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).