Horrid hospitals

I had just written a long post about my horrific hospital stay but writing and thinking about the hospital made me angry so I cancelled it. Angry because I don't want to remember or think about the incompetent doctors and nurses. Let's just say that after 17 days in hospital I saw my new born daughter a total of 4 times. In order to see her I had to cry, yell and demand that someone call the maternal nurses and request they bring her down. Their excuse was always the same, they were too busy to bring her down. Too busy to let a person who almost died in a near fatal accident see her own flesh and blood. And they weren't busy since friends and family who were able to view bella bambina through the window reported that countless times they saw nurses sitting down watching tv. When they did bring her down the longest visit was 10 minutes the other visits a whole 2 minutes. I asked if I could feed her, no. I asked if she could stay longer, no. I asked basic information about her such as how much she weighed and they didn't know and never bothered to find out this information for me.

I am not saying that the entire public hospital in Cosenza is bad. I had already spent 10 days here when bel bambino was born. It wasn't the best start after they put my on a make shift bed in the gynaecology ward in a room with a pregnant girl who smoked copiously in the bathroom...but after 1 day I was transferred onto the maternity ward which was painted in eye pleasing pastel shades. I was not in the maternity ward this time, I was on the orthopaedic ward which is renowned as the worse ward in the hospital. Sponge baths for bed ridden patients don't exist. If you can't sit up to eat or drink then no one will help cut your food of pass you something. In this hospital (I cannot talk about other Italian hospitals) each patient is meant to have a relative who stays with them 24-7. The relative is meant to clean your body if you have the urge to be clean, the relative has to help you eat, open and close the windows for you, turn on or off your fan (since my room had no air conditioning and bel marito had to bring me a fan from home.) I learnt how to close my drip since no one comes and checks if your drip has finished, no one answers the bell when you call them numerous times. None of the nurses have the ability to clean you properly, none of the doctors answer your questions or can tell you when you are going home. Opps..I'm getting angry again so let's get back to bel bambino.

He was in the intensive care ward until Monday morning, a week after the accident. I had seen him 3 times in 4 days as the nurses there were more understanding and knew that I had to see him as much as he had to see me. He was out of danger and on Monday I said good bye to my 2 men. Bel bambino was being transferred to a hospital in Catanzaro. They were said to have excellent doctors who could asses his double fractured jaw. Bel marito told me that the public hospital was like a hotel. Bel marito had a bathroom in their room (my room had no bathroom) he had air conditioning (I had none) he was given a bed to sleep on and I think he was even fed! Bel bambino was constantly being checked, the nurses and doctors all bought him toys and clothes, even packets of nappies. It was very hard for me to be away from bel marito, bel bambino and bella bambina though. I spent the nights alone much to the anger of the nurses. If bel marito could not be with me then I didn't want his mother or someone else to stay. I wanted to be alone even if that annoyed the nurses since I had to call them to assist me.

The week passed slowly and on Friday bel marito and bel bambino came back to my hospital to have his leg checked out before going home. By now we had been in hospital for 12 days. The doctor checked his leg and then told us that bel bambino couldn't go home and was to be readmitted into hospital! The same doctor who had told us that after the Catanzaro hospital he could go home...The doctor who changes his mind every day. Thankfully, much to the distress of the nasty nurses on the orthopaedic ward, bel bambino was transferred into my room rather then taken to the paediatric ward. The nurses expressed their anger by offering us no assistance what so ever. Bel bambino was picking at  his scabs so I asked the nurses for a bandage or something to cover his thigh and they told us it was our responsibility as his parents to make him not pick his leg. Each time the nurses came in to give me an injection of a new drip he would cry. Naturally he was scared of strange people doing things to his mummy. When time came to change me they made bel marito leave the room. I asked them if bel marito could stay since bel bambino had become attached to his dad and cried when he was out of his sight but they forced him out of the room. Bel bambino was left crying and screaming on his bed all alone since my husband couldn't see me part naked according to them... (After this episode we argued and got him to stay in the room from then on.) Bel bambino never had his wounds treated, was rarely checked by the doctor, was never given attention or consideration. Nothing.

The anger is coming back so let me stop now, I won't pain you with the intimate details of my experience. At least now I am home, bed ridden with nuts and bolts everywhere...oh but that is just going to move me onto the next chapter! Public home help. Stay tuned.

The accident

My memories from the accident are scattered. I remember strange things that maybe didn't happen. I can't remember who went to hospital first but I know what happened after being told. Bel marito, upon seeing our son still and motionless called out to a friend and the tractor driver to rush him to the nearest hospital. There was no time to wait. He wasn't breathing.

These two men are our heroes. They literally saved bel bambino's life. While driving to the hospital which was about 15 minutes away blood started to form in bel bambino's little mouth. The tractor driver who normally faints at the sight of blood pulled out a hanky from his pocket and with care pulled globs of blood from his mouth, allowing him to breathe again.

They arrived at the hospital and jumped out of the car to be told that the emergency department was no longer operating and that they could do nothing to help the bel bambino. The tractor driver started yelling, telling them that he was going to die and they had to do something. They wouldn't. He called the emergency services who told him that they had sent a helicopter to Malito which had just landed and they would send it immediately to the hospital to collect bel bambino.

While this was happening I was lying on the road waiting for the ambulance to come. I didn't know bel bambino had been taken away. I remember, above all, the pain from my ribs. I was crying or screaming  and recall a man with glasses standing by me telling people not to touch me. This may be all in my imagination as I am sure this man was a doctor...but he wasn't from the village so perhaps he was just a passing driver trying to help or maybe he was never there and I imagined this doctor standing by me. I don't remember where bel marito was either although he was close by. The ambulance came and I went to the hospital all alone since here bel marito was not allowed into the ambulance. I learnt many days later that bel bambino had gone in the helicopter alone too since again no one is allowed to accompany the patient.

The ambulance was a rather quick, bumpy and painful journey. I remember they were trying to cut my bra and I got angry telling them just to take it off without cutting it which they easily did. The cut my dress but I didn't care. Bel marito was behind the ambulance with a friend and upon arriving learnt that the helicopter hadn't yet landed. Thankfully a good friend of mine had already made it to the hospital and she held my hand and came with me as I was raced up to the maternity emergency room. She knew the gynaecologist on duty so was granted permission to enter into the room with me. Thank god! The gynaecologist even spoke English and was asking me all sorts of questions but I couldn't answer. All I kept saying was that I felt an incredible pain in my ribs and side and all I wanted to do was sleep. Thankfully my friend knew everything about my current and previous pregnancy so she was able to promptly answer all the questions, while holding my hand and telling me not to fall asleep.

I was terribly confused when the doctor asked me to sign the paper work for an immediate C-section. I don't want to give birth now, I told him. I have a C-section booked for the 14th of September, I said. It had never occurred to me that I would give birth at that moment. I want to wait for the baby, I said. I want my husband, I cried. Bel marito shortly arrived since by this stage bel bambino had arrived and had been rushed into the intensive care unit. He kissed me, reassured me and told me that I had to have the C-section, that it would be ok. I signed the paperwork and the last memory I have is being alone with the doctors and nursing staff in the operating theatre and me asking for the doctor to please check my ribs and side which were painful. He was smiling kindly at me saying just to breathe and that soon I would be asleep.

Almost gone

It was a very hot Monday afternoon on the 20th of August. Bel marito, bel bambino and I were going for a stroll in Malito. I was 35 weeks pregnant with the bella bambina and we decided rather then taking the route home we would continue the walk a little longer. In Malito there is a section of the road which has road works. They have been there for years and the once two way road becomes one way for a little tiny fraction. It is common sense to be one way as you can see there is no way for two cars.

We were walking and when we reached the road works we stopped to wave to the passing tractor. Bel bambino loves tractors and we were happily waving away. From the other direction I saw the Range Rover. We knew the driver. He was old and should't have been driving. He could hardly walk let alone drive. I think I called out to bel marito...I woke up screaming on the floor with a motionless bel bambino beside me. We had been hit, not sure how high or far we flew but not only were we hit by a SUV, we were thrown back onto thick iron fencing and gravel.

Thankfully I don't remember much else. This is a long story which I will tell you a little each day. It is hard to write, not emotionally but physically. If you read Italian here is one of many newspaper articles which is not quite accurate but much more accurate then a lot I have read.

The road to good-bye.

I moved to Italy in April 2006. It had been my dream, my obsession to live here. I had been living in London for 2 years, went back to Australia to give it a go and lasted 8 months. I went back to London and then finally my dream turned into reality as I made the move to Rome.

Why was I obsessed with Italy? I can't explain why I had to live in this country, I had this internal tug pulling me to the place. Many readers and fellow bloggers I think will understand. Maybe my subconscious knew that bel marito was waiting. I met him 6 months after moving here and we have been together ever since, now married with a beautiful bel bambino.

I experienced the best of Italy. I have travelled the country far and wide, big cities, small hidden villages, through the mountains and the sea and back. I have lived in Rome, wow, Rome the eternal city, to think that I lived there and properly lived there for a long time.

But that's just the problem. When you live in a place, and I mean really live in a place you see and experience it in a different way. Working for the British travel company I was ignorant. We got paid in sterling into my British bank account, our apartments in the centre of these cities, these towns were paid for. At the beginning I was never in need of a doctor or a hospital, I had never set foot into a public school, never worked with an Italian company, never knew that corruption, scandal and out right lies was the way of the Italian world.

Bel marito opened my eyes to a lot of things and when we met he was all in favour of moving to Australia. It was I who had the dream of Italy, I who wanted to live the Italian life, I who wanted to stay. So we stayed, we worked, we travelled, we got married, we had a baby and now I think of what he wanted all those years ago.

Ever since bel bambino came into my life it is hard to be positive here in Italy. I am happy, I really enjoy my new job but that's not enough. Bel marito has been out of work for sometime. His company had not paid him for months and months (which is not uncommon here) and when they finally, slowly started to pay, they closed down. They tried to move him to a different area with pay so poor and a job he hated that we both agreed he shouldn't go. Italians live a fearful life. Many here in the south have poorly paid jobs that they hate, but they are too scared to leave. They know that there is next to no work out there. Employers play on this fear and give low wages, make you work cash in hand, or give you pointless contracts. I don't like this at all. I come from a country where if you want to work you can work, where getting paid on time is not a bonus but the norm. At job interviews here they say 'and we pay on time too.' This should not be a selling point it should be the way!

Here in the south (I don't know about the north as I have only ever lived in the south) finding work depends on who you know. If you don't know anyone important or influential then your chances of finding a good job are scarce. Bel marito knows people but he doesn't want to rely on them to find him a job. What happens if they find him a job he hates? He will be obliged to stay there won't he? Rather he stays at home and looks after the bel bambino. He is the best husband and the best father in the world.

We can't go on like this. Alone, without a bel bambino if you're not sick and have an ok job then life can be great. It was for us before. But with a baby, with the need to go to the doctor and the hospital often,with a view towards the future....well....

When bel marito and I talked about our future we could never envision it. We started renovating the country house but our future plans were grey. You know when you can see your future clearly planned out, or at least what you think your future will be? Maybe you think 1, 2, 10 years ahead and imagine where you will be. We tried doing that, but over and over again bel marito used to say he could not see which way our future would go. We were trying to live the Italian life but the vision just wasn't clear.

After reading this and my last posts I think you know that our vision has cleared, it is no longer grey but a bright white of possibility. Yes, in answer to your questions we are hopefully going to go. Back to Australia. A country which can give bel bambino endless possibilities. And us too.

It is going to be a long and hard road to get there. We need to apply for a partner visa for bel marito to migrate. We need proof of our relationship, finances, life together and a lot of proof which I hope after digging around we have. We haven't applied yet as the application is big, we are still in the hunting and gathering stage. But at least the vision finally is clear.

I thought I would be sad at the prospect of leaving my beloved Italy but I'm not. I want to leave this country with beautiful memories and I fear that if I stay too much longer my memories will not be so sweet.

Back to work

Having a baby certainly keeps you busy, but having a baby and working keeps you extra busy. I'm just starting to realise this. When bel bambino was three weeks old, I decided to print off a few CVs and drive around Cosenza to leave them at some schools. I only ended up leaving my CV with two schools and I wasn't actually expecting or planning to start work, let alone a new job so soon but when it comes to me finding work in an area where the unemployment rate is ridiculously high, I seem to have luck always on my side.

The day after leaving my CV I got a call from one of the biggest private schools in Cosenza, and when bel bambino was 5 weeks old I started working again. It is very hard to leave him, especially since he is so small, he is now still only 10 weeks old, but having a family, having a little person dependent on you means that one has to make sacrifices, and it is a big sacrifice for me to go to work, leaving him to be looked after by different people, but in a place where work is hard to come by I would have been a fool to say no.

Bel fidanzato is a big help. I always knew he was special, but I am now just beginning to realise that he is quite a rarity in these parts. When I tell people that he changes nappies, when he's not working and I am he looks after the baby, he gets up in the nights for his share of the feeds, he cooks and cleans and does his share, ok well a little more then his share of everything. When I tell people this they always say, 'ah, well he's a foreigner it's normal,' when I tell them that no, he is actually Italian they get the shock of their lives!

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!

Fro big city to small town

There are many reasons why I like living in Italy and in particular why I like living in a small village of 800 or so people. People thought we were mad when we announced that we wanted to relocate to Malito, which is a small village in the mountains about a 20 minute drive from the main city of Cosenza (Calabria.) Before that we had spent most of our time together as a couple living in Rome, some of that time together living in Sorrento and time apart living other parts of Italy (and the world.) People thought bel fidanzato had corrupted me, bribed me or kidnapped me, forcing me to come here. They were shocked when we told them it was actually the other way around - I was the one who first raised the idea of moving to Malito.

We knew we wanted to start trying for a family. We knew that Rome was a beautiful city to visit - but in our opinion not the most beautiful city to live. No, let me rephrase - Rome is a fantastic place to live if you are without responsibilities (like wanting to have a baby) if you have family already living there, and if you have a lot of money. You need good money to live in Rome, two people have to work and have a pretty good wage just to be able to pay the rent. Most people live in apartments and that was not something I wanted. Call me spoilt, but I was raised in a house, with a backyard and this was what I wanted my future child to have. I could not bare the thought of trying to have a baby, all alone, in Rome whilst living in a tiny apartment in the middle of no where. I couldn't stand the idea of having to leave the baby with an unknown baby sitter if I wanted to return to work, and having an apartment so small that the babies cry would vibrate against the walls driving me mad. It was the thought of having a baby that made me decide to broach the subject on moving back to Calabria.

Moving down here has not been without it's problems. Moving to Malito meant making a lot of sacrifices too. Bel fidanzato and I have always worked, and had no problems finding work in Rome. We knew moving down here would mean joining a long line of unemployed people as it is hard to find work in the south. If you find work you get paid a lot less then in other parts of Italy and often finding work does not depend on your merits but who you know. Saying this we knew that the cost of living was a lot less, rather then spending 10 euro on a pizza, you spend on average 4 euro, a glass of wine at the bar will not set you back 5 euro, but about 2. We were lucky enough to have an apartment where we could live rent free and decided to give life in Calabria a go.

We have been here since January and are getting alone pretty well. We have work even if it is not ideal, we have an apartment even if our future home with it's giant backyard is still a few years off and we have back up plans if one day it does not work out. So for now we are not going anywhere at all!

Should you obey the speed limit in Italy?

The funniest thing happened last night. We were headed out to dinner and bel fidanzato was driving. We were going to a small restaurant in one of the mountain top villages near Malito. The road leading up was dark, a little wet from a light shower, and windy. Bel fidanzato was driving up the road at a decent speed when a car behind started driving really close behind, obviously wanting us to drive faster, or wanting to over take us. I understand that some people can handle the roads better than others, but I don't understand why they don't just overtake rather than sitting on our tail.

Bel fidanzato cursed a little, as you do, and continued to drive at his normal pace. The car behind then started flashing it's lights - a rather rude sign that it wanted us to move off the road and let them over take. But as I said above - if you drive like a crazy person, on our tail, on a dark, windy mountain road then why the hell do you just not overtake... Ahh...because people may be impatient on Italian roads, but then don't like overtaking (naturally) when they cannot see in front of them, so rather they annoy the driver in front.

Bel fidanzato was getting a little miffed off (he is a patient man who hardly ever loses his temper.) Finally, finally this rude, flashing light, tail gating car over took us....they started honking their horn as they did it - another rude sign....and low and behold who was it impatiently overtaking us, as they sped up a dark, wet, mountainous road....well none other then the carabinieri!

So, it seems that maybe you should not obey the speed limit in Italy as it will just make the impatient police behind you angry!

Getting married to an Italian. Part 2

We were down at my grandparent's beach house in Rosebud. It was the 30th of December and bel fidanzato wanted to cook me a romantic dinner. This was nothing new as my bel fidanzato is a romantic guy who loves to cook...(yes, I know - lucky me!)

I was rummaging through the cupboard for some wine glasses when bel fidanzato appeared behind me. "What are you doing in the cupboard? Go outside and leave everything to me!" Again, nothing unusual as I am rather clumsy and have a habit of breaking glasses, plates, anything really. So outside I go (don't forget we were in Australia, so it was summer time when he sent me outside to wait.)

Finally I was allowed inside and the table was set with candles, flowers from the garden and our beautiful shell we had stolen from the beach the day before.(You cannot take shells or anything from Australian beaches, but this shell was the most beautiful, real shell we had ever seen, so somehow it made it's way into our bag.)

Bel fidanzato told me not to touch the the table decorations (yes, still clumsy) and we had a delightful dinner. After dinner  bel fidanzato asked me if I wanted to go and watch the sunset on the beach. We strolled to the beach and the tide was way out so far that you could walk out out out and the water remained ankle deep.

I ran off, jumping around searching for more shells to smuggle and hunting for star fish.






Bel fidanzato called over to me to come and have a look where he was standing. He said he had seen a shell just like ours, but was not sure where it was. I looked around in the shallow water and I cried out "look!!! Here it is." I was like a greedy child, over-excited by something so simple as I reached into the water to steal the shell.

I turned the shell over, and it was then that I saw a piece of tissue paper stuffed inside. I looked at bel fidanzato as I carefully pulled out the paper, and with teary eyes I unwrapped my engagement ring which he had hidden in our shell.

The moment passed in a blur, and later I had to ask bel fidanzato what language he had proposed in as honestly I could not remember! He had asked me in Italian, and to tell you the truth I don't know if I said yes or si! Which ever language I was speaking, the answer was the same.

Now remember back to when I was rummaging in the cupboard for a wine glass when I was sent outside. It wasn't because I was clumsy but because my ring was hidden in the wine cupboard and bel fidanzato was worried I would find it!

Remember when I was not allowed to touch the table decorations? Again - not 'cause I'm clumsy but because bel fidanzato had already hidden my ring in the shell, as he was maybe thinking of asking me over dinner!!!

So ladies and gentlemen, that is how one romantic Italian proposed to his Australian girlfriend. There will be many more installments of Getting Married to an Italian to come. We hope to marry next year but again that all depends as we have a house to renovate and....and lots of stuff to do.

Getting married to an Italian - Part 1

Many girls dream of their partner buying an amazing, sparkling diamond ring, getting down on one knee and popping THE question. In many countries this is a common custom, in other countries - Italy for example - it is not so common. This post is for to all of you ladies out there with an Italian partner, but also it's for any Italian men out their reading who have a non-Italian partner!

Getting engaged to an Italian is not necessarily how you imagined your engagement/proposal would be. Italian's don't really get engaged, therefore they don't understand the whole engagement/fiance thing. Take bel fidanzato's brother for example. He and his now-wife were going out for 18 years, and still living with their respective parents before they tied the knot last year. He never got down on one knee with a ring and outright asked her to marry him. It was just assumed and accepted after a while. The engagement ring come out a few months before the wedding when we went to the comune for the promessa.


When you have a boyfriend who comes from one culture, and you want or expect a certain thing (i.e an official proposal) you sort of have to spell it out. Bel fidanzato and I began discussing marriage quite some time ago. As time went on we talked about it more freely. I explained to him that in Australia the man has to ask the woman to marry him. I told him that I wanted a diamond ring and that he didn't have to get down on one knee, but he did have to ask. For me it was important, it was an official sign that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.

When we were recently back in Australia things got a little confusing as we had told my family to start saving money for our wedding (because it may very well be in Italy next year) and they got excited thinking we were engaged. I explained to them we were not engaged, but just to start saving the money anyway. After driving each other a little crazy, bel fidanzato and I decided that we should not talk about weddings anymore, as we weren't engaged! I had not been asked a question to which I could possibly answer yes, so enough was enough! All good in theory as I give good advice, but I rarely listen to myself.

So when we were un-engaged in Australia during the time when we did not talk about the big M, it was agreed that I was however allowed to try on engagement rings. One day I found the ring I wanted and that was that!

I am not a subtle person and made it more then clear that I had chosen my ring, and from that moment forth I would speak no more of the matter! We were down at the beach house with my aunt and grandparents and I knew bel fidanzato would end up buying the ring, and I knew he would ask me "officially" to marry him (as my family and friends had all explained the importance of the asking) but I didn't know when or how he would do it.......

San Giuseppe

Friday was the feast day of Saint Giuseppe (Saint Joseph), and in Italy it was also fathers day (since - if you are religious - Joseph/Giuseppe was the husband of Mary/Maria the mother of Jesus.) It was also the onomastico of bel fidanzato which means it was his name day/saints day...because my bel fidanzato is called Giuseppe.

Some Italians go all out for their onomastico, others not. Poor bel fidanzato had to remind me that it was his name day after dropping not so subtle hints all morning. We went to the local bar and bought some zeppole which are a donut like pastry filled with custard.



It is tradition to eat them on San Giuseppe. Bel fidanzato may be called Giuseppe, but he has no idea why Italians eat zeppole on San Giuseppe. The Internet claims that the tradition may have derived in Sicily as Saint Giuseppe is accredited with saving the island from a severe drought in the middle ages. Finally the much awaited rain came, and to celebrate the locals made lots of sweets, since Saint Giuseppe is the patron saint of pastry chefs! (I thought he was the saint of carpenters, but then again who says saints cannot have more then one 'use.')

So years on Italians - and particularly those in the south - make and eat zeppole. Bel fidanzato's mum was busy making them yesterday, the bar was selling them on Friday and I think everyone was out celebrating since Giuseppe is SUCH a common name in Italy.

Summer comes to Calabria

The snow covered Malito that I wrote about a few weeks ago now seems but a distant memory. Today it felt like spring - dare I say almost summer here in Calabria! I was actually hot and had to take off my winter coat as the bel fidanzato and I strolled around the little village. Normally we are alone as we go for a passeggiata in the winter time, as most (sensible...lazy) people take the car, even when they are only going to the bar 10 metres down the road. Today however the village came to life as people who I have never seen in my life were saying 'salve' as we walked around! As you know we decided to move to Malito in the middle of a freezing, cold winter so I have not yet made acquaintances with all of the village folk. And my memory is so bad that I forget the people that I have met in the past, so I just smile, and say hello to everyone to be on the safe side!

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, bel fidanzato and I went to visit our old country house with our engineering friend who is going to do a project/plan of the house. You may recall that the family has a few old, run down houses and we are going to do one up and live there.

At first we wanted to live in this gorgeous house, but it is nothing but the shell of a house and it would cost a fortune to get electricity etc...connected there.



After a lot of discussion, and going back and forth, we decided to do up the old school house, rather then the townhouses in the village. I will post some photos of the old townhouses as they (there are 2, 1 next door to the other) are absolutely beautiful albeit run down....but being in the centre of town there is no garden and I - being Australian - have grown up with a big garden and eating outside in the warm weather. So I wanted a garden. Bel fidanzato also likes the idea of lunches and dinners outside, of having lots of room to do as you like, and having almost total privacy. So, the school house it is!

This photo is the only one I can find on my laptop, and I will have to post better photos of the place, but we are very excited that soon we will have the plans and can look into starting work!



The work will be slow as the house is massive not to mention rundown. Fingers crossed we can start with a new roof in the summer and go from there.

I'll keep you posted and post better photos of our house to be!!!!!

Change in the wind

Sorry all - I am still a bad blogger. I still want to post photos and tell you all about my trips here there and everywhere...but the bottom line is that I am pigra, I am plain lazy and the internet in the office is free but does not let me download photos. This strange, free internet has many limitations (what...do they not trust us here in the office or something) facebook is banned, I cannot download any photos and I cannot comment on blogs. Not sure why, but I cannot so I just wanted to say I am still keeping up to date with all my favourite blogs but cannot comment on them.

So, anyways while no one is spying over my shoulder in the office let me write!

I must tell you all some exciting news. Since the beginning on March my stomach has been getting bigger and bigger by the month. I was first complimented in late March when I was in Lake Garda for my training course. My colleagues and I took an evening trip into Verona, and whilst I was inside a shop, the assistant glanced at me and said 'Auguri'. I did not really know what she meant, and must have looked confused so she glanced at my stomach and said 'Auguri' again. I was shocked and walked out of the shop speechless.

Now don't go getting ahead of yourselves and start wishing me 'Auguri' too. I am NOT pregnant, and my stomach has been feeling (and often looking) pregnant because...... my TWIN SISTER is pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sadly I am not there to see her pregnant since she is in Australia, but I don't need to be there as I am feeling it from this side of the world. We are not identical twins or anything, but even bel ragazzo commented on my expanding belly the other week (and NO before you ask I am not putting on weight...it is just my belly which gets really bloated every now and then.)

So since I will be a twin aunt soon, I am heading back to Australia at the end of my summer season which is the end of October. The baby will only be a few weeks old by then, and bel ragazzo will be coming to join us in December to experience his first hot Christmas and New Years.

Change is in the wind...and the wind I hope is going to blow quite forcefully in the right direction. I will leave you in suspense as to what other changes I am talking about...but you will just have to wait and see.

Ola to Fuerteventura!

After a million hours (well what felt like it) five planes, one train, one bus and two car trips - I have finally...finally made it to the Canary Islands and my bel ragazzo. Australia really is on the other side of the world!

Since arriving yesterday I have seen the desert (as most of the island is a desert, sand dunes and all) I have seen lots of wild goats (they live in the not sandy parts of the desert...and look like cows since many have black and white spots) I have met many Italians (there is a massive Italian ex-pat community here in Fuerteventura and bel ragazzo has made friends with a lot of them. For once there seems to be more Italians then English or Germans here!) and I look forward to exploring the island during my two weeks here.

I may not be able to post photos from here or post very often for that matter... but they will come sooner or later.

Swapping g'day for ciao once more

Time is ticking and I only have another 3 weeks left in Australia! I heard today that I thankfully do have summer work in Italy but that it will not be in the lovely Taormina which is where bel ragazzo and I really wanted to go.

Times are tough world wide with this financial crisis and my company have cut the summer workers by more then half. Yep, that's right. A lot of my colleagues are without work in the summer season which is usually our busiest time. Our British customers just aren't buying enough holidays and I don't really blame them since the sterling is so very low. Italy is expensive enough as it is, and with your currency being weak then you may not be able to have as much of the dolce vita as you would have liked.

So I happy to announce that I will be employed, with the bel ragazzo by my side and we will be spending the summer in the rather tourist infested resort of Sorrento. It could be worse. I could have been sent back to Rome! We can now at least go out and about exploring this fantastic region on our days off...but the main thing is that we are together and we have a job.

These are some pictures of our soon to be home.

Religious issues in Malito

Siamo qui! We finally made it to Calabria! Bel ragazzo and I arrived in Malito Saturday evening after a rather uneventful and somewhat speedy bus trip (it only takes about 6 hours from Rome and the bus is so much more comfortable and clean then the train. For a one way ticket we paid €35 each but it is cheaper still if you buy return.) The bus thankfully was not full as we had way too many suitcases and carry on bags and bel ragazzo did get a little lecture from the bus driver...but here we are safe and sound.

I have some great posts prepared as I have been thrown full swing into village life, but here in the northern Calabrian mountains the internet is slow at the best of times. I have waited one hour to down load a photo and from the lack of photos in this post you can see that I have now given up waiting. Not to worry! There is no internet cafe anywhere in these parts but I'll figure something out.

I have only been here in Malito, experiencing the Calabrian village life for 4 days and already we have hit many hurdles...or to be more precise religious hurdles.

Bel ragazzo has a best friend who has a beautiful baby boy. The babies parents are not married so according to the Catholic church they are living in sin. They have decided to Baptize the baby but luckily it does not matter that they are not married. It is more important that the god parents lead a good, Catholic life. The babies father wanted his brother to be god father, but the brother is divorced and again that is a big no no for the Catholic church, so that ruled him out. They then decided that bel ragazzo would be the man for the job.

Yesterday afternoon, smartly dressed bel ragazzo and his best friend went to visit the parish priest. It was agreed that bel ragazzo would remain tight lipped about us living together - as even though we have no baby out of wedlock, we are still living in sin and this would rule him out as potential god father. We were not saying that he should lie to the priest, just a need to know basis... what the priest does not know will not hurt him.

So with this little white lie aside, you would think that church wise bel ragazzo was well on his way to becoming a god father.

No.

The priest apparently asked bel ragazzo many, many questions - quizzed him as though he was sitting a school exam. The priest asked if bel ragazzo had been baptized - yes - had he made his first communion - yes - what about his confirmation - no. Hold on a minute...sorry to disappoint yet again, but bel ragazzo cannot possibly be a god father to this this baby if he has not been confirmed!

Bel ragazzo tried to reason with the priest to no avail. The only solution is that bel ragazzo gets confirmed - and quickly. They want to baptize the baby in 4 weeks. In 3 weeks there is a group of people making their confirmation in Cosenza. Bel ragazzo has to speak with the priest again on Sunday, and obviously he has to now attend mass at least for the next 3 weeks. He has to study and probably sit some holy test to make sure he 'passes' his confirmation and if all goes well he can be the babies god father.

Now we need to find bel ragazzo a sponsor. We need to speak with the priest on Sunday and see if I can do the job. I have been confirmed, but who moves to the other side of the world with their confirmation certificate to hand? Who even has a confirmation certificate? Who even knew that you need to be confirmed to be a god parent...or for that matter to get married? The priest claims that the 'rules' have changed as years ago you did not need to be confirmed to get married in a Catholic church (bel ragazzo said his dad was never confirmed and he got married without a problem.) Bel ragazzo has an older brother who plans to marry next year, and he too had no idea about this 'new rule' so now he too has to make his confirmation in the coming weeks.

Crazy if you ask me.

So to be the sponsor of bel ragazzo I need proof of my religious status. We have to somehow get proof on my confirmation and see if the priest will accept a letter written in English, faxed from my mums parish priest in Australia...if not then bel ragazzos mother will have to do the job as really, for a village of 800 odd people, pretty much everyone has some sort of religious mark against them.

Soon...very soon... no more Rome.

Bel ragazzo has finished picking chestnuts in Calabria and is returning to Rome tomorrow! He is going to be working here for 2 weeks at his old hotel (which happens to be one of the hotels that I work with, and where we happened to meet two years ago.)

Tour guide Leanne is officially hanging up her hat on the 5th of November, and saying 'arrivederci' to Rome. My time working here is nearly (and thankfully) finished. Rome is a beautiful city but my heart was never here...I left a little piece of it behind in Sicily and hopefully (well I am 99% sure) I will be returning to Taormina, Sicily to work next year, this time with the bel ragazzo in tow.

Also when he finishes his 2 weeks in Rome bel ragazzo is returning to Calabria - this time with me in tow. We are leaving Rome, together on the 15th of November...and although you won't be hearing from tour guide Leanne for a while, I imagine you'll be hearing a lot from Contadina Leanne!





Bel contadino ragazzo has been in Malito for a week or so but it has not been all traipsing around the mountainside for him. No! My Bel contadino ragazzo has been true to his new name and has been working the land around our (one day) house. We are going to be in Malito for 6 weeks or so and have lots of work to do! (I'm not going to spend the whole time being a farmer though...tour guide Leanne has been planning a week in Puglia, and we want to travel around Calabria as much as possible, but I am really looking forward to working on our house.)



So stay tuned...the countdown is on...only 16 days left in Rome and 7 days left of work. (And no, before you ask I STILL do not know where I am going for the 2nd half of winter. I keep getting told to be patient...hmmm...we'll see where in the world tour guide Leanne is going hopefully very soon.)

Chestnut collecting in the Calabrian countryside.

I spoke to bel ragazzo this morning. He said the sun was shining, the air was crisp and clean, the sky was a brilliant blue and he was just about to leave for a day of chestnut picking with the family. Yes - obviously he is still in Malito, still traipsing around the Calabrian mountainside having a jolly old time.

I told you here that the family has many old houses in the Malito old town centre and in the countryside (one of them which we want to restore.) I have also said in the past that when ever I am in Malito I am always told of new 'plots of land' the family seem to own. (In small villages, people often live in the town centre, and then have numerous plots of land, old houses, or storage sheds in the countryside where they generally grow vegetables, maybe have some animals, store the year supply of wine, oil, bottled tomatoes etc... - when I say countryside I do not mean far away in the country...I just mean outside of the town centre, down the road really, which they call the campagna.)

I asked bel ragazzo where they were going chestnut collecting and he said they were going to their plot of land which is full of chestnut tress... Ahhh..what plot of land with chestnut trees? I had never heard of this chesnutted plot of land. Oh, that's because I have never been there. There is no real road to get there. This particular plot of land is above Malito and is in the middle of other peoples land, so you have to leave the car at a certain point, open the locked gate and then walk to your section. Ok. Got it.

Bel ragazzo says he'll take me there when I get to Malito in mid-November...I was so excited as I have never been chestnut collecting before (I know you just pick them up off the ground, but for someone who has never done it, I imagine it would be fun!) Bel ragazzo however kindly pointed out it will be to late for chestnut picking when I get there. Oh. Ok...but surely there will be other wild things to collect? I missed the chestnut collecting, I missed the mushroom hunting, I missed the preparation of the years supply of bottled tomato...I have to do some research into what one does in November and December...When is it asparagus season? Wild chicory perhaps?

D-Day is coming but not fast enough

Bel ragazzo and I are still waiting to get our winter and summer placements. I mentioned here that we want to stay in Italy for the 2009 summer, but I mentioned here that for the 2008/9 winter we want to go far away, or at least outside of Italy.

Waiting it so hard! I am impatient at the best of times and now I am being driven to distraction. I want to know when we are finishing in Rome and when we are starting in this new country. I want to know if we will have a few days/weeks of in between - is there time for a holiday, time to build a road for 'our one day house.' I want to start packing up my life in Rome. I want to buy a guide book and start researching our new 'home.' I want to know what language will we begin to learn, what currency will we be using, what will the climate be like?

But for now we have to wait. Maybe another week they say. Ok, I know my company has hundreds of thousands of staff world wide and it is a hard task to place all those people in hundreds of different countries. I know...I know...but that does not help the matter.

It is the same every year. You wait for so long and then finally at the last minute you get your destinations and it is all systems go; flights being booked, end of season reports being done, and wham bham you are in the new country. Last year I was meant to be in Taormina until the end of October, so I was taking my time enjoying the last few weeks. I had spent a few days with the bel ragazzo and was planning to go and visit him again in Rome one last time before going for my winter placement. All of a sudden I was told I was going to Portugal and they needed me to start ASAP. I had no time to even see bel ragazzo one last time before I left Italy! Literally I got a call from the head office saying they had booked me a flight from Catania to London, then a hotel over night before booking me on a flight to Portugal the next day...

Oh well. At least this year bel ragazzo and I will (hopefully) be together so I don't really care where in the world I go, as long as he is by my side. (Insert sigh sound effects.)

The city that was built on water

We are back from a lovely couple of nights in Venice!



This was my third trip to the enchanting and sometimes smelly city on water, and this is actually the first time that it smelt. It is not as bad as some people make out, and is normal when you consider that Venice is a city built on water. Every now and then you get a waft of a sulphur like odour, but then the beauty and uniquness of the city makes the smells the least of your concerns.

The first time I visited Venice was many, many years ago when I was back packing around Europe with my twin sister and her husband. We were on a very tight budget (35 euros per day) and slept at a camp site on the main land, taking the water bus each day to the island. The first time we were there it was August if my memory serves (which it probably doesn't) and we slept in a mosquito infested camp by night, and walked the ancient cobbled streets by day, admiring the gondolas and thinking how we really could not afford it but how exciting it would be.

My second trip to Venice was a few years ago when I was living in London and took a short trip with my Italian friend to visit her village of Bassano del Grappa which was a short train ride from Venice. We took the train in for the day to experience the delights of the Venice Carnevale!

And now my third trip was with the bel ragazzo. It was his first time in Venice. A few months ago he said that he always wanted to go to Venice with someone special...so assuming that I would be special enough for him I booked 2 tickets as a surprise part of his birthday present.



This time around we had saved some money so we could relax in...not style as such but at least be able to sleep on the island and not be eaten alive by mosquitos at night. Let me tell you one thing - Venice is expensive. Really it is. We rang B&Bs first thinking these would be the most cost effective option, but after being quoted 175 euro per night at one B&B (most of them around 120 euro) we decided if we have to pay that sort of money it may as well be for a legitimate hotel. So we entered Venice with the knowledge that it was expensive, and we had not spent much money on ourselves this year, so we thought why not splash out a bit.

In the end we booked a 3 star hotel which was very nice and small (and cost a lot less then 175 euro per night) the staff were so friendly and helpful and they had a gorgeous little outside courtyard for the breakfast. We spent our times wandering the streets, walking along the canals and getting very lost. Venice maps are a waste of time. Bel ragazzo prides himself on his navigation skills but even this time he had to admit defeat.



Oh, and of course we took a gondola trip!



We couldn't say no. It was expensive, but we wanted to do something romantic...something different and what better way to see Venice by night then go gliding through the empty canals in a beautiful gondola? The going rate for the night time is 100 euro for 30 minuutes (day time is 80 euro for 40 minutes as there is traffic) but we managed to get him down to 90 euro. It was about 10pm and it was so peaceful and relaxing to glide along the canals. At one stage we even passed a movie crew who were filming. The gondolier sang, there was no one about and it really was one of the highlights of our trip. More of the trip and photos tomorrow!