Little Italy 23

[BananaGio]

Siamo qua!

Hello again!

And hello Cellini! have been awol for a bit, but I'm italian, living in the surrey burbs with italian DP, though I say he's a fake italian having been born here and never really sepnt any time in italy til he met me , and we have 2 dc. I'm from veneto, and been to asolo once when I was little, just remember something about an opera singer and Napoleon, so not much help! but as Rosa said, I think once you get to know people, they become very friendly, especially after a coule of glasses of vino...

I promised I would have had xmas back home this year, after 8 years, but flights were sooooo expensive . managed to book at beg of sept, so we're doing new year and epiphany there (tickets went up by £90 in 3 hours when I booked!!)

MI, agree with you on the pros and cons... there is an iteresting article/survey on the corriere which reflects what's been mentioned, plus in UK there's more career prospect (though am just listening to GO to see if I'll still have a job... PS - I'm on a lunch break on my home pc before anyone says I'm wasting tax-payers money )

yes Rosa, some things I was worried about Italy are slowly creeping up here too... funny though, I miss exactly the same things as you - big house, countryside, etc - but I'm in the UK!! when we come back from italy, DS always says we should get a house like nonno e nonna... which would cost probably about £1.5m in our area!!!

strange about dance clubs and things though, I had plenty of choice when I was little (I did piano, gymnastics, swimming, modern dance, judo, volley) and my niece has done countless things too as she can't settle on anything, all locally as well, and a lot cheaper compared to here (trying not to think at how much stagecoach is costing, telling myself it's all for DS's good confidence), but maybe it's to do with the vita isolana

went to see DS's school for next year, and the building looks like it's in soooooo much need of repair, with 3 classes in a 15 year old prefab outside, but they've just had their budget for a new building taken away... might go and check the catholic one, their results are sooo good and DS is still having some problems with the usual suspects, though we probably don't stand a chance unless someone's moved, need to decide by xmas though

will try and be back more often...

Ciao Camo, so good to hear from you!

Why does ds have to change school? Hasn't he got another 5 yrs at primary?

Hi guys, am just catching up with the thread and your lovely answers on being a bit isolated with a small baby and cross-cultural bedtimes. Sput, I agree, it would be a great cross-cultural study...

Am back in the UK so will try Italian playgroup on Friday and report back.

Cellini: welcome and good luck on the impending move. Cannot offer any practical help as my son is younger than yours and we're abroad the other way round: I'd Italian, DH British, we live in London.

Giveittaigo: GF, aka "she who must not be named" is Gina Ford, which, if you are in the UK, you will have heard about. Very controversial on mumsnet as she sued and almost had the site shut down because she did not like some posts about her methods. Everyone round here seems to be doing it, typically adding "I would not know where I am half the time otherwise". We don't- DH and I both read the book and disagree with it vehemently. DS eats when he is hungry and sleeps when he is sleepy, getting lots of cuddles in between.

And now has just woken up, so time to leave you and go and see him. Will catch up later!

Sui I hate Gf with avengence ......
Camo lovely to see you - I think I feel done by as this place ofers so little yet if I went to terra ferma I wonder if I would take up everything available. The grass is always greener etc etc . Took dds school to Murano today to see glass blowing it was FAB ! Off to do dinner early for 2 exhausted dds.....

same here Rosa, we keep on looking at properties "in the country" and we have this idillic vision of how much nicer life would be, but then we wouldn't have the accessibility we have in London, and I'm still struggling to take the plunge...... just need to find that lottery ticket and all the problems would be solved....

Franca, he's at infant school at the moment, so this is his last year there. the school we saw this morning is the junior one linked to it. normally we wouldn't need to think about it til next spring, but new gov rules mean that we have to hand the application forms in now.

a friend mentioned a ricotta and nutella cake, anyone's got a recipe?

Rosa, I see what you mean. Venice, with its shrinking population probably doesn't offer as many activities for children as you could find somewhere else (on terraferma...), still... where in the world could you go and see people blowing glass... ? And Murano is beautiful... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I love Venice!

Ah I see Camo. Ds school in the uk was a full primary from 4.5 to 11 (is it 11 yrs old when they go to secondary?)

Hei SG! Gina Ford. When ds, my first, was about 5 months old I bought -totally unaware of who she was and what she said - the contented baby weaning book... I got a as my child didn't go to sleep at 7 (7???) and didn't nap 3 hrs a day etc. I felt like a bit of a failure to be honest.
Mind you, I'd have loved for ds to have had a less anarchist approach to daily routine

ooh pros and cons of Italy over UK. I think if I hadnt been able to carry on in my line of work I was in in the UK, and be able to work from home I would feel a bit differently. Means that I avoid the the things I know would drive me insane- rush hour in Rome, the thankless job hunting quest etc.As a result it works really well for me here. I love the scuola materna option, love the attitude to kids and families in general, love Rome, love the fact I can be at the sea, mountains, lakes, countryside within a short trip and the weather means you can enjoy those places. Love the food. Got a good group of mates who I feel I have more time to spend with and devote to friendships than I ever did when I was stuck well and truly in the Manchester rat race. Love the fact people are more interested in what films you watch, music you like than what you "do". I hate Berlusconismo. I miss certain English food - first meal on my return is always fish, chips and gravy from chippy . Miss the shopping for clothes- more choice for non size 10's at low prices and loads more for kids at cheapie prices. Miss the fact that as much as politics in the UK makes me wring my hands in despair (you know who you are Gideon ) I dont have to ask myself how it is possible that a PM who has been questioned by the police 365 times, has known mafia affilliations, penchant for underage girls etc etc is still in bloody power. Hate the bella figura attitude here with a passion. Think women still have a looong way to go to be seen as equal.
I'd better shut up or will be here all night!
Not a GF fan either.....
Got DS an outfit from Upim for Halloween which he donned at the park and spent half an hour after school chasing all the other kids being a monster.

I would agree more or less with Minerva's list, though would excude Rome from the cheaper housing part! And I disagree with Franca over the aggression, Italians may be more verbally aggressive but when it comes to actual violence UK is much worse, probably connected with the alcohol culture there which is one big negative from my POV.

I am in 2 minds myself over where would be the better place to live tbh, and we might consider going back in a few years time as DH's job requires he relocate after a few years. Seeing that most of the places we could end up in are not that great we might think about the UK instead, we will see.

Camo, good to see you, re idyllic places in the country, it's all very well but if you end up sacrificing your time together as a family because of long commutes it is not worth it. I have done that and we are so much better off now we are close to DH's work.
That said I have spent hours driving today, partly school/nursery run, shopping etc, but mainly taking DS to speech therapy, which is on exactly the opposite side of Rome from us.

Yes, 20 mins from the beach here, or an hour and a bit to our country place, we don't actually need to have "holidays" at this point.

Not to mention the whole Rome thing, obv. I do love Rome, apart from the traffic. Though I wish the post office would do it's job, I have spent far too much time recently chasing a parcel which has disappeared.

Sputnik, you are probably right about the aggressiveness, I forgot the sense of menace I got even in E. on a Friday night. (However, it is also true that E. wasn't a crime ridden town when we lived there, and it's a rather safe place to live)
But, I also feel as if the average Italian is struggling to bottle up the resentment and frustration that has been simmering in the last years. The other day I was at a tram driver having a melt down because a woman kept pushing the fermata prenotata button. It was awful and it would have never happened in E!!!

Gio, at ds chasing friends at the park.

Speaking of films (i love going to the cinema, even if it's been quite difficult since becoming a parent...) in Milan the majority of cinemas in the city centre have closed down or are closing. This is really . All the cinema d'essai have now closed and . Is the same happening in Rome too?

Absolutely, they are mostly big edge of town multiplexes now. Which is ok for me, living on the edge of town myself. Should I ever be able to go to the cinema again, obv.
I think this is everywhere tbh. It certainly happened in Cambridge, the cinema where we used to go to late night shows is now a restarant (or last time I looked).
Agree you don't really want your tram or bus drivers having public meltdowns.

Yes, I suppose it's a global phenomenon. I'm not keen, I loved going to the cinema, then for a stroll and a pizza. Those multiplex don't have the same fascino, plus I'd worry to be mugged in the car park.
I should move to Paris, they still have nice cinemas there.

They are closing my favourite cinema the Metropolitan which is one of the few places that do films in VO. Am gutted about it. Love going for a sunday pm shopping on Via del Corso and then a film. Not that I do it often but love it when I can.
Agree with aggression in UK. Hate the alcohol culture in UK, the idea you have to go out to get bladdered to have a good time! That is one massive plus in my opinion re ds growing up here. Every time I go back I feel it more. My parents live in a lovely market town but even there at the weekend the town centre feels really threatening in the evenings.

And they closed down my fav cinema in Milan, the President... it was the cinema where all Woody Allen movies came out first.

I'm afraid that also young Italians seem to be buying into this drink to the excess mania. But yes, E. high street was really threatening on a friday night.

Guess what they opened where the President used to stand? A bloody bank.

We used to go here in Brighton. It was fab, glad it's still going.
Yes alcohol culture, when it's considered normal to drink til you're senseless, and that was a great night out hmm

I know Sput, i know... though it should only be 2 days of commute if I still have a job, that is (although there are nights I think of going back full time, all 5 days in the office, with mentally "challenging" know-it-all DS and physically exhausting tomboy DD!!). probably if we had space to extend, then we wouldn't need to move, despite the hateful neighbours, the place is nothing special, but I can get into work in 40 mins door to door, half an hour drive we can be walking down kings road for a nice sunday meal, half hour the other way we're in gatwick... I don't know, maybe if the political situation in italy was different, I might consider moving back, I would have family and friends, sea and mountains at the doorstep, a decent house, but I feel so "detached" now when I go back, I'm too open minded apparently, I avoid any conversation re politics or immigration, in fact I feel a straniera myself there as much as here now... and how's DS doing, by the way?

franca, the small very vintage cinema I used to go to every sunday back home is no longer there . used to love it, cos the newer big one was more "blockbusters" type movies, that one was cheaper and less mainstream stuff, mum and I were regulars... ah, feel all melancholic now... those were the days... they have built this huge complex just outside the town a couple of years ago must be now, there was meant to be a warner bros I think, but the whole thing is still empty, they've even prepares all the parking space marked with mattonelle and trees, but no sign of anything... boh...

right, off to the sofa now to try and keep my eyes open and wathc these pathetic apprentices... night night

Sorry, that was meant to be a plain old
40 mins commute is not too bad, DH had one getting on for 2 hours.

DS is getting on ok, has made great progress but still significantly behind. We have hopefully sorted out the speech therapist for him though, so he'll soon be getting the 2 sessions a week he should've been having instead of the sporadic visits he's had so far.

How long til someone mentions Cinema Paradiso?

I've just realized that a message I posted yesterday night in response to Camo and Sput's last post isn't on the thread... What happened???

Did you post it on another thread somewhere? :o

Franca the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago - I never did find out where it went.
Sput thats good about ds and its good that he is making progress surely things will just get better and better from now on !
We are starting with aqua alta again already today is day 2 . We had one one off big ish one 10 days ago. ALso the council are not sounding the sirens. One wonders if they are just not doing it as we are getting more and more so maybe the Mose project is actully reversing things or they just can't be bothered. They normally go off over 105cm but yesterday it was 115 easily and they diddn't.
This pm have to race to meet the hunky engineer and the impresa then get dd1 from school and go back and wait for the kitchen man. Minirosa is already asleep my betting is she will have a long one just to make me rush even more. MInd you its colder today - typical my coat is a light autumn one and it looks nice so I will just have to buy another !

I hope I didn't as it had a long quote in Italian from the Vargas Llosa novel I'm currently reading... (something about expats feeling foreigner in their country of origin and in their new adopted country...)

Yes, Rosa, it's always like this with coats, they are either too warm or not warm enough (I think it has to do with the disappearing on mezze stagioni )

Sput, I'm happy to hear ds is progressing and that you have found a good speech therapist . Ale'!!!