December 20th 2009
So we’ve had a very wonderful last few months. We spent October and November travelling around France, meeting up with friends and getting used to life with a puppy. We had such a fantastic time! I never would have thought that I would be so fascinated by that country. We ate, we drank wine, we ate and we ate some more. We made sure to taste as many local specialties as we could. Food is such an important part of travelling, and definetely an important part of mine and Jonathan’s lives. Most of what we do is related to food.
After France, we briefly hopped into Monaco, then back into France, and then into Italia! Jonathan settled in very quickly, because he speaks Italian. I understand Italian more than I thought I would, but people generally don’t understand me. I just need to practise and it will come. So far we’ve been welcomed to Italy and feel very good there. The people are very nice and fun!
I had to go back to Canada to apply for my work-holiday visa for Italy. I decided to take the opportunity to surprise my parents. My sister and her husdand picked me up from the airport, and took me home for dinner. I stayed in the car while they went into the house. Then, my sister said she forgot a bottle of wine she brought in the car. She came to get me. When we walked into the house, my parents still in the kitchen, she said “how about a little something from Italy” and I walked into the kitchen, with a bottle of Italian wine in my hand. Seeing the look on my parents’ faces was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.
I spent a wonderful 3 weeks in Canada, while Jonny and Nomade were frolicking in Italy. Jonny met a woman from Montréal who runs a hotel, and got a bunch of tips from her on what we should do. He made friends with workers from the tourist information office in Pistoia, who gave him ideas on where we should work. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be in the Wombat alone, but at least he had the puppy to keep him company.
Once I made it back to Italy, we had to go apply for a residence permit for me. The law is that any foreigner staying in Italy for more than 90 days needs to apply for residency. This is a bit silly because if you stay as a tourist you likely won’t have a home, but still need a residency permit. It’s kind of hard to apply for residency when you don’t have a residence! Anyway, a nice lady called Mariana from a social aid office helped us sort everything out. Now we have to show up at the police station on the 29th of December because they have to take my fingerprints. It cuts our Christmas holiday a bit short, but at least it’ll force us to get our ass in gear and get some jobs!
We’re only staying in Italy for 6 months, but we still plan to get an apartment. I’m looking forward to settling for a little while. The plan is to try a bunch of things and see what we like. We still have no clue where we’ll end up next year, or what we’ll be doing, so it’s important for us to take this time to get inspired and find what we want to do in life!
Now we’re eating cookies, drinking eggnog, playing cards, walking Nomade in the snow, and having a great time. We’re happy campers!
Happy holidays to all!
MC
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