Little Italy 24

[BananaGio]

Ciao tutte!

second that Rosa, am going to make the most of materna and ds will be there right til end of June, even if he's the only one there!

I never understood why they spend more time in materna than later on. Un mistero Italiano!
Weather not too bad here, but thunderstorms in the afternoon...

Ladies

Hope all is well. Mad busy and now skint as well. Finally feeling the crunch.

Mad times and ds has finally turned 5 and we finally did the kiddies party (costing the same as week in center parcs - center parcs would have been preferable). Oh and the ingratiating ourselves with the school incrowd worked for the duration of the party. Next day back at school back to normal! LOL.

Worse to come - my dcousin coming to italy with us this summer. Mil went bonkers and I don't blame her as she's dealing with non flour eating person (me) and vegetarian (dcousin). And much more worse to come as well. Oh shit oh shit.

Hoping everyone doing well.

I'm trying to keep up with caligula but I've really lost the jist of what's now going on as I have about 2 hours of tv per week and I'm afraid it's spent on watching crap tv but with really hot guys (I need my middle aged ladies's fix of hot men).

Good news is that dh's friend (from hometown) who's a very talented and qualified musician is starting to make it here. If he does it will be fab for him (and he's lovely and more than deserves it).

DH busy going to his gigs around london to be his supporter (and keeps dh out of my hair which is great). All good stuff and when when he makes it (and it seems he will) we can say he played at ds's 5th birthday party at our tiny humble flat.

I love to see young people being recognised for their talent. Forza Gexxxxx.

Hello everyone, hello giveitago and happy birthday to your lovely ds. ANd so glad to hear your dh's friend is making it!

No idea why materne close at the end of June, boh. Luckily here in Milan there are all sorts of activities/summer camps you can sign them up for. Many of them are run by the Council therefore not too expensive, while others are more £££. I sign them up for 2 weeks of activities in English until the 24 of June. Then I'll probably take them to the seaside, where my parents have a house. Which is lovely, apart from my occasional litigi with my mother... hmm

Hi giveitago ..Auguri for your trip to Italy !!!!
Just had the most amazing storm and I have to go out and clear the drains ( yummy) as they couldn't cope with the quantity of water .
Have been to get my tessera sanitaria that expired after my permesso di soggiorno did. ( it was 10 years) they will give me one for 5 years only WTF? The lady said it was the regole of ASL Veneto incase my situation changed but as I pointed out. EIther I live here and am entitled to treatment or I don't in which case I will not be here to use it anyway. She said' but you could go elsewhere and get treatment..Erm within the EU you are entitled to treatment in whetever country you happen to be in anyway thats what being in the EU is about ( in this case). I am sooooo angry and If I had had teh time ( I had been waiting 1hr as one does) then I would have gone to the direttore in fact I might just do that anyway !

Oh how irritating. I am not sure, but I think I read somwehre that a pronto soccorso veneto refused to treat a person coming from another region. Wtf?

Rosa, I had a similar situation here, actually I had to go and renew my tessera sanitaria every year otherwise I was not entitled to use health services here in Lombardia - this is because, as a self-employed person from another EU country living in Italy, they wanted to see proof that I was earning and paying enough tax to be entitled to it. It's ridiculous - couldn't I be unemployed/choose not to work and still be entitled to healthcare??

In the end the woman at the ASL told me I could get a "certificato di residenza permanente" from the Comune, because I've been here more than 5 years, so I got that, took it back to the horrendous ASL full of people coughing all over the place, and now I shouldn't have to renew it again (or at least that's what she said!). They could have told me that before, right??

Spahgettina ....I have the certificato that says I am now a full time , bona fide, residente forever............ Surely the legge is the same for everybody ( except Belusconi) but obviously each region can decide how they interpret it ...rather like the whole govenrment!!!!!
Got soaked ..think its going to be like this for teh next few days ..hurrah !

how ridiculous Rosa! I do not understand how Italy seems to get away with how it interprets the EU rules in these cases. Still dont understand why we need permesso di soggiorno...
ok so this morning my fridge packed in. Had a man round who declared it dead (motor gone) so was trying to find a new one on internet and delivery estimates were week to 10 days. Dont know if is me being pathetic but no way can I not have a fridge for over a week in Rome in summer. So ended up going to local shop and paid full wack for a basic one to be delivered tomorrow. Consoling myself with fact have done something good supporting local independent shop rather than going to big corporation to save a few quid but still... ouch...
Watched The Ghostwriter on sky the other day - anyone seen it? Would like to have been a fly on the wall when the Blairs heard about it.
Enough random musings from Gio - off to get DS to bed

Yes, I agree, it's mad. And I can't understand why you'd need a permesso di soggiorno. Mind you, friends who moved to Holland ages ago, had to report to the police. Boh! I loved how easy it was in the UK (which some daily mail readers might find a scandal... I htought it was a sign of civilization with a capital C).

Gio the Polanski movie? The one with Ewan McGregor? I saw it at the cinema last year, I liked it.

Yes that one Franca. Thought was really good, very Hitchcock-esque. Got the book immediately on my kindle after watching it (kindle is a dangerous thing...)

Yes, I enjoyed too (apart from some rather funny details, like finding the supsect by googling him

Dreadful week here weather wise. Today we have the school fete, which should have taken place in the school's big garden, but it is very cloudy...

Its raining on and off here. DH is going rafting this weekend I keep saying call before you go as with all teh rain it will probably be too dangerous.... I don't think he has bothered and I can see them going there for nothing....
I have another good one for you.... DD1 carta di expatrio is expiring after 5 years. I go to the comune 2 weeks ago with dd as she has to be present and they confirm her photo that its her . Today dh and I go to the questura with all the paperwork as both of us have to be present. They say that from 30/5 the comune issues carta d'identita x expatrio. SO back we go to the comune. We go in and huge sign saying Sportello 4 for childs IDs. However when you go to get a ticket to wait in line its all letters and no letter corresponds to the Sportello4. SO I go to Sportello 4 ( nobody waiting in front of it ) and ask which button to press he says 'F' . I press F get my ticket and same man calls me over as ...Its my turn !!!!!!!!!. He give me new form I say I can get Dh here in 5 mins but will you accept the attestato of her photo done by your colleague who is sitting right next to you ?- He says no they have to see the child ( he also has an eye problem and can't look straight so I don't know which eye to focus on). I say but if the questura would have given me the documento and passaporto today with this info and this child was witnessed by your colleague 2 weeks ago please give me a logical reason why you can't....' As its the law' and the child could have been taken out of teh country last week .... (Erm I have her old documento here )....I replied yes a logical reason... He had no answer .....SO I take dd next week ! I am wondering however if they put the names of the genitori as well on the carta ID as it was an excellent way of cross checking that the child was being escorted by parents / nonni or whatever.. Mind you it is far to logical to expect them to carry on doing that as of course it was an excellent idea . So they probably won't. Phew..... Bloody stupid IMO

Rosa - that's sounds very heavy on the old admin. We took ds a few years back to some office to get him an NI card (or something similar) as mil wanted to transfer dh's flat to ds's name but dh is british so needed to get him a bit more Italian. Took all of 10 mins. So, personally, I'm hugely impressed by admin procedures in Italy but noting also that I have very limited experience of it.

Our trip to Italy is now costing £1,500 including hire car but lots more to go.

I've won olympic tickets - but not sure for which events. Pretty chuffed as I'm the only person I know who's actually won some. I should be on the news.

Oh wow, that sounds tremendously complicated Rosa. Yes, they do want the child to be present when they issue the carta d'identità.

Another grey day here, but it's the last day of school!!! Have friends over for dinner, and as usually I am awfully behind with the prep!

Giveitago, wow, I am impressed with the tickets! I'dlove to see women gymanstics.

ooh what are you making Franca?

I made pesto for the children and they had pasta al pesto.

For us adults I made riso venere (the black one) with prawns/garlic/courgettes, carpaccio of raw salmon and branzino, salad and guacamole.

Then we all had ice cream and cherries and plums.

Franca, what a fantastic summer menu, yum :) I am a huge guacamole and fish carpaccio fan.

[I myself had a piece of hot quiche thrown at me at dinner by my "DP" after I provoked him. non ci sono parole...]

Rosa, the your story of Kafkian bureaucracy sounds all too familiar - no point in asking for logical reasons! Things seem to be easier now than a few years ago though, at least where I am, so that's something.

Giveitago - congratulations on your tickets! I don't know anyone who's going, as far as I know.

I am trying to sort out DD's asilo nido for September, we have been given a place (miraculously!) but I'm not actually that keen on the asilo (private but convenzionato so it costs same as a state-run nursery) - my own fault, I shouldn't have put it down on the list, but I was in a panic and took someone's word that it was good. it was the only one I hadn't actually visited! The direttrice seems a bit rigid and old fashioned, and spoke of DD's bilingualism as a "problema" , also ticking me off for letting her eat food with her fingers (um, has she heard of "finger foods"? perhaps not).
Anyway, short of finding an amazingly cheap private option I think we'll have to go ahead with it, and hope the educatrici are a bit more forward thinking than the manager.

I have to say that bureaucracy wise things have improved a lot in Milan. When we moved back from the UK I felt daunted with all the things we had to do (change of address, enrolling dd for scuola materna, get a gp etc) but I was pleasantly surprised. Lots of things you can do online as well now. Boh, I suppose it depends on where you live ... instead of being standard practice...

Spaghettina, good luck with the nido. I really hope that the new giunta will stop buying places off private nurseries and start investing in the nidi comunali, which - on average - should be better than those privately run. Lets see if they find the money for this!
A quick thought though: I volunteer once a week in a nido which is an onlus. The educatrici are lovely, and affettuose and they have really fantastic things to play with, but they are bound to routines, as I can see now that I work there that they need them in order to run the place smoothly iyswim.

I do know some private nidi that are said to be good, but in the ticinese area, not sure it helps

Spahgttina I know how you feel and good luck . If you are not happy with it then do keep looking for alternatives. I am going to put minirosa down for the communale asilo as well domani just incase at Dd1 materna I don't like what they do with dd teacher replacement / or not we just don't know.
It must be just Venice as wait for it this is even better. We go today with dd1 to get her carta di identita ( I was there on Thurs). SO there is now a sign that says we have to have an appuntamento to do it. However as we were there Thurs they let us do as normal.
However they advised due to teh ever changing rules that we do this for minirosa as well. SO I go back to the sportello and ask for an appuntamento. I ask for Wed but they are only doing a day ahead so they give me tues !!!!!!!!! I then ask which sportell do we have to go to as seeing as we have an appuntamento we surely won't have to queue ..WRONG . we still have to take a ticket on coming in and queue up with all the others for Carta d'identita so why do we have to have an appointment I ask ? Its the sysyem he says.....Ok Says I but today I came in with a 5 yrl old who sits happily playing with her barbie whilst we wait. Tomorrow I will have my 2 yr old who won't wait quietly so sorry in advance !!!! HOnestly I give up I really do !

Oh gosh rosa, they sound useless!!!

Rosa - Yes I've had that before - you get an appointment BUT you have to wait in line with your number so the time means nothing....antenatal scans at the Mangiagalli were like that, we waited up to 3 hours sometimes even though we had an appointment!
But as Franca says, bureacracy has improved a lot here in the last ten years or so in Milan at least.

Franca - thanks, unfortunately Ticinese is the other side from where we are. I agree about the routine being important, and I'm all for it. But we saw another nursery today that was lovely, they had a routine but also a much nicer attitude towards the kids and it wasn't just about "discipline". Shame it costs an arm and a leg! :)
Do you think the nidi privati-convenzionati are the ones that don't get enough full-paying kids because they're not actually that good? I'm wondering...or maybe it's just hit and miss.

Spaghettina, if you think that the nido you've been allocated is only about discipline, then I'd really go and look somewhere else!

No, I do think that the nidi convenzionati are on average quite good, but it'd be nice to see more investments in nidi comunali, which usually have more guarantees of quality (or used to, before the council started to save money on them, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Well, it's not just about discipline but the owner seemed to be a bit fixated with stuff like not letting them eat with their hands, and potty training at 17 months (bit early isn't it?)...but then again she's not the one actually looking after the children, she's just the boss. Still looking at alternatives though.

I thought the 3 nidi comunali I went to see were pretty good, bright and welcoming and I liked the staff on the whole, but they could definitely do with more investments. Let's hope Pisapia will do his bit to help!

Thank goodness it's a sunny day today, actually managed to go out without an umbrella this morning and get some Vitamin D on DD's pallid skin, poor thing!