Trip Home

Ok, sorry for the break in the news flow. Fabri and I were in Maryland for Thanksgiving. We had a lovely time and were sorry we couldn't see more people and more of the people we did see. We did get downtown though which is always fun and we ate all of our favorite American/ethnic food. We also did a lot of shopping AND we packed all of my stuff and brought to a trucking company to ship it here to Italy. That was a stressful proposition, but I am so glad to have gotten it started. I need my stuff after all! But this blog is not about trips to the US, this blog is about adventures in Italy.

If I ever get into making iron on t-shirts again, I'm going to make one that says I heart IKEA. Fabri and I went for our second time last night. We're old pros now, so we knew hot to navigate through and which areas held which types of furniture. We purchased a bookshelf, desk, small file cabinet and a china closet along with some various odds and ends we had to pick up. I know it sounds like we're crazy and filling up the house, but that's it for furniture and we needed to have an office of sorts because I'm tired of just having piles on the floor and around the kitchen. Fabri really wanted the china closet and it will look great offsetting our credenza. We put together the credenza from our first IKEA trip on Saturday. We had a lot of fun doing it and it looks great. There were really no problems except that the Sky (satellite TV) technician came in the middle and kept talking and wouldn't leave. At least he fixed our Sky while he talked.

Sunday was a fun and interesting today. Fabri and I were invited to a quadruple birthday lunch celebrating the December birthdays of Gibo, Miriam, Albi and Simone. It was a huge party with over 60 people in attendance. The food was just so-so, but they had a singer with a keyboard and we danced and sang a lot which is always fun. Fabri and I sat with newlyweds (slightly less newly than us) Francesca & Andrea and they assured us that all of our issues we've had with the house are completely normal and they went through the same. That made Fabri feel better. I'm not so concerned with it's being normal or not, I'm more concerned with getting everything right. Anyway, the party was a lot of fun, but it was a little concerning because it started snowing very hard while we were there. And they were large wet/icy flakes. But it eventually turned to rain and we drove home slowly. Now I would kill for large icy snowflakes. It has been raining since Sunday and probably won't stop until Thursday. There isn't a lot of concern of flooding here though because in the hills and mountains there's snow, so the water is remaining trapped up there.

So I'm keeping busy running the house and running errands. We forgot the keys to the garage in Fabri's car yesterday, so all my errands will be wet and on foot today, but this afternoon we will go to the grocery store and maybe a couple other places. Fabri asked me "we have to go to the grocery store again!?" I replied, "yes, we have to go every week if you want to eat every week." That's just how it works.

Dinner Party

First and foremost, here are photos of the new house.  I am sooooo happy to be living in our own home finally.  After 3 months being married we're living like a married couple!

Now everyone can see where they're going to stay when they come visit!  Both couches are sofa beds, so we have lots of room.

Last night Fabri and I threw our first dinner party for his cousin Giovanni, his girlfriend Brunella, their baby Lucrezia (the cute little monkey from the previous post), and Fabri's friends Antonio and Laura.  Fabri's cousins Gaetano and Detta couldn't make it because Detta's train was delayed and she didn't get home from work until 10:30 poor thing!  Without those two it was all medical people and me.  Fabri's a doctor, Antonio's an ER doctor, Giovanni's a doctor, Laura's an OR nurse and Brunella is an emergency/ambulance nurse.  Poor me, I'm always the odd one out.  The only American and the only non doctor.

For dinner Fabri & I chose an Asian theme basically because he really likes my stir fry.  But when we go to everyone else's house for dinner, they serve multi-course meals.  So I scoured the internet and found some extra Asian inspired recipes to sufficiently stuff our guests.  When they arrived we had chips & salsa (always) and I made cauliflower popcorn which was a hit especially with the baby.  These appetizers and the drinks were on the bar which was a cool way to begin.  Next we moved to the table and I served egg drop soup.  Everyone was really nervous about it at first, but mostly it was well received except by Giovanni who doesn't like onions.  Fabri & Antonio both had seconds.  Next was a salad with Japanese Ginger Dressing I made with our new food processor.  That was really fun because I didn't have to chop anything.  This also had a lot of onions, but everyone liked it except for Giovanni.  Laura asked me for recipes for just about everything.  After the salad came the main course, chicken stirfry with veggies.  Antonio and Laura had had it before when I made it at Fabri's parents' house, but Giovanni especially was really impressed.  Of course I served it with  rice and soy sauce.  By that time everyone was like "Jess, enough food," but Fabri had made dessert, pana cotta.  People were surprised and asked if I really made it, and I said no, I only cleaned up after it (he made a mess!).  But it's not hard, you just buy it in a box and boil the milk and cream, add the ingredients packet and put it in the fridge.  Fabri came up with the idea to serve it with Bailey's in addition to the traditional caramel and fruit toppings.

Everyone loved the house and I have to say that our first dinner party was a huge success.  I didn't want to cook Italian food for Italians, but I can't wait to cook Italian food for American guests!

New House

We are in the new house!!  Pictures will be appearing soon.  I just want to wait until we get the light fixtures installed today.  And to hang a few paintings.  Now I am going to eat lunch and relax because I have been running errands all morning!

The house is almost finished!!

As the title of this post states, the house is almost finished!! I plan on moving in on Friday no matter what. I told the painter I was going to move in this week and he said I was crazy. I needed time to clean everything and put everything in its place. I said I'll do that after I move in. I have been going to the house every day to clean and put things away. I was there for two and a half hours this morning with the Motta's maid helping me clean. Then this afternoon Maria Pia and Fabri and I will do some work there.



This weekend I got to help babysit Fabri's cousin's 2 year old daughter, Lucrezia or Lulu (pictured above). Maria Pia was watching her while her mom was at work and her dad ran some errands. She is a very good baby, and hardly ever cries, but she's sort of shy and has never been sure if she likes/knows me or not. She started off following Maria Pia everywhere she went, but when Maria Pia had to run upstairs to grab something and Lucrezia started getting upset she couldn't follow, I saw my chance and grabbed her. I walked around the yard with her and waved at the Motta's dogs. Then we went and picked some flowers which was a fun game.  Then Maria Pia thought of a game she really loved.  We went through Francesca's jewelry and found a bracelet that was small enough for Lucrezia.  She loves jewelry and every box we opened she would go "oooooh" and then dump everything out.  Then I figured out she likes to color, so we spent a long time coloring together.  She hadn't taken a nap and had to be getting tired, so her uncle Gaetano tried to get her to fall asleep, but as soon as she saw me, she put her arms up and wanted to go with me.  It was really funny and Gaetano was mad.  She's his brother's daughter.  Then we all decided to put on Finding Nemo and relax hoping she would fall asleep.  At first she colored some more, then she sat on my lamp and watched the movie.  Then she climbed up on my chest and fell asleep.  It was sooooo sweet.  After only 5 minutes or so her dad arrived and we transferred her without waking her up which was good.  That was my Saturday afternoon.

We saw them again on Sunday at the 30th birthday party for Fabri's cousin Michella.  Fabri had to work and didn't arrive until after the party was over, but I went for the whole thing with Francesca and Antonio.  Lucrezia's mom Brunella said that when she works in Saluzzo, she would love to bring Lucrezia to stay at my house so I can speak English to her.  She's not saying more than Mama, Nonna & no right now, but it's always helpful to speak English and it's easiest to learn when you're young.  I said sure, that would be great.  I also might have a job going to a friend of a friend's house for 2 or 3 hours a week and speaking with her kids in English.  I have no idea what I'm going to say, but I like to talk, so I'll figure something out.  

The party was nice with lots of Michella's friends there.  I was sort of overwhelmed because I had to speak Italian with everyone without Fabri there to help.  But Francesca speaks English well and helped me with a few words I needed but didn't know.

So that was my weekend.  Poor Fabri worked all weekend, but that was his last weekend on call for this month.  We're looking forward to moving in the house this weekend and then heading home in 2 weeks for Thanksgiving!

Wine Time For Real......maybe

Well, again, I had every intention of writing about making wine in the Motta's basement.  I even uploaded the photos to Picasa so that I could include a slide show, but the thing is, that was so long ago and there are other things going on now.  So if you're interested, you can scoot on over to my Picasa web albums and look at the wine photos.  They're captioned for your increased viewing pleasure.  

That said, I better talk about the house.  Fabri and I are STILL living in his parents house and I'm reaching my wit's end.  We went on a lovely little vacation to Nice this weekend to get away from things.  We went out Friday night to an Irish Bar to eat and listen to some live acoustic music.  We saw some people in costume, but nothing like how it is in the US.  On Saturday we did a bit of shopping at all my favorite Nice stores: H&M, Zara and Etam.  We also cooked lunch and dinner together in the apartment.  We made scallops & pasta for lunch.  For dinner we had fondue with bread & broccoli for the first course and then steaks & a salad.  Oh, and we of course ate chocolate croissants for breakfast every morning.  Sunday we left Nice around noon and had lunch in the alps in the French town of Fontan.  Fabri did his American tourist routine and the poor waitress was very flustered by her inability to speak English.  She did know some Italian by the way as there are a lot of Italians that go through there.  

Now we're back in Savigliano going to the Saluzzo house daily to check on the progress.  Right now our wonderful painter Paolo has been working for 4 days.  The walls needed a lot of work before Paolo could start painting, especially in the living room & foyer which had wallpaper underneath the paint!  

Tomorrow (hopefully) our wayward electrician will show up to finish the job he said he'd have done 2 or 3 weeks ago now.  Because of other delays, we would only be 2 days ahead if he had his work done, but he could still delay us more if he doesn't come and finish things.  The big project he needs to finish is making the window shutters electric in the living room and the kitchen.  

When Paolo is closer to done, our reliable plumber will return to finish hooking up the kitchen including our American fridge which has side by side freezer/fridge and ice & water in the door.  That is very rare here in Italy and we can't wait to show it off.  The bathrooms are pretty much finished except he will install a door for the bathtub/shower and we need someone to make a custom shower curtain bar for our shower in the small bathroom.  

Here are some photos of the house.  If everything wasn't covered in plastic for the painters, I would take more, but it will look better painted anyway.  We are on the first floor at the far end of the building.  There is plenty of street parking, but we have a garage as well.  Across a side street is a large grassy field that will never be built on because it has something to with the military (I assume storage of nuclear waste, but the bunnies that live there appear to be of normal size and with the proper number of appendages).  The grounds of the apartment building are very green with a lot of trees and plants and a small fenced in dog run.  Fabri chose it because he knew I would want to live somewhere that felt like I had a yard.  

As you enter the apartment you enter to the now opened up foyer and kitchen.  You can see in the photos the new peninsula and breakfast bar.  As you proceed past the kitchen you enter the living/dining room.  On both ends of the room there is a large window & door leading to the two balconies.  The back balcony is slightly smaller than the front which has a door leading to the kitchen as well.  This spring/summer we'll buy a table and chairs so we can eat outside on that balcony.  Ok, from entering the apartment, to your right is a small hallway and the master suite.  There is the larger bathroom with a bath tub and Fabri's & my bedroom.  To your left there is the smaller bathroom with a shower and the washing machine/dryer and next to that the guest room/office/reading room/whatever.  This room gets a lot of light as the window faces south and there is a beautiful view of the city of Saluzzo.  

One last thing, don't forget to leave comments!  And sign up to be a follower.  I imagine that mean you'll get emails when there are new posts, but I don't really know, I will have to check Fabri's email after I publish this post.

Wine Time/Things I've Accomplished

I don't know if I want to talk about making wine in the Motta's basement or brag about all of the stuff I've accomplished while here.  Well you all know I'm going to opt for the bragging thing, but let's see if I can do both.

Fabri and I have been living together in Italy for one month now.  (Well one month and a couple days, I'm a little late writing this post).  We are still living in Fabri's parents house which is a bit unfortunate, but our house is coming along and I do still plan on moving in there the first week of November if not on Halloween.  Paint fumes or no.  My next post will be all about the house drama and should even include some photos!

What have I been doing this month besides working on the house?  When I first arrived I had to go and apply for permission to stay.  That actually takes months and I won't get my real permission until February.  I have been using a temporary one in the meantime.  

In the same day I also got an Italian social security number so that I can get a bank account and became a resident of Savigliano.  

With that accomplished Fabri & I focussed on finding a car with an automatic transition.  You saw that in my first post.  I drive it just about every day.  Usually back and forth from the Motta's house to my house to check on the progress and such.  Driving in Italy is not so different from driving in the US and I'm doing well.  But I will never drive in Naples because those people are crazy and drive against traffic and on the trolley tracks and are just insane.  I plan on driving to Florence at the end of December with Laura and Liz.  

While we were car shopping, I also became a joint account holder of Fabri's bank account (woohooo) and got an ATM card and a VISA card.  Now with access to money and increased mobility with the car, I have plans to take many shopping trips!  

Last Tuesday I went to the town hall with Fabri's cousin Gaetano (who works there) and got my Italian Identity Card.  Of course nothing can go easy and I had to go get new pictures taken because the background of my photos was too grey.  That was ok because I looked horrible in those photos, but I didn't have any small bills or euros for the photo machine.  So I ended up stealing 3 euros from Antonio's (Fabri's Dad) coin bank!  I have paid it back, but I felt silly.  So then I went back with much prettier photos and the town hall said they couldn't make change for my 50 to pay for the Identity Card.  What the hell? It was 15.50 euros and I tried to pay with a 50.  They totally could have made change (I saw the change in the drawer), but they were too lazy.  So Gaetano ended up having to pay for my card, but now I have it and have been showing it off!  

On Friday I went with my friend Erika (formerly Fabri's friend Erika) to get my national health card and sign up for Fabri's dad as my doctor so that he can write me prescriptions.  I don't plan on going to Antonio as a doctor as that would be weird, I will just talk to Fabri or Maria Pia and they will tell Antonio to write the prescription.  That's how it works in this family of doctors....  

Anyway, on Friday I went with Erika to get my health card because she speaks English pretty well and I knew I was going to need a translator.  Also she's very sweet and agreed to help immediately.  First we went to the office for the health system in Savigliano.  They said that I either needed to sign up with the unemployment office first or Fabri had to pay a monthly tax for me to get the national health card.  So Erika and I went to the unemployment office (also in Savigliano) and signed up.  It's a little silly though because we told the woman I'm not actually looking for work right now (that's one of my plans for next year) and I'm just signing up to get the health card.  Apparently that's fine with them because she didn't ask me for my skills or even my phone number in case a job comes up.  She gave me a form that says I'm good for one year and then I guess I have to look for a job or just get it renewed.  With that, Erika & I returned to the office for the healthcare system and they printed me up a card.  I was able to get Antonio as a doctor with out a problem with is apparently something of an accomplishment as Gaetano's wife Detta and a family friend, Antonio Pace have been wanting Dr. Motta for months.  The office knew I was his daughter in law so that might have had something to do with it.  Or maybe it's because I'm awesome.  

Well look at that, I wrote so much about what I've accomplished immigration-wise I don't have time to talk about making wine.  Oh well, something else for you to look forward to!

Italian Wedding Reception

On Sunday, September 28, the Motta's hosted a wedding reception open house for Fabri and I at their Bed and Breakfast "La Ruffianella."  Here's a link to their website for those of you who are interested: www.laruffianella.com.

For the party there were 4 large tents set up in the backyard.  It was a beautiful sunny day luckily and it was very pleasant until the sun went down and it got cold.  There was plenty to eat and drink though Fabri and I were too busy greeting our guests to have any of it.  At one point I realized I was really hungry and sat down for a plate of pasta.  We showed Dad's wedding music video on a semi continuous loop and received many, many compliments for that.  

All of Fabri's friends came and after eating we danced and sang.  Fabri was not optimistic about the musician the caterer hired, but he turned out to be really great.  He played tranquil piano music for the aperitivo and then later in the evening he switched to more upbeat and dance music.  There was even a little karaoke where Antonio and Maria Pia sang with some of Maria Pia's colleagues.  Later Fabri's friends Albi & Mia stole the show with a couple of songs.  I wished we could have danced a little more and serenaded a little less, but it was fun.  

After the party I drove Fabri and I home which was exciting because it was in Fabri's car which is a manual.  I only stalled once or twice and I did not stall on a hill where I had to stop, so I consider that a success.  It has yet to be repeated....

Welcome

I guess I should start with a little bit about who I am and what I'm doing here, but I don't expect anyone who doesn't know me to read this, so I'm going to skip that and go straight to writing about what I've been up to.  

Ok, let's get started.  I have been in Italy for 26 days now and have accomplished a lot.  Though the immigration process is not complete, I do have residency in Italy and an Italian SSN.  With these things I have procured a bank account which I share with Fabri and we bought a car with an automatic transmission.  It was very lucky we found the car.  There were basically two automatic vehicles in the whole province and the other one we saw was pretty bad.  Now I'm the proud owner of a 5 door Hyundai Getz (in Italian pronounced "Jets"; a Jets for Jess).  

Fabri and I are still living in his parents' house.  I am counting down the days until we can move into our apartment and I pretty much freak out when there are any set backs.  The kitchen was installed on Friday which was very exciting.  The kitchen is awesome, better than I imagined and I can't wait to get in there and start cooking.  The electrician is almost finished.  The painter starts this week.  The plumber comes back next week to finish things up and the furniture arrives October 30.  I plan to move in on Halloween if not the 30th!!!  

One last exciting thing.  Fabri and I bought tickets for Thanksgiving in Washington.  We got the best deal ever and the tickets are just 300 euros each.  A patient of Fabri's mom gave up a trip which we traded in for a discount of 200 euros and paid just 400 euros for two tickets from Malpensa to Dulles.  We're arriving November 26 and leaving the night of December 7th.  We hope to see everyone and do a lot of shopping in that time.