Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

Wow, 2010 came and went so fast. For bel fidanzato and I it was a year of change. We began the year on holiday in Australia, anxious and curious about how the year would pan out. At the end of 2009 we had decided to turn our lives around. As hard as it was, we decided to say goodbye to our jet setting life of living in different, fantastic locations, moving around every season. We decided to "settle down," to relocate to Calabria, to bel fidanzato's home of Malito. We decided to plan our wedding, and try to have a bel bambino.

At the start of 2010 we said we would give our life in Calabria one year. We were realistic, we knew that trying to form a life here would be a slow journey, but we had time - and often it seemed luck on our side so thought we'd give it a go.

2010 didn't start slow for me. As luck would have it, I got a job interview the day after I returned to Italy, and a day after that I started working. A month of so later, I had my first experience in working in an Italian public middle school, and in the summer I had the opportunity to teach English in Scotland. A few months into the new year. we decided to try to have a baby, and that didn't prove to be difficult either! Soon after bel fidanzato found a job and we decided to spend most of our savings on buying a car and putting a new roof onto our future country home. Our wedding venue soon after was booked and wedding preparations were underway. Soon, most of my time started to be taken up with blood tests, hospital visits and the like. We managed to fit in small holidays to see friends in Sorrento and Taormina, to visit my aunt in Paris and go out and about in Calabria. I learnt how to knit, make recycled paper, and other crafty bits and bobs. My Italian didn't really get any better, but it didn't get any worse either. Our beautiful apartment started to fill with change tables, a cot and baby decorations.

And so without realising it, 2010 ended in a subdued manner, with me being 36 weeks pregnant and too tired to stay awake much past midnight. (Not only was it new years, but our 4 year anniversary.) We counted down a little out of whack, since the live coverage on RAI had the seconds counting down from 10 on the television which didn't correspond with the presenters count down (hey that's Italy!) we said farewell to 2010, to our baby-free life, wondering how the next year would be.

So, now we say hello to 2011. Soon - in a matter of weeks our bel bambino will be here, my parents too who are flying over to meet him. This year we will be married and my whole family will be flying over from Australia....so much going on, I can't wait!