My living/work situation

Living situation: So, let me explain what's going on with my living situation. I live in the wealthiest part of town, a couple of blocks from the ocean. My apartment is on the top floor and I can see the ocean from my balconies (yes, there are more than one)! The family I'm working for have an apartment across the hall from mine. Their apartment is immaculate. There are the tapestries, large vases, paintings, piano, etc. It's gorgeous. I'm afraid I'll break something. My apartment is beautiful as well. There are three rooms: one is an office, one is my bedroom, and one is a living room. There is also a kitchen and a large bathroom. Btw, the bathrooms here have bidets but I haven't gone there yet. It's kinda weird and I don't know if I can do it. The ceilings are very, very high and there are cute chandeliers in every room. I'm definitely living in luxury. Unfortunately, I still don't have an internet connection. I didn't realize how addicted I was to the internet and my cell phone until I have been without it for a few weeks. I feel cutoff from the world. Hopefully, my internet problem will be fixed tomorrow.

Work situation: I'm finding my work situation a bit odd so far and I'm hoping to get more comfortable with it. I'm working for a family of four. The parents and their two children, who are 4 and 1. To take care of these four people, there are two full time employees. They cook, clean, and watch the children. The parents don't lift a finger. It's not even like the parents are gone to work all day either. Most days they're there at least half the day. Still, someone is there with them from 8 in the morning until 8 at night. So, I joined the crew last week. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what my role is. From what I understand, it is to speak English. I thought I was supposed to be teaching the children English but so far I've been helping the mother more than anyone. What I find to be most odd is our dinner situation. One of the "servants" cooks dinner, sets the table, and leaves. The children are fed before dinner (that way she doesn't have to feed them) and so it is me and the couple for dinner. Talk about weird. I'm like, don't you wanna spend some time alone? Apparently they don't. I feel like the third wheel. I'm being paid to be their friend. The food is good though and free. I feel a little awkward around the two girls who work for them. I'm sure they're wondering what I'm doing there too. I'm just someone else to cook for and clean up after. I try to help them as much as I can. I never would've thought that it would bother me so much to have hired help. I think what bothers me most though is the fact that these kids are being raised by someone other than their mother. She will sit in the other room while someone plays with her kids. I feel like they're aching for attention. I had only been there for two afternoons and was holding the youngest kid. I put her down and she starts crying and reaching for me. Likewise, the oldest said "don't go" when I was leaving the room. It's sad. I don't like it. There seems to be a lot of turnover in the house so I feel like these kids have people coming in out of their lives constantly. I don't know how long I'll be able to stay in this setting. Hopefully I can keep my big mouth shut too ;)

I'm at Annie's place right now, which is very cozy. She lives with three other people who are about our age. She lives in the "real Italy" as I call it. I much prefer it. There are no housekeepers or cooks. Everyone in the neigborhood seems friendly and we've already made friends with the waiter across the street, Luca (as mentioned in the previous blog). For lunch today, we are checking out her neighborhood pizzeria. We'll see if pizza in Genova can compare to the pizza in Napoli. Every city in Italy claims to have the best food in Italy. It's pretty funny. Tomorrow, we're going to meet with Frances who is the manager at the school where we'll be teaching English classes. My Italian classes start next week. I took a placement test and yeah, I'll be starting in the beginner class. K, time for pizza.

We didn't order any wine!

I came to check out Annie’s place today and to use her internet (I don’t have a connection yet which is beyond frustrating). Anyway, we decided to eat lunch at a ristorante directly across the street from her house. Oh my God is all I can say. This may be the best meal we’ve had yet. We sit down and our waiter rambles off today’s menu options. We politely sit there and pretend to understand everything. We then ask for gnocchi pesto. Absolutely the best gnocchi I’ve ever had in my life. As we’re waiting for our meals, our waiter brings over a small pitcher of red wine…..which we did not order. The wine is wonderful though, and I don’t usually like red wine. We talk to the waiter some and Annie tells him that she’s living across the street with a girl named Francesca. Two minutes later, there is another small pitcher of red wine coming our way and he says “for friends of Francesca.” The next thing we know, there is dessert on our table and of course, it’s yummy too. About 30 minutes later, the wine and dessert are mostly gone and we are about to ask for the check. Instead bringing us the check though, our waiter puts down two double shots of jagermeister. Annie is quick to say, “It’s not even 2!” Geez! I have to go to work in a couple of hours! Yet, we drink anyway. I mean, we can’t be rude. To sum it all up, we ordered pasta and water and now we’re stuffed and quite tipsy. Our entire bill came to 15 Euro, or $20.11. Time for a siesta. Viva Italia!

For your first night in Genova....

Smiling here.  Kim and I had our first full day in Genova today.  She got to know her au pair family and see the school where we'll work.  I got to sleep in, lounge, catch up on email, and get some groceries.  We hadn't seen each other all day, so we decided to meet in the middle and grab a drink.

Ok, we go into this bar which barely looks open.  The bartender says they're open for as long as we want, so we sit down for a glass of wine.  It's 3 euro a glass.  I put down a fiver for mine.  He takes it and says that'll cover our first round, since it's our first night here.

Kim asks for another glass, I say Basta (that's enough).  He gives me a little more, and her a full glass.  A little while later, both of our glasses are filled again, and we've become friends with everyone in the (mostly empty) bar.  So now our new bartender friend Nani (short for Fernando) is trying to make us shots, while Monica offers us cigarettes and Georgio saunters behind the bar as if he works there.  It was like Cheers!  We met around 9, and before we know it, it's midnight!  Since it's basically halfway between our two places, I'm guessing we might become regulars, even if just for coffee or snacks.  Heck, we already get free drinks there!  

We didn't drink much - Kim explained to them that she's the devil and I'm the angel of our duo (hah!), so we're both sober on our respective ways home.  And though we enjoyed Napoli, Genova feels much safer to me.

As I walked back to my new apartment, there were very few people on the street.  Apparently they party on Wednesdays and weekends, like college back home.  Every so often on the quiet walk home tonight, I crossed paths with someone.  At first I'd tense up, preparing for any situation, but each time it was a group of jocks, or some nice person walking their dog.  I rounded the corner on Via Sturla near a gas station, and it was eerily quiet.  Suddenly I heard dragging.  An old man was putting plastic chairs away from the outside section of his restaurant.  He was singing loudly, a comforting, romantic-sounding tune.  He was short, stocky, and bald with white hair on the sides and a round figure.  When I was directly across the street from him, I turned, smiled, and said, "Buona sera!"  He gave me a big smile back with, "Ciao!"  

I like it here.

Picture Time!

Ciao, friends!  I've finally uploaded pictures from our first week here!  These are from a farewell Happy Hour from AACN ladies and then our first week in Napoli.  You can view the picturese HERE.  Enjoy!

Teamwork

Annie and I have started sharing the job of speaking Italian. Together, we do quite well. For example, we were having trouble remembering directions, a very important thing since we're on our own and ask for directions quite frequently. To correct the situation, we decided that Annie would remember the word for left and I would remember the word for right. When it gets to the point that Annie needs to say right, she looks at me and I fill in the word. It's working quite well. Problem is, we won't be living together after tomorrow. Looks like I'll be going right a lot!

Just to make you jealous...

Today's menu:

Breakfast-coffee, yogurt, banana

Lunch-an entire margherita pizza and a glass of wine

Snack-the best freakin gelato ever

Dinner-course number 1 - pasta pomodoro and pasta pesto
course number 2- fresh mozarella, salami, bread
dessert-grapes

My Luggage Arrived!

Thank you to everyone for your concern for my luggage. We picked it up the evening after we arrived in Napoli. My things made it, but my bag did not. It was completely ripped to shreds. I guess that teaches me to not buy cheap things in Chinatown. I think I paid $50 for it. Well, I had to buy a suitcase to get my things to Genova. Of course my cousin, Nico, kept saying "no worries, no stress." With his attitude, I would have never gotten a new suitcase. I had to give in and buy an expensive (and pink) one while Annie and I were shopping on via roma. I definitely brought way too much with me.

Can't Sleep

Less than 2 hours ago I couldn’t keep my eyes open in the car on the way home from dinner.  Kim woke me up because I kept tipping over onto her, but I couldn’t help it.  Ex. Haus.  Ted.  So now it’s almost 1am here in Napoli, and I’m wide awake.  Let’s talk.

I’m going with the flow, ok?  Kim’s bags didn’t make the flight to Roma from Amsterdam, so we only had my bags and our carry-ons for the first 2 days here (if you count the day we arrived).  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we were barely able to get my bags on the train.  Wow.  Dad was right, this is too much stuff for me to carry.  Because I worry about getting it all to Genova on my own, Teresa kindly shipped a box of some of my heavy things to my new roommate Francesca at my new address.  Hopefully that will help my continued journey.  It’s still the same number of bags, though…..

 

I’ll back up.  Kim and I are in Napoli, staying at the apartment of her cousin Nico, short for Dominico.  (Holla, Dom!)  He lives just below his parents, Teresa and Dino.  Swell people, all around.  They are so much fun to talk to, and are really taking great care of us.  Nico basically handed over his apartment to us and is staying up at his folks’ while we’re here.  Va bene.  Unfortunately, they ran out of water the day we arrived.  In our travels around Napoli so far, we’ve seen the water men working on the problem, but they haven’t fixed our place up just yet.  So yes.  We smell.  Haven’t showered since Ohio!

 

So far we’re not freaking out.  We have Tons to learn and will be quite dependent on the English-speaking for a while, but we’re getting by with those who speak only Italian.  Kindness, patience, dictionaries, and hand gestures all contribute to our continued success.  Living out of a suitcase with family to take care of us, it feels like vacation right now instead of a move.  And I guess it is.  Things will be different next week when we move into our real places.  That’s when it’ll get weird.

 

There’s more to report from our first full day in Italia, Friday, October 10, 2008.  But that will have to wait for another post.  I can’t hog it all myself!  And tomorrow, Capri.  Buona notte.

Ciao Y'all!

I've repacked three times and my stuff just won't fit! Seriously, how do you pack for an indefinite amount of time? I'm down to nine pairs of shoes and three purses...and that's a lot of sacrificing for me! I've also put back most of my summer stuff and am planning on picking it up when I'm home for Christmas. Ohhhhh....did I mention we leave TOMORROW?!?!?! There's no way I'll sleep tonight. Eeekkkkk!!!

Arkansas has been great and I'm very glad that I came here for three weeks. I was hesitant at first, but it has been very relaxing. My accent took about two days to come back and man is it strong. I'm turning one syllable words into two like crazy! It was nice not being rushed like I usually am during the holidays. I realized that there are several things I miss about the south (besides friends and family). 1) The weather is awesome. It is still pretty warm here. My first few weeks the temp was still in the mid-80s, which was perfect for our camping trip. I'm really tired of winters. 2) People are so freakin' friendly here. I never thought people in DC were rude by any means but southerners really go out of their way for you. 3) The food. Man, my mom and sister can cook. Who knows how much weight I've gained while I was here. 4) There's lots of green stuff down here. I didn't realize how few trees and grass there are in DC. I mean, I love Dupont Circle, but that's about the extent of the greenery I'm used to. There are grass and trees everywhere here. I never realized it before...who knew? 5) Sonic...Oh, how I have missed Sonic! Vanilla Rootbeer! Yes, I realize that two out of the five things have to do with food ;)

Oh, did I mention we leave tomorrow?!?!?! I'm obviously very excited. I can't wait to see my family again (it's been 10 years). I can't wait to hear the beautiful language. I can't wait to see the Mediterranean. I can't wait to eat some pasta!

I leave tomorrow evening at 7pm from Memphis. If all things go well, and they will, Annie and I will meet up in Amsterdam 8 hours and 45 minutes later. From there we're on the same two hour flight to Roma! Holla! Now, from here forward it will be a bit tricky. You see, I have 115 pounds of luggage, plus my purse and laptop, which is at least another 15 pounds. Annie will have two bags (although not as large as mine), a guitar, laptop, and a purse. How in the world the two of us are going to manage all of these things should be quite entertaining...well, for you anyway. For us, it's going to be a back-breaking circus. Hopefully, there will be some sort of cart action allowed between the airport and the train station. We'll let you know what happens. Then we have to get all of this stuff up onto the train. Another tricky situation. Worst of all, we're going to have to fit all of this into a European car. I imagine the whole clown car scenario (but with luggage) and Annie and I pushing the car.

Despite my extreme excitement, I must admit I'm a little sad. I'm missing my DC friends like crazy and one person in particular. He would kill me if I said much more than that, so I won't.

Well, the next time you hear from me, it will be from across the pond! Ciao y'all!

P.S. I'm noticing a pattern here. It looks like I'll be your long-winded blogger. I can't help it. As my dad said I started talking the day after I was born and haven't stopped since!

Wine for breakfast?

Maybe not. I got to Ohio on Sunday afternoon, settled in with the family for dinner and red wine. Joyce proceeded to pour the rest of the not-so-empty bottle in my glass, so it was nice and full. Monday morning I woke up with the last finger of wine still in my glass, next to my bed. Hah. I sauntered out of my (read: Emily's) room while all of those regular suckers headed off to work and school. And as I sat, leisurely, contemplating what to fix myself for breakfast, there was a moment when that glass of wine seemed like an apt start to the next leg of my life.

But wait. Starting my day with alcohol? Inappropriate? Or is it the most appropriate thing ever?