One last visit to the Questura

Back when Paolo had his appointment to retake his fingerprints (required to obtain his permesso), the agent scheduled a 21/04 (April 21) appointment for him to pick up his carta di soggiorno elettronica (his residence card, which states the type of permesso he has - "familiare" or permission to live in Italy as the family member of a citizen, plus other identifying information that is stored in a biometric chip.  So when I received an email the other day saying that his appointment has been scheduled for 24/05 (May 24), I didn't know what to think - after all, we'd already be back in the US by that point.

Our translator didn't seem concerned.  "Oh, the agent probably just forgot to put it in the system, so they didn't know you already have an appointment.  It happens.  Don't worry, just go to the appointment we already scheduled," she said.  So we did.

Only to find out, when we arrived at the gatehouse, that we were not on the appointment list for the day.  I thought for sure we were going to be sent away - but fortunately, the same officer who scheduled the appointment happened to be on duty again today, and remembered us, so the guard at the gate let us in after all.  The translator was right; the agent did forget to put the appointment in the system. 

So, after taking Paolo's fingerprints yet again - to verify his identity as the person to whom the card was issued - he finally received his residency permit.

Official Italian Resident

I blocked out the personal info - but this is what the front of the card looks like

It seems a bit ironic that it was issued the week before we are scheduled to return to the US.  But at least now no one can question whether he's "overstayed" his allotted 90 days in the Schengen area on this trip.  And we have plenty of time to decide our ultimate residency goals.  

Our lease is up here at the end of next week.  We will be leaving our comune a bit before that, though.  Our plan is to head to Rome (well, Fiumicino, actually) this Sunday and turn in our rental car.  We will stay there until we fly to the US on Wednesday - assuming, of course, that we both pass the required Covid tests, and that our flight isn't canceled and/or rescheduled - it seems that's a potential issue, from what I've been reading in the US news.  In case you're wondering:  we certainly will be wearing our FFP2 masks on the plane, overturned mandates be damned.  

I tagli di capelli

Both of us have been looking pretty shaggy lately, so we decided to treat ourselves to haircuts at a fancy-schmancy salone in Termoli.  I was able to schedule appointments for us via email, thankfully - so much easier that way, because I can use Google translate to communicate.  Antonio Lamolle Hair Concept is a salone di parrucchiere, that is, they cut both women's and men's hair (a barbiere only cuts men's hair), so I was able to schedule us simultaneous appointments for yesterday morning.  

When I made the appointments, I gave them the head's up that we do not speak Italian at all well.  It wasn't a problem since it turned out that Antonio spoke some English - at least enough that we were able to communicate what we wanted in terms of cuts.

When we arrived at the appointed time, we were greeted by the very friendly receptionist, who checked our Green Passes*, then brought out a plastic bag into which I was to put my purse.  She took our coats and the bag to the cloakroom, and we were whisked off to our respective chairs.  I didn't notice any other customers in the salon while we were there (there may be limits on the number of people allowed inside at one time because of Covid), so we had everyone's attention.

I started off with a very luxurious shampoo experience - the chair was a massaging recliner.  I would have been content to sit there all day, frankly.  I wish I could have asked what products they were using to wash and condition my hair, because they smelled fantastic.  And the shampoo boy took his time - I think by the time I was done at his station, not only was I completely relaxed, but Paolo's haircut was just about finished.  Interestingly, he had his hair washed after it was cut.  He tells me that usually, when he goes to his barber in the US, they don't wash it at all.

Next I was led over to the hairdresser's station and was offered a caffè, which I declined, probably to their surprise, since in Italy coffee goes with just about every activity.  But I'd had several cups earlier, and didn't want to have to pee in the middle of my haircut.  Antonio himself came over to discuss what kind of haircut I wanted.  I explained that I usually get a bob, slightly angled so as to be a bit shorter in the back; I let him know that I prefer a cut that requires very little fuss to style (because I suck at that kind of thing).  I also rather timidly suggested that I might like to try some bangs this time.  He pulled out his phone and showed me some photos of bob haircuts, and I agreed that yes, that is what I wanted.  He very firmly stated:  "No fringe!"  Well, he's the stylist, so I deferred to his professional opinion.  Also, I am easily intimidated by stylists.

And with that, he whipped out the scissors, and snipsnipsnipsnipsnipboom, my hair was cut.  Seriously, I have never had such a fast haircut in my life (I needn't have turned down that caffè after all).  I think he was done in about a minute and a half, no joke.  He then called over one of his assistants (all of whom had gorgeous hair, by the way) to do the blow-out.  "Straight or waves?" he asked.  I went with wavy; I think he found this acceptable.  I'm sure he'd have said something if he hadn't.  He explained to his assistant how to style it, and then...disappeared into thin air.  Drying my hair seemed to take about four times as long as it did to cut it.  Once she shut off the dryer, Antonio magically re-materialized to examine her work.  It seems he approved, because he called for "Lacca!  Lacca!" and I was hairsprayed vigorously.       

In the end, we were both really pleased with our results - so much so that we left American-sized tips rather than Italian ones, much to the surprise of the receptionist (and hopefully to the delight of the shampoo boy and assistant).  I'm half-sorry that I didn't schedule myself for a tinta (coloring) as well.

I'm terrible at taking selfies - this picture absolutely does not do justice to my haircut.  You'll just have to trust that is it actually as cute as I think it is.

Isn't he handsome? ❤

*Edit:  I recently obtained a Green Pass for Paolo, following a similar procedure to the one I used to obtain mine, with the exception that as he does not yet have his residency established, I had to download his pass from a government website, not the IO app.

Passaporto e Permesso

 "Got three passports, couple of visas/You don't even know my real name..."

-Talking Heads, Life During Wartime

Well, I have two passports, not three - and it certainly wasn't no party, and it wasn't no disco, and it definitely wasn't no foolin' around...but I did it!  I finally have my passaporto italiano!  I'm so excited I think I will post another picture of it:

There are some slight differences between the US passport and the Italian one (other than the obvious ones of country and color).  For one thing, the Italian passport lists my town of residence (though not the street address). It also lists my height (in cm, which kind of makes me feel a bit taller) and my eye color.  By the way, according to the clerk at the questura here, there is no such eye color as "hazel," so for Italian purposes, my eyes are listed as grigi (grey).  The Italian passport includes two photos, not just one.  The biggest difference between the two passports is, of course, my name - because Italian women do not have the option to change their surname when they marry, it reflects my maiden name (as do all my other official Italian documents).  

There's an interesting website called Passport Index where you can compare passports of different countries.  As of this writing, Italy is ranked #2 in the world in terms of where you can go; the US is ranked 6th (taking Covid into account).

My passport was actually issued a few weeks ago, but was sent to my service provider's office rather than to my apartment address.  Since Paolo had an appointment to apply for his documentation today, I opted to have our translator bring it with her to give to me when we met for his appointment, rather than trust it to Poste italiane.

Now that I am a citizen, complete with ID and passaporto, I can live here (or anywhere in the EU), and/or come and go as I please.  I don't have to worry about the 90/180 day rules.  As the spouse of an Italian/EU citizen, Paolo has some limited rights as well - as long as he has the proper paperwork.  So today, we headed into Campobasso, the provincial capital, so he could present his documentation at the Immigration office in the questura, in order to receive a permesso di soggiorno per coniuge di cittadino italiano (residence permit for the spouse of an Italian citizen).

The questura opens for business at 9 AM; we were advised to get there by 8:30.  When we arrived at 8:20, there was already a line outside the gatehouse!  I was a little surprised, because I wasn't expecting it to be so busy - after all, Molise is not a very populous region (I think only Valle d'Aosta has fewer people).  But there must have been at least 10 people waiting in line when we arrived, and more showed up after we did.  I use the phrase "waiting in line" very loosely, as according to my personal observations, Italians don't really queue, they just mill about.   Our translator (today it was Saya again) joined us shortly after we arrived; she had all the relevant paperwork with her (we'd coordinated this last week).

At 9 AM the gatehouse opened and there was a rush to the front of the "line;" we did get through relatively quickly (after Saya and I presented our Green Passes for scanning, and Paolo's CDC vaccination card for review).  Paolo was given a little ticket (like you might get at the the deli counter); he was #76 (I couldn't puzzle out how the numbering system worked; there were not actually 75 people ahead of him, but whatever).  We walked around the gatehouse and down the side of the questura building, and entered a little outdoor courtyard to continue our wait.

We waited outside in the cold (low 40sF) until about 10:45, because there was only one person working the immigration counter.  Because Italy.  Once it was finally Paolo's turn, it went smoothly, if a bit slowly.  We handed in copies of the documents they require:  our estratto per riassunto del registro degli atti di matrimonio (extract of our marriage information recorded in my comune); a copy of every page of Paolo's US passport (yes - every single page, including the blank ones); a copy of my Italian ID card; a copy of my lease for the apartment here; some bank statements (to show he can support himself); a Dichiarazione di ospitalità or "hospitality letter," a form I had to sign that confirms that I'm letting him live with me; and a dichiarazione di soggiorno straniero - a foreigner's declaration of stay.  He also had to supply two Italian passport-sized photos, as well as a bollettino postale (it is the form that confirms the fee has been paid - kind of like a receipt that you fill in yourself - in this case, €30,46), and a marca da bollo (€16 tax stamp).  It seems as if everything needs a tax stamp in Italy.

The officer slowly shuffled through the documents and entered information into his computer; then after scanning two fingerprints (one from each hand), he handed us the very flimsy and not-at-all-official-looking-but-they-swear-it-is receipt for the permesso.  The actual permesso document will allegedly be ready...sometime in the next four months.  Because Italy.  There is a number on the receipt that you can enter into the questura's website to check to see whether it is ready to be picked up.  They do not mail them, as they must verify one's identity via fingerprints before releasing the document.  However, the receipt serves as a temporary permesso document; in fact, we were told that lots of people never bother to go back and pick up their actual permesso.  

We thought being handed the receipt indicated we'd reached the end of the appointment - but we thought wrong.  We had to go back outside (brrr!) and wait until called by another officer - this one wearing a lab coat - who scanned fingerprints from all of Paolo's fingers, as well as his palms.  I'm not sure what the lab coat was in aid of, as I can't image you get very dirty just scanning fingerprints all day.

We returned home about 13:00, lunchtime here.  Now that Paolo has proof that his permesso is being processed, we don't have to worry about anyone questioning his right to be here, and/or why he's been here longer than 90 days.  Not that we were too worried about it - except that time we were lollipopped.  Now maybe we will think about doing a little cautious traveling, especially now that Covid numbers are looking a bit better here (*knocks on wood*). 

In other news:  we heard that there is another American couple here in our comune!  They are living around the corner from us.  They only arrived a day or two ago, so we haven't met them yet, but I am sure we will soon.  They are also here for citizenship recognition.  They hail from the Philly region, too.  Small world!

Lynk & Co and other things

Picking up the new car at the airport this past Tuesday was fairly uneventful; we checked out of our hotel at noon, and even though we weren't scheduled to pick up the car until 13:00, we decided to just walk across to the airport anyway.  As it turned out, the car was ready and waiting for us, yay.  And this is what we got:

This is a Lynk & Co 01.  We'd never heard of this maker before; it's a Swedish-Chinese brand.  According to what I've read online, it seems to share a lot in common with the Volvo XC40.  There is a heavy emphasis on internet connectivity and general Jetsons-ness; the infotainment screen is huge (almost as big as my iPad screen).  Weirdly, though, for such an Internet of Things kind of vehicle, the wireless charging pad in the car doesn't seem to work with my iPhone.  

I haven't driven it yet, but Paolo says it handles well.  It's classified as a compact SUV, so it's a little bigger than our previous car...which makes me a bit nervous, what with Paolo's penchant for trying to squeeze down tiny streets he has no business driving on.

Our drive home started out fine, although we did end up back on the A-1, albeit this time with the proper entrance ticket, so no additional fines were assessed.  I forget the amount of the actual toll, but it was certainly a lot less than €82,30.

We passed through some nice countryside; I attempted to get a few pictures from the passenger's point of view:

Not a great picture, but ahead is the Sanctuary Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows, in Castelpetroso, Isernia Province, Molise.  Apparently, in 1888, Our Lady appeared to some young shepherdesses somewhere nearby.  Either that, or perhaps they gathered the wrong kind of mushrooms while out herding their sheep...

The GPS in this car has a very calm and soothing voice; she sounds very trustworthy.  However, as it turns out, she gets easily confused by the mountains, the little farm roads, and so on...we got lost for an hour (while only about 30 minutes from home), thanks to her constant (devious?) recalculations.  We were afraid she was going to take us down some little tractor road and we'd suddenly find ourselves stuck in the middle of an olive grove just as night was falling.  As it was, we certainly got a very interesting tour of some of the more remote comuni of Campobasso province.  

Otherwise it's been a quiet week.  This morning, we woke up to another rainbow - so I was pretty sure I was going to have some news about my passport today:

Sure enough, I did get a message confirming that my passport is ready and will be forwarded to me ASAP.  I should hopefully have it by early next week!

In other news - I now have a Certificazione Verde - an Italian Green Pass (it's a Super Green Pass, actually, since I have had three jabs).  The Green Pass is a QR code with your Covid vaccination info, to be scanned when you go to any kind of venue that requires proof of vaccination (pretty much anywhere these days).  I didn't really need it, because the US's paper CDC card suffices in place of the Super Green Pass.  But I wanted to see if I could navigate the system and figure out how to get one on my own.  It turned to be a relatively simple process, once I reached out via email to the regional health department to ask (thanks to Google translate).  All I had to do was send an email to request it, along with copies of my Italian ID, my codice fiscale card (tax number), and a copy of my CDC vaccination card.  A few days later - that is, today - I got an email back directing me to download the IO app, which is a government app where you can do lots of stuff - I don't even know what all yet.  Once I had that set up:  boom, there was my Green Pass.  And I'm not even on the national health system.

This weekend I am thinking about attempting to make some homemade pasta.  I got the Pasta Grannies cookbook for Christmas, and I want to try making trofie, because it's literally two ingredients (flour and boiling water) and I don't need to roll it out or cut it.  We'll see!

Questura

We woke up Monday morning to see a little snow on the surrounding mountains:

View out my bathroom window

Fortunately, it didn't snow here in town (yet) although the temps have dropped considerably.  Currently it is about 39F and a bit windy (though less windy than it was yesterday).  The Weather Channel app had predicted we'd have a little snow overnight, changing to rain today; happily, this did not come to pass, and all was dry as of when we woke up this morning.  Later in the week, the sun will allegedly return along with some warmer weather predicted to be in the high 40'sF - low 50'sF - I'll take it!

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had my passport appointment at the questura in Campobasso.  Ironically, this would have been the day that I would have had an appointment at the Italian Consulate office in Philadelphia, had it not been canceled for Covid.  I'm not complaining, as going to the consulate would have entailed a wait of at least another two years for the processing of my request for recognition of my citizenship - so it all worked out in the end, as life often does.

The questura is the provincial headquarters for the polizia di stato (not to be confused with the carabinieri - which are actually a military police force, like the French gendarmerie - or the guardia di finanza, which deals specifically with financial crimes, smuggling, and drugs).  The questura is also the administrative office where one goes to deal with immigration issues (non-EU immigration in particular), request passports, obtain firearms licenses (quite rare in Italy compared to the US), permits for various things, etc., etc.

Main entrance, for my purposes.  It appeared that folks with immigration issues enter via a side door.  It's quite a large building, extending much farther on either side of this door than you might guess from the photo.

My appointment was for 10 AM; we managed to get there on time despite having taken a couple of wrong exits off the roundabouts in Campobasso.  For some reason, the GPS system in our car sometimes gets a little fuzzy on exactly which exits to take when going around a traffic circle.  As it turned out, the questura is located just down the street from the agenzia delle entrate, where I obtained my codice fiscale.  To our (happy) surprise, we were able to find a parking spot in a lot across the street - a minor miracle.  Also a minor miracle that we didn't get flattened while crossing said street - Italian drivers rarely stop for pedestrians (or other drivers, for that matter).

Nicoletta was not available to translate for this appointment, so we met with her colleague Saya, who was very sweet. We walked up to a sort of gatehouse next to the questura building, which was manned by a somewhat grumpy looking officer behind a glass window.  Saya explained (more than once, actually) that we were there for my passport appointment.  I noticed he was checking a clipboard, presumably reading through a list of scheduled appointments, looking for my name.  Eventually he found it and we were waved through to the grounds of the building.  Interestingly, while there was a device for checking body temperature on a stand in front of the officer's window, we were not required to scan ourselves before being admitted.

Surprisingly, when we entered the building, it seemed pretty empty; I'd expected to see more people bustling about their bureaucratic business.  I'd mentally prepared for a long wait, red tape, requests for documents I didn't have, additional fees, whatever.  Italian bureaucracy really does have a poor reputation.  However, my appointment was actually very quick; we'd brought the filled-in application forms with us, along with two passport-sized photos (note that they are not the same 2x2-inch size as you'd use for a US passport; Italian photos are a bit smaller).  Once we greeted the woman at the passport counter and Saya explained that the appointment was for me, it went fairly smoothly.  The forms were reviewed and deemed correct; I just had to sign them.  I was also fingerprinted - one finger on each hand.  The fingerprint machine at the questura worked much better than the one in my comune; I didn't have to jam my fingers down on it, or have someone apply pressure to them for me in order to make the scan work correctly.  I was then told my passport should be available in about a week.  

And...that was it.  It was a bit anticlimactic.  The total fees, for the passport, plus the tax stamp that must be paid for and added to the application (this stamp costs more than the actual passport), plus mailing, I think was just about €126 (just over $143). My expedited US passport renewal in 2021 cost more, plus it took longer than a week to receive.

I suggested that we might perhaps check out the shopping mall in Campobasso, since we were already pretty close to it, but Paolo opted to head home instead, saving the shopping trip for another day.  So rather than celebrate this milestone by buying myself a present, I decided to mark the occasion by cooking dinner - I made capellini with clam sauce, which I'd never done before.  I melted some butter, added olive oil, a jar of clams with juice, some garlic, some very finely diced zucchini, and some seasonings; I let it come to a boil, then let it simmer a bit before stirring the sauce into the bowl of pasta.  It was delicious, if I say so myself:

Notice that Paolo got a haircut?  Unfortunately for him, I had to give him one of my Covid-specials with the clippers, since we can't figure out when, exactly, the hair salon here in town is opened.  Every time we go by, it is closed, and they don't seem to have a website.  I always forget to ask when chatting with neighbors.  I really should try to remember, though, as I myself desperately need a cut and color.  Paolo kindly offered to return the favor, but I declined as 1) we don't have proper haircutting scissors; and 2) I'm not that desperate yet.

Odds and Ends

It's Monday, and as I am writing this, the streets are still relatively holiday-quiet; I think the official "holiday" season here doesn't really end until Epiphany, January 6th, which is a public holiday here.  I do hear the vegetable seller driving around in his truck calling out his wares over his loudspeaker, though.  And, when I was hanging out laundry earlier today, I looked down from the balcony to see someone standing in the street waiting for the doctor's office to open.

Speaking of the doctor's office - she (one of our landlords) still hasn't entirely moved to her new offices.  When we first moved in, we were told she'd be moving out in a week or so.  I mentioned it in passing last time I spoke with Nicoletta, and she said that they're still working on getting the new place ready!  Because Italy.  I don't really mind, except that I'm not thrilled about a bunch of germy sick people hanging out around our front door several days a week; I'm kind of a germaphobe.  But they all do wear their masks, so that's something, anyway.  The doctor's office placed a sign on the door - that is, on the door to OUR apartment - stating that patients must wear masks in the building.

Speaking of masks, and Covid, and so on - in my last post I talked a little bit about the currently mandated Covid mitigation strategies, and how people generally comply with the rules, and we don't see a lot of evidence of any anti-(Covid, mask, vaccine) people around - I just wanted to clarify that I was talking about our personal experience, here where we are, in our region (and also in Lecce where we were for Christmas, for that matter, which is to our south).  Of course there are anti- (Covid, mask, vaccine) people in Italy - I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression that we're living in some kind of Covid-free paradise.  There are areas of Italy - quite a few - where Covid is currently surging.  While certain regions are back in the yellow zone, Molise is not one of them, thankfully; it is still in the lowest-risk white zone.  I think this is in part because it is so rural; Puglia, where we spent Christmas, is also a white zone.  Interestingly, we read that while Omicron is here, Delta is still the dominant strain in Italy - for now.  

One more personal Covid bummer is that the Marche region currently has a high number of cases.  That is the region where my great grandfather's hometown, Corinaldo, is located.  I was hoping we would be able to take a drive up there sometime soon-ish; but I think it would be best to wait on that for now.

And then there are these people living in Bolzano who think they're protected from illness by all the fresh Alpine air, and who sincerely believe that if they do happen to get sick, they can simply treat it with "onion compresses, body cream[s] of thyme and myrtle, and drink[ing] a lot of tea."  Bolzano, which - surprise! - has one of the highest Covid infection rates in Italy, is pretty far to the north of us.  Aside from Covid and the weird healthcare beliefs of a majority of its population, Bolzano otherwise sounds like an interesting place to visit, but we won't be going there anytime soon.

We don't really have anything interesting planned to do for this week; my next citizenship-related appointment, for the purpose of applying for my Italian passport, is scheduled for Tuesday of next week, 1/11 (or, as we write here, 11/01 - something I always have to stop and think about when filling in or reading forms).  This morning I took care of some basic household chores - vacuuming and then mopping the tile floors, as well as laundry - I'm on load #2 as I'm writing this.  

When I got up at 5:30 or 6 AM this morning to use the facilities, I turned on load #1 before going back to bed; that way the load was done by the time I woke up for real around 9 AM.  It really does take about two hours to do one load of wash; that just seems to be the norm here.  I'm really not sure why European washing machines have such long cycles.  The machines tend to be smaller capacity, too, according to my observations.  I've tried running the machine on both the regular and the "eco" cycle, but that didn't make any difference in the amount of time it took to complete a load.  Frankly, I'm not even sure what the "eco" button does on my machine.  The weather has been very nice lately, in that it hasn't been raining and/or super windy; it looks like it will be sunny and mid- to upper-50s F for at least half of this week - in other words, good clothes drying weather.

I forgot to mention that when I went in to sign the registers at the town hall last week, I was also - finally! - given a copy of the trash and recycling schedule! Up until now, we've put out trash and recycling based on our guesses as to what our surrounding neighbors were placing outside for pickup.  At last we have confirmation as to what specific items to put out for pickup on a given day, and on which holidays trash/recycling is not collected.  I was also informed that the schedule will be changing in the beginning of the year, and I should be getting a copy of the new schedule in the mail (who knows when? because Italy).  The funny thing is that last week, someone - presumably one of our landlords - taped a note on our door about what containers to put out on each day.  The note was written in English, so someone must have helped them, or else they used a translation app.  

Monday:  "organico" (food trash/compostables)

Tuesday:  "secco residuo" (non-recyclables, trash that doesn't fit into the other categories)

Wednesday:  "plastica e metalli" (plastics and metal)

Thursday:  "organico" (again)

Friday:  alternates between "vetro" (glass) and "carta e cartone" (paper and cardboard)

Saturday:  "pannolini e pannoloni" (baby diapers and adult incontinence products)

There is a restaurant in Termoli we'd like to try, maybe this week, for lunch - a time of day we suspect there wouldn't be many other people in the restaurant - called Yoshi Fusion Sushi.  It's very near the Carrefour (supermarket) and the Happy Casa (home goods).  Whenever we drive by it, it looks pretty empty.  It's only open 12-3 during the afternoons, then opens again at supper time form 7 PM - 11PM (very common hours here).  We're curious to see how the Asian food is here.  We have to go out to Happy Casa at some point soon anyway, as Paolo has been on a kind of glass-breaking rampage...OK, perhaps "rampage" is a little strong; but he did manage to somehow break both a wine glass and a water glass in separate incidents today.

We have been watching TV shows in Italian with English subtitles - or rather, shows available via our Amazon Firestick.  I mentioned previously that we watched the Italian version of Nero Wolfe on MHz Choice, which was really quite good. The downside of watching things on MHz Choice is that you can't change the streaming settings, so shows we watch through that subscription (which are almost all HD) use up more data per episode than I would like.  Netflix is much better as far as that goes; if you adjust down to SD, you use much, much less data.  We watched all three seasons of Suburra:  Blood on Rome, which was excellent, I thought.  Apparently it's based on a movie (that we have not seen).  It has organized crime, gypsies, and corrupt Vatican officials - what could be better?  It's also pretty violent, so definitely not a show for the kiddies.  I personally enjoyed this show much more than I did The Sopranos, actually.  We also just wrapped up a two-season documentary series called Rotten, which is about food production, and really made us think about some of the foods we consume and the effect our consumption has on other people around the world, as well as the environment.  I don't know that watching TV shows in Italian is really helping us learn the language all that much, but it can't hurt, anyway.

One food-related item:  peanut butter!  Another item found on the "international" shelves at the big supermarket (we have not seen any peanut butter at any of the little mercati here in town).  They had two kinds - a "crunchy" and a "creamy," each made by a different producer.  I couldn't resist and chose the creamy one, as that's what I would eat at home.  It was, by the way, close to €4 for a jar (in other words, a little pricey).  I finally got around to tasting it yesterday...and do you know, it was pretty close to American, non-organic peanut butter (frankly I don't care for the organic kind because I don't like the way the oil separates out of it).  I would say it was a bit less salty, and less sweet than the brand I normally buy in the US, but had just about the same creamy texture and peanuty flavor.  Interestingly, the company listed on the label - Nick the Easy Rider - seems to be German.  Nick appears to be an importer of some sort...the website, in both German and Italian, seems to lose something in translation...

And now, time for a little pranzo; I think there's a tuna melt calling my name...

12/31/2021: Happy New Year's Eve

We returned from Lecce last Monday via train; we wore our FFP2 masks as required and also had our temperatures checked at the station prior to boarding.  And there was no mold on the apartment walls when we returned, yay!

During the last month, Italy has tightened up their Covid protocols several times to include, among things,  1) wearing masks outdoors; 2) requiring the use of FFP2 masks on all public transportation and in most venues (theaters, stadiums, and so on); and requiring the "Super" Green Pass for indoor dining, museums, sporting events, going to the gym, and for just about anything else taking place indoors.

Pretty much everyone wears either an FFP2 or a surgical-type mask (the change to requiring the FFP2's in many circumstances is really recent).  Personally, I like the FFP2 masks better anyway - I feel like they fit my face better, and the ones I purchase have a metal piece with foam cushioning that you can bend to fit across your nose, meaning eyeglasses don't fog up.  They're a little pricey - about €1 a pop - and I buy them in boxes of 10.  I recently read an article stating that the government is mandating that the price drop to €0,50 per mask.  You see very few people without masks anywhere (yes, of course there are Covid-deniers, anti-vaxxers, and anti-maskers here in Italy, as there are everywhere...but there doesn't seem to be as many of them, they don't seem as vocal or at least they don't get as much press as in the US, and we really haven't knowingly encountered any here - that is, we haven't seen any protesters or people blatantly disregarding the rules).

Green Pass (confirms you're either fully vaccinated, or have proof of recovery from Covid, or have tested negative for Covid within the last 48 hours) vs Super Green Pass (confirms you're either fully vaccinated or have proof of having recovered from Covid) hasn't been an issue for us.  Neither one of us has one, of course, as we are not on the national health scheme, and we haven't yet figured out whether we - or at least I - can use our CDC vaccination cards to have a Super Green Pass generated (there's a lot of conflicting info floating around the internet about this).  Note that these "passes" are QR codes, not paper passes like those issued in the US.  But we have not had any trouble with showing our CDC cards + US passports when asked for a Green Pass - Italy says that these are acceptable for Americans to present.  We've had to show our CDC proof of vaccinations cards any time we've dined indoors, gone to a museum, checked into a hotel, and taken the train.  

As far as we're concerned, this is all to the good!  Nothing is 100% of course, but we do feel reasonably safe with all these measures in place.  Here in our comune, it's not such an issue as we're not exactly in the midst of a bustling metropolis; there are no big crowds to worry about when we do go out.  We mostly cook at home, occasionally getting take-out pizza from the place down the street, but when we were in Rome and in Lecce, we did eat outdoors as often as possible.

I wrote all of the above not for the purpose of agitating anyone who might disagree with certain Covid measures, or to make some kind of political statement, or whatever; but simply to describe what the rules are currently like here.

Moving on...

As I said, we returned home on Monday; on Tuesday 12/28, I had to go to the town hall to sign off on my birth and marriage information, as the entry of same into the town's official records is now complete.  Note that birth, marriage, and death records are maintained at the comune level (unlike, say, in PA where birth and death records are filed at the state level, while marriage records are filed with the county offices).  As well as having computerized records, the information is also entered into actual, physical books:  the Registro degli Atti di Nascita (Register of Births) and the Registro degli Atti di Matrimonio (Register of Marriages).  There is also a Registro degli Atti di Morte, but "I'm not dead yet...I don't want to go in the cart...I feel fine!"*

Registro degli Atti di Nascita

Registro degli Atti di Matrimonio

Unfortunately, I was told that they won't give you a copy of your entries in the books unless you have some kind of pressing need (often court-related).  The modern-day entries into these seemingly old-fashioned books are typed.  I happen to have copies of some of my ancestor's entries from their respective comuni that were hand written.  As an example, here is my great grandfather's birth record entry (top of left-hand page):

I did, however, get a copy of my estratto per riassunto del registro degli atti di nascita, as well as a copy of our estratto per riassunto del registro degli atti di matrimonio - basically, extracts of the information in the birth and marriage record books, respectively.

The marriage record is particularly important, as now Paolo finally has an appointment to obtain his permesso to allow him to remain in Italy as my non-EU citizen spouse.  Nicoletta has been trying to get this appointment for some time, knowing that since he is not an EU/Schengen area citizen, he has to abide by the 90/180 day travel rules:  he can only stay within the Schengen Area for 90 out of every 180 days.  I think his 90th day is January 24th.  Because Italian bureaucracy is what it is, the first available appointment for him is February 8th.  Yes, that is outside the 90 days, but with a receipt from the questura showing he has an "appointment," plus our marriage record, he has the right to remain beyond the 90 days for now (because he has proof of a pending appointment and he can prove he is married to an Italian citizen, should any official question it in the meantime).

I have "appointment" in quotes above because there is no set time - basically, we have to show up on the day and wait until we're called in.  Because Italy, I guess. 

I should mention that we do have tickets for a flight to the US for 1/19.  I booked these back when I booked our incoming flight to Italy, and made sure they were flexible and could be changed without penalty, not knowing how long the citizenship process would take, what Covid would look like, and so on.  The airline has already changed our flight on us - I'm not sure why (I'm guessing Covid-related), but I've been notified that the flight out of Rome is now departing much earlier in the day (something ridiculous like 6 AM) and we also now are scheduled to have a 4+ hour layover at Heathrow.  No thank you!  As of now, chances are quite high that we will be changing these tickets and not returning to the US in January, and will keep Paolo's appointment at the questura.  There are some other things we need to consider regarding just how long we will actually remain in Italy, so stay tuned for updates on that.

My own appointment at the questura to apply for my Italian passport is scheduled for January 11.  

Speaking of official documents and the like:  yesterday afternoon, our landlord knocked on the door to deliver a piece of mail that somehow was delivered to...some address other than ours...and subsequently somehow made its way to him, to give to me (gotta love small town life!).  In the envelope was my official codice fiscale card - I didn't know it would be so official and plastic (unlike a paper US social security card).  The front of it looks like this (with my tax number blacked out):

The EE for "Provincia" (province) just indicates that I'm foreign-born.  Every province has an accepted two-letter abbreviation; for example, the province in which we live, Campobasso, is abbreviated as CB.

We have no plans for New Year's Eve tonight.  Back in the US we don't usually do anything for NYE other than watch Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen get tipsy and ring in the new year on CNN.  We do have a bottle of Prosecco, so there's that, anyway.  I think most of the usual big, crowded celebrations are canceled here in Italy anyway, as large crowds and so forth are not really allowed at present.  

Buon anno a tutti!  🥂🍾 🥳

*for those who missed the reference, click here. 

San Giuliano di Puglia & Pandoro & CIE

There wasn't much happening here to report on in the last week.  I didn't get a message indicating that my Italian ID is ready (maybe today?); but I imagine as we're rolling up to Christmas things might have slowed down a bit, so that wasn't really unexpected.  The most exciting thing going on is that we've now had three whole days in a row without rain!  Whoo-hoo!  I think I will wash sheets today...

Since the weather was so nice yesterday, we decided to take a drive over to the next hilltop town to check it out - San Giuliano di Puglia [note:  the Italian Wikipedia page I linked to has more interesting info than the English one; you can translate the page via your web browser if you're interested]. The "di Puglia" in the comune name reflects the fact that it was once part of the Puglia region (in English:  Apulia), rather than Molise.

San Giuliano is a smaller comune than the one in which we are living.  There was a terrible earthquake in this region in 2002, during which the elementary school in San Giuliano di Puglia collapsed, killing 27 children (you can still see obvious damage from this earthquake in some buildings in our own comune).  There is now a memorial park on the site.

Here are some pictures I took as we explored the comune:

Top of the memorial park

View of the comune.  Very far in the background you can see our comune on the next hill

Looking down the town

A devotional cross above the comune dedicated to several members of a family, I believe...haven't found anything more specific about it online yet

 

View looking down from the top of the memorial

As I was typing the above, there was a knock on the door - the vigile officer came (accompanied by my landlord) to drop off my new Italian ID card (CIE - Carta di Identità Elettronica)!  I wasn't expecting it to be hand delivered; that was nice of them.

This is what the front looks like (certain information redacted):

Perhaps not the most flattering photo, but it will do.

I just messaged Nicoletta to let her know I now have my ID; she asked me to meet her in Campobasso this afternoon, so that we can schedule a passport appointment.  The appointment itself will also take place in Campobasso, as that is where the questura is located (the provincial police headquarters - I think the closest US equivalent might be the regional State Police barracks).  The passport appointment has to be scheduled via an app that needs to be downloaded to my phone - and of course as it will all be in Italian, she will need to help me to navigate the scheduler.  

And now back to our regularly scheduled post:

The only other thing I was going to write about today was that we recently tried pandoro (or more properly, pan d'oro - golden bread).  Pandoro is a popular Christmas treat here, a kind of sweet bread/cake.  You see it in all the markets; there are a variety of brands ranging in price from quite cheap (maybe 3-4 euro) to fairly expensive (I think I saw one for about 15 euro).  It is made with yeast, and, to me, has a light texture not unlike an angel food cake, though with a denser, less "spongey" quality, if that makes sense:

As you can see, it has a very distinctive shape, too.  It seems it's often served with a dusting of powdered sugar.  I like it a lot, particularly because it is light and, in spite of the powdered sugar, not overly sweet.  This is not the same thing as panettone, which is more like a fruit cake/bread.  I haven't tried the panettone here yet; we used to have English-style fruitcakes at Christmas when I was a kid, and I was not a huge fan.  But I will keep an open mind (and palette), should the opportunity to sample some arise.

TV & ID

On Tuesday, Nicoletta messaged me on WhatsApp to let me know she would probably be coming in to town to check in with the clerks to see how my document transcriptions were coming along.  She said that if possible (that is, if the clerks would be ready for me), she would like to have me come in and fill in the paperwork for my carta di identità elettronica (Italian ID card; unlike the US, ID cards are issued at the national level, not the state level).  For this, I would need to have ID-sized photos ready to attach to the paperwork.

Well…there is a photographer here in town who allegedly does ID photos (he also sells eyeglasses) - but no one seems to know exactly when his shop is open - we walk by it quite often and have never seen anyone in there; the landlords and another neighbor I asked didn’t have a clue, either.

However, fototessera booths (photo booths where you can have ID photos made) are fairly common here - although there doesn’t seem to be one within the comune.  You can usually find one at a train station, or in a shopping mall, for example.  Unlike in the US, you wouldn’t go to the pharmacy or the post office to have passport-sized pictures printed.  

We decided we’d better go get this done ASAP, since the next day, Wednesday, was a public holiday, and many things would be closed.  We ended up driving to a shopping center in Campobasso (not located in the old town, fortunately, so didn’t need to worry about the narrow streets or getting lost, as happened when we first arrived here).  The machine was easier to use than I expected, as it had an English language option for the directions.  It ended up costing 6 euros for 4 ID-sized photos.  Easy-peasy!  I had Paolo get a set for himself, too, as he may need them later on.  For some reason, we both look a bit grumpy in our photos.  On the other hand, they’re really no worse than our US passport photos or driver’s licenses.  Actually, I’d say the Italian photo is slightly better in that my face doesn’t look quite as pudgy as it does in my US ID photos.  Better lighting in the photo booths, I think.

Another item we took care of on Tuesday was this:  we finally got ourselves a mobile internet router!  Until now, we’ve been using e-SIMs in our phones, plus I have a physical sim in my iPad, for our data needs.  With those, we purchase a monthly amount of data, and top up at the end of the monthly period, rather than having a monthly bill as we do with AT&T in the US.  This is all fine for emails, web surfing, blogging, shopping, and so on…but we’ve been limiting how much video we watch, because of how much data that seems to eat up.  

We do have a TV here, but of course all the channels are Italian.  I’ve played around with the TV settings in the hopes of finding shows to watch with English subtitles, which would be super helpful in learning the language.  But the best I could find was ONE channel that would play movies dubbed in English, with Italian subtitles…not very helpful. 

Except for the language-learning aspect, I really haven’t missed watching TV as much as I thought I would.  After all, I can get all the US news on my phone whenever I want.  We’d already cut the cable before we left for Italy, and were just watching various series on some of the subscription services…and they’ll all be there when we come back.  I'm just not feeling like I’m missing all that much.

One of the services we subscribe to is MHz Choice, which offers shows from various countries (mostly European), all broadcast in their original languages and with English subtitles.  There’s a pretty decent Italian section.  But in order to watch that on this TV (which is not a smart TV) we needed more data, plus a Firestick.  So thanks to Google, I found euronics, which, at least in terms of what they sell, is basically the European version of Best Buy.  We picked up a wireless router there, as well as a Firestick, and then went back to the WindTre store for a SIM card.  We found out that they wouldn’t sell us an unlimited monthly data plan without me having an Italian bank account though (apparently my Wise account wasn’t good enough for them), so had to stick with 200 GB/month.  This should be more than enough for the amount of TV watching we do, and is reasonably priced at what translates to about $22 USD/month. 

The reason we bought a router with a SIM card slot, rather than just setting up a monthly subscription with a carrier is that it’s much simpler this way - according to my research, it can take a long time to get someone to come out and set it up, and it’s often an absolute nightmare to have it canceled when you move, because Italy.  It reminds me of Comcast.  

We’re now watching a series that is the Italian version of Nero Wolfe, with English subtitles (Paolo’s choice). It’s pretty good; too bad there are only eight episodes.  But there are plenty of other shows to choose from once we get through this one.

As predicted, Wednesday was a quiet day around here, as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a public holiday here in Catholic Italy.  Bigger stores, like supermarkets and such, were open in the larger towns like Termoli and Campobasso, but here in our comune pretty much everything was closed - even the nearby tabacchi was only open in the morning.  If there were any public celebrations, we were not aware of them…but then again, we heathens haven’t yet figured out when the church is open, or even seen a priest around town, for that matter, so we might have missed it if there was anything.  I did notice that people around town are beginning to put out their holiday decorations.

I received a message from Nicoletta yesterday afternoon confirming that she was at the town hall, checking up on my document transcriptions.  Even though they were not yet finished (not all the info has been entered into the computer system), I was to come down to the municipio to complete the paperwork for my Italian ID.  

I took the opportunity to give the clerks their Phillies hats - Domenico put his on right away (Mayor Mimmo showed up later, after I took this photo):

The paper that his hand is resting on is the page they’re putting together about me for the official town records:  all my family's life events (births, marriages, divorces, and deaths) starting with the birth of my great grandfather down to me.  It all has to be entered into a computer system as well, which takes some time since of course they have other duties.

The ID forms are all filled in; I now have a paper document which is a sort of incomplete version of the info that will be on the ID card, plus a receipt confirming I’ve ordered the card (there is a 22 euro fee).  I was advised that I should keep these on me as my ID for now until I receive the card, which I’m told should be ready in about six business days - so perhaps I'll have it next Friday.  Once I have my carta di identità elettronica, then I can make an appointment for my Italian passport.

As we were walking back home, I took a few pictures of the town Christmas lights:

I liked the last one above enough to play around with it on an app I have on my phone, and made a version that looks like a piece of artwork, which I used to send a few Christmas post cards.  I noticed that Christmas cards aren’t as big a thing here are they seem to be in the US; the selections in the stores, when they have any at all, are quite limited.

Today’s big plans include a little grocery shopping around town (I specifically want to go to the bakery for some goodies), and we need to get to the tabacchi to "top up" the phones (I have no issue paying on the accounts for the physical SIM cards in my iPad and for the router via online payments, but for some reason I am struggling to do this for the phones’ e-SIMS).