Monday, March 19, 2007

I had no idea how much my "freelance" lifestyle is so deeply ingrained in me. I have been going to the palestra (gym) pretty much since we arrived, but I keep paying only one or three months at a time. I've gone to two different palestre, but still wouldn't commit to one year.

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Sunday, March 18, 2007

Yesterday we went to our first partita (soccer match). I was hoping that my first partita would be to see La Fiorentina, our beloved Florentine team. But, it was to see another level of La Fiorentina team with young boys who were born in 1996. My friend Debora's boyfriend, Paolo, is an allenatore (coach) for a Tuscan team and were playing against La Fiorentina.

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Thursday, March 15, 2007

This past week we've had warmer weather than usual here in Florence. A few mornings this week, I was able to sit out on our terrazza (terrace) to enjoy the sun. I often take a peek at the top of the Duomo to see how many people are up there to get an idea of how busy the centro storico (historical downtown area) might be. I also look out onto the piazza and examine how everyone is dressed to get a feel for the weather before I go outside.

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Monday, March 12, 2007

Today, Simone invited me to have pranzo (lunch) with him at his place. I was happy that we finally had a chance to talk as it's difficult when I go to his restaurant for dinner or when I pass by the restaurant while he's prepping for dinner. I was even happier when he told me that he'd make me lunch at his place. I've been to his place before for lunch, but not since we moved to Florence and were living in his apartment.

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Thursday, March 8, 2007

Living in Florence :: My first Italian cooking class

I love to cook, or more precisely, I love to eat and therefore I was obliged to learn how to cook to satisfy my love of food. I had never taken a cooking class before because my mother and grandmother taught me everything I know. My grandmother would make my favorite dishes, like Chinese tomato beef curry and chow fun noodles with beef in black bean sauce without using a recipe. My mother, on the other hand, taught me all about baking and making pastries, which is much more precise: everything has to be measured carefully and done exactly as it's written.

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Wednesday, March 7, 2007

When I opened my bank account here, I told the woman that I wanted a checkbook. "Non ne hai bisogno. Nessun accetta assegni." (You don't need it. No one accepts checks.), she said. And then, when I ordered some rimedi omeopatici (homeopathic remedies), I found out that the guy doesn't accept credit cards and didn't want a check, but he told me to go to Le Poste (the Post Office) and send him a vaglia (postal order).

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Friday, March 2, 2007

Living in Florence :: New month, new hair, and a new attitude

I dragged myself out of the house today to get a spuntata (trim) at my parrucchiere (hairdresser's). I walked past the San Marco church and took a picture of it now that the scaffolding has been finally removed. I forgot how beautiful it really is. We've had some strange weather here lately. On Tuesday we had a bright and warm sun out, and then Wednesday the temperatures dropped drastically. Today, it was mild outside, but not as sunny as I was hoping.

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Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Today started as a bad day. Had I known how it would turn out, I would've just stayed in bed; however, nothing would have changed. When I saw the email from the Italian consulate in my In Box, I had a bad feeling. And, unfortunately, I was right. I found out that I'm not eligible for Italian citizenship because my father's father obtained American citizenship before my father was born. I did receive a document from the INS that stated he claimed his American citizenship in 1947 (after my father's birth), but supposedly he was granted citizenship in 1901 when he was 9 years old.

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Monday, February 26, 2007

Most people would have kissed their lost package good-bye if it hadn't arrived within a few weeks of it being sent from the US. My sister sent me a package on November 24th last year along with one for my husband. His arrived within about 10 days right after we moved into our new place. For a few days, I wondered if I didn't put the sign on the door early enough with our name, but usually, they leave a note anyway downstairs above the mailboxes for at least a week. Besides, packages take at least a week to get here usually.

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Sunday, February 25, 2007

I receive an Italian word every day via email from Zanichelli, an Italian publisher of dictionaries. The words are usually quite interesting and always come with at least one example as well as a brief history of the word as well. Today's word of the day was americanata, which obviously comes from americano/a (American).

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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I didn't really think that I missed the mercato (market) that much until I went yesterday. I've been so happy with Esselunga's delivery service that I haven't made the 10 minute walk to the mercato since the end of last year. I have absolutely no complaints about Esselunga, but I do miss the milling around the mercato and being tempted to buy everything that looks delicious.

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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Living in Florence :: Quinta edizione del carnevale fiorentino nel mondo

Venice has its elegant and sophisticated carnevale (carnival) and Brazil has its wild and extravagant carnevale, but Florence has made its mark with its international carnevale. Dave and I walked to Piazza Repubblica to catch a glimpse of the carnevale parade. We stood along via degli Strozzi for at least an hour and a half with many other people to watch all the participants.

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Saturday, February 17, 2007

For some reason, I have been awaiting the end of the Chinese year of the Dog as if to find some respite even though I haven't had a particularly bad year. It might also have been because I met with a Tibetan sciamana (shaman) last year along with her Italian interpreter who told me that nothing good will happen for me until 2007, in the anno del maiale (year of the pig). The pig is the symbol of fortuna e abbondanza (fortune and abundance) and it's also the maiale d'oro (golden pig), which is supposedly even better.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

Living in Florence :: Long, but good day

Today started out early for us. We got up and left the house at 8:45AM. Our first stop was the Questura to pick up our permessi di soggiorno (permits to stay). We had dropped off our applications back in October, but the wait was two months, and the agente (police officer) told us to come back at the beginning of the new year.

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