Never say never...

Yup, I just quoted the Biebs. The kid had a point though.

I would sometimes tell myself that I could never get an Italian driver's license. It seemed almost impossible. The whole thing was just too much. Especially for someone who got their license nearly 15 years ago, having to re-study was a pain in the butt. Doing it in Italian was definitely the icing on the cake. Then you have the crazy drivers here to de-motivate you even more; the old woman who drives in the wrong direction in a round-about (which is ONE way), the idiot exiting the parking lot without even looking left to see that you're like 5 feet away, the D bag who tries to surpass you in the opposite lane realizing there's a speed trap then braking so hard while still in the wrong lane....so many stories, so little blog-space.

I'm now officially one step away from getting my full driver's license. Last month I passed my long-awaited theory exam and now have my own "foglio rosa" (pink paper). This allows me to legally drive in the country when accompanied by another driver in the same car. This deserved a special post since it was one of my original list of goals and I'm feeling pretty effing proud of myself. When even Italian people tell you this exam ain't easy, that says something. I personally think it's because of all the aspects of driving they expect you to know (ie. components of the car, insurance policies, first aid, every kind of sign...and they have a crazy amount of signs, etc, etc...).

I was able to prove to myself that if I put my mind to something, I can really do it. Next step, mandatory 6 hours of driving lessons before my practical exam. I've already done 2 which were quite amusing to the instructors who could obviously see I didn't need them (yes, I already drive stick). Love how this country finds ways to make you spend money for no reason.

xoT

Here comes the...."bride"?

So, I'm not a typical bride. How so? Well, for starters,  I wanted to wear my sister's dress, and my mom was not having that, so she took me out to buy one. When people ask me what my "theme" is, I have a blank look on my face. I guess if I had to pick, it'd be "minimal". The thought of 'bombonieres' make me irritated, remembering all the weddings I've been to where I'm staring at this little piece of junk, wrapped in a bow, on my plate wondering why the anyone in their right mind would waste so much money on this crap. Speeches, dances, floral arrangements....it all gives me a headache!

That's why I'm extremely thankful for Emanuele's friend, who happens to be a wedding planner, who can basically just suggest something and all I have to do is nod. I'm also very thankful for my sister who is the complete opposite and loves all this event planning stuff. She's so detail oriented and on top of her game. So kudos to her for making my Toronto reception happen. Cause if it were up to me, we'd probably be celebrating it at a burger joint.

Don't get me wrong. I'm so excited to marry the best guy I've ever known. I'm excited to start our lives as husband and wife and I really do respect and appreciate the meaning of marriage. I just don't like all the fluffy stuff around weddings. All I care about is celebrating our big day with the people we love. Some of the advantages about doing it here? The food is ridiculously good in Italy, obviously. Also, where we live, people don't do a lot of the unnecessary stuff people do back home (ie. center piece games, speeches, rehearsed dances) which makes me very relieved.....and the best part for me, are the amazing backdrops to choose from. Since we booked our venue, I'll let the visuals speak for themselves.

xoT

13th century church in a small village in the mountains nearby

ex-convent turned into small hotel in the country

\

Deliberately preserved its "Francescano" style

our venue in the fall, naturally picture-perfect

xoT

Driving in Italy

Unfortunately, this is a reoccurring thing here. 

Then you have the a**holes who park so close to your car that you can't get in the driver's side. I've had to climb through the passenger's side numerous times. Or the drivers who never bother to look both ways before racing out of a side street. And one of my favs, the cars who park parallel to parked cards in an actual DRIVING lane to pop into a shop to do their errands.

Sometimes I wonder why I even need to do this dang driving school stuff to get my Italian license. Seems like no one bothers to respect the rules anyway.

xoT

How quickly time flies.

I've been living here in Terni for over a year now and sometimes I can't believe how quickly it's gone by. 2012 has been so challenging, yet rewarding. I've had some of the happiest moments in my life and also some of the most intimidating and stressful. Nonetheless, I really do believe that you can't go on living life without experiencing new things and challenging yourself. Because if you don't, you can't discover all that life has to offer you and that you can offer life!

I'm sorry for the mashed up post, but I've been overwhelmed with things lately. Obviously I haven't had time to update you guys in a very long time, so here's a quick recap of the last few months of 2012:

-After a 5 week trip back home, got right back into working in September
-Had my parents come and visit me in Italy. Travelled around Tuscany and Umbria. FINALLY visited a winery. Something I've always wanted to do and was so happy we could all do it together.
-Been studying for this damn driving exam. When even the Italians tell you it's difficult, you know it's hell studying for this thing.
-Wedding planning. I'm not a typical bride, so this is definitely not fun for me. I'm the laziest bride in the world. No joke. Thank god for my sister who is organizing the Toronto reception.
-Capodanno (NYE) was perfect. A gathering at our friend's taverna, way too much food, lots of games.

Here are some photos from the recap. Until next time!
xoT

San Francesco, Assisi. One of the most beautiful places in Umbria.

The Porziuncola inside
Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi 

Future "in laws"!

Streets of Siena

Pops makin' friends in Siena.

Wine tasting, Castello di Verrazzano 

Breathtaking views

This fountain looked like a mirror, beautiful

Caught red-handed. Tryin' to snatch a sexy  piece of
 prosciutto from the winery.

Serene view from our cute little hotel in Radda in Chianti.

La famiglia!

Double birthday dinner for Elisa and I

Lele & Tree

:)
Lentils are a must for NYE

Tutti a tavola!

Unsuccessful magic trick by Daniele

Spumante!

Buon Anno! Wishing everyone the best 2013, don't let it go to waste!

Down time.

With the holiday season here and all, I FINALLY found some down time to update this thing! It's been a whole 2 months since I've posted anything. Yes, I've been busy, but honestly I haven't really had anything super eventful or interesting to write about lately. The majority of my time has been dedicated to working and studying for my driving theory exam (which I hope to do in February). 

I've been going through some ups and downs. Missing home a lot.  Not only 'cause the holidays are here, but I've just been feeling frustrated. I know it's only natural since this isn't my hometown and I'm still not completely fluent in Italian. But man, I have some really bad days where I'm just cursing about everything here and really want to go home. The only thing that really keeps me strong is my wonderful man and our close-knit group of friends and family.

sharing some fun western Christmas gift games with my Ternano people

Learning Napoletano cards ain't easy!

I love game nights

The amazing cousin Fabio in action for Christmas lunch

Alla prossima!

xoT

This....

.....sucks.

xoT

Pesto time

When I returned to Italy in the middle of September, I was not surprised and not happy to find the hot and humid temperatures. The mosquitoes that were still lingering around until last week were the worst. Actually, wait a minute....I just killed one yesterday. But now, we finally need jackets for the nights because they are quickly getting cool.

The best part about this transitional season is having an abundance of fresh basil growing on my balcony. Instead of letting all those beautiful aromatic leaves die, my mother-in-law-to-be (whom I already call mamma) suggested we make some good ol' pesto.

A few days ago, I was in a lazy mood. So I cooked up some spaghetti, threw a few small spoons of pesto onto it, mixed it up and enjoyed a simple, yet savoury lunch. It feels good not to let good things go to waste. =)

xoT

San Gemini

San Gemini is a charming little town very close to where we live. Every year, there is a medieval festival there for a few weeks where the town is converted and performers are dressed in costume marching around the town. The most popular thing to do is to go eat at a "taverna" where you can enjoy some good old comfort Italian food. The long lineups are not fun, but once you're inside, you can guarantee tons of shouting, singing, laughing and wine.  We had the pleasure of going twice.

San Gemini

Putting them kids to work! 

Why so many jugs???

Top: Polenta and Picchiarelli (homemade pasta with spicy meat sauce)
Bottom: Medieval style bill

blurry blackberry pic =(

xoT

Last few hours in Toronto

It's been a very short 5 week trip home to Toronto. Watching my baby nephew grow has been the best part about being here. It is also the worst part about leaving today.

Emanuele also enjoyed some time with me in my hometown. It was amazing to see him bond with la mia famiglia and all my friends! We also went from being Godparents to my nephew to being fiancees in just 2 short weeks. What a trip....

While it's very hard to leave my family and friends, I am excited to get back to my normal "Italian" life with my new hubby to be!

xoT

bride & baby "express shopping" for a dress

soon to be zio (uncle) reading to my little chubster

xoT

Italian dimsum?

Yeah right, I wish. But it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the menu, checklist styles and all.


Last weekend we drove to Strettura to check out the sagra of "bruschetta al tartufo". Living here makes it really difficult to have any kind of "portion control", I'm beginning to feel concerned about my eating habits. 

So anyways, I kind of got a little too excited and ate my bruschetta covered in tartufo before I realized I could take a picture of the plate to show you guys. Sorry about that. Here's what I managed to snap:

fagioli and frittata both cooked with tartufo

Counting down to my visit home. 2 more weeks....can't wait.
xoT

The happiest day of my Italian life.

I think the picture explains it all.

Okay, I guess receiving a fedina for my birthday is really the happiest moment I've had here so far, but having this bad boy installed comes pretty damn close. Being able to sit on the couch without having my legs stick together or feeling sweat dripping down my neck is truly bliss. This air definitely feels luxurious, especially when it's nearly 40 degrees outside. Ahhhhh....

xoT

Seasonal Adjustments

This is my first official summer living here in Italy. As you know, I live in Terni, but what you possibly don't know is that it's located in a valley between mountains. This makes the city feel like a huge oven during the summer. Coming from Toronto, I'm completely used to hot, sticky, hazy and humid summers. But what I'm not used to is the absence of air conditioning. Called me a "spoiled city girl princess" if you want, but not having the luxurious crispy cool air at home can turn me into one nasty human being. The worst part is trying to cook a hot meal, literally sweatin' over the stove. Mamma mia,  I can't take it anymore!

So last week, we finally decided to splurge and install an air conditioner. While Emanuele's Mediterranean blood is used to this dreadful heat, my cold-ass Canadian blood isn't. Relationships are all about compromise, right? Obviously, living here, nothing is instant so we have to wait another week before we can have the beloved installed....so in the meantime, I'm making some summer adjustments.

my manual air conditioning

I have quickly learned that the people that live here "just deal" with this heat by making minor adjustments in their lives; Doing their errands in the early morning until about noon. Staying home during the hottest hours in the afternoon with the windows open and shutters closed (in hopes that a slight breeze will enter while the sun doesn't). Heading to the pool, the mountains or the sea on the weekend to cool off. One adjustment that I've quickly adapted is: just not using the dang oven or stove! It may seem obvious to many of you, but to me it was breaking news. 

Dinners are actually quite more enjoyable without the unbearable heat from the oven and the bitchy cook (right, that would be me). Fresh mozzarella, bruschette topped with fresh tomatoes and basil, salads and assortments of affettato (that's 'coldcuts' to us north americans) --especially the good ol' faithful sliced melon topped with prosciutto, can't go wrong. Oh and tons and tons of gelato! And if all else fails, just pick up a freshly made margherita pizza for 3 euros down the street.

Yes, the summer here is annoyingly hot, but the evenings can be quite nice. Especially with a glass full of homemade Sicilian wine (given to me by one of my students who brought it back from his trip home to Sicily and was generous enough to share the goodness with me), relaxing on my balcony.

Last night, I also had the pleasure of heading up to Prati again to our friend's summer home to enjoy some cold air and Italy beat England in the quarter-finals.

But, don't get me wrong. I'm still excitingly waiting for my new a/c and will probably shed a tear when I press that "on" button. 

xoT

ps. Please blame the poor quality pics on my blackberry and my laziness. 

My first ramble.

I'm finally ready to write about my recent negative experience here. I haven't really written about these types of things so far because well, mostly I'm too lazy and honestly, it requires quite a bit of energy to complain about stuff. But now, I'm finally compelled to share the shi*tty feelings I've been having because....it's honest.

Overall, I'm happy to be here. Most of the time, I feel extremely lucky to have had things fall into place so easily...so far. Then there are times where I'm completely frustrated. Not only do I live in a foreign country, but I went from living in a cosmopolitain city of about 2.5 million to a small industrial town made up of 150,000 people. Obviously there's some adjusting to do. As many other expats have expressed their  frustrations with Italian bureaucracy, crazy Italian drivers or rude customer service, strangely my frustrations aren't coming from the same place. I'm more fed up with the fact that I can't seem to express myself the way I normally would in English. I can't have a meeting with my accountant or visit the doctor on my own (yet). I feel totally incompetent and dependent during these times which makes me so upset.

So yesterday, when I had two young women ring my doorbell, instead of ignoring it like I usually do (in fear of not understanding), I decided to answer the door. I wanted to take charge of my life and take one small step towards becoming more independent. Little did I know that this would totally blow up in my face. These two women were from a gas and electricity company. Not having set up my own utilities at home, I was worried when they showed up with their badges and binders full of forms. I immediately thought it was my current gas and electricity company coming to check on our meter. After seeing their logo, I asked if this was a different company, and instead of a straight up "yes", I got some kind of run-around response leading me to assume they were a "subdivision" of my current company.

I said several times that my Italian is not that great and that they can return later when my boyfriend came home or feel free to leave me something in writing to show him. I even went as far as saying, "I'm not sure because utilities are so different where I come from". But for some reason, which I came to realize later, they wouldn't leave. Then my next thought was, "okay, this must be some kind of mandatory visit". I heard words like "request a discount, green energy, savings, completely free, show us your bills to determine if you're entitled", and somehow my mind told me that this was a friendly visit from this "subdivision" who wanted to check my bill to determine whether I qualified for some kind of green energy discount price or not. How did I put that together? My broken Italian and stupid sense of pride told me so.

After 15 minutes of them analyzing my bills, drawing up numbers and figures of discounts on a piece of paper, I ended up signing what I didn't realize was a contract. (insert reader's gasp). This is very hard for me to admit since I am always cautious and would never normally sign anything I wasn't sure of, even back in Toronto. In fact, I'm okay with blurting out the "I'm not interested, please go away" line. But during my recent state of mind (let's call it "blurry-slash-stupid"), I thought signing this piece of paper was a great way to prove to myself and to my partner that I am slowly becoming independent enough to do stuff like this. I will admit, this was mostly my own fault for signing something that I was not sure about. Obviously, under no circumstances should anyone sign anything that they aren't fully comprehending. Stupid me.

Incase you are wondering, I actually asked in Italian, "Is this a contract?" after which one woman replied, "No, it's simply a free request to see if you qualify for savings". And in my opinion, I strongly believe that these women didn't leave because as soon as my door opened, they saw my face, heard my broken Italian and decided to take advantage of the fact that they could scam me into signing what was actually a contract to covert over to their gas company (which is a completely separate entity). This contract was a request to be approved, so that once approved, we would be locked into a "discount" price for two years (which I'm still not even sure is a true discount).

While I do believe those women should have left the minute I told them I don't understand very well, I am mostly upset at myself for letting my emotions overpower my common sense. What I learned from this experience is 1) don't open the door if I'm not expecting anyone 2) if I do ever decide to open the door, don't sign anything 3) be more patient with myself and less patient with door-to-door salespeople. Oh and, thank God for laws that allow us to withdraw from this agreement within 10 days.

xoT

Homesick

I've gone from counting down the days to moving here to counting down the days until I can finally visit "home" (which is still Toronto for me). I've been feeling homesick lately. These are the two main reasons why:

       

3 more months. Sto aspettando....
xoT

Warm fuzzies.

Earlier this week, I received my first "care package". It's always nice to know that no matter where I am, I have my amazing Toronto girls who love me. It's funny how simple things like peanut butter, ketchup chips, Korean cup noodles, floss picks and gossip mags can put a great big smile on my face.

Nutella took a backseat for breakfast that  morning to a warm cup of asian noodles at 9:30....mmmmm. Don't judge, you would have done the same. =P

xoT