Damn it! This are the words I spoke the day I visited the Questura and had to wait in line for 1 hour. I decided that I wanted to visit the Questura 2 weeks after my arrival as I wanted to get a head start on applying for my PdiS (Permesso di Soggiorno).
Well we arrived at 730 am to a decent line of about 20 ppl, we counted that we were 20th in line so we were happy. At the blink of an eye (no lie) swarms of people arrived. Families with all their children and belongings in tow. Woman who appeared to have just returned from a late night out and the men who looked like they had somewhere to go. I kept a close on the arrivals after us to make sure we did not loose our place in line. Well, low and behold, we did as few people managed to push their way in front of us. As time approached for the gates to open I felt my body being pushed forward and it wasn't a good feeling. Anyway, the feeling was nothing compared to when the gates actually opened and the police arrived to randomly pick only 20 people to enter. As he spoke in Italian, none of which I understood all I could see is people's hands raising to get his attention. My BF and I decided not to raise our hands and wait patiently and it worked out in our favour. The police officer spoke to my BF, took my passport and allowed us to enter. Once we arrived into the office with the rest of the immigrants we had to wait another 30minutes before they attended to us. The police officer was polite and answered all our questions and was also able to direct us to the right places; post office for the kit (which I already knew but my BF wanted to see if he could receive the kit for free) and the post office to send the payment for the insurance. Prior to being served I watched how other people were spoken to by some of the officers. I can tell by the facial expressions and the hand gestures of the officers that they were not being polite and this was later confirmed when I asked my BF to translate what they were saying. I think because my BF is Italian we were treated differently. So after a day or two of running around with the kit and filing out the many required pages we are patiently waiting for something, anything to arrive in the mail.
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The JOB!
I can't say how much easier it is not having to find a job. As many of you know the BF found the job for me while I was in Toronto so there was no job hunting for me once I arrived. The week I arrived I met the mother (father was at work) and the two children; Marco who is four and Martina who is eight. . My first impression of the children was positive. They both were very polite and oh so cute with nothing but nice things to say while I was there meeting the family. My boyfriend did most of the talking while I played with the kids. We planned it that way so that the mother would see me interacting with the children. I was pleased that the children willing played with me and didn't lash on to their mother while I was there. Before I left the house both of the kids gave me a kiss, which surprised me as it was our first meeting. I decided at that time to start one week early as since it was four days into my arrival I was kinda bored at home.
Most of my time is spent with Marco teaching him English while Martina is at school. Now I am six weeks into the job and still loving it. Working with children has allowed me to find my creative side. At first, I found the job to be a little boring but once I became creative the time spent with the children goes by much faster. Because Marco's English is very limited and my Italian is also limited we sometimes have communication problems but we always seem to get our message across.
As for the parents, Monica and Giulio they are wonderful. They treat me with the respect and are open minded and free spirited. They have two other woman working from them as well, cleaning their not so big house. Monica is a Professor and Giulio is an Engineer so they are well educated and have no money problems. I rarely see Giulio, I met him once and saw him one other time when I decided to work a Saturday. He works 1.5hrs away from home so I imagine he gets home late, eats dinner and goes to sleep....lol. Anyway for now Monica and I get along great thankfully as there is nothing more than having a boss who is a bitch.
A side note, for those who are planning to teach English in Italy please don't expect a high salary. I was aware that the salary wages were low and therefore settled for what was offered.
It was actually my BF who negotiated and successfully got me a higher salary.
Ciao a tutti
Most of my time is spent with Marco teaching him English while Martina is at school. Now I am six weeks into the job and still loving it. Working with children has allowed me to find my creative side. At first, I found the job to be a little boring but once I became creative the time spent with the children goes by much faster. Because Marco's English is very limited and my Italian is also limited we sometimes have communication problems but we always seem to get our message across.
As for the parents, Monica and Giulio they are wonderful. They treat me with the respect and are open minded and free spirited. They have two other woman working from them as well, cleaning their not so big house. Monica is a Professor and Giulio is an Engineer so they are well educated and have no money problems. I rarely see Giulio, I met him once and saw him one other time when I decided to work a Saturday. He works 1.5hrs away from home so I imagine he gets home late, eats dinner and goes to sleep....lol. Anyway for now Monica and I get along great thankfully as there is nothing more than having a boss who is a bitch.
A side note, for those who are planning to teach English in Italy please don't expect a high salary. I was aware that the salary wages were low and therefore settled for what was offered.
It was actually my BF who negotiated and successfully got me a higher salary.
Ciao a tutti
Monday, October 08, 2007
The apartment....
I really thought keeping up with this blog thing would be much easier once I moved to Italy.
It is actually much harder as I have less time. Anyway, here goes it; the apartment.
Prior to the move I was only shown the pictures, pictures I thought were poorly taken and therefore did the apartment no justice. When my BF told me we were moving into an attic my heart began to beat so fast. When I hear an attic, I think of a dark unkept room with spiders and cob webs. Because of this horrible thought in my mind I asked my BF that we stay at his mom's the first night as I did not want to enter the attic. He declined and said I would like the apartment and reassured me that an attic in Italy is not like an attic in N.America.
Well to my surprise the apartment is lovely with its "travi a vista" structure and open concept layout. Its probably the same size of my the apartment back home but with a different layout. The first days in the apartment we went crazy at Ikea and bought many things. The apartment came furnished so we just had to purchase the other things. I never thought I would like Ikea but Ikea Italy is not bad. Much of the same things I have seen at home but with better prices and nicer designs. The BF is a handy man so everything electronic or that requires fixing and placing he is good at. As of now our apartment is pretty much finished, we have bought more than we need and his mamma keeps giving us everything in her house. I am now used to saying "no grazie" when she placing items in my hands. I will take the pics and post soon....baci
btw, I rarely proof read these post so sorry for my bad grammar and sp mistakes....lol
It is actually much harder as I have less time. Anyway, here goes it; the apartment.
Prior to the move I was only shown the pictures, pictures I thought were poorly taken and therefore did the apartment no justice. When my BF told me we were moving into an attic my heart began to beat so fast. When I hear an attic, I think of a dark unkept room with spiders and cob webs. Because of this horrible thought in my mind I asked my BF that we stay at his mom's the first night as I did not want to enter the attic. He declined and said I would like the apartment and reassured me that an attic in Italy is not like an attic in N.America.
Well to my surprise the apartment is lovely with its "travi a vista" structure and open concept layout. Its probably the same size of my the apartment back home but with a different layout. The first days in the apartment we went crazy at Ikea and bought many things. The apartment came furnished so we just had to purchase the other things. I never thought I would like Ikea but Ikea Italy is not bad. Much of the same things I have seen at home but with better prices and nicer designs. The BF is a handy man so everything electronic or that requires fixing and placing he is good at. As of now our apartment is pretty much finished, we have bought more than we need and his mamma keeps giving us everything in her house. I am now used to saying "no grazie" when she placing items in my hands. I will take the pics and post soon....baci
btw, I rarely proof read these post so sorry for my bad grammar and sp mistakes....lol
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