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.
Monday, June 16, 2014
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.
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