I think I mixed up the countdown days a little bit at some point, but I checked the calendar again. Today is the 29th of November, so in exactly 1 month (30 days) from now I will kick start the engine of my little car, for the road-trip of my life, with Milan written to the GPS. Sounds pinky-pink? I bet it does. This, IF I still have a car at that point.
Long story short:
For all expats living in Italy and complaining around in the blogosphere of "oh my God this is SUCH a bureaucratic and slooooow country!!!", I repeat: try living in Romania for 1 month and see how it feels. I do love my country by the way, but my trouble with the car registration on my name after the expiry of my leasing contract is driving me crazy. And no, I cannot take my car out of the country without doing that.
Last week I made endless phone calls to figure out what are the steps for re-registering my car on my name. It sounded simple in the beginning, BUUUT.... actually it's a hell. And not because of the registration itself, that one takes like 2 hours until you get your new plates and registration certificate. But what I have to do BEFORE this is a total mess.
So: in Romania, like in any other country, you have to pay an annual tax to the state for owning a car. I took my car in leasing in 2006, when my residence was in another city. So I was paying tax for my car in that city. I changed my residence to Bucharest in 2007, BUT I continued to pay the tax for my car in my hometown, and not in Bucharest, like I was supposed to, considering that I moved my residence to Bucharest. I did this for 4 years, without knowing that I was doing it wrong. The right thing to do was to move the car to Bucharest when I moved my residence to Bucharest.
Now, in order to re-register my car on my name, I have to get a stamp from the local tax office in Bucharest, to prove that I paid tax for the car. Of course, at this point this is impossible, as my car is registered in the tax office of the other city. SO what I need to do first, is to move my car from that city to Bucharest (in terms of tax offices). Ok, let's do this. Last week I sent all the documents for this to my mom, to do the moving request on my behalf. She went to the tax office in my hometown, with the documents, and made the request. Now get ready: the request will take UP TO 30 DAYS to be solved. Which means, the car will be moved to the tax office in Bucharest on 25TH DECEMBER the latest. And yes, 25th of December is Christmas. So is 26th, and 27th. And then, after the car is moved, I have to pay again all the tax for 4 years, in Bucharest, and then the tax office of Constanta (my hometown) will give me back the tax that I paid for 4 years in Constanta although I was not supposed to.
And only AFTER, I will be actually able to re-register my car on my name, get the new number plates, and get the new registration certificate. So now all I can do is PRAY that it doesn't actually take 30 days for my tax file to get to Bucharest, because otherwise, I am D O O M E D. No car, no road-trip.
Aaaaand... last but not least, the service guy has just come now to bring my car from the technical revision. I got my oil, filters and plugs changed, and got new winter tires. And a wash :).
EPILOGUE: the service guy was kind enough to show me that my car registration certificate expires TOMORROW. Which means that tomorrow is the last day I can actually drive my car legally, before I re-register it on my name. Otherwise, if the police busts me, it's penal file and confiscation of plates and license. Great. I have to call the leasing company in the morning to see if there's any way of getting a document to allow me to drive legally until I re-register it, otherwise... 1 month of Bucharest Metro, here I come!
POST-EPILOGUE: Did I mention that I HATE this car now? It's good, though, to know, that I still have my valid plane ticket to Milan on 28th of December, I can use it as a back-up way of getting there in case things don't work out with this stupid car. But in this case I should purchase another 3 pieces of luggage of 32 kilos each, as the 1 I purchased will definitely not be enough.
Being a grown-up really sucks sometimes, yes.
Love,
La Reina Rana
Day 34 - it's starting to become REAL
2011/11/22
This week started in a crazy manner and it continues to be like this. And it will be like this until the last day of it. It's my week off from work (kind of), and so far it has been fruitful in terms of preparations, which makes me happy as the steps towards departure are finally being done.
So starting with the beginning, I woke up on Monday morning at 6 a.m. in Milan and packed in a hurry to catch my 9 a.m. flight on Orio al Serio. Il Pesce drove me to the airport as usually, check-in, coffee, brioche, luggage check and here I am at the departure gate. Not surprisingly, due to the intense fog that was still around, all flights were delayed. Mine finally departed around 10:00 and I arrived home 1 hour later than planned. I spent the rest of the day finishing my presentation for the Film Marketing conference I'm attending in Paris on Friday.
Yesterday, it was time for run run run and get things done. What I managed to do:
- spoke to the leasing company and received my custom tax invoice, with the final final amount that I have to pay to finally become the owner of my car. Panic. The invoice is due TODAY.
- spoke to my scholarship office at the University and announced I will come with my bunch of documents
- spoke to the National Health Insurance House in order to figure out what exactly I need to do to get that damned European Insurance Card that I will need for my residence. According to the lady I spoke to, I will make the request as an employee, which means I need a document from my employer that states that I am an employee and my contributions are paid... for the last 5 years. Piece of cake by now. Only that my current employer has been my employer for only 2 years. And no, the Insurance House cannot check by itself what happened in the past. So I have to bring a separate document from my FORMER employer, stating that I had been employed there (for the other 3 years) and that my contributions had been paid. Lucky me, I had only ONE former employer for those 3 years. Ah.. and as all this wasn't enough, I also have to bring a copy of my labor booklet (I should mention here that labor booklets are no longer valid but luckily I have it at home so I was able to make the copy).
- spoke to our chief accountant to fill in the document
- spoke to the HR department of my former employer to fill in the document
- went to the scholarships office at the university and brought the bunch of documents that will ensure I will actually be paid that scholarship while I'm a visiting student in Milan
- went to my former employer to get that document (I was impressed of how fast they were in filling it in and giving it to me)
- returned home for lunch
- went to the head office of my current employer to get that document
- went to my local tax office to ask if they can see that my annual tax being paid in another city is visible in their system (otherwise I would have to bring a document from there to state that the annual tax was paid). Panic: the office was closing at 16:30 and it was... 16:30. Obviously the door was already locked.
- went to the police station to declare the damage on my car's right-front door. The police man laughed to my face saying that "accidents with unknown author or cars found damaged in the parking are no longer being declared to the Police, Miss. Go straight to your insurance company." Great, considering that my optional insurance (which can cover the repairing of the door) expires TODAY.
- back home to call the insurance company, to make an appointment for my damage report. Panic. The call center for damages was working until... 16:30. It was 16:45. I also have to mention that I don't actually give a damn about that damage, there's not anything actually damaged other than the outside look of my door but... I'm afraid to travel outside the country with a damaged car, because who knows, maybe the police people in Austria or Slovenia or Italy will stop me to ask me what that is about. If anyone knows if it's ok to drive a "not so very good looking" car in these countries, please let me know, this way I'll take "fixing my door" out of the "to do" list.
So that was yesterday.
TODAY, on the other hand, still a bunch of things to do:
- call the insurance company to schedule the damage report
- get my custom tax invoice for the car paid (did I mention I am lucky to have a brother? :D)
- go to the National Health Insurance House with my papers for the European Insurance Card
- go to the local tax office (again)
- prepare for tonight's event that I will attend at work, and go to the event
- return home and give my car to the service guy for the annual general check-up, oil change, filters change, and who-knows-what-else change. This in order to make sure it won't break down any time soon (and also because, ok, I haven't done the annual check-up for 2 years, so... I think it's the time to actually do it).
- pack my bags for Paris and go to sleep at a hopefully decent hour.
Because yes, tomorrow, PARIS HERE I COME!! :D My flight departs tomorrow morning at 06:10, so I have to be at the airport at 04:30. I'm so happy to see the research group people again and I'm excited about my presentation. And I'm also excited to see my friends in Paris and to travel with one of my best friends ever. It will be my last trip before really entering the "austerity budget" period, so I better get the best out of it.
I'll be flying back from Paris on Sunday evening and then I'll be flying for work to Targu Mures via Cluj on Monday morning, taking off at 07:35, and returning the same evening... making this my 6th flight in 10 days.
Lessons learned and useful info:
- the National Insurance House (Bucharest office) works until 14:30
- my insurance company works until 16:30
- the local tax office works until 16:30
- you need papers as a proof for other papers (lots of them)
- whoever said that Italy is a bureaucratic, slow moving country, with lazy state employees, should try living in Romania for, let's say, 1 month. And then we'll talk about this again :)
Things I will still need to do
- go to the insurance company to declare my door damage
- go to the leasing company to get my papers for the car registration
- go to the car registration office to register the car on my name
- buy the winter tires and put them on (damn this winter!!! and damn the snow and the stupid law of having winter tires... but I guess I have no choice since I'll be travelling 3 countries with my car...)
- fix the car door damage (really, do I really need to do this? DO I???)
- change my birth certificate (in case the "comune" will ask it for residence). This needs to be done in Constanta, which is my birth city, but luckily, it takes 3 hours to get there, 2 hours to get the document, and 3 hours to come back.
- prevent myself from going INSANE (Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Il Pesce, Il Pesce...)
All in all, I shouldn't be complaining that much, and I'm really glad we're in the European Union... I don't want to think of the MANY other things I would have had to do if I was American. (so I'm glad, at this point, that I'm not American :)).
Love,
La Reina Rana :)
So starting with the beginning, I woke up on Monday morning at 6 a.m. in Milan and packed in a hurry to catch my 9 a.m. flight on Orio al Serio. Il Pesce drove me to the airport as usually, check-in, coffee, brioche, luggage check and here I am at the departure gate. Not surprisingly, due to the intense fog that was still around, all flights were delayed. Mine finally departed around 10:00 and I arrived home 1 hour later than planned. I spent the rest of the day finishing my presentation for the Film Marketing conference I'm attending in Paris on Friday.
Yesterday, it was time for run run run and get things done. What I managed to do:
- spoke to the leasing company and received my custom tax invoice, with the final final amount that I have to pay to finally become the owner of my car. Panic. The invoice is due TODAY.
- spoke to my scholarship office at the University and announced I will come with my bunch of documents
- spoke to the National Health Insurance House in order to figure out what exactly I need to do to get that damned European Insurance Card that I will need for my residence. According to the lady I spoke to, I will make the request as an employee, which means I need a document from my employer that states that I am an employee and my contributions are paid... for the last 5 years. Piece of cake by now. Only that my current employer has been my employer for only 2 years. And no, the Insurance House cannot check by itself what happened in the past. So I have to bring a separate document from my FORMER employer, stating that I had been employed there (for the other 3 years) and that my contributions had been paid. Lucky me, I had only ONE former employer for those 3 years. Ah.. and as all this wasn't enough, I also have to bring a copy of my labor booklet (I should mention here that labor booklets are no longer valid but luckily I have it at home so I was able to make the copy).
- spoke to our chief accountant to fill in the document
- spoke to the HR department of my former employer to fill in the document
- went to the scholarships office at the university and brought the bunch of documents that will ensure I will actually be paid that scholarship while I'm a visiting student in Milan
- went to my former employer to get that document (I was impressed of how fast they were in filling it in and giving it to me)
- returned home for lunch
- went to the head office of my current employer to get that document
- went to my local tax office to ask if they can see that my annual tax being paid in another city is visible in their system (otherwise I would have to bring a document from there to state that the annual tax was paid). Panic: the office was closing at 16:30 and it was... 16:30. Obviously the door was already locked.
- went to the police station to declare the damage on my car's right-front door. The police man laughed to my face saying that "accidents with unknown author or cars found damaged in the parking are no longer being declared to the Police, Miss. Go straight to your insurance company." Great, considering that my optional insurance (which can cover the repairing of the door) expires TODAY.
- back home to call the insurance company, to make an appointment for my damage report. Panic. The call center for damages was working until... 16:30. It was 16:45. I also have to mention that I don't actually give a damn about that damage, there's not anything actually damaged other than the outside look of my door but... I'm afraid to travel outside the country with a damaged car, because who knows, maybe the police people in Austria or Slovenia or Italy will stop me to ask me what that is about. If anyone knows if it's ok to drive a "not so very good looking" car in these countries, please let me know, this way I'll take "fixing my door" out of the "to do" list.
So that was yesterday.
TODAY, on the other hand, still a bunch of things to do:
- call the insurance company to schedule the damage report
- get my custom tax invoice for the car paid (did I mention I am lucky to have a brother? :D)
- go to the National Health Insurance House with my papers for the European Insurance Card
- go to the local tax office (again)
- prepare for tonight's event that I will attend at work, and go to the event
- return home and give my car to the service guy for the annual general check-up, oil change, filters change, and who-knows-what-else change. This in order to make sure it won't break down any time soon (and also because, ok, I haven't done the annual check-up for 2 years, so... I think it's the time to actually do it).
- pack my bags for Paris and go to sleep at a hopefully decent hour.
Because yes, tomorrow, PARIS HERE I COME!! :D My flight departs tomorrow morning at 06:10, so I have to be at the airport at 04:30. I'm so happy to see the research group people again and I'm excited about my presentation. And I'm also excited to see my friends in Paris and to travel with one of my best friends ever. It will be my last trip before really entering the "austerity budget" period, so I better get the best out of it.
I'll be flying back from Paris on Sunday evening and then I'll be flying for work to Targu Mures via Cluj on Monday morning, taking off at 07:35, and returning the same evening... making this my 6th flight in 10 days.
Lessons learned and useful info:
- the National Insurance House (Bucharest office) works until 14:30
- my insurance company works until 16:30
- the local tax office works until 16:30
- you need papers as a proof for other papers (lots of them)
- whoever said that Italy is a bureaucratic, slow moving country, with lazy state employees, should try living in Romania for, let's say, 1 month. And then we'll talk about this again :)
Things I will still need to do
- go to the insurance company to declare my door damage
- go to the leasing company to get my papers for the car registration
- go to the car registration office to register the car on my name
- buy the winter tires and put them on (damn this winter!!! and damn the snow and the stupid law of having winter tires... but I guess I have no choice since I'll be travelling 3 countries with my car...)
- fix the car door damage (really, do I really need to do this? DO I???)
- change my birth certificate (in case the "comune" will ask it for residence). This needs to be done in Constanta, which is my birth city, but luckily, it takes 3 hours to get there, 2 hours to get the document, and 3 hours to come back.
- prevent myself from going INSANE (Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Il Pesce, Il Pesce...)
All in all, I shouldn't be complaining that much, and I'm really glad we're in the European Union... I don't want to think of the MANY other things I would have had to do if I was American. (so I'm glad, at this point, that I'm not American :)).
Love,
La Reina Rana :)
Day 40 - Is there any happiness out there?
2011/11/17
In my sometimes sick curiosity about how it is to actually live in Italy, I have read a lot of expat blogs and expat forums lately. Today I ran into a forum of expats in Italy and got my attention attracted by a topic that sounded somehow like “Is there really happiness there?” I got intrigued by how many people went to live in Italy with ha bag full of dreams and hopes, only to conclude a few months later that it actually sucks. I posted the below text on the forum (yes, sometimes I just cannot keep my mouth shut) but I also feel like sharing it here.
I think that the most common reason why some expats end up feeling like crap in Italy is the fact that, before moving there, they had expected to be living in Italy the way they had been living in their native country (I saw there are a lot of Americans and British people here on this forum). Well, sorry to be just "another one who says it", guys, but that's impossible. Countries are different, people are different, cultures and habits are different. What is seen as "normal" by an American could be seen as "WTF??? seriously? are you kidding me??" by an Italian (and the other way around). It will ALWAYS be like this. There is no such thing as "the perfect country", as well as there is no such thing as a global general standard for well-being. Ok, we are all inhabitants of the Global Village, but you cannot expect things to be the same everywhere.
It's only a matter of getting informed BEFORE you make the move. Thank God for blogs and forums and books. One can get loads of information on what's good, what's bad, feelings and impressions of others, etc. It's not like you're heading on a boat to a desert island where no-one has ever been before.
And then it's a matter of putting the pro's and con's into a balance. Then, it's a matter of setting up a well-secured and sustainable plan before you live, taking the possible "hardships" into consideration.
I've seen a lot of people around there complaining about bureaucracy and obstacles within the administrative system. But let's face it... each country has its own rythm of doing things. And besides, the whole bureaucracy thing seems more difficult because you're not Italian. It's normal for them to ask endless paperwork for everything, just because we are strangers. If I want to move to the US tomorrow, I will probably give up even before starting, and only because of these obstacles. Yes, ok, you would say, but the US have been literally bombarded with immigrants, for tens of years. Well guess what... so has been Italy. Just reflect a bit on this.
I've also seen people there saying that there are so many dysfunctions in the way that Italy goes, it's in a crisis, Berlusconi didn't actually ever do anything, the new government sucks, etc. Aren't the US in a crisis too? Or other countries? The crisis is almost everywhere. It just happens differently in different countries.
In my opinion, there IS happiness in all this process of moving and living abroad (and especially to Italy). There is, IF you use your head while doing the move. There are so many beautiful things to discover out there. As long as you focus on discovering the good things instead of whining around about why it isn't like it used to be in your former cozy home. As long as you admit that you are moving to a different way of living, and as long as you don't try to bring your own country with you in the suitcase. You want your own country? Well... stay there, or return there. If there's a way to Italy, there's always also a way back. Or just accept the fact that in order to fit in your new country, you need to re-format yourself.
I am fully aware that the reason why I chose to move to Italy may be not necessarily the place itself, and I am fully aware that I'm associating the beauty of being there, with the beauty of being with a certain person. I am aware that, if things don't go well, I might end up hating Italy. But I am willing to face this risk and make the step, keeping in mind that I always have "back home" as a safety net. Maybe that's the way most of us should do it: try a temporary thing at first, to see what living there actually means, and only then, if you still like it, do crazy things like selling your house, car and belongings, and transfer your entire life to Italy.
And, if you managed to have the patience to read until here, I will end my "happiness novel" with a cliche: "When in Rome, do like the Romans!" It CANNOT be more true anywhere else than in Italy.
Love,
La Reina Rana
Day 45 - How "bel" is the "bel paese" now?
2011/11/13
This weekend has been under the sign of Berlusconi's resignation, and as much as I have always ignored politics, I could not ignore THIS specific fact. Of course, you may ask, what does this have to do with my departure and with my research stage and my life and everything? Well, nothing. I hope. But I can't avoid being worried about the political, economical and social situation of the country I'll soon live in.
We, Romanians, have been so used to looking at Italy as heaven on earth, but, to be honest, Romania seems (at least to me) to be a much more secure place to be now. Ok, milk and honey does not flow from the sky anywhere in the world, but knowing that 1.5 million Romanians had chosen to live in Italy (and that is only the official number, who knows how many others live there without being even registered) always made me think that there's a bit more milk and honey there than here.
The truth is that Italy appears to be in big trouble these days. The economical crisis has returned, jobs are hard to find, or badly paid, a lot of companies prefer to recruit newly graduates or students for the so-called "stages" (internships - not paid of course) to avoid paying wages, prices have risen... and so on. Not to mention that this has lead to social movements and riots in the last few months, culminating with some people literally throwing parties in the streets after the resignation of Berlusconi last night. And last but not least, having a strike every month does not sound good either, right?
I may not know much about politics and macro-economics (especially not those of Italy which is not my home country) but.. I wonder what effects will all these things have on the long-term. I know that Italians are already sick of so many "stranieri" coming from everywhere to steal their jobs and welfare, and I selfishly hope that my "bubble" at the University there will somehow protect me from being affected in any way by this.
Having Facebook as my research field, I naturally searched Berlusconi's page a while ago and I've been following it ever since. Judging by the comments that most of people posted... a lot of them not only hate him but are also definitely VERY upset with life and what's happening in the country. There are obviously some people who like him (otherwise they wouldn't have voted for him), but I guess many of them are disappointed of him not actually doing anything for saving the country from economic disaster. And things are going crazy even on that page... 1000 new "fans" only in the last hour, and 2950 comments only on the last note (and 5236 comments on the third last one).
I surely don't want to find myself a few months later caught in the middle of a riot in the street or not affording to buy food anymore, because that's really scary. But... scary as it is, I still count the days until getting to live there and to do my work and research in peace and quiet.
So as much as Italy looks now more like this...
(photo from www.corriere.it - the online edition of Corriere della Sera, showing what was on the streets last night)
... I still want to think it looks like this:
(this is the back of the Duomo - the front is cliche already :P)
... or, like this:
(yes, I do promise I will actually see a show here at the Scala - already started saving :D)
... or, like this:
and, as a conclusion, as the Italians like to say, I still want to see "rose e fiori" everywhere, like this:
Nota bene: the "rose e fiori" (roses and flowers) thing could be the Italian equivalent of the Romanian "milk and honey flowing everywhere" or "dogs walking around wearing pretzels on their tails"... which describes a general state of well being. Weird people, us Europeans, huh? :)
Otherwise, everything fine here in the Kingdom of the Frog, did some very productive research for the thesis this weekend. Next in line: FINALLY paying my car, going to the scholarships office with my bunch of papers, finishing my presentation for the film marketing conference in Paris, then Milan next weekend for some more home scouting and not only, and then Paris for the above mentioned conference.
Buona serata a tutti!
Love,
La Reina Rana
We, Romanians, have been so used to looking at Italy as heaven on earth, but, to be honest, Romania seems (at least to me) to be a much more secure place to be now. Ok, milk and honey does not flow from the sky anywhere in the world, but knowing that 1.5 million Romanians had chosen to live in Italy (and that is only the official number, who knows how many others live there without being even registered) always made me think that there's a bit more milk and honey there than here.
The truth is that Italy appears to be in big trouble these days. The economical crisis has returned, jobs are hard to find, or badly paid, a lot of companies prefer to recruit newly graduates or students for the so-called "stages" (internships - not paid of course) to avoid paying wages, prices have risen... and so on. Not to mention that this has lead to social movements and riots in the last few months, culminating with some people literally throwing parties in the streets after the resignation of Berlusconi last night. And last but not least, having a strike every month does not sound good either, right?
I may not know much about politics and macro-economics (especially not those of Italy which is not my home country) but.. I wonder what effects will all these things have on the long-term. I know that Italians are already sick of so many "stranieri" coming from everywhere to steal their jobs and welfare, and I selfishly hope that my "bubble" at the University there will somehow protect me from being affected in any way by this.
Having Facebook as my research field, I naturally searched Berlusconi's page a while ago and I've been following it ever since. Judging by the comments that most of people posted... a lot of them not only hate him but are also definitely VERY upset with life and what's happening in the country. There are obviously some people who like him (otherwise they wouldn't have voted for him), but I guess many of them are disappointed of him not actually doing anything for saving the country from economic disaster. And things are going crazy even on that page... 1000 new "fans" only in the last hour, and 2950 comments only on the last note (and 5236 comments on the third last one).
I surely don't want to find myself a few months later caught in the middle of a riot in the street or not affording to buy food anymore, because that's really scary. But... scary as it is, I still count the days until getting to live there and to do my work and research in peace and quiet.
So as much as Italy looks now more like this...
... I still want to think it looks like this:
... or, like this:
... or, like this:
and, as a conclusion, as the Italians like to say, I still want to see "rose e fiori" everywhere, like this:
Nota bene: the "rose e fiori" (roses and flowers) thing could be the Italian equivalent of the Romanian "milk and honey flowing everywhere" or "dogs walking around wearing pretzels on their tails"... which describes a general state of well being. Weird people, us Europeans, huh? :)
Otherwise, everything fine here in the Kingdom of the Frog, did some very productive research for the thesis this weekend. Next in line: FINALLY paying my car, going to the scholarships office with my bunch of papers, finishing my presentation for the film marketing conference in Paris, then Milan next weekend for some more home scouting and not only, and then Paris for the above mentioned conference.
Buona serata a tutti!
Love,
La Reina Rana
Day 49 - MY food vs. my FUTURE food
2011/11/09
To get straight to the point: I WILL change my eating habits! I have to, and I would have had to even if I hadn't moved to Italy. But moving there is the incentive to actually do it, not only reflect on it. And now that I stated it in written (and publicly), it MUST happen.
So let's start with the beginning:
The breakfast (a.k.a. colazione)
Now: on weekdays, none. On weekends, rich omelets, fried eggs with bacon and lots of cheese, a cremwurst, and generally salty things swimming in fat (YUM!) And lots, lots of coffee every day.
Then: on weekdays, biscotti con latte (biscuits with milk). Or, biscotti con cappuccino. Or, brioche con latte. Or, brioche con cappuccino. And maybe an espresso on the run (yes, that kind of Italian espresso that you swallow in exactly 20 seconds - conversation included). On weekends, well... hm.... the same.
The lunch (a.k.a. pranzo)
Now: on weekdays, it varies between: nothing, fast food, restaurant food (the greasy kind), cabbage salad (when I feel guilty or when I'm broke), a sandwich, and then fast food again. On weekends, it varies between various pork based dishes swimming in fat, and various chicken, fish or beef dishes... swimming in fat.
Then: I SWEAR I will have lunch every single day. They say it's the only way to get it through the day without starving (and then having a huge dinner) at 10:00 p.m. So yes I will make lunch my main meal, and God knows I will have things to choose from.
The Aperitivo
Now: inexistant (actually I do have the feeling that the only place in the world where it does exist is Milan, and I don't live there yet, so...)
Then: will be used as a cheap and consistent alternative to having a real dinner out. So what's the aperitivo all about? Well, simple: almost all bars and all kind of places in Milan and around have a "happy hour" after 7 p.m. when you pay the price of a single drink (often a cocktail) and you have an open buffet included in that price. The menu varies from place to place but there's often a nice selection of things that we would here generally call "starters" (hence the name of aperitivo). They can easily fill you and cost like 5 times less than a real "dinner".
*caution: not to be combined with real dinner on the same day
The Dinner (a.k.a. cena)
Now: inexistant, or... pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta (I am not obsessed with pasta, it's just the easiest thing to cook). With sauce and meat and of course... swimming in grease. Or... why not, some french fries at midnight?
Then: any kind of Italian (or Romanian) dishes but respecting the rule of "do not combine carbohydrates with meat". So yes, no more pasta with meat for me... (uffff!!!!)
And lots of fruity snacks in between (yeah, right.)
What I will miss:
- ciorbă!!! this is a traditional Romanian kind of sour soup that becomes sour due to the addition of "borş". Which is an ingredient that is traditionally liquid, BUT can also be found in a dusty formula, so I will make a big stock of it from home, and bring it to Italy. I could never ever live without my ciorbă!
- sarmale!!! this is another traditional dish which consists of sour cabbage leaves stuffed with pork meat. Ok, the meat will not be a problem, but where the hell can I find sour cabbage in Italy? Do they have such a thing? They do have pickles but they are pickled in vinegar, and sour cabbage is obtained in a totally different way. Panic!!!
I heard there are Romanian food stores in Italy and I will hopefully find some in Milan (including the borş and sour cabbage), because, honestly, the idea of giving up the above mentioned dishes actually freaks me out.
And yes, expect me to write a lot more about food in this journey, because I will.
Did I mention I will also try to lose weight?
Love,
La Reina Rana
So let's start with the beginning:
The breakfast (a.k.a. colazione)
Now: on weekdays, none. On weekends, rich omelets, fried eggs with bacon and lots of cheese, a cremwurst, and generally salty things swimming in fat (YUM!) And lots, lots of coffee every day.
Then: on weekdays, biscotti con latte (biscuits with milk). Or, biscotti con cappuccino. Or, brioche con latte. Or, brioche con cappuccino. And maybe an espresso on the run (yes, that kind of Italian espresso that you swallow in exactly 20 seconds - conversation included). On weekends, well... hm.... the same.
The lunch (a.k.a. pranzo)
Now: on weekdays, it varies between: nothing, fast food, restaurant food (the greasy kind), cabbage salad (when I feel guilty or when I'm broke), a sandwich, and then fast food again. On weekends, it varies between various pork based dishes swimming in fat, and various chicken, fish or beef dishes... swimming in fat.
Then: I SWEAR I will have lunch every single day. They say it's the only way to get it through the day without starving (and then having a huge dinner) at 10:00 p.m. So yes I will make lunch my main meal, and God knows I will have things to choose from.
The Aperitivo
Now: inexistant (actually I do have the feeling that the only place in the world where it does exist is Milan, and I don't live there yet, so...)
Then: will be used as a cheap and consistent alternative to having a real dinner out. So what's the aperitivo all about? Well, simple: almost all bars and all kind of places in Milan and around have a "happy hour" after 7 p.m. when you pay the price of a single drink (often a cocktail) and you have an open buffet included in that price. The menu varies from place to place but there's often a nice selection of things that we would here generally call "starters" (hence the name of aperitivo). They can easily fill you and cost like 5 times less than a real "dinner".
*caution: not to be combined with real dinner on the same day
The Dinner (a.k.a. cena)
Now: inexistant, or... pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta (I am not obsessed with pasta, it's just the easiest thing to cook). With sauce and meat and of course... swimming in grease. Or... why not, some french fries at midnight?
Then: any kind of Italian (or Romanian) dishes but respecting the rule of "do not combine carbohydrates with meat". So yes, no more pasta with meat for me... (uffff!!!!)
And lots of fruity snacks in between (yeah, right.)
What I will miss:
- ciorbă!!! this is a traditional Romanian kind of sour soup that becomes sour due to the addition of "borş". Which is an ingredient that is traditionally liquid, BUT can also be found in a dusty formula, so I will make a big stock of it from home, and bring it to Italy. I could never ever live without my ciorbă!
- sarmale!!! this is another traditional dish which consists of sour cabbage leaves stuffed with pork meat. Ok, the meat will not be a problem, but where the hell can I find sour cabbage in Italy? Do they have such a thing? They do have pickles but they are pickled in vinegar, and sour cabbage is obtained in a totally different way. Panic!!!
I heard there are Romanian food stores in Italy and I will hopefully find some in Milan (including the borş and sour cabbage), because, honestly, the idea of giving up the above mentioned dishes actually freaks me out.
And yes, expect me to write a lot more about food in this journey, because I will.
Did I mention I will also try to lose weight?
Love,
La Reina Rana
Day 49 - more reflections on real estate and stuff
2011/11/09
Writing the previous post about finding a home in Milan surely was useful for receiving some clarifications from the best real estate expert I have around. So, as I discovered, some of my assumptions were wrong (lesson to be learnt: never assume that the same things mean the same thing in 2 different languages, even if the languages are 70% similar to one-another).
First of all there is the cucina abitabile. Ok, so it literally means "a kitchen that you can LIVE in". In Romanian "real estate culture", let's say, it means a kitchen where there's some sort of a couch and you can actually sleep there (gross). Well apparently in Italian it means "a kitchen that you can EAT in". As in, it actually has a table and chairs. Which makes it not only non-avoidable, but also extremely desirable for me. Funny as it may seem, the term of abitabile used for "eating" is not so strange when you think of a nation that spends half of her day eating. A day without colazione, pausa pranzo, aperitivo, cena (3 courses??? bring them on!!) would be absolutely boring and I totally agree. Ok I am being pretty unfair on the last 2 points: you don't have the cena if you had the aperitivo (you don't, right???) So yes, I DO want a cucina abitabile.
Then there's the angolo cottura. I was living with the sensation that this is an exception, but discovered that it's more often the rule. At least in my budget range. Because yes, it seems that an angolo cottura (cooking corner) is all that I can (most likely) afford. Great. But I guess I can just improvise us a cucina abitabile out of a writing table and 2 chairs, no?
This whole "kitchen reflection" leads my thoughts to a related but slightly different topic, the one of food differences: how and what I eat now, vs. how and what I WILL eat in Italy. But I will post it separate, for the sake of consistency.
Love,
La Reina Rana
First of all there is the cucina abitabile. Ok, so it literally means "a kitchen that you can LIVE in". In Romanian "real estate culture", let's say, it means a kitchen where there's some sort of a couch and you can actually sleep there (gross). Well apparently in Italian it means "a kitchen that you can EAT in". As in, it actually has a table and chairs. Which makes it not only non-avoidable, but also extremely desirable for me. Funny as it may seem, the term of abitabile used for "eating" is not so strange when you think of a nation that spends half of her day eating. A day without colazione, pausa pranzo, aperitivo, cena (3 courses??? bring them on!!) would be absolutely boring and I totally agree. Ok I am being pretty unfair on the last 2 points: you don't have the cena if you had the aperitivo (you don't, right???) So yes, I DO want a cucina abitabile.
Then there's the angolo cottura. I was living with the sensation that this is an exception, but discovered that it's more often the rule. At least in my budget range. Because yes, it seems that an angolo cottura (cooking corner) is all that I can (most likely) afford. Great. But I guess I can just improvise us a cucina abitabile out of a writing table and 2 chairs, no?
This whole "kitchen reflection" leads my thoughts to a related but slightly different topic, the one of food differences: how and what I eat now, vs. how and what I WILL eat in Italy. But I will post it separate, for the sake of consistency.
Love,
La Reina Rana
Day 52 - on learning Italian - the funny way
2011/11/06
Remember the times when we were kids and cable TV first appeared in Romania? There was a time after '90, when all the kids were crazy about watching cartoons on Italia 1 or Rai Uno or something like that. All the kids at my school were idolizing these cartoons and, with a curiosity that was specific to their age, were learning Italian from them, and loving it. Well, I was a bit different. I spent a lifetime hating the Italian language until a few months ago. I've always said it's the ugliest and most useless language on Earth, and that "Spanish is waaaay cooler".
This changed at a certain point this January when English seemed not to be enough anymore for communicating with my one and only perfect guide. It's amazing how much Internet changes our way of learning things. For the first months, I was keeping Google Translate open at ALL times, and almost every sentence I got or wrote on chat was going to GT for verification. But soon this wasn't enough because as the conversations went more and more complicated, GT was making more and more (obvious) mistakes. Then I discovered that if I only translated the words I didn't know, I could actually guess the meaning of the phrase. And then, for safety, at the end of the day, all conversations (which are archived in the chat history) went for a double check and I often discovered that, although at the time of the conversation I had thought we were talking about a certain thing, in reality we were talking about something else.
It may seem easy to learn a language that is 70% similar to yours, but... try to do this in English. On Google Translate, I had to use Italian/English or English/Italian for all the words/phrases/sentences, because the probability of receiving mistakes was lower than for Italian/Romanian or Romanian/Italian. Later, when I started asking my beloved about grammar rules and all kinds of rules, I had to ask them in English and received the explanations, of course, in English. Which turned everything into a more complicated story.
I have to admit, though, that I have the kindest and most patient teacher that can exist. And I am surprised of how can anyone be so patient not only to explain you the rules over and over again but also to correct each and every mistake you make.
Italian movies (with no subtitles, of course) and books in Italian also had a very important role in my instruction process, and still have it. I did not understand a great lot of movies when I first watched them, but I noticed, over time, that this improved significantly. I even watched the same movie (Benvenuti al Sud - totally recommend it, you will die laughing) the second time after a few months and noticed that I could actually understand every single word. Ok, except the parts when they speak in Napoletan dialect which is a whole different story.
The first real satisfaction about this language was when I first had the courage to actually speak it with Italians, other than my beloved and his family. I was a bit ashamed to do this in the beginning, but they actually understood me, and, most important... didn't laugh.
I am now exploring the fascinating world of accents and dialects. Because yes, the "official" Italian only exists in books. In reality, each region has its dialect, and each province has its accent. From what I understood, dialects were the ones that "official" Italian emerged from. And, in theory, people from each region should be able to "officially" speak the "official" Italian, and also be able to speak the regional dialect, let's say, at home. In reality, this does not always happen. I understood that there are still some people who speak ONLY the dialect (especially if they are from the countryside).
Because I learned Italian from a Milanese, and because I spoke it mostly with Milanese people, I like to think I have a Milanese accent. I admit it sounds funny and forced for now, but I'm working on it. I think the Milanese way of speaking is the one that is closest to the "official" Italian. I am, though, intrigued by the Roman accent, but I never get the chance to actually practice it with anyone, as I don't know any Romans.
I "secretly" fantasize of visiting Napoli, which is mostly because I want to hear people speaking in Napoletan dialect which is the funniest thing on earth. You can swear that not even the "normal" Italian speakers will ever understand it.
As a proof, check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOYQ0I6VLus
So, to conclude this all, I am more than anxious to continue the journey into the depths of this fascinating language. There's still a lot to discover and I will enjoy every second of it.
Con un SACCO d'amore :D
La Reina Rana
This changed at a certain point this January when English seemed not to be enough anymore for communicating with my one and only perfect guide. It's amazing how much Internet changes our way of learning things. For the first months, I was keeping Google Translate open at ALL times, and almost every sentence I got or wrote on chat was going to GT for verification. But soon this wasn't enough because as the conversations went more and more complicated, GT was making more and more (obvious) mistakes. Then I discovered that if I only translated the words I didn't know, I could actually guess the meaning of the phrase. And then, for safety, at the end of the day, all conversations (which are archived in the chat history) went for a double check and I often discovered that, although at the time of the conversation I had thought we were talking about a certain thing, in reality we were talking about something else.
It may seem easy to learn a language that is 70% similar to yours, but... try to do this in English. On Google Translate, I had to use Italian/English or English/Italian for all the words/phrases/sentences, because the probability of receiving mistakes was lower than for Italian/Romanian or Romanian/Italian. Later, when I started asking my beloved about grammar rules and all kinds of rules, I had to ask them in English and received the explanations, of course, in English. Which turned everything into a more complicated story.
I have to admit, though, that I have the kindest and most patient teacher that can exist. And I am surprised of how can anyone be so patient not only to explain you the rules over and over again but also to correct each and every mistake you make.
Italian movies (with no subtitles, of course) and books in Italian also had a very important role in my instruction process, and still have it. I did not understand a great lot of movies when I first watched them, but I noticed, over time, that this improved significantly. I even watched the same movie (Benvenuti al Sud - totally recommend it, you will die laughing) the second time after a few months and noticed that I could actually understand every single word. Ok, except the parts when they speak in Napoletan dialect which is a whole different story.
The first real satisfaction about this language was when I first had the courage to actually speak it with Italians, other than my beloved and his family. I was a bit ashamed to do this in the beginning, but they actually understood me, and, most important... didn't laugh.
I am now exploring the fascinating world of accents and dialects. Because yes, the "official" Italian only exists in books. In reality, each region has its dialect, and each province has its accent. From what I understood, dialects were the ones that "official" Italian emerged from. And, in theory, people from each region should be able to "officially" speak the "official" Italian, and also be able to speak the regional dialect, let's say, at home. In reality, this does not always happen. I understood that there are still some people who speak ONLY the dialect (especially if they are from the countryside).
Because I learned Italian from a Milanese, and because I spoke it mostly with Milanese people, I like to think I have a Milanese accent. I admit it sounds funny and forced for now, but I'm working on it. I think the Milanese way of speaking is the one that is closest to the "official" Italian. I am, though, intrigued by the Roman accent, but I never get the chance to actually practice it with anyone, as I don't know any Romans.
I "secretly" fantasize of visiting Napoli, which is mostly because I want to hear people speaking in Napoletan dialect which is the funniest thing on earth. You can swear that not even the "normal" Italian speakers will ever understand it.
As a proof, check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOYQ0I6VLus
So, to conclude this all, I am more than anxious to continue the journey into the depths of this fascinating language. There's still a lot to discover and I will enjoy every second of it.
Con un SACCO d'amore :D
La Reina Rana
Day 56 - finding a home in Milan...
2011/11/03
... can be really challenging. Especially if you're that kind of person who's used to the coziness of her own nice apartment that is situated within 10 minutes driving distance to the center of the city and within 10 minutes driving distance from work. Add to this the fact that the apartment is positioned in such a way that, wherever I go and whatever I do at any hour, high traffic is ALWAYS in the opposite direction. So yes, I've been blessed. So far. And yes, this turned into that kind of physical laziness that made me develop an almost symbiotic relationship with my dear car.
This is why, when starting my search for a place to stay, the first impulse I had was to recreate the conditions that I got used to in Bucharest. Which proved to be fundamentally wrong. I soon discovered that this perfect combination of conditions (close to the center, but yet far from traffic jams, big yet not enormous, surrounded by plenty of food stores, with the possibility of easily finding a parking place, etc.) does not actually exist in Milan. Or, ok, it does exist, but it costs 2000 euro/month.
A few facts that I discovered during my search (I have been cheating a little bit, but I guess this is what happens when you're lucky enough to have a former real estate agency owner at your side):
- free parking places DO NOT EXIST in Milan
- some apartments have parking places, but there is a separate amount that you have to pay to rent the parking place as well (and the amount is not small). "affitasi bla bla con posto auto"
- some apartments have garages, but this of course increases the rent accordingly
- you can even rent a garage separately, and it doesn't have to be near your building. Anyway, this is not an option, considering that the rent for a garage ("box" in Italian) in Milan can be compared to the rent of a 1 room apartment in Bucharest
- sharing a rented apartment with strangers is a very common practice but, of course, not an option for me
- "piccolo monolocale" = a tiny matchbox of 17 sqm where you could barely turn around, not to mention preparing a meal
- announcements that look to good to be true are also easy to find, but this is because they ARE to good to be true. Posting a fake announcement with pictures from home decor magazines and a ridiculously low rent is a common practice, and even the websites themselves warn you that you have to stay away from them. They usually mean that the "landlord" will ask you to make a bank transfer of some "rent in advance" and then disappear into hyperspace for ever.
- apartments that I can afford in the city are either 17 sqm matchboxes, either totally empty and unfurnished (no, I do not want to sleep and eat on the floor, and no, I do not want to buy furniture), either situated in bad famed areas where you cannot go in the street after sunset.
Conclusion: thank you God for inventing suburbs and metro. Or... I can always rent a "box" near the Duomo. Imagine how uber-cool would that be.
Now if anyone is ever curious to find a place to rent in Milan and around Italy, here are the best sites: www.casa.it, www.immobiliare.it, www.soloaffitti.it, www.secondamano.it. I would add www.mioaffitto.it but some would say it sucks (I don't agree, though).
Some common (sometimes funny) real estate terms I found in the announcements:
- "grazioso" (gracious) is by far the funniest. How in the World can an apartment be "gracious"?
- "a due passi di..." ("two steps away from..." - metro, bus station etc) - there are ALWAYS more than "two steps"
- "bel arredato" (nicely furnished) - says who?
- "spese condominiali" ("shared expenses of the building") - unless the apartment is part of a villa or something like this, these expenses will always exist, will be added to the rent and are mandatory to pay every month. At first sight you would be tempted to think (judging by how high they are) that they include at least the running cold and hot water, but... no. they don't (I'm still trying to figure out WHAT they actually include)
- "angolo cottura" ("cooking corner") - literally a corner that you're supposed to cook in if the apartment is too small to have a kitchen. This, if by cooking you mean "boiling an egg"
- "cucina abitabile" (a kitchen you can live in) - who would ever want to live in the kitchen???
Allora... cercasi monolocale in affitto, bel arredato, con posto auto, A DUE PASSI dalla metro linea mm2. Obbligatoria la presenza di una CUCINA (escluso angolo cottura), un bagno (puo essere anche con box doccia), una lavatrice, e spese condominiali sotto 80 euro/mese.
La vita e bella!! :))
Love,
La Reina Rana
This is why, when starting my search for a place to stay, the first impulse I had was to recreate the conditions that I got used to in Bucharest. Which proved to be fundamentally wrong. I soon discovered that this perfect combination of conditions (close to the center, but yet far from traffic jams, big yet not enormous, surrounded by plenty of food stores, with the possibility of easily finding a parking place, etc.) does not actually exist in Milan. Or, ok, it does exist, but it costs 2000 euro/month.
A few facts that I discovered during my search (I have been cheating a little bit, but I guess this is what happens when you're lucky enough to have a former real estate agency owner at your side):
- free parking places DO NOT EXIST in Milan
- some apartments have parking places, but there is a separate amount that you have to pay to rent the parking place as well (and the amount is not small). "affitasi bla bla con posto auto"
- some apartments have garages, but this of course increases the rent accordingly
- you can even rent a garage separately, and it doesn't have to be near your building. Anyway, this is not an option, considering that the rent for a garage ("box" in Italian) in Milan can be compared to the rent of a 1 room apartment in Bucharest
- sharing a rented apartment with strangers is a very common practice but, of course, not an option for me
- "piccolo monolocale" = a tiny matchbox of 17 sqm where you could barely turn around, not to mention preparing a meal
- announcements that look to good to be true are also easy to find, but this is because they ARE to good to be true. Posting a fake announcement with pictures from home decor magazines and a ridiculously low rent is a common practice, and even the websites themselves warn you that you have to stay away from them. They usually mean that the "landlord" will ask you to make a bank transfer of some "rent in advance" and then disappear into hyperspace for ever.
- apartments that I can afford in the city are either 17 sqm matchboxes, either totally empty and unfurnished (no, I do not want to sleep and eat on the floor, and no, I do not want to buy furniture), either situated in bad famed areas where you cannot go in the street after sunset.
Conclusion: thank you God for inventing suburbs and metro. Or... I can always rent a "box" near the Duomo. Imagine how uber-cool would that be.
Now if anyone is ever curious to find a place to rent in Milan and around Italy, here are the best sites: www.casa.it, www.immobiliare.it, www.soloaffitti.it, www.secondamano.it. I would add www.mioaffitto.it but some would say it sucks (I don't agree, though).
Some common (sometimes funny) real estate terms I found in the announcements:
- "grazioso" (gracious) is by far the funniest. How in the World can an apartment be "gracious"?
- "a due passi di..." ("two steps away from..." - metro, bus station etc) - there are ALWAYS more than "two steps"
- "bel arredato" (nicely furnished) - says who?
- "spese condominiali" ("shared expenses of the building") - unless the apartment is part of a villa or something like this, these expenses will always exist, will be added to the rent and are mandatory to pay every month. At first sight you would be tempted to think (judging by how high they are) that they include at least the running cold and hot water, but... no. they don't (I'm still trying to figure out WHAT they actually include)
- "angolo cottura" ("cooking corner") - literally a corner that you're supposed to cook in if the apartment is too small to have a kitchen. This, if by cooking you mean "boiling an egg"
- "cucina abitabile" (a kitchen you can live in) - who would ever want to live in the kitchen???
Allora... cercasi monolocale in affitto, bel arredato, con posto auto, A DUE PASSI dalla metro linea mm2. Obbligatoria la presenza di una CUCINA (escluso angolo cottura), un bagno (puo essere anche con box doccia), una lavatrice, e spese condominiali sotto 80 euro/mese.
La vita e bella!! :))
Love,
La Reina Rana
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
