![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
22 February 2005 10:08Considering the stature of the population here, I am bewildered by the height at which they mount their toilets.
22 February 2005
I have a bit of time to myself every day, since I am still waiting on some paperwork, before I can do anything "offical" here in Italy (like go to school or get a job) Brandie rides the Metro to work every day (she has a month long metro pass she uses) and I spend time in the apartment. For the first 2 weeks I did nothing but walk all over the city and buy things.. find shops.. and try to find nice stores that are friendly to americans. I had good luck, and we now have some of favorite stores that we shop at. Brandie fits into her Lab well. She has a batch of really nice coworkers, all of who speak english at different levels. One of her coworkers, Francesco, plays D&D and will be coming over this week to start a game with Brandie and I. That game will be in addition to the game that I am a player in, with David. He is a navy officer, and our new friend. We had dinner at thier place a week ago. He and his wife, Debbie, have two childern. Amanda is 3 and Courtney is 9 months. Amanda was scared of my beard the first time she met me, but when I went back she asked if she could touch it, which I allowed of course, she decided that I feel like a teddy bear, so we are good friends now.
We have had dinner with Mel and Donovan a few times, and they have introduced us to a some of thier friends. Mel signed us on to base when we first arrived here, and I signed up for my school stuff, they say it will be no problem to take classes on base, but I must obtain permission to get on base (going to school is not a good enough reason, its supposed to be for military) So they offered me a work study program (which would give me base privaledges) which means I would have a job on base!!!! So now all I have to do is convicne the VA to pay me to work in this work study program, and then I can start classes. I hope the VA agrees, they are the ones that asked me to find a way to get on base. They want me to use the base facilities, cause its easier for them. So.. I hope they don't whine about the small cost. I don't need to get paid gobs or anything.. just some "salary" to show that I am working on base
Our apartment is great. One bedroom with a bathroom adjacent, living room, small kitchen with a little foyer adjacent, and we have a small patio that we share with the neighbors (who both speak some english) downstairs we have the entry door, that leads into a mudroom with its own bathroom. So we have plenty of room to spread out our meager belongings. But thier are no closets or built in storage units. The place was furnished, but only with neccessities. So we are slowly stocking it up.
Since its winter, it is a bit cool. We use a gas heater called a bombola to heat whatever room we are in. (there are no heaters in the apartment) We are assured that in the summer we won't need to worry about warmth! Brandie is allergic to mold, so we had to do some heavy duty cleaning when we first arrived, and watch out for moisture. We would like to buy a dehumidifier, but each apartment in Italy has a very low electric service, and we have already tripped the breaker just by running the washer and a electric heater at the same time. *sigh* We will figure it out. Few People have dryers in their house, that is a big deal. So, we hang our laundery on racks that sit either on the patio when it is warm, or in are little foyer when its cold or rainy. Whole new experience doing laundry on racks, dishes in the sink, low wattage everything... very "primative" in comparison to most american apartments. But we love the character of the place, and our landlord is wonderful (he also speaks some english, but his girlfriend speaks even better so we talk to her a lot)
We live on Via Salvator Rosa, just off of Via Toledo. Via Toledo is a popular tourist road, it has gobs of little shops, the Archeological Museum, Dante Plaza.. etc.. and if you walk all the way down the street (about 15 minute walk) their is one of the three castles that are located inside the city. This one is Castle Del'Ovo. We love the location. We even have an english speaking ATM nearby.
All in all, life is good. Brandie has her paperwork all in order, meaning she has her Visa and her permission to stay. I was granted a Tourist Visa, and will be allowed to stay with Brandie as family. (this was quite a process, since things were not as we were told, and mostly solved due to a very nice Italian man in the Costora office named Michael, who was born in Hoboken, NJ) Once I actually get my paperwork I can further pursue getting base permission from the VA. Right now.. technically I am just a tourist.
We celebrated Brandie's birthday. Mel made a cake. It was all very nice.
Brandie and I had our one year "meet-a-versary" (Feb 14th)
and a 1 kilo box of Barilla pasta is 50 cents!!
We have had dinner with Mel and Donovan a few times, and they have introduced us to a some of thier friends. Mel signed us on to base when we first arrived here, and I signed up for my school stuff, they say it will be no problem to take classes on base, but I must obtain permission to get on base (going to school is not a good enough reason, its supposed to be for military) So they offered me a work study program (which would give me base privaledges) which means I would have a job on base!!!! So now all I have to do is convicne the VA to pay me to work in this work study program, and then I can start classes. I hope the VA agrees, they are the ones that asked me to find a way to get on base. They want me to use the base facilities, cause its easier for them. So.. I hope they don't whine about the small cost. I don't need to get paid gobs or anything.. just some "salary" to show that I am working on base
Our apartment is great. One bedroom with a bathroom adjacent, living room, small kitchen with a little foyer adjacent, and we have a small patio that we share with the neighbors (who both speak some english) downstairs we have the entry door, that leads into a mudroom with its own bathroom. So we have plenty of room to spread out our meager belongings. But thier are no closets or built in storage units. The place was furnished, but only with neccessities. So we are slowly stocking it up.
Since its winter, it is a bit cool. We use a gas heater called a bombola to heat whatever room we are in. (there are no heaters in the apartment) We are assured that in the summer we won't need to worry about warmth! Brandie is allergic to mold, so we had to do some heavy duty cleaning when we first arrived, and watch out for moisture. We would like to buy a dehumidifier, but each apartment in Italy has a very low electric service, and we have already tripped the breaker just by running the washer and a electric heater at the same time. *sigh* We will figure it out. Few People have dryers in their house, that is a big deal. So, we hang our laundery on racks that sit either on the patio when it is warm, or in are little foyer when its cold or rainy. Whole new experience doing laundry on racks, dishes in the sink, low wattage everything... very "primative" in comparison to most american apartments. But we love the character of the place, and our landlord is wonderful (he also speaks some english, but his girlfriend speaks even better so we talk to her a lot)
We live on Via Salvator Rosa, just off of Via Toledo. Via Toledo is a popular tourist road, it has gobs of little shops, the Archeological Museum, Dante Plaza.. etc.. and if you walk all the way down the street (about 15 minute walk) their is one of the three castles that are located inside the city. This one is Castle Del'Ovo. We love the location. We even have an english speaking ATM nearby.
All in all, life is good. Brandie has her paperwork all in order, meaning she has her Visa and her permission to stay. I was granted a Tourist Visa, and will be allowed to stay with Brandie as family. (this was quite a process, since things were not as we were told, and mostly solved due to a very nice Italian man in the Costora office named Michael, who was born in Hoboken, NJ) Once I actually get my paperwork I can further pursue getting base permission from the VA. Right now.. technically I am just a tourist.
We celebrated Brandie's birthday. Mel made a cake. It was all very nice.
Brandie and I had our one year "meet-a-versary" (Feb 14th)
and a 1 kilo box of Barilla pasta is 50 cents!!