectful in our bills, we just hadn't actually received anything. At this point Joseph was at work and was pretty busy so the burden fell to me. He told me what he thought I should say and ask for. Turns out he had been given the wrong information and so was then giving me the wrong information. I went to two shops, two different newspaper stands and the post office. All places where you are supposedly supposed to be able to pay your bills. Each person nicely told me no in broken English and tried to point me in the direction of someone who could. But then I got to the post office. At this point Jasper was cranky and hungry, so I pulled my number and sat down to nurse him in the waiting room. Besides getting up for the wrong number and then missing my number call (again nothing is as straight forward as you would think it would be) I got reamed out by the post office lady. She kept giving me directions that I didn't understand in Italian, but what I did understand was her talking bad about me to the other clerks for only speaking English. It was mortifying. It had been several hours since the start of the supposedly easy task, I was hungry and grouchy and now almost to the point of tears. Finally I just left because I realized I wasn't going to be able to do it there either.
At this point I called Joseph crying and told him to take care of it.
Thankfully he did, and still does.
That is an experience I would not like to repeat. Some days being an expat is not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
Getting an Italian Bank Account
It seems as if everything in Italy takes longer than you would expect. Seriously everything. It took us three attempts to open a bank account. I remember when we first moved to Philadelphia is 2009 and we needed a local bank account we walked right in and within 20 minutes had a new checking account set up. That was not the case this time.
The first time we went, we showed up at 4:30 and the bank was closed. It closed at 4:15. Why a bank closes at 4:15 is beyond me. Also, keep in mind that they were closed from 12 to 1:30 for lunch.
So we take another attempt the next day. We arrive right at 1:30 when they are opening back up. Unlucky for us, someone had arrived just minutes before us and there as only one lady there setting up new bank accounts this day. She told us she would not have time to set up both of our accounts and that we would have to come back the next day. After a fairly heated exchange between Joseph and the banker we set up an appointment for the next day and left the bank again without success.
The third day we arrived right on time for our appointment. We were greeted and the process began. About an hour into everything, Jasper was starting to get bored and therefore a little bit fussy. So I took him out in to the hall for walk for a few minutes. After a few minutes Joseph called me back in, because he needed my signature. What neither he nor I realized was that they didn't just need one signature, they needed close to 30 signatures and several additional initials on probably 100 pages of paper. Hard copy paper. This paper then got put into a very large red folder, and stored I presume in the worlds largest filing room.
The whole thing took close to two hours. We weren't doing anything complicated. We were just setting up a checking account, so that we can pay our rent. I still can't believe how involved the whole process was. It made sense after we left why she could only see one person the day before. She would never have had time to do both of the accounts.
In the end we were successful. We now have an Italian checking account. Although I have no idea how to use it. It is of course nowhere near as straight forward as you would think.
The first time we went, we showed up at 4:30 and the bank was closed. It closed at 4:15. Why a bank closes at 4:15 is beyond me. Also, keep in mind that they were closed from 12 to 1:30 for lunch.
So we take another attempt the next day. We arrive right at 1:30 when they are opening back up. Unlucky for us, someone had arrived just minutes before us and there as only one lady there setting up new bank accounts this day. She told us she would not have time to set up both of our accounts and that we would have to come back the next day. After a fairly heated exchange between Joseph and the banker we set up an appointment for the next day and left the bank again without success.
The third day we arrived right on time for our appointment. We were greeted and the process began. About an hour into everything, Jasper was starting to get bored and therefore a little bit fussy. So I took him out in to the hall for walk for a few minutes. After a few minutes Joseph called me back in, because he needed my signature. What neither he nor I realized was that they didn't just need one signature, they needed close to 30 signatures and several additional initials on probably 100 pages of paper. Hard copy paper. This paper then got put into a very large red folder, and stored I presume in the worlds largest filing room.
The whole thing took close to two hours. We weren't doing anything complicated. We were just setting up a checking account, so that we can pay our rent. I still can't believe how involved the whole process was. It made sense after we left why she could only see one person the day before. She would never have had time to do both of the accounts.
In the end we were successful. We now have an Italian checking account. Although I have no idea how to use it. It is of course nowhere near as straight forward as you would think.
Being a Mom on Mother's Day
This year was my first year as a mother on Mother's Day. All I really wanted was a picture of Jasper and I to mark the occasion, and Joseph helped us out with that, and so much more.
Joseph was really thoughtful this year for Mother's Day to mark the occasion for which I am thankful. Apparently they celebrate Mother's Day here in Italy, but not anything like in the States. There was no mention of it around town, no advertisements, no special baked goods for moms. Our church services were not even about mothers. This I have to admit was kind of disappointing. Not that I can really understand very much of what is being said in church these days, but it would have been nice to know the meeting was about the role of women and mothers. Instead it was about missionary work. Kind of anti-climatic. Joseph made up for it at home though.
When we came home from church Joseph let me take a nap, which is the best, because Jasper is still a horrible sleeper. He bought me a beautiful plant, some beautiful earrings and attempted a surprise painted hand print of Jaspers hand. As it turns out that is a two man job these days, since Jasper has gotten pretty rambunctious, but I still love it.
In the morning I turned around and Jasper was holding my earrings and smiling as if he was so excited to give them to me. It was really so cute.
The day gave me the opportunity to reflect on becoming a mother, and for that I am grateful. I never could have imagined how much love and joy come with being a mother. Some days I am just so overcome with love that I feel like I will burst, I just can't keep it all in.
There are definitely hard and challenging days, but I will take those if it means I get the good amazing days too. I told Joseph the other day that I just love Jasper so much it makes me want to have a million babies! And, to be honest, these are not things I ever thought I would feel, and I didn't think it was possible to feel.
I am so thankful for my little family, and for my chance to be a mom. It is not a role I take lightly, and it is not a role I take for granted. I just feel so lucky to have my stud of a husband and my sweet sweet baby boy.
Joseph was really thoughtful this year for Mother's Day to mark the occasion for which I am thankful. Apparently they celebrate Mother's Day here in Italy, but not anything like in the States. There was no mention of it around town, no advertisements, no special baked goods for moms. Our church services were not even about mothers. This I have to admit was kind of disappointing. Not that I can really understand very much of what is being said in church these days, but it would have been nice to know the meeting was about the role of women and mothers. Instead it was about missionary work. Kind of anti-climatic. Joseph made up for it at home though.
When we came home from church Joseph let me take a nap, which is the best, because Jasper is still a horrible sleeper. He bought me a beautiful plant, some beautiful earrings and attempted a surprise painted hand print of Jaspers hand. As it turns out that is a two man job these days, since Jasper has gotten pretty rambunctious, but I still love it.
In the morning I turned around and Jasper was holding my earrings and smiling as if he was so excited to give them to me. It was really so cute.
The day gave me the opportunity to reflect on becoming a mother, and for that I am grateful. I never could have imagined how much love and joy come with being a mother. Some days I am just so overcome with love that I feel like I will burst, I just can't keep it all in.
There are definitely hard and challenging days, but I will take those if it means I get the good amazing days too. I told Joseph the other day that I just love Jasper so much it makes me want to have a million babies! And, to be honest, these are not things I ever thought I would feel, and I didn't think it was possible to feel.
I am so thankful for my little family, and for my chance to be a mom. It is not a role I take lightly, and it is not a role I take for granted. I just feel so lucky to have my stud of a husband and my sweet sweet baby boy.
Our trip to Florence
We took a quick weekend trip to Florence during our first month here. We really wanted to take advantage of Joseph's light work load those first couple of weeks and we both really wanted to go to Florence. Luckily, it is only a hour and a half train ride, which made everything really easy.
We weren't sure we were going to be able to go until Friday evening at about six. Joseph got the okay that no work would be happening over the weekend, so we packed quickly and went to bed early. We had booked tickets on the 6:30am train out of town.
We arrived in Florence by eight in the morning, and walked to our hotel room. Our hotel was in a great location, close to everything. It was fun to walk through the city in the morning when it was practically empty and still quite. By the afternoon it was like a whole new place with so many people.
We dropped our bags off, freshened up, and hit the ground running. We only had two days so we wanted to see as much as possible. We went first to Ponte Vecchio, grabbed some tickets for the Uffizi the next morning, bought a tour book off of a street vendor and got to learning. There is so much history and art in Florence, it really was amazing.
We walked around a bit, and then got in the longest line in history to try to go to the top of the dome in the Duomo, after waiting for 45 minutes and realizing it would be at least another hour, we ditched that plan and went to the Baptistry, that bonus, had no line.
After that we went in search of lunch. We had our minds set on eating Florentine steaks in Florence. I had read about a place online that had good reviews so off we went. Through the city and across the bridge to steaks. It was so much meat. We shared a kilo of steak. They basically just sear the meat, it was hilarious, but we ate it. Luckily Jasper napped in his stroller for almost the whole time we ate, which is the best. Eating with a very active baby is always a challenge.
The last thing on our itinerary for the day was to hit up Boboli gardens. I had read they were really beautiful and they did not disappoint. They gave you a great view of the down town area and the gardens themselves were really beautiful. It was fun to walk around. Although they were much more hilly than we had expected so Joseph got quite the workout pushing the stroller all around.
After lounging about for a while we were still so full from our lunch we decided that a gelato would be perfect for dinner. And gelato never disappoints.
We headed back to the hotel to relax and put Jasper to bed. We felt really old though as we heard all the people out on the streets partying and we were tucked in our bed reading quietly so we didn't wake up the boy.
The next day we woke up bright and early and went straight to the bell tower. I strapped Jasper in the Bjorn and we headed up the stairs. There were a lot of stairs. It was a good thing we got there early and there was no one else behind us because I was walking slow and breathing hard. I am going to blame it on Jasper just all around :) The views from the top of the bell tower were really beautiful. You could see over all of the red roofs of the city and into the countryside. I wanted to stay up there all day and take in the scenery.
But, we couldn't we then ran over to the Uffizi gallery. We had early tickets to try and beat the crowds. It was still really crowded and we ended up having to stop and feed Jasper once we got inside anyways, everything always takes longer than expected with the boy. The museum was good, we were both a little bit frustrated because it was really crowded with big tour groups. Tour groups really mess up the natural flow of people.
After the Uffizi we walked around, found some lunch. Stumbled upon an awesome flea market, where we found some cool prints that we are going to put in Jaspers room. Then we found some gelato. Joseph felt the need to order the largest size, that was literally a tub of gelato.
Then sadly we had to head to the train. We went back to the hotel, grabbed our things, made a pit stop to see the Berlusconi arches and then headed to the train.
It was such a fun and busy weekend. We were able to see a lot while also taking some time to really enjoy it. I can see why Florence is so popular. Although, I would never go in the summer. It was crowded when we were there I can't imagine how crowded it would be in the peak of the tourist season.
We weren't sure we were going to be able to go until Friday evening at about six. Joseph got the okay that no work would be happening over the weekend, so we packed quickly and went to bed early. We had booked tickets on the 6:30am train out of town.
We arrived in Florence by eight in the morning, and walked to our hotel room. Our hotel was in a great location, close to everything. It was fun to walk through the city in the morning when it was practically empty and still quite. By the afternoon it was like a whole new place with so many people.
We dropped our bags off, freshened up, and hit the ground running. We only had two days so we wanted to see as much as possible. We went first to Ponte Vecchio, grabbed some tickets for the Uffizi the next morning, bought a tour book off of a street vendor and got to learning. There is so much history and art in Florence, it really was amazing.
We walked around a bit, and then got in the longest line in history to try to go to the top of the dome in the Duomo, after waiting for 45 minutes and realizing it would be at least another hour, we ditched that plan and went to the Baptistry, that bonus, had no line.
The last thing on our itinerary for the day was to hit up Boboli gardens. I had read they were really beautiful and they did not disappoint. They gave you a great view of the down town area and the gardens themselves were really beautiful. It was fun to walk around. Although they were much more hilly than we had expected so Joseph got quite the workout pushing the stroller all around.
After lounging about for a while we were still so full from our lunch we decided that a gelato would be perfect for dinner. And gelato never disappoints.
We headed back to the hotel to relax and put Jasper to bed. We felt really old though as we heard all the people out on the streets partying and we were tucked in our bed reading quietly so we didn't wake up the boy.
After the Uffizi we walked around, found some lunch. Stumbled upon an awesome flea market, where we found some cool prints that we are going to put in Jaspers room. Then we found some gelato. Joseph felt the need to order the largest size, that was literally a tub of gelato.
Then sadly we had to head to the train. We went back to the hotel, grabbed our things, made a pit stop to see the Berlusconi arches and then headed to the train.
It was such a fun and busy weekend. We were able to see a lot while also taking some time to really enjoy it. I can see why Florence is so popular. Although, I would never go in the summer. It was crowded when we were there I can't imagine how crowded it would be in the peak of the tourist season.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Presenting ourselves
As it turns out if you plan on living in Italy for an extended period of time you must do "the presentation." This requires that you present yourself at your local police station, they fill out by hand some legally binding documents, throw some stamps on them and call you official.
Technically if you are out walking on the street you can be stopped at any time and asked to see your documentation. This never happens though.
So we show up at our allotted time at 9:30am. Fortunately we have Elissabetta, who is an Italian who works at Josephs law firm to help us. She is in charge of making sure we get all of our paperwork in order so that everything is legal. She meets us there. She then proceeds to have what seems like a longer than should be conversation with the police man guarding the door, who apparently doesn't understand what is going on and doesn't want to let us in.
After several times going back and forth, he finally gives in and gives us some directions to where to go. Then we sort of wander down the hall up the elevator and down another all until we find the correct room. That has several men at desks sitting around who as far as I can tell are there for this very purpose. Why the downstairs guys didn't seem to know these fellows existed is beyond me. So we sit down, the friendly man pulls out our forms and proceeds to fill them in by hand.
Filling in official paperwork by hand is a continuing theme here, so you can look out for it in the future.
Luckily at this point everything went very smoothly and quickly. We were out of there in about 10 minutes, and officially registered.
Funny enough Joseph was already in the system from when he was a missionary and the man asked him about it. Based on the way things went down I was very surprised that they had a system sophisticated enough to track someone over time.
Technically if you are out walking on the street you can be stopped at any time and asked to see your documentation. This never happens though.
So we show up at our allotted time at 9:30am. Fortunately we have Elissabetta, who is an Italian who works at Josephs law firm to help us. She is in charge of making sure we get all of our paperwork in order so that everything is legal. She meets us there. She then proceeds to have what seems like a longer than should be conversation with the police man guarding the door, who apparently doesn't understand what is going on and doesn't want to let us in.
After several times going back and forth, he finally gives in and gives us some directions to where to go. Then we sort of wander down the hall up the elevator and down another all until we find the correct room. That has several men at desks sitting around who as far as I can tell are there for this very purpose. Why the downstairs guys didn't seem to know these fellows existed is beyond me. So we sit down, the friendly man pulls out our forms and proceeds to fill them in by hand.
Filling in official paperwork by hand is a continuing theme here, so you can look out for it in the future.
Luckily at this point everything went very smoothly and quickly. We were out of there in about 10 minutes, and officially registered.
Funny enough Joseph was already in the system from when he was a missionary and the man asked him about it. Based on the way things went down I was very surprised that they had a system sophisticated enough to track someone over time.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Bergamo
On our second Saturday we decided to take a day trip to Bergamo. We were tempted to take an overnight trip somewhere but Jaspers sleeping had been pretty much horrible since we arrived, I didn't want to take him to a new place again so soon.
Bergamo is about 45 minutes outside of Milan and is an old city, that is made in two parts. The older part of the city is up on the top of a hill and surrounded by an ancient city wall. The newer more urban part of the city is down below.
I had read that you can take an old tram type thing called the funicular up the side of the mountain from the lower city to the higher city. So that is what we did. We was pretty funny, it was this tiny little cable car type thing that just went strait up the side of the mountain and deposited you in the upper city. It did provide for some good views going up and down, although the day we were there it was kind of hazy so the views were not as good as they could have been.
One of my goals while we live here and travel around is to eat the traditional meals from each of the places we visit. The traditional pasta in Bergamo is a meat filled ravioli with a butter sage sauce, so that is what I got for lunch and it was delicious. I am thinking this is one of my better goals.
We also walked part of the outside of the city along the wall. Bergamo really is a cute little city up in the mountains. Of course pushing Jaspers stroller that is pretty much to wide for everything is always an adventure.
Bergamo is about 45 minutes outside of Milan and is an old city, that is made in two parts. The older part of the city is up on the top of a hill and surrounded by an ancient city wall. The newer more urban part of the city is down below.
I had read that you can take an old tram type thing called the funicular up the side of the mountain from the lower city to the higher city. So that is what we did. We was pretty funny, it was this tiny little cable car type thing that just went strait up the side of the mountain and deposited you in the upper city. It did provide for some good views going up and down, although the day we were there it was kind of hazy so the views were not as good as they could have been.
One of my goals while we live here and travel around is to eat the traditional meals from each of the places we visit. The traditional pasta in Bergamo is a meat filled ravioli with a butter sage sauce, so that is what I got for lunch and it was delicious. I am thinking this is one of my better goals.
We also walked part of the outside of the city along the wall. Bergamo really is a cute little city up in the mountains. Of course pushing Jaspers stroller that is pretty much to wide for everything is always an adventure.
The first time I went to the store by myself
After a few days here, I had figured myself brave enough to go to the store by myself.
I only needed one thing.
Because I only needed one thing, I went into the self checkout lane where there was no line. Instead of waiting in the real line where there was a line.
It wasn't until it was too late that I realized doing self checkout meant you needed to be able to read the words, and beyond that know how to use their credit card machine. Just as an FYI it is different over here, you don't swipe. I didn't know this so I swiped, but it didn't work. The problem, is I thought it had worked, so then I tried to leave, but the attended wouldn't let me out of the gate.
So confused I turned back around to face a middle aged Italian lady yelling and me and waving here hands wildly, saying who knows what. Finally I got the idea that I hadn't paid and she clearly thought I was an idiot, so instead of trying to use my credit card again I tried as quickly as possible to give her some money so she would stop yelling.
Fortunately she did, but not before saying something rude about Americans under her breath as if I couldn't hear her.
I took my one item and ran out of that joint, somewhat mortified and trying not to cry in public. Because I cry when I am embarrassed and overwhelmed it just happens people.
Now looking back it is hilarious, it also has resulted in me never using the self checkout line again under any circumstance.
I only needed one thing.
Because I only needed one thing, I went into the self checkout lane where there was no line. Instead of waiting in the real line where there was a line.
It wasn't until it was too late that I realized doing self checkout meant you needed to be able to read the words, and beyond that know how to use their credit card machine. Just as an FYI it is different over here, you don't swipe. I didn't know this so I swiped, but it didn't work. The problem, is I thought it had worked, so then I tried to leave, but the attended wouldn't let me out of the gate.
So confused I turned back around to face a middle aged Italian lady yelling and me and waving here hands wildly, saying who knows what. Finally I got the idea that I hadn't paid and she clearly thought I was an idiot, so instead of trying to use my credit card again I tried as quickly as possible to give her some money so she would stop yelling.
Fortunately she did, but not before saying something rude about Americans under her breath as if I couldn't hear her.
I took my one item and ran out of that joint, somewhat mortified and trying not to cry in public. Because I cry when I am embarrassed and overwhelmed it just happens people.
Now looking back it is hilarious, it also has resulted in me never using the self checkout line again under any circumstance.
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